Dear Minister: Jonathan is not to Blame! By Reno Omokri
Former presidential aide Reno Omokri writes
open letter to the minister of Information.
Read below
Dear Honourable Minister Lai
Mohammed, Greetings and
congratulations on your recent and well
deserved appointment as Nigeria's
Minister of Information. You may recall
that we met on the set of 'Politics Today'
in May of 2011 soon after I was
interviewed by Deji Bademosi and just
before you were interviewed.
The purpose of my letter to you today is in
response to your statement made on Monday
the 21st of December, 2015 in which you
accused former President Goodluck Jonathan,
whom I served as one of three spokesmen, of
being responsible for the current excruciating
fuel scarcity now subsisting in Nigeria.
Your exact words were "What I will be telling
Nigerians is that what we met on ground is
such that we are paying for the sins of the
last administration.....One of the reasons for
the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last
government to make adequate provision for
fuel subsidy". My candid take on your
message to Nigerians is that it is an
abdication of responsibility on your part and
does not project you and the government you
represent as being responsible. Government,
as you very well know, is a continuum. One
government takes over from where the other
stopped and to say that an action in
December of 2015 (six months after ex
President Jonathan handed over to the
incumbent on May 29th, 2015, ) is the fault of
the last President, is to confer super human
powers on Jonathan.
To prove to you that it is wrong to blame the
former President, I will quote the words of the
incumbent President. A month ago, President
Buhari, while speaking to the Nigerian
community in the Iranian capital, Tehran, said
“I believe if you are in touch back at home,
you would have been told that already there is
some improvement in power". Those were the
words of President Muhammadu Buhari in
Tehran on November 25th, 2015. You,
Honourable Minister, also boasted about the
improvement in power back in August 2015,
when you attributed the improvement to the
'body language' of the 'new sheriff' in town.
You may recall that you said "I say it
anywhere I go that even though we have not
added one single megawatt to power, there
has been improvement.
My colleagues in the PDP will say no; that’s
not true. But I maintain that this improvement
is as a result of the kind of integrity that
President Buhari has brought to leadership."
Now, you and I know that despite what you
said about the President's "body language",
there is absolutely no way that any action or
inaction of President Muhammadu Buhari
could have led to an improvement in power.
All the new power stations that have come on
stream this year were either built or
completed by Jonathan. Absolutely all of
them were conceived, funded, built and
commissioned by Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, Presidents, the same party that you said
had destroyed Nigeria. On October 19th, 2013,
then President Jonathan completed and
commissioned the 530 Megawatts Omotosho
Power station Phase 2 begun by his
predecessor.
On February 20th, 2015, he commissioned the
750 MW Olorunsogo II Power Station in Ifo
Local Government Area of Ogun State. On
March 24th, 2015, Jonathan also
commissioned the Phase I 504MW (Simple
Cycle Gas) Alaoji Power Plant at Umuobasi-
Ukwu, Abia State. Former President Jonathan
was also the leader who successfully
privatized major chunks of our power
generation and distribution infrastructure. He
also created the Nigerian Bulk Electricity
Trading PLC.
So concerned was President Jonathan to
know the state of electricity provision that I
had to do regular, sometimes weekly, polls
and surveys on Twitter to get the public's
feedback on the state of power in their
locales. Yet, despite all these, President
Buhari and you, Honourable Minister, were not
shy at taking credit for the improvement in
electricity in far away Tehran and Lagos at
various times this year. One wonders why the
same "integrity" you credited for automatically
improving power cannot provide fuel?
Don't you think it is a bit rich to blame ex
President Jonathan for the current fuel
subsidy especially given the fact that leading
lights of your party resisted and rejected the
ex President's move to do away with fuel
subsidy by deregulating the down stream
sector of the petroleum sector? Indeed
Honourable Minister, you may recall that as
the National Publicity Secretary of the then
Action Congress of Nigeria, you released a
statement condemning the then government's
plans to deregulate the petroleum industry
and remove fuel subsidy and also said that
the removal of fuel subsidy was "a threat to
Nigeria's unity".
Sir, you would agree with me that it is only
honourable to take the bitter with the sweet. I
am reminded of my 10 year old daughter's
comments to me every time I accuse her of
watching too much television. She quotes a
line from the Disney movie, 'A Bug's Life' in
which Hopper says to Atta "First rule of
leadership: Everything is your fault". If my
daughter at 10 is aware of this rule, shouldn't
a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
who also happens to be over 60 years of age,
and who also happens to be the official
spokesperson of the current administration
know this rule?
