Should Buhari have replied Obasanjo’s letter?
This week, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reply former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter where he cautioned the president not to run in 2019. Daily Trust sought the opinions of some Nigerians on whether President Buhari should have replied. Hussaini Muhammad Yaro, 22, Student, Malali, Kaduna. No, Buhari is […]
This week, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reply former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter where he cautioned the president not to run in 2019. Daily Trust sought the opinions of some Nigerians on whether President Buhari should have replied.
Hussaini Muhammad Yaro, 22, Student, Malali, Kaduna.
No, Buhari is not supposed to reply Obansanjo. He is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, therefore the government has a channel of replying letters through the Ministry of Information or through the office of Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the president. As the president, he has many aides and responsibilities and a letter like this, in my own opinion, is a distraction from what the country needs.
Haleema Bashir, 25, Youth Corps Member, Barnawa, Kaduna
Yes, he should have replied. I think that the letter could not have come at a better time. After going through the special press statement where he mentioned a lot of disturbing issues that Nigeria is faced with, it would just be really nice to hear what the president would have to say.
Zainab Tanimu, 60, Journalist, Sardauna Crescent, Kaduna
No, he should not reply. I think the president decided not to reply because he might implicate himself. He might not be in the right frame of mind when he is replying the letter and may say things of national security that he ought not to say. I also think he is studying the situation and waiting for reactions from the Nigerian populace to see how to go about it. Besides, these politicians cannot be trusted. Today you will hear them fighting with each other and the next day they are wining and dining together.
Bello Sagir, CEO Sunrise Language Practitioners, Kano
President Buhari should respond to Obasanjo’s letter. When one is accused, one is expected to defend oneself, failure of which amounts to tacit approval. The letter is an open testimony that Obasanjo is a true elder statesman who cannot be party to poor governance. He is frank and just, looking at how he gave pass marks to fight against corruption and insurgency by Buhari, but only faulted him on economy with clear evidence. Hypocrites are those who give thumbs up to him for writing Goodluck Jonathan but thumb him down now for writing Buhari.
Olagoke Sunday Olabode, Multimedia journalist, Abuja
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo raised a lot of issues as regards President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in the last three years. To start with, Obasanjo is an opinion molder in Nigeria today, whether we like it or not, and whenever he speaks has impact and direction on the polity. I will urge the Presidency not to ignore the letter. If I’m the president’s spokesman, I will respond to the letter line by line if I’m sure of my principal’s achievements. So, keeping quiet or deliberately ignoring Obasanjo’s letter is bad judgment. They should respond.
Muhammad Adam, University of Technology, Malaysia
He should rather act on it. Replying the letter won’t change a thing. People are suffering in the country. It takes action to solve problems and not ones reply to an open letter. Obasanjo may have done it in a way that some people feel is not appropriate. But that doesn’t take away some of the concerns that were highlighted. I think the fact that some persons are of the opinion that he wanted one contract or whatever doesn’t mean that the letter has no substance at all. Four years is gone, nothing solid has been done in the educational sector.
Engineer Abubakar Suleiman, Kaduna
I presume former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to be a political chess move and the response by Lai Muhammad is enough to counter the move. President Buhari should not allow himself to be drawn into a needless media war with people like Obasanjo, so that he won’t be distracted from meeting Nigerians’ minimum expectations. From what is left in this first term of his presidency, he should largely concentrate on how to make ordinary Nigerians feel the impact of the little progress he has made in the economy and he should work hard in consolidating the progress.