SOCIO POLITICAL
OPEN LETTER TO MAHAMUDU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.
Your excellency, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Mahumudu Buhari,
I will fall short of words if I try to describe the thrilling moment
within which I found myself when you were finally declared the Winner
of the 2015 elections  in Nigeria, by Abubakar Jega. I knew once more,
after Murtala Mohammed, Nigeria will again see sanity, probity and
accountability in governance.
You might ask why I have taken so much interest in Nigerian matters
when I'm a Ghanaian living in Ghana?
First of all I'm an Nkrumahist by conviction, and as part of being an
Nkrumahist, I have to be a Pan Africanist therefore I have to speak on
African matters but if you will have the patience to read on, you
would discover that the intent of putting up this write up is to deal
with the recent Gambian impasse and very far from discussing Nigeria.
Secondly, I have close relatives in Lagos, and if I'm to trace my
lineage, it is most likely to be found in the most populous city of
Nigeria, Kano, so naturally I have a say in Nigerian matters.
Mr. President, right after you inauguration, I have followed you with
keenness. I have supported many of your policies that have proved to
the Capitalists in the metropolis of Europe and America that you are a
strong man. A man of your people. I have always respected your brand,
Mahamudu Buhari!
Mr. President, you were a strong man when you told the West the truth
about Nigeria's economic question and their complicity in worsening
the Nigerian situation.
You were a strong man when you rejected their Aid offer, and instead
threw a challenge to them, and that is to help you recoup all the
stolen Nigerian money being kept in their Banks to its rightful
owners,  the good people of Nigeria.
You were a strong man when you did not bow down to the Pressure of the
European Union to signing The Economic Partnership Agreement, when
your contemporaries, the likes of John Dramani Mahama, the immediate
past president of
Ghana were championing this cause for peraonal
motives best known to them. Signing the EPA is economically unwise for
any African country. I salute for that!
I also like the vigour with which you faced off with Boko Haram but
may I also suggest that Nigerian government has to rejuvenate their
resolve in this regard in order totally annihilate the terrorist
group.
But Mr. President it was  with utmost surprise for me to notice the
trend of your stance on the recent Gambian Quagmire.
With all due respect and to be frank with you Mr. President you have
gotten this one squarely wrong. There must be a better way. Foreign
Military intervention can never be the solution to the Gambian
impasse, it will rather exacerbate  situations
When I say this I have precedence to buttress my claim. Lybia, once a
prosperous African country has been reduced to a failed state due
foreign military intervention in its domestic matters. Iraq and a host
of other countries comes to mind when I talk about this.
Upon all the mess Obama and George Bush caused Libya and Iraq
respectively, they looked back in retrospect and both said intervening
Militarily the respective countries was a mistake.(Deeply within, I
know it is a cover up)
Mr. President, the multi million dollar question then is, do you want
look back in retrospect one day and recount that your involvement in
the Gambia was a mistake?
Yahya Jammeh maybe a tyrant but I believe he has the right to a  fair
hearing in court. We should allow the laws of Gambia to work and Your
Excellency, I believe you can easily facilitate this, by simply deploy
some trusted Nigerian judges to the apex court of Gambia to deal with
the election row as soon as possible.
Mr. President,  also in my candid view, to settle matters once and for
all,  you can equally persuade the ECOWAS to hold a fresh poll in
Gambia with intense supervision, and if indeed, the People of Gambia
voted against Yahya Jammeh, then automatically it will manifest in the
results of my proposed second election.
intervention has never brought positive results in African
political matters, it only worsens it and Gambia needs not to be
subjected to a military experiment that is bound to fail in  achieving
its objective.
Lives and property will be lost, Africa will become a laughing stock
to the rest of the world, inducing doubts on our political maturity as
a continent.
I believe Africa has come of age since colonialism and we must prove
to the world that the Black man is capable of managing his own affairs
Gambia is now a test case, and Nigeria as a major economic and
political powerhouse in Africa should make sure Africa passes this
test and passes well.
Thank you.
Yusef Gariba
The Nkrumahist Circle