In the crucible of Nigeria’s democratic experiment, a dangerous spectacle is unfolding. What we are witnessing is not governance—it is a grand illusion of leadership, a democracy hijacked by sycophancy, and a republic sinking into elite complacency while the people choke on hunger, hopelessness, and despair. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the so-called “nationalist” and architect of modern Nigerian politics, now stands accused by history itself of presiding over a captured state and a hollowed democracy.
The signs are not just visible—they are bleeding from every corner of the nation. Under Tinubu’s administration, Nigeria’s National Assembly has become nothing more than an annex of the executive arm—a glorified rubber stamp that offers blind approval rather than oversight, praise instead of probing, and psychophantic submission instead of principled resistance. The doctrine of separation of powers has been desecrated, trampled upon by a coterie of legislators whose loyalty lies not with the people, but with the man in Aso Rock.
How else can one explain the brazen approval of loans running into billions of dollars without thorough scrutiny? How else does one explain a legislature that claps while fuel prices soar, electricity tariffs rise, and millions are pushed below the poverty line? This is not the National Assembly Nigerians voted for—it is a legislative extension of executive recklessness, parroting the absurd anthem: “On your mandate we stand,” while the country bleeds.
But the rot goes deeper.
In just one year of Tinubu’s presidency, inflation has climbed to a staggering 33.2%—the highest in over two decades. Food inflation alone hovers around 40%, leaving millions unable to afford basic meals. The naira, once Africa’s pride, has lost over 60% of its value, trading at over ₦1,400 to a dollar at parallel markets. These are not just statistics—they are death sentences for families who can no longer afford school fees, medical care, rent, or even a loaf of bread.
The so-called “bold reforms” of this administration—particularly the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy—have plunged the nation into economic chaos. It was packaged as a move to stabilize the economy, but in reality, it has become a wealth transfer scheme that benefits the connected few while sentencing the many to lives of unending struggle. No cushioning measures. No functional palliatives. Just empty speeches, brutal realities, and rising suicide rates.
President Tinubu rode to power with the promise of renewed hope, but Nigerians are waking up to renewed hardship. What was marketed as competence has become chaos. What was promised as transformation has become tribulation. Every major sector is in distress—education, healthcare, security, infrastructure. Bandits roam freely, students sit at home, doctors flee the country, and inflation eats away the last strand of dignity from the average citizen.
Meanwhile, Aso Rock is in celebration mode—unbothered, untouched, and unrepentant. Lavish delegations travel abroad for conferences with no impact. Fleets of exotic cars and new presidential jets are prioritized over the lives of pensioners and jobless youths. A nation of 200 million has been cornered into silence by a political elite that feeds fat while the people starve.
And where is the voice of conscience? Silenced. Where are the lawmakers elected to checkmate excesses? Compromised. Where are the statesmen who once held power to account? Bought or broken.
Nigeria has been captured, not by coup plotters, but by a civilian elite bound together by self-interest, guarded by impunity, and sustained by a people too tired to fight back.
President Tinubu may have inherited a battered nation, but what he is doing now is burying it. The blame can no longer be outsourced. The excuses have expired. Leadership is not about blaming your predecessors while building dynasties for your successors. It is about fixing, healing, and protecting the lives of those who entrusted you with power.
But Nigerians are not fools. The anger is rising. The silence is cracking. The people are watching. And history is taking notes. If President Tinubu truly believes in his legacy, now is the time to act—not with political theatre, but with integrity, humility, and urgency. Because no matter how loud the choruses of “on your mandate we stand,” no matter how thick the walls of Aso Rock may be, there is one force no politician can suppress forever—the cry of a wounded nation.
This is not just a call to action. It is a warning. Fix it, or history will remember your mandate not as the beginning of hope—but as the anthem of a nation’s collapse.