A bad workman may blame his tools, but it
takes an irresponsible workman to blame his
predecessor! When Jonathan became
President on May 6th, 2010, he met a
comatose railway network. He did not blame
his predecessors. Rather, he went to work.
Within two years, he successfully rehabilitated
a significant portion of our national railway
infrastructure and had restored intra and inter
city routes for the first time decades.
He made it possible for Nigerians to travel
from Lagos to Kano for less than $10
(₦1600). There were services from Port
Harcourt to Enugu, Makurdi to Port Harcourt
and Gombe-Kafanchan-Kaduna to mention
but a few. For the first time in decades, there
was a direct rail transport from Tin Can Island
Port in Lagos all the way to Kano with stops
along the way. Jonathan successfully built the
brand new standard gauge 187 kilometer
Abuja-Kaduna railway which will make it
possible to live in Kaduna and work in Abuja.
Within Lagos, he introduced air conditioned
fast Diesel Multiple Unit trains, the first of its
type in Nigeria. I quite remember that when I
wrote about these accomplishments,
members and sympathizes of your party
publicly labeled me a liar. I remained a liar in
the eyes of the Nigerian public until my recent
surprise vindication by the new Minister of
Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, who said while on
a familiarization tour of the Nigerian Railway
Corporation as follows “in fact, I think we
have a problem; most people don’t believe
that the railway transport is functioning in
Nigeria. I didn’t even know, until I started this
tour, I never knew that the railway was
functioning, it was even from his (MD’s)
speech that I learnt that there are some
coaches or services that go to Kano or Port
Harcourt or elsewhere. So we need to make
people become more aware that the narrow
gauge is working, and that people can still
use it to travel around that country."
Now, Honourable Minister Lai Mohammed,
who do we blame for this remarkable
progress in our rail sector? Let me end this
letter to you with a quote from best selling
author, Dr. Steve Maraboli: "It’s time to care;
it’s time to take responsibility; it’s time to
lead; it’s time for a change; it’s time to be
true to our greatest self; it’s time to stop
blaming others."
Thank you and be assured of my continued
loyalty and support to the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
Former presidential aide Reno Omokri writes
open letter to the minister of Information.
Read below
Dear Honourable Minister Lai
Mohammed, Greetings and
congratulations on your recent and well
deserved appointment as Nigeria's
Minister of Information. You may recall
that we met on the set of 'Politics Today'
in May of 2011 soon after I was
interviewed by Deji Bademosi and just
before you were interviewed.
The purpose of my letter to you today is in
response to your statement made on Monday
the 21st of December, 2015 in which you
accused former President Goodluck Jonathan,
whom I served as one of three spokesmen, of
being responsible for the current excruciating
fuel scarcity now subsisting in Nigeria.
Your exact words were "What I will be telling
Nigerians is that what we met on ground is
such that we are paying for the sins of the
last administration.....One of the reasons for
the fuel scarcity was the inability of the last
government to make adequate provision for
fuel subsidy". My candid take on your
message to Nigerians is that it is an
abdication of responsibility on your part and
does not project you and the government you
represent as being responsible. Government,
as you very well know, is a continuum. One
government takes over from where the other
stopped and to say that an action in
December of 2015 (six months after ex
President Jonathan handed over to the
incumbent on May 29th, 2015, ) is the fault of
the last President, is to confer super human
powers on Jonathan.
To prove to you that it is wrong to blame the
former President, I will quote the words of the
incumbent President. A month ago, President
Buhari, while speaking to the Nigerian
community in the Iranian capital, Tehran, said
“I believe if you are in touch back at home,
you would have been told that already there is
some improvement in power". Those were the
words of President Muhammadu Buhari in
Tehran on November 25th, 2015. You,
Honourable Minister, also boasted about the
improvement in power back in August 2015,
when you attributed the improvement to the
'body language' of the 'new sheriff' in town.
You may recall that you said "I say it
anywhere I go that even though we have not
added one single megawatt to power, there
has been improvement.
My colleagues in the PDP will say no; that’s
not true. But I maintain that this improvement
is as a result of the kind of integrity that
President Buhari has brought to leadership."
Now, you and I know that despite what you
said about the President's "body language",
there is absolutely no way that any action or
inaction of President Muhammadu Buhari
could have led to an improvement in power.
