One morning in Abuja, I saw something that has never left me.
Those of you who know Police Secondary School know their uniform looks like the police uniform. The children look very smart in it. That morning, there was this boy walking to school in a perfectly ironed uniform, carrying himself with that youthful confidence teenagers have when they feel they belong somewhere.
Then, from the other direction, came another boy of around the same age carrying a huge sack, going through waste bins, looking for whatever he could find to sell. People call them Yan bola.
He was dirty. He looked exhausted. He did not look like he had slept properly. And the contrast between the two of them could not have been more brutal.
The schoolboy was walking to school.
The scavenger was walking through refuse.
They passed each other.
Then the scavenger stopped.
He turned around and watched that schoolboy walk away.
I swear to God, he stood there for over five minutes, holding that sack, just watching the schoolboy go farther and farther away until he was almost out of sight. Then he carried on with his life.
I was behind them. I saw everything.
I was in tears that morning. I am emotional even writing this now.
Because in that moment, I did not just see one schoolboy and one scavenger. I saw two completely different starting lines.
Some people did not start where you started.
Some people never had a chance. Not a smaller chance. Not a delayed chance. No chance. Zero.
They were born into a home where nobody could read. They grew up in a world dominated by English without learning a word of English. Nobody taught them to wash their hands before eating. Nobody taught them to look left and right before crossing the road. Nobody explained school to them. Nobody showed them what a future could look like. Nobody told them that having children you cannot feed is wrong. Nobody taught them basic manners, basic hygiene, basic civic behaviour, basic hope.
They just grew up.
Then one bad actor came along, gave them a gun, gave them a story, gave them a target, and recruited them into terrorism, banditry, thuggery, drugs, whatever was available.
And before some shallow person starts shouting, “So you are justifying terrorism?”
No.
There is no justification for a bandit or terrorist who kills, rapes, kidnaps, pillages, and destroys innocent lives. None. A hard life does not give anybody the right to make other people’s lives hard. There is justice with God, and there must be justice on earth too.
But you cannot solve a problem you refuse to understand.
Poverty does not automatically create a terrorist. If it did, every poor person would be one. Thank God, that is not true.
But poverty, abandonment, illiteracy, fatherlessness, hopelessness, bad parenting, weak institutions, absence of schools, absence of work, absence of community guidance, and easy access to weapons create a field where predators can recruit easily.
Some people escape that field because they had one good mother. One responsible father. One teacher. One uncle. One imam. One neighbour. One school. One small opportunity.
Others had nothing.
So when you sit down in comfort and reduce millions of people to, “They are illiterates. They are backwards. They are the problem of Nigeria,” you are not being brave. You are not being revolutionary. You are not diagnosing anything.
You are ranting and pointing fingers.
And because you say “we,” you think it has suddenly become insider criticism.
No.
Calling your people useless is not criticism because you included yourself in the insult.
Criticism names the problem, looks for the cause, identifies who is responsible, and points toward a solution. Insult is just pointing fingers and feeling intelligent.
A lot of these Arewa pseudo-revolutionaries have confused self-hatred with intelligence. They sit in their father’s house, maybe after private primary school, private secondary school, private university, a life where they had lunchboxes and people looking after them. Some of you would sleep off in the parlour without a blanket and your mother would come and cover you.
You had softness. You had structure. You had people who cared whether you survived.
Then you sit on your high horse and speak with contempt about people whose entire childhood was one long emergency.
What do you know? You think you had it hard because you needed to learn coding, digital marketing or graphic design from YouTube to feed yourself?
Some people never learnt one word of English to even search on YouTube never mind understand the courses. Some people never saw a computer. Some people never had somebody explain that education is not haram, that school is not corruption, that their children deserve more than begging on the street.
You are not standing in the same place.
You started a million miles ahead of them.
And I am tired of people who discovered philosophy from TikTok acting like they have diagnosed the North. Somebody will say, “If you deeply analyse what VeryDarkMan says…”
Which deep analysis?
Would you know depth if it pokes you in the nose?
What exactly are you deeply analysing? Outrage? Insults? Broad statements about millions of people? That is not depth. That is simple-mindedness with a loud microphone.
You are not revolutionary because you can repeat insults about your own people. You are just self-hating so that the people insulting you can accept you. You want to feel sophisticated in front of people who already think you are beneath them, so you join them to laugh at your own people.
What the fuck are you talking about?
The government has a role. A serious one.
The government must pursue terrorists, break recruitment networks, secure villages, punish kidnappers, build schools, create work, regulate arms, fund rural education, improve healthcare, protect children, and make sure a child is not born into complete abandonment.
But laws on paper do not change us. We have to change us too.
Go to your village.
Gather the men and tell them having children you cannot care for is wrong. Stop producing abandoned children and leaving society to carry the consequences.
Talk to women too. Tell them that they cannot keep allowing a man to impregnate them repeatedly when he cannot feed, educate, or protect the children already alive.
Go and explain to people that education is not bad. That sending your child to school is not betrayal. That washing your hands, teaching your child basic discipline, learning a trade, registering a child, keeping girls in school, supporting widows, sponsoring orphans, these things matter.
