An Open Letter To President Goodluck, EFCC and a Wakeup Call to All Nigerians

Dear Mr. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, with all due respect sir, I bring New Year greetings to you. Before I continue, I would like to make it clear here that I am one of the many Nigerians who cherished you from the onset, even before you became an acting president during late president Yaradua’s ailment, and I still believe in you even in midst of the present economic and security challenges in the country, of which I equally believe that you are working hard to change for better.

Mr. President sir, you are the first person I willingly came out to cast my vote for during a presidential election since I was born, and it is not because you are from the minority south-south region, and neither is it because you bear an Igbo name, but I voluntarily voted for you because I believed that you are a God sent man to this nation, please don’t fail Nigeria and Nigerians who gave you their mandate with trust.

Mr. President sir, I want to also remind you that you are the first president in Nigeria who happened to be elected purely by the people. Majority of Nigerians gave you their individual mandates willingly, not because of the sympathy story you told us about your past during the campaign, but because we saw integrity and humility in you, and again, Nigerians believe that God want to use you to change things in Nigeria. So Mr. President, your winning was never through rigging or because of the fact that you were a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but you won through peoples’ cheerful mandate.

 I still remember vividly, the very day of the presidential election that saw you into power, how old people in my remote community (because I was in the village then because of that election) were coming out happily in mass to vote for you. I remember one aged woman with grey hair, asking me-  “kedu ebe ana abianyere nwam nwoke Goodluck aka? Ewo! Ya chima o, odi anyi mma o, ezigbo nwa.” which can be translated like this: where are they thumbprinting for my son Goodluck? He should rule o, he is good for us, good child. And I smiled and directed her to one of the presiding officers who then guided her to vote.

Why am I telling this cock and bull story? It is to remind you that Nigerians voted for you happily because they believe you, and because they believed that you were sent by God to rescue Nigeria, considering the numerous circumstances that surrounded your climbing to the seat of Nigeria’s presidency.

Dear Mr. President, we the common Nigerians aren’t asking you for much, we aren’t asking you to share money amongst us, and neither are we asking you to build individual houses for us; all we are asking from you is good governance with the ordinary Nigerians at heart.

We understand the fact that Nigeria has gone beyond being corrupt to being corruption itself even before you took over, but then, the power is in your hands right now; the power to effect a positive change in Nigeria, and the power to earn a medal of honor as a legend in the Nigerian history, if only you would pay little attention to the few things I have to say here.

First, I am not a politician, and neither am I related to any ruling politician, but I am a concerned Nigerian, who strongly believes in you and what your leadership can do, so don’t betray my trust.

The good governance that Nigerians are asking from you is no other thing than a radical fight against corruption. Corruption is no doubt the major problem holding Nigeria back in virtually every sphere of human endeavor, so we need you to focus more on fighting corruption during this your tenure. If that is the only thing you achieved for us, we will never forget you, and the generations to come will forever celebrate you for liberating us from this bondage of persistent corrupt practices by those in leadership positions.

But how can there be a radical fight against corruption when you are lenient in bringing past corrupt leaders to book? Sir, let me remind you that one of the reasons some past leaders don’t bring their predecessors to book is because their being in power owed tribute to their predecessors, but yours owe tribute to nobody except God because you were massively voted by Nigerians in the fairest presidential election since Nigeria’s independence, that is after the June 12 election, so you have nothing to fear because no one placed you on that exalted seat of presidency besides the Almighty God. So whoever says he or she made you the president is not telling himself the truth, and you should be bold enough to tell him or her to go and sit down because we voted for you, not for PDP or for any other personality.

Dear President, we need you to open the black book in Nigeria if you must please the Nigerian masses and gain their unalloyed support anytime, any day. Don’t be afraid of assassination, don’t be afraid of criticisms, and don’t be afraid of anyone because no one can ever harm you, believe me or not, you were chosen by God, and no man can harm you except God permits, and the only time God will permit them to harm you is when you intentionally abandon the welfare of the ordinary Nigerians to please some few selected technocrats and heartless politicians who had kept Nigeria in this present stagnation situation of underdevelopment, corruption,  abnormal youth unemployment and bad governance.

Sir, I know you are a soft man, a man of compassion, so if you cannot handle the merciless flogging of past corrupt leaders in Nigeria, you can appoint some well known anti-corruption activists who are ready to manhandle those ruthless past leaders that ravished this nation and made Nigeria to be a nation of ridicule worldwide on your behalf.

Grant them the sole independence to deal with any past leader found guilty of looting public fund or funds as stipulated by the Nigerian law. Let there be a life sentence and possibly a capital punishment for those found guilty of grievous and ruthless offense of public fund looting.

Mr. President, I believe you were once in our shoes; the shoes of the ordinary Nigerians, the shoes of poor youths whose parents sold all they had to give them higher education in anticipation for a better life, and only for them to graduate successfully, serve diligently in the compulsory one year national youth service (NYSC) scheme, and only for them to continue depending on their aged parents and relatives just because they can’t find job placement to even pay for their daily meals.

Mr. President, you ought to know how it feels, the pains of the defenseless Nigerians who have nobody to speak for them, and those that cannot even afford a decent meal in this modern days, at least you once passed through similar harsh life situations of walking the streets without shoe, and watching your dream die silently before you due to poverty caused by bad leadership and governance, even in midst of oil riches.

