Yesterday defenders of democracy, today's destroyers, What a shame.
What an irony of history, that the acclaimed defenders of democracy and human rights who claimed to have fought for democracy during the era of General Sani Abacha now find themselves worse than the man they opposed.
Today, General Sani Abacha, once presumed face of oppression, will be remembered as seemingly more democratic and more respectful of human rights than the so-called champions of activism from the NADECO days. Power indeed reveals character.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
The U.S. cannot keep behaving like war is a television remote.
Invade.
Pause.
Escalate.
Pause.
Demand de-escalation.
That is not how history works.
Once you have taught a people
that your word is worthless,
your treaties are disposable,
and your peace offers arrive
with a knife behind the back,
you do not get to act surprised
when they stop trusting the sound of your voice.
FISCAL RECKLESSNESS
With the announcement that the Nigerian Senate is likely to approve the 2026 National Budget on March 17, every Nigerian is asking an important question: which budget will Nigeria use this year? Will it be the budgets for 2023, 2024, 2025, or 2026, or some combination of all these years? It is worth noting that as of last year, in our government, implementation of budget items from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets was in a unique approach to budgeting, which continues to perpetuate a trend of fiscal recklessness.
President Tinubu inherited a legally signed N21.83 trillion budget for 2023. A few months after taking office, he presented a N2.17 trillion supplementary budget that faced widespread criticism for prioritising benefits for public office holders at a time when Nigerians were enduring painful economic reforms without a credible social protection framework. Instead of restoring fiscal discipline, the President repeatedly expanded the 2023 budget without a clearly defined end date.
The pattern persisted with the passage of a N35.06 trillion budget for 2024 and a N54.99 trillion budget for 2025. In less than three years, President Tinubu has exercised appropriation powers over more than N114 trillion in public spending. Yet, the government has failed to achieve even fifty per cent budget implementation, exposing a profound crisis of budget credibility. Alarmingly, until mid-2025, Nigeria was effectively operating with about three overlapping budgets, without clear legal or fiscal guidance on when each one expired or began. No serious country manages its budgets or fiscal operations in such a manner.
Even more troubling is the government’s opaque decision to repeal the 2024 and 2025 budgets and re-enact them with extended implementation timelines. Nigerians have not seen these re-enacted budgets, and there is no public information regarding the specific capital projects included or their associated costs. This is not reform; it represents fiscal obscurity elevated to the level of state policy.
The proposed 2026 budget, despite still lacking critical details, indicates that the administration has no intention of addressing the structural weaknesses at the core of Nigeria’s public finance system.
This lack of transparency is not accidental; it reflects a deliberate pattern of undermining public scrutiny and debate. The Federal Government has stopped publishing treasury reports on the https://t.co/5LPWiKwodE portal, dismantling a vital transparency framework inherited from the previous administration. In 2025, no budget implementation report was released, regardless of how poor the performance was!
No nation can operate with such recklessness and succeed.
Every effort must be made to quickly return Nigeria to the January-December budget cycle that was inherited and mismanaged by the current government. This change would enhance effective planning and tracking, promote transparency and accountability, and foster sustainable growth and development.
A new Nigeria is POssible! -PO
“No Steady Power in Four Years, No Second Term” – Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu’s campaign promise in 2022 was clear: “If I do not provide steady electricity in my first four years, do not vote for me for a second term.” Yet, in January 2026 alone, the national grid has already collapsed twice, and the month is not even over. Last year, it collapsed about twelve times. This reality sharply contradicts the promise and should worry every patriotic Nigerian.
At the same time, the President is on another foreign trip, this time to Turkey, a country of about 87 million people—roughly a third of Nigeria’s population. Yet Turkey generates and distributes over 120,000 megawatts of electricity, while Nigeria struggles with less than 5% of that capacity. The contrast is both striking and painful.
Our appeal is simple: stay at home and confront the nation’s problems. At this rate, we may soon hear of trips to Palau or Vanuatu while critical issues remain unattended at home.
And yet, our collective preoccupation seems to be the next election, rather than how to secure good governance. We should be joining hands to demand accountability and responsible leadership, and to save Nigerians from the indignity and suffering caused by persistent bad governance
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
Today, Nigerians woke up again to the troubling news that the Federal Government is planning to borrow about ₦20 trillion in new loans to finance the 2026 budget. This is at a time when debt servicing alone is projected to gulp nearly half of our national revenue, and when our borrowing requirement has surged by over 72%.
