Good morning,
A group of runners showed up at PTI Junction in Warri on Wednesday expecting a 5-kilometre Independence Day run. They were handed green polo shirts by a group called Soft Nigeria. Inside the branding, hidden against the fabric, was the face of President Bola Tinubu. They found it. They tore the shirts apart. Some set them on fire. Then they chanted “OBI! OBI! OBI!” and walked away from the run entirely. In Abuja, a community festival at Monoliza collapsed the same way, after APC-linked organisers tried to turn a shared space into a rally. Two cities, two events, one message: Independence Day is not a campaign stop. If the 2027 campaign has already been rejected on the streets, the parties should be paying attention.
The same week, the machinery of the state was busy being embarrassed by its own paperwork. Adeniyi Adeyemi has been charged with eight counts of forgery and impersonation for allegedly running a fictitious agency called the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council since 2024. Prosecutors say he forged an appointment letter purportedly from President Tinubu, obtained office space at the federal secretariat, requested staff deployments, and secured a budget allocation of about $1 million. He pleaded not guilty and was remanded until 12 October. Either the forgery was sophisticated enough to fool the system, or the system did not check. Both possibilities are troubling.
On the economic side, the numbers are moving in two directions at once. The Federal Government’s electricity subsidy obligation fell 35.27 per cent to ₦679.58 billion in the first half of 2026, down from ₦1.05 trillion in the same period last year, as NERC reports seven DisCos remitting in full while Kano, Jos and Kaduna lag below 70 per cent. NIPOST has launched a national digital postcode system, assigning every addressable building a unique 11-character code, to tackle between ₦50 billion and ₦80 billion in annual delivery losses. And Mafab Communications is seeking NCC approval to transfer its 5G spectrum to MTN Nigeria, which already holds 51.8 per cent of the active mobile market. More capacity for the leader, fewer independent players for everyone else. The regulator has a choice between efficient spectrum use and genuine competition.
On Independence Day itself, the President hosted the national premiere of MKO, a documentary on Moshood Abiola and the June 12 struggle, at the Wole Soyinka Centre in Lagos, with Akpabio, Sanwo-Olu, Gbajabiamila and several governors in attendance. It was a reminder of a stolen mandate and a man who died in custody for it. Meanwhile, three men who want to govern Lagos shared a stage at The Platform. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour promised 100,000 housing units and free ward-level skills training. Obafemi Hamzat, the incumbent deputy, promised to abolish unauthorised levies and roadside collections. Funso Doherty rounded out the field. Three plans, three versions of Lagos, one question: which one will voters actually get? In the South-East, the answer came with violence. Gunmen attacked two Lagos-bound buses on the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway at about 5:30 am on Independence Day, robbing passengers and dragging them into the bush. Soldiers entered the forest. The victims are still missing.
A run that became a protest. A fake agency that got a budget. A subsidy that is falling but not gone. A postcode for a country that still gives directions by mango trees. A documentary about a stolen mandate, screened while the next one is being contested. These are not separate stories. They are the same story: a country where the people are done being treated as props, and the systems are still catching up to them.
Warmly,
Lolade