Politics
Reno Omokri, Time to Free Peter Obi, by Idegu Ojonugwa Shadrach
Reno Omokri, Time to Free Peter Obi, by Idegu Ojonugwa Shadrach
I could recall how you extensively supported His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the last presidential election with solid facts. However, four of the leading candidates of last presidential election – their Excellencies: Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Bola Tinubu of APC, Peter Obi of LP and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of NNPP are well-known politicians. Atiku Abubakar, your preferred candidate is a national leader. Bola Tinubu, who is now a national leader, was then, a regional leader whereas Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso remained state leaders until 2023 presidential election. The aftermaths of the last presidential election, have set president Tinubu, Mr. Peter Obi and Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso into national leaders. This is Nigeria. All our past leaders and incumbent leaders have stains on their public imagines due to wrong decisions taken while serving.
I do read you as I always do read few Nigerian intellectuals in my leisure time. I have counted you worth reading following your well-structured lines with facts. To this effect, I have written to you on a request to make possible contributions where necessary as our dear Nigeria is still bleeding. However, as I pen this short note, I haven’t received a response from your end. Pressing further, lately, I become uncomfortable with some of your opinions on the state of Nigeria and, on some of your attacks to, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi. Though, your points are meaningful but I fear if the validity appropriates current situations in Nigeria. Even as you stay far away in United States, the heat in Nigeria is everywhere, which I thought you might feel it as others do. Having seen how you are a role model to some Nigerian youths, it is somehow fearful for the maintenance as recently, you have solely focused on attacking youths with their smallest approach to celebrate their anointed candidate, in the person of Mr. Peter Obi, and on their attempts to criticize President Bola Tinubu administration. To me, I don’t think our current Nigeria need your brain for that. Intellectuals are creatives. Therefore, we need your innovative ideas to set Nigeria standard in this trying time. There is nothing bad about constructive criticisms. You have been proffering solutions to Nigeria’s problems. Why can’t you stop attacking Peter Obi who is now trading harder for his 2027 presidential fate? Is it not better you lead reconciliatory moves between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi on the 2027 presidential election than putting efforts to de-marketing him? Presently, from look of things, plenty Nigerian youths have chosen Peter Obi. It is now better you intelligently push for collaboration of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi than all these attacks. Yes. I do like your preferred candidate, His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for his intelligent and mature display of political involvements. I can’t say, why would he continue to press for the position, and would not like to sponsor a young vibrant and visionary for the position. This is because, there are some ideologies best handled by originators. Hence, I never condemned neither recommended anyone of them during the election, because, none of them has scored the needed political measures.
Intellectual Reno, it would be of great benefits for Nigerians if your preferred candidate for the last general election adopts the character of visiting or sending individuals to condole and support displaced and extremely poor Nigerians as Peter Obi has adopted after the presidential election. Hence, if you want to govern citizens, it is that time you go around to see their problems in order to offer solutions to citizens visited. It shouldn’t be when election is at hand that we begun to see citizens we want to govern. If you love Nigeria, come over so we move many things together, or while staying over there, there are a lot of things to do together from afar that can help. This is what you and Atiku Abubakar must plan to do now. However, I do know that, Atiku Abubakar and you (Reno Omokri) have been doing many things secretly and openly in helping our dear Nigeria. So, both of you must keep doing that until you see the Nigeria you ever anticipated.
One of the reasons I would love you to stop attacking Peter Obi, and to lead a reconciliatory move to align him with Atiku Abubakar, is for a fact that, in a journey to liberate citizens, the fighters must not have in-house problems. On this, you could remember how His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki led groups or movements that overthrew your mentor, His Excellency, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to bring Former president Muhammad Buhari. After the election, neither you nor your mentor attacked them. Even after Muhammad Buhari squarely dealt with the then, Senate President, Sen. Abubakar Bukola Saraki during the tenure, I couldn’t recall if Sen. Saraki attacked Muhammad Buhari. Even president Tinubu has refused to attack his political son, His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who contested the presidential primary election with him, after the election. Though, between them, either it was to perfect political propaganda at the time or not, I don’t care. I think, it is understood that everything happen for reasons. Seriously, since you and your boss left office, Nigeria hasn’t seen better days. So, I am of an opinion that you should discontinue attacking Peter Obi and, to join forces with well-meaning Nigerians to fight for good governance as Nigeria is tremendously suffocating for the underperformance of president Tinubu administration.
