The recent letter sent to Present Goodluck Jonathan by former president Olusegun Oba-sanjo has elicited a charge from members of the Lagos State House of Assembly who after a debate on it, urged President Jonathan to rise up and perform according to the expectations of ordinary Nigerians, noting that he should not allow Nigeria return to the dark era under military governments. 

The Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Barrister Razak Atunwa, yesterday also described the letter as "damning, damaging and devastating'', imploring the president to take it seriously by considering the message therein, irrespective of the sender.

Virtually all 40-members of the apparently divided Lagos Assembly at a plenary session at the floor of the House Monday contributed to the debate on the letter. While some praised the ex-president for taking the courage to expose certain shortcomings of Jonathan, others called for caution, saying Nigerians should be wary of the former president.

Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara speaker, Razak Atunwa, noted that any serious president keen on governance would take the letter seriously, saying it raised several questions bothering on the leadership, the ruling party and the economy of the country. 

"The import of that letter is that if care is not taken, this country would fold into an abyss and sink faster than we think," he warned. On the call for the impeachment of the president, Atunwa said the matter is entirely left for the National Assembly to decide if Jonathan has committed any impeachable offence. He decried the report suggesting that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is broke, describing it as unbelievable, especially when the Central Bank governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, recently raised alarm that $49bn was not remitted to the federation account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The development flies in the face of the much taunted fight against corruption by Jonathan's administration, he said. "If the government is serious about fighting corruption, if this government is serious about governance of this country, can't this president say to us as Nigerians that we are using your money judiciously, that all the revenues are being expended appropriately? Nobody seems to have answered the question of the CBN governor", the Speaker added.