OPEN LETTER TO PROF YEMI OSINBAJO (REPRISE)

OPEN LETTER TO PROF YEMI OSINBAJO (REPRISE)

The open letter below was published over two weeks before President Muhammadu Buhari went to the NBA National Conference and repeated almost verbatim what his Attorney-General said to me in his office at the Federal Ministry of Justice in April 2017. I am constrained to re-publish the letter. That a government that has an Osinbajo, a Fashola, an Ipaye, an Itsay Sagay, a Festus Keyamo and so many other brilliant legal minds can operate with the mindset that a so called 'National Interest' is superior to the rule of law, is tragic beyond words. I cannot see how such a government can move Nigeria forward. I pray for your indulgence to read my letter again.

Your Excellency,

You may not believe it but I had planned to write this letter to you before the daylight movie of masked men and assault rifles at our National Assembly during the week watched by many across the world in living colour and with disbelief. To tell you the truth, I was not surprised at what happened. I saw it coming.

In fact, I had made up my mind to write to you before the recent travel of your principal elevating you once more to the position of Acting President of the Federal Republic and Nigeria's last bus stop. I decided to write to you because I find it difficult to understand what is going on anymore.

Your Excellency, I love Nigeria. I love Nigeria with all my heart. My friends include our country men from every nook and cranny of our fatherland, every religion and every persuasion. I am that guy usually referred to as 'detribalized Nigerian'.

Three and half years ago I supported the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket for the Presidency of Nigeria. I supported the ticket with everything I had. There are people who were sure that I was on the payroll of the ticket as I persuaded everyone who would listen to me to give 'these guys' a chance. I even wrote a book titled "On the Road to Change" paid for from my pocket. Ask and you will be told that I have never carried a political party card in my life, never done a government contract, never received a bag of rice nor hamper from any Nigerian government.

The closest I have come to a government job was the brief period I served on the Board of the Nigerian Copyright Council, an agency I had to carry placards on the streets before it was set up. My allowance on the Board was the handsome amount of fifteen thousand Naira!

I supported your ticket first because of the famed discipline and decisiveness of your principal. I am a great believer in the rule of law. I consider the rule of law to be the foundation of the progress of any nation. Don't give me roads, don't give me a railway, don't give me dams. Please don't give me a 3^rd Niger Bridge. Give me the rule of law and everything will fall in place.

I followed your work while you were Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State. I was impressed. I did not see how a Buhari/Osinbajo ticket could miss.  A decisive strong disciplinarian and military tactician plus a sound man of the law who is also an ordained pastor! I was sure… Your Excellency, I was sure.

Then you guys got sworn in. The mood in the nation was that of 'a Daniel come to judgment'. Everybody said to themselves, "you better behave". And then, Bukola Saraki, in a deft tactical maneuver, pulled a very fast one and before you could say 'APC' he was sworn in as Senate President with a PDP Deputy. The APC appeared to be in disarray. What was the response? The President does not want to interfere in the leadership of the National Assembly! I scratched my head. Do these guys understand what they are talking about? Do they know the key role of the head of the Legislature?

Then came the long wait for the appointment of ministers. I went to Abuja several times and found civil servants roaming all over the Federal secretariat. Months came and months went. Where was our very decisive President? He was busy haggling with governors over 36 Nigerians to be made ministers. Was there no plan before?

As if that was not enough, we were hit by a fuel supply crisis that went on and on as if nobody was in charge. Ibe Kachukwu was left in the lurch. That drove a lot of Nigerians crazy.

The APC broom has since been very well deployed – to sweep every burning national issue under the carpet. The Babachir Lawal matter became a sore thumb. Month after month after month, the matter was swept under the carpet. Can you imagine how different it would have been if Babachir Lawal was treated in the decisive manner the other Lawal was dealt with during the week? Lawal Daura, I mean.

Till today, no one can say what the decision of our decisive President is on the Maina/Malami debacle. The matter is somewhere under the carpet.

Your Excellency, it seems that the matter of Kemi Adeosun is being swept under the carpet too. I understand that Prof Itsay Sagay has said that Mrs. Adeosun is so brilliant that the government cannot afford to remove her as Minister of Finance. I vehemently disagree with the otherwise erudite Prof. A small mind may consider the alleged falsification of a NYSC release certificate as a victimless crime. It is not. If we let this go, how do you explain to millions of Nigerian children that it is criminal to forge certificates?

Your Excellency, I completely lost it after a series of meetings I had with the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, over the nation's copyright system. I came out of the meetings stunned. The nations AG, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, appears to believe that 'National Interest' as defined by him, is superior to the nation's laws. I tried to explain to him that every piece of legislation in the books represents for the moment what the national Interest is and that every Nigerian is bound by the law as it is until it is changed. We were on different pages. At sixty years, I had to carry placards on the streets once again, to protest Mr. Malami's mindset because of the danger I believe it portends.

To my mind, the mindset of the likes of Mr. Malami is behind what I consider the many misadventures of the Buhari government including what happened during the week at the National Assembly. Yet, this is a government that has you, a seasoned lawyer and Senior Advocate as second in command. Please sir, are you one with this mindset and do you think we can get anywhere with this craziness?    

My greetings to the family. I know that you are a very busy man but your response will be highly appreciated as there are many asking the same questions that I am asking..

Warmest regards.

See you next week.