Your Excellency, I’m convinced the
time has come to write you this letter despite the fact that I have some
measure of access to you. I decided to do this in order to tackle the mischief
makers who believe I’m your very close friend and as such must be a rabid
supporter of yours. I have been accused of all sorts of garbage including being
paid heavy sums of money from your bottomless pocket. I’m aware that most of
these guys can never believe that anyone could stand up for principle without
pecuniary gains. But before I go into the meat of this letter, I need to state
my background briefly as I’m sure you don’t even know me well enough to
understand and appreciate my socio-political trajectory.
I have
read all sorts about you and I and it is necessary sometimes to put the records
straight for the sake of doubting Thomases who can never see anything good in
others. You were a Governor for eight years and I can’t remember ever meeting
you one on one. The only time I believe we exchanged physical pleasantries
would have been at the 70th birthday dinner hosted in honour of
your mother-in-law, Erelu Ojuolape Ojora at The Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos
some years back. I remember seeing and greeting you and a few of the former and
current Governors present including Olusegun Osoba, James Ibori, Babatunde
Fashola and others.
I would later see one of the pictures I took at the party and read many years
after that I was busy drinking champagne with James Ibori who was being wanted
for several cases of corruption and so on. I could not believe my eyes because
the picture showed clearly that I was chatting with Chief Olusegun Osoba while
Ibori minding his business behind me but someone needed to rubbish me for
reasons I could never fathom. Not just that, Ibori was still a Governor and
would I run away from a function or refuse to greet people so as not to be
accused of hobnobbing with corrupt leaders?
The next
time I interfaced with you was after you employed Mr Bamikole Omishore who was
my American campaign coordinator in Washington DC, when I joined the
Presidential race from 2010-2011. I was happy that you got such a brilliant
young man to manage your social media. But you and I got closer for only one
reason in the past one year plus because we both campaigned vigorously for
Major General Muhammadu Buhari and you and Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi were the
best of pals and he has been my friend long before he became Governor of Rivers
State. I loved the way you, Amaechi, Kwankwaso, Wamako, Tambuwal, Atiku
Abubakar, and others took the bold decision that would change the course of
Nigerian history for better or for worse when you abandoned PDP despite threats
and harassments. I must have met you about twice in your Lagos home to
strategise and was particularly impressed with your ability to rally the likes
of Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Wale Tinubu and others who ordinarily would
have felt a need to support the government in power. I was informed you were
able to raise some stupendous amount of money during and after the APC
primaries. We talked more on phone and you assured me constantly that
everything was on course. The rest is history.
However
trouble started as soon as victory came. I knew you had only one ambition and
that was to become the Senate President. I thought that was a legitimate dream
but did not envisage that it would turn out to be your albatross. Politics in
Africa, and probably elsewhere, is a deadly game. You’ve fought several battles
in your life but I doubt if you ever bargained for this one. It all started
like a joke. Your party apparatchik was obviously opposed to your candidacy.
You were equally determined to realise your life ambition. One of the rumours
then was that you could not be trusted with power and that in the next four
years you would have become unstoppable if you decide to go headlong for the
Presidency. I’m not a member of your party so I could not understand what the
hullabaloo was all about. The manner you emerged caught everyone unawares. The
biggest problem was the fact that you sought and got the unequivocal support of
members of the PDP in the Senate and even did a deal that made it possible for
one of them to become your deputy. That was the hara-kiri you committed and
your enemies would never forgive you for that.
One thing
led to another, and things fell apart and the centre could no longer hold. You
probably underestimated the resolve of your enemies to cut you down to size.
The next we saw were allegations of impropriety levelled against you at the
Code of Conduct Bureau. You were said to have been dodgy in your assets
declaration forms. Anyway, it seemed you had touched the tiger by the tail and
it remained to be seen how you would wriggle out of the monumental trouble you
had inadvertently courted by your rebelliousness and bellicosity. I was
personally irked that we were back to the Nuhu Ribadu days and I voiced my
opinion openly. I was not defending you but defending the rights of man. I had
thought naively that APC knew what it was getting into with an ill-assorted
assemblage of different characters from varied backgrounds. I presumed there
was an accord that all sinners became saints once they migrated and amalgamated
with APC. The deluge of immigrants from PDP convinced me that President Buhari
would have to sanctify the pollutants if any in the new party. Not once did I
hear of any objection to the proliferation so I assumed all was well.
I never
said you should not be prosecuted but that we should discourage a situation
where every successive government uses anti-corruption camouflage to punish its
enemies. This position was not meant to protect you but to discourage a
perpetuation of such tradition. I wrote copiously against the harassment of
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he went on similar trial. I had demonstrated
publicly against the Yar’Adua cabal when they tried to stop Dr Goodluck
Jonathan from assuming power when his boss was terminally ill. I remember also
when I wrote an open letter to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu in 2007 and how I was
viciously attacked by his supporters. But what happened after? Nuhu himself was
forced into exile as a victim of impunity. Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and The Emir
of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi, formerly known as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, became
veritable victims of impunity and I was vehemently opposed to their ordeals.
I needed
to state this background very well as a way of documenting my modest
contribution to the discouragement of impunity as a former victim myself under
the military regimes. Now that it seems many Nigerians are comfortable with
setting fire to an entire village in order to catch some rats, I will not
belabour the issue further. Please, permit me to now address the case at
hand. I want you to know that no matter what you do henceforth, the case
against you will go on. The earlier you resign yourself to fate the better. You
have done all you can to prevent this from happening and the time has come for
you to defend yourself as best as you can. I understand the psychological
trauma you are under. You are in utter shock that a party you laboured with
others to build and nurture has decided to treat you as a pariah. You are
stupefied at the sudden turn of events.
But let me
advise you, the Judiciary is still the best arbiter and if you’re truly
innocent, you will be vindicated but if you are found guilty after exhausting
all legal options available in the land you must take a bow and accept the
judgment with equanimity. Even if the APC decides to sweep this under the
carpet, someone may still bring it up tomorrow. It is in your
best interest to face the bullet and hope for a miracle. I’m not one of those
who have written off the Nigerian Judiciary. I will also not join those who
have already convicted you in the court of public opinion. I’m a Christian and
I know none of us can cast the first stone and we should be careful not to
gloat over anyone’s misfortune.
Please,
note that you must do nothing to pervert the course of justice by enacting
hurriedly-packaged laws ostensibly meant to block your trial. It will further
diminish you and make your sympathisers recoil in shame. To whom much is given,
much is expected. God has been very kind to you and as a Muslim you must submit
yourself only to the will of Allah, the only one who can forgive our sins. Who
knows what the outcome may be at the end of the day?
I beg you
in the name of God to take courage. Stand like a man and carry your heavy
cross.
Sources: @THISDAYLIVE @DeleMomodu
