NIGERIA DECIDES 2015

Moshood FayemiwoMonday, March 2, 2015
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Chicago, Illinois, USA

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LETTER TO YORUBA ELDERS AND THE FUTURE OF NIGERIA

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hen some self-styled Yoruba "elders" met recently through back-hand deals put together by retired military Brigadier Jones Oladehinde Arogbofa, President Jonathan's chief of staff, majority of Nigerians, especially Yoruba, should not be fooled. The Yoruba people, by nature and tradition are cultured and cosmopolitan. I am a Yoruba man and I cherish my Yorubability and Yorubaness with passion, but I will not allow self-seekers to represent my interests in the corporate entity known as Nigeria. The forthcoming presidential elections will not be decided by past mistakes or misdeeds of either President Goodluck Jonathan or Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, but all over the world and in many of the world's functioning and virile democracies, elections are about the future. Never in the history of the Yoruba people had our collective future as a people been traded or bargained for on the altar of mere porridge by political brokers and self-seekers. Chief Ladoke Akintola and his group tried it in the 1960s and we knew the outcome of the political expedition. Chief Akin Omoboriowo and his gang attempted the same in the Second Republic during the defunct NPN years in 1983 and again, we know the rest of the story. Every Yoruba son and daughter that has procured his/her Permanent Voters Card should use it wisely on Saturday March 28, 2015. Thank God for the new social media and the Internet, every human being on the planet earth now has a voice. The days of information oligopoly are over. Every 18-plus and 21-plus year old now can dissect issues eloquently and intelligently, because they are at the receiving ends of the current economic miasma crippling Nigeria under President Goodluck Jonathan.

Nigerian youth and Yoruba people in particular want a president who will run and administer them with guarantee of lives of property and make the Nigerian nation safe. Millions of our young and energetic youths are educated and have done what is expected of them, yet with all the degrees and university education, they cannot find jobs. The rate of inflation and the cost of living to the average Nigerian and to the Yoruba people under Mr. Jonathan are issues that should weigh heavily in the minds and hearts of our people when they enter the polling booth come Saturday March 28, 2015 to decide their future. Many of the industries and businesses in Yoruba Land are dying and in serious comatose because of the epileptic power supply in the nation caused by Mr. Goodluck Jonathan's clueless administration. The roads, bridges and highways in Yoruba Land are in such a state of disrepair and pitiable sights that Mr. Jonathan didn't care a hoot until when he was planning to campaign for second term. The gangland activities of unemployed youths that are commonplace in Yoruba Land and across the Nigerian nation are parts of the shortsightedness and abysmal failure of the Jonathan Administration. The PDP -led Federal Government has failed the Nigerian nation, and has failed the Yoruba people in particular. In spite of the paucity of funds confronting the opposition governments in the South-West and Mr. Jonathan's "punishment" of the South West states for belonging to the opposition, the APC Governors have managed to touch the lives of the ordinary people in the Yoruba Areas of Nigeria. Although we may be living abroad, but we have kindred at home who tell us the brilliant performances of Raji Fashola of Lagos State, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State.

Nigeria is currently in a serious financial mess, but the APC State Governors have been very prudent in managing the dwindling Federal Allocations from the PDP-controlled Federal Government to impact on the Yoruba people. Any serious observer and objective political analyst will readily admit that the APC governors have performed better than their PDP counterparts in the South West of Nigeria going by Nigerian standard. This is the more reason Yoruba voters should be wise and think seriously on how their interests should be taken care of in the forthcoming presidential election. The presidential election in particular is not about Goodluck Jonathan or Muhammadu Buhari; rather, it is about whom between the two can use Nigerian resources to develop our people. The Yoruba people, like other Nigerians want a federal government that works; a government that can fix the current epileptic power supply in Nigeria; curb impunity and tackle frontally the national malaise of corruption in Nigeria; put our young men and women back to work; tackle the hydra headed monster of Boko Haram terrorism once and for all; create an enabling environment for private enterprise; resuscitate our crumbling social infrastructure and make Nigeria safe again and be respected among comity of nations around the world. The Nigerian nation under Mr. Goodluck Jonathan has been wobbling for the past five years. Only the infinitesimal cabal that surrounds Goodluck Jonathan and has turned him into a carpetbagger can say with deceptive confidence that things are normal and rosy in Nigeria. This brings me to the ludicrous group of characters that assembled at Ibadan in Oyo State the other day and proclaimed themselves "Yoruba Leaders."

