THE BREAKING of Fast is a sacred act! Whether during Lent or Ramadan, it is a moment of deep reflection, humility and gratitude!
However, on the night of Monday, February 23, 2026, at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja; where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu held an interfaith breaking of fast, attended by 20 governors, two deputy governors from across political divides and top government officials, it was anything but sacred. What ought to have been a solemn occasion for deeper, realistic reflection on the very difficult challenges facing Nigeria, Mr President instead weaponised the occasion as a platform for political fantasy.
“We are out of the woods; we are out of the dark tunnel of uncertainty,” Mr President stated, and with an impersonal tone, he admitted complaints alongside progress, as he admonished the governors: “The result of hard work is more work…, as long as we bridge together and we move together and determine to rescue THIS COUNTRY, the best is yet to come to Nigeria.”
Speaking on the naughty issue of insecurity, Mr President reaffirmed a key promise: “To those unemployed, what I promise we will establish state police to combat securities [sic] in our local governments” as he also called for unity, sacrifice, and inclusivity during the coinciding Ramadan and Lent periods.
Before the Mr President’s seeming profanity, Governor Hope Uzodinma, acting as the chorus in this Nigerian version of Greek tragedy, hailed the President for, amongst other things, his “inclusivity” and “ingenuity” regarding his ‘new reform policies’.
To sit in the luxurious Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, surrounded by governors and praise-singers, breaking fast with sumptuous meals cooked with public funds and proclaiming that the “best is yet to come” while the masses are being ground into dust by these very unthoughtful policies, is a spectacle of staggering insensitivity.
“My brother governors will continue to partner you. We have appreciated the new reform policies you’ve given to state governments to operate, the support and the interventions, the ingenuity you have brought to bear, and the new tax reform you’ve introduced. We pray to Almighty God to give you strength, good health, stronger wisdom in navigating the access of the country. We continue to pledge our loyalty, to the glory of Almighty God,” Governor Uzodinma, who represented Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara State as Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), stated.
With the greatest possible respect to the offices they hold, this is not optimism; but rather a hallucination. To tell Nigerians that we are “out of the woods” while the country is both literally and metaphorically engulfed in flames is either a profound detachment from reality or a calculated insult to the intelligence and sensibilities of the citizenry. If the prevailing scenarios in Nigeria could be termed “out of the woods”, then one shudders to imagine what the President assumes is crisis.
For NATIONAL RECORD, Nigeria is not only deep in the woods, but wood that is burning. As Mr President and Governor Uzodinma pontificate on the politics and dynamics of meaning, kidnappers, bandits and Islamist jihadists are painting Nigeria’s countryside red.
Perhaps, Mr President needs to be reminded that just days before this infamous declaration, armed men killed at least 38 people in the village of Dutse Dan Ajiya in Zamfara State. This followed attacks on several villages in neighbouring Kebbi State by the Lakurawa jihadist group, which left dozens dead. Before then, dozens of residents of Woro Community in Kaiama LGA of Kwara were massacred, several others wounded, with almost the entire community razed.
Global agencies have noted that since 2009, the jihadist insurgency has left more than 40,000 dead and two million displaced. These are not mere statistics; they are Nigerians. They are the people that Mr President, and his predecessors swore to protect. To, therefore, claim that “We are out of the woods; we are out of the dark tunnel of uncertainty”, when families are still being massacred in their sleep, when farmers cannot go to their farms, forcing the US to conduct airstrikes on Nigerian soil (on Christmas Day, no less) to combat the terror Nigeria as a sovereign cannot contain, is absolutely ludicrous.
It is worthy of note that Mr President’s promise of “state police” at the breaking of fast dinner is a worn-out record played at every banquet to placate a populace ceaselessly terrified and traumatised by the prowling demons of insecurity in the face of endless economic hardship. This promise is therefore no longer a useful policy but a hopeless lullaby.
Every day, Nigerians are insulted with a barrage of indicators alleging macro-economic growth, offering cold and hopeless comfort to a population that has been pushed to the brink. This, more often than not, serve as rubbing salt and pepper in the wounds created by persistently worsening cost-of-living crisis. While official statistics seem to show improvement, the reality on the ground is always that our political economy remains in the woods, especially since the removal of the fuel subsidy – the cornerstone of this government’s “reforms”, which unleashed inflationary pressures that have eroded incomes and pushed more than three quarters of the population into penury.
The worsening economic condition is further aggravated by this administration’s debt mountain of approximately N152 trillion. This is such that the 10th Senate – unfortunately the most pliable since 1999 – recently subjected Tinubu’s economic team to about five hours of grilling over what lawmakers described as “recurring unrealistic budget assumptions”. Even Mr President’s own ministers admit that oil production targets of 1.84 million barrels per day are a “stretch target”. To stretch the truth is one thing; to snap it entirely and declare victory is another.
Is it not in the context of all these that the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) warned that the economy is at a “tipping point”? They caution that the next 18 months will determine whether we consolidate gains or slide back into inflation and currency weakness. Is this the language of a nation that is “out of the woods”? No, it is the language of a nation in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), fighting for its life.
The darkness Nigerians face is not a metaphor. It is the darkness of a petrol pump where a litre of fuel, despite recent marginal drops, still hovers at rates marginally lower than what it was soon after Mr President’s proclamation that “subsidy is gone!” It is the darkness of factories shutting down because diesel is too expensive with little or no alternative energy. It is the darkness of small business owners watching their lives’ savings evaporate as the currency crashes.
To sit in the luxurious Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, surrounded by governors and praise-singers, breaking fast with sumptuous meals cooked with public funds and proclaiming that the “best is yet to come” while the masses are being ground into dust by these very unthoughtful policies, is a spectacle of staggering insensitivity.
Besides, Governor Uzodinma knows that his assertion that Mr President “deliberately remove[ed] politics from core issues of governance” is completely false! The politics of survival has defined and continues to be the core of this administration. Yes, Mr President’s focus has been on winning the next election, on consolidating power, on ensuring loyalty, rather than on the grim, unglamorous work of securing lives and providing relief for the battered and beleaguered masses.
Mr President had in his remark asked for unity and sacrifice. Th truth is that Nigerians have sacrificed, and continue to do so – with their savings, their comfort, their security; and for many, their lives – from Benue to Borno, Kaduna to Katsina, Kebbi to Kogi and Kwara; Niger to Plateau, and Zamfara to Yobe.
But Mr President ought to know, more than anyone, being the Commander-in-Chief, that sacrifice demands purpose! It demands a commander, a leader who acknowledges the depth of the pain, not one who merely stands by the graves of the dead wishing them heavenly peace, or telling the wounded and declaring them healed.
Mr President, Nigeria is not out of the woods! Nigeria is lost deep in the forest, bleeding, while the guides – Mr President and Mr Governors – argue over the direction using maps drawn in the sand. Until our leaders stop dining on flattery and start feasting on the hard truths of our nation’s desperation, the wood will only get thicker and the tunnel darker.
