I have to congratulate Mr President for the on-going celebration of the 50th anniversary of our great country, Nigeria. May God guide and protect this beloved country.
I have to congratulate Mr President for the on-going celebration of the 50th anniversary of our great country, Nigeria. May God guide and protect this beloved country.
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It is indeed a great nation, a nation that has everything under the sun, and lacks nothing. A nation that stands out in everything but still suffers from everything, be it, social, economic, political, moral, etc, as a result of people in the class of Lawan Gwadabe, who can only look, but cannot see, hear but cannot listen, touch but cannot feel, sense but cannot perceive, as result of their selfish, malicious, and parochial agenda. I could not believe myself on what I read on the Saharareporters’ website, but when I made some investigations to confirm the writer, I finally confirmed it was Col. L. Gwadabe.
To start with, Chairman Mao Tse Ton of China once said, “politics is a war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed ”.
After having made what an ordinary person might call ‘sweet mouth’ Mr President, Gwadabe then jumped into his outburst of instigating you, I mean the government, against his imaginary enemies, whom he was out to malign, disgrace, intimidate if you like, and finally make you to descend on them using all instruments of power, including brute force if necessary.
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Under the heading of what he called General Observation, Gwadabe said, and I quote, “when some of our past rulers who are desperate to come back to office throw caution to the winds and are busy arrogating to themselves the task of taking decision behind the scenes on what will be obtain in 2011” I think, the writer has lost his bearing, because this nation is under a democratic rule! And to say the least, democracy is built under certain fundamental freedoms which including right to form an opinion, to association, movement, religion, etc, etc. So by telling you that past leaders behind the scene are undermining your government. It is mischievous and a blatant lie. Every Nigerian has the right to form an opinion contrary to the wishes of the government.
In the next paragraph, the writer then mentioned the name of IBB who he said, is causing disaffection and factionalisation through the issue of zoning arrangement. In this, Gwadabe either lost his sense of history or rather he is trying to be chameleonic and play to the gallery. IBB was and still, a card-carrying member of the PDP who has been instrumental in initiating the zoning arrangement in the PDP in order to cater and carry along ethnic minorities of this country, because he believes in the oneness, togetherness, cohesion and unity of this country.
Gwadabe said, ‘their foot soldiers are at work.’ So, who are the foot soldiers, who was he referring to? Based on the popular adage, even a devil has to be given its credit; IBB seems to be one of the few Nigerian elder statesmen who has connections with and goodwill from almost all the ethnic nationalities that abound in this country. He is a bridge builder to the core. Why is Gwadabe not comfortable with this credit of the IBB? Why?
In an amazing manner, Gwadabe then said, ‘the North has ruled Nigeria for 37 years...’ Fine, it’s true that the North has ruled this country, but Gwadabe was one of the most beneficiaries of that 37 years of Northern rule. He served as CEO in the Nigerian National Shipping Line, Military Governor of Niger state, Special envoy to Sudan, The Gambian Chief of Army Staff, The Commander of National Guards, and then Ambassador Extraordinary to the President in charge of smaller African nations, like Gambia, Botswana, Sudan, etc. Then what is he talking about? I think Mr President the writer is trying to make a fool of you, by making this statements that the North has ruled for over two decades, while he was the first beneficiary. Who does he think he is fooling here? I think, Mr President, the same Gwadabe has to be interrogated for being part of that Northern rulers for 37 years. I am sure he has a lot of questions to answer.
In the same paragraph, he chided the zoning arrangement, by saying that; ‘Nigeria has to transcend that element of provincialism.’ Yes, it is true that, with the 50 years of Nigerian independence, the country has to pass that level of zoning and based its leadership on competence, merit and ability. Here again, the writer is being sentimental as well as unpatriotic, if you like, sir. Zoning is inevitable in a country like Nigeria that has over 300 ethnic nationalities. Without zoning, and with the level of media propaganda, if zoning would be abolished, as Gwadabe claims, then Mr President, the likes of you would not and never get to power at the National level for over 100 years.
I am happy Mr President the writer has said we should advance to a fully-fledged democracy to one-man, one vote and that our leadership must be predicted on absolute merit. So, that is a good one so far, but Mr President, I am emphatically appealing to you to heed to the writers advice above, in line with what you have been advocating, assuring and chanting all over the place that, this time around in 2011, Nigeria will have a free and fair polls!
Gwadabe again said, ‘the camps of Atiku, IBB, Aliyu Gusau and Bukola Saraki do not operate on the same parameters... Hardly can anyone of them step down for the other.’ How does he know that or is it one of his antics to win the heart of Mr President? These political groups he mentioned who are incidentally of Northern presidential candidates are not pursuing a personal or sectional agenda. They are politicians who believe in the tenets of democracy and who pursue the actualisation of entrenched PDP zoning arrangement for the good of the nation especially as it relates to the North. Politicians in the PDP have agreed that, zoning arrangement is legally, morally and spiritually binding on all members of the party, whether you, Mr President is contesting or not. Here again, I think Gwadabe has chosen to ignore the Quranic verse of Chapter 61, verse 1 & 2, which says, if at all he is mindful of his Islamic religion and I quote, ‘Oh those who believe, why do you say what you never do. It is grievous in the sight of Allah to say that which you never do.’ So, the Northern leaders or so called politicians as he called them have every right to demand, agitate, clamour for zoning arrangement regardless of whoever is contesting or not. Mr President, I believe, you should acknowledge that.
