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#2023ELECTION - Open Letter To Mr Peter Obi

#2023ELECTION - Open Letter To Mr Peter Obi


It is my utmost honor and privilege to be able to have a platform through which an unknown citizen of this great country and a member of the Obidient family can communicate with his revered presidential candidate.


I am constrained to write to you this open letter, I decided to use this platform because the issue is very weighty and must be of a great concern to you, sir.

Thanks be to God that your rising political impact has inspired so much exceeding joy and endless hope among Nigerians, we have never had it this good.


Let me also congratulate you on your choice of Akin Osuntokun as the new Director General of the presidential campaign organization.

The action of Dr Doyin Okupe in stepping aside as the DG, presidential campaign organization was an act of courage, responsibility and critical ethical decision. 

Dr Okupe took a noble and bold step that has given the Obidient movement a moral boost. It is a resounding testament to the fact that your administration, when elected, will exercise moral responsibility in executing public duties.

We shall have a government where national interest will be placed above personal goals.


But sir, there are many questions behind Dr Okupe's conviction at the federal high court and his subsequent resignation as the Director General of the campaign movement begging for honest answers.

The story of Dr Doyin Okupe is well known to us, his strong-willed and determined posture have been the backbone of the many victories we have recorded in the Obidient movement. 

There is so much nobility, courage and sacrifice in him.


Your Excellency, Nigerians are extremely convinced that your government will build a stable, safe and prosperous nation, a country that's at ease with itself.


However, there are some 'cabal' within the presidential campaign office who are flippantly and intermittently engaged in extreme churlish practices to sabotage our efforts.

Their activities must be speedily checked, otherwise they will soil the good image and goodwill that the Obidient movement enjoys from Nigerians.

These group of persons are pathologically opposed to your principles, unfortunately, they have found their ways into your heart and gained your trust. They are wolves in sheep clothings - our enemies are within, eating with you in the day but cohort at night with the opposition. They are intentionally acting to prevent the success of the movement, sir.


These elements were the ones that ganged up against Dr Okupe to take him out the way for obvious reasons. 

The poor outing of the campaign team to Kogi, Cross River and Bayelsa are enough to make you look inwards to find out why:


- campaign materials and fundings are not released to support groups.


- there are many disturbing evidences of embezzlement of funds meant for campaigns.


- misunderstandings and divisions among the campaign team.


As our case is new, we must  think and act anew. We can't continue in the old way of 'use and dump'. The dogmas of the empty past is not enough to the stormy present.

Okupe sacrificed his presidential ambition to give maximum support to your candidacy, his committed gave birth to a national appeal and acceptance. At a point, he was your running mate as a placeholder and his accusers were nowhere around. Now that everything seems ok, he must be kicked out.


Recently, there was a well laid out plan through the Ogun state chapter of the Labor party to expel him, for unsubstantiable claim of financial infraction.

Where were his accusers when he was the only politician from another tribe that openly endorsed your candidacy and made huge commitments towards this movement?


Given my close study of recent ugly events, these people working hard to frustrate our collective efforts are your kinsmen, this I believe gave them the audacity to work against Dr Okupe who has sacrificed almost everything but his life for this project. The campaign setbacks and Dr Okupe's ordeal bear the finger prints of some highly placed members of Labor party. As long as these individuals continue to hold centre stage in the affairs of the movement, we will continue to suffer incalculable harms. Their excesses should be brought to a halt.


May God see you through and crown our efforts with a resounding victory.


Pls, accept the assurance of my highest consideration.


Pst Oswald Amaechi Ukaegbu.





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It is my utmost honor and privilege to be able to have a platform through which an unknown citizen of this great country and a member of the Obidient family can communicate with his revered presidential candidate.


I am constrained to write to you this open letter, I decided to use this platform because the issue is very weighty and must be of a great concern to you, sir.

Thanks be to God that your rising political impact has inspired so much exceeding joy and endless hope among Nigerians, we have never had it this good.


Let me also congratulate you on your choice of Akin Osuntokun as the new Director General of the presidential campaign organization.

The action of Dr Doyin Okupe in stepping aside as the DG, presidential campaign organization was an act of courage, responsibility and critical ethical decision. 

Dr Okupe took a noble and bold step that has given the Obidient movement a moral boost. It is a resounding testament to the fact that your administration, when elected, will exercise moral responsibility in executing public duties.

We shall have a government where national interest will be placed above personal goals.


But sir, there are many questions behind Dr Okupe's conviction at the federal high court and his subsequent resignation as the Director General of the campaign movement begging for honest answers.

The story of Dr Doyin Okupe is well known to us, his strong-willed and determined posture have been the backbone of the many victories we have recorded in the Obidient movement. 

There is so much nobility, courage and sacrifice in him.


Your Excellency, Nigerians are extremely convinced that your government will build a stable, safe and prosperous nation, a country that's at ease with itself.


However, there are some 'cabal' within the presidential campaign office who are flippantly and intermittently engaged in extreme churlish practices to sabotage our efforts.

Their activities must be speedily checked, otherwise they will soil the good image and goodwill that the Obidient movement enjoys from Nigerians.

These group of persons are pathologically opposed to your principles, unfortunately, they have found their ways into your heart and gained your trust. They are wolves in sheep clothings - our enemies are within, eating with you in the day but cohort at night with the opposition. They are intentionally acting to prevent the success of the movement, sir.


These elements were the ones that ganged up against Dr Okupe to take him out the way for obvious reasons. 

The poor outing of the campaign team to Kogi, Cross River and Bayelsa are enough to make you look inwards to find out why:


- campaign materials and fundings are not released to support groups.


- there are many disturbing evidences of embezzlement of funds meant for campaigns.


- misunderstandings and divisions among the campaign team.


As our case is new, we must  think and act anew. We can't continue in the old way of 'use and dump'. The dogmas of the empty past is not enough to the stormy present.

Okupe sacrificed his presidential ambition to give maximum support to your candidacy, his committed gave birth to a national appeal and acceptance. At a point, he was your running mate as a placeholder and his accusers were nowhere around. Now that everything seems ok, he must be kicked out.


Recently, there was a well laid out plan through the Ogun state chapter of the Labor party to expel him, for unsubstantiable claim of financial infraction.

Where were his accusers when he was the only politician from another tribe that openly endorsed your candidacy and made huge commitments towards this movement?


Given my close study of recent ugly events, these people working hard to frustrate our collective efforts are your kinsmen, this I believe gave them the audacity to work against Dr Okupe who has sacrificed almost everything but his life for this project. The campaign setbacks and Dr Okupe's ordeal bear the finger prints of some highly placed members of Labor party. As long as these individuals continue to hold centre stage in the affairs of the movement, we will continue to suffer incalculable harms. Their excesses should be brought to a halt.


May God see you through and crown our efforts with a resounding victory.


Pls, accept the assurance of my highest consideration.


Pst Oswald Amaechi Ukaegbu.





SPONSORED ADS 👇👇





 SUPPORT DELE ABIOLA/OBI-DATTI GRASSROOT MOBILISATION

SEND YOUR DONATION AS MAY BE APPLICABLE TO :

#DESO: BC1YLfmkzzektXK3LmvaPCb3vppHdBfFYLXTBCK6S7uATxRC8d8Qwm4

#BTC-bc1q9fkycv64qn6rc89pyhzqmhp0vfhqp4xrf4fd5e

#USDC ( ETHER)- 0xF7775BB2dDCf6188aE35e9C000F7917d46EDce62

BANKS;

NAME - OLUDELE ABIOLA
BANK - GUARANTY TRUST BANK

1. EURO : 0149669383
2. USDollar : 0049234083
3. NAIRA: 0049234076





SPONSORED ADS 👇👇


A1 PREMIER MODEL ACADEMY LTD, OSOGBO, OSUN STATE, NIGERIA




Excellent, our choice!!!



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End Twitter suspension and violations of the right to Freedom of expression

End Twitter suspension and violations of the right to Freedom of expression



Dear President, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,

Dear Attorney General of the Federation, Abubarka Malami




Nigerian authorities have unlawfully suspended access to Twitter for millions of Nigerians. They even directed Media houses to deactivate their Twitter accounts. Those actions are clear violations of the right to freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of the press.

I call on you to ensure that access to Twitter is unimpeded and that no other restrictions are put in place to hinder access to any social media.

When in the streets, peaceful protesters are met with violent reprisal from the Nigerian authorities. Now their online voices have been silenced as well.




I urge you to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, access to information, and press freedom.



Nigerians’ voices matter.




Sincerely,

Oludele Abiola



You too can sign and share this letter!


Buhari & Malami

EMAIL PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND ATTORNEY GENERAL ABUBAKAR MALAMI

Your email will go directly to their inboxes from the email address you provide. 







Dear President, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,

Dear Attorney General of the Federation, Abubarka Malami




Nigerian authorities have unlawfully suspended access to Twitter for millions of Nigerians. They even directed Media houses to deactivate their Twitter accounts. Those actions are clear violations of the right to freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of the press.

I call on you to ensure that access to Twitter is unimpeded and that no other restrictions are put in place to hinder access to any social media.

When in the streets, peaceful protesters are met with violent reprisal from the Nigerian authorities. Now their online voices have been silenced as well.




I urge you to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, access to information, and press freedom.



Nigerians’ voices matter.




Sincerely,

Oludele Abiola



You too can sign and share this letter!


Buhari & Malami

EMAIL PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND ATTORNEY GENERAL ABUBAKAR MALAMI

Your email will go directly to their inboxes from the email address you provide. 





Is the desired change possible in Lagos State policing? TIB Welcomes Newly appointed Police Public Relations Officer CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu

Is the desired change possible in Lagos State policing? TIB Welcomes Newly appointed Police Public Relations Officer CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu

An open letter by the Take It Back Movement, Lagos.


The New Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer,

Lagos State Police command,

'CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu.'



Take It Back Movement Lagos Chapter congratulates you on your new appointment as Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO). With your past experience both within Lagos and outside, it is an appointment well deserved.