A look at the characters that gathered at Ibadan, Oyo State the other day as self-styled Yoruba leaders would seem as if they hold the future of all Yoruba sons and daughters in their hands and they would deliver the South-West to their paymaster; Mr. Goodluck Jonathan. It is amazing how human memories are so short and those so-called leaders' memories are shorter indeed. Isn't it funny that Chief Richard Osuolale Akinjide has now become one of the leaders of the Yoruba race? He has never harbored progressive credential in his entire political life. Was this Chief Akinjide not the same person that invented the Twelve Two-Third Formula that deprived Chief Obafemi Awolowo the presidency of Nigeria in 1979? What has the likes of Akinjide done to the mainstream Yoruba people, except profit from the dysfunctional system by siding with the anti-Yoruba elements in Nigeria? Apart from nominating his daughter, Jumoke as minister and what else has he done for the Yoruba people? If Chief Olu Adebanjo wanted us to go into history and remind us that Gen Buhari jailed some Yoruba Leaders, how about what some of the Yoruba Leaders have done to undermine fellow Yoruba people and our collective interests in the past? Governor Olusegun Mimiko has now suddenly become a Yoruba leader? Mr. Mimiko is traditionally known as a political prostitute of the highest order. He has been a traitor and political saboteur and has never been politically consistent in his life. He was once in the AD, he was with late Papa Adebayo Adefarati, and he later changed his party and went to the PDP, only to ditch the party and went to the Labor Party, and then ran into trouble and went begging Bola Tinubu for support. The South West Progressives came to his political rescue, only to betray them. Who has Mimiko not betrayed? Is Mimiko supporting Jonathan against Osinbajo, because of Mimiko's love for the Yoruba people or for Mimiko's love for Mimiko? The Yoruba people must know the antecedents of these characters and make wise and informed decision on Saturday March 28, 2015.

Dr Frederick Fasheun and Mr. Gani Adams were at each other's throats over the soul of the OPC until recently when Jonathan's Pipeline contract brought the two opponents together. Today, the two are joining forces together to support Jonathan, not because the twain loves the Yoruba people, but because of the millions of Naira contracts that Jonathan has given them to protect oil pipelines. Has Dr. Fasheun explained to Nigerians and Yoruba people in particular the money he collected from Jonathan to found Unity Party of Nigeria and cause confusion in the South West? Why didn't they tell all Yoruba sons and daughters that they are supporting Jonathan because of the pipeline protection contract they were given rather than hiding under the lugubrious claim of being Yoruba elders? Senator Femi Okunroumu is another character who was given money by Pa Edwin Kiagbodo Clark at his Abuja home to support Jonathan and he too was at the Ibadan Yoruba Leaders' Meeting. Chief Olu Adebanjo has never won any election in his entire political life, yet he shouts the name of Chief Obafemi Awolowo all the time as his one of his lieutenants. Did Akinjide's daughter disclose to all Yoruba sons and daughters the millions of Naira that President Jonathan gave her to go and share to Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Alafin of Oyo and the Soun of Ogbomoso to gain their support for his second term? How much of the Nigerian money that Jonathan gave to Jumoke to bribe Alafin and Shoun reach the people of Oyo town and Ogbomosho people? How many jobs and employment opportunities have all these so-called Yoruba Leaders generated for Yoruba sons and daughters in South West of Nigeria under Goodluck Jonathan? Can the Alafin, who collected his own share of the stolen money and went to London, UK with four of his wives for shopping spree, actually win Oyo Town for Goodluck Jonathan against the backdrop of unemployment and poverty confronting the ordinary good people of Oyo Town? Why have our people become so retrogressive and backward looking in the New Millennium? Jumoke studied in the UK and knows or should know how a functioning government works, so why are these politicians treating the poor people of Nigeria with disdain and contempt? When will our elites grow and take the development of our people seriously, instead of stealing the commonwealth? Politics is about service; service to the people, and incredibly, the poor people of Nigeria are not asking for much. All they ask for from their government are the minimal comforts of life: decent housing to lay their heads; affordable food to put on the table for them and their families; water to drink, clothing and gainful employment; medical facilities and security of lives and properties? Why is it difficult for our elites to provide these and important fundamental of life for our people? Nigeria has the resources, because nations that are not naturally endowed as Nigeria have been able to provide these basic needs for their people. Why are our leaders wicked, self-centered and selfish? Yet, they invoke the Name of the Lord every minute while stealing and shortchanging poor and uneducated Nigerians. Why are we so terribly blest?

