15/02/2026
*When Survival Replaces Vision: The Tragedy of Nigeria’s Politics*
In the heat-soaked air of a restless nation, the drums of politics never stop beating. They thunder through the streets of Nigeria, echoing promises, slogans, and the familiar chorus of “change.” Yet beneath the noise, beneath the banners and convoys, lies a quiet ache, the ache of a country led too often by men who mistake survival for vision.
They have mastered the art of staying afloat, not by building boats for everyone, but by drilling holes in every other vessel.
The tragedy is not that power exists. The tragedy is that power so often finds its way into the hands of those without foresight, men who calculate the next election but never the next generation. They survive not because they are indispensable, but because too many valuable individuals refuse to swim in muddy waters. Good people hesitate to lie. Competent people hesitate to forge. Principled people hesitate to bribe or blackmail. And so the field is left to those who do not hesitate at all.
And when one of them falls; suddenly, dramatically, the same system that enabled him rises to sing his praises.
But who speaks of the whispered stories? The evils, the intimidation, lies, forgery just name it
Silence becomes patriotic.
And so the pattern continues.
I remember the story half rumor, half confession of Rochas Okorocha asking Ahmad Lawan how to enter the Senate without passing through a primary election, yes it was joked by Rochas but was it not a reality? But even as a joke, it was not how to win hearts. But how to bypass the gate. How to outmaneuver the rules.
Like Godswill.
Like David
Like Lawal.
Like many
Different names. Same template.
They do not plant trees. They search for shortcuts to shade.
And yet, somewhere beyond the glare of Abuja’s polished floors, something else has been happening. Competent men and women, the quiet builders, have been nurturing structures at the grassroots like we did in 2023. They have been organizing communities, strengthening alternative platforms, and rebuilding faith in smaller rooms. Parties like the African Democratic Congress and others have seen hands that actually understand systems, policy, and sacrifice.
But foresight is not contagious among those who fear losing relevance.
When the grand halls they currently occupy begin to tremble, when their alliances collapse under the weight of their own contradictions, they will not reflect. They will not reform. They will flock. They will migrate toward whatever structure shows promise. And if entry requires integrity, they will attempt forgery. If tickets are scarce, they will manufacture them.
Because survival, to them, is the only ideology.
The real tragedy is not that these politicians exist. Every nation has its opportunists. The tragedy is that citizens grow accustomed to them. We normalize the absurd. We romanticize the fallen. We forget too quickly.
Valuable individuals must decide whether staying clean on the sidelines is still noble when the field is burning. Refusing to play dirty is honorable, but abandoning the game entirely allows dirt to define the rules.
Nigeria does not lack brilliance. It lacks the courage to defend it consistently.
And until foresight becomes more valuable than maneuvering until character outweighs convenience, until we stop praising the moon and start questioning the shadows beneath it, the cycle will continue.
Names will change.
Positions will rotate.
But the script will remain the same.
Unless the audience finally refuses to clap.
