There is a kind of boldness in this country now that leaves you cold. It is not the usual noise of everyday life. It is something deeper, a quiet acceptance that rules no longer apply to those who hold power or fame or guns. People watch it happen in plain sight and still go about their day.
The question that hangs in the air is simple: what exactly are the rest of us supposed to do about it?
Politicians have stopped pretending. They no longer bother to check if the people still back them. They make promises they know will not be kept, pass policies that hurt the same voters who put them there, and carry on as if public anger is just background noise. Support has become optional. The game is about staying in power, not earning it.
Celebrities have turned social media into another revenue stream. Some run outright scams, dangling fake deals and investments, because they understand the system well enough to know who to pay off and who to ignore. The followers who lose money rarely get justice. The pattern repeats because it works.
Even worse are the videos that now circulate freely. Terrorists and bandits kidnap hundreds, collect ransom through regular bank transfers, and then jump on TikTok to dance and flex. No masks. No fear. The money hits their accounts and life goes on as if nothing unusual happened. The rest of the country scrolls past it.
The police, once meant to protect, now rob citizens in broad daylight. They have taken things further. Arrested suspects are sometimes executed right there on the street with AK-47s while people film. Nobody knows how many more have died inside their stations and cells. The fear is real, but so is the silence that follows.
Soldiers, too, have crossed lines that used to be unthinkable. Reports keep surfacing of troops climbing fences at night to kill people in their beds. The excuse that follows is always the same: these are operations against threats. Yet many ask how you can blame the uniform when some of the men wearing it now share ranks and resources with the very terrorists who were supposedly rehabilitated and brought back into the fold.
Religious leaders have joined the descent. Imams openly call for violence from the pulpit. One placed a public bounty on a pastor’s head, offering two million naira to anyone who cut it off. It was said without shame, recorded, and shared. Pastors, on their own side, stand on altars and tell their members that poverty and misery will follow if they do not give more money. The threat is delivered as prayer.
On social media, a different kind of poison spreads. Some women post advice to others on how to kill husbands in their sleep, how to poison them slowly, or how to file false rape accusations to destroy them. The comments fill with agreement. Bitterness has found its platform.
Even the courts are not spared. Judges have been seen publicly dancing to campaign songs like “On your mandate we shall stand.” The line between justice and politics has blurred so completely that the performance feels normal.And then there is the APC-INEC Chairman who set up a committee and a forensic panel to investigate himself.
The absurdity needs no extra words.
This is the Nigeria many wake up to every day.
The institutions that were supposed to hold the line have either collapsed or joined the chaos.
Helpless citizens watch the show, pay the price, and ask the same quiet question over and over:
Wetin we go do?
Osita Maxwelll Duru writes from Abuja
Those saying my leader @BukolaSaraki will come to the aid of the NILDS DG, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, are really funny. Why would Saraki do such a stupid thing?
Please YE, face your front on this one. This isn’t your battle to fight, let him carry his cross.
Na only foolish man dey rant for woman when she do wrong, especially for something you no suppose forgive her or punish her for. She go just dey laugh you as you dey mumu dey go, knowing fully well she’ll do worse the next day
Need to calm down and pick beautiful odds for the World Cup. After yesterday’s friendly shock for Spain and France we are all aware of what to come. Bet9ja, be ready for a big World Cup payout. 🏆🏆
Dear @adepoju
1. On insults- Calling a dumb person dumb is not an insult. It's an observation. Not every uncomfortable truth qualifies as abuse or an insult.
2. On the Aviation College - Good. So we agree Dr. Saraki built the International Aviation College, equipped it, and it is still functioning today. Acknowledging the achievement is the first step toward an honest conversation.
3. On KWASU - You said "quite a few governors" but somehow forgot to mention them. Meanwhile, KWASU remains one of Dr. Saraki's enduring legacies and a source of pride for Kwarans. Credit where it's due.
4. On the Independent Power Project - You're confusing initiation with completion.
Tinubu pioneered the challenge to federal control of power in 1999. Saraki became the first governor to successfully complete and deliver a functional state-backed power project that supplied electricity to communities in Kwara.
Starting a race and crossing the finish line are not the same thing. See attached picture.
5. On Community Health Insurance - The argument was never that Saraki invented health insurance globally. The point is that the Kwara Community Health Insurance Scheme became a successful model later adopted and expanded nationally.
When Abuja copies your homework, that's recognition, not coincidence. see link - https://t.co/VYSSENIx2b
6. On Jose Mourinho and KFA - Football coaches are not employed for eternity. If Jose Mourinho spent three days coaching players at the Kwara Football Academy, then he coached at the academy. See attached pictures and see Mourinho in action - location, Kwara.
By that flawed logic of yours, guest lecturers have never lectured anywhere because they didn't stay for a semester.
Please when repsponding to my posts next time, do come with facts and NOT conjectures.
1. You are one of the dumbest people I have ever seen. How do you speak so much lies with confidence? Damn...
There is no reason, none whatsoever, for insults to be a part of rational conversations.
2. Please tell me, how many Governors in Nigeria have left a legacy like the International Aviation College in Kwara, established from ground up, planes procured and running from inception till date, a critical national infrastructure that the Nigerian military uses to train pilots. Google it.
Good for Dr. Saraki, the people of Kwara State, and the country.
3. How many Governors have built a University from ground up, established it and the Kwara State University is the glory of all Kwarans, @egi_nupe can attest to that.
There are quite a few governors who have achieved this. The fact that state owned universities exist and a lot were in existence before the Kwara varsity and more came after; and more will still be set up does not invalidate the good work of Dr. Saraki.
4. Dr. Saraki was the first Governor to complete an Independent Power plant bringing light to many communities in Kwara. Google it.
This is a flat out lie.
The first state sponsored power project in Nigeria was by Governor (as he then was) Bola Tinubu of Lagos State.
5. Dr. Saraki implemented the Community Health Insurance Scheme that gave access to affordable healthcare to even the lowest person in Kwara. The FG copied this same template... Google it...
Feedback from Google is below:
Saraki was NOT the first off the block, the FG was.
I’m sure the initial work done by the FG assisted and shaped the Saraki initiative.
6. In the area of sports, Dr. Saraki established the Kwara Football Academy that had graduated players for the National team and even prestigious foreign leagues - Jose Mourinho was once a coach at the Kwara Football Academy....
At no point in time was Jose Mourinho a coach at the above referenced sports academy.
Mourinho was in Kwara at the invitation of the governor for a period of 3 days.
It was a great publicity operation for all parties involved: Kwara, Saraki, the football academy, and football loving Nigerians - he most definitely was not a coach.
7. Abeg, I de go work... Like say I get time, I for write more... Omo
Yes, you have the time.
Yes, go to work.
Dangote pikin sef dey go work.
@TrendingEx So theft is now called empowerment?
If a foreigner is a criminal, take them to court. If you seize someone's business and hand it over to another person, that's not empowerment, that's a relay race of illegality.
This is exactly why insecurity in the Sahel should concern all of West Africa, including Nigeria.
Every time these groups capture military equipment, they become more capable of carrying out larger attacks and extending their influence across borders.
We've already seen how instability in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso can create security challenges for neighboring countries.
Regional cooperation is becoming more important than ever.
JNIM militants looting weapons from captured Malian military bases. This provides the militant group with a steady stream of military grade hardware, enabling them to expand operations across the Sahel.