How many people have ever done that?
How many people have ever gone to a village, gathered people, and said: “We are shooting ourselves in the foot. This cannot continue.”
How many orphans have you sponsored?
How many people have ever helped one child stay in school?
How many people have ever organized sensitisation in their own community?
But you know how to create forums when politicians are sharing money. You know how to gather when you want to gossip about the top 1%. You know how to follow politicians and beg.
Then when it comes to poor people, suddenly you become a test-tube intellectual diagnosing everybody from your phone.
You are not the revolutionary you think you are, my brother and my sister.
You are a coward who internalised an inferiority complex and turned it into performative activism so that simpletons doing the same thing can applaud you.
Stop building a personality around the humiliation of your own people.
Stop confusing contempt with honesty.
Stop confusing insult with criticism.
And stop acting like you understand depth when you have never gone deep enough to ask one simple question:
What happened to this person before he became what I am condemning?
Because until you can answer that, you are not solving anything.
You are just standing at a safe distance, pointing at a fire, and congratulating yourself for noticing that people are burning.
@Ziyad_yakubu We cannot fight this with just guns and rockets. It’s far more than that!
I saw children that were supposed to be at school wandering the streets with no hope nor guidance.
@Ziyad_yakubu I was travelling thrgh Borno state and stopped to ease myself. When I came back to d car I told my friend who was with me at d time “I swear to God Boko Haram will never be over until it’s breeding ground right here has been defeated”
What I saw there was a complete abandonment!
While Akara (Kosai) and Kuli Kuli may not in general take everyone far up the social ladder, they can surely pay the bills! I have heard stories of women who've used these and others to feed their families, cloth them, pay school fees, and get their kids a better chance in life.
Never disrespect or belittle any legitimate way to earn a living!
I grew up hating Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Like many young Nigerians, I judged him based on the narratives I heard around me and his policies as naive teen.
But as I grew older, I decided to study the man, his policies, and his impact. What I found changed my perspective completely.
Lagos today remains the economic powerhouse of Nigeria largely because of the foundations laid during Tinubu’s administration and the institutions he helped build. Successive governments have continued to benefit from structures and reforms that were put in place years ago.
That realization is what made me support him in 2023, and it is why I will continue to support him as President until 2031.
I have no other niche on X. My niche is simple, promoting the achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and projecting a positive image of Nigeria. I believe in the vision, I believe in the reforms, and I believe the country is on the path to long term progress.
GOD BLESS PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU
GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
When we came into office, we made a promise to Nigerians that food security would be a major pillar of our Renewed Hope agenda.
We promised to support our farmers, strengthen local production, reduce dependence on imports, and build an agricultural system strong enough to withstand shocks from beyond our borders.
That promise is being kept.
1/
You guys are too daft.
- PBAT has signed the Electricity Act to allow states generate, transmit and distribute power.
- PBAT has transferred full regulatory powers to State Electricity Agencies to regulate and create their laws that fit their electricity market.
- PBAT is completing 2 major gas pipeline to pipe gas across the country for thermal plants - AKK and OB3. The last major pipeline Escravos - Lagos, was built in 1989.
- PBAT has floated a bond to pay N4trn legacy debts owed to Gencos for 13 years. This is will help restore investor confidence in the sector.
- PBAT has unbundled the TCN to create a Nigerian Independent System Operator stripping TCN of regulatory powers and allowing it to focus on physical infrastructure.
- The $2.3bn Siemens transmission expansion project is ongoing
- The Presidential Metering Initiative is ongoing.
You guys have zero ideas on how nations are built.
Saying you will generate, transmit and distribute 10k MW of electricity in 4 years is a lot of commitment. The sort that’d cost you upwards of $30b. That you saw it in Egypt and Indonesia won’t make it cheaper. If it did, I saw it in Germany in 2016, it still isn’t cheaper.
When you are asked how? The answer cannot be “just trust me”. This is not, “I love you. I’ll be there for you” stuff. Even that comes at a cost. Love isn’t free.
In separate interviews with Seun Okinbaloye and Rufai Oseni, @PeterObi has refused to answer how.
Because he doesn’t know how. And if he ever does learn how, he still won’t admit what it would take to get those 10k MW into homes. He doesn’t have it in him to utter uncomfortable truths.
His entire political identity since The Platform platformed him is governance as goody-goody. Governance without cost. Governance without painful decisions. Politics of Lamba. Governance of castles in the sky. The governance he couldn’t practise as governor. Because it doesn’t exist.
Samari 3 sun je "Interview" Shugaban kamfanin sai ya ce musu " 2 + 2 = 5 "!!??
Sai na farko ya ce, tabbas haka amsar ta ke ran kai daɗe.
Na biyu ya ce, ran kai daɗe in muka ƙara ɗaya 1 amsar zata zama 5.
Na uku ya ce, ran kai daɗe amsar ba daidai ba ce, 4 ita ce daidai.
