Wike says Tinubu is the only leader with courage. I beg to differ.

Nyesom Wike was in Abuja on Tuesday doing what he does best, defending President Bola Tinubu with the kind of passion that makes you wonder if he is angling for something. At his monthly media briefing, the FCT Minister declared that Tinubu is the only credible leadership option for Nigeria, the only one with the courage to fix this country. He specifically praised the removal of the petrol subsidy, calling it the boldest decision any president has taken in decades.

Now, I am a lawyer, I deal in evidence, and the evidence on the ground does not match Wike's enthusiasm. He said, and I quote, "Asiwaju is the only person we have now. He has not done everything, and nobody says he has, but he has shown the courage to take decisions others refused to take. Give him credit for that." He also called the subsidy regime "a cancer" and claimed that states are now receiving more money, that pensioners are being paid, and that governors no longer queue before bank managers to borrow money for salaries. Maybe that is true in Rivers State, or wherever he is looking from, but here in Lagos, the story is different. Market women in Mile 12 are not celebrating increased allocations, they are calculating how to feed their children with less. The transport unions are not praising the courage of subsidy removal, they are hiking fares every week.

Wike argues that problems accumulated over 15 years cannot be solved in one year, that healing takes time. Fine. But courage is not just about taking an unpopular decision, it is about having a plan to cushion the fallout. Removing subsidy without functional refineries or a robust public transport system is not courage, it is recklessness dressed in fine cloth. I respect Wike's political sagacity, the man knows how to play the game, but to say Tinubu is the only leader with courage is to insult every Nigerian who has been sacked, every small business owner who has closed shop, every parent who cannot pay school fees. Be honest, is this really courage, or is it just the courage to inflict pain without a safety net?