₦airaland Forum

Dear @PeterObi,

This is hypocrisy, and I will expose you today, because you have taken it too far. When Doyin Okupe was down with cancer, you abandoned him. He reached out to me almost in tears and reported all you did to him. You lied to the world that you helped him. In reality, you were not even speaking with him. When he returned from Israel after the Gaza war broke out, you were coincidentally on the same plane. You walked by him without even greeting him. His wife is a witness.

Dr. Okupe spent all his money on his health. He sold his assets to pay for medical bills. We, his friends, raised millions for him. I spoke to different individuals, who have NEVER spoken up, and they gave substantially to Dr. Okupe. You did not. You gave NOTHING. Yet, you, who did not do anything, came on social media to posture and give the impression that you did.

I have Dr. Okupe's words recorded in documentary form, stating what you did to him when he was at his worst. And in his own words, supporting you was his greatest "error of judgment" (his exact words).

Not only did you not help him, but his support for you had turned him into an enemy of those who would have helped him.

I urge the media to approach Dr. Okupe's family to verify from the horse's mouth if what I am saying is true. If you do not have Mrs. Doyin Okupe's number and those of his children and you are a reputable media organisation, reach out to me, and I will provide it to you. If Peter Obi ever denies this, he should be reminded that I do not speak without evidence.

This post is nothing but a hypocritical attempt to gain public sympathy from a man who rose on the back of Dr. Doyin Okupe, only to quarrel with him, then abandon him when he needed him most, and shockingly turned around after his death to posture as if he was a friend in need to Dr. Okupe.

If I expose you, Peter, you will run out of town!

…Orders Crackdown on Illegal Vigilante Groups

Following the public outcry over the gruesome killing of hunters traveling back to the North in Edo State, Governor Monday Okpebholo has suspended the Commander of the Edo State Security Corps, CP Friday Ibadin (Rtd.), alongside all illegal vigilante groups operating in the state.

The decision was announced in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government, Umar Ikhikor Esq., who confirmed that 14 suspects have been arrested so far in connection with the killings.

The statement read: “After a review of the preliminary report on the unfortunate incident of Thursday, March 27, 2025, at Uromi in Esan North East Local Government Area, which led to the gruesome killing of some travelers, His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has ordered the immediate suspension of all illegal vigilante groups operating under any guise in Edo State. Also suspended is the Commander of the Edo State Security Corps, CP Friday Ibadin (Rtd.).”

The government clarified that the local vigilante group responsible for the attack was operating illegally, as it was never profiled or registered with the Edo State Security Corps.

“Its actions do not reflect the core values, character, and principles of the Okpebholo administration or the objectives of the corps as enshrined in the Edo State Security Corps Governance Law,” the statement added.

The government confirmed that investigations into the killings are ongoing, with 14 individuals already arrested and an intense manhunt underway for other perpetrators. A special team set up by the Inspector General of Police is leading the operation.

Governor Okpebholo reaffirmed the state’s commitment to constitutional rights, including the freedom of movement and lawful business operations for all Nigerians, regardless of their background.

“The Edo State Government believes in the constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens to move freely or engage in lawful business in any part of the country,” the statement emphasized.

Additionally, the state government has reached out to the families of the victims, community leaders, and the Kano State Government, as most of the deceased were from Kano.

The Edo State Government urged all parties involved to remain calm, assuring them that justice would be swift, transparent, and decisive.

“We urge all parties to remain calm as the state government remains committed to ensuring that justice is done in a most efficient, transparent, and proactive manner.”

The governor’s action marks a strong stance against illegal security operations, reinforcing efforts to restore public trust in the state’s security framework.

"Reports indicate that these individuals were accused of being kidnappers."-Peter Obi, Friday, March 28, 2025.

Peter Obi should have just condemned the killing of those sixteen Northerners without justifying that they were suspected kidnappers. Silence would have even been better than that type of blameful condolence.

If people are killed by way of mob violence, their deaths are in no way mitigated by the suspicion that led to their deaths.

And his post paints a picture of Edo State as a barbarous place. No, Peter. Edo is the cradle of Black civilisation.

There have been over fifteen mob killings in Anambra for which Peter Obi never issued any statement (except in the case of Harira after I called him out).

Anambra alone has had more such incidents than the rest of Nigeria's five other geopolitical zones combined. Onitsha is the headquarters for mob killings in Nigeria. I will mention just a few.

February 8, 2019: Paschal Onyilo was beaten to death in Umuoji, Anambra State after a group of schoolchildren who had vandalised his car falsely accused him of being a kidnapper when he chased them off.

December 17, 2020: A mob set three police stations ablaze in Igboukwu, Ekwulobia and Oko in the Aguata and Orumba North local government areas of Anambra State, killing one policeman in the process.

September 11, 2021: The Igwe of Aguleri, Chief Alexander Edozieuno, and his driver were killed by a mob, of whom most of them escaped justice.

March 25, 2022: Five men accused of attempting to steal a tricycle were beaten to a coma and burnt by a mob in Onitsha.

May 22, 2022: Ten people were mobbed and slaughtered on the streets, including the pregnant Harira Jubril and her four underaged daughters and five motorcyclists (Okada) men.

November 1, 2023: Two brothers, Chinedu and Omama, were mobbed and burnt alive in Onitsha after being accused of stealing.

November 24, 2024: Two revenue collection agents were beaten to a pulp in Onitsha and burnt alive.

March 8, 2025: 26-year-old Chukwuemeka Igwuegbe was beaten to death after being accused of stealing plantain at Ezinife Village, Okpuno, in Awka South Local Government Area.

Yet, despite this, Peter Obi remained silent and never spoke of Anambra as he did of Edo State yesterday.

#TableShaker

It took the killings in Edo for us to realize that there's an active Arewa on this platform.

These people have never condemned the killings by Fulani herdsmen in Benue, Enugu, Ondo and Ebonyi

I would rather have President Tinubu for 16 years than endure just 4 years of Peter Obi

At least with Tinubu, you know exactly what you’re getting, he doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not

Unlike Peter Obi, who smiles at you in public but mocks you behind your back.

Commissioner for Health confirms the withdrawal of the query sent to Nurse Osato

#IStandWithNurseOsato

Delta State College of Nursing has queried and threatened to punish one of its students, Osato Edobor, over her involvement in a trending video in which student nurses ridiculed First Lady Oluremi Tinubu.

A copy of Ms Edobor’s query, signed by Evbodaghe Rita Ogonne, the provost, went viral on Friday.

In the query, the school accused Ms Edobor of singing, recording and circulating a trending viral video of nursing students rejecting Mrs Tinubu as their mother.

She was given 24 hours to respond to the query.

“It has come to the notice of the school authority that you, Student Nurse Osato Edobor on the 25th of March, 2025 during official visit of the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, CON at Dome Event Center, Asaba for the Renewed Hope Initiative Health Programme and distribution of 10,000 Professional Kits (Crocs and Scrubs) to Midwives in each Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria South South Zone, was found to be engage in malicious act of recording/singing and posting unofficial response to song during the arrival of the First Lady (found on your Tittok Page),” the query said.

The college said the student’s alleged action “is a punishable offence as enshrined in the Student Handbook under standardised disciplinary action for some punishable offences No. 8, Page 21.”

This comes a few days after a viral video of student nurses humiliating Mrs Tinubu, singing she is not their mother but the mother of the

In the video, someone said to be the MC of the event sang a praise song describing Mrs Tinubu, their mother, in pidgin English, calling on students to join in the song.

“Na our mama be this o, we no get another one,” the MC sang, expecting students to respond in affirmation that the first lady is their mother.

However, the students responded, “na your mama be this o eh,” rejecting and saying Mrs Tinubu is the mother of the MC and not their mother.

Again, the MC raised the song, adding the first lady’s name, “Na our mama be this o, Oluremi Tinubu.”

But the student refused to accept Mrs Tinubu as their mother, singing, “Na your mama be this eh eh.”

If Reno Omokri has not blocked you on his Instagram page... congratulations... it shows ur IQ level is very low, because those are his favourite followers

ABUJA – The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has issued a stern warning to state governments, cautioning against actions that could undermine national security and stability.

Speaking on Wednesday, Fagbemi accused Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, of allegedly influencing militants to sabotage oil pipelines in the state. His remarks came while defending President Bola Tinubu’s decision to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State due to the ongoing political crisis.

According to the AGF, even if Governor Fubara did not directly order the attacks, his failure to denounce the militants’ threats made him complicit. “We are in a democracy. The governor was seen telegraphing militants, suggesting he would let them know when to act. Even if that was misinterpreted, did he disown them? No. A week later, pipelines were vandalized,” he asserted.

Fagbemi emphasized the strategic importance of Nigeria’s oil sector, warning that any attack on critical infrastructure is not just an assault on Rivers State but on the entire nation. He maintained that the Supreme Court’s judgment formed the legal basis for Tinubu’s declaration of emergency, adding that the decision was necessary to protect vital assets and restore governance in the state.

“The governor and the state house of assembly members had to be suspended because they failed to ensure a conducive atmosphere for governance,” he explained, pushing back against claims that the federal government acted hastily.

He further stated that the situation in Rivers demanded extraordinary measures, noting that the National Assembly now holds the power to either uphold or overturn the president’s decision by denying it the required two-thirds majority.

The AGF’s remarks serve as a clear warning to other state governments, signaling the federal government’s readiness to take strict action against any threat to national stability.

Before #EndSARS or the 2023 presidential election, many Nigerians remember Tinubu as a man who fought against military rule in the 1990s during his defiance of General Sani Abacha’s oppressive regime. But now, in 2025, Nigerians are asking, Did Tinubu fight dictators only to become one himself?

Tinubu was forced to leave Nigeria for safety after General Sani Abacha’s military takeover of power resulted in a string of arrests, detentions, harassment, and threats against his life. Undeterred, he went as far as joining NADECO abroad in exile in 1994 to continue fighting for democratic governance and the restoration of rule in the country and returned in 1998 after Abacha’s death.

Throughout his career, Tinubu positioned himself as a protector of democracy—so it seems. As governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, he clashed with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo over constitutional breaches in 2004, opposing Obasanjo’s imposition of a state of emergency in Plateau State on May 18.

The declaration by Obasanjo came after months of violent interfaith conflicts between the Muslim and Christian populations in Jos, the state capital, and the surrounding areas, which resulted in the displacement of thousands of people and the deaths of over 2,000. Chris Alli, a retired major general, was named the sole administrator for six months after Obasanjo suspended the state assembly and Plateau governor at the time, Joshua Dariye.

Tinubu denounced the action as an attack on Nigeria’s federal system, claiming that Plateau’s democratic rights were taken away without pursuing state-level remedies or dialogue.

“It is unfortunate and illegal; this has to be discouraged. It is a bad precedent. What the president of the country has done, I pray it doesn’t stand,” Tinubu was quoted as saying in 2004.

Again, in 2013, he criticised President Goodluck Jonathan for declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa, arguing that the decision was an “unpardonable mediocrity” that bypassed constitutional checks, warning that it risked turning the northeast into a militarised zone under federal control.

He claimed that Jonathan had “emasculated and intimidated” the governors with the declaration and that the action had sabotaged the elected officials’ and governors’ constitutional duties in the three states.

“Let all those who love this country genuinely advise the federal government not to tinker with the mandates of these governors under any guise. It is a potentially destructive path to take,” he wrote at the time.

“Hiding under some nebulous claims that border on the intractability of the security challenges posed by Boko Haram or some acclaimed traditionalists who have killed some policemen to render ineffective the constitutional powers vested in elected governors and other representatives of the people, perceived as not amenable to manipulation for the 2015 project, amounts to reducing serious issues bordering on the survival of the country to partisan politics.”

But now, as President of Nigeria, Tinubu, who ran on the promise of renewed hope, finds himself accused of the very authoritarian tendencies he once opposed.

His recent declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending an elected governor, his deputy, and all members of the state assembly, leaves many Nigerians asking what went wrong and slamming him as “Tinubu is an Abacha in Agbada.”

Tinubu is not that man you knew decades ago

From a man who fought Obasanjo against federal imperialism,he has turned to a man who removes a state gov unconstitutionally

Power they say corrupts,absolute power they say corrupts absolutely

Rivers State | Tompolo | Section 305 pic.twitter.com/x9ZBNDLXE6

— Opeyemi Marcus (@ArakunrinSugar) March 19, 2025



This thing will become the modus operandi once this man feels untouchable in a second term.

He’ll trigger violence in certain states with his hatchet man and subsequently dissolve all democratic structure.

Tinubu is attempting to become a dictator. https:///YDpYK3B24i

— ‘Demola Olarewaju (@DemolaRewaju) March 18, 2025

Tinubu is not that man you knew decades ago

From a man who fought Obasanjo against federal imperialism,he has turned to a man who removes a state gov unconstitutionally

Power they say corrupts,absolute power they say corrupts absolutely pic.twitter.com/uKlt4bfRxj

— Benue Voice🕊 (@Aloo_Tordue) March 19, 2025

Dictator General Amoda Sangodele Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Coup Plotter against the Government of Rivers State.

Fubara remains the Governor
Wike is the aggressor.

Rivers Oil and 2027 are the interest pic.twitter.com/jMUrZwkxsJ

— Sen Nenadi Parody (@SenNenadParody) March 19, 2025

This is how Nigeria has degenerated under Tinubu’s watch.



Tinubu has ruined Nigeria and ruined the little peace Nigeria had before his emergence. Bola Tinubu is the most terrible dictator to ever rule over Nigeria as President.

Every part of Nigeria has been plunged into… pic.twitter.com/pgV3iY9Obq

— Mezie Abia (@MezieAbia) March 19, 2025

Tinubu saw an opportunity to be an authoritarian & he took it. It must have been his life long dream.

And Fubara has to take the blame for this.

If you knew you were not going to honor whatever commitment you had with the devil, you should have just walked away; Honorably.

— Ejiróghene Peters (@ejirogh3ne) March 18, 2025

Meet General Bola Tinubu, the Nigeria coup d’etat president who dethrone an elected sitting governor because he disagree to become his slave

If Nigerians didn’t rise against him he’ll turn everyone his slaves. And ahead of us doom and anarchy. pic.twitter.com/7rs1jozWeO

— Ibrahim Muhammad (@Andyibro) March 19, 2025

Tinubu has always been a tyrant, he’s not a democrat.

During Nadeco days he wasn’t on ground, he escaped on exile.

MKO Abiola, Abraham Adesnaya, Anthony Enaharo, Fayemi, Dele Aleke, Dele Momodu, Femi Falana and others.

Tinubu is an Abacha in Agbada.

— OTUNBA (@ManLikeIcey) March 18, 2025

President Bola Tinubu’s emergency proclamation in Rivers faced a major hurdle on Wednesday after lawmakers failed to attend the plenary.

Section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution mandates ratification of the president’s state of emergency directive with two-thirds of votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate, which was be done within two days of the order. Mr Tinubu announced the removal of Governor Simi Fubara of Rivers on Tuesday evening, promptly replacing him with a retired military chief Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas.

But the lower parliamentary body convened on Wednesday morning with less than 80 lawmakers present, Peoples Gazette can report after obtaining a roll call, falling significantly short of the 120 members needed to form a simple quorum in the 360-member legislature.

The House rules require a one-third quorum to take any binding action that could withstand a legal challenge in federal courts. A plenary that is not attended by up to 120 lawmakers can only pass resolutions, hear petitions, and debate motions and similar activities that carry no enforcement mechanism.

The House has the emergency proclamation listed on its business today under messages from the president, The Gazette found.

Lawmakers said the House could still vote on the matter without a quorum, but it would be an illegal action that could easily struck down in courts.

“People have been debating whether the president has powers to declare emergency rule in the first place,” a lawmaker said. “Purporting to ratify the state of emergency without a quorum of the House will only compound the illegality and make the atrocity even more transparent to all Nigerians.”

The Gazette heard that many lawmakers stayed away to avoid going on the record supporting what constitutional scholars have widely condemned as brazen illegality.

The Nigerian Constitution authorised the president to declare an emergency in all or parts of Nigeria, but no provision allowed the removal of a state governor by the president.

In 2013, former President Goodluck Jonathan invoked similar powers to take over security in Boko-Haram-ravaged Borno and Yobe states. Still, he left their respective elected governors and democratic institutions in place.

Mr Tinubu, the opposition leader back then, condemned Mr Jonathan’s action. He, however, now defends his rights to invoke the same constitutional provision in an even more expansive dimension.

Details shortly…

I'm sorry but damaging a major oil pipeline is absolutely a risk to the existence of the federation.

MC Tagwaye resigns from APC and joins SDP.

Buharists 🌪🌪

On 1 September 1990, Abubakar announced his Gongola State gubernatorial bid. A year later, before the elections could hold, Gongola State was broken up into two – Adamawa and Taraba States – by the Federal Government. Abubakar fell into the new Adamawa State. After the contest he won the SDP Primaries in November 1991, but was soon disqualified by the government from contesting the elections.

In 1993, Abubakar contested the SDP presidential primaries. The results after the first ballot of the primaries held in Jos was: Moshood Abiola with 3,617 votes, Baba Gana Kingibe with 3,255 votes and Abubakar with 2,066 votes. Abubakar and Kingibe considered joining forces combining 5,231 votes to challenge Abiola. However, after Shehu Yar'Adua asked Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the campaign, with Abiola promising to make him his running mate. Abiola was later pressured by SDP governors to select Kinigbe as his Vice-presidential running mate, in the June 12 presidential election.

A WhatsApp group has been established to promote Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde's potential presidential bid in 2027.

The group, which currently boasts 467 members, includes prominent individuals such as Olajide Odidiomo, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ibadan Northwest/Southwest.

Notably, several of Governor Makinde's aides are also part of the group, including his personal assistant on political matters, Akeem Azeez, SaharaReporters learnt.

Additionally, officials from local government councils are also participating in the WhatsApp group.

The group's members have expressed their support for Seyi Makinde's presidential aspirations, citing his "people-oriented" approach to governance and leadership style as reasons why they believe he is the most suitable candidate for the position.

Makinde, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a second-term governor, has not officially announced his presidential ambitions.

However, the presence of his aides and a House of Representatives member on the WhatsApp group promoting his candidacy is noteworthy.

Recently, Makinde has been at odds with the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration over local government administration, disagreeing with the Supreme Court's ruling on local government autonomy and arguing that it may not accurately reflect the realities on the ground.

Recently, local government chairpersons in Oyo State withdrew their membership from the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on local government autonomy. This move came just a few days ago, highlighting the ongoing tensions and adjustments following the court's decision.

#EndBadGovernanceProtests: Violence erupts in Dilimi Area Of Jos North LGA as crowd defies curfew

KAWO FLYOVER RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com/qAeq7NBHgt

— Bldr. SHAMS… (@its_shamex) August 5, 2024

Youths are now openly calling for military take over of power in Nigeria.

Tinubu please heed to some demand and save the democracy some of us fought for in the 90s.

We cannot afford going back to the dark days, this young men making the call were mostly not even born 1999. pic.twitter.com/L0kHtrME3j

— Hamma (@HAHayatu) August 5, 2024

Following President Tinubu's speech, Kano residents continue with the protest to show their dissatisfaction. #EndBadGovernancelnNigeria

Following President Tinubu's speech, Kano residents continue with the protest to show their dissatisfaction. #EndBadGovernancelnNigeria pic.twitter.com/rcH3A9NfvS

— Abdul-Aziz Na'ibi Abubakar (@jrnaib2) August 4, 2024

Mr Abubakar, a former vice president, called on the the international community, including the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, to closely monitor the situation.

“I vehemently condemn the heinous act of using live ammunition on citizens peacefully protesting against bad governance, as witnessed today in Kano and Abuja. This is utterly intolerable and reminiscent of the dark days of military dictatorship.


“It is crucial to remind the government and security agencies of their paramount duty to ensure a safe and secure environment where citizens can exercise their right to protest without fear.

“I urge the international community, including the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, to closely monitor the situation in Nigeria and hold its leadership and security apparatus accountable.

“I reaffirm my counsel to protesters to steadfastly exercise their right to peaceful protest and reject any form of violence.

“Those engaging in looting and the destruction of public and private property must be isolated and prosecuted according to the law. By indulging in such acts, they undermine the legitimate protests and play into the hands of those who oppose their right to protest.

“President Tinubu must demonstrate true leadership by immediately addressing and implementing the demands of the Nigerian people,” Mr Abubakar added.

Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has given reason why the government didn’t impose curfew in the state when the peaceful hunger protest was hijacked by hoodlums, on Thursday.

Some Nigerians had taken to the streets on Thursday to protest hardship in the country, blocking major roads in some states of the federation and asking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to reverse some of the policies which they claimed had exacerbated hunger in the country.

The exercise was hijacked by hoodlums in some states, resulting in destruction and looting of properties.

In Gombe, some residents besieged the Government House gates.

Hijacked by miscreants, what started as peaceful protest later became violent as mob began to destroy public and private buildings, carting away valuable items.

As the exercise turned violent, shop owners and traders in major markets in Gombe metropolis hired vigilantes and hunters to secure their shops against vandals.

The degeneration of the protest in Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno states had compelled the governors to declare 24-hour curfew to prevent further escalation.

But Governor Inuwa, in a statement on Friday by his Spokesperson, Ismaila Uba Misilli, said he decided not to impose curfew in the state in order to avoid subjecting people to further hardship.

The Governor also lamented the damage inflicted on both public and private properties caused as a result of the violent protest, maintaining that his administration would not allow actions that threaten the state’s stability.

He added that although he was not against peaceful protest, any action contradicting democratic principles and violating the law would not be condoned.

He said, “Gombe is known for its peace, and we must preserve it. We cannot allow actions that threaten our stability. We have no state other than Gombe. We understand that there are challenges and hardships in the land, but we must not resort to violence and destruction of our state to express our feelings or concerns.

“Let me make it clear: we are not against peaceful protest. We know that democracy and our laws grant the right to express oneself, but yesterday’s event contradicted democratic principles and violated the law. We are ready to support any peaceful demonstration, and the police are ready to give protesters the maximum protection to exercise their constitutional rights once they follow the laid down rules. What we cannot allow, let me re-emphasize, is the breakdown of law and order.”

The nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests that are convulsing the neoliberal fundament of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration are redefining and redrawing the contours of protests in Nigeria in many significant ways. Although I’ve been on the road since Thursday, here are lessons I’ve learned from the protests.


One, there is now a profoundly consequential decentering of the locus of protest culture in Nigeria. In the past, protests against unpopular government policies used to be conceived, constructed, and carried out by a self-selected class of professional protesters based mostly in Lagos who earned activist bona fides from their anti-military, pro-democracy, human rights advocacy in the 1980s and 1990s.

These careerist agitators are now either in government, in bed with the government, or have suffered significant contraction of their symbolic and cultural capital. Most Gen Z Nigerians whose vim and vigor power the ongoing protests either don’t know them or know them but have no use for their guidance.

So, the conception, planning, and execution of the protests have neither a recognizable locale nor any identifiable dramatis personae. A lot of the known names identified with the protests merely joined and amplified it. They didn’t start the revolt and can’t stop it. It’s effectively a leaderless rebellion.

It started life as anguished, discordant murmurs on social media in response to the increasingly unendurable but relentlessly unabating neoliberal, IMF/World Bank-sanctioned economic and social terror of the Tinubu administration. Many of the young people who can’t feed now and whose future is being perpetually deferred have enough education to know that the delayed gratification the government promises them from removing subsidies and from devaluing the naira has never materialized anywhere in the world.

Everywhere in the world—from South America to the Pacific and from Asia to Africa—from the 1980s (when the IMF first forced Structural Adjustment Programs on developing countries) until now, there is not a single example of a country that has escaped irreversible devastation and decline as a result of subsidy removal, currency devaluation, destruction of social safety nets for the poor, abandonment of the welfare of citizens—all IMF policies that countries are forced to implement as conditions to secure World Bank loans.

The only countries that have developed outside the West are precisely the countries that have repulsed the IMF, that have strategically deployed subsidies to buoy their economies and uplift their people, and that have guarded their national currencies. Many young Nigerians now realize that the idea that the pains they are suffering are mere temporary birth pangs that will deliver a bouncing baby is a damned, soulless, conscienceless, self-centered lie. They’ve had enough.

So, they resolved to band together and fight peacefully. They chose to demand the restoration of petrol subsidies, among other demands, because they see that the people who took away petrol subsidies from them are themselves luxuriating in unimaginably opulent elite subsidies. Their cries quickly gained traction.

For the first time in a long time, northern and southern youth found common ground. Northern agitations for “zanga zanga” and southern push for #EndBadGovernance protests, though gestated independent of each other, somehow converged. It’s a unity forged in diversity and adversity.

The second lesson is a derivative of the first, and that is the unexampled collapse of the cultural, political, and social power of the Northern Nigerian Muslim clerical establishment. Northern Nigerian clerical elites, known as the ulama, had been constituted in the region’s moral imagination as the apotheosis of probity and the unquestioned source of moral and political guidance.

They have used this power, this priceless symbolic capital, to keep the masses perpetually in a state of suspended animation. They have programmed northern Nigerian masses to not resist, protest, rebel, much less revolt, against bad governance. They socialized them into accepting their economic suffering with equanimity. The only thing the clerical elites have conditioned the masses to be implacably roused and animated over is real or perceived slight against religion.

For example, amid the inexorably intensifying breakdown of security in the region during the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the clerical establishment also intensified fraudulent theological rationalizations for the rise of kidnappings and exculpated Buhari of responsibility for this. That was why Buhari got away with murder for eight years.

However, although there was a ground swell of anti-zanga zanga sermonizing among the region’s notable clerics in the aftermath of their meeting with officials of the Tinubu administration, northern Nigeria is erupting in communal convulsions. It is also instructive that protesters in Daura took their anger to Muhammadu Buhari’s doorsteps. No one is immune now. The genie has been let out of the bottle.

The #OccupyNigeria protests in 2012, which the North also actively participated in largely, some would say precisely, because of the religious and regional identity of Goodluck Jonathan, had the moral imprimatur of the clerical establishment.

This is the first major example in recent memory I am aware of in the North where the masses of the people not only bucked the impassioned counsel of their ulama but have openly labelled them as unreliable and mercenary charlatans not worthy of respect. This is a culturally seismic shift.

The third lesson is that the federal government is in more trouble than it realizes. It invited civil society leaders, traditional rulers, religious clerics, and certain audible voices in the protest movement in an effort to thwart the protest. It was inspired by the mistaken belief that these hitherto esteemed opinion molders had the capacity to use their conversational, symbolic, political, and cultural currencies to influence people to back out of the protest.

It didn’t work because the habitual order of things has shifted, and the government hasn’t come to terms with this reality. We call it decentering in humanities and social science scholarship. "Decentering" involves challenging and moving away from traditional centers of authority, meaning, or truth. It means a shift of focus from dominant cultures, narratives, or perspectives and the amplification of marginalized, peripheral, or alternative voices.

The government’s cluelessness about this social media-enabled decentering of traditional ways of seeing and knowing manifested in its mutually contradictory claims about who was sponsoring the protest—and in its counter-intuitive displays of persecution complex.

The State Security Service said it knew the “sponsors” of the protest, but the police asked the “sponsors” to identify themselves as a precondition for protection. High-profile government officials fingered foreign mercenaries as the organizers and funders of the protest. They all can’t wrap their heads around the possibility that distraught, depressed, and disgruntled young people, without prodding from anybody, can organize protests to ventilate their frustrations at foreign-inspired policies that kill their present and deny their future.

Unfortunately, the government’s response follows the same miserably familiar template: whine like over-indulged crybabies about fictive “sponsors,” induce or intimidate people thought to be behind the protests, deploy strong-arm tactics against protesters, and do nothing about the conditions that instigated the protest in the first place—until it happens again another time.

The fourth lesson is that there is a relationship between how security forces respond to protests and how they turn out. In such states as Edo, Osun, Oyo, and Ogun, the police were admirably polite and even-tempered.

I saw a video of the Edo State police commissioner addressing protesters in the kindest, most empathetic way I’ve ever seen any senior law enforcement officer addressing aggrieved people. The protesters reciprocated the police commissioner’s mild-mannered and conciliatory speech with chants of his praises. That warmed my heart. Tinubu can learn from that.

But in places where law enforcement officers treat protesters as enemies of the state and visit unprovoked violence on them, things easily escalate into violence and bloodshed. We saw that in Kaduna, Kano, Abuja, and many parts of the North.

It should be admitted, of course, that there are many criminal elements who cash in on protests to loot the properties of innocent people or destroy government properties. I saw heartrending videos of criminals stealing or destroying private and government properties in Kano and Abuja. Such outlaws deserve no mercy. It’s elements like that who justify the government’s apprehensions about protests always devolving into chaos and destruction.

Finally, although many people from the Southeast supported the protest, the region was the only place, as of the time of writing this column, where almost no protest took place. Was it the culmination of the ethnic baiting of the honchos of the Tinubu administration who said the protests were planned by the people of the region as a payback for their electoral loss in 2023? Whatever it is, it does not give a good account of our efforts at nation-building.

Well, President Tinubu has just one option left for him if he doesn’t want to govern in disabling tumult: address the nation in a solemn national broadcast, acknowledge the unprecedented hurt people are nursing, announce the restoration of petrol and electricity subsidies, and reverse the disastrous “floating” of the naira.

Tinubu’s loyalty should be to Nigeria, not the racist economic hitmen at the IMF and the World Bank.