PLEASE TELL MR. PRESIDENT

Please tell Mr. President for me, as Nigeria hands him the baton for the last time, to redeem the land from poverty, unemployment, insecurity and underdevelopment.

Tell the President for me, that at the root of our named problems are the twin of CORRUPTION and ETHNICITY. Tell him that the twin have been there before he was sworn into office on 29th May, 2015, and that they will remain there when he leaves office by 29th May, 2023 unless he does something radical to get rid of them.

Please tell Mr. President for me, that to deal with CORRUPTION, you don't fight judges. You dialogue with them. Tell him that judges are his partners in progress in the fight against corruption, and that he can't achieve any success without them. Tell him to call judges for a meeting and apologise to them soberly about the approach he used in his first tenure. Tell him to go to that meeting with the dossiers of those who are truly corrupt, and show them; adding that he won't use the dossiers anymore, unless the judges concerned commit other wrongs, in which case even the one they have unlawfully acquired will be confiscated and forfeited. Tell him to attach very attractive allowances to every corruption trial they conclude within a specified timeframe. Tell him to assure them that he will double their emoluments before the end of his tenure, as the leakages get blocked and our purse gets fatter.

And please, tell Mr. President for me, that judges are not the only stakeholders in his quest to rid the country of corruption. That prosecutors are some stakeholders too, without whom no serious progress would be made. Please tell him that there is need to vet them to ensure they are free from any political taints, and screen them to ensure that only the best hands are hired for the job. Tell him for me, that if I were him, I will calculate their salaries for the rest of the years they have in service, and double it for them as allowance for the job. Tell him I said upon that, I would have rewarded them with attractive bonus for every conviction secured, provided a secured and heavily guarded quarters for them, and attach official vehicles for their individual movements with fierce looking escorts as security. Please tell the president for me, that beyond the allowances, I would have issued official passports to some members of their families who could be targeted, relocate them abroad for a term beyond the tenure of their contracts, and insure them against threats of assassination.

Please tell Mr. President for me, that any attempt to fight corruption without the cooperation and protection of the stakeholders as highlighted above is a sheer waste of time. Tell him, that unless adequate arrangements are made to fight corruption as prescribed above, the fight will end up a farce at the end of his second tenure....and that all hope to redeem Nigeria will be lost with it, because it will become a point of reference, that "...even Buhari himself did not succeed in the fight against corruption".

And please, tell the President for me as well, that ETHNICITY is the foster mother of corruption, and the biggest monster standing in our way to fight and overcome it. And that standing next to it is POLITICAL AFFILIATION. If you don't deal with your brother and make your friend a scapegoat when they break the law, nobody will take you seriously as a ruler, and you will be branded as worse than a corrupt judge. Please tell the President for me, that as a leader, you don't wear gloves when dealing with crime, even if the culprit is your son. Tell him, that every responsible father will on daily basis check the pocket and school bag of his son as he returns from school, to ensure that the child does not take what does not belong to him. The thieves and armed robbers in our society today, including their counterparts in the corridors of power, are those whose parents failed in this critical area of responsibility. And if you don't get at it early, it will be too late to ask him later where he got money to buy power bikes, or private jets, or such other things that are beyond his means.

Please tell the president for me, that if I were him, I will balance appointments into my cabinet in this second tenure, ensuring that northerners are not more than half of my cabinet to reflect federal characters, leaving no room for any geopolitical zone to complain, with strict warning that whoever sabotages my government will go to jail.

Please tell Mr. President for me, that the moment the monster of ETHNICITY is dislodged from the national stage, and criminals are dealt with in equal measures irrespective of their ethnic identities, whether they are boko haram, herdsmen, bandits, terrorists, secessionists, kidnappers, militants or armed robbers, there will be calm in the land.

Tell him for me, that if I were him, I won't keep any non-performing service chief in my cabinet for more than six months. "YOU EITHER SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT OR GET FIRED!".

Please tell the President for me, that Nigerians love him, that they will forgive his failings, and thank him forever if he gets it right this last time. Tell him that this is his last opportunity to get things right, and that by 2023, he will no longer be president.