Mr. President, you ought to know that the majority of Nigerian youths are wasting on the streets without any guarantee of a better tomorrow, including the graduate youths who desire to work, and have the skills and zeal to work, but are unable to find job due to the fact that the available job opportunities cannot cater for all the available manpower, hence some youths resort to violence and turn to cannonfolders used by political enemies and lords to destabilize the peace of Nigeria. Sir, will you allow all these to continue, even when the power to change things for good is in your own bare hands?

Due to the ever increasing rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria, so many youths have been forced to migrate out of Nigeria under terrible conditions of life and death, just to make sure their family lineage is continued, while others keep pressing hard, engaging in all forms of human activities- from day pay menial jobs, to okada riding to street hawking, just to feed their stomach for the day.

In spite of all these harsh conditions, the Nigerian youths have maintained calmness in hope of a better day to come, even when they keep reading and hearing news of political office holders in federal and state government ministries and parastaltals stashing away funds meant for the public. Every day in newspapers, we keep reading news of corrupt leaders transferring public funds into their personal and family accounts while the poor masses wallow in abject poverty.

We keep hearing news of politicians and their families buying houses in exalted places in Nigeria, and acquiring even more abroad, and moving around in costly fancy cars, living exorbitant lifestyles while the ordinary Nigerians walk the streets tirelessly just to earn something to feed their stomachs a one-square meal a day.

Mr. President, for how long will we keep waiting for a change in Nigeria? The masses are strongly looking up to you for a change, please hasten up and hear our cries.

It has now become easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for an ordinary Nigerian graduate without any godfather or mother to secure a job in any Nigerian owned establishment or ministry. And the private employers of labor now abuse the right of Nigerian employees working for them, just because our government doesn’t care about how its citizens are being treated by their employers. Innocent youths with Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates are now being discriminated like outcastes during job recruitments as if HND is not a government approved certificate in Nigeria, and the government refused to do something about the situation.

Even before the few government job vacancies are advertised, senators, ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, governors, commissioners and their likes have all booked for the available slots, leaving just but a few for the unimaginable crowd of unconnected applicants to contest for.

Sometime in 2010, NNPC opened up a mass recruitment exercise, ordinary Nigerian graduates applied with faith, and it took NNPC management close to two years to complete the exercise. And even after the long wait, it was not still fair. More than 20,000 applicants applied for the job, only for NNPC to employ less than 2,000, and then to open up another recruitment exercise few months after the completion of the first one, please who are they fooling sir? Are you not aware of all these abnormalities or are you just keeping silent and watching things go bad sir? I want to believe the initial.

I could go on and on sir, but let me rest my case here for now.

At this point sir, I appeal to you to please instruct the EFCC to begin an urgent investigation of ex Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo state to reward him of his evil deeds during his tenure as Imo state governor.

Ohakim scammed innocent Imo youths with a fake job offer, that alone is a grievous offence against humanity and he shouldn’t be allowed to go unpunished if you want Nigerians to believe in your government. Ohakim promised to dredge Nwaorie river, and so many other corrupt practices perpetrated by his regime, sir, he needs to be invited for questioning on his past leadership in Imo state.

 Mr. President, if past corrupt leaders like ex Governor Ikedi Ohakim is allowed to go scold free without making him and his likes pay and suffer for their corrupt deeds, for enslaving innocent Nigerians, then, I wonder how you want Nigerians to trust your government.

I am therefore appealing to you Mr. President to please save this nation by initiating a radical corruption fight without fear of anybody. Nigeria needs to be salvaged from corruption. Nigeria can hardly prosper if we continue to allow past corrupt leaders to go free and merry with their families and relations, because it will only encourage upcoming Nigerian leaders to loot even more because they would be assured that no one will ever open their history book to pay them according to their corrupt deeds, but is that the way forward? Is that why we voted you to be our president? I don’t think so.

I want to also use this opportunity to express my joy and that of many Nigerians, on your recent display of compassion and concern towards the affairs of this nation, when you swiftly responded to a media call to pay a visit to Nigerian Police College at Ikeja last week, after Channels TV broadcasted an exclusive documentary, showcasing the poor state of that training college. That action showed that truly you want to change this nation, and it also showed that you are a listening president, so please, don’t ignore my letter.

Finally to all Nigerian bloggers and writers, blogging is not all about posting and re-posting celebrity news and juicy gossips that add no value to the people (even though they are sometimes necessary to retain your blog/site visitors). Use your talent, skill and career as a blogger and writer to effect a change in this nation. Literature is not only meant for entertainment, it is also meant for correcting societal anomalies and enlightening the common people, while bringing the attention of the leaders to some neglected areas for societal good. Spread this letter using your blog, twitter and all available media. And to all Nigerians reading this, we cannot sit back and wait for those in power to fight corruption in Nigeria, it is also our individual duties to hold our respective leaders accountable, right from our local communities, LGAs and states.

Remember, the corruption we are facing in Nigeria today, isn’t only seated at ASO Rock Villa Abuja, but it occupies even a greater space at our individual local governments and states, and we can’t expect the president to fight corruption in Nigeria alone, he sure needs our collective efforts- if you discover any official looting of public fund, expose the official without fear; you can send his or her name to me or any other blogger if you don’t know what to do, and I promise you that I will expose them without fear because whoever spills the innocent blood of an activist fighting for the right of the ordinary people shall never go free, if you doubt it, dare it and see.

Thank you. Please I call on all media players- bloggers, newspapers, radio houses, magazines, journals, etc to please spread this letter as fast as possible and let it reach the desk of Mr. President, and to all ends of this nation.

Yours faithful and loyal citizen,

Ngozikanwiro (http://ngozikanwiro.blogspot.com/)