By Musa Bakare
There is a recurring script in Nigeria’s politics , a tired, predictable cycle where yesterday’s failures dress up as today’s saviors. Each time the nation begins to find its footing, the same discredited actors crawl out of the shadows, rebranded, repackaged, and rehearsed, preaching redemption they never practiced.
Under the convenient banner of rescuing Nigeria,
familiar faces, veterans of misrule are asking Nigerians to forget history and suspend memory. But Nigerians are asking the only question that matters: rescue Nigeria from whom and by whom ?
They held power. They controlled resources. They dictated policy. They had their moment, decades of it. And what did Nigeria get in return ?
Weak institutions. Entrenched corruption. Crippled infrastructure. Broken trust. They did not rescue Nigeria then. They ran it aground.
Now, they return with polished speeches and recycled slogans, hoping desperation will erase memory. But this time, Nigerians are watching with clearer eyes.
Leadership is not proven by promises. It is measured by records. And their records are not hidden in archives; they are written in the daily struggles of Nigerians, unpaid salaries, petrol scarcity, insecurity, collapsing systems, and economic pain and hardship.
These are not accusations. They are lived realities.
When these same figures speak of rescue, Nigerians will respond with doubt and suspicion, not applause.
Nigeria has outgrown political amnesia. The electorate is no longer captive to empty rhetoric or elite conspiracies stitched together in backroom deals. Under President Tinubu, across the country, a new consciousness is rising, one that demands credibility over convenience, performance over propaganda.
Nigeria cannot move forward by recycling failure. What we are seeing in them is not a rescue mission. It is a reunion of relevance seekers, a coalition driven not by vision, but by ambition; not by patriotism, but by proximity to power.
Nigerians are clearly seeing through it. At this critical juncture, the country cannot afford another experiment with recycled leadership. The stakes are too high. The consequences too severe.
Continuity matters. Stability matters. The very loudable reform Progress must not be allowed to be sabotaged by those who once derailed it.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated what decisive leadership looks like in difficult times. With the reforms and the renewed hope agenda, Nigerians are now very convinced that the direction is clear, and the resolve is firm.
Nigeria will no longer gamble its future on those whose past already failed the test.
This is bigger than personality. It is about principle. It is about a nation choosing between forward motion and backward repetition.
The responsibility now rests with Nigerians to remember, to question, and to reject deception in all its new disguises.
Nigeria deserves builders, not rebuilders of the damages they created. The message from a growing number of Nigerians is unmistakable:
We are not going back to the past failure. The era of blind trust is over. The era of accountability is here.
President Tinubu till 2031….
– Musa Asiru Bakare, an APC Foundation Member and Political Analyst, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
