THE KACHIKWU LETTER: A TOO LITTLE TOO LATE GOOF.

Overall, Ibe Kachikwu's letter to President Muhammadu Buhari was unnecessary as a resignation would have been most appropriate under the circumstances. The weight of  the alleged transgressions shows that they could not possibly have happened without the President being in on them. Without the President's approval, direct or tacit, no subordinate GMD would be this so brazen in confronting and challenging the authority of his apparent boss, the Junior Minister. Therefore ICHEOKU is emphatic that President Muhammadu Buhari who doubles as the substantive Minister of Petroleum had a hand in the travails of his Junior Minister of Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu and denying it is akin to contesting whether the sun rises from the East. 

Unfortunately, Baru's rebellion is not the first time a junior Fulani official challenged his Southern boss's authority. The Southwest Yoruba man who is the Health Minister also once had his own rude shock  from a Fulani stork, when he tried to fire or rather suspend a Fulani director of a parastatal under his supervision. Even Vice President Osinbajo was not spared of these mistreatment as he continually was disrespected and disregarded as Acting President during the President's long medical leave of absence, to the extent of being derisively named the Coordinator of National Affairs by the same Fulani gangsters in power. It is the Fulani way as a Fulani does not recognize any authority that is not Fulani being above them. So Ibe Kachikwu was just another victim of the Fulani born to rule crass mentality and should have either sucked it up or resigned in protest. 

Any man or woman of courage who is similarly situated would have stopped the GMD cold right from the start; and made it clear to him who is the boss and that he will not tolerate any disruption of the hierarchically tiered order within the Petroleum Ministry. Ibe Kachikwu should have been more assertive in standing his grounds; but he made the fatal error of judgment by allowing the GMD to get away with his earlier infra digs, believing that things would eventually sort themselves out quietly; but forgot that he was dealing with a Fulani man who is possessed of Fulani mentality. This was his greatest undoing as the erosion of his powers continued until he went belly-up powerless. 

What stopped Ibe Kachikwu from resigning or is the job so that important that without it he will go homeless and hungry. Where is his honor and manhood that a subordinate was riding him like a camel and all he did was whine and complain to a President, who is most likely incahoot in his ordeal, to save his pitiful self. Why did he not fire the guy and let the president overrule him and then turn in his resignation. But Nigerians and Africans love the perks of power so much; and regardless of their precarious perch or lack thereof, and provided the appearance is there that they are in authority and are part of the movers and shakers of the society, they will cling to it so dearly, despite the abysmal nature of their power hold. 

That being said, Ibe Kachikwu left much to be desired by the letter which he wrote to the President as he did not represent his academic credentials very well. The form and substance of the letter are not befitting of a man with his storied academic credentials, begging the question, did Ibe Kachikwu write the letter or his secretary did; and if so, did he not review and revise the letter before signing it. That he did not follow prescribed format is also quite glaring, including certain loosely form of writing which he employed into a rather formal petition. Further, he was too patronizing in the letter, suggestive of a slavish servant desperately begging for his sustenance not to be taken away. There are so many things Ibe Kachikwu did not do right in the letter, including feebly ending the letter, without assertively asking of the President to either act with the expected maximum dispatch and redress the situation or consider the letter as his two weeks notice to resign the office. 

Ibe Kachikwu disappointed many, especially those who know that better is an improved version of good and an aspiration to best. There is no satisfaction to be driven from the Kachikwu's letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, as he did not say anything new or out of place within the Nigerian political space; nor did he substantiate any of the alleged litany of misdeeds conclusively. The letter is also not punchy enough to arouse any serious curiosity or to warrant any investigative excursion into its merits or lack thereof. Were are the evidence of misdeeds or corrupt practises; both of which would have grounded a better moralizing. If ICHEOKU were to grade the Kachikwu letter, will score it a C+ as it failed both in content, form and scholarly mettle. Oh poor Ibe Kachkwu, who knows what his regrets are at this time. SAD! 

ICHEOKU will end this oped with a trite summation by one Ifenayi Izeze concerning Ibe Kachikwu, the now fabled letter writer and his letter to President Muhammadu Buhari: - "How else can one describe the letter of lamentation by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, to President Muhammadu Buhari on the contracts scam and the serial misdemeanor of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, if not to say it was not only childish but outrightly naive. Is there anything in government that makes even our brightest minds think and act like dullards once they join the cult? What made Ibe Kachikwu think that the NNPC boss had been acting unilaterally alone without the full backing and approval of the substantive Petroleum Minister who also doubles as the President of the Fulani (Federal) Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari." ICHEOKU says the whole truth and nothing but the truth, concisely surmised, so help Ibe Kachikwu, God.