05 Mar NIGERIAN ELECTION
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MOHAMMADU BUHARI AND THE PEOPLE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
The Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) and the Nigerian Independence Day Committee (NIDC) heartily congratulate you on your victory in the just concluded 2019 presidential election in Nigeria. Your undoubtedly well-deserved re-election is a testament to the confidence that majority of Nigerians have in your visionary and purposeful leadership. We believe that with your re-election, you have been given the mandate to continue with your formidable wars against corruption and insecurity, as well as to redouble your efforts to rebuild the decrepit infrastructure all over Nigeria.
The constitution that you will swear to defend once again on May 29, 2019, stipulates the explicit and implicit obligations that you must continue to fulfill as the president of our republic, including the protection of lives and property and pursuit of the broader public good rather than catering to narrow, parochial interests. Your political party’s agendas, special interests, religious affiliations, inter alia, will certainly be competing with the imperatives of equity and the pursuance of the greater good for the majority of our people throughout your new tenure. As the Father of the Nation, your administration’s policies, capital projects, and appointments must reflect the rich diversity of our nation both in words and deeds. We are comforted by your words: “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody.” We trust you will continue to lead all Nigerians without fear or favor nor relent in your efforts to promote sense of belongingness in all Nigerians.
For the sake of the country, we are appealing to all political parties to come together and work with the President to move our dear nation forward. We have been encouraged by your wise post-election call for unity and the avoidance of gloating and triumphalism. We are hopeful that members of your party will heed your patriotic call.
As you and others have repeatedly noted, one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria today is corruption. This is evidenced by the pathological desire of our elected and appointed officials to loot, often with sadistic impunity, government treasuries at all levels, resulting in gross neglect of infrastructure, education, health care, collapse of institutions, and mass impoverishment of our people. As you have noted severally, the consequences of corruption have been grave for our country and her citizens. A 2018 The World Poverty Clock report proclaimed Nigeria as the Poverty Capital of the World with 86.9 million (46.7%) of our people living in extreme poverty. Sadly, more and more Nigerians are continually being pushed into poverty, disease, and hopelessness. Nigeria must be made to work for a larger share of our people, not just for the tiny percent of people who are rich and powerful.
The most vulnerable amongst us must not be ignored: the poor, the unemployed, the disconnected youth, the disabled, the sick, the mentally ill, the frail elderly, and other vulnerable people, who are always in the rear in the distribution of the benefits of citizenship.
We humbly urge you to make poverty prevention, poverty alleviation, and the promotion of prosperity for all Nigerians top most on your agendas in the next four years. We are convinced that the massive investments that your administration made in infrastructure, power generation, mining, and agriculture during your first term will start to yield fruits in your second term, resulting in more of our people being moved from penury to prosperity. As president of all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, we are confident you will continue to protect the interests of all Nigerian citizens wherever we may be on the face of the earth, irrespective of our ethnic, political, and religious affiliations. Always remember that we include all those who did not vote for you because they belonged to other political parties or could not vote for you because they were resident abroad and the current electoral laws excluded them from exercising their voting rights.
As you prepare to continue to address Nigeria’s thorny problems in the next four years, we appeal to you to cast your net wide in search of patriotic Nigerians of impeccable character, skills, and competence, who will have the best interests of our country and our people at heart and possess the requisite competencies to assist you to achieve your goals of returning Nigeria to the paths of peace and prosperity. In this regard, please endeavor to reach out to reputable Nigerians and Nigerian civic organizations in the diaspora, who have proven track records of performance and know-how and can assist you in achieving your laudable goals for Nigeria. In that vein, please note that you can always count on OAN and NIDC to provide maximum support to you in your bid to fight corruption, insecurity, impunity and other ills in our country,
It is worth noting that Nigerians in the Diaspora sent the largest portion of the 72 Billion in remittances to African countries in 2018 with Nigeria being among the top five destinations of global remittances. With this huge inflow of money into the Nigeria, we are appealing to you to take as a priority the issue of Diaspora voting, so that those of us residing outside Nigeria will be able to vote in the 2023 elections and beyond. That is just the right thing to do.
Once again, we congratulate you on your historic victory. We pray to the Almighty to grant you great health, stamina, wisdom, determination, and courage to continue to tackle the grave challenges facing our nation. We are confident that by the time you complete your second term in four years, Nigeria will have become a more secure and prosperous nation with stronger institutions and stronger commitments to social and economic justice for all.
We also congratulate the People of the Federal republic of Nigeria, especially our youths, for coming out in large number to exercise their inalienable rights at the ballot boxes. Your messages on this federal election are loud and clear. We urge you to continue this movement. A movement that stands for justice. the weak and powerless; speaks for the voiceless; and takes back Nigeria from the corruption and lack of accountability that have destroyed the country. We want to let you know that we in the Diaspora stand with you and by you. We will work together to achieve a Nigeria that everyone will be proud of.
Lastly, we would like to congratulate the INEC for holding a successful election despite all the obstacles. Certainly, things could have been better, but we are of the opinion that you did the best in light of the challenges you faced. We hope that you will work assiduously to correct the lapses reported during the election, so that we can have fairer and freer elections in our country.
We are appealing to all the candidates who participated in the election to accept the results of the election for the sake of peace in Nigeria. Accepting the results is the honorable thing to do and does not in any way show any weakness on your part. We are hopeful that any contestation of the results of any of the elections will be done peacefully and lawfully, in accordance with the laid down rules in the Electoral Act. We are also hopeful that you will join hands with the President to carry out his agenda while reserving your rights to speak up where you honestly believe that he is wrong.
About the Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians
The Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) Inc. (the coordinator of the Nigeria Independence Day Celebration in NYC) was founded in 1989 by a group of concerned Nigerian to address the needs of the Nigerian community. At that time, Nigeria and Nigerians were suffering seriously from negative stereotypes in the American media. Prior to OAN’s formation, no organization was committed to the broader issues facing the Nigerian community in the United States. OAN filled the void by creating an umbrella organization, which embraced Nigerians from all walks of life, regardless of their ethnic and religious backgrounds. OAN immediately dedicated itself to enhance the image of Nigerians in the U.S. and address the negative stereotypes of Nigerians in American media and culture.
May God bless our President; and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
For more information:
Contact – Solomon Bakare, President of OAN, at 917-921-4790 or 646 342 2914
Visit www.oanweb.org