Dear Sir,
I'm of the express opinion that you are of excellent health and sound mental judgement this wonderful day.
You are unarguably one of the strongest business tycoons Nigeria has ever had the rare privilege of having. From a modest background you have risen to heights unimaginable and still rising.
You have earned titles in many communities, the major one being Waziri Adamawa. Sir, you are a household name. The corporate world in Nigeria recognises you as their own. The Arewa Consultative Forum also recognises you as their own. In a twisted way, even Nollywood does so as well.
You currently enjoy the goodwill of a greater population of the Nigerian people both at home and abroad especially the Ibos whom you not only married one of their daughters, but also unequivocally adopted one of their favourite sons as your running mate.
To many, you are also the messiah in waiting. In times as this, supporters don't want to hear otherwise. In fact, the difference between you and the incumbent is that if you lose, which I pray not, most people in the Southwest won't grieve about it and the herdsmen, Boko Haram, Miyetti Allah fishermen and the Islamic fundamentalists in the north won't kill and maim any Ibo and Christian as it is wont to be if the incumbent loses the election.
If the incumbent hadn't won in 2015, we would have all felt that we have missed having a true messiah given the goodwill he enjoyed at the time but the recession that was witnessed as well as the current harsh economic climate which seems to be worst than the former political dispensation has proven to the gullible that one needs to really look before leaping. Thus, you must forgive me, sir, if presently I don't see you as the messiah. I will only hope for the best when you win.
My idea of a messiah is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. No mere mortal qualifies for that. Anyone who can come close to that is not a Nigerian, nay, not even an African in our continent. We are all too selfish and self-centred to be that.
A young man in one of the northern states in Nigeria had through dint of hardwork, personal sacrifice and subservience to the powers that be, rose through the rank and file in the ministry and was eventually appointment a federal government minister. With this new position came greater responsibility. All could see that he was now in a position to assist even in the least financial way possible. Impoverished students in tertiary institutions in the federal capital who grew up in the same neighbourhood with him, most of whom were his classmates started flocking to his office for any handout they can possibly get from him to sustain themselves in school. A lot of the "help-seekers" were shocked to realise that the young man was a class act in the art of being dodgy. In fact, they noticed that the drama displayed by the young man was actually award winning. He will hid in his office pretending to be very busy in a meeting and ask his aides to either say he was not in or was too busy to see anyone. After hours of waiting for them to leave without success, he will bolt out of his office like a bullet in unmitigated anger at their adamant "behaviour" and pass by them, speaking while on the move and asking the person or persons what they were doing there.
Then many years later, as fate would have it, this young man decided to seek for public office as senator in order to represent his people. Since he will be a major beneficiary of the commonwealth of the his people; some of whom he couldn't bring himself to assist when they needed help in their very vulnerable states, these former "help-seekers" now gainfully employed and doing great in their various endeavours decided it was "over their dead bodies"for him to win. So, while on social media, the "eye-service" continued with frenzy in a greater degree by hailers, the plot for a showdown was being hatched in a greater dimension.
Even though the candidate was extremely popular, has now realised his "childish" mistakes and was now full of good intentions and maturity, those aggrieved people could not bring themselves to trust him. They preferred anyone but him. To them, he was a candidate who was likely to "use and dump" anyone who supported him. To them, he was too proud for their comfort. And too too smart in a way they couldn't come to terms with. Thus, in spite of the young man's extensive connexion with top shots in both the party and the country, the aggrieved persons were able to get him disqualified. In fact, it was said that the young man was lucky to come out alive from that experience. Yet the young man(now more matured) is still not tired of the race. He wishes to be given the chance to redeem himself; to prove that he was not as bad as the aggrieved people project him to be; that one in office can't assist everyone. In truth, none on earth can satisfy everyone. They say to err when one was quite young is human, to forgive divine. His change is now perceptible in the time he now gives to men.
Sir, this young man is exactly a representation of the sort of people who are today vying for office in our land. People who think they are too smart. People who go to government with a vengeance reinforced by a puerile mentality. Their inferiority complex is fed in wanton by hailers who don't really know them but are seeking for relevance in their lives; hailers who didn't benefits a dime, haven't benefitted a dime and won't benefit a dime because there is no clear-cut agreement; no certainty that a hailer will not be shunned by the candidate when success is eventually achieved.
