My dear president, Ramadan Kareem. 

On your mandate, I stand, sit and sleep. The country now knows you can bark and bite. You are not all braggadocio and Tinubu dance. Even though you are a progressive, you can be as ruthless as Abacha.  

In one fell swoop you sent an elected governor and house assembly packing.  Then the NASS acted like a living rubber stamp in approving the proclamation. In a move reminiscent of a stepover in football, they out-maneuvered the Constitution. Some say it was roguery. I think it was routine political opportunism by a man of political timbre and calibre. Not worse than Trump. You are now the strongest president in Africa. You can be Paul Biya or Mobutu if you choose. 

When you were a governor, you championed true federalism. You sought out Osinbajo so you could use his constitutional law acumen to check the excesses and incursions of the federal government. Those were the days of sovereign national conference. That was the format to fight Fulani hegemony. Old things have passed away. Now you are ‘the federal’, you are using Lateef Fagbemi to undermine true federalism. People say they can’t fathom you. They say you are not principled.   Do they expect you to weaken your authority? This authority you dreamt of for over thirty years? They need to be patient. 

They now call you a chameleonic dictator. These people should have looked beneath the surface to know that your brand of democracy is benevolent autocracy. Did you ever hide it? You were the only governor to force out two consecutive deputy governors. Total Babasopecracy. So they should stop calling you a chameleon. Did they see you practice internal party democracy in Lagos? You are a democrat with a benign autocratic philosophy; is that not so? You are a leopard. You have never changed your spots. Your spots are not made of chalk. 

Talking about the constitution, do they think you don’t know there is no express provision of the constitution authorizing you to suspend a governor? Aren’t they aware you fought for the autonomy of local governments at the Supreme Court?  Why can’t they use their tongue to count their teeth? Power is not donated. It is grabbed. Let them go to court. You can now remove any stubborn governor anytime you like and use voice votes to seal it. If any governor dares to remove a local government chairman, you can seize his funds. And if he tries anything, you remove him. The opposition parties thought they could hide under the constitution to build a coalition. Rivers is a strong message to all governors. If they do anyhow, they see anyhow. 

Let them go to court. They don’t know that you can even disobey the Supreme Court. Is it because you promote the rule of law? After all, what can the Supreme Court do? You have the army, police and legislature. You have the traditional rulers and bishops and imams. You have the student union. You have contained the Labour union. If you can remove the governor and state legislature then why can’t you dissolve the supreme court in a time of emergency? Didn’t they hear the Attorney General define it as extraordinary measures? It’s called emergency powers.  Didn’t Buhari say that state security had priority above the rule of law? They don’t know you are bigger than the courts. 

Some of them are digging up old newspapers and tweets. They want to tell the whole world that their president is a blooming hypocrite who preached one thing in 2015 and 2013 and is doing the exact opposite in 2025. The worst the international community can do is to say that you don’t have integrity. But who has integrity helped? Is Trump better than you? The country comes before everything including integrity. Do they want you to remain an activist forever? President Jonathan and Obasanjo can cry all they like. They are doing aluta about. When you leave office, you will join them to preach constitutionality too. For now, it’s about 2027

2027 is around the corner. And the opposition thinks you can allow them to have Rivers to fund their operations. Haba, you are not as naive as Jonathan and Buhari. Baba, have you told Fubara he needs to use the six months well? To return himself to being a puppet, sorry, a good boy under the control of the honourable minister. How can an apprentice who has done ‘freedom’ declare himself oga overnight?

You had to stop Fubara; otherwise, he would have overwhelmed Wike and sent a message to other apprentices, like Sanwo Olu.  It’s good you used the Obasa matter to make yourself very clear to that one in Lagos. You can’t play with your home structure. And that’s why these elders who come to you to make peace for Wike and Sim have to have their heads examined. Don’t they know you and Wike are comrades in godfatherism?  Wike may be a small garrulous godfather with little emotional intelligence, but he is still a godfather. That political industry has to be protected from rampant breach of trust, no matter how illegal. 

That brings me to the elephant in the room. You spent energy and resources to prevent the country from becoming a one-party state. Many critics are saying you are manipulating the country into a one-party nation. Many of them don’t think. In the spirit of benevolent autocratic democracy underpinned by the Babasope philosophy, if the country goes into a one-party state under your masterful watch, then isn’t that the best kind of democracy it can have?  I expect your spokesmen to learn the spinning art.

The public needs to know that that is the best way to stabilize the polity. Thankfully, with the Rivers precedent,  you need not tell other governors in the opposition to move into the ruling party. No, you don’t. They have got the message. If they don’t move, you move them without looking backwards. The lawmakers are like sheep. And they can’t be afraid of losing their seats after defecting. The Supreme Court has said only the speaker or senate president can declare a seat vacant. So once they are given some carrot and the promise of a ticket, they will all move and nothing will happen. 

Some say the dangerous precedent you have set with Rivers will come to haunt you. Wasn’t that how they said the precedent you set in Lagos by handpicking your successors would haunt you in 2023? They don’t know you are Idan. You can eat your cake and have it. They are saying that a northern president coming after you may suspend the governor of Lagos for political reasons and appoint a sole administrator from Sokoto. I know you will resist it if it happens. Nobody can take Lagos from you. But who even told them you are leaving?  Leaving to where? If these people can’t read your body language from Rivers’s proclamation, then they are lost. 

The good thing about the Rivers action is that everybody has sat up. The police, INEC, and judges. They must have received the message. If you can remove a sitting governor, then shouldn’t they all be scared? So the opposition can forget about 2027. That ship has sailed. But I want you to think Lee Kuan Yew. Beni sir. He was there for thirty years. They won’t like the thought of it. But sick people don’t like injections. So, you have to arrange constitutional amendments in early 2028. 

Apart from deleting term limits, you can just increase tenure to ten years. While amending, you can strip governors of immunity. So you can use the EFCC to control them. Seyi has told everybody you are the best president ever. So why change a winning team? You should be president like Paul Biya. Don’t worry about the intentional community, the EU isn’t troubling Paul Biya. Don’t worry baba, the plan will work. The governors will cooperate. After all, if they refuse, you can just declare a state of emergency in the 

36 states. You can leave Abuja for Wike. Once you declare it, the NASS will approve with voice votes and you can appoint sole administrators in the entire country. With a mandate to maintain law and order, they can be there for many years. The governors know that Rivers has made you almost a sovereign. They won’t dare you. So they will cooperate and allow you to amend the constitution and stay in office for as long as you want in the interest of the country. 

On your mandate, we must stand sir.