Last week, I appeared on Arise TV to complain about the docility of opposition parties and urge Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi – whose presidential candidacies I vigorously supported in 2019 and 2023 – to quit making life too easy for Tinubu and become more aggressive.

Mr Obi was kind enough to visit me at home to explain his position and I have now renewed my allegiance to the Obidient Movement and concluded that different types of strength must be respected.

Obi is self-made in a good way. He didn’t get rich by looting government coffers or scamming anyone or engaging in dubious money-making activities. He had already started to display entrepreneurial genius when he was a university student and is, today, one of the most successful tycoons in this country.

Furthermore, he possesses an authentic aura and charismatic personality that inspired millions of Nigerians to regard him as a messiah of sorts and passionately follow him – without demanding a dime in return – when he aspired to the numero uno slot.

While his rivals frantically threw endless billions at the electorate and political influencers, Obi oozed simplicity and integrity…and wound up winning every single major city in Southern Nigeria, including Lagos, Tinubu’s home turf, and Abuja, the Federal capital.

An amazing achievement like that should never be forgotten. And I apologise for criticising Obi so harshly because a man who can do what he did last year should be hailed for his extraordinary strengths, not scorned for the characteristics he lacks.

After all, I am fearlessly feisty and outspoken by nature. If I put my mind to it, I could become a huge troublemaker and not only organise protest marches but wrestle useless government officials to the ground on a regular basis…both verbally and in writing.

But I don’t have any commercial skills whatsoever or the ability to captivate large swathes of a disillusioned population! And if I don’t have what it takes to become as popular and wealthy as Obi is, why on earth should I expect him to be as combative as I am?

Long story short, the qualities that make you a successful businessman and an icon who is loved by millions are not the same qualities that are needed to beat ruffians in the jungle.

Obi reminds me of my late father, a quintessential gentleman.

We children and our mother were always hassling Daddy to respond more belligerently when assholes stole what belonged to him or tried to crush him.  But he wasn’t ready to be that type of gra-gra person.

We are all different!

And it’s not just about different strengths and different personality types. It is also about recognising that there are different ways of reaching the same destination. And that different people should play different roles during a liberation struggle.

Politics is as much about partnerships as anything else. So let the more radical Obi allies – Dele Farotimi, for example – dish out the unrelenting wahala that needs to be inflicted on the APC!

The bottom line is that all right-minded Nigerians should be worried about the almost unchallenged dominance of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and aware that if care is not taken, Nigerians will sleepwalk their way into one-party state.

This is a nation in the doldrums. As prices skyrocket and the economy in general nosedives, hope dwindles to near-zero. And it’s difficult to avoid the temptation to throw one’s hands up in despair and either japa to overseas or stay here and wallow in depressed, dead-behind-the-eyes cynicism and pessimism.

Nigeria is awash with people who have been betrayed so profoundly and disappointed so often that they have totally lost respect for most of their leaders and no longer believe in the future.

I’m very worried about 2027. 

•President  Bola Tinubu Get a helipad!

Messages from a couple of friends who were in Lagos when President Bola Tinubu went to Lagos for Christmas hols on Wednesday:

“The hold-up the President caused by visiting Lagos at 3:30pm from Abuja is just pure wickedness. His handlers must be totally oblivious to the sufferings of the people. Why can’t the President fly into Lagos at midnight quietly instead of posing for us his conquered people in a convoy of over 60 cars; yes, I asked my boy to count!”

“Yesterday was a nightmare. It took me two hours from in-front of Deli’s supermarket on Akin Adesola to old Nitel on Kingsway Road.

I don’t know why he doesn’t have a helipad in his house. Disrupting people’s lives; the petrol that we struggle to buy, we will now burn it in traffic again because of of him.Truly insane and insensitive.”

So why won’t Mr President get himself a helipad for crying out loud?!

OK, so building a helipad will cost an outrageous sum. I won’t be surprised if they say that the price tag is N50 billion.

But – hey! – we are used to being ripped off and they’re going to collect that money anyway by hook or by crook, so let them spend it on something useful that will make life easier for citizens.