By Darlington Onyebuchi Agoha
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!For a decade, Nigeria has been trapped in a relentless relay race of incompetence. The baton—laden with debt, insecurity, and economic stagnation—was passed from the lethargic hands of Muhammadu Buhari to the turbulent grip of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Same party, same promises, yet a deeper pit for the common man.
The Buhari Era: The Great Slumber
We waited for a General; instead, we got a statue. Buhari’s eight years were defined by “the wait.” We waited for the naira to stabilise, for refineries to function, and for bandits to be “crushed.” Instead, we witnessed a government that mastered the art of blaming the past while mortgaging the future through unprecedented “Ways and Means” borrowing.
Buhari did not lead; he presided over a slow-motion decline, shielded by a wall of official silence, while the middle class steadily disappeared.
The Tinubu Era: The Blitzkrieg of Pain
If Buhari was a slow leak, Tinubu is a burst pipe. With the abrupt declaration that “subsidy is gone” and the implementation of a “floating naira,” the current administration has achieved in months what typically takes struggling states years: a near-total erosion of purchasing power.
Citizens were urged to “let the poor breathe,” yet the only thing expanding is the price of basic commodities. This is not “bold reform”; it is economic experimentation on a vulnerable population without an adequate safety net.
As of April 2026, Nigeria faces a staggering ₦68.3 trillion budget, one that threatens to plunge the country deeper into debt. While the government touts “progress,” inflation has climbed to 15.38%, driven largely by rising domestic fuel costs amid global economic shocks.
The APC Constant: One Name, Two Disasters
The tragedy lies not only in failing policies but in the arrogance that accompanies them. Under Buhari, it was the arrogance of indifference; under Tinubu, it is the arrogance of “Renewed Hope” that increasingly feels like “Renewed Hardship.”
Insecurity remains deeply entrenched. Analysts describe Nigeria’s security framework as reactive rather than preventive. From student abductions in Benue to the evacuation of personnel by the U.S. Embassy over a “deteriorating security situation,” the signals are unmistakable: the state is steadily losing control.
The Question for Nigerians
At what point does “patience” become “complicity”? Citizens are urged to endure for “long-term gains,” yet, as the saying goes, in the long run, we are all dead.
The All Progressives Congress has had a decade to articulate and implement its vision. If this reality—where debt servicing rivals capital expenditure and basic survival becomes a luxury—is that vision, then it is time to confront an uncomfortable truth: a nation cannot progress under leadership that appears disconnected from its people’s hardship.
*Darlington Onyebuchi Agoha is a Political Analyst and Public Interest Advocate.
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