Pendulum: An Open Letter To Vice President Yemi Osinbajo By Dele Momodu

“A lost nation is not one which lacks a ruler, but one that
lacks law. Distortion of law does not mean there is no law. It
means there is law but it is not applied.”

– Law Definition – Duhaime’s Law Dictionary

My dear Uncle Yemi, please, permit me to cut out the protocols
and address you the way I always do. I have looked up to you as a
big Brother for many, many years. I have the highest respect and
regard for you personally and for your accomplishments as an
academic, religious and political leader (please, note that I did
not say politician, because I do not see you as one. You are
honest, forthright and loyal unlike most politicians). I must also
congratulate you on your election with President Muhammadu Buhari
for a second term of office, even if I have reservations about the
sloppy conduct of the election. I have never hidden my admiration
for your commendable performance in office during your first term.
You have been the major embellishment and strongest advocate of
this government.

I know this open letter must come to you as a surprise because I
have unlimited access to you on my own accord, and through family
and friends. We’ve actually met a few times privately since you
became Vice President. I have chosen to go public with this letter
because it is not about you personally, even though it is addressed
to you, but because it is about matters of a public nature that
concerns you and your government. There may be lessons to be learnt
by others apart from you. At those times when we have met one on
one, I was able to express myself candidly to you. Our last private
meeting was a secluded one, in Ikoyi, Lagos which happily was
witnessed by one of your aides, Pastor Laolu Akande. At that
meeting, when you and I sat and discussed for a considerable period
of time, I had expressed serious reservations about the direction
your government was headed, and you asked if it was that bad and I
responded that it was “much worse.”

I have decided to write you today, Sir, after writing similar
letters to your boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, in the past,
without eliciting positive results. Our discussions have always
been about our uncommon passion for Nigeria and not about anything
personal. Long before you became Vice President, I had stumbled on
you at Heathrow Terminal 3 one evening, and naturally, our
interaction dovetailed to the State of the Nigerian nation. We were
both concerned about the lack of progress and the usual sundries.
By the grace of God, you are now the number two citizen of Nigeria,
by virtue of your position as Vice President. I was very excited
the day you were selected and even more so, the day you officially
won the election. We all expected a new Nigeria, indeed. Our
expectations were high.

As days climbed days and months mounted months, things began to
fall apart. The last four years became a grand mirage of blame
games. I watched you speak at different events and on varying
platforms and could not believe how much blames you heaved on past
governments without remembering that many of the called past actors
are now in your party, warts and all. Things seemed to improve
admirably whenever you acted as President. The sanity in the land
was palpable. You took right decisions and made efforts to reach
out to all Nigerians of different persuasions, tribes and tongues.
Everyone praised you for your modern and cosmopolitan style of
governance and the way you have embraced technology. But whenever
the President resumed work, it seemed the unbridled conservatism
and rigidity returned with him in full force, and with renewed
vigour. Your exciting forward movement always appeared to go
backwards, in reverse gear. It was as if some people were angry
about your success and the relative peace and prosperity that you
managed to secure.

I did not expect you to do anything other than to keep
supporting your boss and espousing his policies. You’ve always been
absolutely loyal and dependable since serving Prince Bolasodun
Ajibola in the Attorney-General’s office, through to being
Attorney-General, yourself, in the Lagos State Government of
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and up to now as Vice President to
President Muhammadu Buhari. This is commendable. My worry, and main
reason, for writing you publicly today is because of the
recklessness of your government in the last few months in its
dealings with the Nigerian people. The immediate cause of this
epistle is the issue of the ongoing elections. Nigerians had looked
forward to these elections with both excitement and trepidation.
The energy many put into it was unbelievable. Even after the first
date was postponed, many still went out, against all odds, to
exercise their rightful franchise. But what did they meet out
there? A simple election was turned into an act and theatre of war.
Many innocent souls were killed, wasted, maimed or injured.
Properties were mindlessly destroyed including those of the umpire,
INEC. There were reported cases of rape of INEC officials and some
were forced under duress, at gun points, to declare fake or
falsified results. In Lagos, your adopted home State, many voters
were disenfranchised through malevolent beatings. Ballot boxes with
ballot papers were seized and smashed and scattered into the wild
winds or raging inferno. Yet, the security people, with all the
braggadocio of the President could do nothing more than to watch
the thugs of their own masters go on rampage, unhindered. Contrary
to the provisions of the electoral laws, many States voted without
their PVC or the card reader machines that were meant to capture
data and reduce the usual electoral malpractices and general
rascality, because they were faulty or unutilised, or deliberately
ignored.

