Umar Dangiwa, retired colonel and former military
administrator of Kaduna, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s knack for appointing
people from his section of Nigeria into office will ruin the country.
Dangiwa flayed the president in an open letter to him,
citing the case of the acting appeal court president whose appointment has not
been confirmed.
Buhari had extended the protem appointment of Monica
Dongban-Mensem, who is a Christian, as the president of the court of appeal
without formalising her position as substantive head of the appellate court.
The president has not sent her name to the senate for the
confirmation of her appointment.
This has raised questions regarding the reasons behind the
decision of the president.
In the open letter, Dangiwa who served as military governor
of Kaduna between 1985 and 1988 under the regime of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida,
asked Buhari to emulate some past Nigerian leaders who showed great
statesmanship.
Dangiwa is renowned for opposing the annulment of the June
12 election in 1993 by the government in which he served.
He was arrested for his dissent against the regime but was
released. He afterwards resigned from the army.
Below is the letter in full.
OPEN LETTER FROM COL. DANGIWA UMAR (RTD) TO PRESIDENT
MUHAMMADU BUHARI
Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday 30th May 2020
President,
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Dear Mr. President,
MR. PRESIDENT; PLEASE BELONG TO ALL OF US.
“One of the swiftest ways of destroying a Kingdom is to give
preference of one particular tribe over another or show favor to one group of
people rather than another. And to draw near those who should be kept away and
keep away those who should be drawn near” Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio.
I have been prompted to write you this open letter, Mr.
President, by the loud sounds of drums, singing and dancing that erupted within
many groups in the last few days on the grounds that you attained the 5th year
in office as President of Nigeria. It comes as no surprise that enthusiasm for
the celebration is not shared equally by segments of the public. While your
admirers and supporters believe you have performed well, many others believe
the five years you have been in office as our President has not met the
yearnings, expectations and change promised Nigerians.
Mr. President, you know me well enough and my position on
issues to realize that I can be neither a rabid supporter nor a fanatical
opponent of yours. I believe being a responsible citizen is enough reason to
wish you well and to work for your success. As we have seen all too clearly
these past few years, your success is ours as is your failure. We swim or sink
with you!
You might wish to recall that after the results of the 23rd
of February 2019 presidential elections were announced, giving you victory, I
addressed a press conference during which I urged the runner-up, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar of the PDP, to concede defeat. The reason was clear: tensions were
running high and little missteps by the leaders might ignite violence, as often
happened after major elections. Some supporters of Abubakar Atiku disagreed
with me and told me off. As it happened, Alhaji Atiku went ahead to mount a
legal challenge to the outcome of the elections up to the Supreme Court.
Mercifully, his actions did not result in an outbreak of violence as we feared.
At the same occasion, I counselled the declared winner, your
good self, to use the opportunity of your second term to redeem your pledge of
being a leader and president of all Nigerians.
On the occasion of the first-year anniversary into your
second four-year term, I feel there is an urgent need to revisit this subject
matter.
Mr. President, you have often expressed the hope that
history will be kind to you. It is within your competence to write that
history. But you have less than three years in which to do it. You may wish to
note that any authentic history must be devoid of myth. It will be a true,
factual rendition of the record of your performance.
And truth be told, Mr. President, there are quite a lot of
things that speak to your remarkable accomplishments, not least of which is
that for the first time in our democratic history, a sitting President was
defeated. That feat was achieved by Muhammadu Buhari. The reason was the public
belief of you as a man of integrity.
The corollary to this is that at the expiration of your
8-year tenure in 2023, your achievements will not be measured solely by the
physical infrastructure your administration built. An enduring legacy would be
based on those intangible things like how much you uplifted the spirit and
moral tone of the nation. How well have you secured the nation from ourselves
and from external enemies?
At this time and in the light of all that have happened
since you took office, any conversation with you Mr. President cannot gloss
over the chaos that has overtaken appointments into government offices in your
administration. All those who wish you and the country well must mince no words
in warning you that Nigeria has become dangerously polarized and risk sliding
into crisis on account of your administration’s lopsided appointments which
continues to give undue preference to some sections of the country over others.
Nowhere is this more glaring than in the leadership cadre of
our security services.
Mr. President, I regret that there are no kind or gentle
words to tell you that your skewed appointments into the offices of the federal
government, favoring some and frustrating others, shall bring ruin and
destruction to this nation.
I need not remind you, Mr. President, that our political
history is replete with great acts of exemplary leadership which, at critical
moments, managed to pull this nation back from the precipice and assured its
continued existence.
A few examples will demonstrate this:
In February, 1965, the NPC-led Federal Government was faced
with a decision to appoint a successor to the outgoing Nigerian Army General
Officer Commanding (GOC), General Welby Everard, a Briton. Four most senior
officers were nominated; namely, Brigadiers Aguiyi Ironsi, Ogundipe, Ademulegun
and Maimalari. The first three were senior to Maimalari but he was deemed to be
more qualified due to his superior commission. He was the first Sandhurst
Regular trained officer in the Nigerian Army. His being a Muslim Northerner
like the Minister of Defense, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu and the Prime Minister,
Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa granted him added advantage by today’s standards.
But to the surprise of even the Igbos, and opposition from some senior NPC
members, Minister Ribadu recommended Ironsi, pointing to his seniority. The
Prime Minister concurred and Aguiyi Ironsi was confirmed as the first indigenous
GOC of the Nigerian Army.
When on 13 February 1976, the Commander-in-Chief, General
Murtala Muhammed, was assassinated in a failed Coup de tat, General Olusegun
Obasanjo, his deputy and the most senior officer at the time, was sworn in as
his successor. The Chief of Army Staff, General T.Y Danjuma, a Northern
Christian, was next in line to succeed Obasanjo as the Chief of Staff, SHQ and
Deputy Commander in Chief. General Danjuma however waived his right and
recommended a much junior officer, Lt. Col. Shehu Musa Yar’adua, for the post.
Shehu was promoted two steps up to the rank of Brigadier and appointed Chief of
Staff SHQ and Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Lt. Col. Muhammadu Buhari was
appointed Minister of Petroleum. This was done to placate Muslim North which
was deemed to have lost one of its own, Murtala Muhammed.
Both the chief of staff, Mr. Sunday Awoniyi, and the
personal physician Dr Ishaya Audu to the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji
Sir Ahmadu Bello, a direct descendant of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, were
Christians.
Barely nine years after the civil war in 1979, the NPN
Presidential candidate, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, picked an Igbo, Dr Alex Ekwueme,
as his running mate. They enjoyed a truly brotherly relationship as President
and Vice President. President Shagari’s political advisor, Dr Chuba Okadigbo
and National Assembly Liaison, assistant, Dr K.O Mbadiwe, were both Igbos. His
economic advisor, Prof. Emmanuel Edozien and his Chief of Personnel Staff Dr
Michael Prest, were of Niger Delta extraction. Remarkably, all his military
service chiefs were Christians with the exception of his last Chief Army Staff,
General Inuwa Wushishi under whose tenure he was removed in a military coup de
tat.
Mr. President, as a witness and beneficiary, it is our
expectation that you would emulate these great acts of statesmanship. Which is
why we have continued to engage with you.
You may wish to recall that I had cause to appeal to you, to
confirm Justice Onnoghen as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria a few days
before the expiration of his three months tenure of acting appointment to be
replaced by a Muslim Northerner. We were saved that embarrassment when his
nomination was sent to the senate by the then acting President, Prof. Yemi
Osibanjo. When he was finally confirmed a few days to the end of his tenure, he
was removed after a few months and replaced by Justice Muhammed, a Muslim from
the North.
May I also invite the attention of Mr. President to the
pending matter of appointment of a Chief Judge of the Nigerian Court Appeal which
appears to be generating public interest. As it is, the most senior Judge,
Justice Monica Dongban Mensem, a northern Christian, is serving out her second
three-month term as acting Chief Judge without firm prospects that she will be
confirmed substantive head. I do not know Justice Mensem but those who do
attest to her competence, honesty and humility. She appears eminently qualified
for appointment as the substantive Chief Judge of the Court of Appeal as she is
also said to be highly recommended by the National Judicial Council. If she is
not and is bypassed in favor of the next in line who happens to be another
northern Muslim, that would be truly odd. In which case, even the largest
contingent of PR gurus would struggle to rebut the charges that you, Mr.
President, is either unwilling or incapable of acting on your pledge to belong
to everyone — and to no one. I hope you would see your way into pausing and
reflecting on the very grave consequences of such failure not just to your
legacy but to the future of our great country.
Thank you for your time, Mr. President.
COL. ABUBAKAR DANGIWA UMAR (RTD)
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