The Yoruba people, at home and abroad know their authentic leaders. How many of these so-called Yoruba Leaders that gathered at Ibadan last week supported the late Chief MKO Abiola during the June 12, 1993 presidential election? Some of the same characters that self-styled themselves Yoruba Leaders fought against the political aspiration of the late Chief MKO Abiola and campaigned against him, all in their bid to paint him as anti-Awo but Chief MKO Abiola won the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, in spite of the oppositions and sabotage. How many of those characters that gathered at the so-called Yoruba Leaders' Meeting at Ibadan fought with us during the epic battle of the June 12, 1993 presidential poll annulment? Many of them went underground and some disappeared into whatever, but came out after the demise of the Madman of Nigeria, late Sani Abacha. Again, in 1999, some of these same characters bad-mouthed and traduced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, yet Obasanjo came back from prison to govern Nigeria for 8 years.

The Yoruba people have traditionally been their worst enemies. We sell our people and undercut our kindred and fellow Yoruba people. We are too "smart" for our own self-destruction. We pride ourselves as highly sophisticated and educated, but many of us will sell our parents for money. See the young boy Femi Fani-Kayode making a fool of himself, because Jonathan has given him some stolen money. See Doyin Okupe turning himself into a jackass, because Jonathan made him his spokesperson. The same thing Femi's father; Remi did in the 1950s and 1960s. Why is it that we Yorubas do not learn from history? Why are we our own enemies as Pogo once said; "We have seen the enemy; the enemy is us?" Why are Femi and Doyin abusing Yoruba elders and making fools of themselves, because of Jonathan, while people like Oronto Douglas and Jonathan's Ijaw kinsmen inside Aso Rock keep quiet, and yet are being paid the same money and even more by Jonathan? It is incredible how some Yoruba people emasculate themselves and belittle the Yoruba race! Those who betrayed the late Chief MKO Abiola and worked assiduously in the background to scuttle the June 12, 1993 presidential election victory were Yorubas. Those who gave out late Kudirat Abiola and collected filthy money from Sani Abacha and got the woman killed by the killer-squad of Sani Abacha were Yorubas. Why are our people like this? When did Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan become a Yorba man? Why did Jonathan begin to care for the interests of the Yoruba people? When did an Ijaw man suddenly become a champion of the genuine aspirations of the Yoruba people? Even in his land of birth, Goodluck Jonathan hasn't done anything. In his village of Otuoke, Bayelsa State, not a single public toilet is available for visitors. I was in his village with my American wife who was visiting Africa for the first time. She shook her head when we arrived at Otuoke, Goodluck Jonathan's birthplace. Yet, the man put a university in a village where there is no running water to drink and public toilet. This is a man who has been in public office for nearly twenty years-deputy governor, acting governor, governor, vice president, acting president and president for five years. In Yenagoa, the state capital, the whole of the town has been taken over by heaps of garbage. For three straight days we arrived at Otuoke and stayed in Yenagoa, half of the towns were in complete darkness, yet Jonathan and his blind supporters are shouting all over the place to return the man for a second term. All the choicest properties in Yenagoa have been bought over by his wife, Patience Jonathan. It is incredible how our people are wired and even created. Why are our so-called leaders wicked and do not learn from history? Can't they learn from the recent death of Sani Abacha with all the billions he stole which he never took with him?

