Have we seen enough drama yet?

NIGERIA, especially from the spectrum of the political and security scenes, delivers drama in spades. Scenes from our political and security stages are enough to last us short, combustible and, sometimes, hilarious cycles as we watch one cast or the other do their thing. Nigerians, like the hapless but entertained audience, often watch in utter disbelief as the country rolls from one unabashed scene to another. To some of Nigerians, those of us who are the ordinary Nigerian citizens, the country is limping forward in what appears more like a deliberate spasm – doing so in a continuous reel of endless chicanery by the authorities.

On Thursday, April 16, 2026, the Nigerian media space was flooded with reports of the reintegration of repentant terrorists in a ceremony performed by Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede. The number of the reintegrated terrorists quoted by the media is curiously uneven. Going by media reports, the exact number of the terrorists, who are returning to us in our homes and communities as born-again individuals, is not known to Nigerians. A lot of media outlets reported that there are 744 of them. Some others said in their reports that their number is 747. There is no consensus on their number just as there is no agreement on the rationale behind the odd Operation Safe Corridor which foisted this controversial programme on Nigeria.

Even in his beautiful speech at the reintegration of the repentant terrorists, the Chief of Defence Staff himself would have learnt that the programme is not popular among Nigerians because of how he spoke. He also knows that Nigerians do not feel that they are safe in the same corridor with terrorists who are said to have repented of their terrorism sins. Who they were and what they might have done would remain a distinct scar in the life of their victims, including soldiers. These men would always be like that proverbial piece of faeces at the tip of the plate of gbegiri soup.

General Oluyede warned the clients – the beneficiaries – of the government’s Operation Safe Corridor not to throw away the second chance given to them by Nigeria. By this, it could be inferred that the General and his team knows that these repented terrorists might relapse to their brutal criminality. This thus reinforces the scepticism with which many people take this scheme, and their belief that it amounts to rewarding criminality. It also justifies the fear expressed by those who are not comfortable with the scheme.

A woman who called in to a live radio programme in Ibadan, on Friday, wept through her contribution on the topic of reintegration of repented terrorists into the society. Her consternation was obvious while her quivering voice tried unsuccessfully to bury an experience she could scarcely conceal. Her concern is for Nigerian troops at the forefront of the fight against terrorism; the future of the country and what awaits the younger generation. But are our leaders listening?

The government is not in any way moved by such cries. They are not moved by the plight of the millions of displaced citizens packed IDP camps across the states of northern Nigeria. They are also not worried that insecurity is festering in Nigeria and that there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight. Nigerians are simply left to their worries. The agony of seeing that misnomer they call reintegration of repentant terrorists is such a piercing pain to a huge number of Nigerians.

The Yoruba have a way of tearing down the defences of a man who is tugging at the tail of a tiger in the manner our government does with terrorists in some parts of the country. They would ask him if he had ever seen the remnants of a human the tiger made a meal of. The sight of such is like seeing a repentant terrorist. How could they be trusted after being reintegrated into the society? Which society? The one they had ravaged?

Which law is guiding us to arrive at the decisions on these guys?

The government is not moved by our tearing and wailing. If the government was, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have shown it when he addressed his supporters at a programme held by his City Boy Movement. Rather, he took on his political opponents along with other Nigerians, in a raw display of aloofness. He told his critics to go for “Bola’s eyeglasses” since they have been unable to see the fantastic work his government is doing.

Well…

In another of the scenes of the interesting pieces of drama in our country, we can see the overt interest and speed with which government spokespersons launch defence for a man who has chosen to play the devil’s advocate in the affairs of his political party. Even our president alluded to him in his speech on Thursday.

A political party said they have done one thing to feather their nest as the elections approach, and are happy because they think they have the right evidence to show that they have covered all grounds. But the lone crooked firewood in the bunch insists on ruining their fire, and lead the electorate into confusion.

Instead of our government spokespersons to watch the party’s ordeal from a distance and continue to nurture the pretence that they were a neutral observer, they have become rather curiously dramatic in their own displays too. Those speaking for the government themselves have continued to reel in unmitigated hypocrisy and thereby fuelling the belief among other viewers that they are not a neutral observer in the whole drama.

For instance, no less a personality than the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, wrote in response to a speech delivered at the recent convention of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) by Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, the secretary of the party led by Senator David Mark. In doing so, Mr. Onanuga ignored their roots, forgot the foundation they share and jettisoned their beginnings. He was quick to return the fire Aregbesola released at the convention but didn’t consider where they were coming from.

Yes, Aregbesola took the government Onanuga is serving in to the cleaners. Yes, he spoke like a man embittered by the Tinubu government’s inadequacies in nurturing Nigeria’s economy and the festering insecurity in the country among many other sore but real points. His contention was that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria is an unmitigated failure.

He spoke as a party man. Aregbesola spoke like a leader in the opposition camp who would do everything to nourish his political vehicle and device various means to push their party across the line. It was expected of him to speak in that manner and earn applause. Mr. Onanuga should not have been the one that would descend into the arena with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He should have allowed their own political vehicle, the APC to bear the imprimatur of his thoughts. But the APC and its government revolves around a few individuals and, therefore, Mr. Onanuga seemed helpless. Otherwise, where was the national secretary of the APC? Who is he? What is the duty of the publicity secretary of the ruling party? When does he spend his time and talent? Their names are not out there like the names of the opposition party spokespersons.

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This is a fodder for the argument that everything that happens in the APC flows from the same narrow source; that there is hardly a broad-based pool from where ideas and views are weighed and distributed. The allegation is still out there unchallenged.

If the contention that the APC is a closed group is not true, the response by Mr Onanuga would have been put through some kind of scrutiny by a larger body of party men and women. By so doing, he would not have come as a government spokesperson to attack a man who was there at the beginning of the party he is speaking for. The APC should have been the institution speaking and not the government. Through what Onanuga did, he would attract flaks from everywhere to both the party, on whose behalf he spoke, and the government in which he is involved.

But do they even care?