Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

Letter to Acting President

By Abraham Ogbodo
05 March 2017   |   3:50 am
Dear Mr. Acting President, I am writing to bring your attention to some soft issues that may become too hard to crack if they are not promptly addressed now.

The Editor of the Guardian, Mr. Abraham Ogbodo

Dear Mr. Acting President, I am writing to bring your attention to some soft issues that may become too hard to crack if they are not promptly addressed now. Although I had met you twice or so in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, my name may not specially ring with you outside the fact that you encounter me daily on the imprint of The Guardian. But I have always known you right from your days as attorney general of Lagos State, the richest state in Nigeria and according to some statistics, Africa’s fifth biggest economy.

You did extremely well in that previous assignment and I guess it was the reason your name propped up so irresistibly in the APC’s pre-election trade-offs to produce a candidate to stand with President Muhammadu Buhari in that election. From hindsight, you weren’t a bad choice and Nigerians have got Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the one also called Jagaban to thank for your ascendance to the throne. He single-handedly swung the variables that made you inevitable in the calculations. He did very well. Thank you very much Ashiwaju. May your reign as the Ashiwaju of national politics be long!

Now, to the main purpose of this letter. Sir, you know very well that nobody nominated you as acting presidential candidate, neither were you voted for in that capacity. You were vice presidential candidate and you duly came in at the end of the electoral processes as the vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That has not substantially changed in spite of the circumstantial new description of Acting President. Why am I reiterating all of this? I just want you to be guided properly by the original template so that you will readily understand when people are leading you into temptation and for you to raise the red flag.

If others do not, I know enough to know that your ascendance is divine. I can say for sure also that you were too farfetched in the politics of the formation of the APC and subsequent allocation of privileges to earn the vice presidency. The Ashiwaju himself was around, hale and hearty, and not entirely disinterested, although he had to reinvest his own interest in you when things looked improbable with him. There was the other key investor called Rotimi Amaechi, who even stood a better chance than Ashiwaju if the preference of General Buhari were to be the only factor in picking the vice presidential candidate. But the Grace was all over you and you had literally come from nowhere to emerge champion without corresponding efforts. I really thank God for your life.

As I can see, God chose you to work for Nigerians not to play politics. In the first place, I cannot picture you playing politics because you are not so wired. You are wired to state it as it is. You are a professional; in fact, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), which does not come by fooling around and pledging loyalty to a political godfather. People are saying that the economy which had lain prostrate has been attempting to stand on its own since January 10. They associate the magic with your transition from Vice to Acting President.

Well, it might be true. It could also be a sheer coincidence that the so-called turn around occasioned by sustained recovery of the Naira and your peaceful missions to troubled spots nationwide, including the Niger Delta had been programmed to happen before your advent as Acting President. In fact, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu who advises President Buhari on political matters took good time to explain why you were not the subjective factor in the observable changes in the economy. He said your four or so weeks of acting could not have translated to instant magic if President Buhari had not used the last 20 months preparing the grounds for the miracle.

Ojudu needed to make this clarification because Nigerians, especially in the social and even the traditional media were making value judgments to the effect that you were better than your principal and that if you had been Acting instead of being Vice President since May 29, 2015, the story, overall, would have been significantly different. I can’t get the point Ojudu was trying to make though. You did not mount the podium to do that proclamation. Nigerians did.

So far, you have only tried to utilize, to the best of your ability, the power transmitted to you by President Buhari, who is currently in UK or some location outside Nigeria on extended medical vacation. Was Babafemi Ojodu saying in using the transmitted power to cause results, you should have also transmitted to the people that the power that was causing things to happen differently in Nigeria belonged not to you but that which had been transmitted to you by President Buhari and certified by the Senate?

Sir, you see, Nigerians are an impossible lot. You just have to be very careful. Some people want you to state categorically by whose authority you are doing wonders in six weeks. Buhari they know! But who is this Osinbajo? And so, instead of this silent manifestation that you have been doing, you should embark more on loud proclamation. Let me explain what I mean. For instance, I know in the quest for peace and national cohesion, your next port of call shall be the Southeast to speak peace to MASSOB and IPOB members. When you get there, stop talking as if you are an authority unto yourself. You are not because you are exercising transmitted power not original power. The Late Chief K.O Mbadiwe had described the vice presidency as a repeater station of a major station and of microscopic consequence. Although the majestic Mbadiwe didn’t envisage a situation of acting presidency, which is threatening to become a permanent feature in our operations, his theory on the power relations between the president and his deputy is still largely tenable. Sir, that is why some entrenched quarters are getting worried over your rising profile.