The Big Elephant at the gathering of the so-called Yoruba Leaders' Meeting at Ibadan, Oyo State, which was heavy in the mouths of these self-proclaimed leaders, was their political disdain for one man: Asiwaju Bolanle Ahmed Tinubu, period! They are scared of this man and we should lay it bare for all Yoruba sons and daughters to know and understand. Since Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba race, the Yoruba people never had a leader until Chief Obafemi Awolowo was made the indisputable leader of the Yoruba race. Awolowo didn't become the Asiwaju of the Yoruba race because he fought and struggled for it, but because of his superb and meritorious public service for the Yoruba people. He was a people-oriented and grassroots man who used his natural endowments for the betterment of us-Yoruba people. He provided free education, because he knew the power of education in the lives of human beings. He opened up the rural areas and courted the support of farmers, market women, artisans, traditional rulers, the intelligentsia and the broad strata of the Yoruba people. He didn't promote failures, dunderheads and drug barons as associates and political wheeler-dealers. Awo was an intellectual and surrounded himself with the best brains and cerebral minds in Yoruba Land. He laid the foundation for the future of the Yoruba people and that is why, whether Nigeria remains as one or splinters, the South West has the human and material resources to stand on its own as a self-independent nation. Following Chief Awolowo's demise in 1987, the Yoruba people seemed to be leaderless and rudderless. But Papa Adekunle Ajasin stepped up to the political plate and took over as the new Yoruba Leader. We all acknowledged him so, because he lived the same enviable lifestyle that Chief Awolowo lived. No one could dispute the leadership of Pa Ajasin and he led us on the progressive wing set by Chief Awolowo. Even though the late Chief MKO Abiola and Papa Awolowo were political strange bedfellows in the Second Republic, when the June 12, 1993 issue came up, Papa Ajasin insisted that it was time for all Yoruba sons and daughters to coalesce and support Chief MKO Abiola.

All leading Yoruba sons and daughters went to the country home of Pa Ajasin at Owo, Ondo State to take directives and the Lion of Owo led us on the right path. Then Papa Ajasin went to join his ancestors ten years after Awo's death and there was no dispute as to whom the mantle should fall unto. The late Pa Abraham Adesanya took over, because he was with both Awo and Ajasin and he too led the Yoruba people very well. Political activities shifted from Owo to Ijebu-Igbo and throughout his lifetime, Pa Adesanya maintained the same progressive credentials Yoruba leaders are noted for and for which our people expected of our authentic leaders. Just as Awo didn't nominate Pa Ajasin to succeed him in 1987; Pa Ajasin didn't lift up the hand of Pa Adesanya as his designated-successor in 1998 and Pa Adesanya didn't designate his successor in 2008. No one has yet been proclaimed as the Leader of the Yoruba race. But one thing is sure and undeniable: Awo didn't collect money from the British colonialists or the NPC to emerge as Yoruba Leader; Pa Ajasin didn't collect money either from Abacha as Yoruba Leader and certainly, Pa Adesanya didn't collect money too from the PDP.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has not put himself forward as Yoruba Leader in the mold of Chief Awo, Papa Ajasin or Pa Adesanya, but he has shown enough courage, sagacity and progressive-mindedness to tow the paths of these foremost Yoruba Leaders. In Yoruba Land, we don't anoint leaders, but our genuine leaders grow among the people, because we are a proud people who know and value excellence, hence the spirit of "Omoluabi" is inbred in genuine and authentic Yoruba Leaders. We don't worship money and Yoruba Leadership is not for sale. I listened to Prince Adeseye Ogunlewe the other day castigating Bola Tinubu as lacking the pedigree to become Yoruba Leader. I know Ogunlewe very, very well, and I think as an elderly person, he should know that all Yoruba Leaders had never grown from princely heritage. Chief Awo was never a prince; in fact, he was an orphan but he distinguished himself very well to earn the trust, respect and followership of the entire Yorba race, both at home and abroad. Chief Ajasin was not even born in central Owo Town but because he was a progressive-minded, astute and a worthy man-Omoluabi-he led the Yoruba race. Ditto for Papa Abraham Adesanya. Yoruba people are very smart and intelligent, in spite of all our shortcomings as a people. Morality has not been so seriously discounted in Yoruba Land that drug barons, college drop-outs, thieves, rapists, turn-coat intellectuals, criminals and those wanted for murder will gather together and proclaim themselves as Leaders of the Yorba people. It has never happened and will not happen in Yoruba Land. From Badagry to Ilorin, Egbe to Ute, down to Itsekiri Land, anyone can aspire to be the Leader of the Yoruba people not on account of the person's birth or blue-blood, but on his progressive credentials, period! The likes of Ayodele Fayose, Femi Fani-Kayode, Iyiola Omisore, Doyin Okupe, Gbenga Daniel, Kashamu Buruji and their ilk had surfaced in the politics of Yoruba Land before and have been consigned to the limbo of forgotten things. History is a veritable guide in this instance and history has a way of repeating itself.

