Politics

Open Letter To President Jonathan

Published

12 years ago

July 28, 2014

His Excellency,

Warmest greetings from
my family constituency. In writing this open letter to you, am not unmindful of previous open mails to you by highly-placed individuals including our respected Baba. But in using this open ministry to communicate you is not in any way to spite you and your administration like others did. It was because my previous attempts at reaching you through postage mails were either frustrated by overzealous security aides or ended up in the trash cans through the instrumentality of other administrative staff at the seat of power. Better still, the mails may have lost in transit to show the poor service delivery of the nation’s postal services.
Be that as it may, as the drum beats for the 2015 general elections gather momentum, I’m constrained to share my views on the state of the nation especially as there are fears in many quarters including USA that Nigeria (the most populous black nation) may disintegrate by 2015, if care is not taken.
And when we consider the precision of US predictions on world affairs and eventual outcome against the backdrop of the wind of break-up of Nigeria by 2015 fuelled by severe security challenges dangling like the sword of debacle, then, many will agree that you are likely to be the last President of Nigerian nation. God forbid!
Some may justify the break-up of Nigeria, yet others believe that the unity of the country should not be compromised. My candid advice is that do the best you can to sustain and deepen Nigeria’s unity. History is usually unfair to leaders who preside over the break-up of their nations or even households.
The centenary celebration of Nigeria under your administration is indeed a divine privilege. Many past leaders of the country had wished that they be at the helm of affairs as Nigeria turned 100 years, but providence only smiled at you to celebrate the past 100 years of Nigeria nationhood and also pioneered the next century with promising transformations. It is the wish of many Nigerians that you should transform well, and in doing so, be reminded that “those whose palm kernels were cracked by benevolent spirits should not forget to be honour”.
Now, as you bask in furore over your party’s victory at the Ekiti governorship election, let us not forget in a hurry the controversy of “militarization of elections”. Of all the elections conducted with the deployment of security agents including the Delta central senatorial district by-election, none elicited the level of controversy on the roles of the military as the Ekiti poll. The arguments of the opposition party and your party on the deployment of soldiers for elections are necessary here to understand the way out of the controversy.
APC believes that “election is not war but a civic activity”, and therefore there is need to curtail your power to deploy soldiers for elections. At a recent debate at the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, the House Minority leader and the Minority Whip, Hon Samson Osagie, both of APC, argued that your power to deploy troops must be subject to the Electoral Act. And in a recent interview, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who was prevented by soldiers from attending the APC’s final mega rally in Ekiti, also kicked against the use of soldiers for elections.
While your party (PDP) stoutly defended the deployment of soldiers in Ekiti, Olisa Metuh, PDP’s spokesman remarked “the deployment of soldiers for elections in Edo, Ondo and Anambra governorship polls had yielded good results and the outcome had showed that Jonathan administration was committed to free, fair and credible elections”.
There are merits in the argument for and against the notion that Ekiti governorship election and some other past polls were militarized. Even through, it is argued that “adequate security is necessary during elections”, it stands to reason that police and soldiers should be used such that no voter is defranchised or made to vote at gunpoint.
Militarisation of elections may not be good for our democracy, yet, I can’t agree less with the President of Nigeria Voters’ Assembly, Mashood Erubami, when he said “I preferred a situation where elections are peaceful due to the present of soldiers to one where elections are characterised by violence orchestrated by political thugs and killings”.
The impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and the one dangling over Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, both of APC, can be interpreted as victims of democracy as a result of the power game between your party (PDP) and APC. But another impeachment move from the PDP camp, concerning the Enugu deputy governor, is seen as adding value to democracy. No matter where the impeachment carrot is being shared, it should not hatched and packaged under mischievous politics and acrimony.
However, even when you have kept mute on your re-election bid, your opponents are already jittery, but you close political associates and the top echelon of your party believe that it is only God that can change the handwriting on the wall, and that you stand tall among the possible presidential candidates for 2015.
As you prepare to re-contest and win, please use the second chance, if you win, to make a significant difference for as the song writer says “you will only be remembered for what you have done”.
We are not saying that you should devote 100% of the resources for the development of South-South zone alone. Far from it. A little to the left and a little to the right is a good bid.
If you transform Abuja and other areas in the federation without tangible development in your zone, you have failed by every sense of the world.
Our dear country is considered to be in the boiling pot because corruption has crippled every strata of the nation’s economy and her citizens are walking with clutches and there is dim hope of salvaging the situation. Arguments over how corruption has contributed to the under-development of our beloved are the delights of the mass media.
Analysts and the Transparency International have identified corruption as Nigeria’s headache with a conservative sum of $400 billion being pilfered from our country by corrupt political and public officials.
While you may be arguing that corruption is overrated in Nigeria and that it is not the country’s most serious problem, permit me to say here that such argument is unnecessary. What matters most is the efforts of your administration to remove Nigeria from the forest of corruption and ineptitude.
Nigerians want a change in the affairs of the nation, but hope is gradually diminishing that you might not get it right. The prospect that you are determined for a new breath into Nigerian system was rekindled with the convocation of the National Conference to chart a new way forward. It does not matter whether it is sovereign or not. What should be uppermost is that at the end of the day, there are prospects that things would change and that the N7 billion or more expended on the conference made of 492 delegates drawn from ethnic nationalities, political representations, professional groups, civil society groups and other interest groups did not go down the drain.
The news that more than 200 girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, abducted on April 14, 2014 by the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, will be rescued soon is heart-warming at least to re-assure the people that you are not insensitive to the incident that has attracted global condemnation and protests. The outrage is understandable but to politicize the terrorism and horror of Boko Haram insurgency is also unacceptable.
The price of leadership is enormous. But keep hope alive and do the best you can to break the yoke of “making Nigeria ungovernable”.
The transformation agenda of your administration has taken off in earnest with some results in many sectors, but what the ordinary citizens understand about dividends of democracy is the provision of basic amenities – roads, water, power supply and healthcare. The people need a piece of the action to give them a sense of belonging in the Nigerian project, while the “Ogas at the top” loot the treasury all in the name of service.
We are lost why the re-construction work on the East West Road within the Rivers State axis is being handled in a slow-pace manner. You may not understand commuters’ nightmares on the road on a daily basis, but completing the road project can boost the electoral chances of your party in the 2015 general polls.
I may have bothered you with several issues in this mail, but my presentations represent the voice of the voiceless in the society.
Thanks.

Samuel Eleonu

President Goodluck Jonathan

Politics

Parties’ Deregistration: How Justice Lifu Overruled Appeal Court Justices

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

The Tide

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.

Politics

ADC: Okonkwo Rejects Amaechi As Presidential Running Mate, Withdraws Support

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

The Tide

Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”

Politics

2027: Tinubu’s Projects Give APC Edge In South East – Yilwatda

Published

1 day ago

June 17, 2026

The Tide

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.

He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.

Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.

“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.

“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.

“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.

“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.

“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.

Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.

“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.