Open Letter To Mr. Tanko Al Makura, Current Occupant Of The Nasarawa State Government House By Dr. Anhyula T. Uke ( PhD ).

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Al-Makura-E2-80-99sPermit me to ignore all the protocol that have become the official appendage that accompanies you and your likes that occupy public positions of trust, even though on many occasions not giving thought to the nature, weight and manner of trust expected thereof. I cannot in good spirit go that way to massage your ego in an attempt to make you feel good about yourself; please bear with me.

On an occasion like this, I sincerely wish – even if just for a little moment – I was not educated or lettered, so that I can verbally take a plunge straight into your self-made pig water pool without second thoughts. Alas it is a mere wish that cannot be granted even by the gods. I am thus morally constrained from taking this dive to join you in this fools’ paradise you have made for yourself. I am left with no option than to attempt to pull you up and out of it so that we can reason at the same pedestal, hopefully devoid of any intellectual disabilities.

I will not bamboozle you with rhetoric and deviate from my core intent and purpose, so I will go straight to inform you of the intent and purpose of this open letter. I intend to re-educate you – in the assumption that you had one before – on the dignity and minimum standard of expectation demanded by the office you presently occupy. I intend to inform you that the obvious hate agenda towards the Tiv nation is no longer a secret.

The office you occupy is established by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Part 2, section 176. Other aspects of the constitution that relate directly to the office include sections 177 to 185. Of particular interest to me, however, in this discuss, are Section 177[b] and 182 [1c].

Section 177 states thus: “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the governor if – [b] he has attained the age of thirty five years.”  The framers of the constitution – certainly from scientific basis – may have realised that thirty five years is the age when we are, centeris paribus, expected to have overcome ALL TRACES OF UNNECESSARY YOUTHFUL EXHUBERANCE! This is also the minimum age limit for election into the Nigerian senate, which is five years higher than the limit for the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly. It is therefore expected that the occupant of the office of a governor should not be easily swayed by the pecks and paraphernalia of office but should be able to rise above petty distractions such as occurred with your convoy on Thursday September 10, 2015 considering that you are well above that minimum age limit. But of course, like the old saying “…..The wisdom of young king Solomon had nothing to do with the age of Methuselah.” For some split seconds, I am sure you assumed a god status thereby making it a sin to be seen mingling with mere mortals. How did you feel after the incident? I hope you did not feel like a bully who had forcefully obtained a toy from a hapless young girl? It will be a thing of great shame if that was how you felt afterwards and I will advocate some growing up lectures for you Mr. Tanko al Makura.

Section 182 states thus: No person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if – [1c] under the law in any part of Nigeria; he is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind. A lot of things are taken for granted in Nigeria today; else it would have been – on the strength of this provision – mandatory that a PSYCHIATRIC TEST be conducted on all politicians aspiring for public office and only those of sane minds would be allowed to stand for offices! My candid advice to you is to still go for the test; there is no harm in knowing your status Mr. Tanko al Makura and trust me, no insults are herein insinuated or intended by my statement.

There is an adjective that is usually ascribed to the office you presently occupy: Excellency (from the primary word excellent). The definition is thus:

■ EXCELLENT: very good, superb, outstanding, admirable, of high quality, of the highest standard, extraordinary…..

■ EXCELLENCY: a title of HONOR given to certain high officials; someone in an important official position…..

Can you in all honesty say that your actions, inactions and sudden denials and obvious half truths qualify you to be ascribed with any of the above?

Conversely, do you go to sleep at night fulfilled that you are equitably living up to the expectations of your office?

These are rhetorical questions that you need to answer only to yourself and not to any other person in particular for now – except of course the Nassarawa State House of Assembly which is legally empowered to demand same from you.

Your tenure as occupant of the Nassarawa state government house has been fraught with violent acts and unrest of all manners. The Ombatse saga is still fresh in our mind but for now I will constrain myself to violence against Tiv people. A people that lived peacefully on their ancestral lands who were in the past even elected into political offices in the present Nassarawa State now suddenly became settlers who are being displaced in your own regime. The killings and wanton destruction witnessed in neighbouring Guma LGA of Benue State have never occurred in that magnitude in the history of their cohabitation until recently and under your governance. We recall, with disgust, how you came out to defend those whom the military had arrested as culprits in the saga, calling them international hunters, but you failed to answer the following questions:

■What (who) were they hunting for?

■Who issued them hunting licenses?

■Does hunting go on during the farming season?

■Did their expeditions extend from Nassarawa into Benue State- beyond your area of influence – as well?

■Why were you not perturbed by the coincidence of their hunting expeditions and the wanton destruction of lives and property going on in neighbouring Benue State?

Your actions and inactions in the foregoing, apologies to Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, were very visible to the blind and audible to the deaf! The people at the receiving end were hapless Tiv farmers!

This may have informed the resolve of the Tiv community in Nassarawa to reject you at the polls prior to the April 11, 2015 gubernatorial elections, until it took the intervention of the APC National Secretariat which directed Senators JKN WAKU and George AKUME to join in your campaign team to persuade the Tiv block to rescind their decision. This the duo did successfully and you got their votes with a promise of a better deal.

However and regrettably, it appears your resolve to continue on the old paths was re-echoed on the day of your inauguration for a second term. A journalist with the Daily Trust newspaper, Joseph Hir, was severely molested and almost lost his life at the venue of the inauguration. Joseph Hir is also Tiv from Benue State! Then again, just on Thursday September 10, 2015, you and your convoy stopped to PHYSICALLY MOLEST A TIV FAMILY THAT WAS TRAVELLING DOWN TO BENUE FROM ABUJA! You stopped your convoy and your security details physically molested Lois Iorvihi and her siblings who were on their way to Abuja from Makurdi.

■WHAT HAS THE TIV NATION DONE TO YOU BEYOND BEING TIV?

■DO YOU HAVE AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX OR JUST GENERAL DISDAIN TOWARDS TIV PEOPLE?

■DO YOU FEEL THREATENED BY TIV PEOPLE NO MATTER THEIR LEVEL OF AFFLUENCE OR POVERTY?

■ARE YOU EMOTIONALLY AND SOCIALLY INSECURE ESPECIALLY WHEN TIV PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED?

Sad as it may sound, you are gradually evolving – or exposing your true colours (?) – as a TIV HATE VERMIN, a situation that is totally unacceptable by any standards, for an occupant of your present office!

The least you can do in the light of these exposé is to tow the remedial line of which Adams Oshiomole, Edo State Governor, took when it was clear to him that he erred in his comments. YOU OWE THE LOIS IORVIHI AND HER SIBLINGS AS WELL AS THE TIV NATION AN UNRESERVED APOLOGY!

On a final note, I had a painful childhood; I almost hated my father because of the way my peers made fun of my name. However and with your actions in office, I am beginning to think that my father was a prophet of some sort. HE MAY HAVE HAD YOU AND YOU LIKES IN MIND WHEN HE GAVE ME MY NAME. THE ONUS IS ON YOU TO PROVE HIM WRONG, IF INDEED HE IS WRONG.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

ANHYULA TSWAR UKE DAANG [PhD]

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