Kenneth Oghene Walker @kenneace

My full speech at the flag-off of our APC 2027 presidential re-election campaign in Kaduna today. Thank you, Kaduna.

I have been reflecting on what some describe as *mass psychosis” and how it manifests in our everyday lives, particularly in Nigeria. Mass psychosis is not a clinical diagnosis of society, but it is often used to describe a situation where large numbers of people collectively accept, defend or normalise beliefs and behaviours that contradict reason, evidence and their own professed values. We see elements of this in our elections, workplaces, attitudes towards governance, our assessment of the consequences of decisions and actions, and our relationship with corruption. We condemn corruption but celebrate unexplained wealth. We demand credible elections but excuse misconduct when it favours our preferred candidates. We complain about poor leadership while rewarding loyalty over competence. We preach integrity but seek exceptions when the rules become inconvenient. I recently reflected on the proposition that *politics is not controlled by those who vote, but by those who have the money and power to control it.* The influence of money and power begins long before election day, through the control of party structures, candidate selection, campaign financing and networks of influence. Yet, we often become so invested in defending our preferred political actors that we overlook how the choices presented to voters were shaped in the first place. We then defend governance outcomes based on political affiliation rather than their actual impact on households, businesses and society. Over time, these contradictions become normalised. Group loyalty replaces independent judgment, silence becomes self-preservation, and what should be unacceptable gradually becomes the way things are done. The consequences are significant. Institutions weaken, merit suffers, accountability becomes selective, and society spends more energy defending dysfunction than correcting it. Of course, not everyone who accommodates a dysfunctional system believes in it. Fear, economic pressures, personal interests and the need to survive often influence people's choices. From experience, I have learnt that *knowing what is right and being prepared to do what is right are two very different things.* Many people understand the problems perfectly well. The difficulty is often finding the courage, discipline and consistency to act differently, particularly when personal interests are involved. Yet, we must also acknowledge the contradiction society itself has created. We demand honesty, integrity, accountability and moral courage, but frequently punish those who demonstrate these qualities when their actions threaten established interests. Whistleblowers and those who challenge wrongdoing have faced intimidation, professional exclusion, imprisonment and, in some cases, death across the world. Nigeria is no exception. Society has developed a troubling duality in which morality is celebrated in principle but punished in practice, depending on what power requires and whose interests are threatened. This helps explain why silence becomes self-preservation and conformity becomes a survival strategy. We cannot consistently demand that people stand up for what is right while creating systems that reward complicity and make integrity personally ruinous. A society does not have to lose its sense of right and wrong to become dysfunctional. It only has to become comfortable making excuses for what it knows is wrong, while punishing those who refuse to participate. And that is where the real danger lies. 📌 #Reflections #Lessons 'FA

Olufemi AWOYEMI @OlufemiAwoyemi

a day ago

“Politics is not controlled by those who vote. Politics is controlled by those who have money and the power to control.” - Anon. The reality is that the influence of money and power in politics begins long before anyone gets to the polling station. It starts with who gets

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“Politics is not controlled by those who vote. Politics is controlled by those who have money and the power to control.” - Anon. The reality is that the influence of money and power in politics begins long before anyone gets to the polling station. It starts with who gets selected, who controls the party structures, who finances the candidates and who has the networks to make things happen. By the time the electorate gets to vote, much of the groundwork has been done, and the choices available may already have been shaped by those who control the resources. We also know that elections are expensive, and those who fund campaigns rarely do so without expectations. They invest in relationships, access and influence, often expecting returns through appointments, contracts, policies or other advantages. While money alonw may not guarantee victory, it certainly improves the capacity to compete and remain politically relevant. Even 'REVOLUTIONS', when stripped of the feel-good rhetoric, is an outcome of well organised investments. They require leadership, resources, networks, coordination and sustained mobilisation.While people may be angry enough to demand change, anger alone rarely changes anything unless there is the investment in organisation, commitment and capacity to turn that dissatisfaction into meaningful action. None of this makes voting irrelevant. It simply reminds us that political power is shaped long before elections and continues to be negotiated after the results are declared. If we genuinely want better governance, we must pay closer attention to who selects the candidates, who funds their campaigns, whose interests they represent and what happens once they assume office. #Reflections #Lessons

