Dear 2face Idibia,
I hope this message gets to you in an atmosphere of reflection. Inasmuch as you have the constitutional rights to assembly, one of which is your freedom of speech, it is imperative for you as a public figure to take another look at your ill-conceived and ill-timed protest. The protest you postponed to coincide with the return of a focused president Buhari, the president your contemporaries have ‘killed-alive’ on his presidential vacation.
Though, you may be a toddler during the satanic reign of evil Abacha. Your proposed match few days from now is a reminiscent of the 2-million-man-match in Abuja. The protest that was recorded in the dark book of the Nigerian history. Daniel Kanu, the organizer got millions of dollars from Abacha to protest in support of his ghoulish administration. You remember Gani Adams, Frederick Fasheun, all these people played ignoble roles during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan? The roles they played during the Nigerian predicament is etched in the dark side of Nigerian history.
Idibia, I am also sure you belong to the generation of confused youths in Nigeria, the youths who have lost their identity due to no fault of theirs! Your rise to stardom was providential not consequential because you have worked hard with dint of efforts to be where you are today. Like I have said, your proposed protest is ill-conceived and premeditated with hidden agenda.
Remember, it is not everyone that have had the same privilege and opportunity you have. We expect you to use your position to write your name positively in the history book. Success is sweet but it can turn sour if you do not manage it judiciously. Ask Onyeka Onwenu; ask Shina Peters; ask other musicians who participated in the inglorious 2 million-man-match in Abuja in solidarity for the evil government of Abacha. These people are now and musicians of yesterday. The have become unsung musicians in the entertainment industry. Beware of those who are pushing or encouraging you to protest against war on corruption. Never trust these crops of Nigerians who are catalysts of your proposed protest. Take heed of bigots who will be remembered or encumbered by the burden of history. Come not near the ethnic chauvinists who are only fixated with fantasy of their imagination.
As an individual, I can see a lot of prospects ahead of you, I will advise you to seek the admonition of Veterans in music industry, people like King Sunny Ade, Baba Commander Ebenezer Obey, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Osadebe and a host of other musicians in Nigeria.
If I may ask, where were you when Goodluck Jonathan was milking this raped country into emptiness? Where were you when your immediate president allowed the impunity to reign supreme in Nigeria? What was your response to a meek and incompetent Jonathan when he trump(ly) said “stealing is not corruption,” and gluttonously consumed the national yams. If you cannot honestly provide reasonable answers to all these questions, then, you have no moral justification to organize a match against a government trying to sanitize a chronic corrupt system in our country.
You seem to be in a state of self-denial of what your country is going through, and how it has been severed from the claws of looters. You will need to know the history of your country, and how its entity got violated and raped by political vultures to appreciate the nothingness of your proposed protest. At this point in time, I call your protest a grotesque grandstanding and sly business opportunism.
Just like other musicians in the Nigerian music business, you seem to be concerned about your dwindling profits from your showbiz. You are unaware that your hedonistic customers who sprayed money like a prodigal son are unable to get free money from their illegal sources. You seem not to know that the federal government is operating a single account now, which makes it practically impossible to steal from national wealth for flippancy and ostentatious lifestyles. The multiplier effects of sealing the loopholes are being felt by the music or entertainment industry. This is the social sacrifice and responsibility you have to temporarily endure for a better Nigeria. This is the time to kill corruption before corruption kills all of us.
The current recession is a direct result of wastage in the system. The present administration must be supported by all to return Nigeria to sanity. As young as you are, you should be intelligent enough not to play into the hands of political class who have decimated your generation that is now called a “wasted generation”. Whoever must have advised you to organize a match against the present administration is doing a disservice to you, and as a brother, I will advise you to be cautious of the burden of history.
The current recession is an opportunity for all of us to look inwards and work hard to make honest incomes. No nation can prosper with its citizens engaging in graft, corrosive corruption, religious and ethnic bigotry. With the current surprised waves in the global community, this is a great opportunity for Nigeria to get it right. It is pertinent to criticize Buhari’s administration constructively rather than using the present Nigerian predicament for mercantilism. It is high time you reflected on your future, and how and where it will be placed in the history of Nigeria.