Mr. Reno, again; I love the way you openly supported and campaigned for His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with facts is good, and the way Aisha Yesufu rigorously campaigned for His Excellency, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi in the last presidential election. I can see that Aisha Yesufu support for her preferred candidate hasn’t ceased. However, after the election, I have seen that you concentrate more in defending president Tinubu anomalies using mechanisms of comparative templates of other nations that are not having similar or interrelated histories and resources like ours. What has happened? Frantically, it is inappropriate to see an intellectual like you spending quality time on your friend’s woes – that Nigerians are not paying attention to. In the same vein, I think, the helpful and meaningful national tour of His Excellency, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi is selling him for 2027 general election, and your continuous attack on him, which plenty Nigerians don’t react on and which most of Nigerian youths have earmarked as your hatred for him, would continue to market him. That is not necessary at the moment. Nigeria needs your brain for national growth and development – your merit is tremendously acclaimed.
Till my last breath on this planet Earth, I would continue to cherish your existence for helping humanity especially Africans with your business, religious and political ideologies. So, completing what you have started, and knowing you for them before your ripped age to transits to another sphere of life are all I do wish to see and acknowledge, the intellectual Reno Omokri. Nigeria, at the moment needs people behind online pushes. Hence, human rights activists, journalists, intellectuals and visionaries have a lot to offer Nigeria. Critics are more of damage at the moment. We have a lot of people you can collaborate with for better governance in Nigeria. Fact-checking past activities in reflection to present mischievous rules just to attack someone who is doing within his reach to make ideological and pictorial contributions to our dear Nigeria is a waste of time and talent, if not mistaken.
A pastor or anyone indulged in heavenly assignments must not mock and hate. Though, due to some assignments, and a way to get some souls for the Creator, some church workers might involve divergent approaches for that; hoping that the peanut sin, as they regard would be forgiven as it is meant to win souls for God. Intellectual Reno Omokri, you are a pastor, an activist, an author and a political actor. When these are coupled, you are an astute intellectual. One of the appreciated natures of an intellectual is neutrality. Neutrality helps rigidity and validity of morality. Intellectuals are not religious bigots. They trade on truths as accorded by facts and realities. That’s why real intellectuals don’t mock and hate. Because, they believe in natures as a rewarder. So, in reflection, I find it hard to understand what is encouraging your endless attacks on Peter Obi. Plenty Nigerians have acknowledged your recent attacks on Peter Obi as a pure hatred just for contesting under Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election which he proudly became third. And, Peter Obi who won a beautiful third place in an election he hasn’t contested before, who has refused to ignore youths and Nigerians who supported him, and who gathered good advisers and unbiased intellectuals that helped in proceeding to a legal room (court), to me, should not be fully discredited this way. Mind me, I have never supported Peter Obi’s candidacy. Generally, I didn’t support any candidate in the last presidential election. If at all I should do, I would have supported Omoyele Sowore, an activist. Because, I do believe that real activists can be political in the reflection of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and few others. But, as an astute politicians like Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and so many others that are even religious, I don’t believe in their capacity to change lives of displaced and poor citizens totally and without biases as they may be full of social segregations and discriminations. Hence, they have never gone to them with free mind and hearts of helping – as a result of honoring humanity. So, I don’t hesitate to support pure activists, journalists, intellectuals and visionaries as they put societies first.
As it may interest you, no one is perfect. That’s a simple nature of every life on this planet Earth. So, it is not too appropriate you spend your life studying and criticizing who you thought to be better than. It is highly ridiculous. My job is not to dig out or do a comparison of any kind. So, do not wake up to burn precious time in sharing achievements of the four leading presidential candidates of last year election. If I want to know that, I can personally do that. Again, for your vigor support for Atiku Abubakar, has shown how deep-sighted and great you are. For recommending Peter Obi as Atiku Abubakar’s running mate then, is another great thing of yours. This coupled with your intellectual and spokesmanship handles during your mentor’s administration remain huge contributions to a political history of Nigeria. This is what I want you to maintain. Subsequently, you can do more, the intellectual Reno. You can join or build a political powerhouse with some leading Nigerian well-meaning and unbiased intellectuals, human rights activists and journalists in order to make Nigeria go forward as always advocated for.