Having Said that, we all know policing in Lagos is a great task. Lagos is highly populated and there are so many young men and women living on the street, doing all sought of unchecked activities. The question on the mind of Lagosians is, 'Is it possible for the new PPRO to bring the desired change we need in Lagos State?'


Also, your predecessor who resumed September 2020 made his phone number available to the public just as you have done; it came in handy for Lagosians when they had issues with the police, but the PPRO must find a way to connect deeply than that.   


Over the years, the Lagos State Police have not been able to form a strong relationship with the public it serves, all they have done is to input fear into the people. Not only that, systematic corruption, using of lethal force wrongly, extra judicial killings, extortions, illegal arrest and detention, illegal raiding and much more. All these make the public to continue to detest the police and in-turn reduce the chances of the police to solve real crimes. The Lagos State Police Command cannot succeed in its fight against crimes and criminality in the state as long as they keep going after innocent citizens instead of criminals on the street.


Recent cases of torture include the following: the case of Tunde Abass, who was arrested at Onipanu for filming a scene where  policemen from Onipanu division were carrying out illegal arrest and harassment. He was in prison for days, beaten and tortured. Thanks to Nigerians and the former PPRO that stepped in to secure his release. Another one happened in Ikorodu where a young man was arrested for no reason at all, he was tortured, moved to SCID Panti where he died in police custody. Eji died for no reason, the most terrible part of the story is the police denied his family the opportunity of seeing him and treating him while he was still alive. Also, the case of  Oyeleke Jumoke that was killed by a stray bullet from the police at Yoruba Nation protest in July. We have not gotten justice for that yet. There are many more terrible events of the Lagos State Police command violating the rights of citizens and getting away with it.


CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu

This must stop; we believe you can be the one to influence that change and as a Human Rights Movement, we are ready to work with you. Importantly, Police are meant to detect and prevent crimes and protect lives and property. But in Lagos, the reverse is the case. Actually, some of them are committing crimes against the people. As for protection, only the rich and the influencial get it. The masses are deprived of their rights.


The police system is a necessity but there is a need for reformation so as to serve the people properly and not further the endangerment of people at the expense of protecting them. Lagosians see the police as an instrument of the government to unleash terror at the slightest opportunity. The taskforce carries out illegal activities such as: raiding the markets and violating the rights of taxi and Danfo drivers. All these must stop. The police gets very little or zero cooperation from the public to aid their work. The communication gap between the police and the public continues to grow wider everyday. 


Lots of crimes, murders and robbery have not been solved because Lagosians with information on the case would never come forward due to their hatred for the police force. You cannot expect a family or community that has experienced trauma as a result of the actions of the police to give credible information on any case. In fact, criminals get more cooperation from the public than the police. 


The police cannot do any real police work without good relationship with the community they are serving. But it seems some of the men in the police force are not even interested in solving those crimes. Neither are they  interested in their public image. And that can only change when they are properly reorientated. 


The Lagos State Police command needs to be reformed and their welfare in terms of payment and incentive should be looked into. When the perception of the people about the police changes, the police would enjoy maximum cooperation from the public, which would enable them to carry out their function on crime prevention, apprehension of criminals and maintaining a peaceful society.


In a society, where peaceful protesters are seen as criminals while criminals are treated as VIP's, crime would continue to flourish. 


The  Lagos State Police command needs to reorganize their activities in Lagos. Peaceful protesters should be protected and their rights to protest respected. Police officers should be taught on how to handle peaceful protest, because the protest would never stop, even after we have gotten a better Nigeria.


Until the renumeration of the police are looked into and their welfare properly taken care of, the Lagos State Police command will continue to serve the highest bidder or the deepest pocket before they think of an average Lagosian. The tendency to get rich quick would continue to cause illegal raiding and unfairness to the public.


Even though our country is in a terrible economic, political and social state, the police force can still maintain peace and respect  human and civil rights of her citizens.


Brutalizing of citizens, corruption, unfairness in dealing with suspects, overuse of force, bullying of citizens, abuse of citizens right with impunity, extra judicial killings, aiding and abetting criminal activities and much more must stop in Lagos and in Nigeria.


Lagos State is the center piece of every action. Once the police force in Lagos gets better, most state would follow suit. Police should stop being snipers but learn to stop snipers in Nigeria.


Once again, congratulations on your new appointment as Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police command.



Ayoyinka Oni,

Lagos State Coordinator,

Take It Back Movement.

An open letter by the Take It Back Movement, Lagos.


The New Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer,

Lagos State Police command,

'CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu.'



Take It Back Movement Lagos Chapter congratulates you on your new appointment as Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO). With your past experience both within Lagos and outside, it is an appointment well deserved.



Having Said that, we all know policing in Lagos is a great task. Lagos is highly populated and there are so many young men and women living on the street, doing all sought of unchecked activities. The question on the mind of Lagosians is, 'Is it possible for the new PPRO to bring the desired change we need in Lagos State?'


Also, your predecessor who resumed September 2020 made his phone number available to the public just as you have done; it came in handy for Lagosians when they had issues with the police, but the PPRO must find a way to connect deeply than that.   


Over the years, the Lagos State Police have not been able to form a strong relationship with the public it serves, all they have done is to input fear into the people. Not only that, systematic corruption, using of lethal force wrongly, extra judicial killings, extortions, illegal arrest and detention, illegal raiding and much more. All these make the public to continue to detest the police and in-turn reduce the chances of the police to solve real crimes. The Lagos State Police Command cannot succeed in its fight against crimes and criminality in the state as long as they keep going after innocent citizens instead of criminals on the street.


Recent cases of torture include the following: the case of Tunde Abass, who was arrested at Onipanu for filming a scene where  policemen from Onipanu division were carrying out illegal arrest and harassment. He was in prison for days, beaten and tortured. Thanks to Nigerians and the former PPRO that stepped in to secure his release. Another one happened in Ikorodu where a young man was arrested for no reason at all, he was tortured, moved to SCID Panti where he died in police custody. Eji died for no reason, the most terrible part of the story is the police denied his family the opportunity of seeing him and treating him while he was still alive. Also, the case of  Oyeleke Jumoke that was killed by a stray bullet from the police at Yoruba Nation protest in July. We have not gotten justice for that yet. There are many more terrible events of the Lagos State Police command violating the rights of citizens and getting away with it.


CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu

This must stop; we believe you can be the one to influence that change and as a Human Rights Movement, we are ready to work with you. Importantly, Police are meant to detect and prevent crimes and protect lives and property. But in Lagos, the reverse is the case. Actually, some of them are committing crimes against the people. As for protection, only the rich and the influencial get it. The masses are deprived of their rights.


The police system is a necessity but there is a need for reformation so as to serve the people properly and not further the endangerment of people at the expense of protecting them. Lagosians see the police as an instrument of the government to unleash terror at the slightest opportunity. The taskforce carries out illegal activities such as: raiding the markets and violating the rights of taxi and Danfo drivers. All these must stop. The police gets very little or zero cooperation from the public to aid their work. The communication gap between the police and the public continues to grow wider everyday. 


Lots of crimes, murders and robbery have not been solved because Lagosians with information on the case would never come forward due to their hatred for the police force. You cannot expect a family or community that has experienced trauma as a result of the actions of the police to give credible information on any case. In fact, criminals get more cooperation from the public than the police. 


The police cannot do any real police work without good relationship with the community they are serving. But it seems some of the men in the police force are not even interested in solving those crimes. Neither are they  interested in their public image. And that can only change when they are properly reorientated. 


The Lagos State Police command needs to be reformed and their welfare in terms of payment and incentive should be looked into. When the perception of the people about the police changes, the police would enjoy maximum cooperation from the public, which would enable them to carry out their function on crime prevention, apprehension of criminals and maintaining a peaceful society.


In a society, where peaceful protesters are seen as criminals while criminals are treated as VIP's, crime would continue to flourish. 


The  Lagos State Police command needs to reorganize their activities in Lagos. Peaceful protesters should be protected and their rights to protest respected. Police officers should be taught on how to handle peaceful protest, because the protest would never stop, even after we have gotten a better Nigeria.


Until the renumeration of the police are looked into and their welfare properly taken care of, the Lagos State Police command will continue to serve the highest bidder or the deepest pocket before they think of an average Lagosian. The tendency to get rich quick would continue to cause illegal raiding and unfairness to the public.


Even though our country is in a terrible economic, political and social state, the police force can still maintain peace and respect  human and civil rights of her citizens.


Brutalizing of citizens, corruption, unfairness in dealing with suspects, overuse of force, bullying of citizens, abuse of citizens right with impunity, extra judicial killings, aiding and abetting criminal activities and much more must stop in Lagos and in Nigeria.


Lagos State is the center piece of every action. Once the police force in Lagos gets better, most state would follow suit. Police should stop being snipers but learn to stop snipers in Nigeria.


Once again, congratulations on your new appointment as Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police command.



Ayoyinka Oni,

Lagos State Coordinator,

Take It Back Movement.

ODUDUWA REPUBLIC: Open letter to British PM Boris Johnson

ODUDUWA REPUBLIC: Open letter to British PM Boris Johnson

12 July 2021

 

Mr Boris Johnson

The Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London

SW1A 2AA

 

Dear Mr Johnson,


I write to respectfully ask that you confirm that the British incorporation of Yorubaland into Nigeria in 1914 was illegitimate and void.

 


The London Gazette of 5 January 1900 identified two British ‘territories’ in Yorubaland - Colony of Lagos and Lagos Protectorate. But Lugard in his 1920 report to parliament wrote: ‘I found that no one - neither the Colonial Office nor the Chief Justice - had any clear idea as to what jurisdiction could legally be exercised by the crown, or what executive powers were, under the Treaties, vested in the Colonial Government, in these important districts lying astride the railway which is the main artery of Nigeria… [the report by the Chief Justice] may be accurately described as a pronouncement that the whole question of jurisdiction was in a chaotic state, and that the administration of the Colonial Government in the past was full of anomalies. Even the boundaries of the Colony proper had never been defined.’