All the new power stations that have come on
stream this year were either built or
completed by Jonathan. Absolutely all of
them were conceived, funded, built and
commissioned by Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP, Presidents, the same party that you said
had destroyed Nigeria. On October 19th, 2013,
then President Jonathan completed and
commissioned the 530 Megawatts Omotosho
Power station Phase 2 begun by his
predecessor.
On February 20th, 2015, he commissioned the
750 MW Olorunsogo II Power Station in Ifo
Local Government Area of Ogun State. On
March 24th, 2015, Jonathan also
commissioned the Phase I 504MW (Simple
Cycle Gas) Alaoji Power Plant at Umuobasi-
Ukwu, Abia State. Former President Jonathan
was also the leader who successfully
privatized major chunks of our power
generation and distribution infrastructure. He
also created the Nigerian Bulk Electricity
Trading PLC.
So concerned was President Jonathan to
know the state of electricity provision that I
had to do regular, sometimes weekly, polls
and surveys on Twitter to get the public's
feedback on the state of power in their
locales. Yet, despite all these, President
Buhari and you, Honourable Minister, were not
shy at taking credit for the improvement in
electricity in far away Tehran and Lagos at
various times this year. One wonders why the
same "integrity" you credited for automatically
improving power cannot provide fuel?
Don't you think it is a bit rich to blame ex
President Jonathan for the current fuel
subsidy especially given the fact that leading
lights of your party resisted and rejected the
ex President's move to do away with fuel
subsidy by deregulating the down stream
sector of the petroleum sector? Indeed
Honourable Minister, you may recall that as
the National Publicity Secretary of the then
Action Congress of Nigeria, you released a
statement condemning the then government's
plans to deregulate the petroleum industry
and remove fuel subsidy and also said that
the removal of fuel subsidy was "a threat to
Nigeria's unity".
Sir, you would agree with me that it is only
honourable to take the bitter with the sweet. I
am reminded of my 10 year old daughter's
comments to me every time I accuse her of
watching too much television. She quotes a
line from the Disney movie, 'A Bug's Life' in
which Hopper says to Atta "First rule of
leadership: Everything is your fault". If my
daughter at 10 is aware of this rule, shouldn't
a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
who also happens to be over 60 years of age,
and who also happens to be the official
spokesperson of the current administration
know this rule?
A bad workman may blame his tools, but it
takes an irresponsible workman to blame his
predecessor! When Jonathan became
President on May 6th, 2010, he met a
comatose railway network. He did not blame
his predecessors. Rather, he went to work.
Within two years, he successfully rehabilitated
a significant portion of our national railway
infrastructure and had restored intra and inter
city routes for the first time decades.
He made it possible for Nigerians to travel
from Lagos to Kano for less than $10
(₦1600). There were services from Port
Harcourt to Enugu, Makurdi to Port Harcourt
and Gombe-Kafanchan-Kaduna to mention
but a few. For the first time in decades, there
was a direct rail transport from Tin Can Island
Port in Lagos all the way to Kano with stops
along the way. Jonathan successfully built the
brand new standard gauge 187 kilometer
Abuja-Kaduna railway which will make it
possible to live in Kaduna and work in Abuja.
Within Lagos, he introduced air conditioned
fast Diesel Multiple Unit trains, the first of its
type in Nigeria. I quite remember that when I
wrote about these accomplishments,
members and sympathizes of your party
publicly labeled me a liar. I remained a liar in
the eyes of the Nigerian public until my recent
surprise vindication by the new Minister of
Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, who said while on
a familiarization tour of the Nigerian Railway
Corporation as follows “in fact, I think we
have a problem; most people don’t believe
that the railway transport is functioning in
Nigeria. I didn’t even know, until I started this
tour, I never knew that the railway was
functioning, it was even from his (MD’s)
speech that I learnt that there are some
coaches or services that go to Kano or Port
Harcourt or elsewhere. So we need to make
people become more aware that the narrow
gauge is working, and that people can still
use it to travel around that country."
Now, Honourable Minister Lai Mohammed,
who do we blame for this remarkable
progress in our rail sector? Let me end this
letter to you with a quote from best selling
author, Dr. Steve Maraboli: "It’s time to care;
it’s time to take responsibility; it’s time to
lead; it’s time for a change; it’s time to be
true to our greatest self; it’s time to stop
blaming others."
Thank you and be assured of my continued
loyalty and support to the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
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