By Dele Sobowale

“Wandering between two worlds, one dead. The other powerless (?) to be born.” Matthew Arnold, 1822-1888.

Arnold did not put a question mark in the statement above. I introduced it because it seems appropriate for our current situation in Nigeria.

As President Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, give way to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the most honest Nigerians must admit that we are about to transit from the “devils” we know to the “angels” we don’t know because they have never been tested with the greatest power in the  land – the federal might. We are setting sail with a crude compass. We knew what we did not want – continuity such as we collectively experienced in the last three weeks.

No power supply and no fuel, after five years of what was billed as Transformation Agenda. But, it is still too early to know whether or not the change we voted for will occur. Promises and good intentions are never enough to bring about progress.

*Patience Jonathan

Permit me therefore, while waiting for the Buhari administration to take shape, to start this series of articles which seek to take us back in history to some of the ways our leaders have misled us and failed to heed warnings given in good faith. These past recollections are already included in a book to be published later this year.

The book will contain about 350 articles out of over 3000 I had written for VANGUARD in almost twenty eight years. The rest will be dumped on my website unless there is an offer by any party to acquire them.

Since this is the season of transition from one government to another, at Federal and State levels, permit me to start from the past.  In January 2009, long before the husband died, in an article titled, OPEN LETTER TO MRS TURAI YAR’ADUA, I wrote as follows:

Now, Madam, I believe you love Nigeria; at least I have no reason to doubt it. I also believe you love your husband. And there is a great deal lovable about the gentleman. Finally, I strongly believe you love your kids and Nigerian kids – born and unborn because I have been told you are a devoted mother. Yet something endangers all three; Nigeria, Umoru Yar’Adua and our kids. That thing is – YOUR HUSBAND. Let me quickly explain. The explanation came later. In December of the same year, the following was published on these pages:

That leads to the question of who can tell the President the truth and perhaps make him face up to the inevitable, namely, that he has developed diminishing physical capacity to preside.

The second is YOU. Madam, I know you love your husband and that you would rather have a live ex-President to cuddle for more years than a fading memory of something six feet under. In fact nobody else is perfect for the job. Therefore, in the name of all that is good, let me ask that you to please perform the most difficult task of your life fully in the knowledge that you have done the best for Nigeria, for the president and for posterity.

When the president returns from this trip, from Saudi or wherever that may be, get him on a presidential aircraft. Then, ask the pilot to fly to Katsina. Take our president home and help him to draft a resignation letter. You can come for the luggage later. Thereafter you can proceed to nurse him to old age. …Please, Madam, when Ogapatapata returns, take him home to Katsina and let the vultures fight over the spoils he will leave behind.

 Madam Turai Yar’Adua ignored all the warnings.

Unfortunately, she would not be the last to turn deaf ears to advice (prophecy?). In May, 2010, just after Jonathan replaced Yar’Adua as President, another letter was sent to the new wife of the President, Mrs Patience Jonathan. That too was published on these pages. But, nobody took notice of the warnings. Please read.

OPEN LETTER TO MRS JONATHAN

DELE SOBOWALE

“Men make history, but not just as they please”.

Karl Marx, 1818-1883.

(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p. 93).

“2011 [elections]: Count me out – Acting President” [Jonathan].

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, February 15, 2010, p. 1).

There are at least three reasons Jonathan should not be on the ballot in 2011; and if he forces himself on it disaster will follow. One reason, and one reason only, dictates this letter to Mrs Jonathan. She can ignore it if she likes. But, at least half a dozen people (Mustapha, Ekwueme, Obasanjo, El-Rufai, Ribadu, Soludo etc ) who were warned …and who ignored the warning are now licking their wounds – including her predecessor in office. I don’t want her to join them in “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. The choice however is hers.

So before the Halleluya Chorus gets busy, let me say my piece and hold my peace. Mrs Jonathan should not dissuade her husband from going home in 2011 and she should help him to resist all the self-seekers who will attempt to convince him to the contrary. Instead he should emulate Murtala Mohammed, except avoiding getting assassinated, and leave an enduring legacy which will last for ages in the fourteen months allotted to him.

The Jonathans have left Aso Rock. I wish them well. But, there is still another message for Mrs Jonathan which she can only ignore at her own peril. None of the so-called “Men of God” milling around them in Aso Rock had told them the truth. They better hear it now. Or more disaster will follow. Mrs Jonathan runs the risk of becoming the first wife of a former President to be charged to court. Mark my words.

FFF: FUNNY FEMI FANI-KAYODE

“A clown is a man sitting on a throne of ice; wondering when it will all melt away.” Red Skelton, c1971. (VBQ p 29).

His father was the Deputy to the Premier of Western Nigeria – Chief S.L.A. Akintola. Together Chief Remi Fani-Kayode and Akintola joined forces with Northerners and Easterners to send Awolowo to jail and to carve the Mid-West out of Western Region. Today Awolowo is immortalised. How many people now remember Remi Fani-Kayode? The son has just joined history’s losers. Is political failure hereditary?