By Valentine Ozigbo
Your Excellency,
I woke up this morning with a weight that has become far too familiar to millions of Nigerians — the ache that comes from watching a nation we love slip repeatedly into cycles of violence, fear, and preventable tragedy.
I ask your pardon for making this an open letter. I do so only because I fear that a private communication may never reach you, and the matters I raise here touch the very heart of our national interest and the future of our country.
In recent days, we have witnessed schoolchildren abducted in Kebbi, worshippers murdered in Kwara, commuters seized on our highways, and a military general cut down by bandits. These are not just headlines; they are open wounds on the conscience of our Republic.
I write not in anger, but in fidelity to a country that has given me everything – identity, purpose, and faith. And I write to you because you occupy the only office constitutionally empowered to steady our nation’s ship at a time of gathering storms. The presidency is never an easy burden, but history often calls individuals to rise above the noise of politics and embrace the quiet courage of leadership.
Today, Nigerians are wrestling with questions no citizen of a functioning state should ever have to ask: Is sorrow enough? Is silence wise? Is protest futile? Is hope naïve? In times like this, nations look to their leaders not merely for explanations, but for direction.
As Harry Truman famously said, “The buck stops here.” That responsibility, with all its weight, rests with you.
Below, I offer five thoughts, not as criticism, but as earnest counsel from one citizen to another, from one leader to another, both of us tied to the same destiny.
1. A Decisive National Campaign Against Insecurity:
Nigeria does not lack brave men and women in uniform. We do not lack intelligence. We do not lack equipment. What we lack, painfully and visibly, is unified, unmistakable political will.
We know where these criminals hide. We know the networks that feed them. We know their local collaborators and their powerful patrons.
Sir, a nation cannot negotiate with those who have chosen war against civilisation. Draw the red line. Read the riot act. Make it clear that no title, no immunity, no foreign interest will shield anyone who sponsors or protects terror.
Leadership, at its core, is moral clarity. And moral clarity is always an act of courage.
2. The Silence of Those Who Should Speak:
Your Excellency, a nation survives not only by the strength of its government, but by the courage of its moral voices. Yet today, far too many of those voices are silent: Elders who once spoke boldly, faith leaders who once carried the nation’s conscience, and statesmen and women who once stood as guardians of our unity.
Their silence is costly, and dangerous. It isolates your government, weakens national resolve, and emboldens those who thrive in chaos. As Martin Luther King Jr. warned, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”
And Pastor Niemöller’s haunting reflection reminds us of the consequence of apathy: “Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Sir, only the President can awaken this moral army. Only you can call them to stand again, to speak again, and to remind Nigerians that we are a people worth fighting for.
Silence is not neutrality. Silence is surrender. And your leadership can break it.
3. A Structural Solution — The Orange Union Model:
Your government has taken important steps toward decentralisation, including local government autonomy. But Nigeria’s crisis is more profound than any single reform can reach. From my engagements with scholars, statesmen and women, and global experts, the Orange Union Model, which is championed by the Fatherland Group, emerges as one of the most coherent pathways for a 21st-century Nigeria.
This model recognises Nigeria as a union of nations, much like the European Union with one defence, one foreign policy, one currency, but with regional autonomy that unleashes innovation, competition, and justice.
This is not secession. It is Nigeria reimagined, not Nigeria undone.
Bringing The Patriots, the Fatherland Group, and your administration into one harmonisation dialogue could become your most consequential legacy.
4. Rule of Law as the Foundation of Renewal:
You recently condemned the commercialisation of the judiciary. That honesty was refreshing. But we must also confront a harder truth: a compromised judiciary does not emerge in a vacuum. It emerges when political actors normalise impunity.
What happens in parts of INEC and within some corridors of the judiciary is not merely malpractice, it is an assault on democracy itself.
No nation governed by transactional justice can ever know peace.
The reform of our courts and our electoral system with electronic voting, real-time transmission of results, and independent candidacy is not optional. It is existential.
5. Democracy Needs a Strong Opposition:
I joined the APC not out of convenience but out of conviction after witnessing how selfishness, internal sabotage, and incompetence wrecked the Labour Party from within. I defended your government at the time, when you were falsely accused of being behind the crisis in the Labour Party because I knew the truth.
But today, our democracy faces a new danger: an opposition so weak that the ruling party risks becoming unchecked.
Democracy requires balance. Balance requires competition. Competition requires strong institutions on both sides.
Do not suffocate the opposition — directly or indirectly. A confident leader does not fear dissent; he cultivates it. Strong democracies do not emerge in the absence of opposition; they flourish because of it.
THE HUMAN COST WE CAN NO LONGER IGNORE
Twenty-five girls abducted in Kebbi.
Church invaded and worshippers murdered in Kwara.
Children kidnapped on their way to school.
Citizens dragged off highways.
A military general ambushed, abducted, and murdered on camera.
Security is the first duty of the state.
When it fails, nothing else stands.
A HUMBLE PLEA ON THE MATTER OF NNAMDI KANU
Yesterday, I visited Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
I left with a renewed conviction that a political solution is both just and strategic. Releasing him will calm the South East.
It will reduce violence. It will open doors for healing. It will show that your administration leads with wisdom, not fear.
Even if he erred, nations are healed through mercy, not martyrdom.
Agitations across Nigeria — North, West, and East — are cries for justice, not calls for division. With the Orange Union Model, strong institutions, and the fair application of law, these tensions will simmer down.
MR. PRESIDENT, MY FINAL WORD IS ONE OF HOPE
Nigeria has reached an inflection point. Crisis can either consume a nation or awaken it. The choice, ultimately, is leadership.
As former U.S. President John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things.”
And the facts compel urgent, courageous action.
I believe, deeply, that Nigeria can still rise. And I believe that if you choose courage over caution, history will look kindly on your tenure.
Your task is great, but so is your opportunity.
With respect and unwavering hope,
VALENTINE OZIGBO
2025 Anambra Governorship Aspirant
Seven Stars Leadership & Governance Excellence Medal 2025 Recipient
Founder, The Valiant Movement
Immediate Past President & Group CEO, Transcorp Plc