For effect, when you get to the Southeast, align your speech this way. “The President spoke to me this morning (assuming you arrive in the afternoon) and told me to tell you that the Igbos are a major stakeholder in the Nigerian project and the country cannot move forward without their fully coming on board…” and so on and so forth. By the way, why is the President not speaking to you as often as he does to Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina and others? Or has he been talking and you are the one not relaying the conversation to Nigerians?

If it is, it isn’t a wise decision. What do people call you; acting president, right? I am a theatre artist and I can tell you for free that acting means physical, mental, emotional and psychological identification with the script character. In other words, while in this acting mode, the responsibility to maintain a consolidated personality is even higher. You must assume a stage personality that is completely different from your person, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. Good actor projects not himself but his stage character. This is the point that Mr. Ojudu who momentarily assumed the role of artistic director of the Aso Rock theatre was trying to make.

Sir, I know asking you to act differently at this age and stage of your life when you didn’t study dramatic arts in school is very difficult. But that is the reality on ground. As acting president, you must stop the pretence and step squarely into character. Manifest Buhari not Osinbajo. The Good God Who has led you this far shall also see you through this tough acting lesson. If it is His will for you to continue the transition beyond acting to something else, nothing shall stop it. For now, stay with the script and act well. Care less about folks saying you are acting better than the original character. They don’t mean well. As a pastor, you should know when temptation is lurking. Thanks and may your acting be smooth.

4 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    I kinda got the gist and our man of action wasn’t born yesterday to catch the ride. Well said man

  • Author’s gravatar

    If you don’t know it, you are even exacerbating the problem for the VP BY YOUR SO CALLED COUNSEL. EVERY WISE MAN KNOWS THE VP IS DOING WHAT HIS NEW OFFICE ALLOWS HIM TO DO: ACTING FOR THE PRESIDENT. HE HAS NEVER ASSUMED THAT HE’S THE PRESIDENT. ALL HIS ACTIONS HAVE BEEN ON BEHALF OF THE PRESIDENT. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU WANT TO RUN THE VP INTO TROUBLED WATERS AS DID DAVID WHEN HE FELL THE MIGHTY GOLIATH. AND THE WOMEN BEGAN TO SING THAT KING SAUL KILL HIS THOUSAND BUT DAVID HIS TEN THOUSAND…SLY EDAGHESE

  • Author’s gravatar

    With due respect, I think this article is “flat!” Osinbajo is acting as a President properly, and by the power invested in him by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he is occupying the post of the President legally and has to perform the duties and responsibilities of that office, in his own way, in the absence of the President, that he had no part in causing. The issue of him being elected or selected for the post is a lame one, as this is in the past and irrelevant at this point, and until the President returns hale and hearty to reoccupy his position, a vice President must, be able to perform, authoritatively, the role of the President any time he is called upon without him acting like a WIMP! What if Nigeria was at war and the President is incapacitated, will you now say the VP should still be ” acting”, like the actors in the widely and hugely successful “Wedding Party Nollywood Movie?” Come on, this is real life, and not a theatrical stage of some sorts! Nigeria is in the doldrums, and needs an expert, forthright, intelligent hand to handle, and Osibajo appears to be able to do this, hence the appreciation of the country folks for his deft and somewhat acceptable performance so far. He does not need to be servile and cringe about the whole place like a “houseboy”, he needs to step up to the plate and perform! This is so that when the President comes back, he can be rest assured that the country was not adrift in his absence. Osibajo should carry on firmly as he is doing. If you cannot stand his God given qualities that he is manifesting, please ask yourself this question: ” If you want solutions to some problems and you happen to have access to the best hands among mediocres, whom would you choose?, Nigerians have sufferred enough from bad and poor leadership (Ref:Obasanjo and many others), If God put Osibajo on the stage now, let us support him to help us! After living and working in this country for years and so abroad, I have seen that Nigerians tolerate, protect and relish in mediocrity! They have many ways to explain failures and non-performers,” Its our time!, He is our kins man, he should occupy this position now! Yet nothing works,(except cellphones) and the country continues to suffer from the decisions of these “round pegs in square holes!” Osibajo is well read and, we saw that he was educated in Economics apart from Law! It is natural for human beings to compare at all levels. Who do you think, by virtue of pedigree, should perform well in governance?” A combatant Vs a Legal economist? Please, remove sentiments and let us have a better Nigeria. I have nothing against Buhari and I dont think Osibajo is a power drunk, position crazy and egoistic person , like so many ineffective sit tight, overly ambitious, despotic African leaders. Please do not distract the man from helping Nigerians and stop writing him letters!

  • Author’s gravatar

    Please Mr Ogbodo, please tell me whether you were a comedian as a theatre arts students?