As the lord liveth, life and death being in His Hands I thank the Almighty on your behalf that you are alive and well.
I congratulate you that you have crossed the hurdle of the teething problems of any new administration and I can see that you have settled down to the business of nation building.
I write you on this occasion to admonish you on the need to be very firm and decisive in managing our very complex country for failing to do so will allow continuous drifting of ship of state.
We need to resist the urge to allow unnecessary tribalism and ethnicity to colour national discussion as this comes with its attendant consequences.
There can be no greater time than now for the country to be run with very firm but lawful hands.
A leader must have the courage to see through his well-thought-out ideas especially when the national assembly and the courts are in agreement.
I notice a dangerous trend in which I employ you to use all the skills available to you to discourage, reorientate against and punish, it is the dangerous impugning on the integrity of the judiciary, whereas I expect you to see the need for a holistic reform to improve on its public perception you must not fail to punish those who make libellous, and defamatory comments about this all-important institution that is at the heart of stability of our nation. Nothing is gained if we allow rabble-rousers to run amok on our courts and judges.
We must look at the idea of freedom of expression and insist that citizens cannot be allowed to consistently spread lies, fake news, and disinformation, it is more unacceptable by traditional media who for reasons best known to them will just not be professional not minding the great risk this mismanagement content does to the well being of our nation. Freedom must carry appropriate responsibility and measured punishment.
I encourage you to reenergize the people-oriented, pro-poor policies of President Buhari especially the school feeding programs. You must see that our rural dwellers can benefit from such initiatives and I encourage you to bring it up again better funded but targeted to hit our people who need it most.
Mr President you have done well by stimulating better freedom for local governments but for it to be meaningful you must not joke with the governors. If we can scale up governance at the local government level, our nation will be on the way to greater sustainable development.
The time to restructure the country is here watching from the sidelines and now with your hands on the plough, it must be beyond argument that this country must be allowed to be at peace with itself with each section allowed to live, plan and organize itself in line with its culture, tradition and philosophy for not to do so is to be in a perpetual state of unrest.
I believe that notwithstanding our togetherness everyone should control the directive principle of its politics according to its way of life.
I have observed that tribal arrogance, hatred and mutual suspicion are getting higher and this cannot be in our self-interest.
Resist the urge to stifle opposition for democracy will be destroyed. Political Parties are the first safeguards in democracy and their wellness and stability contribute to the quality of peace and stability.
Happy Birthday once again Mr President you must give your all to our nation and I wish you well.
Otunba Segun Showunmi