Gwadabe then said, ‘if IBB losses the PDP ticket, he will decamp to ANPP’. What is wrong with that? Politics, as I said earlier, is a war without bloodshed, and a party to it is expected to use all his strategies, arsenals, shift positions, in order to win over his opponents. Gwadabe, as an ex-military officer ought to have known that, and ought not to be uncomfortable with the likes of his most important benefactor, that is IBB, if he does that against anyone in politics. Mr President, this information is too elementary and naive, for what he is looking for from you. I implore you to discard it, because it is an open-secret and a normal happening in the games of politics for people to decamp to another platform. The writer, then told you, not to take this ‘precious information’ with levity. I think, what he is trying to do here is to instigate you against the persons of IBB and Co, who are equally legitimate contenders for the presidential seat, and you have said that, your government is poised to conduct free and fair polls in 2011. So, which one do we Nigerian people expect? The intimidation as per Gwadabe’s clamour or the free, fair and credible you have promised us and you have been preaching all over the place?
Gwadabe now derailed and made damning allegations against IBB and General Aliyu Gusau. Hear him, “you should not under rate the capacities of Babangida and General Aliyu Gusau to cause mischief”. This is serious! What kind of mischief is he talking about? Simply because the two elder statesmen are contesting for the seat of the presidency, then they should be castigated, ridiculed and maligned? No, Gwadabe must be asked to prove the mischief of these two men or rather he should be prosecuted instead.
He said they have collected money from President Gaddhafi of Libya for their ambitions. How much was collected? When? And through which channels the funds do entered this country? Mr President, it is the duty of whoever makes an allegation to prove it beyond reasonable doubt.
The writer made allegations against IBB and General Gusau rtd, then he should be called to prove, since the institutions likes the EFCC, the ICPC, the Police, etc are now under your control, ask them to investigate, and I am certain that they will do a good job. In the same vein the writer then continued with his charade saying that Gusau is using government avenues to beef up his finances, and IBB, his arch enemy, is relying on Mike Adenuga to fund his campaigns through Glo and their oil blocks, Toyota cars, and proxies of oil and gas in Angola. Is it wrong for companies, industries or organisations to contribute for party or individual seeking for public offices?
I believe it is a tradition or rather an accepted norm that companies, industries, individuals contribute to campaign organisation around the world, including countries like the Great Britain, USA and other Nations. Mr President, if Gwadabe is ignorant or choose to ignore many corporate Nigerians - the likes of Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Jimoh Ibrahim have contributed to the immediate past Obasanjo’s wasteful eight years administration. What about the Presidential library donations of these persons to Obasanjo while he was in power? And right now, Jimoh Ibrahim who is equally in the same plane with Adenuga, is now your campaign Coordinator.
Then what is the writer trying to say? No, Mr President, by this statement, he is trying to intoxicate you with the power, which is a trust bestowed on you by God, not your own making. It is absurd and counterproductive. Ignore him!!!!
Mr President, the writer, I think does not mean well for you, by telling you as if you are a child he said, intimidation is part of administration. This is nonsense, sheer nonsense and very unbecoming of a man of Gwadabe’s calibre. Is he telling you to descend on the governors whom, he said, are all corrupt?
Remember that, a good and wise politician and a leader is to make more friends than enemies. By this, he is telling you to be on a collision course with governors and whoever disagrees with your opinion. This is not a wise counsel and advice, which must be rejected. The writer says all governors are corrupt, agreed. I advice Mr President to kindly focus his search light on how Kaduna State was governed. He who goes to equity must go with clean hands always. So, Gwadabe is impliedly castigating you by this singular statement. Think of it.
Then he descended on the state government so heavily that he invoked you, to ‘stop them’ using the entire instrument at your disposal. I am sure the governors, either individually or collectively will reply the writer at an appropriate time and convenience. But in his conclusion, Gwadabe, again advised you to take fundamental steps to protect your integrity as a person and to save this country from what he called ‘preposterous activities of these cabals.’ Here again, he is being instigative and mischievous against certain kind of people whom he hates with passion. Here again he is behaving like a wounded lion.
WHO IS COL. LAWAN GWADABE (RTD)?
After addressing some of the salient issues raised by this writer, I think it is equally pertinent Mr President, to draw your attention on the type of person; Col Lawan Gwadabe is for the avoidable of doubt.
