OPEN LETTER TO GENERAL MUHAMMAD BUHARI, GCON
Dear General,
I wish to congratulate you on winning the presidential ticket of your party, the APC. A lot has been said about you- the good, the bad and the ugly but only God is the judge of all men. For the fourth time, you are throwing your hat in the ring to aspire to lead this nation after you led as a military ruler between 1983 and 1985. I was very young during your first outing but I still remember vividly that my grandfather had a War Against Indiscipline (WAI) sticker behind his Peugeot 504 wagon, a constant reminder to all Nigerians then to be upright and disciplined. That sticker remains the most I remember of you at that tender age.
The rest of your actions I later learnt during my study as a communications student. Your actions were described in textbooks and lectures as inhumane, sordid and wicked, especially the way you clamped journalists and politicians in jail. I kind of agreed with my lecturer’s and reports back then that you are one wicked soul. But these days, I have come to realize that your inability to continue as president then have done more harm to us as a people than the harm experienced during your stay in office.
At over 70 years of age, you are no longer a young man. At your age, you should be relaxing and allowing younger men to lead the battle of moving Nigeria forward. So many people have queried your mental capacity and physical capability to run Nigeria. They have a valid point but when we remember that the likes of James Ibori, Lucky Igbinedion and a few other younger men once held positions of authority in recent pasts and milked the treasury dry, one cannot but ignore the remarks of those questioning your age.
Between the period you ruled and now, things have changed. Now, we do everything at the touch of the screen. We even dupe people with just a click of a button. These days, we have social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. to share our views and opinions (ask President Goodluck Jonathan, GCON what he thinks of social media, I am sure he’ll wish he can ban the use as a result of the insults heaped on him every minute) These days sir, everybody is a journalist or critic. Even a kid who has a fair idea of social media is on the internet whether for the wrong or right reasons. So you can see how fast things have changed since you left office.
Things have really changed sir. So much so that it’s become easy for $20Bn dollars to go missing in our treasury and nobody will be reprimanded for it. It’s so easy these days to become a billionaire, all I need to do is present forged documents and I’ll get billions of Naira paid into my account as oil subsidy payment. And guess what sir? I will not be jailed for it. It’s now so easy for people to divert pension funds without punishment. It’s now so easy for people to sit in this part of town and bring a bank down in Brazil. It’s now easy to become a bank MD/CEO and become a billionaire in less than a month just by being close to the people in power, oil moguls and pushing bank employees to bring in money by hook or crook. It’s now so easy for our roads to go bad without the state governors or local government chairmen caring. It’s now so easy for contractors to abscond without carrying out one percent of the job. It’s become so easy for brands to cheat consumers without regulatory agencies punishing them. It’s now very easy to have people display ill-gotten wealth and take part of it to church or mosque without the Pastor or Imam questioning the source. It’s now so easy for one individual to spend N10million in a nightclub on a night while millions cannot afford N500 dinner. It’s now very common to experience more blackout than epileptic power supply in Nigeria. It’s become more brazen for government officials at the airports and seaports to demand for bribe even when they haven’t don you any favours. It’s now become a norm to pay unofficial rate to be able to get a travel passport and driver’s license. Immorality has become very acceptable that you can’t even tell wrong from wrong any more. To hear that fellow citizens have been bombed or maimed for no just reasons have become part of daily living. Some of us in this part of town don’t even care if the North East is on fire or not, as long as we can continue making our daily living.
Nonetheless, I am happy you have always been on ground, unlike so many of our leaders who are quick to hop on the next flight out of Nigeria, either to relax or stash their loots in foreign accounts. You can testify to some, if not all of these issues I have raised and it appears you are bothered, the reason you are back again. I therefore call on you to, as a matter of urgency, address these issues when you become the president. But if you know you cannot address them, please be ready to experience our wrath if you eventually make it to The Villa. Below are the issues; not in any particular order:
1. The charade called National Identity card, issuance of international passport and driver’s license.
2. Power generation (I need not tell you this is urgent and unforgivable if you don’t get it right)
3. Revamping of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education
4. Cleaning up of the filth in the banking industry (especially how to stop past MD’s and current CEO’s from milking us dry)
5. Work out a realistic plan for local government autonomy and efficiency
6. Justice system: (This should be topmost priority) Some Judges, SAN’s and lawyers need to be cooling their heels off in jail.
