this epistolary piece,Tee Jay Dan takes a swipe
against political hypocrisy. Tee is a filmmaker and a
proud Gbagyi son. Please READ. And SHARE.
OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR PHILIP ADUDA;
SENATOR REPRESENTING THE FEDERAL CAPITAL
TERRITORY, ABUJA.
Dear Uncle,
I am not happy to write you this letter at this time,
especially
through this media. But Uncle, I have tried to reach
you in the
past two weeks with no joy: the phone number I got
is always
switched off or ‘out of reach,’ and it appears you do
not have
the time to read or reply an email from your little
nephew. You
are a very busy man, I understand, and, by the way, it
is no
easy feat to be a senator of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria;
the greatest country in the world, especially when
you
represent the Gbagyi people of the Federal Capital
Territory,
Abuja. It is herculean task second to none, I
understand. So I
am not going to complain, because I know that you
did not
simply ignore me – I mean, why would you ignore
your own?
– you have been busy creating ‘enabling laws for the
good
governance of the FCT. As committee member,
National
Identity and National Population Committee, and
Chairman of
the Senate Committee on Power, you cannot afford to
not be
the busiest person alive. I understand why you are so
inaccessible both by phone and email. This is why I
am not
sulking, dear Uncle. But I am very busy too and I
expect you
to understand why I have decided use this medium
to seek understanding of
the following matters from you.
One, I don’t understand why you, sir, and other
Gbagyi
politicians believe so much that we, your loving
subjects, do
not read the newspapers. I say this because the
other day I
read with utter dismay one of your numerous
interviews
where you bragged about developing the indigenes
of Abuja
“by making sure that they enjoy the dividends of
democracy.”
Unless you sincerely believe that we do not read the
national
dailies I believe that you won’t have the effrontery to
lie like
that, Uncle. We forgive this shameful shortcoming
from a
distinguished Senator like you. But please next time
you feel
the urge to brag about a lie simply do so in whispers,
not on
national papers. Thank you.
Two, I don’t understand how, or why, you
conveniently go
about saying that “Gbagyi people are educationally
backward.” I don’t understand how you get away
with
promising to “appropriately empower qualified”
Gbagyi
youths if they go to school. I mean we have
professors,
doctors of philosophy, and Gbagyi youths in their
mid-twenties who already have Masters, none of
whom you have
‘empowered.’ May be you are too busy to notice that
the
people you actually represent are rather ‘moving,
educationally forward,’ but anyway tell me how you
do it. I
mean, when the FG thought to requiet the good
people of
Abuja with the opportunity to produce a substantive
federal
director, you did not waste time in fixing your
younger
brother. That same brother who failed to pass the
compulsory
promotional examination as a level 15 senior officer
under the
employ of EFCC, even though he was given a second
chance.
But soon as the President said, “aiyo, bring me a
qualified
Gbagyi man,” you peddled your brother one time.
Now Gideon
is a top director in the ministry of finance in lieu of
more
qualified Gbagyi youths. You keep asking the youths
to go to school even after acquiring first degrees and
masters degrees whereas you, my beloved Uncle,
only have a Higher Diploma. I don’t understand how
you do it.
Three, please what is your definition of
EMPOWERMENT? Last
week, you teamed up with Peter Yohanna, Chairman
of Bwari
Area Council to amuse me. The two of you passed
microphones to
one another – like upcoming rappers engaged in a
freestyle
battle – to rap about how human empowerment is
your forte.
What I don’t understand is, by sharing Okada,
generator sets,
and clippers to the youths, are you empowering them
or
insulting them? Again, Uncle Sir, what does
empowerment
mean? Is it the attachment of hundreds of youths,
the same people you keep lampooning for ‘not going
to school,’ to several VIO posts where they receive a
paltry of five thousand naira (N5,000) monthly, or is
it the recruitment of these youths’ mothers to sweep
highways for eight thousand (N8,000) a month? I
swear, Peter Yohanna and yourself are geniuses!
Anyway, those aren’t the main questions that I need
you to
answer. Let me repeat here the questions that you
have been
too busy to answer (I have sacrificed all other artistic
considerations just to write a very plain letter, Sir
Uncle):
1 – How much do you receive from the Federal
government as
allocation for the development of your Senatorial
Jurisdiction
or district?
2 – How do you disburse, expend, utilize these
allocations?
Please do not mention the motorcycles and cars you
gave a
few persons in the bid to return to the senate. And,
sukusuku,
do not offer some vague answer like “the government
of
President Goodluck Jonathan has really developed
the
original inhabitants of Abuja through my good
office.”
3 – From your time in the House of Assembly up
until now that
you’ve graduated to the upper chambers, how many
bills have
you sponsored or supported? What are these bills;
how many
are party-sponsored or party-related? – how many
for national
growth? – how many for the betterment of the
general
wellbeing of the Gbagyiza?
4 – What have you done – are you doing – to douse
the rising
tension among the Gbagyi people about the
perceived neglect
and continuous exploitation of our lands by the
Federal
Government? Have you bothered to enlighten them
about the
pros and cons of the FG proposed Land Swap policy?