Though, you are entitled to your decision to do the attacking. I am only obstructing as Nigeria is facing a lot and I would love you to be among saving hands of our dear Nigeria. You have all it takes to join, and to organize well-meaning Nigerians to do something that can curb insecurities and poverty rates in Nigeria. I have moved on the streets and I always go home troubled with what is happening in Nigeria. Following negative effects of poverty in Nigeria at the moment, the rate of which some of our youths who haven’t discovered themselves and don’t believe in themselves have embraced online crimes to get feeding, and some of the housewives who are not patient and faithful are into adultery and, young ladies who are into fornication to get upkeeps is a thing to bother. If we refuse to do something, the intellectual ones among them would plan to take Nigeria unaware in shortest time.
It is a popular notion that, “whatever is worth doing is what doing well”. In my 29 years journey of life, I have seen within the space, how some individuals have achieved whatever they desire, some haven’t achieved but there are promising contents around, and some don’t even show any of these. Yet, no one must give up. Only when an individual become lifeless, can possibly determine ends of the person’s desires. As widely alleged, His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate you supported during last general election is among the category of individuals whose desires are still waiting for completion despite longstanding and great achievements recorded before now. And, only God can stop him. The simple illustration is to make an entry fact that, whatever you have to do wouldn’t stop His Excellency, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi from doing what he desires. Time wasted for attacking him may earn you money. But, no matter how much you may make, wouldn’t fill the space and vacuum created, as it may occur. Be it political as most Nigerians do to earn whatever – I don’t care to know. Rather, I am most concerned for the touch of betrayal and humiliation. Though, the humiliation doesn’t count as all Nigerian politicians are not free from underperforming, and the betrayal doesn’t count as it is a forgivable and one of the cheapest parts of human characters. Productively, becoming a historian for sake of twisted intellectualism, and for uncreative service; but, a means to discharge failures of a particular person in a world that no one is perfect is a call to concern. Henceforth, for a room that we have to whatever – it is becoming an abuse to handle it ineffectively and ineffectually. Forgive my manners, as well. I don’t live a defending life and I don’t spend time on unproductive things. I see this as relatively necessary to address as it is consuming a lot of time – you and others can use to help Nigeria from current dilapidated situations.
The intellectual Reno Omokri, I salute your golden age and I must learn to stop here as I look forward to seeing your favorable mannerisms.
Politics
A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership. By George Omagbemi Sylvester
A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
In a disturbing revelation that should outrage every patriotic Nigerian, civic-tech organization BudgIT has uncovered a monumental financial scandal in the 2025 budget, one that shatters every illusion of fiscal responsibility under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. According to BudgIT’s damning analysis, the National Assembly padded the 2025 Appropriation Act by inserting 11,122 projects worth a staggering ₦6.93 trillion, projects not proposed by any Ministries, Departments or Agencies (MDAs), but smuggled in by lawmakers.
This is not a clerical oversight, but a calculated and treacherous move. More importantly, this raises one inescapable question: Why did President Bola Tinubu sign this fraudulent budget into law if he was genuinely against it? The answer is simple, brutal and damning: because he is part of the collaboration. This is not just corruption, it is institutional betrayal. It is the final confirmation that the war in Nigeria is not between political parties but between the corrupt elite and the suffering Nigerian masses.
The Anatomy of Budget Padding
Let us first understand the scale of this treachery. The 2025 national budget, totalling ₦28.7 trillion, now has nearly 25% padded content, courtesy of lawmakers’ “constituency projects.” These are not national priorities or economically strategic programs. These are politically motivated insertions designed to enrich contractors linked to lawmakers, reward political loyalty and in some cases, simply launder money.
BudgIT revealed that several of these projects are duplicated, vague, inflated or outrightly useless, such as the procurement of hundreds of boreholes and solar streetlights in areas that do not even have roads, schools or hospitals. These are not investments; they are tools of financial cannibalism.
A similar trend happened in previous years, but never on this scale. In 2021, former President Buhari complained that the National Assembly inserted over 1,000 projects worth ₦150 billion. Now, under Tinubu, that figure has ballooned to ₦6.93 trillion; which is nearly forty-six times higher. This is not reform. This is regression at gunpoint.
Tinubu’s Silence is Complicity
To sign such a budget, fully aware of its fraudulent padding, is not a mistake, this is an endorsement. President Tinubu, known for his political astuteness and Machiavellian tactics, cannot claim ignorance. BudgIT’s report was based on public records. If civic groups could uncover this, then surely the Office of the President, with all its resources, was also aware.
Yet, Tinubu raised no alarm. He signed it into law. Why?