7. NTA (All the old guards who lack ideas of modern broadcasting need to go home). Please, the news must not start and end with you and the first lady when you become president
8. Border and customs control
9. Provision and maintenance of social infrastructure
10. Social welfare for the unemployed
11. Housing and transportation. Please, if you can make state governors ban danfo buses, please do. Nigerians are not animals, we deserve better buses with sane drivers.
12. Healthcare. This must be a priority.
13. Scrap the FRSC/VIO or merge them with the Nigeria Police. We have too many uniform men on the roads and they drive fear in commuters. We are not in a war situation.
14. Draw up a realistic development plan for the Niger Delta and oil industry
15. Ban official visits by traditional rulers, billionaires, market women, ethnic jingoist/ lords/associations etc. to the Villa.
16. Reduce the number of SSS and security operatives at official and social functions. We need them in our neighbourhoods protecting us.
17. And please, can you not have a military man (ADC) standing behind you at all times even in the bedroom?
18. Open up Aso Rock and let ordinary Nigerians have an idea of what it looks like. We see what the White House in the US looks like in movies and I know a few people have gone to the place on tour.
19. Reduce the number of cars in the presidential fleet and ensure every government official do same
20. Sports is big business, let’s get private individuals and companies to invest
21. Reform the minds of our friends, the police and remodel the physical and social infrastructure of the force
22. Re-equip our military (As a former soldier, we expect this and considering how Boko Haram has exposed their inadequacies)
23. Do a live tour of all government owned refineries and let Nigerians know the actual state of things. And it must be broadcast live on national TV. We want to see what is left of the refineries.
24. Hand over the National Stadia (Surulere and Abuja) to a private organisation to manage. The old Federal Secretariat, Ikoyi too. While at it, make TBS a tourist destination and let’s generate some money from the edifice.
25. Restructure our democratic system (This may be difficult to do but my suggestion is that we need to scrap the Senate and House of Representative. Let the deputy governors and two members of each state house assembly be selected to meet twice weekly in Abuja to form the National Assembly. They are closer to the people and would be able to bring development fast to us. We don’t need a bloated Assembly of lazy men who do nothing in Abuja but collect fat salaries and scale gates to protect their own interests. If I don’t know the name of the senator representing my district, what’s the point of having him in Abuja?
26. IF NYSC isn’t serving its true purpose, please scrap it.
27. Ban importation of all the items that can be produced in Nigeria
28. Review our trade policies and agreements with other countries of the world.
29. Bring home all the staff of Nigerian Missions abroad and appoint fresh and vibrant people who will look out for the interest of Nigerians on foreign soil.
30. I also urge you to lead a team to meet with the government of Norway to see and learn how that country has managed to save her oil wealth for generations yet unborn.
31. If you can revive Nigerian Airways, please do, if not, let it be but let’s regulate the aviation sector with global best practices.
32. For members of your team, kindly go against the norm by choosing men and women of integrity, character and competence. There mustn’t be national quota. The best must be assembled to fix the rot in this country. The days of tribal sentiments are over. Integrity and competence mustn’t be sacrificed on the altar of quota system.
33. ICT is the future, kindly fashion out policies that’ll help everyone across this country milk it’s goodness.
34. Ensure contractors execute projects with highest standard and mobilize with just 60% and pay 40% five years after the projects have stood the test of time and use.
35. Make INEC raise its game and stop posting voters register/names on walls like we are in 1914. And people clock 18 daily, there has to be registration centers operating 24/7-365 days henceforth.
If I go on sir, I may continue requesting till your first term is over.
I wish you the best and pray that Nigerians vote right in the 2015 elections.

Best Regards,
A True Patriot.