₦airaland Forum

OPEN LETTER TO BUHARI: Nigeria under state-
sponsored tyranny – Femi Fani-Kayode
January 03, 2016 at 4:57 am in Interview
Fani- Kayode and General Muhammadu
Buhari
Mr. President, as one of your most loyal and faithful
subjects who has nothing but the utmost respect for your
person and your office, I am constrained to write you this
open letter. This is because there are issues I believe are
important for you to clarify and to come clean on. I say this
because some of your assertions of late are at best
contradictory.
Whichever side of the political divide we are on, I believe
we can all agree on one thing: The prosecution of the war
against terror is not something that any of us should play
politics with. This is especially so given the fact that human
lives are at stake and the very existence of our nation is
under threat. Like much of the rest of the world, our country
is going through hell at the hands of jihadists and Islamist
terrorists.
There is no gainsaying that we must all come to terms with
the fact that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al
Qaeda, the Taliban, Al Shabab and Boko Haram are nothing
but bloodthirsty murderers. They are indeed the scum of the
earth, the troublers of humanity and the vermin of hell. It
is with this in mind that I urge you to take the war against
terror far more seriously than you are doing and plead with
you to stop passing the buck.
Your penchant for blaming your failings in this regard on the
previous administration is simply nauseating and it does not
serve you well. You continuously contradict yourself when it
comes to this matter. We your subjects look up to you for
consistency, strength, unequivocal commitment, a firm
resolve and the ‘’leadership from the front’’ that you
promised during your presidential campaign in this war. We
do not want and neither do we need doublespeak, lame
excuses and buck-passing.
Permit me to point out a few examples of your contradictory
assertions and your buck- passing in this short intervention.
Initially, you claimed that your predecessor in office,
President Goodluck Jonathan, never bought any arms and
that, instead, he squandered and stole all the money that
was appropriated for the procurement of arms.
Yet, when the British Minister of Defense visited you in the
Presidential Villa the other day, the story changed. You did a
u-turn and gleefully told him and the wider world that
Jonathan bought arms with raw cash.
One wonders which story you shall come up with next and
which one you will conjure up in the future. Kindly tell us
what the position is: Is it that Jonathan did not buy arms at
all and stole all the money or is it that he used cash to buy
arms? You cannot have it both ways. It is either one or the
other.
Glaring doublespeak
Quite apart from your glaring doublespeak on this matter,
there was another issue which you ought to have raised with
your highly esteemed and respected British guest. You failed
to tell him that his was one of the countries that not only
refused to sell weapons to us during the course of this bitter
conflict but that also helped to impose and enforce the
international arms embargo on our country even though we
are at war.
This resulted in the unnecessary death of thousands of our
people because we found it difficult to procure the weapons
to protect them. Your guest’s country insisted on toeing the
American line and doing this to us, even though we were
fighting a war against a relentless, well-motivated, well-
funded and well-armed fighting force that Global Terror
Index has described as the ‘’deadliest terrorist organization
in the world’’. One is forced to ask: With friends like this,
who needs enemies?
Given the fact that the embargo was in place, one wonders
how we were supposed to procure arms unless we did so
with raw cash in the black market. The alternative was to buy
none at all, to do nothing and to allow Boko Haram to take
Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Lagos. Perhaps that is
precisely what your Western friends and allies wanted but,
thankfully, it never came to pass.
Despite the challenges and constraints Jonathan faced,
instead of losing any more ground, he rose to the occasion
and retook no less than 22 local government areas and
virtually pushed Boko Haram out of Nigeria. The only place
that they occupied by the time the election took place was
Sambisa forest.
The former President achieved this with those arms that he
bought with raw cash. This is apparently what you are now
complaining about. Permit me to remind you that it is those
same arms that Jonathan bought with raw cash that your
army is still using till today. Yet, sadly, since you were
sworn- in as President, seven months ago, you have lost
some of those same local government areas that were
earlier recovered and they are now back in the hands of
terrorists.
‘Technical’ victory
Despite this, you keep telling the international community
and the Nigerian people that we are ‘’making progress’’ in
the war against terror. As a matter of fact, you went as far as
to say that we had ‘’won the war’’ against Boko Haram and
your Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, echoed
that grotesque mendacity and reiterated that sentiment by
adding the words ‘’technically won’’ (whatever that may
mean) to the equation.
Sadly, two days later, on Christmas day, in what can only be
described as an eloquent response from the terrorists,
scores of innocent civilians were killed by Boko Haram in
Borno State and a whole community was burnt to the
ground. Again, on Sunday, December 27, Maiduguri, the
capital of Borno State, came under heavy attack from the
terrorists. Yet again, on Monday, December 28, in Adamawa
State, Boko Haram launched a series of suicide bomb
attacks in which at least 50 civilians were killed. So much for
having ‘’won the war against Boko Haram’’, whether
‘’technically’’ or otherwise.
