From June 12 To Emilokan: How Nigeria Lost Trust In Politics

Ajouté : 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. It's another Sunday and time for breakfast extra. My name is Mazino Appeal. Let's get started because it's going to be a very long monologue this morning. So, apparently Nigerian politics has entered its Avengers assemble phase once again because depending on which headline you've been reading over the past one week there talks, movements, meetings, strategic alignments, consultations, realignments, possible alliances and ongoing discussions involving Peter Obi and Rabi Quanquaso which you have heard by now. Former PDP figures are also still trying APC defections, coalition movements, and also enough political negotiation to power an entire season of Fuji House of Commotion. If you don't remember that, then you're Gen Z. In any case, at this point, Nigerian politicians change parties the way Nigerians change network providers because everybody is steady looking for where the network is strongest. And honestly, if you're confused about who belongs to which party, especially as the deadline has just elapsed, well, relax because you are not alone, Michael Jackson, because one minute somebody is in APC and the next minute they're in PDP, on Thursday they're in ADC and by the weekend before the end of the 10th, look, NDC.

[00:01:09]Nigerian politics now resembles that friend who keeps announcing breakups online and then they are posting matching pajama with the same partner after every two weeks. But ladies and gentlemen, beneath all the defections, the alliances, there's a deeper story.

[00:01:25]One that did not start today. Because you see, Nigeria has always had a very interesting relationship with politics.

[00:01:32]We like to behave like as if every election is a fresh start. It really isn't. And I'll break it down for you because if you look carefully, Nigerian politics is really just musical chairs at your friend's birthday party. It's just a different music every single year. Because before APC, before PDP, before Labor Party, before NNPP, before obedience, Nigeria already had the habit of recycling political power through new arrangements. And honestly, maybe it started from the way the country itself was formed. that I'm not talking about independence at 1960. I'm talking about 1914 part one. 1914 the British joined together the northern and southern protectorates merging different people, different cultures and different political systems all into one country and they called it Nigeria. And essentially they said best of luck you guys. It's like as if you put three different families inside of one house and the landlord says hey you guys are going to figure it out by yourself. And ever since then, Nigerian politics has largely been one long argument over who gets power, who keeps power, and who's going to share that power. See, at independence in 1960, Nigerians had massive potential. We had a huge uh population. We had natural resources. We had intelligent people everywhere. We looked like as if we were a future powerhouse, a superpower for Africa just waiting to happen. And then we started to do politics in Wazobia because the north well they feared domination domination. The south they feared control and the west the west feared its own shadow and before long it degraded into military rule because by January 15th 1966 soldiers entered into the chat room and once soldiers enter inside anything it's rarely very difficult for you to see them leaving quietly. They don't. And that period actually traumatized Nigeria because military rule teaches society certain habits. It teaches them strong man thinking, top tobottom power dynamics, institutions becoming weaker than individuals.

[00:03:43]And [snorts] those habits never really left us even inside of democracy. And here is part two. Then came June 12. And honestly, you can't understand modern Nigerian politics uh political frustration if you don't understand the June 12th concept because Nigerians actually for once believed their votes were going to count. For the very first time, many would argue for the only time, by the way, Nigerians actually voted against religious and regional biases. Nigerians actually put trust in a system that actually required trust itself for it to work.

[00:04:20]Then the election was analled like that because if you remember Maradona did what Maradona does aka IBB Ibrahim Badamasi Babanga and when he did that something broke psychologically inside of every Nigerian. It taught Nigerians that even when democracy speaks clearly power can still ignore it. So Nigeria has never healed from that wound. We still suffer from it today. It's like a festering open wound that refuses to heal no matter what application you put on it. And honestly, it stinks to high heavens. Then somehow, and many say by luck, democracy returned in 1999 and PDP dominated Nigeria for 16 straight good years. And this is important because that period made power seem hereditary.

[00:05:08]It was PDP backto back for four terms.

[00:05:10]They became so dominant that opposition parties started looking like as if they were just decorations on a Christmas tree. They were just simply there for fancy. But while PDP controlled Abuja, something else was happening quietly in Lagos. A political structure was being built patiently over time by Ba Amed Tinubu. And no matter what anybody thinks about Tinubu politically, one thing is difficult to ignore or deny.

[00:05:36]The man understands structure. And I'm not talking about social media structure. I'm not talking about trending topic structure. I'm not talking about PDP existing structure.