Messi got an ovation from a packed theater in Spain on Friday, with the King and Queen in the room, and he gave it about 30 seconds with his eyes on the floor, fiddling with his jacket button. Then you see who else was on that stage. One of them was Christina Koch. She flew around the Moon back in April, the first woman ever to do it. Three more were the scientists who made reading DNA cheap. Two Cambridge chemists, David Klenerman and Shankar Balasubramanian, plus a French biophysicist named Pascal Mayer. Their work took the cost of reading one full human genome from over a billion dollars and about a decade down to roughly a thousand bucks and a single day. The company the two chemists started became Illumina, and most DNA sequencing on the planet still runs on their method. Studio Ghibli was up there too, the studio behind Spirited Away, along with Patti Smith and the novelist Julian Barnes. Messi was the most famous person in that building by a mile. Spanish reporters in the room said it looked like he didn't want to pull any of the spotlight off everyone else, so he let the applause go and got out of the way. The award is the Princess of Asturias, which people in Spain call the Spanish Nobel. The same foundation honored Nelson Mandela back in 1992. Football has had a weird history with this prize. Brazil's national team won it in 2002, Spain's won in 2010, and Casillas and Xavi shared it in 2012. In 2009 the jury had a Barcelona team that had just won the treble with a 22-year-old Messi, and they voted it out before the final round. A Russian pole vaulter ended up winning. Seventeen years later, he's the first footballer to ever win it by himself. Princess Leonor handed it to him and told the room she wasn't sure anything else on earth could make the whole world feel the same thing at the same moment. He didn't give a speech. A guy with eight Ballon d'Ors was standing next to the people who made the genome cheap to read and a woman who'd just been to the Moon, and he treated his own ovation like he was holding up the line.

Winna F.C. @WinnaFC

3 days ago

🚨| The award Messi won is much bigger than Ballon d'Or.😳

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Ohio! I’m heading to Cleveland for a rally to support @amyactonoh and @SherrodBrown. Make sure you have a plan to vote: IWillVote.com/OH

Played 38. Won 26. Drawn 12. Lost 0. Never to be repeated. Happy Invincibles Day to those who celebrate!

WATCH AND LEARN BEWARE OF FAKE MANUFACTURING AND EXPIRY DATES ON PRODUCTS

Happy Birthday, Sir; BE BLESSED!

Ligue 1 English @Ligue1_ENG

4 days ago

Happy birthday to the legendary Arsène Wenger 🎂🇫🇷

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Pope Leo XIV’s doctors have confirmed that the tumor removed on October 13 was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said on Wednesday evening that a subsequent oncological assessment has confirmed that “no further treatment is necessary.”

В 1994 году США, Россия и Украина подписали соглашение об отказе Украины от ядерного оружия. Украина отдала 4 400 ядерных боеголовок. Взамен США и Россия гарантировали Украине «независимость и существующие границы». Спустя 30 лет один гарант напал, а другой требует капитуляции

@egi_nupe @FinePopo Happy Birthday, Gana; BE BLESSED!

@mobisezeaku God's speed. 🚀✨🙏

There is no leadership quality in Peter Obi that should be earning him 88 percent of votes anywhere. None. The only people who get that number of votes are dictators who write their own results. Since Peter Obi wasn’t running as a dictator, how come 9 of every 10 voter picked him? It wasn’t because of his capacity or competence. Everyone knows this. Everyone, even Obidients. Peter Obi isn’t popular for being competent, that’s why he’d rather Bang la Desh, Indo nay sia than his tenure in Anambra when picking ‘best practice’ examples of good governance. Why was he scoring 88 percent when others were scoring 54 and 51 in comparative votes? That’s the question.

