Nigeria is Bleeding, Nigerians are Suffering and the Time for Action is Now – Otunba Babatunde Olushola Senbanjo Writes Tinubu

To: His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR

President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr. President,

I write this message not out of hatred, not out of political bitterness, and not out of a desire to score cheap points, but out of deep pain, national frustration, and genuine concern for the survival of our country and the dignity of our people. I write as a Nigerian who can no longer pretend that all is well. I write as a citizen who sees the tears in the eyes of ordinary men and women, who hears the cries of hungry children, who watches helplessly as families are broken by hardship, insecurity, hopelessness, and government failure. I write because Nigeria is in distress, and the silence, excuses, and slow pace of response from leadership are no longer acceptable.

Mr President, the truth must be told plainly: Nigeria is bleeding. Our people are suffering. Our communities are afraid. Our youth are angry. Our workers are exhausted. Our traders are overwhelmed. Our farmers are under siege. Our transporters are burdened. Our students are uncertain about tomorrow. Pensioners are abandoned. Small business owners are dying quietly under the weight of inflation, poor power supply, multiple taxation, low purchasing power, and economic instability. Families who once managed to survive with dignity can no longer afford the most basic needs of life.

This is not an exaggeration. This is the daily reality of millions of Nigerians.

Across the country, insecurity has become a permanent shadow over the lives of the people. In too many communities, people sleep with one eye open. Parents fear sending their children to school. Farmers fear going to their farmlands. Travellers fear using the roads. Villages have been attacked. Citizens have been kidnapped. Innocent people have been murdered. Women have been widowed. Children have been orphaned. Breadwinners have been taken away from their families by criminal violence, terrorism, banditry, cultism, communal attacks, and lawlessness. Yet many Nigerians do not feel the urgency, clarity, or force of a government fully in control of the situation.

How did we get to a point where Nigerians now treat tragedy as routine? How did we get to a point where headlines of abduction, killings, hunger, and despair no longer shock the conscience of government enough to trigger visible emergency action? How did we become a nation where citizens are expected to endure every pain in silence while leaders continue to ask for patience without showing enough measurable relief?

Mr President, leadership is not about speeches alone. It is not about media optics. It is not about defending the government at all costs while the people drown in suffering. Leadership is about responsibility. It is about empathy translated into action. It is about making hard decisions in the interest of the people and ensuring that the burden of those decisions does not crush the same citizens government is sworn to protect.

Today, many Nigerians are not just poor; they are being pushed into desperation. The cost of food has become unbearable. The price of transportation has risen beyond what many workers can afford. Rent is crushing families. Electricity remains unstable and expensive. Healthcare is out of reach for too many people. Education is becoming increasingly unaffordable. The naira has been battered, the market is unstable, and confidence in the future is dangerously weak. People are no longer asking for luxury; they are asking for survival.

A nation cannot be truly governed when its people are trapped between fear and hunger.

The burden of economic reforms cannot continue to fall almost entirely on the poor while the political class appears insulated from the hardship. Nigerians are watching a painful contradiction unfold before their eyes: citizens are told to sacrifice more, endure more, and wait longer, while many in public office continue to enjoy privileges that insult the suffering of the people. That contradiction is dangerous. It deepens public anger. It erodes trust in government. It weakens faith in democracy.

Mr President, there is also a crisis of confidence in governance. Many Nigerians feel unheard. They feel that their cries do not reach the corridors of power. They feel that too many officials speak in statistics while the people live in sorrow. They feel that those at the top do not fully understand what it means for a mother to stand in a market unable to buy food for her children, for a father to leave home without transport fare, for a graduate to search endlessly for work, for a small business owner to shut down because the numbers no longer add up, for a family to fear the next phone call. After all, it may be kidnappers demanding ransom.

These are not abstract policy issues. These are human emergencies.

I must say this clearly: Nigerians are tired of explanations without relief. They are tired of promises without timelines. They are tired of condolences without protection. They are tired of reform language that does not quickly translate into visible safety, lower hardship, and restored confidence in the future. The patience of the people is not infinite, and the government must never mistake the resilience of Nigerians for endless tolerance.

