By Okechukwu Nwanguma
When the Tinubu Presidency describes defectors from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as “desperate politicians seeking power not for the service of Nigerians but for selfish ambition,” one might ask — how are those who stayed behind any different?
What tangible difference has the current crop of APC leaders in government made in the lives, welfare, and security of ordinary Nigerians?
Since assuming power, the Tinubu administration has struggled to inspire confidence. The cost of living has soared, insecurity remains rampant, and citizens have become victims of a government that seems increasingly distant from their pain. If those who left APC are accused of desperation, what shall we call those who remain — complicit enablers?
The Presidency’s statement, delivered through Bayo Onanuga — once a celebrated journalist and patriot of the pro-democracy movement — reeks of irony. Onanuga, like many others who once risked their freedom and lives to fight military dictatorship in Nigeria, has today become a mouthpiece for ethnic bigotry and political intolerance. The transformation is not only disheartening, it is disgraceful.
Nigerians must no longer be distracted by the internal squabbles of politicians who have no ideological grounding, no moral compass, and no commitment to national service. The noisy defections and counter-accusations between APC and ADC defectors are nothing more than a battle of bruised egos and lost patronage.
Rotimi Amaechi, Abubakar Malami, Hadi Sirika, Rauf Aregbesola, Kashim Imam, and John Odigie-Oyegun — are they suddenly patriots because they’ve defected? Certainly not. Many of them played central roles in the rot that defines today’s Nigeria. But neither can those still within APC — the ones issuing statements and firing cheap political shots — claim any moral superiority.
What separates those who left from those who stayed? Nothing but the comfort of power and the fear of political irrelevance.
It is high time Nigerians stopped hoping for redemption from within this political class — whether APC, ADC, PDP, or their alphabet soup of opportunistic platforms. The tragedy of Nigerian politics is not just the existence of bad leaders, but the lack of principled alternatives.
The Tinubu presidency, through Onanuga’s voice, warns us to “keep our eyes wide open” because the ADC-led coalition is a gathering of selfish individuals. On this point, he may well be right — but what he fails to admit is that the same accusation applies — word for word — to those currently occupying Aso Rock and state houses across the country.
We, the people, must now do what these politicians fear most: organize, not agonize. We must take back our country from the elite cabal of recycled actors who jump parties and shift alliances only to protect their privileges, not to advance our collective good.
We must build a new political consciousness — one rooted in accountability, citizen power, and truth. Not in tribal loyalty or media propaganda. Not in shouting matches between yesterday’s allies turned today’s enemies.
Until we remove our hopes from the hands of the unpatriotic, self-serving political elite — both ruling and opposition — and create a credible alternative powered by civic vigilance and youth-led engagement, Nigeria will remain trapped in this cycle of betrayal and broken promises.
Bayo Onanuga and his former comrades in the struggle did not fight the military only to become democratic tyrants. Nigerians must remind them — and all politicians — that power belongs not to party loyalists but to the people.
Okechukwu Nwanguma is Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Centre (RoLAC)