At a time when Nigerians are struggling under unprecedented hardship, insecurity, and unemployment, we must ask the most important and logical questions: Where is the revenue from 2025?
How can we be discussing trillions in new borrowing for 2026 when we are still implementing the 2024 budget? One is genuinely worried. This suggests, very clearly, that the 2025 budget is still untouched and unimplemented.
So, where are all the revenues that accrued in 2025, even when we were told that we had surpassed the revenue targets since August?
It is time for us to stop this fiscal rascality, especially with uncontrolled and unexplained borrowing that is not being invested in the productive sectors of our nation, but instead ends up in consumption.
We cannot keep mortgaging the future of our children through thoughtless borrowing.
We cannot continue this way.
For years, I have consistently maintained that Nigeria cannot borrow its way into prosperity. Nations do not develop by consuming more than they produce. They develop by producing, exporting, and creating value, while building strong institutions that ensure accountability and efficient use of public funds.
We cannot tell Nigerians that revenue is increasing while simultaneously increasing borrowing to ridiculous historic levels. Governance must be built on transparency, not propaganda.
We cannot build a new Nigeria on the foundation of misleading figures, rising debts, shrinking production, and continuous hardship.
Our nation must move forward.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
Is Nigeria cursed, or are we the curse?
The past 10 days in Nigeria have witnessed unprecedented negative news, a level of chaos, insecurity, and institutional decay that should trouble the conscience of all the leaders.
Our country is now going through troubling times, not by fate, but by our collective leadership failures that allow insecurity, lawlessness, and institutional decay to thrive. Each day confronts us with a new tragedy and a new reminder that our beloved country is drifting amid a clear absence of competent, compassionate, responsive and responsible leadership.
We have all watched a nation blessed with people of strength and resilience drift into avoidable disorder. We should be asking ourselves: Are we cursed, or are we the curse?
The past 10 Days in Nigeria
1.11/11/25 – 6 senior directors from the Ministry of Defence were kidnapped along the Kogi axis, reminding us that even those tasked with securing our nation are no longer safe.
2.15/11/25 – A senior military officer, a Brigadier General, was brutally executed, a grave signal of the danger engulfing both civilians and security personnel.
3.16/11/25 – 64 civilians, including women and children, were abducted in Zamfara, with innocent lives also lost in the attack.
4. 17/11/25 – 25 schoolgirls, young children with dreams and innocence, were abducted in Kebbi and their Vice Principal was killed, adding to the heartbreaking list of attacks on our nation’s future.
5. 18/11/25 – Worshippers praying peacefully in a church in Kwara State were violently disrupted, with some killed and about 38 abducted. A place of worship, meant to be a sanctuary, became a scene of fear.
6. 18/11/25 – A disturbing crisis unfolded at the PDP Wadata Plaza headquarters. Instead of de-escalation, elements within the security agencies worsened the situation and further instigated it. Rather than focusing on protecting citizens, the government watched with amusement, encouraging the destruction of political parties and the weakening of our democracy.
7. 18/11/25 – During the All Nigeria Judges’ Conference, judges who should embody neutrality and integrity were seen standing as the APC partisan song “On Your Mandate We Shall Stand” played ahead of the President’s address. This troubling moment further eroded public trust in institutions expected to protect the rule of law.
8. 19/11/25 – Soldiers heading to rescue the Kebbi State abducted schoolgirls were ambushed, showing once again how undersupported our security forces have become.
9. 21/11/25 – Nigerians awoke to the devastating news that over 300 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted from a Catholic school in Niger State.
10.22/11/25 – Bandits opened fire on farmers in Kaduna killing one of them.
23/11/25- Terrorists Ambush, Gun Down 5 Police Officers, Injure 2 in Sabon Sara, Darazo LGA, Bauchi State
November 23, 2025
And just as I was speaking about this, I received yet another devastating report about the abduction of 13 female farmers in Askira-Uba LGA of Borno State today by suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP Terrorists.
No serious nation survives on excuses, indifference, or absentee leadership. What we are witnessing is not inevitable, it is the direct consequence of we the leaders not valuing human life. Nigeria is bleeding because those elected to protect the nation have chosen comfort over courage, politics over people, and power over purpose.
We the leaders must remember that governance is not a title, it is a duty to protect every child, every community, and every citizen. We need competence, compassion, and a government that shows up when it matters the most.
To every Nigerian shaken in these past 10 days, my heart is with you.
You deserve safety, you deserve peace.
We deserve a government that values our lives above politics.
Nigeria must rise again.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO