Even the most jaundiced mind now believes the mega-merger of 2014 was not a sincere merger meant to rescue Nigeria from the claimed brink of collapse. It is now glaring that it was a merger for opportunity seekers primarily tailored to confuse and deceive the gullible for easy access to power and subsequent abuse. We are now victims of that abuse in another deception called Renewed Hope Agenda.
The merger was meant to release caged hungry lions’ access to the nation’s protected wealth for a feast. It was a merger that brought the most corrupt politicians close to power to perfect business as usual. The merger had a hidden agenda against the unity, progress and security of Nigeria.
Leadership in the APC context is not a mandate but monarchial. We all know that unchecked power is not new to the polity. History has overtime shown——-from Roman Emperors to African dictators the likes of Mobutu Sese Seko, Ngarta Tombalbaye, Gnnasigbe Nyedema, Marcias Nguema Mbasogo, Idi Amin Dada, Robert Mugabe, Yoweri Museveni, Blaise Campore and Mathew Kerekou——-that when leadership drifts from humility to hubris, nations crumble. In our own history, military regimes paved the smooth way for present civilian impunity under experience in the hands of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
As we all know, political or monarchical power is the ability to act. Wisdom is the knowledge of when, how, and whether to act. Leadership demands both.
In the Christian scripture, Proverbs 4:7 reminds us: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
The President who pushes policies without consulting or listening to experts and citizens will eventually govern a fragile state. The Cleric who silences objectivity in running the affairs of where he presides as leader, will soon preside over a deserted space. A Clergy who silences priests or laity with a contrary view will preside over a hollow, dying Church. The politician who leads through fear and marginalization will eventually drive away support and endorsement.
Therefore, where knowledge and intelligence are disrespected, decision-making becomes impulsive and dictatorial. Where authority is unchecked, institutions become abusive. And when people are not heard, carried along, then trust and confidence collapse.
Surah Ash-Shura Chapter 42:38 of the Holy Qur’an warns that righteous believers are those “who conduct their affairs by mutual consultation.”
Leadership therefore without counsel, is not Islamic, and power without wisdom is not divine. The psychological and spiritual damage of such abuse is profound: Clergy sink into desperation; young people lose faith in governance and religion; civil servants live with silent trauma. Citizens are only in existence not living. Places that should ordinarily heal——Royal Palaces, Churches, Mosques, Shrines and Schools——-are now silent battle fields courtesy of the Tinubu clueless governance.
The abuse of power is not limited to political players. In places of worship, many leaders behave like lords. Some aides are treated as errand boys. Followers are reduced to sources of revenue. Suggestions are rejected and demonized when offered, and orthodoxy becomes a tool of suppression.
Worse still, in some places of worship, clergies have assumed divine status, encouraging followers to treat them as infallible. Congregants kneel to greet them. Their words are taken above the Holy Books. In many congregations, people now seem to fear the “Men of God” more than the Almighty Himself, while political parties fear their elected representatives more than the Constitution of their parties and the country.
Those politicians in elective and appointive offices are more concerned to their welfare and that of their families than service delivery and robust legislation beneficial to their people. A typical Nigerian lawmaker can best be compared to a malfunctioning robot that operates at the mercy of the executive.
In some Muslim and Christian communities, Friday and Sunday sermons, preaching are becoming political time bombs, leading to hate. Both Islam and Christianity preach peace, love and justice, but some Clerics and Clergies twist religious emotion to stoke division for personal interest.
The Holy Qur’an is clear in Surah Al-Baqarah Chapter 2:256: “There is no compulsion in religion……” and in Surah Al-Hujurat Chapter 49:11, “Do not ridicule others, perhaps they may be better than you.” Using the Mosque or Church as a launching pad for ethnic or sectarian hatred is a gross betrayal of the Qur’anic call to justice (Surah An-Nahl 16:90).
In the corporate space, several founders/chief executive officers act like demi-gods to their workers. Staff are dehumanized. Terms of engagement are ignored. Unalloyed loyalty is demanded, but dignity withheld. Workers are treated as dispensable tools. Yet, in the Holy Bible in James 5:4 it is said: “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out against you……” This too is oppression——-just dressed in corporate suits.
In the academia, Vice chancellors have created fiefdoms within ivory towers. Professors are intimidated and threatened. Research is politicized. Critical thought is suppressed. Instead of nurturing minds, many academic institutions have become echo chambers for mediocrity and arrogance. The very institutions meant to challenge power now replicate its worst forms.
Women and youth are also frequent victims of abuse by the political class as the youth are now destructive tools for the use of politicians. Universities where older professors insult the younger ones, and governments that tokenize young people while excluding them from inclusion in decision making——all point to a systematic collapse.
In both political and ecclesiastical systems, the wisest victims are often the most marginalized. The Constitution in Section 39 guarantees freedom of expression, yet those who speak truth to power are forcefully silenced. Religious leaders with vision are intimidated, frustrated and punished. Activists with integrity, courage, and zeal are sidelined, discarded, and treated as second-class citizens while employees with sound ideas are overlooked and frustrated.
But here lies the irony, those in authority quietly rely more on the very people they suppress and treat as second-class citizens. In times of trouble, they rush to shrines, marabouts, prophets and cultists for divine intervention.
Presidents, Governors and the others in authority always turn to technocrats for solutions. Entrepreneurs scramble for talent after stifling creativity. Because power, when stripped of wisdom, cannot sustain itself.
In the present APC style of politics and governance, power has transformed to privately-owned property forgetting that power is a sacred trust not a personal inheritance for willful abuse.
In Romans chapter 13:1 of the Christian scripture, it is said:”there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Yet, divine authority is always tempered by justice, mercy, and humility (Micah 6:8).
Accountability in leadership is also an Islamic central ethic. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW), said: “Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for his flock.”(Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
Therefore, as Nigerians continue to endure artificially created hardship under a claimed Renewed Hope Agenda, those in leadership should know that restraint is not weakness. It is strength under control for unity. Listening is not believing or surrendering, but a wise way of planning a counter. Dialogue is not defiance; it is democratic oxygen for the booming machine. But as impoverished people, we must stand and challenge the use of poverty and insecurity as political weapons against our existence.
APC brand of governance has introduced the purchase of loyalty with hunger, unemployment and poverty. Those interested in accessing what ordinarily belongs to them have to praise sing and behave clownishly before accessing their right.
In our Nigeria of today, Churches teach survival, not empowerment. Muslims build structures not job creations. Our future cannot rise on a foundation of economic servitude.
2027 is most ideal for Nigerians to redefine power—-not as the ability to silence, suspend or suppress, but as the courage to lead with integrity, humility, and wisdom. To our political leaders, including the President, Governors and others in authority, governance is a trust not a tyrant. They are bound by the Constitution and answerable to the people. Power is not in detaining and jailing critics or silencing protests. Power is in building systems that protect rights and preserve dignity.
Today in Nigeria, we must confront a sobering reality: power without knowledge is reckless, and knowledge without power is vulnerable. The Nigeria we hope to rebuild——across governance, faith, education, and economy—–can only rise when power and wisdom embrace which is not achievable under APC.
Nigeria needs new generation of leaders with listening ears to the people, act justly, and lead humbly. Leaders who have the fear of God deeply rooted in their hearts, not pretenders shouting Hallelujah or Allahu Akbar while doing the opposite in leadership! Until we unanimously change the claimed Renewed Hope Agents, we shall remain trapped in a loop of oppression masked as order, charisma mistaken for character and baseless noise without results.
But with a strong opposition, full determination and sincerity of purpose, and if we choose to have leaders in power with the quality of listening, and blessed with the wisdom to lead, APC has no business to remain in power it can be uprooted from governance with a fiat and sanity restored.
And those of us the governed, we must repent from sycophancy and praise singing what we should ordinarily rebuke. We should not clap when we should question. We should not enable tyranny through silence. Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God!
Within two years in power, Nigerians have expressed disappointment with the Tinubu brand of governance tailored to favoring his regional interest only against national interest. The democracy has been thrown into a free for all fight master minded by Tinubu’s wild dog, Nyeson Wike. Should Nigerians remain aloof while watching their existence under serious threat of annihilation in a democracy? 2027 has the answer!
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
