THIS DAWN — 2025 Anambra governorship aspirant and former President/Group CEO of Transcorp Plc, Valentine Ozigbo, has issued a strongly worded open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging immediate, courageous leadership as Nigeria grapples with escalating violence, instability, and national trauma.
The emotional appeal, titled “An Urgent Open Letter to President Tinubu,” warns that Nigeria is slipping deeper into cycles of insecurity, civic despair, and institutional decline unless decisive action is taken at the highest level of government.
Ozigbo, who is also founder of The Valiant Movement and the 2025 recipient of the Seven Stars Leadership & Governance Excellence Medal, said he felt compelled to write publicly because private communication “may never reach” the President and because the issues at stake “touch the very heart of our national interest.”
He noted that recent tragedies—including the abduction of schoolchildren in Kebbi, the murder of worshippers in Kwara, kidnappings on highways, and the killing of a senior military officer—represent “open wounds on the conscience of our Republic.”
These, he said, are no longer isolated tragedies but evidence of a nation approaching a dangerous tipping point.
“In times like this, nations look to their leaders not merely for explanations, but for direction,” Ozigbo wrote.
He reminded the President of former U.S. President Harry Truman’s famous phrase: “The buck stops here.”
Calls for a Decisive National Security Campaign
In the first of five major recommendations, Ozigbo called for a unified national offensive against insecurity.
He insisted that Nigeria has the intelligence, personnel, and equipment needed to defeat terror but lacks the “unmistakable political will” required to act decisively.
“We know where these criminals hide. We know the networks that feed them,” he stated.
He, therefore, urged Tinubu to draw a clear red line and ensure that no political patron, foreign interest, or powerful figure can shield the sponsors of insecurity.
Leadership, he argued, must be rooted in moral clarity and courage.
Ozigbo also decried the silence of elders, faith leaders, and statesmen who once served as moral compasses for the nation.
This silence, he warned, isolates the government and emboldens forces of chaos.
Quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and Pastor Martin Niemöller, he urged the President to rally moral leaders across the country, emphasizing that “silence is not neutrality; silence is surrender.”
Advocates Orange Union Model for Structural Reforms
Touching on Nigeria’s deeper structural crisis, Ozigbo commended the administration’s steps toward decentralization.
He, however, insisted that the country needs more profound reforms.
He championed the “Orange Union Model,” a governance framework promoted by the Fatherland Group.
It envisions a Nigeria modeled after the European Union—united in defense, foreign policy, and currency but granting regions greater autonomy to foster innovation and justice.
“This is not secession. It is Nigeria reimagined, not Nigeria undone,” he wrote.
The technocrat urged Tinubu to convene a harmonization dialogue with reform groups such as The Patriots and the Fatherland Group.
Such a move, he argued, could become the President’s most enduring legacy.
Rule of Law and Electoral Integrity
Ozigbo lauded President Tinubu’s recent criticism of the commercialization of the judiciary but cautioned that judicial corruption often flows from political interference and impunity.
He described electoral malpractice and compromised judicial processes as “an assault on democracy itself.”
He called for urgent reforms including electronic voting, real-time transmission of results, and legal provisions for independent candidacy, saying these measures are “existential,” not optional.
In a candid reflection on his political journey, Ozigbo revealed that he joined the APC out of conviction, not convenience, after witnessing internal sabotage in the Labour Party.
He said he defended President Tinubu against accusations of meddling in the party because “I knew the truth.”
However, he cautioned that Nigeria’s democracy is now threatened by an opposition so weakened that the ruling party risks becoming unchecked.
“A confident leader does not fear dissent; he cultivates it,” Ozigbo wrote, urging the President not to stifle opposition forces, directly or indirectly.
Human Toll and the Plea for Nnamdi Kanu
Ozigbo emphasized the escalating human cost of insecurity, listing multiple kidnappings, murders, and the killing of a military general as examples of what he called a “national emergency.”
He reiterated that security is the state’s primary duty, without which nothing else can stand.
He also revealed that he visited detained IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on Monday and came away convinced that a political solution remains the best path forward.
Releasing Kanu, he argued, “will calm the South East, reduce violence, and open doors for healing.”
Concluding his letter, Ozigbo described Nigeria as being at an “inflection point,” where crisis could either destroy the nation or awaken it to renewal.
He urged President Tinubu to choose “courage over caution,” insisting that Nigeria still possesses the capacity to rise.
“I believe, deeply, that Nigeria can still rise,” he wrote.
“And I believe that if you choose courage over caution, history will look kindly on your tenure,” he added
