Ab Tom ✍️
Politics in Nigeria has perfected a strange magic. It is not the magic of transformation through reflection or principle. It is the sudden miracle that happens the moment power opens its doors and appointments begin to circulate. In this theatre, convictions are sometimes treated like borrowed clothes. They are worn loudly while in opposition and quietly returned once the comfort of government offices becomes available.
Take the case of Daniel Bwala and his cohort, Reno Omokri. Not too long ago, Daniel was one of the loudest critics of the ruling All Progressives Congress government and the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. His words were sharp. His criticism was relentless. He spoke with the precision and confidence of a man who seemed convinced that the system was failing Nigerians and that it was his duty to expose it.
Many Nigerians listened to him and believed him. He appeared to represent what a public critic should be. Fearless. Direct. Unapologetic.
Then something happened. In what Nigerian politics likes to dress up as political realignment, the critic crossed the line and joined the very establishment he once condemned with such intensity. Suddenly the same government he once dismantled with arguments became worthy of defense. The same policies he once described as disastrous began to sound reasonable. What once looked like failure began to look like a strategy.
It is difficult not to see the irony. When a man who once sounded like the conscience of the public suddenly begins to speak like the voice of the government he once attacked, questions naturally arise. Was the criticism truly about the people, or was it simply the prelude to negotiation? In my honest view, this is the tragedy of transactional politics. When critics abandon their convictions the moment power beckons, they do not merely damage their credibility. They weaken public trust in the entire idea of political accountability. A critic who trades principle for proximity to power risks becomes a living example of the very problem he once claimed to fight.
But there is another story that deserves attention. The story of Ini Ememobong presents a striking contrast.
Rising from SA, Student Affairs, to the State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party to Commissioner for Information and later becoming the Commissioner for Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport and now serving as the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong has built a reputation that stands on something increasingly rare in Nigerian politics. Consistency.
In a system where many political actors treat their convictions like negotiable contracts, Ememobong has shown the stubborn courage to remain where his principles placed him. He has been a vocal critic of the policies and direction of the present government, and he has not hidden his position.
What makes this remarkable is the quiet story often told within political circles. It is widely believed that the present APC government, both in the state and federal, was willing to make a bigger room for him if he chose to cross over. In Nigerian politics, that kind of invitation is rarely empty. Positions, influence, and privileges can appear quickly for those willing to adjust their convictions.
Yet he refused.
For him the reasoning appears simple and powerful. If a government represents what you believe to be the source of the hardship Nigerians are experiencing today, joining it simply for personal comfort would be a betrayal of the very people you claim to speak for.
That decision, in my view, is precisely what public criticism should look like. Criticism must not be a bargaining chip. It must not be a ladder that critics climb only to kick away once they reach the top.
Ini Ememobong may not be perfect, but he represents something Nigerian politics desperately needs. A critic who understands that integrity is not measured by how loudly you attack power but by whether you maintain your position when power attempts to seduce you.
In a political culture crowded with transactional actors, he stands out as an example that younger commentators and public critics should emulate. A man who appears determined to say that black is black and white is white, regardless of who is sitting in government.
And perhaps that is the real fire burning beneath this conversation. The difference between a critic who fights for the public and a critic who negotiates with power.
Nigeria has seen too many of the latter.
What the country requires more of are people like Ini Ememobong, who understand that the true test of a public voice is not how fiercely it speaks against power but how firmly it refuses to surrender its principles when power comes knocking.
Abasiubong Tom ✍️