 

In other words, before and at the point on 1 January 1914 when Lugard pronounced his Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria, Britain did not have jurisdiction over the whole of Yorubaland. In 1894, the power of the British Governor did not extend more than 50 miles inland from the coast. In 1914, Britain merged Yorubaland, a territory that was not her own, with territories that belonged to her. Thus, the British amalgamation of Yorubaland with their Northern and Southern Protectorates was fraudulent and illegitimate. Since Yorubaland did not legally belong to Britain to amalgamate with others, it could not legally belong to Britain after amalgamation. This is a very important legal point. Resolution of the Bakassi dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon confirms the relevance of jurisdictional issues long steeped in colonial history.

 

There is a further important legal point. Lugard in the 1920 report to parliament said that he amalgamated northern and southern Nigeria for two reasons 1) Finance - to use southern surplus to bail out northern deficit and 2) Railways - to ensure for the north ‘the development of its trade and to secure its Custom duties’. In other words, amalgamation was an economic merger not a political union. On 1 January 1914, after oaths of office had been taken in Lagos and Zungeru, the regional capitals, Lugard celebrated Amalgamation with northern rulers with a Durbar in Kano. No celebrations were held in the south thus confirming that Amalgamation was indeed a purely economic acquisition intended exclusively for the benefit of the north. Titles of office holders are irrelevant in these circumstances. It is the subject matter that is relevant.

 

The 1914 Amalgamation was, and still is, Nigeria’s founding constitution and incorporating jurisdiction. There was no other legal instrument creating the geographical entity that we know as Nigeria. Without Amalgamation, there was no Nigeria. Nigeria was the Amalgamation’s copyright. Name and purpose were inextricably and permanently linked. The Amalgamation thus was an entrenched constitution like England’s Magna Carta. Indeed, Britain did not revise or supersede it so that any subsequent constitution that Britain made for Nigeria between 1914 and 1960 that did not derive its authority directly from the 1914 Amalgamation was fraudulent and illegitimate. Thus, as long as the name Nigeria was retained, that country had no legitimacy other than as an economic merger.

 

In 1865, the British parliament accepted their Select Committee recommendation to withdraw from all settlements including Lagos and not to annexe new territories. The parliament decided:

‘That all further extensions of territory or assumption of government or new treaties offering protection to native tribes will be inexpedient, and that the object of our policy should be to encourage in the native the exercise of those qualities that may render it possible for us more and more to transfer to them the administration of all the government, with a view to our ultimate withdrawal from all except probably Sierra Leone. 


That this policy of non-extension admits to no exception as regards new settlements, but cannot amount to an absolute prohibition of measures which in a peculiar case may be necessary for the more efficient and economical administration of the settlement we already possess.’

 

The Colonial government on the ground ignored that very clear and unambiguous parliamentary decision. In other words, from 1865, the acquisition of Yorubaland was against the wishes of the British parliament.  Commercial pressures, in particular by the Berlin 1884 conference’s ‘Scramble for Africa’ and the 1893/4 friction with France, caused British officials on the ground to change course and champion the cause of the Niger Company and declare protectorates. In 1899, Britain bought out the Charter of the company. The post-1865 approach towards Nigeria was effected by means of a series of Letters of Patent and Orders in Council directed at perfecting one legal imperfection after another, and designed to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.

 

A Letters Patent was a legal instrument, a published written order, giving exclusive rights and privileges to representatives of the Crown. An Order-in-Council made under the Royal prerogative was an order issued to give legal effect to a decision of the cabinet and the executive that they deemed not to require approval by parliament. Lord Mansfield in Campbell v Hall (1774) 1Cowp 204, saying that ‘the king has a right to a legislative authority over a conquered country’, confirmed the legal authority for the prerogative. The general judicial attitude in Britain nevertheless was that the right to make law (legislative right) was different from legislation (ie law passed by parliament). A colonial law, under the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865, was valid only if it was lawful. The subject matter determined validity in law not the source. Amalgamation was an abuse of executive power because it took from the south to give to the north without a quid quo pro. British consular rule during the establishment of the Southern Protectorate was autocratic, characterised by gunboat diplomacy, brutality, dishonesty, flagrant disregard for treaty rights, and frequently exceeding instructions or acting without any.

 

As you know, the Yoruba are agitating for a homeland of their own out of Nigeria. All the aforesaid provide legal justification for that agitation.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Chief (Dr) Olusola Oni

MBBS, MSc, MD, LLM, GDL, FRCSEd, FWACS, FMCS, FRCSEng

(Baasegun Alabe of Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria)

For and on Behalf of Yoruba Descendants

12 July 2021

 

Mr Boris Johnson

The Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London

SW1A 2AA

 

Dear Mr Johnson,


I write to respectfully ask that you confirm that the British incorporation of Yorubaland into Nigeria in 1914 was illegitimate and void.

 


The London Gazette of 5 January 1900 identified two British ‘territories’ in Yorubaland - Colony of Lagos and Lagos Protectorate. But Lugard in his 1920 report to parliament wrote: ‘I found that no one - neither the Colonial Office nor the Chief Justice - had any clear idea as to what jurisdiction could legally be exercised by the crown, or what executive powers were, under the Treaties, vested in the Colonial Government, in these important districts lying astride the railway which is the main artery of Nigeria… [the report by the Chief Justice] may be accurately described as a pronouncement that the whole question of jurisdiction was in a chaotic state, and that the administration of the Colonial Government in the past was full of anomalies. Even the boundaries of the Colony proper had never been defined.’

 

In other words, before and at the point on 1 January 1914 when Lugard pronounced his Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria, Britain did not have jurisdiction over the whole of Yorubaland. In 1894, the power of the British Governor did not extend more than 50 miles inland from the coast. In 1914, Britain merged Yorubaland, a territory that was not her own, with territories that belonged to her. Thus, the British amalgamation of Yorubaland with their Northern and Southern Protectorates was fraudulent and illegitimate. Since Yorubaland did not legally belong to Britain to amalgamate with others, it could not legally belong to Britain after amalgamation. This is a very important legal point. Resolution of the Bakassi dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon confirms the relevance of jurisdictional issues long steeped in colonial history.

 

There is a further important legal point. Lugard in the 1920 report to parliament said that he amalgamated northern and southern Nigeria for two reasons 1) Finance - to use southern surplus to bail out northern deficit and 2) Railways - to ensure for the north ‘the development of its trade and to secure its Custom duties’. In other words, amalgamation was an economic merger not a political union. On 1 January 1914, after oaths of office had been taken in Lagos and Zungeru, the regional capitals, Lugard celebrated Amalgamation with northern rulers with a Durbar in Kano. No celebrations were held in the south thus confirming that Amalgamation was indeed a purely economic acquisition intended exclusively for the benefit of the north. Titles of office holders are irrelevant in these circumstances. It is the subject matter that is relevant.

 

The 1914 Amalgamation was, and still is, Nigeria’s founding constitution and incorporating jurisdiction. There was no other legal instrument creating the geographical entity that we know as Nigeria. Without Amalgamation, there was no Nigeria. Nigeria was the Amalgamation’s copyright. Name and purpose were inextricably and permanently linked. The Amalgamation thus was an entrenched constitution like England’s Magna Carta. Indeed, Britain did not revise or supersede it so that any subsequent constitution that Britain made for Nigeria between 1914 and 1960 that did not derive its authority directly from the 1914 Amalgamation was fraudulent and illegitimate. Thus, as long as the name Nigeria was retained, that country had no legitimacy other than as an economic merger.

 

In 1865, the British parliament accepted their Select Committee recommendation to withdraw from all settlements including Lagos and not to annexe new territories. The parliament decided:

‘That all further extensions of territory or assumption of government or new treaties offering protection to native tribes will be inexpedient, and that the object of our policy should be to encourage in the native the exercise of those qualities that may render it possible for us more and more to transfer to them the administration of all the government, with a view to our ultimate withdrawal from all except probably Sierra Leone. 


That this policy of non-extension admits to no exception as regards new settlements, but cannot amount to an absolute prohibition of measures which in a peculiar case may be necessary for the more efficient and economical administration of the settlement we already possess.’

 

The Colonial government on the ground ignored that very clear and unambiguous parliamentary decision. In other words, from 1865, the acquisition of Yorubaland was against the wishes of the British parliament.  Commercial pressures, in particular by the Berlin 1884 conference’s ‘Scramble for Africa’ and the 1893/4 friction with France, caused British officials on the ground to change course and champion the cause of the Niger Company and declare protectorates. In 1899, Britain bought out the Charter of the company. The post-1865 approach towards Nigeria was effected by means of a series of Letters of Patent and Orders in Council directed at perfecting one legal imperfection after another, and designed to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.

 

A Letters Patent was a legal instrument, a published written order, giving exclusive rights and privileges to representatives of the Crown. An Order-in-Council made under the Royal prerogative was an order issued to give legal effect to a decision of the cabinet and the executive that they deemed not to require approval by parliament. Lord Mansfield in Campbell v Hall (1774) 1Cowp 204, saying that ‘the king has a right to a legislative authority over a conquered country’, confirmed the legal authority for the prerogative. The general judicial attitude in Britain nevertheless was that the right to make law (legislative right) was different from legislation (ie law passed by parliament). A colonial law, under the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865, was valid only if it was lawful. The subject matter determined validity in law not the source. Amalgamation was an abuse of executive power because it took from the south to give to the north without a quid quo pro. British consular rule during the establishment of the Southern Protectorate was autocratic, characterised by gunboat diplomacy, brutality, dishonesty, flagrant disregard for treaty rights, and frequently exceeding instructions or acting without any.

