In what has become a tiresome national comedy show, the All Progressives Congress (APC) continues to deliver masterclasses in hypocrisy, nepotism, and elite capture, while ordinary Nigerians are told to “hustle” by frying akara and selling kulikuli. The latest episodes are too loud to ignore.
Ganduje’s daughter and Senator Wamakko’s son sit comfortably as directors in the North-West Development Commission. Akpabio’s daughter has been smoothly cleared by the Senate as a board member of the South-South Development Commission. Wike is allegedly using his son to corner prime lands in Abuja. Umahi’s child is already a local government chairman, and reports indicate that at least 14 former governors under the APC umbrella have successfully installed their children in the House of Representatives. This is not governance. This is generational wealth transfer dressed up as “service to the nation.”
While these privileged children collect appointments, fat allowances, and influence before many Nigerians secure their first job, the same APC-led government presides over an economy that has brought untold hardship to millions. Inflation is punishing, fuel prices keep climbing, the naira has taken repeated beatings, insecurity is worsening, and basic survival has become a daily struggle for the average family. Yet the official advice from some quarters appears to be: “Go and fry akara. Sell kulikuli. Stop complaining.”
This is the same party that stormed into power in 2015, waving the banner of “change” and promising to fight corruption and elite arrogance. Today, it has perfected the very sins it once condemned. The children and relatives of the powerful are fast-tracked into positions of authority and comfort, while the masses are lectured on resilience and patience. The message is clear: “Our own must eat first. Yours? Figure it out.”
What makes this spectacle particularly nauseating is the army of social media defenders who rush to justify it. “It’s their turn!” “The opposition is worse!” “Body go tell am!” These gullible cheerleaders, many of whom cannot afford three square meals a day and are not even on a reliable salary payroll, continue to defend an administration that has offered them nothing in return. They attack critics while their heroes’ children are busy “representing” them from air-conditioned offices and choice properties.
To compound the injury, the APC government has accumulated crushing loans from the World Bank and other foreign creditors — debts so massive that the fifth and sixth generations of Nigerians may not be able to repay them. Poverty is deepening, insecurity is spreading, and the future of millions is being mortgaged, all while the political elite insulate their own families from the pain.
This is not leadership. It is predation wrapped in party colours. The APC has successfully converted public institutions into family enterprises, and every new commission or agency becomes another opportunity to settle its own. The rest of Nigeria can queue for palliatives, burn precious fuel in traffic, or join the akara business.
Nigeria deserves better than this embarrassing spectacle of “do as I say, not as I do.” The APC’s brand of progressivism has become progress for the connected few and pain for the many. Supporters can keep gaslighting the public, but the numbers do not lie, the appointments do not lie, the debt does not lie, and the suffering on the streets does not lie.
Until this culture of shameless nepotism and elite insulation is confronted, Nigeria will remain a laughing stock — a nation where the children of leaders thrive while the children of the led are told to go and fry akara.
The joke has gone on long enough.
Signed:
Comrade James Onifade
Advocacy for Good Governance and Judicial Reform
