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Thank you Engr. Habu F Dauda MoiSoro for sharing TINUBU – The Turmoil and the Agenda, published March 9, 2024. I found it to be one of the most stirring, brutally honest, insightful, and necessary pieces of civic reflection I’ve read in recent times. It balances critique with a rare kind of constructive patriotism—one that doesn’t just point fingers at leadership but turns the mirror squarely on all of us as citizens. The article should be made available to a much wider audience and made compulsory reading for all politicians/political office holders.

Reading this, I was struck by the profound resonance of the W.E.B. Du Bois quote that opens the piece. It’s a sobering reminder that real national prosperity is not found in stock market figures or GDP growth but in the wellbeing of the most vulnerable people in society. In Nigeria, that wellbeing has been systematically eroded over decades—not by fate or foreign actors alone, but by our own hands, our own choices, our own silences. This erosion of wellbeing has resulted in tens of millions trapped in multidimensional poverty. The largest number in the world and in the history of Nigeria.

What I appreciate most is how the article confronts the painful truth that corruption in Nigeria is no longer an aberration; it has become a system of governance, a culture, and tragically, a national identity marker. The statement “the only system that works in Nigeria is corruption” isn’t just hyperbole—it’s a bitter but accurate diagnosis. The pervasive stranglehood that corruption has in Nigeria is such that the saying “If you can’t beat them, join them” is the only way to survive.

And yet, despite this bleak outlook, the piece refuses to surrender to cynicism. Instead, it calls on President Tinubu—and indeed, all of us—to awaken to a sense of duty that transcends slogans, optics, and publicity stunts. It reminds us that change does not happen through charisma, ethnicity, or regional patronage—but through institutions that function, laws that are obeyed, and leaders who understand that power is a trust, not a prize once attained to be abused recklessly.

Yes, Tinubu faces a monumental task, and yes, he must rise above ego, partisanship, sycophants, and regional bias if he is to succeed. But the more urgent question, perhaps, is this: are we ready to rise with him? Are we ready to stop romanticising past strongmen, to stop exchanging integrity for tribal loyalty, to stop normalising mediocrity, incompetence, nepotism, and cronyism in public service?

If this article serves as a wake-up call to the government, it should also serve as one to the citizenry. We must demand more, not just from Tinubu, but from ourselves. We must rebuild a civic culture where the rule of law is not optional, where accountability is not just for our enemies, and where patriotism means more than singing the anthem or waving the flag—it must mean sacrifice, responsibility, and unrelenting truth-telling.

I respect and honour the forthrightness, courage, and vision of the article. The Nigeria it envisions many still believe in. But belief is no longer enough. Now is the time for action—principled, united, and relentless.

Let the Renewed Hope Agenda succeed. But let it be owned not only by Tinubu or his administration. Let it be owned by every Nigerian who dares to hope again—and who is willing to work for that hope.

Thank you, Hf Dauda MoiSoro, for shining a torchlight helping us to see more clearly where we are coming from and where we should be heading as a country.

Onyemaechi P. Obikwu

BSc (Hons), Adv. Diplo., UK QTS, PGCert., MA.