Curiously, the next thing that you did was to tell Nigerians
that you would ‘’persuade Boko Haram to drop their arms’’.
One is compelled to ask: Why would you have to persuade
them to drop their arms if you had already defeated them
and won the war against them?
Persuasion as a weapon
In any case, this would be the first time in the history of
modern warfare that a sitting President has sought to
destroy and defeat a vicious and relentless terrorist
organization and win the war against terror simply with the
awesome and devastating weapon of persuasion. Perhaps
you should recommend that same tactic to the Americans
and the rest of the international community as an effective
and credible weapon to adopt in their war against ISIL, Al
Qaeda, Al Shabab and all the other jihadist groups that
plague the world.
Whilst you are at it, perhaps you could also persuade Boko
Haram to free the Chibok girls. It is disturbing to note that
despite all your campaign promises and assurances that
once you are elected President the girls would be rescued or
returned, nothing has been done or heard about any of
them ever since you were sworn- in. Worste still, the Bring
Back Our Girls group, which was essentially an appendage of
your election organization, together with its distinguished
leaders and conveners, appear to have gone very quiet. I
guess they are busy trying to persuade Boko Haram to drop
their arms too.
Sadly, you appear to be detached from reality. Instead of
fighting the war against terror, you are making it worse with
the killing of Shia Muslims in Zaria on December 12, locking
up their leader Sheik Ibrahim El Zakzaky and opening yet
another war front in our country. The last thing that we need
is for Hezbollah or the Iranian Republican Guard to rise to
the occasion, take up the challenge, jump into the fray and
decide to protect and avenge their Shia Muslim brothers and
sisters in northern Nigeria.
Yet, despite the reprehensible and indefensible actions of
your military commanders in Zaria, you have refused to
show any remorse for what was undoubtedly a war crime
against fellow Nigerians and you have not prosecuted the
officers and military personnel that were involved in the
butchery. Instead the homes of the victims and those that
share their Shia faith have been burnt to the ground in Zaria
and their graves and burial sites have been dug up and
desecrated.
Cameroonian attack
Worse still, you have refused to defend our country. I say
this because a few days ago the Cameroonian military
invaded our country, violated our territorial integrity and
savagely murdered over 70 Nigerians in their village before
burning it down.
Your government refused to acknowledge that this event
even took place, despite media reports. You did not console
or express condolences to the families of the victims or
retaliate against the Cameroonians.
You did not even warn them or demand an apology or
reparations from them. It could not have happened under
Jonathan, Obasanjo, Babangida, Shagari, Abacha, Abubakar,
Shonekan, Mohammed, Balewa or indeed any other
former Nigerian President or Head of State. If any of them
had been in power and the Cameroonians cultivated the
effrontery to do such a thing, there would have been
consequences.
Yet, you did nothing to avenge this affront or to defend our
honor. What happened to the gallant and brave General
Buhari that courageously led our troops into victory in Chad
in the early 1980s? What happened to the man that we all
admired and looked up to because of his military exploits in
Chad? What happened to the war hero that gave the
Chadians a ‘’bloody nose’’ for daring to attack a Nigerian
village and that almost took Ndjamena, the Chadian capital?
What happened to the man who proved to the Libyans and
their Chadian proxies that Nigerians knew how to fight? It
appears that you have changed and that you are no longer
the man that you used to be.
State – sponsored tyranny
You refuse to tell the world that our military is terribly
demoralized, our soldiers are suffering heavy casualties and
are not being paid their salaries regularly and, worst of all,
you have failed to procure a single bullet or weapon for
them to use in the last seven months since you came to
power.
Instead of deploying all the power of the state against Boko
Haram, you have spent all your energy and resources trying
to teach the former National Security Advisor, Colonel
Sambo Dasuki, and all your other perceived enemies the
lesson of their lives by misrepresenting them before the
world, subjecting them to state-sponsored tyranny and the
most insidious form of persecution, violating their human
rights and telling the world that they stole and shared
money that was meant for the purchase of arms.
You have also misinformed the Nigerian people about the
rules and conventions that are applied when it comes to the
administration of security funds and about the fact that it is
the National Assembly alone that has the right to probe the
use of such funds as part of their oversight functions. To cap
it all, you have claimed you did not receive any benefit from
the NSA ‘s office whilst Jonathan was in power. This is an
assertion which we all know is, at best, questionable.
You must understand that any leader or government that is
motivated by bitterness, fear, hate, vengeance and malice
will eventually hit the rocks and crash like a pack of cards.
You must appreciate the fact that God is watching and that
He sees and knows all.
www.vanguardngr.com/2016/01/open-letter-to-buhari-nigeria-under-state-sponsored-tyranny-femi-fani-kayode/#

State sponsored tyranny my _ass. Is funny how these silly lootocrats accused buhari of all sorts of gibberish. If only PDP used the billions of dollars it stole to judiciously prosecute the war against boko haram, we won't be in this sorry state we find ourselves today. And today, the biggest critics of this new government are these shameless, heartless and evil people in the PDP. SMH.

