AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN Sir, I have restrained my hands so much severally from the pen, being that, I may not have the authority, pedigree, title or intellectual capacity to write you, but has exhausted my mortal powers of restraint hence some forces of freedom and civil right has coax my hands to the pen to compose this open letter, however not without x-raying the greatest euphemistical phrases at my disposal to appeal for more democratic governance and absolution of developmental creeds. Your administration has done well in much sense and is also responsible for the tenacious writers to freely criticize (constructively or destructively) your government without open or secret victimization. You scored very high point in giving freedom to the press in this administration which of course is the most fundamental creed in democracy. Your administration has also performed some irrecoverable tolerance of political and personal abuse from oppositions which have never been witnessed in the history of this indivisible nation. Your will Mr. President to put the interest of the nation before some personal interest, has been obvious in many matters. I want to make bold to fundamentally state here that the merciless attack on the Ebola Virus disease (EVD) that struck Nigeria very few months ago led by you, your competent health ministers and few governors deserve applauds. You again proved to us that your readiness to reform the nation is unquestionable. What do we have to say about your high religious tolerance? It amazes me that you have never in any occasion accused the Muslims about the irrational malady imbibed in the counter-philosophical Islamic sect (Boko- Haram). As a Christian who intentionally went to obtain a B.A. (Ed.) Religious Studies and Philosophy, I have always made plain the innocence of Islamism in the act of terrorism. Islam means Peace and any other propagation of evil in the name of Islam is anti-Islamic. You have never associated the Boko-haram Sect with Islamism which is a very rare quality of rational thinking leaders. I may not have time to chronicle some optimistic, uncompromising and dogged decisions you have made that pulled the country forward but it will not be out of place to state our grievances to you, being our father, as youths of this nation. Sir, I have read and listened carefully to thousands of youths and how the iron rod of oppression has continued to batter their future in a nation that has a mighty wealth. Your proem to the presidency witnessed one of the greatest supports from the average class and youths of the very society you now govern as the number one citizen. Since 2011, we have not seen the benefit of leadership. The touts have been empowered by different means, while the young intellectuals keep facing the dark abyss of economic dungeon. The removal of fuel subsidy was a very great initiative of the federal government, but what are some of the benefits to the youths of this nation. The direct beneficiary of the SURE-P lies within the domicile of same bourgeois, who have continuously issued a cheque to the youths, signed “NO FUTURE”. To what extent has the programme elate the sadness of the masses that joyfully welcome your shoeless and bagless episode and sold their lives to your course to ensure you emerge the winner of the 2011 presidential election. We suffered the anger of our opponent to ensure your enthronement. We considered you as our very own. Our very own in what sense Mr. President? Yes, not as our regional brother from the South-South, not as our religious brother because we are all Christians, not as our ethnic brother because we are Niger-Deltans but our very own because we fell into the same social strata before your ascendance to the presidency. Social-Class knows no brotherhood, it does not consider religion neither does it recognize region but it is a one inseparable and indivisible bond that ties people together. After coordinating a peaceful protest against unemployment in the country on the 29th of May and 1st of October 2014, I further confirmed my presumptions about the social ties of the nation. Both Christians and Muslims participated, both Northerners and Southerners participated and the commitment of hundreds of youths who participated in the rally gave me a revolutionary phobia. If something is not done about this lingering unemployment within the sphere of the Nigerian youths, revolution may attempt to occur very soon in the country. Am I saying that you have done nothing about unemployment? Not at all, it only draws me back to the sycophants around you who hangs every opportunity and let same it down, but only to their cronies, friends and children. To be truthful with you my president, the GDP, economic growth, and employment figures quoted daily on paper does not reflect the reality of conscious happenings. Never be too confident about emerging the winner of your 2015 Presidential elections as the incumbent. Those who think the saga of 2011 will repeat itself are truly not in touch with reality. In 2011, there was no mega opposition at the centre. The emergence of the APC should not be taken for granted because the North produce different candidates for that election and if they venture