However, in fairness to these sets of politicians, they didn't get to where there are today on a platter of Gold. They have also had their own fair share of disappointments by many they had put their hoped on. Like I stated earlier, most of them got to where they are today through handwork, sacrifice and great subservience. But the public really don't care to know about all that. As long as one is seeking to represent a people, detractors become scared. Old scores are brought to fore. An insignificant failure in elementary school becomes a yardstick for disqualification.
For many candidates, it is not so easy for them to share a dime of their hard-earned financial gains accrued over years of subservience with people who don't care, not only because of uncertainty of the result of their quest for leadership roles but because they feel that what they have acquired is not enough for themselves and their families. Thus, we are faced with many centrifugal politicians being hailed as the messiah to come just for the sake of the goodwill enjoyed by them. Sir, I'm glad to know you are different.
Waziri Adamawa, allow me to state here that I have a suggestion to the solution of this country's problem. It is a suggestion of a solution which if followed by you, even though our tribes and tongues differ, we will all end up appreciating you for making it a reality. This suggestion will take a political will to achieve and only a firm leader can see this through.
This solution will come in terms of ensuring that corporate organisations and employers agree to "per hour pay" and to employ "part-time workers" and provide "part -time jobs" especially for students. This way no student will go looking for a government official who is either a supposed friend, classmate, family friend or distance relative for financial assistance. This will help students to have an additional sense of responsibility. They will be able to plan according to their income. Crime and prostitution will be drastically reduced. If students have an added income to what parents and relatives give them from home, there will be less cause of hatred against leaders in this land.
This new structure can only be achieved through the instrumentality of the law and this will be to your glory if you champion it when you finally get into Ask Rock.
Sir, come to think of it, isn't it a sham to establish an Open University with the underlining motto; "To Work And Learn" yet there are no explicit establishments for these working students to be working and learning respectively?
Sir, do you know that at my stage in life I'm also very qualified to run for the highest seat in the land? Yet, I will not do so because I'm simply not a joker. It is common knowledge that elections in Nigeria are won by those who truly have money to spend. Whoever said you spent too much to win the PDP primaries is not very honest with himself. For how could you have beaten the other contestants if you didn't have much more to offer? Thus, I am happy that you are the flagbearer of the most popular opposition party ever existed in this century.
Thus, if you win and I pray you do, remember that this country needs to try to demystify political office. It is becoming too expensive to become even a local government chairman. How come presidents in saner climes work freely on the street without bodyguards? How come one was seen sitting on a sidewalk preparing his notes before an impending international conference? Yet our leaders carry so much baggage around in the name of security thereby wasting our commonwealth.
Why should a presidential candidate be made to spend three hundred billion Naira on his or her campaign to become a leader in Nigeria? Why must power be made so expensive yet the people expect a good leader from such circumstances? Methinks good leaders are men of ideas with a vision for the betterment of the masses. Why this strange and expensive spree which benefits only a few in this great nation?
Sir, you better look into it when you eventually get in there again. This is very painful because many at my age are still being referred to as youth leaders. In this our own country; not in Gabon or USA, in this Nigeria, many of my age mates are still sleeping in cushions in the parlours of either their parents,relatives, in-laws, friends etc. Many of my age mates are grandparents with virtually nothing to show for their efforts. Yet we have leaders who come in year in year out with unrealistic manifestoes and plunder the wealth of this oil-rich country favoured with a lot of natural endowment.
The hinterlands has been made less attractive thereby leading to the influx of people to the metropolis.
Excess respect is accorded some scums who reside in slums in New York than some professors resident in highbrow Ikoyi.
Chinese who look tired with sleepy eyes and don't even care to learn how to speak the English language are the ones gradually buying over our country and making us use our natural endowment as collateral for the loans secured. This is getting too much sir.
Waziri Adamawa, when you get in there, this time around as the main man, try and help the common man in this generation.
Thank you and God bless you
Lekan K. Obi PhD