 

As you know, the Yoruba are agitating for a homeland of their own out of Nigeria. All the aforesaid provide legal justification for that agitation.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Chief (Dr) Olusola Oni

MBBS, MSc, MD, LLM, GDL, FRCSEd, FWACS, FMCS, FRCSEng

(Baasegun Alabe of Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria)

For and on Behalf of Yoruba Descendants

COALITION OF NIGERIANS AGAINST AMERICAN BLOCKADE OF CUBA ASKS NIGERIA'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO VOTE AGAINST BLOCKED

COALITION OF NIGERIANS AGAINST AMERICAN BLOCKADE OF CUBA ASKS NIGERIA'S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO VOTE AGAINST BLOCKED


The coalition of Nigerian Movements Against the US-CUBA blocked has in a letter to the NIGERIA'S federal government demanded the country voted against the blockade at the UN general assembly.


In a letter tittles " Need for Nigeria to vote for an end to the blockade of Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly"  addressed to Geoffrey Onyeama who is the incumbent Honourable Minister of the country's foreign affairs ministry, the coalition expresses desire and the hope of millions of the Nigerian people that the country should vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 for the resolution demanding a final end to the blockade against Cuba imposed by the United States since February 7, 1962.


The coalition said: " This final push is necessary because the American establishment has treated with contempt, the 28 resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly condemning the blockade".



Read the full letter: 

NIGERIA MOVEMENT

OF SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA

c/o Pascal Bafyau Labour House, NLC Headquarters, FCT Abuja

E-mail: [email protected]

22ND JUNE 2021

WE ARE A COALITION OF NIGERIANS AGAINST AMERICAN BLOCKADE OF CUBA!

COPIED: The United Nations General Assembly, c/o UN Office, Abuja-Nigeria.

His Excellency Geoffrey Onyeama.

The Honourable Minister

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tafawa Balewa building

Federal Secretariat

Central Business District

Abuja- Nigeria.

Your Excellency,

Need for Nigeria to vote for an end to the blockade of Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly

We, a coalition comprising the two labour centres in the country; the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC ) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), radical progressive groups, intellectuals in the Academic unions, Civil Society and Human Rights organisations organised as the Nigerian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, bring you greetings.

We write to express our desire and the hope of millions of the Nigerian people that our country should vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 for the resolution demanding a final end to the blockade against Cuba imposed by the United States since February 7, 1962. This final push is necessary because the American establishment has treated with contempt, the 28 resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly condemning the blockade.

Your Excellency, Nigeria as a country has consistently voted against the blockade, and at this final stage, we need to make our vote emphatic. This will be in line with the February 7, 2021 Resolution of the African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit, which in declaring “its solidarity with the People of Cuba” also expressed: “serious concern about the continuous and illegal Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”

Needless to remind Your Excellency that Nigeria’s principled opposition against the blockade is basically in line with the very reason why the United Nations was established in 1945. Specifically, the United Nations Charter and Resolutions (Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2) states that the purpose of the UN Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace."

The right of all countries to self-determination which the US is challenging by its unilateral blockade of Cuba for six decades now, is sacrosanct. It was this principle Nigeria stood for in ensuring independence for all countries particularly in the bloody liberation wars in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. We need not remind ourselves of the fact that thousands of Cuban youths laid down their precious lives on the African soil fighting the forces of Apartheid and militarily defeating them to ensure the liberation of our continent.

Your Excellency, the US blockage against Cuba is tantamount to genocide as it blocks that country from free trade including freely importing and exporting goods, using credit from financial institutions or import life-saving medicines including for the Covid-19 pandemic. At the outbreak of the pandemic, the Chinese business mogul, Jack Ma sent life-saving medicines and emergency Covid-19 materials to various countries including Nigeria and Cuba. While all beneficiary countries received the aid, Cuba was denied because the American embargo forbids airlines delivering such aid to the Cubans.

In financial terms, the accumulated quantifiable cost of the blockade to Cuba over the past sixty years is $1,098,008,000,000. No country can be subjected to such haemorrhage and remain financially healthy.

Your Excellency, we urge our country not just to vote to tear down the walls of the American blockade, but also to give leadership to the African continent in delivering a strong ‘Yes’ vote against this unilateral and inhuman blockade against a sister country with ancestral roots in Africa.

As we look forward to positive results in this universal struggle for human liberation, please accept our high regards.

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE COALITION OF NIGERIANS AGAINST AMERICAN BLOCKADE OF CUBA.

Comrade Abiodun Aremu

For and on behalf of the Nigerian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba


The coalition of Nigerian Movements Against the US-CUBA blocked has in a letter to the NIGERIA'S federal government demanded the country voted against the blockade at the UN general assembly.


In a letter tittles " Need for Nigeria to vote for an end to the blockade of Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly"  addressed to Geoffrey Onyeama who is the incumbent Honourable Minister of the country's foreign affairs ministry, the coalition expresses desire and the hope of millions of the Nigerian people that the country should vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 for the resolution demanding a final end to the blockade against Cuba imposed by the United States since February 7, 1962.


The coalition said: " This final push is necessary because the American establishment has treated with contempt, the 28 resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly condemning the blockade".



Read the full letter: 

NIGERIA MOVEMENT

OF SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA

c/o Pascal Bafyau Labour House, NLC Headquarters, FCT Abuja

E-mail: [email protected]

22ND JUNE 2021

WE ARE A COALITION OF NIGERIANS AGAINST AMERICAN BLOCKADE OF CUBA!

COPIED: The United Nations General Assembly, c/o UN Office, Abuja-Nigeria.

His Excellency Geoffrey Onyeama.

The Honourable Minister

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tafawa Balewa building

Federal Secretariat

Central Business District

Abuja- Nigeria.

Your Excellency,

Need for Nigeria to vote for an end to the blockade of Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly

We, a coalition comprising the two labour centres in the country; the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC ) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), radical progressive groups, intellectuals in the Academic unions, Civil Society and Human Rights organisations organised as the Nigerian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, bring you greetings.

We write to express our desire and the hope of millions of the Nigerian people that our country should vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 for the resolution demanding a final end to the blockade against Cuba imposed by the United States since February 7, 1962. This final push is necessary because the American establishment has treated with contempt, the 28 resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly condemning the blockade.

Your Excellency, Nigeria as a country has consistently voted against the blockade, and at this final stage, we need to make our vote emphatic. This will be in line with the February 7, 2021 Resolution of the African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit, which in declaring “its solidarity with the People of Cuba” also expressed: “serious concern about the continuous and illegal Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”

Needless to remind Your Excellency that Nigeria’s principled opposition against the blockade is basically in line with the very reason why the United Nations was established in 1945. Specifically, the United Nations Charter and Resolutions (Chapter 1, Article 1, part 2) states that the purpose of the UN Charter is: "To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace."

The right of all countries to self-determination which the US is challenging by its unilateral blockade of Cuba for six decades now, is sacrosanct. It was this principle Nigeria stood for in ensuring independence for all countries particularly in the bloody liberation wars in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. We need not remind ourselves of the fact that thousands of Cuban youths laid down their precious lives on the African soil fighting the forces of Apartheid and militarily defeating them to ensure the liberation of our continent.

Your Excellency, the US blockage against Cuba is tantamount to genocide as it blocks that country from free trade including freely importing and exporting goods, using credit from financial institutions or import life-saving medicines including for the Covid-19 pandemic. At the outbreak of the pandemic, the Chinese business mogul, Jack Ma sent life-saving medicines and emergency Covid-19 materials to various countries including Nigeria and Cuba. While all beneficiary countries received the aid, Cuba was denied because the American embargo forbids airlines delivering such aid to the Cubans.

In financial terms, the accumulated quantifiable cost of the blockade to Cuba over the past sixty years is $1,098,008,000,000. No country can be subjected to such haemorrhage and remain financially healthy.

Your Excellency, we urge our country not just to vote to tear down the walls of the American blockade, but also to give leadership to the African continent in delivering a strong ‘Yes’ vote against this unilateral and inhuman blockade against a sister country with ancestral roots in Africa.

As we look forward to positive results in this universal struggle for human liberation, please accept our high regards.

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE COALITION OF NIGERIANS AGAINST AMERICAN BLOCKADE OF CUBA.

Comrade Abiodun Aremu

For and on behalf of the Nigerian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba

If we do not act now: Again Obasanjo Writes Major General Buhari

If we do not act now: Again Obasanjo Writes Major General Buhari

Dear President and General Buhari,


OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT, GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI


I am constrained to write to you this open letter. I decided to make it an open letter because the issue is very weighty and must be greatly worrisome to all concerned Nigerians and that means all right-thinking Nigerians and those resident in Nigeria. Since the issue is of momentous concern to all well-meaning and all right-thinking Nigerians, it must be of great concern to you, and collective thinking and dialoguing is the best way of finding an appropriate and adequate solution to the problem. The contents of this letter, therefore, should be available to all those who can help in proffering effective solutions for the problem of insecurity in the land.



One of the spinoffs and accelerants is the misinformation and disinformation through the use of fake news. A number of articles, in recent days, have been attributed to me by some people who I believe may be seeking added credence and an attentive audience for their opinions and view-points. As you know very well, I will always boldly own what I say and disown what is put into my mouth. But the issue I am addressing here is very serious; it is the issue of life and death for all of us and for our dear country, Nigeria. This issue can no longer be ignored, treated with nonchalance, swept under the carpet or treated with cuddling glove. The issue is hitting at the foundation of our existence as Nigerians and fast eroding the root of our Nigerian community. I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay. Without being immodest, as a Nigerian who still bears the scar of the Nigerian civil war on my body and with a son who bears the scar of fighting Boko Haram on his body, you can understand, I hope, why I am so concerned. When people are desperate and feel that they cannot have confidence in the ability of government to provide security for their lives and properties, they will take recourse to anything and everything that can guarantee their security individually and collectively.


For over ten years, for four of which you have been the captain of the ship, Boko Haram has menacingly ravaged the land and in spite of government’s claim of victory over Boko Haram, the potency and the activities of Boko Haram, where they are active, remain undiminished, putting lie to government’s claim. The recent explanation of the Chief of Army Staff for non-victory due to lack of commitment and lack of motivation on the part of troops bordering on sabotage speaks for itself. Say what you will, Boko Haram is still a daily issue of insecurity for those who are victimised, killed, maimed, kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and forced into marriage and for children forcibly recruited into carrying bombs on them to detonate among crowds of people to cause maximum destructions and damage. And Boko Haram will not go away on the basis of sticks alone, carrots must overweigh sticks. How else do you deal with issues such as only about 50% literacy in North-East with over 70% unemployment?