JP Morgan already dropped its FDI of $38 Million to meet capital requirements of a full MERCHANT BANKING LICENSE to commence full operations in Nigeria!!...This is just for license ooo... A whole JP MORGAN!!.....wow! This is huge.🙌🙌🙌 1) More FDI 2) More big ticket deals for viable Nigerian corporates / enterprises 3) Bluechip jobs for Nigerians especially those in investment banking, economics and finance 4) Tax revenue impact for Nigeria This is a huge testament of the validity of President Tinubu's economic reforms.....and support for same. My reasom for supporting reelection of President Tinubu is CLEAR!!

Aptly put.

Gimba Kakanda @gimbakakanda

6 days ago

I wish I knew Mr. Peter Obi’s thought process when he asked Nigerians in the UK not to remit money home, but there could hardly have been a more spectacular way to advertise the poverty of one’s reasoning. I believe that, beyond the black tax, Nigerians sending money back home

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How bitterness can unravel a man’s legacy! For many Nigerians in their late 40s and 50s, who grew up seeing you as one of the great minds of this nation, your recent interventions have become a source of profound disappointment. I only began paying closer attention to you a few years ago, always eager to understand your perspectives and submissions on serious national issues. But increasingly, I find the same old narratives: “I was in a room in Kuala Lumpur… I was coming from Atlanta… We were discussing in London… When I returned from grad school… We had hoped in the ’80s…” Baba, nostalgia is not a substitute for fresh ideas, and name-dropping is not the same as intellectual depth. Now, you are talking about CIVIL WAR because of the conversations of about 15 people at a lunch in Manchester? Are you seriously suggesting that the determination of a handful of people outside Nigeria to resist electoral malpractice is a credible basis for predicting civil war? Do you know that, even yesterday, people were gathering across several wards in Nigeria, strategising and organising on how to campaign for the APC? Or do those conversations not count because they do not fit your preferred narrative? And back to the main issue: anyone thinking clearly knows that Tinubu does not necessarily need to rig the 2027 election to win it. Whether he will win is ultimately for Nigerians to decide at the ballot box, but there are political realities, structures and metrics that his supporters believe work in his favour. You may disagree with his politics, and you are entitled to your opinion. But there is a difference between warning Nigerians about electoral malpractice and stoking fears of civil war. We need intellectuals who offer solutions, not prominent voices who turn every political disagreement into an apocalyptic prophecy. Baba Pupa, ẹ sọra yín oooo! 👀🤷🏽‍♂️

Pat Utomi @UtomiPat

a week ago

I am in the middle of an accidental town hall meeting in Manchester in the UK. I came to a Lunch to which Peter Obi was invited. I found food I looked forward to deferred for questions on the trouble with Nigeria.Many of the questions suggest worry about the boldness of public

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#Arsenal have gone to Villa, Sunderland and Forest, and won with clean sheets. Last season we dropped points on all three, and have struggled for years on two. These are the wins that get you the points to win and retain titles; entertainment is secondary.

@OlufemiAwoyemi God bless you, Sir. I remain one of your students.

Remittances buy food, rent and medicine for millions of families. It’s a global phenomenon. Asking the diaspora to cut them off to win votes is weaponised poverty. Many thought Obi was better than the noise of his mob. He just spoke their language here. He is them and they are him. PS: Nobody should starve for anyone's ambition. However, if your mind is weak enough to let this person get in the way of supporting your family, sorry to you and your family.

MADE IN LAGOS 🧊💎⚡️🔥 @papichulo4224

a week ago

“People in Diaspora please stop sending money to people at home until they vote out President Bola Tinubu, no matter their condition tell them NO” - Peter Obi NDC, Presidential Candidate asking Diasporas to Donate Money to Peter Obi OK movement.

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CLUB STATEMENT: RANGERS INTERNATIONAL FC PETITIONS CAF FOLLOWING INCIDENTS IN ABEOKUTA 📋🔴⚪️