Waziri Adamawa, Please Do Not Let This Chance Slip Away
By
Tai Emeka Obasi
Your Excellency,
I write to you, once more, at a defining moment in your life and in the history of our nation. Moments like this are rare, and how they are handled often determines whether a man is remembered for what he achieved or for what he chose to give up for the greater good.
Recall that I wrote to you on my last birthday, June 10, 2025, marking exactly six years since the legal battle between you and President Muhammadu Buhari commenced at the Abuja Court of Appeal, venue of the 2019 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
That letter came exactly three weeks before the coalition adopted the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as its platform for the 2027 general elections. It was promptly responded to by Comrade Usman Gajo Eliman, Head of Office, Surveillance and Intelligence, and Chairman, Anti-Atiku Narrative Counter Committee, The Narrative Force. I responded once more, and all three correspondences went viral.
Over ten months later, much has happened, and it feels as though I glimpsed tomorrow. I have read and listened to over a hundred open letters addressed to you since after the ADC Convention, all echoing the same path I charted in my first passionate appeal.
However, my decision to write again is to make certain things clear.
First, I have great respect for you, which I detailed in my first letter. I believe you love Nigeria very passionately. I know you possess a very exceptional quality of being a detribalised Nigerian. Many may argue this, but I have interviewed many who are not of Fulani blood who worked under you and with you. I guessed you did not marry from the three major Nigerian tribes because you wanted to be president. I am convinced you did so because you believed in one Nigeria.
Based on the nepotism displayed by Buhari and the unprecedented notch President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken our dear country in that regard, I personally think that, moving forward, the number one quality of any Nigerian leader should be one who does not discriminate against ethnicity, religion or sex.
I do not believe in most of the media condemnations of your eight years in office as Vice President. Tinubu may point to some privatisation exercises that failed but will shy away from telling Nigerians the role you played in bringing communication to every Nigerian.
Because I have seen the myriad of lies and propaganda levelled against Mr Peter Obi, I dismiss most of the allegations of corruption against you as giving a dog a bad name.
Summarily, you would have made a better president than most of our past leaders since the Fourth Republic. Apart from Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, whom fate denied us the opportunity to enjoy his lofty intentions, I believe you would have been Nigeria’s best if you had been in 2019. I still believe you would be the best of the lot if sworn in in 2027 as Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief. That belief is very strong.
Even when some say you are too old, I do not believe that either. I am presently in the United States and know how President Donald Trump operates. At the same age you are, he has a razor-sharp mind. Never mind the propaganda being peddled by the Democrats down here, DJT has complete control of his presidency. Besides, leadership is not a boxing or wrestling contest. It is all about the intellectual ability to know the right thing to do and delegate accordingly.
Though Tinubu is suspected to be actually on the upper side of 80, age has nothing to do with his failures in governance. I personally think that the man, who goes by the name Jagaban, is so used to doing the wrong things that he evidently believes the wrong things are the right things. It has nothing to do with age or physical health.
Now, let us begin to face present realities. Today’s Nigeria is no longer that of 2023. Tinubu has turned Nigeria into an ugly habitat. Never before has any Nigerian leader nonchalantly introduced ethnic hatred amongst tribes like Tinubu has done. Never before has any Nigerian leader been more desperate for a second term in office than this incumbent. No Nigerian leader, not even General Sani Abacha, would go to the lengths Tinubu is evidently prepared to go to remain in Aso Rock beyond 2027.
From the much you have seen in efforts to thwart ADC’s Convention, I am sure you will agree with me.
Before I go further, let me express my utmost gratitude to you for the role you played in forming the Coalition. While Tinubu was busy destroying the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Labour Party, LP, you outsmarted him by bringing together what we know today as ADC. They call him a master strategist, but you floored him. By trying to make sure Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi were denied platforms to challenge him in 2027, he ended up uniting both of you under one umbrella, an umbrella that is also sheltering HE Rabiu Kwankwaso, HE Nasir el-Rufai, HE Rotimi Amaechi, HE Aminu Tambuwal, HE David Mark, HE Rauf Aregbesola, and so many top dogs.
Now, Tinubu is raging like a bull in a china shop to sink ADC, but that ship has long sailed. And there is nothing he can do about it.
Yes, nothing he can do about it…
If the ADC manages its success appropriately. What happens from now to the ADC primary will determine whether Tinubu will go or get his wish. And it is all in your hands.
Yes, in your hands. Completely.
Due to no fault of yours, Nigerian youths, and even beyond youths, want a new Nigeria. And who would blame them? They are tired of government of my tribesmen by my tribesmen for my tribesmen. They want to see a new Nigeria the way somebody has consistently promised them.
Since Kwankwaso joined ADC, the narrative has changed. The North, your zone, no longer think PO’s promise of a single tenure is mere political gimmick. They now believe.
Besides, there are other handicaps your being a presidential candidate in this election will place on the ADC.
Zoning.
I listened to you on Arise Tv dismiss the issue of zoning as non-constitutional. You may be right, but zoning is strongly engraved in something bigger than the constitution: the consciousness of every Nigerian. It is still the turn of the South and will hugely affect this election.
You equally argued in the same interview that the South has enjoyed more years in Aso Rock since the Fourth Republic. Honestly, that was an unfortunate statement to make in today’s Nigeria. Goodluck Jonathan would not have become president of Nigeria if death had not dealt Nigeria a cruel blow. Are we now blaming God for the death of a very promising Yar’Adua?
Besides, Nigeria did not begin in 1999. We know exactly which region of Nigeria has occupied a far greater chunk of leadership years in our history. A new Nigeria requires her leaders to look ahead without looking back for retrogressive recalls.
You are a very organised man. You have a very competent team. Give them the task of checking the pulse of the nation. If they have always been sincere to you, their report will tell you that, right now, you hold the four aces.
Yes, four aces.
You have come. You have seen. It is now time to conquer.
There is a giant crown waiting for you to just show your head. The crown is one you ignored in 2023.
KINGMAKER.
Your Excellency, this is the moment history has prepared you for. Not every great man is destined to wear the crown. Some are destined for something even greater: to decide who wears it, and in doing so shape the destiny of a nation.
Nigeria stands at a fragile crossroads. The people are no longer whispering. They are calling for change. Across all divides, there is a yearning for a new direction. You understand this.
I say this with the deepest respect. Step aside for the candidate who commands broad national appeal. Step aside, not in defeat, but in statesmanship.
Do not take ADC into a primary that may fracture the unity you helped to build. Preserve that unity.
If the goal is to see President Bola Ahmed Tinubu leave office in 2027, then the path is unity, not division. And unity requires sacrifice.
Take this honour, Sir.
History is calling you to rise above ambition.
Because power is temporary, but legacy endures. I am not saying you are not a good choice for president. You may win if given the ADC ticket but that is a huge gamble. Right now, our nation do not need such gamble or it may sink with Tinubu in another four years. The path I am urging to is a straight path to savaging our nation.
The man who insists on the throne may win power, but the man who chooses wisely shapes history.
Nations are transformed not only by ambition, but by sacrifice.
And when this chapter is written, let it be said that the Waziri Adamawa understood that the highest form of leadership is knowing when to step aside so that a nation may move forward.
Please, Sir, do not let this chance slip away. Chose legacy over ambition – Nigerians will remember.
Obasi writes from New York.