Gwadabe was a military officer in the Nigerian Army, who believed he has the monopoly of knowledge as a result of the affection and love shown to him by General Ibrahim Babangida rtd. Due to his closeness with IBB, he was one of those that had the best postings ever in the Nigerian Army. On his completion of his Command and Staff College, he was posted as adjutant to the Nigerian Defence Academy. There he had some problems with the Commandant. He was later on posted to 245 Recce Battalion; from there he proceeded on a course of Advanced Armoured Corp Kentucky, USA. On his return, he was sent to the Armoured Headquarters’ along with the present Governor of Osun State, Oyinlola and General M. Agwai rtd, all under General Joshua Dogonyaro.
But the General could not accommodate his haughtiness; he made a special request so that he could be posted out. For the fondness IBB has for him, he was sent to Nigerian National Shipping Line as CEO, again there were series of complaints by the entire management of the shipping line, and then he was immediately posted as a Military Governor of Niger state, the home base of President IBB. In the same vein Gwadabe had a problem with one of the commissioners in person of late Dr. Musa Inuwa, he threatened to sack him, but the Commissioner complained to IBB, through the then General Gado Nasko. When the military Governor was called and there was a plea to allow the commissioner to be, but two days later, out of sheer insubordination, Gwadabe announced through the NTA that the Commissioner was sacked! Naturally, President IBB felt slighted.
When the SDP/NRC campaign was lifted, the sacked Commissioner to contest for the Niger state governorship and won. Gwadabe, out of bewilderment, envy and anger refused to officially hand over to elected governor. Again, the same IBB that he is now out to ridicule, posted him to Lagos Garrison Command under General Abdulkarim Adisa.
When Abacha took over, he appointed him Commander, National Guards and later Abacha’s Principal Staff Officer (PSO). There was a problem within the family then the situation changed; he was immediately posted to the Gambia. There was also a problem between him and the Gambian authorities (I need not to go into details here), he brought the entire military contingents back to Nigeria without any permission.
Then Abacha left him floating for some months, no posting, nothing. Till after the intervention of some Emirs like that of Kano, Hadeja and Mrs Aloma (Justice), Gwadabe was posted to 15 Brigade Yola and from there he was said to have been involved in a coup and was apprehended along side with late General Shehu Musa Yar'adua rtd, General Obasanjo rtd, Col. Bello Fadile rtd, Colonel Isa rtd, Lt.Col DAD Usman, Sgt. P. Mohammed etc etc and my humble self. We were all dumped in Inter-Center, Ikoyi, behind Dodan Barracks Lagos for several months.
GWADABE’S INFERENCE OF OBASANJO & SHEHU M. YAR’ADUA
Some of the detainees at Inter-centre were tortured the reason was that the authority did not know where to start because the entire situation was on a false alarm, and most of us that were rounded up were as a result of our past records. The investigation team worked pretty hard on some of the suspects, I can vividly remember that one day Col. Gwadabe was brought in blood; the entire detainees felt sympathy for him. So, some of us were able to ask him what happened and he said, he was told if he did not implicate Olusegun Obasanjo and late Shehu Musa Yaradua in the coup saga, they will kill his mother, wife, kids and confiscate all his properties. And he was promised, according to him that, he will re-instated back into the military if he implicates them. ‘‘He told them on record” that himself, Bello Fadile, Obsanjo and Shehu Musa Yaradua really sat down and planned to topple the regime of General Abacha.’’ When I asked him, did you really plan to topple the regime, he said, he had to say that to protect his family and properties.
I said to him, you should have a strong faith because whatever is going to happen is going to happen and there is nobody on earth that will re-instate you back into the military.
Few days later, they were taken before the military tribunal and sentences of death penalties, 25 years, 15 years etc etc were all handed out to the various detainees. In one of our discussions in the inter-center he once said late Col. Sule Hamman asked him, how did he get so much money? He said, he was an Ambassador-Extraordinary to IBB during his regime, and whenever he was sent with funds to assist less privilege other nation’s military authorities, he always pilfers some.
Mr President, during the interrogation, it was discovered that he has so much money in the custody of a Nigerian-London based business man who refused to return to this country when Gwadabe was arrested for coup plot. But when he finally got his freedom during Abdulsalam’s regime, he did not know where to start. Fortunately, because I was used to him during our incarceration on his release after spending some years in the prison, I went to his house to wish him well the topic of his Nigerian- London based business man came up I advised him not to take him to court in London but not in Nigeria.
Gwadabe finds himself in a situation that he had never expected even in a dream. That aroma of filling I am important, I am the best, I am gifted all that died in a matter of second when he was brought to the lowest of low and find himself sleeping in a bare floor and was later sent to prison, that I believe has some side and negative effect in his behaviour.
Again, Mr President, I may have to stop here, but there is the need to check the police report on how his wife, Mrs Hariat Lawan Gwadabe was burned to death in his residence in Kaduna, with all the doors locked.
In conclusion, from my submission, Gwadabe is only trying to a play a good guy for the post of National Security Adviser (NSA).
We know what you did.
Yours faithfully,
With my best regards,
-Major Abubakar Adamu Mohammed (rtd) was Chief Security Officer to Ex-military dictator, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida
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