Herdsmen/farmers crises and menace started with government treating the issue with cuddling glove instead of hammer. It has festered and spread. Today, it has developed into banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and killings all over the country. The unfortunate situation is that the criminality is being perceived as a ‘Fulani’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite in the different parts of the country for a number of reasons but even more unfortunately, many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are friends of Nigeria attach vicarious responsibility to you as a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship. Perception may be as potent as reality at times. Whatever may be the grievances of Fulanis, if any, they need to be put out in the open and their grievances, if legitimate, be addressed; and if other ethnic groups have grievances, let them also be brought out in the open and addressed through debate and dialogue.


The main issue, if I may dare say, is poor management or mismanagement of diversity which, on the other hand, is one of our greatest and most important assets. As a result, very onerous cloud is gathering. And rain of destruction, violence, disaster and disunity can only be the outcome. Nothing should be taken for granted, the clock is ticking with the cacophony of dissatisfaction and disaffection everywhere in and outside the country. The Presidency and the Congress in the US have signalled to us to put our house in order. The House of Lords in the UK had debated the Nigerian security situation. We must understand and appreciate the significance, implication and likely consequences of such concerns and deliberations.


No one can stop hate speech, violent agitation and smouldering violent agitation if he fans the embers of hatred, disaffection and violence. It will continue to snowball until it is out of control. A stitch in time saves nine, goes the old wise saying. With the death of Funke, Chief Fasoranti’s daughter, some sympathetic Nigerian groups are saying “enough is enough”. Prof. Anya, a distinguished Nigerian merit Laureate, has this to say “We can no longer say with certainty that we have a nation”. Niger-Delta leaders, South-Eastern leaders, Middle-Belt leaders and Northern Elders Forum have not remained quiet. Different ordinary Nigerians at home and abroad are calling for different measures to address or ameliorate the situation. All the calls and cries can only continue to be ignored at the expense of Nigerian unity, if not its continued existence.


To be explicit and without equivocation, Mr. President and General, I am deeply worried about four avoidable calamities:


1. abandoning Nigeria into the hands of criminals who are all being suspected, rightly or wrongly, as Fulanis and terrorists of Boko Haram type.


2. spontaneous or planned reprisal attacks against Fulanis which may inadvertently or advertently mushroom into pogrom or Rwanda-type genocide that we did not believe could happen and yet it happened.


3. similar attacks against any other tribe or ethnic group anywhere in the country initiated by rumours, fears, intimidation and revenge capable of leading to pogrom.


4. violent uprising beginning from one section of the country and spreading quickly to other areas and leading to dismemberment of the country.


It happened to Yugoslavia not too long ago. If we do not act now, one or all of these scenarios may happen. We must pray and take effective actions at the same time. The initiative is in the hands of the President of the nation, but he cannot do it alone. In my part of the world, if you are sharpening your cutlass and a mad man comes from behind to take the cutlass from you, you need other people’s assistance to have your cutlass back without being harmed. The mad men with serious criminal intent and terrorism as core value have taken cutlass of security. The need for assistance to regain control is obviously compelling and must be embraced now.


A couple of weeks ago at a public lecture, I had said, among other things, that:

“In all these issues of mobilisation for national unity, stability, security, cooperation, development, growth and progress, there is no consensus. Like in the issue of security, government should open up discussion, debate and dialogue as part of consultation at different levels and the outcome of such deliberations should be collated to form inputs into a national conference to come up with the solution that will effectively deal with the issues and lead to rapid development, growth and progress which will give us a wholesome society and enhanced living standard and livelihood in an inclusive and shared society. It will be a national programme. We need unity of purpose and nationally accepted strategic roadmap that will not change with whims and caprices of any government. It must be owned by the citizens, people’s policy and strategy implemented by the government no matter its colour and leaning.


Some of the groups that I will suggest to be contacted are: traditional rulers, past heads of service (no matter how competent or incompetent they have been and how much they have contributed to the mess we are in), past heads of para-military organisations, private sector, civil society, community leaders particularly in the most affected areas, present and past governors, present and past local government leaders, religious leaders, past Heads of State, past intelligence chiefs, past Heads of Civil Service and relevant current and retired diplomats, members of opposition and any groups that may be deemed relevant.”


The President must be seen to be addressing this issue with utmost seriousness and with maximum dispatch and getting all hands on deck to help. If there is failure, the principal responsibility will be that of the President and no one else. We need cohesion and concentration of effort and maximum force – political, economic, social, psychological and military – to deal successfully with the menace of criminality and terrorism separately and together. Blame game among own forces must be avoided. It is debilitating and only helpful to our adversary. We cannot dither anymore. It is time to confront this threat headlong and in a manner that is holistic, inclusive and purposeful.


For the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians, I pray that God may grant you, as our President, the wisdom, the understanding, the political will and the courage to do what is right when it is right and without fear or favour. May God save, secure, protect and bless Nigeria. May He open to us a window of opportunity that we can still use to prevent the worst happening. As we say in my village, “May God forbid bad thing”.


signed

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO

12/06/2021

Dear President and General Buhari,


OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT, GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI


I am constrained to write to you this open letter. I decided to make it an open letter because the issue is very weighty and must be greatly worrisome to all concerned Nigerians and that means all right-thinking Nigerians and those resident in Nigeria. Since the issue is of momentous concern to all well-meaning and all right-thinking Nigerians, it must be of great concern to you, and collective thinking and dialoguing is the best way of finding an appropriate and adequate solution to the problem. The contents of this letter, therefore, should be available to all those who can help in proffering effective solutions for the problem of insecurity in the land.



One of the spinoffs and accelerants is the misinformation and disinformation through the use of fake news. A number of articles, in recent days, have been attributed to me by some people who I believe may be seeking added credence and an attentive audience for their opinions and view-points. As you know very well, I will always boldly own what I say and disown what is put into my mouth. But the issue I am addressing here is very serious; it is the issue of life and death for all of us and for our dear country, Nigeria. This issue can no longer be ignored, treated with nonchalance, swept under the carpet or treated with cuddling glove. The issue is hitting at the foundation of our existence as Nigerians and fast eroding the root of our Nigerian community. I am very much worried and afraid that we are on the precipice and dangerously reaching a tipping point where it may no longer be possible to hold danger at bay. Without being immodest, as a Nigerian who still bears the scar of the Nigerian civil war on my body and with a son who bears the scar of fighting Boko Haram on his body, you can understand, I hope, why I am so concerned. When people are desperate and feel that they cannot have confidence in the ability of government to provide security for their lives and properties, they will take recourse to anything and everything that can guarantee their security individually and collectively.


For over ten years, for four of which you have been the captain of the ship, Boko Haram has menacingly ravaged the land and in spite of government’s claim of victory over Boko Haram, the potency and the activities of Boko Haram, where they are active, remain undiminished, putting lie to government’s claim. The recent explanation of the Chief of Army Staff for non-victory due to lack of commitment and lack of motivation on the part of troops bordering on sabotage speaks for itself. Say what you will, Boko Haram is still a daily issue of insecurity for those who are victimised, killed, maimed, kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and forced into marriage and for children forcibly recruited into carrying bombs on them to detonate among crowds of people to cause maximum destructions and damage. And Boko Haram will not go away on the basis of sticks alone, carrots must overweigh sticks. How else do you deal with issues such as only about 50% literacy in North-East with over 70% unemployment?


Herdsmen/farmers crises and menace started with government treating the issue with cuddling glove instead of hammer. It has festered and spread. Today, it has developed into banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and killings all over the country. The unfortunate situation is that the criminality is being perceived as a ‘Fulani’ menace unleashed by Fulani elite in the different parts of the country for a number of reasons but even more unfortunately, many Nigerians and non-Nigerians who are friends of Nigeria attach vicarious responsibility to you as a Fulani elite and the current captain of the Nigeria ship. Perception may be as potent as reality at times. Whatever may be the grievances of Fulanis, if any, they need to be put out in the open and their grievances, if legitimate, be addressed; and if other ethnic groups have grievances, let them also be brought out in the open and addressed through debate and dialogue.


The main issue, if I may dare say, is poor management or mismanagement of diversity which, on the other hand, is one of our greatest and most important assets. As a result, very onerous cloud is gathering. And rain of destruction, violence, disaster and disunity can only be the outcome. Nothing should be taken for granted, the clock is ticking with the cacophony of dissatisfaction and disaffection everywhere in and outside the country. The Presidency and the Congress in the US have signalled to us to put our house in order. The House of Lords in the UK had debated the Nigerian security situation. We must understand and appreciate the significance, implication and likely consequences of such concerns and deliberations.


No one can stop hate speech, violent agitation and smouldering violent agitation if he fans the embers of hatred, disaffection and violence. It will continue to snowball until it is out of control. A stitch in time saves nine, goes the old wise saying. With the death of Funke, Chief Fasoranti’s daughter, some sympathetic Nigerian groups are saying “enough is enough”. Prof. Anya, a distinguished Nigerian merit Laureate, has this to say “We can no longer say with certainty that we have a nation”. Niger-Delta leaders, South-Eastern leaders, Middle-Belt leaders and Northern Elders Forum have not remained quiet. Different ordinary Nigerians at home and abroad are calling for different measures to address or ameliorate the situation. All the calls and cries can only continue to be ignored at the expense of Nigerian unity, if not its continued existence.


To be explicit and without equivocation, Mr. President and General, I am deeply worried about four avoidable calamities:


1. abandoning Nigeria into the hands of criminals who are all being suspected, rightly or wrongly, as Fulanis and terrorists of Boko Haram type.


2. spontaneous or planned reprisal attacks against Fulanis which may inadvertently or advertently mushroom into pogrom or Rwanda-type genocide that we did not believe could happen and yet it happened.


