The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to reply the letter addressed to him by former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently and stop ranting.
In a statement sent to SaharaReporters today by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, MURIC asserted that Obasanjo’s 18-page letter raised grave concerns over some very serious national issues.
“Most prominent among the issues raised in Obasanjo’s monumental missive are the allegation that the president is destroying the party; that he is currently training 1,000 snipers to deal with opposition figures; that the president is not sincere about the war on corruption and that the president has maintained a conspiratorial silence each time his clansmen threatened the rest of Nigeria.”
It called on Mr. Jonathan to answer the letter rather than taking shelter in the bosom of boot-lickers and court-jesters.
“Is President Jonathan waiting for angels to bring him answers from heaven?” MURUC asked. “The issues raised are too fundamental to be brushed aside. They have to do with the core principles of democracy: probity, accountability, justice, fairplay and equal rights. They have to do with the welfare of the Nigerian people and how to bring food to the common man’s table. We are talking of the security of lives and properties and the president of this country who has been accused of training professional assassins keeps mute. How can there be security when the president himself becomes a threat? The chief security officer becomes the major threat to security of lives. It is unheard of. The president must break the ice. Nigerians are running out of patience to hear the president’s defence.” The group said it does not see why it should take Jonathan a whole projected second term (2015 – 2019) to answer the “tsunami-igniting” allegations leveled against him by a former head of state who should know.
It also waded into the NNPC/CBN squabble, rejecting the NNPC’s lame explanation that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not know the procedure for tracking Nigeria’s oil money.
“That line of reasoning is myopic, infantile and therefore unacceptable,” it said, arguing that it is merely designed to mislead gullible Nigerians. “CBN is on track on this issue of missing $49.8b. CBN is not meddling into oil exploitation or its drilling. CBN is talking about facts and figures of oil income and that is CBN’s constituency. For Allah’s sake somebody somewhere is milking Nigeria dry in preparation for 2015!” MURIC also questioned Mr. Jonathan’s take on Oduahgate, asking why he is silent on the N255m scandal.
“If the president considers Stella Oduah as a sacred cow, then he has desecrated his sacred office,” the statement said. “This woman has been indicted by the committees which investigated her. Is there no limit to executive protection of thieves and rogues in this country? What message is Mr. President trying to pass to civil servants, artisans, teachers and students and other young Nigerians? Is Nigeria’s image irredeemable? Should honest Nigerians say goodbye to transparency out of frustration?” It called on the National Assembly to stand firm on Obasanjo’s letter, reminding them of the words of Malcolm X, “Power never takes a back step, only in the face of greater power;” the corroborative compliment of Noah Webster who said, “Power is always right, weakness always wrong. Power is always insolent and despotic,” and Thomas Jefferson’s nail in the coffin of tyrants, "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
Said MURIC: “NASS must compel President Jonathan to explain the rationale behind his actions. NASS is the last hope of the people. Aso Rock is procrastinating and procrastination is the thief of time. Further delay is not acceptable to Nigerians. Jonathan must speak up now.”
It expressed the view that Obasanjo took it upon himself to write the letter as a major stakeholder in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), having ruled the country under the umbrella of the same PDP for two terms and having served as the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) for several years.
“The fact that the historical letter came soon after the defection of five state governors from the PDP is quite didactic and shows the major raison d’être for Obasanjo’s letter,” it explained.
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