by @ahmagem
Just yesterday I was driving around town and meeting up with different people. I tried to feel the pulse of some Nigerians taking into account some demographics like religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic standing and age bracket.
I heard a lot of stories which really encouraged me and gave me hope about Nigeria. It also gave me so much concern because it brought to fore some issues that we still have a lot of work to be done between Nigerians of different religion, races, ethnicity and class.
Many of my friends from across Nigeria and abroad called me to ask questions on the way forward for my projects across Nigeria and many called to express their anger or frustrations.
I am not in the least at ease about anything or under any illusion that it is Uhuru for Nigeria. When I started to write this afternoon especially addressed to Northerners specifically Muslims and “core north” I got a call from a friend who said he wants to send me a message and wants me to make sure as many Nigerians get to read it.
Well, I don’t know many people but I believe you that is reading this will help me share this message.
This is his sincere opinion and even though I may not agree with all he’s said he nonetheless spoke 90% of my mind.
Please read and share
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Let me start by saying congratulations to Muhammadu Buhari for winning the presidential election and emerging as Nigeria’s president-elect. I have come to realise that Buhari’s victory is the will of God for Nigeria and so, I have come to accept him as my president.
I also want to congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan for being mature enough to accept defeat and concede the election. This man remains one of the greatest Nigerian presidents because he could have decided to set Nigeria on fire but chose the honourable path.
I want to also recognise all my fellow PDP e-warriors that stood beside the President. Thank you for your resilience and unflinching support all through the struggle. Also to recognise all the APC e-warriors who fought bravely in support of their party despite all odds and won the battle.
MY MESSAGE FOR BUHARI
Now that you have become the President, I want to let you know that the change Nigerians really need is not the change of personalities or political party, Nigerians are just tired of the way things have been going in this country. Nigerians are suffering; we struggle to provide basic needs that ordinarily the Government should provide. Thieves continue to steal and get richer while the majority of Nigerians are languishing in poverty. This is the reason why Nigerians have decided to give you a chance; the people believe that God can use you to turn things around in this country that is why you were voted for last Saturday.
(1) Fight corruption to a complete halt in this country especially in the petroleum sector. Sanitize the NNPC, ensure transparency and accountability. Nigerians all over should be able to benefit from our God-given resources. A few cannot continue to hold this country to ransom and steal at will.
(2) Provide stable and reliable power supply for Nigerians. This will enable SME’s to thrive and encourage investors to flock massively into the country. The cost of doing business in this country is crazy because of high energy costs. We must do away with generators in this country for good Mr President.
(3) Please diversify our economy. We cannot continue to depend heavily on oil in Nigeria. Sit down and take a good look at the six geopolitical zones in this country and find a way of harnessing all economic potentials for the good of all Nigerians. Our economy must be less dependent on crude oil.
(4) Deal ruthlessly with corrupt persons who believe that they can continue to steal and do business as usual. This is a democracy but Mr President, you are the C-in-C and you have enormous powers at your disposal, please use them! Don’t be like Jonathan who allowed his Government to be hijacked by criminals who looted the nation dry while Nigerians cried.
(5) Finally, Buhari could be the man that God could use to finally cement Nigeria’s bond of unity by handing over to an Igbo-Nigerian president after his tenure in office whether 4 or 8yrs. Like the Elder statesman Yakubu Gowon said, electing an Igbo president would heal the old wounds of the civil war. Buhari’s name will be written in gold both in the hearts of the Igbos if he can be the instrument to achieving Igbo presidency in this country. If Buhari, being a Fulani from the North can transfer presidential power to the Igbos after him then he will be like the hinge holding Nigeria together.
A WORD FOR THE SOUTH EAST
I want to thank my geopolitical zone the SOUTH EAST for standing with Jonathan till the end. Yes, he lost the election but we have made a bold statement that we can stand with you till death when we give you our word. There was immense pressure to abandon the minority Ijaw man and join the majority but we refused and stood with the minority till the very end. We must however join hands with the new president to move this great nation forward. Personally, I have concluded that Nigeria has come to stay since we have survived this 2015 presidential election. Let us also build good bridges with other geopolitical zones so that we can produce Nigeria’s president after Buhari. No zone can produce the president alone in this country; you need the support of at least four zones to produce the president!
Let us also eschew bitterness and drop all these talk about Biafra; we are Nigerians and we have everything to gain in this country if we can play our game well.
A WORD FOR THE NIGER DELTA
Thank God we can now say that Nigeria has produced a president for the first time from the minority in the person of Goodluck Jonathan who is about to leave office. I can understand the pain/anger because of the outcome of this election but the truth is that what has happened is the will of God for Nigeria; I see the finger of God in all these. This is Buhari’s time to rule this country; he is a man of destiny. He has come just at the right time to save this country from gliding into abyss.
Stop calling the Yorubas traitors and all that. Remember that the Yorubas overwhelmingly voted for your son in 2011 and rejected this same Buhari. Check the figures and see that Buhari was soundly rejected by the Yorubas in 2011. All Nigerians believed that Jonathan would be a Messiah that would come and turn things around in this country; this was a man who had no shoes to go to school, who was from a poor background. Nigerians voted massively for him only to be so disappointed that he has not been able to make their lives better. Things are much more difficult for Nigerians now than when Jonathan took over. This is the reason why the Yorubas have rejected Jonathan this time. It is not out of hatred or gang-up but because he has not performed well! Same story about most of the MB and that is why Jonathan lost the MB. Nigerians never had it this bad, state Governors are owing salaries for months, people are hungry, unable to pay school fees and unable to meet their basic human needs.
How foolish can a Government be? Imagine someone that wants to come for a second term and civil servants were not paid their December salaries to celebrate Christmas! This is just unbelievable! It was in December last year that I began to question this Government in my mind but I still continued my relentless support on Nairaland for Jonathan. I saw my relatives who were Civil Servants going hungry during the Christmas celebrations, some could not even purchase new clothes for their kid, how painful!
As for me, I will do my very best in my own little capacity to support Buhari in changing this country for good. If things should continue the way they were going under Jonathan I wonder what the future of our children would be to be honest. It is God that has pushed out Jonathan not Nigerians because of all the prayers and crying that has gone up to him.
Let me also use this medium to appeal to all reasonable Yorubas on Nairaland to prevail on their people to stop opening funny threads about Igbo this Igbo that just because Jonathan lost. The APC people should stop opening threads to tell other Nigerians ‘Ntorrr’, we should move away from such pettiness and mediocrity.
A WORD TO THE CORE NORTH
And to the core North, let this election be a lesson and a reference point. A southerner sitting as president presided over his own defeat, accepted the results and went ahead to congratulate the winner from the north. In 2011 when Jonathan defeated Buhari, he refused to concede defeat but shouted that the election was rigged when we all know that he was defeated by Jonathan then. Nobody is burning tyres on the road in the South, nobody is burning Mosques, nobody is burning houses/cars and nobody is going about killing Northerners. Should the Northerners lose elections in future we expect them to accept the results and not disturb the peace. Jonathan has set a very good precedent not only for Nigeria but Africa.