Dear Mr. President,
History is a strange judge. It is not moved by applause in the present moment, nor by the endless noise of political loyalists and television defenders. History is cold. It remembers only results. It escapes from the grandest of propagandas. It remembers whether a leader lifted his people from suffering or merely managed the machinery of power while the nation bled quietly beneath him.
Today, Nigeria stands at one of the most difficult crossroads in its history. The people are tired. The poor grow poorer. Hunger walks openly in the streets. Young people no longer dream of building Nigeria; they dream only of escaping it. Electricity remains unreliable, institutions remain weak, corruption still breathes comfortably in government corridors, and many citizens have lost faith in leadership itself.
Mr. President, the greatest threat to your administration may not even be the opposition. It may not be foreign pressures, economic downturns, or global instability. The greatest threat may be the political contractors, the cabals, the merchants of influence, and the endless network of men who see government not as a responsibility, but as a marketplace.
These are the men who surround power like flies around a wound. They demand repayment for loyalty, contracts for support, appointments for silence, and protection for compromise. They burden every government until the government no longer serves the people, but serves those who helped build the throne.
And this is why I write to you today with a difficult appeal:
Damn them, Mr. President and take the gold.
Sacrifice the political baggage for the sake of Nigeria.
Ignore those who insist that corruption must be tolerated because that is how politics works. Ignore those who believe public office is compensation for political loyalty. Ignore those who would rather preserve their influence than allow genuine reform. If necessary, disappoint them. Let them curse you in private meetings and abandoned hotel lobbies. Let them complain that you have become ungrateful. Let them rage because the old pipelines of patronage are drying up. History will not remember their anger but history will remember courage.
Remember your immediate predecessor, Buhari, the records have not been in his favour even though he spoke out a number of times, wondering why his appointees, aides and elite contacts were not speaking up on the strides of his administration. All of them are stupendously wealthy today, ‘enjoying life’ in the background and some still in the power corridors. None of them is taking the fall, a parasitic friendship. This should not be you lot sir.
You are perhaps the first Nigerian president in a long time who truly has little reason to fear political godfathers. You are the godfather. You helped build careers. You carried politicians through infancy to maturity. You created platforms where many found relevance and power. Men who now speak loudly in Nigerian politics once stood quietly behind your shadow. So why should you fear anybody now?
This is the moment to become larger than politics itself.
Most Nigerian leaders have failed to write their names in gold because they governed timidly. They spent too much time balancing political interests while the nation sank deeper into poverty and dysfunction. They protected alliances instead of protecting the people. They managed power, but they did not transform the country and so history remembers them weakly.
But there remains before you a rare opportunity. If you fight corruption sincerely, not selectively, Nigerians will remember. If you reduce the power of political profiteers, Nigerians will remember. If you build institutions stronger than individuals, Nigerians will remember. If you create a country where merit matters more than connections, Nigerians will remember. If you restore dignity to governance and make ordinary citizens feel the presence of a functioning state, Nigerians will remember.
Posterity is waiting with an empty page. Many before you were given the pen, but lacked the courage to write anything meaningful upon it. They arrived with promises and departed with excuses. Nigeria remained wounded after their reigns. But every generation eventually produces one leader willing to take the bull by the horns, one leader willing to risk elite anger in exchange for national rebirth.
Be that man.
The masses may not understand every economic policy today. They may complain, protest, and doubt your decisions in the short term. But if your sacrifices genuinely produce a stronger Nigeria, time itself will defend you. Future generations will speak your name with respect. Schools will teach your courage. History books will describe you not merely as a politician who won power, but as a statesman who used power for transformation.
That is the gold, not wealth, political dominance, temporary applause, but a legacy that outlives death itself.
Mr. President, the throne before you is heavy. But greatness has never belonged to comfortable men. Greatness belongs to those willing to stand against even their own camp for the greater good. Nigeria does not need another survivor of politics. Nigeria needs a rebuilder.
Damn them, Mr. President and take the gold.