Because the padding was politically convenient. This budget is not just a fiscal document, it is a loyalty purchase agreement. As the APC seeks to consolidate power ahead of 2027, especially in light of its underwhelming performance, it is using state resources to bribe lawmakers across party lines. These padded projects are political IOUs for securing second-term endorsements and collapsing opposition platforms.
This is not democratic governance. This is budgetary banditry, orchestrated under the guise of legislative “oversight.”
The Cost to the People
While the so-called leaders gorge themselves on fake projects and fraudulent allocations, ordinary Nigerians are gasping for breath. Inflation is above 33%, food inflation is at 40%, unemployment remains sky-high and naira continues to hemorrhage value, trading at nearly ₦1,500 to the dollar. Meanwhile, the masses are told to “tighten their belts” while the political elite expands theirs.
Public infrastructure is collapsing. Schools remain underfunded, hospitals are glorified mortuaries and insecurity has become a permanent fixture. Yet ₦6.93 trillion enough to build 20 world-class universities or electrify entire regions has been carved out as a political slush fund.
Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education and former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, once noted, “The problem with Nigeria is not lack of resources. It is the deliberate theft of the commonwealth by a few.” That is exactly what this budget represents: a theft of historic proportions, blessed by the presidency, executed by lawmakers and paid for by the blood and sweat of ordinary Nigerians.
A Nation Held Hostage
The fundamental betrayal here is not just the money. It is the normalization of impunity. Nigeria has become a hostage state where lawmakers legislate for themselves, the executive protects the corrupt and the judiciary often dances to the tune of power. The 2025 budget saga is not just another scandal, it is a window into how deeply broken the Nigerian state has become.
Even worse is the sheer arrogance with which this fraud is being executed. No lawmaker has denied BudgIT’s report. No investigation has been ordered. The Presidency has remained silent and the APC, whose manifesto once promised “fiscal discipline,” has said nothing.
Silence is not just death anymore, it is endorsement. Every day this padded budget stands unchallenged, democracy dies a little more.
Calls for Action
This cannot be allowed to stand. Civil society must rise. Journalists must demand answers. Every Nigerian must understand that this is not politics this is plunder. The 2025 budget must be reviewed, the padded projects must be removed and those responsible must face prosecution.
Section 81(1) of the Nigerian Constitution empowers the President to prepare and lay before the National Assembly an annual budget. However, it also states in Section 80(4) that “no moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund other than in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.” This legal ambiguity has been weaponized by both the legislature and the executive to enrich themselves while the nation bleeds.
This is where the people must draw the line. Budget padding is not just bad governance, it is treason against the Nigerian people. Those who participate in it, approve it or benefit from it must be named, shamed and prosecuted.
Final Thoughts: Time for a Revolution of Accountability
The time for timid reform is over. Nigeria needs a revolution not of guns, but of accountability, transparency and civic outrage. If the President will not fight corruption, then the people must. If lawmakers will not serve the people, they must be voted out even if it means starting from scratch.
History will not be kind to the collaborators of this budget. And neither should we.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The 2025 budget scandal matters. It is a defining moment in the fight for Nigeria’s soul. And we must not remain silent.
One Voice, One Future: Youth Power for a New Nigeria
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
In the history of nations, there always comes a defining moment when the youth must rise to rescue their future from the grip of complacency, corruption and systemic decay. That moment, for Nigeria, is now. The clarion call is no longer a whisper in the dark, it is a deafening roar echoing across the cities and villages, the streets and campuses and the diaspora. 2027 is not just another election year; it is a generation’s opportunity to reclaim its destiny.
Nigeria, once hailed as the Giant of Africa, is now crawling under the weight of failed leadership, nepotism, economic collapse and insecurity. Over 70% of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 35, this is not a mere statistic; it is a superpower waiting to be activated. Yet, for decades, the same recycled leadership has ruled the country like a private estate, while the youth are sidelined, patronized or pacified with empty slogans.
The Reality: A Nation Betrayed
The facts are brutal and undeniable. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of the fourth quarter of 2024, youth unemployment stood at 42.5%, one of the highest rates globally. Thousands of graduates are turned out yearly into a job market that has nothing to offer them. Our educational institutions are underfunded, with lecturers going on endless strikes, while billions of naira are siphoned into the offshore accounts of corrupt politicians.
The World Bank states that over 40% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, with youth bearing the brunt of the economic despair. The same youth are used during elections as pawns, thugs, online propagandists and cheerleaders for politicians who have never and will never fight for their future.
