Dear Jagaba,
I am a card carrying member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that has been following your political trait since you were in office as Lagos State Governor between 1999 – 2007 where you excelled by lifting up Lagos and made it a model state for others to follow.
You have also become endeared to me and to millions of Nigerians because you have not only mentored, but uplifted many that worked under you and have by your grace, today, become national figures and politicians of note.
The roll-call include the incumbent number two citizen, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, former Lagos State Governor and now Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, current Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, just to name but a few.
Since the first republic, not a single Nigerian politician can boast of such a fete. Not to mention the multi-billion Naira development projects that the Southwest benefited under the Buhari administration because of your influence. What this shows is that you are a leader with a big heart, focused, unselfish and care so much about your constituency – which in turn means if you become President in 2023, the nation as your constituency will immensely benefit.
Our dear Party, the APC, will soon hold its national convention to produce national executives and subsequently, presidential primary would hold, to which I am optimistic you will emerge victorious, most likely unopposed through consensus.
At the moment, the major 2023 obstacle we are facing as a Party is the insecurity situation bedevelling the North. Between operations of Boko Haram in the Northeast and Bandits/ISWAP in the Northwest, the toll on the people is enermous and counting.
If you have not heard yet, Northerners are crying their heads off. They have been pushed to the wall to the extent that they have started singing about PDP. There is a Hausa proverb that says: “Whoever is thinking about past good days, is not enjoying this moment.”
As APC’s 2023 prospective presidential candidate and one of the top respectable leaders of the Party, there is an absolute, urgent need for you to have four-eyes with President Buhari and tell him how serious the situation is.
It behoves on you as a leader in the party to take action, because from all indications, the President may not have been getting the full story or the full picture of how grave the security situation is. You have to tell him for the sake of the victims and for the sake of APC.
I refuse to believe that my President is insensitive to the feelings of the families of the brieved and of those in captivity awaiting for their families to sell their belongings to meet up the ransom amount set by kidnappers.
May I remind the Jagaba that the next general elections is barely 14 months away. By February 2023, Nigerians would have gone to the polls and would have elected their leaders, including the President of the federal republic. That person to be sworn-in on May 29 of that year should be you.
The way things are going at the moment does not however portend good prospect for our party. It is like some people within are sabotaging the administration so that the PDP can return to power. And return they will, if bandits continue to kill and kidnap Nigerians for ransom.
It is over to you, Jagaba.
- Iyawa is former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico
