OPEN LETTER TO NIGERIANS IN THE DIASPORA — INVITATION: COME, LET US BE SEEKERS OF KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH
Dear Fellow Nigerian in the Diaspora,
It is difficult not to be a pain to other fellow nationals when one considers the many urgent issues facing our nations and her peoples that are daily calling for our immediate attention and actions. It is now almost 27 years that the military institution was removed from direct governance of Nigeria. But the civil administration under the indirect governance and covert supervision of retired military personnel that promised so much has not fared any better. All the socio-economic and political calamities that Nigerians experienced in the past are still very much around and even worse.
It is easy for some of us outside the range of fire to criticise and to throw the occasional stones of derision at those under the full force of the heat and fire of mismanagement. Unfortunately, all our armchair philosophising, erudite scholarships and theoretical expertises do not seem to be solving the problems on the ground. If we may ask again, what are the problems that have resisted every diagnostic prescription on offer, which Nigerians in the Diaspora have sent by airmail, published on the internet, faxed or forwarded to the press in Nigeria?
The Why Questions of Nigeria
Briefly, Why is Nigeria ungovernable? Why is Nigeria heavily and irreconcilably polarised on many sociopolitical fronts? Why have the government machineries in Nigeria turned into profitable conduit pipes for financial fraud and personal embezzlement? Why is it so easy for hoodlums, gangsters and the scallywags of all shades and colours to successively hijack the political institutions in Nigeria, time after time? Why are the ingredients of knowledge, compassion, love, truth and justice in such a short supply in Nigeria?
The list of the problems is long but broadly speaking, if we can find answers to the above list of questions, it will definitely throw some light on our very dark world. We are raising the why-questions and not the how or who or which or what or when-questions. This is because the why question has the tendency to cut deep down into the underlying motives behind most of our ignoble activities in the social space.
At this stage, the motive that spurs Nigerian to commit such mayhems as we read about everyday is more important to the solution than, Who did it? What is his ethnic background? How, when, or where did he/she do it?
It is this singular objective to find answers to the above questions that informed the decision of this writer to be a little bother on Nigerians in the Diaspora. This is because you are at a vantage position to see the Nigeria’s complex issues more clearly than those at home. It is presumed that your distances from home ought to give the unique advantages for a more rational and more objective analysis and more clinical synthesis of the myriad problems of Nigeria.
The Eureka Moment On The Question Of Leadership
For example, how many of you living outside the country have arrived, through philosophical and scientific reflections, at the Eureka point of awareness that none of us can do a better job than those who are occupying the positions of President, Governors, Chairmen, Cabinet Members, Members of Assemblies, or Permanent Secretaries?
Has it ever occurred to some of our erudite scholars abroad that a designed system or a natural environment has the power of conditioning and of determining the nature and the limit of performances of any of the part of the system?
Has it dawned on some of us that the political and socioeconomic problems of Nigeria at this point in history might be beyond the capability of the sad and foolish pretenders in the positions of power, because of the dysfunctional and overbearing nature of the environments and structures put in place?
This writer calls the groups of Nigerian managing the affairs of the country sad and foolish because they are laying claim to leadership roles without first seeking true knowledge and understanding of the meaning and responsibilities of leadership.
The first letter to Nigerians in Diaspora raised an alarm about the need to set into motion the preparation for eventual homecoming. But it will be suicidal for any Nigerian who is comfortably positioned in the Diaspora to go home under the present climate of insecurity in Nigeria. It would indeed be an act of utter foolishness.
The security and the preservation of one’s life is the first duty demanded by natural laws of every living creature in the universe. Every activity of a living organism is geared primarily towards the preservation of life. Therefore, the call for the preparation to go home should be handled with great care and with loads of common sense. Although, the call to relocate might come to some of us at anytime, yet there are some things that needed doing before any of us should answer such calls.
Money Is Not The Answer
The problems of Nigeria are the problems caused by the negligence of individuals. It is a simple deductive fact that the aggregated problems of individuals would cumulatively translate into national problems. If this supposition is correct, then the next step is to discover what exactly is wrong with each of us. To many of us the answer is simple — lack of cash currency. It is the first solution that comes to the mind of a typical person who is facing any problem in the world today — the unavailability of money. This is where we have all gone wrong in the articulation of the problems facing us as a country.
Money has become a screen and an obstacle against deep analytical reflection. As soon as we turned on our reasoning process, money comes head-on to distort the trend and the flow of pure analysis. We all know money can solve many material problems but the real problem facing Nigeria and Nigerians is the lack of spiritual awareness of our essence as divine beings.
Every Nigerian operates on the illusion of the dictum that says, “Seek first the kingdom of mammon and its wickedness, and all these things (political power, material properties, grand positions of honour and fame, etc.) shall be added onto you.” Fortunately, money has no fundamental role to play in the search for solutions for the type of problem facing Nigeria. In fact, excessive, inordinate love of money is the main obstacle.
We Are Weak And Poor In Spirit
This writer discovers after a long painstaking reflection and enlightenment that every Nigerian is weak and poor in spirit. Each of us is addicted to one or all of the seven destructive human vices in different degrees. These vices, which the sages called soul killers are: pride, sloth, envy, avarice, gluttony, anger and lust. These ailments, which are present in the life of each person, have metamorphosed into deadly and complex national problems.
Unfortunately, we claim to be a religious nation and our beliefs, rituals and worships are expected to have cured us of the poisons of these spiritual ailments. But if we are truthful to ourselves, we shall agree that the religions, as we practised them in every corner of Nigeria, have failed to deliver the good tidings of good and healthy life either to the individuals or to the nations.
Wait a minute before you fall off your chair. This writer is aware that most of you are super-sensitive to the word religion. Your antennae, which have been passively following this discourse, must be at full alert by now. As usual, as a fundamentalist believer of your particular faith, you are on the ready to do battle with this infidel or unbeliever. This writer has no qualm about raising this essential fact of life here and now because of its debilitating effect on our perception of truth and reality.
Knowledge Is The Answer
Dear Fellow Nigerian in the Diaspora, the issues being raised under this discourse call for your full attention. You should turn your sojourn in foreign lands that has caused you some losses in human dignity and self-respect into an opportunity for the search of a cure for all the vices mentioned above. This writer has an unalloyed faith in the power of knowledge as a cure for the degenerate and debilitating sickness of ignorance.
All the vices mentioned above have something to do with a lack of understanding of what and who you are as a creature that was divinely designed, formed and constructed in eternity. This writer will urge you to please join the trail of those who are searching and seeking for true knowledge about mankind.
On this sacred journey, you will be able to discover the beauty and the uniqueness of your anatomy, physiology and personality as a human being. You will discover the immense potentials of the intellectual, mental, and spiritual faculties that are available at your disposal. You will broaden your horizon farther than the narrow range of materials in the holy books. You will be able to develop passionate interest and deep love for all books, and learn to appreciate and respect every book as equally holy and precious to your freedom. You will learn to become a faithful seeker and lover of truth. And you will come to appreciate the immense blessings that come to those that seek knowledge, wholly for the love of truth. “Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim [mankind]” (Sunan Ibn Majah 224)
Fellow Nigerian, as a sojourner in a foreign land, how far are you prepared to utilise the wonderful facilities – Internet, Library, Museums, Bookshops, Colleges, etc. around you for this sacred task. Please you need to spread your wings and fly. Stop behaving like a chicken when you are an eagle. Learn to fly, fly and fly until you overcome negligence, ignorance and every form of stupidity in your life. We sincerely believe that it is only the divine fruits of truth and knowledge that can set each of us free from the bondages of all the variants of self-cultivated stupidity.
Private Educational Courses
What we are saying in this discourse is that there is a need to undertake an unstructured, eclectic course in private education for self-discovery. Enrol into the School of Seekers of Truth on everything that pertains to the meaning of life. Your lesson should start with a desire to know and to understand who you are – your strength and your weakness. It is the first step towards awakening, enlightenment, rebirth and soul consciousness.
There are some battles that we need to fight for Nigeria but before then we need to fight the battle against personal negligence and ignorance; against the vices that are destroying our bodies; against the deep emptiness of our minds; and against the invisible shackles binding our souls. As a matter of fact, these are the only battles that are worth fighting. It is called the battle for self-enlightenment and for the birth of soul consciousness.
These battles are not particularly difficult and this is talking from personal experience. This writer was the dumbest of the dumb a few years ago. As a dumb civil servant I was daily striking my head against the brick wall as I struggled to make my work relevant to the problems of Nigeria. It was the June 12th, 1993 episode that woke me up to my sad situation as an ignorant collaborator in the rape of a nation. The need to find answers to why I was grossly inept as a civil servant was a revelation that struck me from the blues. The opportunity to leave Nigeria in search of knowledge was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
On arrival in foreign land, I threw myself headlong into the search for answers to my personal circumstances as an ignorant fool. It took some years to discover myself. If you find my writings interesting and readable, it has not always been like that. It is a testimony to the power of knowledge when it is sincerely sought.
Dear friend, your journey should not take as long as mine took. You are not as stupid as I was. You are a more intelligent person by the look of things. By your ability to conquer the legal, social and economic huddles in the land of your sojourn, it is the profoundest proof that you are quite bright, though foxy bright.
Therefore, in the search for the discovery of your soul – the engine and powerhouse of your life – it should not take that long. Please begin today to seek and to search for knowledge and truth. The Spirit of Truth, which is the true teacher that brings rebirth and enlightenment to humankind is closer today than ever before in the continent of Africa. The strong desire of your heart for self-discovery and rebirth is the only condition you need to fulfil. And the Spirit of Truth is ever ready to take over the programme of your re-education, re-training and healing.
Overcoming The Might-Is-Right Philosophy
In the first letter, we mentioned that unless Nigerians cultivate the habit of seeking knowledge and truth that the problems of Nigeria shall have no cure. Nigeria has a highly ‘educated’ population. Scholars abound in every nook and corner of the land. The scholars love to display and adorn themselves with prestigious certificates, diplomas and degrees. They love to wear the fake educational titles, as veritable ornaments in order to proclaim self-recognition, to curry special favours and privileges, and to demand unearned respect from the society.
The question is, why have these erudite men and women failed in the application of knowledge to solve the national, social, economic and political problems of Nigeria? The reason is obvious. It is because the foundation on which our scholars built their shallow knowledge is one that rests on the philosophy of ‘Might is Right’.
The Nigerian educated elites believe in the might of intelligence to claim, as a special right, every juicy privilege in the polity. It is similar to those who believe that the ‘might-of-brawn’ is right. Or those who rely on the inherited rights of the head-hunting powers of their ancestors. Or even of their own clever but cold, loveless minds to lay claim to every over-the-top political privilege in the land. Whenever this sort of evil philosophy abounds, the faith in hard work would no longer be a friend or a necessary requirement to the ambitious Nigerians.
Certificate as a passport for obtaining over-the-top privileges was the motive that drove most Nigerians to embark on the pursuit of knowledge. It does not even matter if the holder of the certificate obtained it by forgery at the notorious Oluwole Certificate Market in Lagos. The presentation of that ‘illustrious’ paper commodity — fake certificate — is all that one needs to enjoy a charmed and privileged position in the corridors of power in Nigeria. Consequently, the awakening of the soul that naturally accompanies those who earnestly, faithfully and honestly sought after true knowledge, is drastically absent in the ranks and files of most of the so-called educated elites in the country.
The Awakening Call
ITSOT hopes to awaken each of us to the fundamental truth of the missing and the weakest links in our search for solutions to the national problems. In case you are not yet aware, each of us is the missing link as well as the weakest link. Therefore, the solution to all our national problems lies in the hands of each of us. Our national progress and prosperity are assured as soon as each of us choose to commit oneself to the business of mending the missing links and the weak fences that were created by the individual negligence, ignorance and stupidity.
Each of us should not go too far in our search for solutions to the local or national political, socioeconomic and spiritual problems of the country. Let each focus every attention we can muster on oneself. For the present moment, we need to forget the dishonourable political personalities and the scallywags resident in Abuja and in all the capital towns of the States and Local Governments. Let’s embark on a private battle to overcome the identified vices resident within each person. The Spirit of Truth shall give us the strength and the wisdom to succeed in setting ourself free.
The summary of this letter is an invitation calling on you to become a Seeker of Truth. Like the Christian scripture admonished, let each person “seek first the Kingdom of God [Knowledge] and its Righteousness, and all these things [food, drink, clothing] shall be added to you.”
Please always remember that Knowledge is Power and Power is God. And that it is the Power in the Knowledge of the Truth of Self and of the Meaning of Life that can set the enslaved mankind Free.
May The Spirit of Truth help everyone that chooses to be a sincere and faithful Seeker of Knowledge and Truth to come into the perfect understanding of the Meaning of Life.
In the Spirit of Truth (ITSOT)
SAM ABBD ISRAEL
A Concerned Common Nigerian
(Updated 20th February 2026)
ITSOT 