By Musa Bakare
Some Nigerian critics no longer critique with conscience but attack with venom, their opposition born not of conviction but inner wounds.
Critics are vital for accountability, but a dangerous breed now poisons discourse. Their anger isn’t against injustice but life itself. Every leader is corrupt, every policy evil, every progress a lie. Even truth emerges cloaked in hostility.
Bitterness clouds perception, turning valid arguments into vendettas. The bitter critic mistakes shouting for courage, using activism to echo personal pain. The reformer uses facts; the bitter critic uses insults. One seeks to heal, the other to hurt.
On social media, bitterness spreads faster than wisdom. Commentators weaponize half truths, ridiculing progress simply because it wasn’t their idea, loud but hollow.
A society celebrating bitterness loses its moral compass. Constructive criticism builds democracy; destructive criticism destroys faith in it.
Mandela and Soyinka suffered injustice yet became voices of healing, proving one can confront wrong without being consumed.
Nigeria needs critics who challenge with facts, not fury; who applaud what works and expose what fails without bias.
President Tinubu has faced waves of criticism yet never let anger define his purpose, that’s why he remains a winner.
Opposition isn’t enmity. You don’t hate your country to correct it. Before correcting society, confront your own wounds, a healed heart speaks clearly; a bitter one speaks vengeance.
Nigeria’s democracy needs nobility, not noise, critics who build bridges, correct without cursing, and question without hatred.
– Musa Asiru Bakare, a political analyst, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