After all was said and done, your Party was declared winner of
the controversial election by INEC. The election was rated among
the most dreadful and despicable ever in the history of Nigeria.
Despite this fact, I was one of the first to call on the opposition
leader, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to rise above everything else and
transfer the burden to your government by following the new
tradition that was established by former President Goodluck
Jonathan despite the fact that President Buhari had stated whether
jocularly or seriously, we do not know, that he can never lose the
election, so he would never have to congratulate his opponent!

Anyway. My painful and difficult request to Atiku was predicated
on my good knowledge of our dear country. One. I didn’t want any
violence to break out with more innocent people being killed. Two.
I liked the example of former President Al Gore in America, who
after fulfilling all righteousness, by calling his opponent, George
W. Bush, still went to court, even if it was more of an academic
exercise. 3. I have learnt some lessons from the wisdom of the
Yoruba which says when your home is invaded by an armed robber,
there is no point getting killed when you can pretend to be weak
before you fight back later. Also, when a lunatic invades your
wedding and says he is the groom of the day, don’t argue with,
please tell him he is, and guide him out gently for you to continue
your ceremony. 4. There were lessons to learn from how the June 12
crisis was handled and Atiku should know that most of his
supporters will soon disappear in a short while due to various
reasons, sometimes due to no fault of theirs but practical
expediency and self-preservation. It seems to me that no
government, in recent memory, has terrorised the opposition more
than yours with a fickle and skewed campaign against corruption.
Many have discovered and devised a practical strategy, join them
and live in peace and prosperity, and the binge continues. 5. I
have read a lot of books and interventions by your
grandfather-in-law, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and most of the travails
and prejudices he encountered then are still very much with us.

I have no doubt that the elections were not free and fair. I
must hasten to add that both sides were apparently guilty of
ensuring that this was the case. Not much has changed in Nigeria in
this regard. I always say that people are able to rig in areas
where they have the most influence. Nobody, least of all me,
expected the elections to be perfect, but this one bordered on the
ridiculous and, I daresay, was arrant nonsense. My grouse, and that
of many people, including local and international election
observers, was about the wickedness and intimidation visited upon
the opposition by the excessive use of the military and agents and
forces of violence and coercion. They acted in a most irresponsible
and perfidious manner. I am certain you will not have known or
approved of these excesses because I refuse to think you knew and
looked the other way. You are far more of a gentleman for that. I
suspect that your Party may still have won a handsome victory
without resorting to the apparent self-help that some of your Party
chieftains chose to adopt, tragically. What you have today is
unfortunately a contested victory, blemished by the violence which
makes me sad for you, in particular, since it seems many of your
people are living in denial. All I can say is best of luck because
you will always have my very best wishes.

On a personal note, I have chosen to hand over everything to
God. Sir, you know more than me, as a Pastor, that God is the
ultimate Judge of everyone, low and high. If I have been cheated
and I choose not to fight, it is not because I’m stupid or
squeamish but because I expect God to intervene on my behalf.
Therefore, if indeed Atiku Abubakar and others have been robbed,
the judgment of God will be harsher than that of the Supreme Court.
But since I wasn’t the candidate, I accept whatever measures Atiku
decides to take to regain his mandate (a tall order in this clime)
and whatever psychological pleasure he derives from exposing the
rot and corruption perpetrated by some of your operatives. It is
after all his Constitutional right to challenge the result, as
President Muhammadu Buhari did on three earlier occasions when it
appeared that he had been short-changed. When tomorrow comes, truth
will certainly come out.

Please, don’t be deceived by the deluge of greetings that you
have received, and will be receiving from both well-meaning
Nigerians or soldiers of fortune. Some would do it more out of
protocol than sincerity. No matter how many of the revellers visit
you and your government in Aso Rock Presidential villa, those
visitors will never succeed in conferring legitimacy on your
government until we know what actually transpired. Or maybe we will
never know, as notoriously typical of our country!

Let me also plead with you to speak to your government most
frankly, if anyone would listen to your admonition. President
Buhari and his cronies should not over-celebrate and over-dramatise
this pyrrhic victory. It is a victory littered with human blood.
What you need urgently is to beg God to forgive all those who
spilled innocent blood because they must remain in power. I can see
that your Party’s army of occupation is still going on rampage in
the South South of Nigeria, as if we are in a State of war. I read
the article by the brilliant journalist, Comfort Obi, about the
state of anarchy in the South South and I had tears in my eyes. Is
it that there is more than this proclivity for power to control
minds over matter? All parties and persons involved in this
higgledy-piggledy need to sit back and remember how transient power
is. What shall it profit a man who inherits the whole world but
perishes in hell?

I just needed to pour out my heart to you, Sir. Instead of
committing more sin by the way your government continues to pummel
Atiku and his friends, I beg you to prevail on your people and the
Party to be temperate and show great magnanimity in victory. The
clock is ticking.

My warmest regards to you and yours, as always…