3. similar attacks against any other tribe or ethnic group anywhere in the country initiated by rumours, fears, intimidation and revenge capable of leading to pogrom.


4. violent uprising beginning from one section of the country and spreading quickly to other areas and leading to dismemberment of the country.


It happened to Yugoslavia not too long ago. If we do not act now, one or all of these scenarios may happen. We must pray and take effective actions at the same time. The initiative is in the hands of the President of the nation, but he cannot do it alone. In my part of the world, if you are sharpening your cutlass and a mad man comes from behind to take the cutlass from you, you need other people’s assistance to have your cutlass back without being harmed. The mad men with serious criminal intent and terrorism as core value have taken cutlass of security. The need for assistance to regain control is obviously compelling and must be embraced now.


A couple of weeks ago at a public lecture, I had said, among other things, that:

“In all these issues of mobilisation for national unity, stability, security, cooperation, development, growth and progress, there is no consensus. Like in the issue of security, government should open up discussion, debate and dialogue as part of consultation at different levels and the outcome of such deliberations should be collated to form inputs into a national conference to come up with the solution that will effectively deal with the issues and lead to rapid development, growth and progress which will give us a wholesome society and enhanced living standard and livelihood in an inclusive and shared society. It will be a national programme. We need unity of purpose and nationally accepted strategic roadmap that will not change with whims and caprices of any government. It must be owned by the citizens, people’s policy and strategy implemented by the government no matter its colour and leaning.


Some of the groups that I will suggest to be contacted are: traditional rulers, past heads of service (no matter how competent or incompetent they have been and how much they have contributed to the mess we are in), past heads of para-military organisations, private sector, civil society, community leaders particularly in the most affected areas, present and past governors, present and past local government leaders, religious leaders, past Heads of State, past intelligence chiefs, past Heads of Civil Service and relevant current and retired diplomats, members of opposition and any groups that may be deemed relevant.”


The President must be seen to be addressing this issue with utmost seriousness and with maximum dispatch and getting all hands on deck to help. If there is failure, the principal responsibility will be that of the President and no one else. We need cohesion and concentration of effort and maximum force – political, economic, social, psychological and military – to deal successfully with the menace of criminality and terrorism separately and together. Blame game among own forces must be avoided. It is debilitating and only helpful to our adversary. We cannot dither anymore. It is time to confront this threat headlong and in a manner that is holistic, inclusive and purposeful.


For the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians, I pray that God may grant you, as our President, the wisdom, the understanding, the political will and the courage to do what is right when it is right and without fear or favour. May God save, secure, protect and bless Nigeria. May He open to us a window of opportunity that we can still use to prevent the worst happening. As we say in my village, “May God forbid bad thing”.


signed

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO

12/06/2021

END BAD LEADERSHIP: A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE

END BAD LEADERSHIP: A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE

CONSIDER THE CONTENTS OF THIS LETTER AND THINK WISELY.


*A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE*


A MUST READ !


_The story of LEE KUAN YEW (Ex Prime Minister of Singapore for 31 years)


His OPEN LETTER TO MALAYSIAN LEADERS_


Dear *Malaysian* leaders, I want to appreciate your condolence messages to Singaporeans since my death on Sunday, March 22. Having died at the age of *91,* I would not say I died young.


In fact, life expectancy in Singapore, which I led as prime minister for 31 years, is 80 years for men and 85 for women. You may even say I spent an overtime of 11 years. I would say I lived a good life which I devoted to the progress of my country.


I can confidently say that everything I did — including that for which I was heavily criticised for being *“highhanded”* — was for the benefit of my people, not for my personal gain. I died a fulfilled man with no regrets whatsoever.


May I briefly tell you the story of Singapore so that you can understand why it is often told with admiration all over the world. We were a small, hopeless Island.


We thought we were so poor it was impossible to survive on our own. We decided to go into a union with other countries to form Malaysia in 1963.


But because of ethnic riots, we were expelled from the union in 1965, and I broke down in tears because I did not see how we were going to survive as a country. It was so bad we had no potable water. We relied on other countries for water to drink!


LEE KUAN YEW

We had no natural resources. No oil, no gold, no solid minerals, nothing. All we had were human beings — and ports.


Dear *Malaysian* leaders, we did not give up. We decided to pick the pieces of our lives. We resolved to turn our fortune around.


Today, our story has changed completely. So you know, we are no longer a *Third World country.*


We are one of the *four Asian Tigers* — so-called because of our incredible development story.


*Singapore is the only Asian country with the top AAA rating by all credit rating agencies. We are the fourth largest financial centre in the world. We have one of the five busiest ports in the world.*


Manufacturing accounts for around 30% of our GDP. And Singapore has the third highest per capita income in the world.


Permit me some more immodesty. Unlike Malaysia, we don’t have a single drop of crude oil on our land.


But also unlike Malaysia, we are one of the biggest exporters, not importers, of petroleum products.


Our country is in the top three of oil-refining centres in the world, yet we don’t have oil! We have some of the biggest refineries in the world.


Meanwhile, Malaysia, with all the oil you produce, has been importing petrol, diesel, kerosene, engine oil and other petroleum products for decades!


Let me shock you: *we are the largest oil-rig producers in the world! The World Bank ranks us as the easiest place to do business in the world. I’m blushing, even in death!*


Let me explain how we attained these feats. We are no magicians. We are no angels.


We are human beings like you, dear Malaysian leaders.


The first thing we recognised is that *quality leadership is non-negotiable!*


I understand that ordinary Malaysians get all the blame for Malaysia’s problems under the pretext that if the followers are bad, then leaders will be bad. 


I disagree.


*{THE LANGUAGE OF MAD MALAYSIAN - IMBECILE}*


If the leaders are good, the followers will be good.


The leaders take the critical decisions and show direction. *That is why they are called leaders.*


It is the dog that should be wagging the tail, not the tail wagging the dog.


Don’t blame passengers for bad driving. Countries are transformed by good leadership.


Why does a country need competent and exemplary leaders? Development starts from visioning.


No country develops by accident or co-incidence. Development is planned.


The leader, who must understand the critical issues, puts together a team, shares his vision with them, assigns them responsibilities and leads them from the front.


That is where it starts. It is when you have a vision of society that you will know that *education is key, electricity is key, health is key, infrastructure is non-negotiable.* It is when you have this vision that you know where to direct your energy and resources. You know the kind of people to put in charge of key ministries and agencies.


Furthermore, leaders must *not be obsessed with instant gratification and personal comfort.* That is one of the biggest problems you, Malaysian leaders, have.


*_You are too obsessed with the perks of office that you have forgotten why you were elected in the first instance._*


I understand that aside the presidential jets in town, you are more comfortable with chartered jets. What a waste. I will share a story with you, which you can read in my book, *From Third World to First.*


The story is on *pages 363-364* and it had to do my trip to Ottawa, Canada, for the Commonwealth meeting in 1973.


The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, arrived in style in his own aircraft.


When I landed, I saw a parked Boeing 707 with “Bangladesh” emblazoned on it. When I left, it was still standing on the same spot, idle for eight days, getting obsolescent without earning anything.


As I left the hotel for the airport, two huge vans were being loaded with packages for the Bangladeshi aircraft. At the conference, Mujibur Rahman had made a pitch for aid to his country.


Any public relations firm would have advised him not to leave his special aircraft standing for eight whole days on the parking apron. You want aid but you are showing opulence to the world.


Presidents of Kenya and Nigeria also arrived in jets. I wondered why they did not set out to impress the world that they were poor and in dire need of assistance.


Our permanent representative at the UN explained that the poorer the country, the bigger the Cadillacs they hired for their leaders.


So I made a virtue of arriving by ordinary commercial aircraft and thus helped preserve Singapore’s Third World status for many years.


However, by the mid-1990s, the World Bank refused to heed our pleas not to reclassify us as a *“High Income Developing Country”* — giving no Brownie points for my frugal travel habits. We lost all the concessions that were given to developing countries.


_*Dear Malaysian leaders, I understand that you are very, very religious.*_


*_The Muslims among you pray five times day, go for hajj so often, fast during Ramadan and mention the name of Allah as punctuation for every word and every sentence. The Christians among you are always speaking in tongues or eating communion, paying fat tithes and heavy offerings and holding prayer sessions at home every morning._*


*_Yet, I am told you loot your state treasury without compassion or compunction, inflate contracts recklessly, operate killer squads, and watch — without conscience — as your citizens struggle without clean water and good hospitals._*


Unfortunately, I died an agnostic. I neither denied nor accepted that there was a God.


Though two of my younger brothers, Freddy Lee and Lee Suan Yew, are members of the Anglican and Methodist churches respectively, I was not a churchgoer. Don’t misunderstand me: I am not saying you should not believe in God.


But I only wonder: how can you say you believe in God and fail so woefully in what the Holy Bible and Holy Qu’ran teach about loving your neighbour, caring for the needy and showing responsibility as a leader? I cannot understand it.


You guys never cease to amaze with how you can conveniently combine religion with greed.


On a final note, I appreciate that you are mourning my death and describing me as great. Thank you very much.


But I want you to know that you too can become great by putting the welfare of your citizens above your personal comfort.


MALAYSIA too can produce a *Lee Kuan Yew.* I go to my grave a happy man. Ask yourself: will you go to yours fulfilled? *Adieu!*



*End Bad Leadership*_

Pls, forward to as many friends as possible. Hoping that it will get to the right places.

*Copied*

CONSIDER THE CONTENTS OF THIS LETTER AND THINK WISELY.


*A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE*


A MUST READ !


_The story of LEE KUAN YEW (Ex Prime Minister of Singapore for 31 years)


His OPEN LETTER TO MALAYSIAN LEADERS_


Dear *Malaysian* leaders, I want to appreciate your condolence messages to Singaporeans since my death on Sunday, March 22. Having died at the age of *91,* I would not say I died young.


In fact, life expectancy in Singapore, which I led as prime minister for 31 years, is 80 years for men and 85 for women. You may even say I spent an overtime of 11 years. I would say I lived a good life which I devoted to the progress of my country.


I can confidently say that everything I did — including that for which I was heavily criticised for being *“highhanded”* — was for the benefit of my people, not for my personal gain. I died a fulfilled man with no regrets whatsoever.


May I briefly tell you the story of Singapore so that you can understand why it is often told with admiration all over the world. We were a small, hopeless Island.


We thought we were so poor it was impossible to survive on our own. We decided to go into a union with other countries to form Malaysia in 1963.


But because of ethnic riots, we were expelled from the union in 1965, and I broke down in tears because I did not see how we were going to survive as a country. It was so bad we had no potable water. We relied on other countries for water to drink!


LEE KUAN YEW

We had no natural resources. No oil, no gold, no solid minerals, nothing. All we had were human beings — and ports.


Dear *Malaysian* leaders, we did not give up. We decided to pick the pieces of our lives. We resolved to turn our fortune around.


Today, our story has changed completely. So you know, we are no longer a *Third World country.*


We are one of the *four Asian Tigers* — so-called because of our incredible development story.


*Singapore is the only Asian country with the top AAA rating by all credit rating agencies. We are the fourth largest financial centre in the world. We have one of the five busiest ports in the world.*


Manufacturing accounts for around 30% of our GDP. And Singapore has the third highest per capita income in the world.


Permit me some more immodesty. Unlike Malaysia, we don’t have a single drop of crude oil on our land.


But also unlike Malaysia, we are one of the biggest exporters, not importers, of petroleum products.


Our country is in the top three of oil-refining centres in the world, yet we don’t have oil! We have some of the biggest refineries in the world.


Meanwhile, Malaysia, with all the oil you produce, has been importing petrol, diesel, kerosene, engine oil and other petroleum products for decades!


Let me shock you: *we are the largest oil-rig producers in the world! The World Bank ranks us as the easiest place to do business in the world. I’m blushing, even in death!*


Let me explain how we attained these feats. We are no magicians. We are no angels.


We are human beings like you, dear Malaysian leaders.


The first thing we recognised is that *quality leadership is non-negotiable!*


I understand that ordinary Malaysians get all the blame for Malaysia’s problems under the pretext that if the followers are bad, then leaders will be bad. 


I disagree.


*{THE LANGUAGE OF MAD MALAYSIAN - IMBECILE}*


If the leaders are good, the followers will be good.


The leaders take the critical decisions and show direction. *That is why they are called leaders.*


It is the dog that should be wagging the tail, not the tail wagging the dog.


Don’t blame passengers for bad driving. Countries are transformed by good leadership.


Why does a country need competent and exemplary leaders? Development starts from visioning.


No country develops by accident or co-incidence. Development is planned.


The leader, who must understand the critical issues, puts together a team, shares his vision with them, assigns them responsibilities and leads them from the front.


That is where it starts. It is when you have a vision of society that you will know that *education is key, electricity is key, health is key, infrastructure is non-negotiable.* It is when you have this vision that you know where to direct your energy and resources. You know the kind of people to put in charge of key ministries and agencies.


Furthermore, leaders must *not be obsessed with instant gratification and personal comfort.* That is one of the biggest problems you, Malaysian leaders, have.


*_You are too obsessed with the perks of office that you have forgotten why you were elected in the first instance._*


I understand that aside the presidential jets in town, you are more comfortable with chartered jets. What a waste. I will share a story with you, which you can read in my book, *From Third World to First.*


The story is on *pages 363-364* and it had to do my trip to Ottawa, Canada, for the Commonwealth meeting in 1973.


The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, arrived in style in his own aircraft.


When I landed, I saw a parked Boeing 707 with “Bangladesh” emblazoned on it. When I left, it was still standing on the same spot, idle for eight days, getting obsolescent without earning anything.


As I left the hotel for the airport, two huge vans were being loaded with packages for the Bangladeshi aircraft. At the conference, Mujibur Rahman had made a pitch for aid to his country.


Any public relations firm would have advised him not to leave his special aircraft standing for eight whole days on the parking apron. You want aid but you are showing opulence to the world.


Presidents of Kenya and Nigeria also arrived in jets. I wondered why they did not set out to impress the world that they were poor and in dire need of assistance.


Our permanent representative at the UN explained that the poorer the country, the bigger the Cadillacs they hired for their leaders.


So I made a virtue of arriving by ordinary commercial aircraft and thus helped preserve Singapore’s Third World status for many years.


However, by the mid-1990s, the World Bank refused to heed our pleas not to reclassify us as a *“High Income Developing Country”* — giving no Brownie points for my frugal travel habits. We lost all the concessions that were given to developing countries.


_*Dear Malaysian leaders, I understand that you are very, very religious.*_


*_The Muslims among you pray five times day, go for hajj so often, fast during Ramadan and mention the name of Allah as punctuation for every word and every sentence. The Christians among you are always speaking in tongues or eating communion, paying fat tithes and heavy offerings and holding prayer sessions at home every morning._*


*_Yet, I am told you loot your state treasury without compassion or compunction, inflate contracts recklessly, operate killer squads, and watch — without conscience — as your citizens struggle without clean water and good hospitals._*


Unfortunately, I died an agnostic. I neither denied nor accepted that there was a God.


Though two of my younger brothers, Freddy Lee and Lee Suan Yew, are members of the Anglican and Methodist churches respectively, I was not a churchgoer. Don’t misunderstand me: I am not saying you should not believe in God.


But I only wonder: how can you say you believe in God and fail so woefully in what the Holy Bible and Holy Qu’ran teach about loving your neighbour, caring for the needy and showing responsibility as a leader? I cannot understand it.


You guys never cease to amaze with how you can conveniently combine religion with greed.


On a final note, I appreciate that you are mourning my death and describing me as great. Thank you very much.


But I want you to know that you too can become great by putting the welfare of your citizens above your personal comfort.


MALAYSIA too can produce a *Lee Kuan Yew.* I go to my grave a happy man. Ask yourself: will you go to yours fulfilled? *Adieu!*



*End Bad Leadership*_

Pls, forward to as many friends as possible. Hoping that it will get to the right places.

*Copied*

OPEN LETTER TO SUNDAY ADEYEMO IGBOHO; WE CANNOT CURE MADNESS WITH INSANITY. TO OVERCOME THE NIGERIAN SECURITY CHALLENGES WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE

OPEN LETTER TO SUNDAY ADEYEMO IGBOHO; WE CANNOT CURE MADNESS WITH INSANITY. TO OVERCOME THE NIGERIAN SECURITY CHALLENGES WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE

Dear Sunday Adeyemo Igboho,


Before now I have heard about the myth surrounding your antecedents in the political history of the country. This has shaped many people's views about you, both negatively and positively. Maybe it's not outrightly my business that you and your supporters were seen with live ammunitions, and perhaps it concerns me less that you openly threatened to commit genocidal crimes on mere speculations that occupants of a particular settlements in Oke-Ogun are terrorists. What I am dearly concern about is Justice and Fairness!


Mr Sunday, I stumbled on a video where I saw you and your supporters in a tempestuous engagement with the leader of Fulani settlement in a place referred to as Kishi Forest, an area in Oke-Ogun, Oyo State. Seriki Salisu, as he was repeated called in the video which has gone viral.


 While I would want to commend the level of consciousness that brought together a group of people who seem to be worried for the safety and security of the Oke-Ogun people and the Yoruba race at large, I would also say that your engagement with Seriki and the residents of that settlement lacks procedural merits and ideological basis. I don't know the motivation behind your sudden call and support for the secession of the Oduduwa nation and I sincerely have no problem with your ideological views because we are at a very critical moment, our nation is under siege and I understand everyone is looking for solutions and ways out of this quagmire. But, I will like to put it straight to you, that the security challenges facing SouthWest and the country at large are endemic and fundamental, and cannot be solved by attacking one tribe or burning down their houses. Without a total overhaul of our security architecture and unapologetic replacement of our political leaders and socio-economic structure of Nigerian states which will in return give birth to a pro-people democratic public institutions, we can chase dozens of Fulani out of the West, or a thousand more Hausa out of the East, and millions of Yoruba/Igbo out of the North, if we like, we will only be fetching water inside a basket and we will never gather enough to rinse a foot let alone to shower in millenia. 


Come to think of it, how can we be sure, that the Fulani who are constantly attacking and kidnapping our people are even residing in that village you burnt down?? It gets really easy for us to tribalise our problem and let ourselves allow them continue to divide us across tribal lines. How does it sound to us if a Yoruba man commits a crime in Kaduna and all Yoruba residents in that state are punished and sent out of the State?? 


Mr Sunday, do you even worry about the legal implications of your engagement with Seriki at all?? I am afraid you have no right to chase any Nigerian away from any part of the country without minding the legal potency of their occupancy. Many of them have been settled in those areas for decades and possibly have every legal right to remain and go by their lawful businesses except proven otherwise. I know we'll say Fulanis are killing and kidnapping us and do not have right to be among us. Is Sunday Sodipe, a serial killer who was allegedly killing for Adedokun Ajani for just N500 in Akinyele Area of Oyo State a Fulani man?? The policemen who have been harrassing and killing young innocent Nigerians, are they Fulani men?? Or the military men that opened fire on the peaceful protesters at the #LekkiMassacre, are they Fulani men?? Why are we so hypocritical and emotional about the whole thing?? We of course know who the enemies of the people are and where they live. Perhaps it would have had a more revolutionary impact and historical relevance if you lead us in search of all the officers that killed peaceful protesters during the #EndSars protest and had them handpicked out for justice. 


Some people have now become homeless because of your visit yesterday, even if they are initially not kidnappers, now that they're homeless under this useless government, and you think they won't easily switch from onion seller or herders that they are known for to what they're suspected of? After engaging in your extrajudicial adventure and you are successful in chasing the Fulanis away, who will be next?? Any other person who commits or purportedly commits crimes and isn't an indegene of Oyo State too can as well leave their legal abode because Sunday Igboho says so?? Is this how we want to build "our" Oduduwa Republic?? A nation who will see first, and take seriously the tribe of a criminal more than the crime is already a failed State. When a crime is committed, we seek justice, when justice cannot be given we seek revolution, otherwise we will only be rigmaroling on a spot, and history will continue to repeat itself century after century. 


