In what appears to be Nigeria’s most dramatic “return on investment” complaint yet, a man on Thursday stormed the All Progressives Congress (APC) national secretariat in Abuja with a message as blunt as it was unsettling: reward me or kill me. The protest, captured in a now-viral video, shows the visibly distressed man holding a placard and demanding recognition for what he described as his personal sacrifices during the party’s 2023 campaign. According to him, loyalty was not just emotional, it was financial, physical, and, ultimately, total. In a country where political support often comes with expectations, some spoken, many implied the man’s outcry reads like a tragic audit of misplaced trust. His claim that he sold his house to fund campaign efforts has not been independently verified, but the symbolism is hard to ignore: a citizen liquidating stability in exchange for promised political dividends. Observers at the scene watched as the protester oscillated between anger and ...
In Nigeria’s politics, the first to escape is called a traitor; the last gets a red carpet.
By Oracle of the grassroots
In the drama called Nigerian politics, survival is not a sin, unless you're the first to act. When Hon. Wole Oke quietly exited the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and boarded the political hot air balloon to safety, they called him names: betrayer, opportunist, defector. But as whispers grow louder that Governor Ademola Adeleke himself may be eyeing a similar journey to the All Progressives Congress (APC), one must ask: is Wole Oke the traitor, or simply the man who read the weather before the storm broke?
Let’s be fair, Wole Oke didn’t jump ship. He ballooned out of a sinking canoe before it became a memorial boat. The PDP, especially in the Southwest, is leaking faster than its members can find buckets. Rather than stay behind to mop floors on a tilting deck, Oke chose strategy over sentiment. That’s not betrayal, that’s political intelligence.
Yet while Oke is being strung up by the morality police of partisan loyalty, Governor Adeleke, the state’s crown prince of choreography, is being whispered about in hushed, forgiving tones. “He has a plan,” they say. “It’s part of a bigger strategy.” The same people who mocked Oke’s foresight are polishing Adeleke’s potential exit as if it’s the Second Coming.
Wole Oke, didn’t get there by waiting for smoke to become fire. He has always understood the political barometer. When the umbrella started leaking beyond repair, he didn’t wait for a rain of disgrace, he ballooned out, softly, quietly, and with purpose.
He won’t be the last.
And when Adeleke finally makes his move, if he does, watch the applause. Watch the headlines. Watch how betrayal suddenly becomes “strategic realignment” and “a necessary step in Osun’s development agenda.”
In the end, Wole Oke may have left first, but history will remember he was among the few with the courage to act early. The others are just waiting for someone to roll out the red carpet and cue the camera.
تعليقات
إرسال تعليق
Join the conversation!
Have insights, corrections, or questions about this news story? Drop your comment below. We value civil, fact-based discussion.