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 ...
By Abioye Tosin Lawrence Ekiti and Osun are neighbors, yet their political markets tell two very different tales. Like twin towns with the same surname but different destinies, one is alive with bargaining voices while the other looks like a bazaar after fire, its walls standing, its stalls intact, but its energy consumed by smoke and ash. In Ekiti, politics has rhythm. The market is awake, traders sharpening their tongues as much as their cutlasses. Governor Biodun Oyebanji, popularly called BAO, moves about like a returning buyer whose last trade left the sellers satisfied. His gestures are measured, his face familiar, and his presence carries the air of someone who knows both the price of yam and the cost of salt. The whispers in the crowd are clear: he is likely to return to the stall for another round of shopping. But Osun tells another story. If Ekiti’s politics blossoms, Osun’s appears to be in hibernation. The tempo is low, as if the drummer has misplaced his sticks. Her...