Take for instance, if a similar crime is committed in Oyo when you have your Oduduwa Republic, will you send the culprits out of Oyo because they're "Egba" or "Ijesa"?? No, that would obviously not solve it or curb a reoccurrence the same way your illegal adventures in Oke-Ogun yesterday would stop nothing. It would only claim more innocent lives and incite more violence in other parts of the country, hence setting oppressed Nigerians at one another instead of uniting in voice and strength, to fight the people who brought us here in the first place, and who are doing all they can to keep the Nigerian people disunited in order to allow them continuous access to our national wealth without challenges or organised revolutionary resistance.


I know Mr Sunday will not agree with me that while we are trading blame, hatred and unhealthy rivalry amongst ourselves, a Yoruba political thief will sneak into a Fulani man's house for political reasons and expediency. They will wine, dine, and even laugh together when it's time to deceive and steal from Nigerians, while we are here busy trading unneccessary hatred and rivalry. I know a Jagaban, who will help install or impose a Buhari on the people of Nigeria and will later threaten to secede only when things are not looking well for him. They want to mortgage innocent lives again for their dirty ambitions. Mr Sunday, the "Bullion Van Lord" is more of a problem in Nigeria than a Fulani man, except you are a beneficiary of such ill-gotten wealth, you should join Nigerians in ousting these predator that have kept the rank and file of the nation in perpetual poverty. 


Lastly, I want to implore Mr Sunday, to join us in the revolutionary pursuit of fairness and justice, as the Nigerian political space is cloudy, and soon the rain of Revolution shall fall and the flood shall not spare any political thief, be it Yoruba, Igbo, Urobo, Hausa, or Fulani. Join the vast number of Nigerians calling for freedom across the federation and let's show the oppresor the way out together, rather than encouraging the oppressed to prey on one another by tribalising our common challenges. We can't generalise or define a whole race with the action or inaction of the few. Tinubu's kleptomaniac traits and legacy doesn't define the rest of us, just like all the Fulani many of us who grew up in the suburbs know to be very friendly those days, then suddenly turn dreaded creatures that symbolises fear and insecurity. This is where we should pause and reflect, something is obviously fundamentally wrong. This is neither an emotional battle, nor for the intellectually weak and gullible. The fact that a Yoruba man betrays you doesn't make all Yoruba people betrayers. The fact that an Urobo man cheats on you, doesn't make the rest of them infidels. The fact that an Igbo man defrauded you doesn't make the rest of them fraudsters. And the fact that some Fulani are constantly killing and kidnapping people doesn't define every Fulani you see on the streets of Nigeria. Our problem is already compounded and we should not make it any more complex by chasing or killing one another which will only make the very oppressor stronger. Rather, we unite and take Nigeria through a thorough, unapologetic, and surgical revolutionary process. Anything short, we will only be dancing around the problems and giving ourselves the illusion of solving them by creating bigger ones.



Olawale Adebayo Bakare (PKA Mandate)

POC, Amnesty International.

16 January, 2021.

Dear Sunday Adeyemo Igboho,


Before now I have heard about the myth surrounding your antecedents in the political history of the country. This has shaped many people's views about you, both negatively and positively. Maybe it's not outrightly my business that you and your supporters were seen with live ammunitions, and perhaps it concerns me less that you openly threatened to commit genocidal crimes on mere speculations that occupants of a particular settlements in Oke-Ogun are terrorists. What I am dearly concern about is Justice and Fairness!


Mr Sunday, I stumbled on a video where I saw you and your supporters in a tempestuous engagement with the leader of Fulani settlement in a place referred to as Kishi Forest, an area in Oke-Ogun, Oyo State. Seriki Salisu, as he was repeated called in the video which has gone viral.


 While I would want to commend the level of consciousness that brought together a group of people who seem to be worried for the safety and security of the Oke-Ogun people and the Yoruba race at large, I would also say that your engagement with Seriki and the residents of that settlement lacks procedural merits and ideological basis. I don't know the motivation behind your sudden call and support for the secession of the Oduduwa nation and I sincerely have no problem with your ideological views because we are at a very critical moment, our nation is under siege and I understand everyone is looking for solutions and ways out of this quagmire. But, I will like to put it straight to you, that the security challenges facing SouthWest and the country at large are endemic and fundamental, and cannot be solved by attacking one tribe or burning down their houses. Without a total overhaul of our security architecture and unapologetic replacement of our political leaders and socio-economic structure of Nigerian states which will in return give birth to a pro-people democratic public institutions, we can chase dozens of Fulani out of the West, or a thousand more Hausa out of the East, and millions of Yoruba/Igbo out of the North, if we like, we will only be fetching water inside a basket and we will never gather enough to rinse a foot let alone to shower in millenia. 


Come to think of it, how can we be sure, that the Fulani who are constantly attacking and kidnapping our people are even residing in that village you burnt down?? It gets really easy for us to tribalise our problem and let ourselves allow them continue to divide us across tribal lines. How does it sound to us if a Yoruba man commits a crime in Kaduna and all Yoruba residents in that state are punished and sent out of the State?? 


Mr Sunday, do you even worry about the legal implications of your engagement with Seriki at all?? I am afraid you have no right to chase any Nigerian away from any part of the country without minding the legal potency of their occupancy. Many of them have been settled in those areas for decades and possibly have every legal right to remain and go by their lawful businesses except proven otherwise. I know we'll say Fulanis are killing and kidnapping us and do not have right to be among us. Is Sunday Sodipe, a serial killer who was allegedly killing for Adedokun Ajani for just N500 in Akinyele Area of Oyo State a Fulani man?? The policemen who have been harrassing and killing young innocent Nigerians, are they Fulani men?? Or the military men that opened fire on the peaceful protesters at the #LekkiMassacre, are they Fulani men?? Why are we so hypocritical and emotional about the whole thing?? We of course know who the enemies of the people are and where they live. Perhaps it would have had a more revolutionary impact and historical relevance if you lead us in search of all the officers that killed peaceful protesters during the #EndSars protest and had them handpicked out for justice. 


Some people have now become homeless because of your visit yesterday, even if they are initially not kidnappers, now that they're homeless under this useless government, and you think they won't easily switch from onion seller or herders that they are known for to what they're suspected of? After engaging in your extrajudicial adventure and you are successful in chasing the Fulanis away, who will be next?? Any other person who commits or purportedly commits crimes and isn't an indegene of Oyo State too can as well leave their legal abode because Sunday Igboho says so?? Is this how we want to build "our" Oduduwa Republic?? A nation who will see first, and take seriously the tribe of a criminal more than the crime is already a failed State. When a crime is committed, we seek justice, when justice cannot be given we seek revolution, otherwise we will only be rigmaroling on a spot, and history will continue to repeat itself century after century. 


Take for instance, if a similar crime is committed in Oyo when you have your Oduduwa Republic, will you send the culprits out of Oyo because they're "Egba" or "Ijesa"?? No, that would obviously not solve it or curb a reoccurrence the same way your illegal adventures in Oke-Ogun yesterday would stop nothing. It would only claim more innocent lives and incite more violence in other parts of the country, hence setting oppressed Nigerians at one another instead of uniting in voice and strength, to fight the people who brought us here in the first place, and who are doing all they can to keep the Nigerian people disunited in order to allow them continuous access to our national wealth without challenges or organised revolutionary resistance.


I know Mr Sunday will not agree with me that while we are trading blame, hatred and unhealthy rivalry amongst ourselves, a Yoruba political thief will sneak into a Fulani man's house for political reasons and expediency. They will wine, dine, and even laugh together when it's time to deceive and steal from Nigerians, while we are here busy trading unneccessary hatred and rivalry. I know a Jagaban, who will help install or impose a Buhari on the people of Nigeria and will later threaten to secede only when things are not looking well for him. They want to mortgage innocent lives again for their dirty ambitions. Mr Sunday, the "Bullion Van Lord" is more of a problem in Nigeria than a Fulani man, except you are a beneficiary of such ill-gotten wealth, you should join Nigerians in ousting these predator that have kept the rank and file of the nation in perpetual poverty. 


Lastly, I want to implore Mr Sunday, to join us in the revolutionary pursuit of fairness and justice, as the Nigerian political space is cloudy, and soon the rain of Revolution shall fall and the flood shall not spare any political thief, be it Yoruba, Igbo, Urobo, Hausa, or Fulani. Join the vast number of Nigerians calling for freedom across the federation and let's show the oppresor the way out together, rather than encouraging the oppressed to prey on one another by tribalising our common challenges. We can't generalise or define a whole race with the action or inaction of the few. Tinubu's kleptomaniac traits and legacy doesn't define the rest of us, just like all the Fulani many of us who grew up in the suburbs know to be very friendly those days, then suddenly turn dreaded creatures that symbolises fear and insecurity. This is where we should pause and reflect, something is obviously fundamentally wrong. This is neither an emotional battle, nor for the intellectually weak and gullible. The fact that a Yoruba man betrays you doesn't make all Yoruba people betrayers. The fact that an Urobo man cheats on you, doesn't make the rest of them infidels. The fact that an Igbo man defrauded you doesn't make the rest of them fraudsters. And the fact that some Fulani are constantly killing and kidnapping people doesn't define every Fulani you see on the streets of Nigeria. Our problem is already compounded and we should not make it any more complex by chasing or killing one another which will only make the very oppressor stronger. Rather, we unite and take Nigeria through a thorough, unapologetic, and surgical revolutionary process. Anything short, we will only be dancing around the problems and giving ourselves the illusion of solving them by creating bigger ones.



Olawale Adebayo Bakare (PKA Mandate)

POC, Amnesty International.

16 January, 2021.

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