We must say: “Enough is Enough.”
The Power of Youth: A Sleeping Giant
Across Africa, the story is changing. Youth-led movements are challenging old orders and shaking the foundations of outdated governance systems.
In Uganda, Bobi Wine, a musician turned politician, galvanized millions of youth to challenge President Museveni’s long-standing dictatorship. While he didn’t win the election, he ignited a flame of hope. In Sudan, youth were at the center of the 2019 revolution that ousted the 30-year regime of Omar al-Bashir.
As Nelson Mandela once said, “Youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow.” But as things stand in Nigeria, tomorrow never seems to come, unless we seize it.
In 2020, during the #EndSARS movement, we saw a glimpse of what a united, tech savvy and courageous Nigerian youth can achieve. For once, the world stood still as Nigerian youth organized without a central leadership structure, crowd funded, coordinated logistics, engaged in civic education and peacefully demanded justice. Despite the violent crackdown at Lekki Tollgate, the spirit of resistance lives on.
2027: The Youth Mandate
If we are serious about change, then 2027 must be our electoral revolution. Not through violence, but through strategic mobilization, political education, voter registration and active participation in the democratic process.
Let us be clear: the days of apathy are over. As the African proverb goes, “He who is not part of the solution is part of the problem.”
Youth must no longer be mere spectators or online critics; we must become candidates, campaigners, policy drafters, party leaders, election monitors and political donors. Our demographic power must translate into voting power and our voting power must produce accountable leadership.
According to INEC, less than 35% of youth eligible to vote actually did so in the 2023 elections. This is a travesty. With over 90 million Nigerians under 40, if even 50% of us vote smartly and strategically in 2027, we can turn the tide.
Towards a National Youth Alliance
What we need now is not another party, we need a movement, a coalition, a National Youth Alliance that transcends ethnicity, religion and class.
A youth amalgamation that brings together student unions, tech entrepreneurs, young professionals, artisans, artists, athletes, activists and influencers. A youth vanguard that builds structures, fields candidates, protects votes and holds leaders accountable.
We must engage in issue based politics, not stomach infrastructure or tribal loyalties. The youth must demand answers to the questions that matter:
“Why are over 10 million Nigerian children out of school?”
“Why does Nigeria remain the poverty capital of the world, according to the Brookings Institution?”
“Why is our minimum wage ₦70,000 when a bag of rice is over ₦70,000?”
“Why are lawmakers earning ₦30 million monthly while civil servants are owed arrears?”
The late Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader, once said, “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.” We need a bit of that madness, the madness to challenge the status quo, to think differently and to act boldly.
From Hashtags to Ballot Boxes
It is not enough to trend on Twitter or rant on TikTok, social media is powerful, yes I agree, but it is not a substitute for civic engagement; we need to bridge the gap between online activism and offline results.
Youths must start at the grassroots to win local government seats, state assemblies and build a pipeline of leadership that is tested and accountable. The #NotTooYoungToRun Act must not be a symbolic victory; it must be a political weapon in our hands.
Let us support credible youth candidates with our time, resources and platforms. Let us organize town hall meetings, debates and policy hackathons. Let us raise funds, build apps to track campaign promises and expose corrupt leaders.
As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, “When we refuse to engage in politics, we end up being governed by our inferiors.”
Time for Tangible Action
It is time for each Nigerian youth to ask themselves: What am I doing today to secure my tomorrow? Are we registering to vote? Are we sensitizing our peers? Are we demanding better governance at the community level?
We must begin to think long term, beyond 2027. The goal is not just to elect a few fresh faces. The goal is to build a sustainable youth-driven democratic culture where excellence not ethnicity, becomes the metric of leadership.
Let us stop romanticizing suffering. Nigeria has the talent, the resources and the manpower to be great. What we lack is visionary leadership and that is what we must now provide.
Final Words: A Movement, not a Moment
This is a movement, not a moment. It will require sacrifice, unity and strategy. There will be obstacles, betrayals and frustrations. But we must remain focused.
As the Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah declared: “The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.” Likewise, any victory in 2027 will be meaningless unless it sets off a chain reaction of liberation, innovation and transformation across all levels of Nigerian society.
So, dear patriotic Nigerian youth; RISE! This is your time… Your country needs you more than ever.
Don’t wait for change, be the change.
Together, we can make a difference.
#YouthFor2027 #NationalAllianceNow #SecureTheFuture #NigeriaDeservesBetter
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