OPEN LETTER TO MR. PRESIDENT AND THE LEADERSHIP OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (NASS) ON THE DANGERS OF THE RELOCATION OF AMERICAN AND FRENCH MILITARY BASES FROM THE SAHEL TO NIGERIA Your Excellencies, It is a common knowledge that the American and French g...

[Toyin Falola]

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[Ibrahim Abdullah]

This letter is full of empty claims--no evidence to back the charge. Reads like a bunch of undergraduates scolding the nation-state.

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On Sat, 4 May 2024 at 8:53 PM, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

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[Jibrin Ibrahim]

Great comment IB. I am waiting for the day when something will impress you.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

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[Hezekiel Gikambi]

Dear colleagues,

The authors of this letter, have let down the institutions they represent.

There was the need to cite clear examples of any existing evidence for the claims.

This can be treated as 'Hot Air' in some quarters.

My two cents.

Regards,

Hezekiel  Gikambi Peter, MPRSK,

Strategic Communication Professional/Swahili Expert and Linguist,

Assistant Director-Strategic Communication

Kenya Marine & Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI)

Ludwig Krapf Road, English Point

PO Box 81651 Mombasa 80100- Kenya

TEL:+254722358448

Email: hezekie...@gmail.com / hgik...@kmfri.go.ke 

''Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity and dignity''. Titus 2:7 ESV 

[Ibrahim Abdullah]

Merci beaucoup! Hope TF the gatekeeper and Jibo a signatory are listening! It's not about what suits IB--it's about our collective good.

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[Michael Afolayan]

I don't think the letter is a bad idea, and I hope it achieves the purpose for which it was drafted. I won't characterize it as sounding "hot air" -ish, as it seems its case is clearly stated. Maybe (and only maybe) undergraduates of our generation might be able to write this well, but certainly, not undergraduates of Nigeria today. Here are, however, just a few issues I have with the letter, and I stand corrected:

1. I wish it were not as long as it is. We are not a literate society; written records become a chore when it is an enormous literature. Even in literate societies, politicians are not known to pay attention to long missives. Ronald Reagan once said that if anything was longer than one page, he sent it to the office of his Chief of Staff, James Baker, who already had a million and one other things to deal with on his desk. Our own politicians at home are even worse; they don't have what it takes to read. Pure and simple!

2. I wish the signatories reflect a national character. Nigeria as it is does not do well when ethnic and/or regional characters are not reflected. The average Nigerian would see this as a "Northers" palaver, after all, all signatories point in the direction of the North. All institutions for which they signed off of are Kano, Kaduna, Zaria and Abuja - nothing coming from Lagos, Nsukka, Benin, Ibadan, etc. It is a sadly true fact that even for some of us who are a bit more "liberal" in our orientations and perceptions of some objective realities relating to our nation, looking at six signatories without any "Chukwu" or "Ade" or "Abilo" or "Eneyo" is bothersome; and

3. Excuse my pettiness here, but I did not like the letter ending with the phrase, "Yours faithfully." It sounded too friendly. 

In all, it is a protest letter worthy of being written, at least, for the record, and on behalf of the people. It is an "open letter," which in essence is a note to nobody in particular and to everyone in general. I wish the authors the very best!

Michael O. Afolayan

(From Outside Looking In)

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[cornelius...@gmail.com]

Dear Sir, 

Since there is nothing hypocritical about this very timely letter, and it definitely fulfils its purpose in alerting all those who should be concerned, I sincerely believe that Ibrahim Abdullah was only joking, pulling your leg , or trying to do so and that what he really means is the opposite of what he’s actually saying. In other words, he was only teasing you , and I don’t intuit any sour grapes on his part either, although there is a possibility which only he himself is privy to, that for reasons best known to him, he would like to distance himself from the tenor and the contents of the letter. This is merely speculation on my part and I know that it’s sometimes the case when e.g. a diaspora  bro has a very pro-Isreal type as the head of department at the Institution of higher learning where he’s earning his daily bread, it stands to reason that it cannot be the time for such a one to be too vociferous in e.g. his criticism of what he perceives to be an ongoing genocide.

In some other cases, I suppose that out of frustration, sometimes, for no other reason at all, it’s like that with some people, the “ what good can come out of Nazareth” syndrome / complex, and in this case possibly a slight irritant that you in particular , are Christian , and he  happens to be Muslim, in these very trying times for Muslims in particular. 

BTW , I wonder how the Orthodox Brethren are doing in the Holy Land, especially in  Occupied Territories, since Orthodox Christianity has been celebrating Easter / “He is risen” today.

Here's some beauty to cool his professorial brow: Mosques