TO MR PRESIDENT
CONGRATULATIONS to the one whose uncrushable will as a leader was known since 2003. The one who did not give up on dreams and achievability has now or sooner become a world in motivational talks on consistency. Dream comes true for Mr. President on the 29th of May 2015.
Dream no more deferred;
dream now on track;
dream racing, panting,
will be arrayed but only
when it reaches the end
and have been gamefully lawfully.
Then truism of dream’ll be reloaded as fulfilment of it.

Sir, Many Nigerians are promiscuous to promises and prospects of progress such that winning their hearts is critically a function of their selfishness, sentiment or assessment of one’s merit. Whatever the point of attraction is, Nigerians have no patience for quixotic quid pro quo. The Neutral are watching; the vacillating, waiting; the vengeful, screening and the proud, interrupting- all expecting results to reinforce their validation, vitiation or vituperations. Thus, political credibility in Nigeria has no fixity on credentials and feats of a ruler’s past but on the unbeatable capacity to obliterate or reduce rather than heave the hex of corruption, poverty, instabilities and insecurities Nigeria is enmeshed in- that seems unsolvable- that seems aggravating.

It is worthy of consideration that for the newly sworn in administration, there is little or no funds to begin with but as it now seems normal, internationally, huge debt is recorded. That, however, will not provoke sympathy or understanding in the minds of many Nigerians. Almost all have become hard-hearted and do not want excuses for failures or disappointments. That makes the situation of Nigerian government very volatile. So, the president must perform no matter what. The people are deaf to excuses- which they hope will not need be given.
The eagles must fly
Facing the storm up sky
Soaring, steady, steering, up high;
The horses must gallop
Not defeatistising on white road’s roughness to flop
But grazing, going, glorying on green to the top
Eagles and horses have potentials
All birds delight, “fly, and move on.”

The trust or expectations (for not all adore and trust The Prince) that Nigerians now have in Mr. President cannot be detached from his past uncompromising stand on “doing things right”. That feat, however, generated mixed feelings- many delighted, others embittered or indifferent. It then means that the feeling of the people cannot always be considered (the opportunist elites, the shortsighted people- these categories of people must be). In fact, that majority are not always right can be considered even when a wrong choice will harm them- that they may learn. But a leader is responsible for the common good of the people such that he or she bears the credit or crucifixion regarding the consequences of decisions taken with or without public opinion. There can never be an absolute “Yes” or “No” to any decision just as there can never be a one-voice-for-all regarding rightness or wrongness of an action. That also makes the situation of Nigerian government very volatile. The President must perform no matter what. Many people are prone to misconceptions and often see things the way opposition arms interpret them since opposition in Nigeria is as strictly a system of fault-finding and image-crushing. The President must constitutionally stand for the welfare of the people. In 2012, The Fuel Subsidy was removed (partially) against the will of the majority. That was not too bad but that the outlined gains of that action was never realized and in that sense the former President began to lose his legitimacy.

Sir, offend if you must offend certain people; that seems unavoidable for The Prince. For example, one whose means of living is solely on the importation or sales of electric generator will be offended and hurt if there must be a stable and reliable power supply (which is realisable). Power is essential to life of Nigerians who are supposedly of “the giant of Africa”- by population and resources. It is not a novel idea but it must be emphasized that power supply will contribute to rapid growth of the economy- reaching the grass root. The fact that many are riding on the pathetic failures of the government to productively utilize national resources in sectors such as power sector and security means that many will become pathetic if a government will correct those failures. That makes the situation of Nigerian government very volatile. The President must perform no matter what. Certain people are engaged in “anti-progress” dealings, of course justifiably, to improvise and survive.

Many keep asking what Jonathan administration had done. Really, he seemed to (or there are credible claims overruled by people’s loss of interest in his government) have provided trains for rail transport; he did “constructed” bridges and roads; fully-assembled-in-Nigeria vehicles can be boast of; schools and universities are built; and (though arguable) he advanced our electoral process- at least to a certain extent. What a potential visionary leader he was! But a leader must not ignore the most essential- right to life. In that sense no matter what a leader does, if he fails to protect lives of people entrusted in him and that being obligatorily timely, his loss of legitimacy will be drastically irredeemable. The fact that certain projects or needs are more essential and if unattended to can mean the fall of the man of the people makes the situation of Nigerian government very volatile. The president must perform no matter what. The people must be assured security of lives and property, health, food and so on. Right to life comes first.

Another arrow that pierced through Jonathan’s legitimacy was his failure to stand firm and fierce against corruption- as it appears evidently to the public. Mismanagement of funds or allegation of involvement in fraud or embezzlement, evident wasteful spending and unremitted incomes by some agents or agencies are known to the people. The former President seemed to protect those accused. There is no doubt, that our new President has an unbeatable integrity and will against corruption. That will should not be crushed under the force of cronyism and proximation.

The use of coital-uxorial power by many women to campaign: “no Jonathan no sex” was very prominent in 2011. In 2015, the campaign became “CHANGE” and “SAI BUHARI”. That means no matter the source of attraction, majority of Nigerians will never sign “for better or worse” leadership deal with anybody.
It was good that Mr. President deconstructively said, “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. That, regardless of how “good-for-errors-and-mockery” darkened-defeatist vengeful souls would interpret it, suggests that Mr. President belongs to THE PEOPLE and not ANY godfather (or a group of them).
Phenomena referred to in this paper, even when generally implied, are, in the words of Patrick Obahiagbon, “crystal clear like the MENE MENE TEKEL UPHRASINI…audible to the deaf and visible to the blind”. Congratulations! On May 29th 2015, retired general Mohamad Buhari was sworn in as the President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, then:
CHANGE has begun
Not as a dawn
For change has been
But hope’s anew seen:
-change that soon shall unveil
-Must rid all things stale.
Not dawn of change
But of a new change.

SAMUEL O. KUYE
(TFW)
ENGLISH/ARTS
UNILAG