Bayan kwana 2 sai aka kafe sakamako, na 1 da na 2 sun ci amma na 3 ya faɗi.
Mataimakin Shugaban Kamfanin da ya ga haka, sai ya tambayi Shugabansa, ya haka? bayan na 3 shi ya amsa tambaya daidai...!!!
Shugaban ya ce: Na 1 maƙaryaci ne, kuma ya san shi maƙaryaci ne amma yana son abin da zai burge mu, irinsu abin buƙata ne a wurin aiki.
Na biyu ya yi amfani da ƙwaƙwalwarsa, shi ma abin buƙata ne. Na 3, mai gaskiya ne, kuma ya san akan gaskiyarsa yake, ba zai canza ba, irinsu suna bamu wahala wajen aiki.
Ya kalli mataimakinsa ya ce, in ka fahimci abin da nake nufi, shin 2 + 2 = 5?
Mataimakin ya ce, ran kai daɗe bayan na saurari bayananka; mutum mai ƙaramar ƙwaƙwalwa kamar ni ba zai iya amsa tambayarka ba.
Shugaban sai ya ce, irin nau'inku su ne munafukai, kuma muna ƙaunar aiki da ku...!!!
✍️ Sukairaj Hafiz Imam
🚨 It has come to my attention that, following the recent collapse of this project for the second time, one of the respected and patriotic humanitarian organisations, @LifeLineAidFoun, has formally written to the Yobe State Government requesting access to the Bill of Quantities (BOQ), contract details, procurement records, and other relevant documents relating to the general refurbishment of the 27 August Stadium in Damaturu.
Having citizens and organisations within our society that are willing to question those in authority and hold them accountable is essential to the growth of our democracy.
If u mean “most successful” I can believe u. But most educated, I seriously doubt that!
Some of them wouldn’t even make first 50. Who is Hadiza Bala Usman in educational qualifications? Because she has a masters degree in political science from a UK University?
This is a slap on the north’s face wallah!
🚨 Ayatollah invalidates the promise made to Bala Bursar that he’ll produce the incoming deputy, citing that the agreement was done without his knowledge.
Fellow Nigerians,
Three years ago, on this day, I first addressed you as your President. I pledged courage in leadership, honesty in reform, and commitment to rebuilding the foundations of our economy.
The decisions we have taken since have been difficult but necessary. Today, the signs of recovery, resilience, and renewal are visible across our country.
In honour of this milestone, and as a precursor to Democracy Day, today, across all six geopolitical zones, over twenty groups of strategic projects in energy, health, enterprise, education, and public works would be commissioned.
Under the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund, four flagship projects today. FEMADEC Energy at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri — the first of twenty CNG refuelling stations in our federal universities. Portland Gas at Ojota, Lagos — a 96,000 SCMD CNG mother station, with a daughter station in Kubwa, Abuja. Ibile Oil and Gas, with its network of fifteen CNG refuelling stations across Lagos State. And Rolling Energy at Jahi, Abuja — anchoring a portfolio of seventeen RLNG and LCNG facilities across Kaduna, Kano and Borno. Together, these projects will lower transport costs, expand cleaner energy, and strengthen our energy sovereignty.
In the health sector, thirteen new projects today across all six zones — every one of them ribbon-cut on the ground today. Six new facilities at our federal teaching hospitals: the President Bola Tinubu Complex at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja; the Trauma Centre Pharmacy Quality Control Laboratory at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; the Infertility and Assisted Reproductive Technology Centre at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi; the new Mental Health Complex at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital; the new Administrative Complex at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; and the Laboratory Complex at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.
Also commissioned are the State Emergency Operations Centres in Kano, Sokoto and Katsina; the newly constructed Lagos Vaccine Hub in Oshodi; and the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System fleet — one hundred and forty-five tricycle ambulances, six boat ambulances, and seventy-nine new ambulances for our federal hospitals.
Two revitalised primary health centres at Gadon Kaya in Kano and Aboh in Delta State. These two stand for the almost three thousand primary health centres our administration has revitalised under the IMPACT programme over the last two years, alongside twenty-seven equipped Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care sites, one thousand six hundred and two revitalised Level 1 facilities, and one thousand three hundred and sixty revitalised Level 2 facilities, together bringing quality care closer to ordinary Nigerians in every zone.
Alongside these, the new SMEDAN Industrial Development Centre at Ikorodu, Lagos, and additional projects in education and public works being delivered across the country.
These projects are not ceremonial symbols. They are evidence that the Renewed Hope Agenda is being felt in homes, businesses, schools and hospitals across our federation.
Today is the commemoration of our inauguration. It is not a day for long speeches. On June 12, our Democracy Day, we will present our full scorecard to Nigerians.
And so, by the authority vested in me as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I hereby declare all these projects — across our health system, our energy infrastructure, our enterprise, our education and our public works — duly commissioned, and dedicated to the service of the Nigerian people.
The work continues.
The reforms continue.
And our resolve remains unshaken.
Thank you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Watch Live on https://t.co/XMIXu3O2N6
BOLA AHMED TINUBU, GCFR
President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
29th May 2026