USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Re – the piece entitled The Obasanjo- Jonathan letters

Correction - re – "one billion dollars oil money being stolen every month" probably misrepresents the material situation, the possible real status of hard cash changing hands, as part of any illegal oil sale / transfer or transaction.   One billion US dollars worth! That's a lot of oil! The information was presented as  "more than one billion dollars a month is being lost to thieves who syphon it off from remote pipelines" (for domestic consumption?  Re-selling? Filling ocean-going tankers?) and the extent of "the siphoning off" is acknowledged by Governor Amaechion BBC Hardtalk with a waive of the hand to the suggestion that such thieving is "a creative response by people who remain desperately poor "–   in the words of Governor Amaechi,  "the insecurity here is basically a product of poverty" - leaves you wandering how much longer the thieves  and how  many of them  remain so "desperately poor "after months, years and decades of the very lucrative business racket of siphoning off and  consuming or selling off  one billion dollars worth of oil each month? What a profitable enterprise for the "desperately poor"

On BBC Hardtalk Governor Amaechi divides the criminals into two groups:  there's the first group about whom he says, "They are criminals because they are poor."

 Then the governor talked about the other group:  I guess he's referring to the pirates:

"But there is the other (thieving) by elites, who actually come with vessels and go straight and take the oil.  Federal government has to deal with that - they are the people who cause too much damage!"

It's interesting that in his response to former President General Olusegun Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan writes the following:" I urge you, in the same vein, to furnish me with the names, facts and figures of a single verifiable case of the "high corruption" which you say stinks all around my administration and see whether the corrective action you advocate does not follow promptly."

All the more reason why this could get very nasty if the general should reply with a few choice cruise missiles – as Chido Nwangwu would say, as part of General Obasanjo's "militaristic strategy of maximum assault and attack to severely damage his target."

It's on its way and I wish both of them  good luck and a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

We Sweden

I am still angry. Maybe, feeling incensed is a better word. I have read both letters and the editorial in question several times now and will soon be taking them in more fully in my next survey – I promise – my word of honour...

Re – the piece entitled The Obasanjo- Jonathan letters  all of which was an editorial in one of the most widely circulated newspapers in Nigeria – and therefore, like the letters is still a very public document for our critical perusal, wherever in the Diaspora concerned people may happen to find ourselves.

It beats me how former president Obasanjo who is credited with raising substantive issues could, because he is still ex-president Mr. Obasanjo, "obfuscate the salient issues raised" when the addressee Mr President – Goodluck Jonathan himself , says in his reply that "you are very unique in terms of the governance of this country. You were a military Head of State for three years and eight months, and an elected President for eight years. That means you have been the Head of Government of Nigeria for about twelve years. This must have, presumably, exposed you to a lot of information. Thus when you make a statement, there is the tendency for people to take it seriously."

 Again I'm saying what follows, sitting at a comfortable distance from the national theatre where the action is taking place - and that's how I look at the dialogue being conducted through the open media, where hopefully, the word in cyberspace at least, is still free. I'm wondering aloud, why, all said and done, the very many poison-pen critics that I have come across so far have only been able to invoke their tired and worn-out  argumentum ad hominem which in their opinion "disqualifies him (Brother Obasanjo) from criticizing" and that's what they hurl at a very brave General Obasanjo  who , is certainly not the Jesus of Nazareth (of whom some still say " You're not him" (the Messiah)  or the Jesus of Nigeria (who could that be?) but he has nevertheless done his duty  - and rather than slip into retirement, irrelevance and oblivion has decided to once more come out openly to satisfy his conscience and to say what has to be said  - what some of his critics and the Goodluck sycophants  are no doubt afraid to say (undoubtedly an inconvenience for them) and since General Obasanjo has not spoken any untruths or prevaricated, in my opinion he should be given one of the highest gold medals available for what's known as civil courage  - and along with him, I should have  liked to have  nominated  Gani Fawehinmi when he was alive and now posthumously  for his civil courage  contributions to the Naija nation – just as I regret  - year after year, postponing the nomination of Tai Solarin for the Alternative Nobel Prize/ Right Livelihood Award.

The only difference I can see is that if my man General Muhammadu Buhari in the same kind of nationalist spirit should aim the same potent criticisms -as he does here , starting with the issues of rampant corruption which is still at the centre of gravity when we talk about what's slowing down the sleeping giant of Africa  - bleeding the nation, then  there's no one that can use the ad hominem of corruption to point a dirty finger at him – but his critics  and some of the hack writers of course would lose no time in saying that he has presidential ambitions and that's why President Goodluck Jonathan's administration should not be targeted with such legitimate criticism by him, that it's some kind of "sour grapes" and devious intentions and that's why he  should therefore keep quiet about corruption–  about the one billion dollars oil money being stolen every month– as variously reported – and that's a lot of money you know,  money that rightfully belongs to the people's national treasury, money that could contribute to paying university teachers' salaries for example...money that could build and staff much needed hospitals... I'm thinking about the national euphoria and Sweden rejoicing for winning a $4.5 billion contract to deliver 36 Jas multirole planes to Brazil....in other words the oil thieves could buy 36 Jas multirole fighter planes for the Nigerian Air Force  with the money they steal every 4 months, from the Niger Delta's rivers of oil

Sincerely,

We Sweden