Open Letter To Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

Open letter to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, I never thought it would come to this; me writing a letter to Nuhu Ribadu! But such is the time we find ourselves as Nigerians, our situation requires each and every one of us to initiate extraordinary actions to confront the brutish and short life our defenceless people are subjected to largely because no one is standing up fearlessly against our oppressors. They do what they do because they have rightly concluded that we can be cowed and will never be able to organise ourselves against them. This letter is to put forward for discussion my answer to a question that re-occurs over and over again in the different comments posted in Sahara Reporters. The question is this; 'what are we going to do about the Nigeria situation?''. Most contributors to Sahara Reporters are evidently frustrated; they come online and read all sorts of astounding stories, which are usually factual, about Nigeria. I write you to discuss the answer to the question; ’what are we going to do about the Nigeria situation?''. Nuhu Ribadu, you are an improbable hero to most. Not because they think you are an absolute angel but rather because you offered them a glimpse of hope of what Nigeria could be. That hope warned their hearts, made some smile and some cried with joy that this country could indeed still find a path to correct itself. I think of you as someone who agrees that life is only worth living for a man if there something he is willing to die for. If I'm correct in that analysis, then Nuhu Ribadu, the time to come home is; NOW. Put your fear aside, come back home to Nigeria. The Government will seize, take all you have, they will embarrass you, then they will jail you, but they will not kill you. You will not pay the ultimate price. They will not want your blood on your hands. They will find a Judge who will shut you away from the media and public. But it is in that jail that your voice will become louder and stronger. Your travails in the hand of Government will position you and it will be an opportunity for those who still doubt you as a genuine crusader to be won over as followers. But you need to come back with a clear message and clear instructions to those who wish to follow you. You need to be more calculated in our utterances. You must be a Nigerian and not a Moslem or a Northerner. Again; you need to work on your message and what you stand for. Make them very clear and stay on message. Your followers must not ever be in doubt of what you stand for and what you expect of them. You can not be a revolutionary and expect some aspects of your message will not be construed as treason; you have to be careful because they will use this to shut you away for longer, but be ready and accept the jail time. You cannot let fear of what they will do to you stop you from seeing this through. You are lucky that you have a great cause to give your life for. Nuhu (if I may call you by your 1st name), I’ve looked around the country and I don't see anyone with the youth, energy, conviction and the charisma to be a leader for the people. It’s fantastic you are from the North so that the retrogressive forces from the North will not use tribe and religion to tear down your message. That’s a strong tool in their hands. You must use your tribe and religion to your advantage to penetrate their strong hold and cause dissent within their groups and followers. You must not have any figure sharing the spot light with you. If El- Rufai wants to return, let him do so, but let his campaign be independent of whatever you do. Do not have the utterances and actions of another count against you. Be alone and do not let them use an associate to diminish the cause. This plan will require strategy and wisdom above all things. I would like you to think about the message and instructions you have for the people. When it’s ready, it will form the initial manifesto for a mass movement, we will get the Civil Society Groups behind it, rally what’s left of Labour and the Students Unions but mostly, the message must connect, affect, excite and impassion the streets. We must mobilize the street. We can through series of Civil Disobedience Actions make the country ungovernable if we attain a critical mass of followers. (The last time Nigerians were so excited to act was after June 12 was annulled, we saw that Nigerians WILL STAND if they connect to a message and become impassioned by it. Thousands died for June 12, they stood against Police and Soldiers bullets. By the grace of God, we will build, right in the middle of State House in Aso Rock a great monument to all that died and will die for the struggle to free this country.) There will be need to get a civil society group that is ready to make available its administrative machinery for the work to be done. It must be a group whose vision and commitment isn’t in doubt and can withstand the Government onslaught. There will be need to raise money from members of the public; the public must be able to make financial contributions to the movement anonymously. The public must be able to anonymously contribute money into a bank account without being observed from all over the country. There will be secret supporters. You will be amazed how easy the funding will come if you are able to connect the message to the people. There are wealthy people out there who will willingly give Millions. The poor will give the little money they have. Sufficient funds must be raised (locally and internationally) for daily newspaper adverts and radio/TV adverts. We must constantly connect the message to the people (Femi Falani and other lawyers will head to the courts should they use the Nig Broadcast Commission to try and stop the campaign!). We will match their propaganda machine in conventional and non conventional ways. The Government is slow to adapt, we will outpace them! We will exploit modern technology to frustrate them. SMS/Text messages will be sent to millions on a daily basis. We will have our own bill boards; we will buy air time and broadcast our own news nationwide daily. We will use our platform to expose facts and atrocities they commit. Their actions will no longer be hidden. We will expose all collaborators from INEC, Police and other agencies. We will bombard the public with our own message. We must shake the docility from the Nigerian people, we must make them enraged and angry at their situation/condition and we must point them clearly in the direction of those responsible for it. The funds generated will not be handled by the Civil Society Group but by an independent accounting firm or a committee of eminent personalities (Pat Utomi etc come to mind). There is an obligation to print the financial/banks statements weekly in the papers. The money belongs to the contributors and they deserve to know how much money has been generated and how it has been expended. We must do everything possible to show 100% transparency. Management of the funds MUST NEVER be an issue or cast a shadow over genuine intentions. This is critical to the success of this! Money is indeed root of many evils! These are just some thoughts that have come to me towards this movement. I expect you to consult with your contacts and use your international clout to arrange meetings with other people in other parts of the world who have been along this road before. Let them advise you. For those others reading this and asking what you can do to help, the time has come for you to show you are not just a coward hiding behind a computer screen. What you can do is this; those of you who have means of directly contacting Nuhu, urge him to give this letter some thought. Those of you who don’t know Nuhu, please comment on this letter and encourage him to give it some thought. Encourage him to give it some thought and start to work on the clear message and instructions for the people. What you can also do is to discuss this idea with as many people as you can so we can fine tune the agenda. Encourage them to contribute money to the cause when it starts. If you are into public Relations or advertising and you know how to communicate messages then please prepare to offer your services. If you are a professional and there is something you can do to help, please prepare to do so. If you can help with bulk SMS, or design web pages or can float a Radio frequency from abroad that can be broadcast in Nigeria etc. there must be a way you can help!Its your future! For those of you who think this is a stupid and unworkable idea, keep your thoughts to yourself. If you must say anything, please let it be words of encouragement to those who chose to try. Let us try and fail but don’t discourage us. The Government will be a big enough enemy to fight without adding negative comments from your sort. This is my own little contribution. I do what I can because I have no other country. I will and must do something to fight for my self-respect and be able to tell my children;’’ I tried to do something’. This country belongs to us all and I chose to fight to have my say in how it is run! Nuhu, think about it. Nigeria can change, but someone has got to be the symbol to spark/ignite the movement. It will not be easy and it will take time, but we must try. May God strengthen you and may He go everywhere with you and whisper words of wisdom and guidance into your ears to direct you. You will cry many times before this goal is achieved but the last cry will be that cry of joy. God Bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria and God Bless the Great People of the Country! Mr. Trevor Ani. [email protected]

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