harmonize, and project a single acceptable candidate, you may not find it easy. Never trust on some Northern governors claiming to be behind you, for it is only when the rubber meets the road their true colours crystallizes. What about the Christians? They have also not benefitted from your government because only the Christian Hierarchies keep getting the dividends from your government. Going back to the teeming youth population where you’ll get your vote, remember if the opposition picks their vice presidential running mate from the South-West, their vote will be full because they didn’t get good vote from the South-West in 2011. Coming home to your South-South Region, Delta State is divided because of the perceived imposition of Anthony Obuh by the incumbent governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. Edo and Rivers States is 80% in the hands of the APC. What about the South East that in also divided against the PDP? Never be too confident my President. The corruption in your government begs for critical evaluation and fundamental examination. I cannot even chronicle the tsunami of probes carried out without prosecution, is it the police pension scam, oil subsidy fraud, bullet proof car scandal, the NIS recruitment that killed tens, the $20billion missing fund or $28billion petroleum minister chattered jet, the list goes on ad infinitum but the average youths cannot afford even two rectangular meal a day let alone square. Mr. President, we are disappointed and among those suppressed youths in Nigeria, I wish to channel to you our grievances why the youth of the nation, specifically the South-South may individually boycott voting and face headlong struggle that will put food on their table. You have only appeal to the Northern Oligarchy and not the average northern youth because your administration has not carried the youths along in policy and implementation though it is constantly done on paper. Women especially in South are equal to quality decision making and influences most of the decision of men. This particularly is the undoubted reason of having more female oriented national decisions in the country. Is this to state that women should be marginalized? Never. I have a very wonderful mother that has the ability to make sound and quality decisions even under pressure. My elder sister in one of the foremost gender equality advocate and I cherished and share in her vision. The point been alluded here is to draw your attention to the inevitable significance of what valentine is to women/ladies. The youth of South-South who have not experience economic difference in the lives since you emerge the president will obviously not waste their time to stand in one queue or another under the sun or rain because of election. You aroused their hope in 2011 and have somewhat killed it before 2015. The ladies of course will tell their man to relax and rest during the day so that they can spend time together at night. I understand the social life of my Southern brothers and sisters and will make bold to state that we’ll listen to our ladies more than the voice of our leaders. However, valentine means nothing to our Northern brothers and sisters and will therefore come out fully into the streets to vote. The opposition in the South will also take the voting serious and will want to deliver their states for APC. The rate of unemployment, joblessness and poverty is unthinkable. The youth of this nation still wallows in the hallow chamber of economic injustice. The financial disequilibrium has been very obvious. The Youths are not independent and the nation has presented to us a cheque of hopelessness yet fastening our legs to the inescapable rod of bankruptcy. The unspeakable horrors of joblessness among the Nigerian youth is reflected in the gross malady of the boko-haram sect and it has widened the gap for insecurity, robbery, kidnapping, cybercrime and many social vices and anti-patriotic activities. We cannot as a nation, trivialize the degrading economic tranquility while our nation continues to be the greatest purveyor of economic injustice in the world. The conspicuous space between wealth and abject poverty has left an ultimate contemplation in the minds of dynamic youths. We do not detest our policy makers but will not align to the policies that have kept us in perpetual ruins. We respect the structures but will not cooperate with the system that has battered us with the acrimonious whip of dehumanization. The volatile tenseness as a result of idleness must not be allowed to explode on a defenseless nation you preside over. The sycophantic viciousness of some of those around you has sent a bad image of your good person to many citizens in and outside the country. I’m neither an APC nor a PDP apologist but your good image has been tarnished by those who represent you at various levels. Let it therefore be known that a stitch in time saves nine but the time to stitch, I fear may no longer be there. Incumbency may not work out to your advantage. ISRAEL O. JOE President – South-South Youth Congress Youth Democratic Alliance (YODA) Int’l. israelojiejoe@gmail @israeljoe1
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 20:00:50 +0000
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