Open Letter To Former President Muhammadu Buhari

Your Excellency, Former President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR I pray this message finds you in good health. I am your friend and a candid mentor who had counseled and prayed for our nation in trouble times as well as celebrated successes in our milestones as a nation. My record as a patriotic Nigeria speaks for itself on my  Facebook wall.

Sadly, my house is now aflame and that’s the reason why I’m soliciting  your help to step in not only as a friend but as a peace loving father whom I admire, unreservedly. 

The ongoing war between Ifon and Ilobu in Osun State of Nigeria is unnecessary. The two towns share a lot in kinship and traditions. I grew up playing soccer with friends in both neighborhoods; we went to school together, and during holidays, we had farmed the land joyfully, we dipped hands in the same bowl as we rolled  balls of pounded yam into  rivers of okro soup , and then dashed to the brook to wash down our meal in warm affectionate torrents; we love tilling the ground as friends and singing folk songs as we carried  harvested cash crops to  bi-weekly markets and bringing home money for parents to pay  school fees. Additionally, families from both towns come together, annually, to celebrate Masquerade festivals.  And more importantly,  since ancient times,  these towns have given each other so much joy in intermarriage; in fact, it is a tale of twin children fighting each other.  

But overnight, Your Excellency,  I have developed knots in my stomach watching lives and properties burn in both towns, while the Chief Executive of the state recklessly dances away from a lingering sorrow – like a drunken sailor-   sitting down calmly, with clammmy and cold spirit, refusing to tackle this problem, nor forestalling avoidable losses of lives and properties;  specifically, watching the horror of carnage, as toddlers run helplessly from those who are supposed to protect and nurture them from terror.

Your Excellency, I love these two towns, though I hail from Ogbomoso but my mother was from Ifon. If she were alive, being a peace lover, she would be rolling on the floor,  crying for peace amidst this turmoil– a  bridge repairer indeed, she was the Late Iyalode of Ifon. I had hoped to see her again when she bade me farewell in 2002 on my way to serving the LORD in the United States.   

But All Glory to God. 

And I am still on mission for Christ.

Your Excellency,  would you, if I found favor with you,  as my friend and father,  visit my people and pray with both sides and console the victims ofwar, on my behalf, and tellof war to stop the war so as not to teleport back our memories into the internecine war that has set Yoruba race back in modern history. 

I am confident that you will do this for me. 

Thank you, Sir. 

Faithfully, 

Edward, Oluokun