RESCUING THE NIGERIAN MIND FROM THE MANUFACTURED DESPAIR OF SOWORE: A New Week, A Renewed Hope

By Adeniran Taiwo Olugbenga

As a new week unfolds, may we all find strength in the small wins, courage in the tough moments, and vision in the face of uncertainty. In these trying times, *hope is not a luxury—it is a lifeline*. It is what keeps the market woman going. It’s what fuels the youth learning a skill despite the odds.

And so, while we cherish and nurture this fragile yet vital hope daily, we must stay vigilant.

Because *there is a dangerous kind of leadership that doesn’t seek to build—but to break. Not to inspire—but to inflame. Not to organize the people—but to outrage them endlessly.*

This is the consciousness that *Omoyele Sowore* is manufacturing and marketing to young Nigerians—a consciousness built not on the audacity of progress, but on an addiction to the production of despair. He displayed this fully in his recent video, where his ego seemed desperate to overrun history itself. If we don’t confront this distortion, we risk raising a generation more fluent in anger than in answers.

*Ògá Omoyele Sowore speaks often and loudly.* But if you listen closely, beneath the shouting and performance, there’s very little there.

He calls Nigeria “hell”—yet he has repeatedly asked to be elected its president. *What kind of man seeks to lead a people he already considers condemned?* He says, “Hope is not enough.” But what does he offer in its place? Nothing. *No policy. No plan. No substance.* Just more of the same ego-driven disruption masquerading as people’s struggle.

He mocks Nigerians who hold onto hope, as though it’s naïve or laughable. Just imagine, how can a sane human being captioned a video on his X handle as _”Hope As The Only Strategy Would Keep Leading Nigeria To Tragedy”_ But let’s be clear ògá: *hope is not weakness*. Hope is often the first resource of the poor and the last defense of the determined.

He jettison the fact that, hope is what fuels the girl in Osogbo learning graphic design on a borrowed phone. Hope is what pushes the mechanic in Kaduna studying coding at night. Hope is the fire behind *Tunde Onakoya*, who came from nothing and gave thousands of children a future using nothing but chess and conviction.

When he denounces hope as spiritual fluff—equating it to some far-off dream of “going to heaven”—he erases every successful movement in history that began with belief and paired it with strategy. Bros *Movements don’t start with policy—they start with conviction. With a reason to try*. Hope, when followed by thoughtful action, has changed nations.

But when Sowore speaks, we get no action plan. No roadmap. *No timelines. No benchmarks. No accountability. Just theatre.* He cloaks his negativity in the urgency of moral crisis, not to inspire reform, but to attract attention.

And that is what he refuses to admit: *his business is built on despair*. If Nigerians begin to believe in themselves, he loses his microphone. That’s why he must keep calling this nation hell. That’s why he cannot afford to speak in specifics—only in perpetual crisis.

He dodges questions about his presidential ambitions with vague teases: _“we’ll come back when we’re ready.”_ Ready for what, exactly? Ready to finally offer an idea with structure? Ready to give us more than declarations of doom and martyrdom?

The simple truth again is, this man *Sowore thrives on dysfunction.* Not because he wants to fix it, but because it’s the only stage big enough for his ego. He builds no schools, he heals no wounds, and he crafts no solutions. *He only reminds us how broken everything is, then asks us to hand him the keys to the country.*

But *Nigeria is not a prop in your skirts*. We are not here for his performance.

Our pain is real—but so is our resilience. What we need now is not more noise, not more rage-filled tweets or protest theatrics. We need people who do the work: quietly, consistently, and humbly. People who know how to rise from the mud and build bridges with their bare hands. People who create possibility from nothing, not performance from pain.

So let Sowore keep talking. Let him keep preaching his gospel of hopelessness. Let him keep shouting into microphones that no longer inspire.

The rest of us are busy making progress, step by imperfect step. We keep HOPE alive and everyday we renew it.

Because we do not need another loud critic with no plan.

We need vision.
We need truth.
We need builders.

And on that front, Daddy 🤣 Omoyele Sowore has already failed. Spectacularly.

Written by: Adeniran Taiwo Olugbenga
_(A Citizen Who Refuses to Be Silent or Manipulated)_