Have
you used your good office to cause them to see that
the
Federal Government is not their enemy, that some
very few
corrupt politicians are directly responsible for, and
benefitting
from, the status quo?
5 – Are you aware that Kubwa community has been
jumping
from one legal tussle to another, and have been
losing
communal lands to some phony land allocation
recently? -
you know we are farmers, yeah? Are you aware that
Dan Tata
is build a very large estate on the last communal
farm land in
Kubwa, and our parents now have to climb that
Kubwa
mountain to till for food while you are getting paid in
multiple
of billions on their behalf? Oh oh, I remember, you
fooled them during the public hearing that they
should worry not, because your very good and
almighty office will solve the problem. How come we
haven’t heard anything since then?
6 – Can you feel my disappointment in you?
Ehen Uncle, you have plenty detractors o. Enemies of
your
political hustle have been going about saying that
you are an
hypocrite, never to be trusted, do you know? They
say that
your beloved President Goodluck wanted to make
you the
minister of state but that you refused the gesture and
hinted
that you’d rather wait until Senator Bala Mohammed
vacates
his position for you. But I didn’t believe them. I just
laughed
and told them to go away with their cheap blackmail.
Actually
I told them that unless you are stupid and selfish
you’d never
do such thing. Before they say anything else I
quickly added
that you are not stupid and selfish, not my Uncle,
haba mana.
Your detractors, dear sir, told me to wait and see
some
political realignment that would take place as 2015
draws
nigh. Uncle, I am afraid to say that some of the
events those
prophets of doom prophesied are beginning to
materialize.
They said, as at then, that: soon you were going to
start
following the President about as if you were the new
ADC – as
though the emancipation of the Gbagyi people
depends on your politics of follow-follow; Senator
Bala Mohammed will
jettison his plan to contest for governorship of his
state, and;
the bill for the creation of the office of the Mayor of
Abuja
will miraculously resurface and get hastily passed
into law,
then Mohammed will run to be elected Mayor while
you get
your much dreamed-of Minister of FCT. Uncle, were
these
mad men right about you? Did you truly reject the
opportunity
to become the Minister of state for FCT yet continued
to
discreetly ginger our people to loudly condemn the
Federal
Government for not giving us any ministerial slot or
ambassadorial posting? I ask because, well, you have
practically become the unofficial ADC to the
president;
Senator Bala is likely not going to contest for
governorship
again, and; the bill for the creation of the office of
the Mayor of
Abuja has miraculously resurfaced after it was
summarily kicked out
before the first reading when it was initially
sponsored on the
floor of the national assembly. Did you, for personal
ambition,
refuse an opportunity that we have been crying for?
It is amazing how you came out of the gutters to
become a
multimillionaire, using our shoulders as ladder. If
these
allegations are false then, dearest Uncle, good for
you. But if
you are indeed guilty then, oga sir, you are going to
pay some
day soon. Before you unleash the police on me for
threatening your life – or career, ha ha – let me
explain what
I mean by you shall pay some day soon.
I do not speak or write for OIDA or any of the many
bitch-organizations that you guys buy over with
money and job
offers. I write and speak for an increasing number of
genuinely fed up Gbagyi youths who have our tribe at
heart.
And we have decided to become actively involved in
the
business of governance and representation of our
people at
all levels of government. The dynamics are changing
and you
shall feel us.
Finally sir. Let me tell you a story. As a teenager I
was
always in and out of police cells for confronting
‘authority.’
So I am conversant with the drill. And, my friend, we
are
familiar with your tactics of using the police to
harass and assault Gbagyi people who dare to think
for themselves and
ask questions, so don’t bother. I know that some of
my
‘friends on Facebook’ are your stooges, and I am
certain that
some other Gbagyi people will share this and one
way or
another you will get to read it. Then you will say they
should
not mind me, or flare up in anger and decide to teach
me How
to Respect a Senator of the yadayadayada. But
please, I beg
you in the name of Jesus and Mohammed and
Ashna, save us
both the energy of having to fight each other, simply
answer
my questions – convince me that you mean us well
– and I
swear by the aforementioned names to support you
through
out my life until darkness overtakes me.
Ha, ho, erm, hu, wphew, mtscheeeew.
I am returning to my hibernation jare. You have my
email in
case you finally decide to reply. No, it’d actually be
nice to
read a public response to this. And, if you fail to
convince me
about your usefulness in the national assembly then,
my guy,
you cannot: 1) have my respect either as a Gbagyi
elder or as
a Senator of yadayadayada; 2) have my vote in the
forthcoming elections for which you are not too busy
to
campaign, and; 3) get away with short changing
millions of
people in the F.C.T. You sef check am na, Oga, e no
go maik
sense say you use us hustle then carry our cake go
just like
that.
Yours most respectful,
Tukura John Atnadu Daniel.

My friend please kindly visit MDG office in Abuja and ask for list of project executed by Aduda in each area council, I know of boreholes ,tho some were poorly executed ,Nigeria factor ,check for conditional Grant Schemes and cct he did a little in the interior villages but you might not be aware only if you do monitoring and evaluation M AND E for Abuja MDG the you would know how the funds moves.