[00:05:47]I'm talking about real political structure, allies, governors, party systems, loyalty networks. Tinu worked like a farmer who was planting seeds that he would eventually one day relax under trees that would shade him from the sun and provide fruit for his well sustained ambition. And eventually that long-term investment produced one famous phrase along with a couple of others.

[00:06:12]Balablau town hall but Amy Luk.

[00:06:16]It's my turn. And indeed it came to pass. Now Nigerians laughed at it. But underneath the memes was a very brutally honest description of how many politicians in Nigeria actually view power in this country. They don't view it as simply service, but as political entitlement that's earned over time.

[00:06:38]Welcome to part three. Because after all of this, after military rule, after June 12, after 16 years uninterrupted of the PDP, after APC arrived promising change, something else started happening in Nigeria. Fatigue. You can feel it. I'm feeling it. Political fatigue. You could feel it everywhere. fuel scarcity, assu strikes, Japa conversations, dollar anxiety, power outages, security fears.

[00:07:03]I can go on. And perhaps most dangerously, a growing feeling among many Nigerians that politics had become one big recycling plant. Same name, same network, same promises, just new slogans every single new year or every four years. And at some point, Nigerians stopped asking who has the best ideas.

[00:07:24]And then they started asking a very interesting question.

[00:07:28]who has not disappointed us yet.

[00:07:32]And that frustration created a vacuum and politics as you know it hates a vacuum. So in 2023, Peter Obi stopped looking like just another candidate and started looking like an outlet for national frustration especially among young Nigerians and many voters in the south. And not necessarily because Nigerians believed that politicians were saints because I mean Nigerians are not that innocent. But because many people were tired, they were tired of recycling. Tired of excuses, tired of hearing next level renewed hope, transformation, change.

[00:08:06]And when their actual daily experiences were actually well generators outside your window like aeroplane engines and at the same time in the north Rabu Quankaso maintained a very strong grassroot influence through the Quanka movement. And this is where things actually become very interesting in this narrative because suddenly Nigerian opposition or opposition politics started looking less like ideology and like accumulated frustration searching for direction and everybody started speaking the language of guess what coalition.

[00:08:42]But once coalition enters any Nigerian politics confusion is always next door.

[00:08:48]Because coalition season in Nigeria is like watching exes reunite at your grandma's burial ceremony. Each one arriving in their own self-styled asho and everybody suddenly remembers that we're friends all over again. People who spent years insulting each other begin speaking about national interest.

[00:09:04]Politicians who called each other disasters suddenly become my there brother. And Nigerians are left there still trying to remember. Wait, sorry. I I thought they were fighting just last year. And this is why many Nigerians now sound less excited during election seasons and more emotionally cautious because somehow the same national problems remain standing there like uninvited guests at grandma's reception.

[00:09:30]There's electricity, there's security, there's jobs, there's corruption, there's governance issues and institutions failing. So maybe the real issue now is not whether another coalition can defeat another party.

[00:09:46]Maybe the deeper question is whether Nigeria can finally build a political culture where institutions matter more than personalities.

[00:09:55]Where governance matters more than strategy. Where elections are not merely negotiations between elite political networks changing jerseys every single four years. Because if we're being honest, Nigeria, Nigeria does not suffer from a lack of politics. This country has plenty of politics. What Nigeria Nigerians are searching for now is something much harder, but very simple.

[00:10:22]Trust. And until that trust returns, it's still going to continue being that merrygoround that we've seen every single four years. Congratulations, Nigeria. After yesterday, you can't switch political parties. We're set for 2027, but same players. Welcome. This is Breakfast Extra. Like I said from before, my name is Mazino Appeal and Queen Celestine. [laughter] >> My dear brother, how are you?

[00:10:54]>> Don't brother zoom me.

[00:10:56]>> My dear brother.

[00:10:58]>> But the deadline has passed. May 10th, midnight. Finally. Hey. Or is it today?

[00:11:02]Today's the >> Today is 10th. So I think it's it's tonight then >> and then we're locked in for 2027.

[00:11:08]>> Well, we're kind of in the same team. So yes, but >> are we >> amazing monologue? Neo Central is the team, remember?

[00:11:14]>> Oh, yes. Yes. We're we're not changing from NC to NTA or R TV. Sorry. Let's start the show before this becomes car crash television. We'll be back with all the conversations. Stay with us.

[00:11:24]>> All right.

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