Unimaginative Outrage: The Obsession with Tinubu’s Past While Nigeria’s Real Thieves Walk Free

Let me begin by saying this plainly: the uproar over a decades-old U.S. court order to unearth President Bola Tinubu’s past is nothing but a spectacular distraction. It is the kind of sensationalism that keeps Nigerians chasing shadows while the real looters—our governors and the system that enables them—continue their feast unchallenged. I will not entertain any nonsensical Sunday defense for any Nigeria governor. 70% of Nigeria's problems are on the governors; 10% on the president, 20% on civil servants and corporate hooligans in telecoms, cable TV, banks, hospitality, movie industry, health care etc. who steal from the people with alcoholic braggadocio. 

FOSEA index that checks the performance of governors yearly.

First, let us acknowledge what this administration has achieved, however modest. Southern Kaduna, once a killing field, now breathes fragile peace. Fuel queues, that eternal symbol of our dysfunction, have been Jagabanized. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, whether you love or hate it, is at least happening—a break from our tradition of abandoned projects. The twin-market currency rackets are over. The recent Fitch upgrade from B- to B tells us the world is noticing changes even if we refuse to. And let us not forget the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on local government autonomy, a rare victory for accountability. These are not miracles, but they are steps. Bold steps by the Jagaban of Borgu. 

Yet, here we are, frothing at the mouth over a thirty-year-old allegation from America's FBI while the men who steal billions from our states and local governments laugh behind their tinted windows. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Let me ask you: when was the last time you held your governor accountable? Do you even know his name beyond the occasional headline? Do you know how much your state collects monthly, how much disappears, and how much is spent on the meaningless ceremonies they call "projects"?

The truth is this: Tinubu, for all his flaws, is a fraction of the problem. The real thieves are the governors—those emperors who treat state treasuries like personal ATMs. Remember what they did to our palliatives during the pandemic? They control the bulk of Nigeria’s resources, yet their states remain wastelands of poverty and decay. They collect billions in internally generated revenue and federal allocations, yet hospitals crumble, schools are death traps, and roads dissolve into craters the moment they are built. Some collect N25 billion, but report N15 billion. Some refuse to do anything tangible apart from pay salary. Some even borrow for the state and use same to buy hotels and airlines abroad. 

Imagine if your governor invested in electric buses for every community, properly secured and tracked, instead of wasting billions on convoys of bulletproof SUVs. Would kidnappers still be able to snatch buses full of passengers if every vehicle was monitored, if forests were patrolled with drones, CCTV/IOT and technology?

Imagine if your governor built factories in every local government, partnered with real investors, and created jobs instead of handing out crumbs during elections. Would unemployment still be the ticking bomb it is today?

Imagine if your governor copied Malaysia’s agricultural model instead of stealing fertilizer funds. Would we still be begging for food, watching prices climb while warehouses rot with hoarded grain?

The answers are obvious.

Yet, we prefer the drama of foreign courts and ancient scandals because it is easier than facing the rot at home. We scream about Tinubu’s past while the men who steal our future walk among us, untouched, unashamed. 

America will not save us. No foreign court will fix Nigeria. The change we need will not come from FBI files or leaked documents. It will come when we stop clapping for thieves in agbada and start demanding answers from the men who rule our states like personal fiefdoms.

Let your post every morning be about your governor. After God, the next is the governor of your state. People like Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all our relations and country men who were in the diaspora and are still there face hell and pain toiling. They face hell because of bad governors who can't build health care systems that can pay our doctors and nurses. Between 1980 and 1999 most of our people in the diaspora were pushed out by the military junta. The military stole Nigeria to incongruous levels of "Nzuzu Ka Iberibe", turned our youth into drug dealers, fraudsters, thieves, and we are still facing same today. 

So before you celebrate the exposure of one man’s old sins, ask yourself: what have you done about the thieves in your own backyard?

The real outrage is not in America’s courtrooms. It is in our silence. Our social media posts are just so bereft of wisdom and vision. Are you people seeing at all? 

SEE.