PDP and it members are supposed to be hiding their evil faces if the have any shame, but what will one espect from a shameless and useless party like PDP.

How I seriously wish dasuki will mention FFK's name as one of the beneficiary from the arms-deal scandal.

b

Kastonkastroll:
State sponsored tyranny my _ass. Is funny how these silly lootocrats accused buhari of all sorts of gibberish. If only PDP used the billions of dollars it stole to judiciously prosecute the war against boko haram, we won't be in this sorry state we find ourselves today. And today, the biggest critics of this new government are these shameless, heartless and evil people in the PDP. SMH.

PDP and it members are supposed to be hiding their evil faces if the have any shame, but what will one espect from a shameless and useless party like PDP.

How I seriously wish dasuki will mention FFK's name as one of the beneficiary from the arms-deal scandal.

In All the write up, all you could do is sieve out area you could capitalize and criticise. Why not criticise in whole? We seem to be loosing respect for ourselves as a nation and on individual basis through our skewed comments here on this forum in defence of what ordinarily we shouldn't have defended.

FFK at it again,
Uxolo FFK .

No one takes this '_moron' called 'ffk' seriously anyway so what's the point of this epistle of trash?

Shey na PMB wey no dey jah your dumb ass any face go bother read your usual toilet ramblings..


What a pathetic sociopath..

If all of us keep quiet when a leader keeps trampling on sensitive matters that directly affects us, which in many cases have taken the lives of our loved ones. Then we may as well by so doing be digging our own graves unknowingly. Evil is evil and justice is enshrined in rule of law and due process. Anything outside this is injustice and a bigger evil.

nnachukz:
In All the write up, all you could do is sieve out area you could capitalize and criticise. Why not criticise in whole? We seem to be loosing respect for ourselves as a nation and on individual basis through our skewed comments here on this forum in defence of what ordinarily we shouldn't have defended.

my friend pdp plus its members don't have any moral ground to criticize any new government, not APC's government or any other political party. What have they(PDP) done with their sixteen years in office? You know we are all in this mess bcuz PDP ran a lootocratic government for 16 good years.

Kastonkastroll:
my friend pdp plus its members don't have any moral ground to criticize any new government, not APC's government or any other political party. What have they(PDP) done with their sixteen years in office? You know we are all in this mess bcuz PDP ran a lootocratic government for 16 good years.

Sorry I don't argue with robots? I didn't do robotic engineering, I may never be able to change its coding. moreover, it is dead to reality and so does not feel anything except reciting its embedded sentences.

[s]

nnachukz:
Sorry I don't argue with robots? I didn't do robotic engineering, I may never be able to change its coding. moreover, it is dead to reality and so does not feel anything except reciting its embedded sentences.

[/s] My friend if you don't have any concreted argument to defend your precious PDP, better get the _fuck outta here and stop hiding behind foolishness to throw shades at me. I'm not your average nairalander you will want to have any squabble with.

Get lost _dickhead.

Open sentence to FFK: You are a misdiagnosed psychopath.

nnachukz:
Sorry I don't argue with robots? I didn't do robotic engineering, I may never be able to change its coding. moreover, it is dead to reality and so does not feel anything except reciting its embedded sentences.

Kastonkastroll, the moniker says nnachukz. You should know better.

omenka:
Kastonkastroll, the moniker says nnachukz. You should know better.

I thought he was different, my mistake. I don't know why those folks are so irrational.

Kastonkastroll:
[s][/s] My friend if you don't have any concreted argument to defend your precious PDP, better get the _fuck outta here and stop hiding behind foolishness to throw shades at me. I'm not your average nairalander you will want to have any squabble with.

Get lost _dickhead.

I'm forced to say this, an average nairalander is a human and reasons as one. A machine does not have such privilege no matter how intelligent and logical we code it to be. It doesn't go outside the variables embed in its processor/memory.
As regards to your reference to PDP. I do not belong to any political party and may never belong to one in future but I marvel at how those who claim to intelligent reason most times. PDP as a party had members who currently are now the front runners of APC. These are individuals not the political party and they contributed largely to your claimed mismanagement of our funds. I would have taken you serious if you had directed your utterances to the persons of these people and not singing PDP 16yrs today, tomorrow and next tomorrow. It is just like a coded robot, you know.

He is an unrepentant tyrant and a dull•ard from daura.


The chanji is here