I watched the ADC declaration with mild amusement.
Not because it was impressive, but because of how easily applause came.
Party faithfuls are often eager to hear what confirms their hopes, not what challenges their thinking.
Peter Obi speaks in numbers.
He always has.
Numbers can be useful.
They can also mislead when stripped of context.
In this instance, many of them did.
Nigeria importing rice from Bangladesh or Indonesia does not automatically mean Nigeria is poorer than those countries.
Trade is not a poverty ranking.
It is shaped by policy choices, subsidies, exchange rates, and consumption habits.
None of this was addressed.
Conclusions were announced without the hard work that should support them.
The Rwanda example followed the same pattern.
A comparison of GDP figures taken from different periods, presented as proof of national failure.
There was no discussion of cost of living.
No reference to debt burdens.
No acknowledgement of Rwanda’s political structure or the limits of its democratic space.
Development is not a slogan.
It is an ecosystem.
The applause was predictable.
Obi was among familiar figures.
Many of them have held power before.
Some presided over years Nigerians would rather forget.
David Mark leading ADC is not renewal. It is continuity under a different banner.
Obi’s political journey has also become difficult to defend.
APGA to PDP. PDP to Labour. Labour to ADC.
Each move framed as principled.
Each departure leaving confusion behind.
These parties existed before him.
He did not build them.
He passed through them.
Then he moved on.
The man love awoof.😂
Yet he now argues that Nigeria is drifting toward a one party state and places the blame elsewhere.
That claim does not hold.
No ruling party forced him to abandon APGA.
No external hand broke PDP apart.
Labour’s crisis was homegrown.
Political decay often begins inside the house.
What was most striking was the lingering anger.
Years after the election, the sense of grievance remains strong.
Claims of a stolen victory continue, despite evidence that showed clear limits to his electoral reach.
Leadership requires the ability to accept loss, learn from it, and move forward without resentment.
I am cautious of leaders who lean too heavily on books, professors, and foreign examples.
Nigeria is not a classroom exercise. It is a complicated country with its own stubborn realities.
Progress here demands adaptation, not imitation.
Since 2023, the current administration has chosen difficult reforms over comfort.
Fuel subsidies were removed at a cost.
Tax structures are being reorganised.
Gas is being treated as a strategic resource.
Infrastructure plans are ambitious.
These are not academic ideas.
They are policy decisions with real consequences.
Obi does not engage these choices directly. He dismisses them. That is not rigorous opposition. It is avoidance.
ADC is unlikely to become his political home.
It will probably be another stop along the way.
Influence there will rest where it usually does, with established power brokers.
If past experience is any guide, Obi will circle the centre without controlling it.
Nigeria does not need another travelling candidate armed with selective figures and recycled anger.
It needs patience, memory, and leaders willing to confront reality as it is, not as applause would prefer it to be.
“Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” – Max Weber.
© TayọLawaL ✍️
manteedetlaw@gmail.com
Thursday 1st, January 2026.
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