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Author: Ahmed Dodo
Posted to the web: 1/4/2010 8:54:01 AM

A Letter to the America         

 President from a Nigerian

 

 

 

Dear Mr. President,

 

It is with great pleasure that I wish you a good prosperous new year. While I want to wish you a safe and healthy 2010, please permit me to also express my worries as regard to my country, Africa and the world in general.

As a Nigerian Writer/Journalist I am compelled by circumstances and my commitment for a better world to write you this august letter, with the hope that you will be human enough to consider some of the salient points it contains.

 Though I am still swimming in the euphoria of having you as the first African–American to sit on the most powerful seat in the world, as the elected President of the United States of America, but to be honest I must also confess and admit that my enthusiastic strokes of this water of change is getting weaker by the day, given what is going on in my dear country Nigeria and other parts of Africa my continent and with modesty your continent as well, this by your biological origin. I must acknowledge that your coming into the world politics has upset humanâ's predictions and expectations, but the inspiring wind of CHANGE that came with you is yet to blow across my country and the larger part of Africa as many inspired Africans like me had expected. Maybe I had expected too much, when I boldly told those who never saw anything concrete coming from having a Blackman as the President of the United State, to without doubt or fear expect a CHANGE in   the economical, and importantly political affairs of the African continent, but I should be true to myself and to these demoralised fellow Africans and confess that we are still waiting for this CHANGE we can believe in.

No doubt that you are now compelled to look more broadly in the direction of my country, given the terrorist threat to your nation by a fellow country man, an act that I personally, including millions of other fellow Nigerians condemned in its totality, for to be candid without attempting to self praising ‘Nigerians in reality are peace loving people’, despite all the letdowns, frustrations and maladministration in our rich nation: this courtesy of our greedy and corrupt leaders, who fortunately are part of the reason I decided to pen you this letter and recommend some measure to take in order for your wind of  CHANGE to blow across our rich water and help safe our sinking Ship.

 

Observations:

1. It is unfortunate Mr. President that despite the full glare of the massive lootings and undemocratic activities of our rich visionless elites, the American system have over the decades closed its eyes to these atrocities and still encourage them to daily ferry their ill gotten wealth and pampered kids to America and other parts of Europe, leaving behind a broken and robbed nation with millions of genuine patriotic citizens in poverty and a dis organized society.

2. Mr. President sir – it has always baffles me and I believe millions of  other patriotic Nigerians across the globe, on why the American government, Britain and other European nations have over the years closed their eyes to the fact that almost all the social services in our country are in a state of comatose, with  poor health facilities, epileptic power supply, dilapidated educational infrastructures, high rate of unemployment, none available subsidized transport system, massive brain drain,poor educational structures and high rate of impoverished citizens, all these despite our rich resources as one of the oil rich nations in the world, but still yet some selected members of our legislative, judicial and executives arms of government are encourage to daily steal the peoples resources to America, Britain and the other developed world , where they are welcome warmly, with their immediate families, cronies and other accomplices. One would have expected the government of the host countries to challenged the sources of these stolen wealth and put appropriate ban on these looters and greedy leaders who if properly checked would reveled are chronic looters, who would do the same thing to their host countries if given the slightest chance. A leopard hardly changes its skin.

3. CHANGE as you are very much aware does not come by encouraging falsehood, but the subscription to truth and the reality on ground ushered it in. The success story of your incursion into the world political stage is a very good example. That you were able to triumph over all the falsehood and political blackmails against you to ushered in the mush expected CHANGE Americans and the rest of the  world had long waited for, is without doubt one of the most inspiring event of the 21st Century. But much as this victory of truth over falsehood as shown, I am still confused why your government have not deem it proper to sanction all those Africa leaders men and women who over the years have looted our continent, and plugged us into different wars. With most of them owing and building some of the most expensive villas, Islands and other world class infrastructures and organizations in the developed world, leaving their father and motherland in chaos. A wise African observation sir - is that “A thief won’t steal if there are no receivers or buyers of his STOLEN goods. So if the America system and other European nations would be sincere enough to say no to our thieving leaders, definitely they won’t have where to ferry their looted wealth to, neither would they be encourage to neglect the provision of qualitative education, proper health care, good roads, reliable electricity, potable water and massive employment to its citizenry, nor would America or Europe be threatened by terrorists from Africa.

4. I think it is when we all learn how to acknowledge the fact that the Africa continent could in the future be a cheap recruiting ground for future terrorists, revolutionaries and militants because of the long neglect by not only its selfish and self centered leaders, but including world leaders like you who over the decades have always down played all the political, social and economic chaos daily reported and witnessed across the continent. From the Nigeria Niger Delta problem, the Rwanda genocides, the Dafur extermination, the Guinea massacre, the Liberia and Sierra Leone,  senseless wars, down to the current dictatorship in Niger.

5. Finally Mr. President, I think it is high time that strong nations like yours start taking the issue of legitimacy in Africa democracy more serious. It is when you can match words with actions not to recognize any rigged election or imposition of candidates or selected cliques as leaders in elections that can only bring about the long anticipated CHANGE in Africa. It is when you and other world leaders truly recognized that the Africa continent is a continent that  should be encourage to feed, educate and develop its people then would there ever be peace, freedom and stability in the world, for in Africa lies the heart of the human race, both in material and human capital.

My prayers for you is to have the wisdom to think prudently and never forget the fact that up above all of us, the ‘eyes’ of the most powerful leader, who naturally happens to be the leader and creator of all things on earth are wide awake and watching all of us, maybe more focus on you as the CHOSEN ONE among other qualified and entitled human beings, with the mantle to blow that   long awaited wind of CHANGE across the world.

 

I remain

Sincerely yours

Ahmed Dodo