The question to ask is: why are they scared of Bola Tinubu? In eight years, Tinubu performed brilliantly as Governor of Lagos State. His state's federal allocation was withheld by his own kinsman president, yet he stood his ground and used internally-generated revenue to run the richest and most cosmopolitan state in Nigeria. When fear stalked the land and no one could stand in the way of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Tinubu bearded the lion in his den and emerged victorious. For four years, his state was the only state in the progressive column in the South West and he was the only man standing when all the other AD governors were tricked and waylaid by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Then he handed over to another progressive mind whose track record for brilliant performance is unassailable. Gradually and methodically, Tinubu began to spread the progressive drag net round the southwest and using the instrumentally of the law restored law and order, and justice into the South West politics. Mimiko has forgotten when he was fighting for his political life and he came asking for support. He has forgotten the Yoruba adage: "Iroko to gbabode, yiya ni oya," meaning" The Iroko tree that allows saboteurs to inhabit it must surely fall." So why are these self-styled Yoruba leaders and elders afraid of Tinubu? Envy, Fear and Opportunism/Selfishness, pure and simple! Yorba people! Pa Hubert Ogunde said it all! When has Jonathan started honoring signed documents? Did he not sign a pact with the Northern politicians and renege on his promise? A man who has no honor, and cannot be trusted, clueless and a non-performer is not worthy of a second term and genuine Yoruba sons and daughters should not make the mistake of voting for such a man for a second term. Those self-styled Yoruba Leaders gathered at Ibadan the other day represent their pockets and do not represent the legitimate aspiration of the Yoruba people.

FROM MY MAIL BAG THIS WEEK

Dear Dr. Fayemiwo. Your write-up on the candidates for Nigerian election is quite good: detailed, objective and informative. But you did something I don't like: why honor Goodluck Jonathan with a PhD (in whatever questionable form) when we now know that he did not complete one (Obasanjo) and his thesis (if he ever wrote one) could not be found (David West)? Anyway Bravo and thanks for educating many people who are too young to know that the real Buhari is not the "Real Buhari" that GEJ, AIT and NTA are trying to project to the electorate. ---Name undisclosed at writer's request, Lagos, Nigeria.

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Dear Dr Fayemiwo. Your articles are very insightful. I am looking forward to your follow up articles. I stumbled on your articles while searching for information about Boko Haram. I am just an interested Jamaican/American who is trying to find out why it seems that Africa is silent about the violence that is going on in Nigeria. Thanks. ---Andrew Butler, USA.

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Dear Dr. Fayemiw. Your first article, "Why Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Co. Staged the December 31, 1983 Military Coup D'�tat In Nigeria? I found very, very well written, researched and recommendable for the younger generation, your target audience. I am looking forward to the remaining articles as you have promised up till Jonathan. I sincerely hope they will meet the same standards as this first one. Regards. --- Mr. Ola Tokosi, Lagos, Nigeria.

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Dear Dr Fayemiwo. Yes, I am with you. You are so correct. I campaigned rigidly for the emergence of GEJ during the time the former president's cabal tried to rob him off his right. But not as if I thought he would be the Messiah we were expecting. But it's of importance that democracy must be practiced as it should be and also must thrive in our country. It is time for the desired change. Nigerians are tired of corruption, insecurity, poverty and many more. In truth we are in for another four years of blood bath in the north east, corruption in the high places and increase in oil theft in the Niger Delta, if we allow this current leaders to return to Aso Rock in the forthcoming March 28, 2015 presidential election. Once more, I throw my support to this campaign to kick out this current dispensation and its cabal away from Abuja. Jonathan must go this year, come rain, come shine. Long live Nigeria. ---Patrick Okurame, Lagos, Nigeria.

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