Good morning,
It began with a father. He took his three children: 11-year-old twins Joshua and Jacob, and five-year-old Blessing, to a farm in Ondo. They did not come home; their bodies were found near a river. The police are investigating. The father is burying his children. It is the kind of story that should stop a nation in its tracks. Instead, we scroll past it to the next video.
And there are so many videos. A viral clip shows Nigerian soldiers under intense gunfire in the North-East, scrambling behind an armoured vehicle as thick smoke engulfs the scene. Insurgents used IEDs to sow confusion before closing in. The location is unconfirmed. The danger is not. While troops bleed in the bush, another video shows a police officer smoking ‘colos’ while on duty. When a civilian tried to record, another officer shielded his colleague from the camera. Some called it brotherhood; the rest of us see a cover-up.
Meanwhile, helicopters and thousands of troops descended on Mushin in one of the largest anti-drug operations in Lagos history. The state is deploying its full arsenal. But the war on drugs is being fought on multiple fronts. The NDLEA intercepted a 20,000-litre fuel tanker fitted with a concealed compartment carrying 2,145kg of cannabis. In Lagos, the agency seized 966,200 Tramadol tablets valued at over ₦1.1 billion, and 598kg of cannabis-laced cookies and gummies at Tincan Port.
In Kano, the Hisbah Board arrested 22 suspects, including 10 women and 12 men, over an alleged attempt to organise an illegal event. The deputy commander-general said some of the men were “effeminate” and the women were suspected to be sex workers. The arrests raise serious questions about the role of religious police in a supposedly secular state. The board is enforcing its moral code. But what happens when morality becomes a weapon? The arrests are a reminder that in Nigeria, state-sanctioned morality often targets the most vulnerable, and human rights are the first casualty. The question is whether people will see the arrests as justice or overreach.
In Ebonyi, the First Lady’s TikTok dance challenge has sparked backlash, with critics questioning the administration’s priorities amid a state grappling with 16.7% out-of-school children and a ₦55.7 billion airport that has remained largely unused. And Uber’s exit has transformed Nigeria’s ride-hailing market into a two-horse race between Bolt and inDrive. Pop-up registration centres have sprung up across Lagos and Abuja, offering instant sign-up bonuses and reduced commissions. The battle is on.
Three siblings dead. Twenty-two arrested for morality. Soldiers under fire. A police officer smoking on duty. A First Lady dancing. A ride-hailing war. These are not separate stories. They are the same story: a country where the state fails the vulnerable, enforces morality, fights wars it cannot win, and watches as its institutions crumble. The question is whether we will build a country that works, or simply watch the next tragedy unfold.
Warmly,
Lolade