Diana Ross's lyric phrases in her album Upside Down : “Upside ‑ down, … inside ‑ out … round and round ” , reflects Nigeria's national mood shaped by years of corruption and misgovernance. It captures a condition. A lived experience. It mirrors the dizzying spin that Nigerians have been forced into by decades of corruption, misgovernance, and institutional decay. Nigeria’s leaders have not merely failed; they have inverted the very logic of governance. What should lift the people up has instead turned them upside‑down. What should stabilize their lives has twisted them inside‑out. And what should move the nation forward has left citizens running “round and round” in circles: exhausted, disoriented, and unsure of where the next step leads. A Nation in Perpetual Spin Corruption in Nigeria is not an occasional misstep; it is a system, a culture, a rhythm that plays on loop. According to Transparency International, Nigeria ranks among the top quarter of the most corrupt coun...
In Julius Caesar , Act 1, Scene 1, the tribunes Flavius and Marullus confront the Roman plebeians who have rushed into the streets to celebrate Caesar’s triumph. In frustration at their fickleness and blind adoration, Marullus thunders: “You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!” ( Julius Caesar , Act 1, Scene 1) It is a rebuke not only of the people’s forgetfulness but of their willingness to surrender their agency to spectacle and power. Shakespeare’s line, though centuries old, echoes eerily across the Nigerian sociopolitical landscape today. The Nigerian Political Class and the Roman Illusion Nigeria’s political elite often behave as though the masses exist solely to applaud them. Their motorcades demand instant reverence. Their speeches assume unquestioned loyalty. Their campaigns rely on the predictable choreography of crowds, dancing, chanting, waving flags, and lining the streets like the Roman plebeians who abandoned their work to celebrate Caesar. Th...