This is why I am issuing this public call for urgent and visible action.

Mr. President, within the next 14 days, Nigerians deserve to hear and see a clear, credible, and measurable emergency response plan from your administration on the following matters:

1) NATIONAL SECURITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Your government must present immediate steps to confront the insecurity ravaging our nation. Nigerians need to know:

– what emergency security measures are being deployed in the worst-hit areas;
– how intelligence gathering will be improved and coordinated;
– what protection is being put in place for farmers, schools, highways, and vulnerable communities;
– what timelines exist for visible security stabilisation in affected zones;
– how security failures will be investigated and corrected;
– and what accountability mechanisms will apply to agencies or officials who fail in their responsibilities.

2) COST-OF-LIVING RELIEF FOR ORDINARY NIGERIANS

There must be an emergency plan to reduce the pain of hunger and inflation. This should include clear relief measures aimed at:

– food affordability,
– transport costs,
– support for low-income households,
– protection for small businesses,
– and targeted interventions for the most vulnerable citizens.

Nigerians do not need slogans; they need relief they can feel in their kitchens, markets, transport fares, and monthly expenses.

3) JOBS, YOUTH HOPE, AND ECONOMIC STABILITY

Our young people are losing faith in the country. That is dangerous for national stability. A serious government must communicate practical steps on job creation, support for entrepreneurs, industrial growth, and policies that can restore confidence in the economy. The future of our youth cannot remain a footnote in public speeches.

4) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND SACRIFICE

If Nigerians are being asked to endure hardship for the sake of reform, then the government must show visible sacrifice too. Citizens want to see a reduction in waste, luxury, excesses, and the cost of governance. Leadership must not ask the people to bleed while power remains comfortable.

5) DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH THE PEOPLE

The nation needs a sincere presidential address that does not dismiss public pain, does not hide behind technical language, and does not speak down to suffering citizens. Nigerians deserve honesty. They deserve to know what is being done, how it will be done, who is responsible, and when results can reasonably be expected.

Mr President, let it be understood: this is not a call for disorder. It is not a call for violence. It is not a rejection of democracy. It is a demand for governance that respects human life, human dignity, and the constitutional responsibility of government to protect the people and promote their welfare.

No serious nation can continue like this.

No responsible leadership should be comfortable while citizens are sinking into fear and poverty.

No government should normalise the bloodshed of its people or the hunger of its masses.

No democracy should expect silence from the people when daily living has become a punishment.

The office you occupy is one of enormous responsibility. History will not judge any leader by the elegance of speeches or the strength of political alliances. History will judge by outcomes. History will judge by whether lives were protected, whether suffering was reduced, whether institutions were strengthened, whether justice was defended, and whether leadership rose to the moral demands of the moment.

This is one of those moments.

Nigeria stands at a dangerous crossroads. Public trust is weak. Economic pain is deep. Security fears are widespread. Citizens are emotionally exhausted. And if leadership does not respond with urgency, humility, courage, and tangible action, the distance between government and the governed will widen even further.

Let me be direct: enough is enough. Nigerians cannot continue to die in insecurity while the government appears reactive. Nigerians cannot continue to starve while officials ask for patience from air-conditioned offices. Nigerians cannot continue to carry the burden of bad governance, weak institutions, and poor accountability while being told to keep hoping without evidence of change.

Hope is not built by speeches alone. Hope is built by action.

Trust is not restored by propaganda. Trust is restored by results.

Authority is not sustained by power alone. It is sustained by legitimacy earned through service, protection, fairness, and performance.

I therefore call on you, Mr. President, to treat this as a moment of national emergency. Not tomorrowowowrowrow. Not next month. Now.

Within 14 days, the Nigerian people deserve:

– a public and specific response to the worsening insecurity in the country;
– a visible emergency plan for cost-of-living relief;
– practical measures to protect lives and livelihoods;
– evidence that government understands the scale of the pain in the land;
– and a renewed commitment to accountable leadership backed by measurable actions.

If your administration fails to respond with the seriousness this moment demands, then Nigerians will be fully justified in intensifying lawful democratic pressure through sustained civic engagement, public accountability campaigns, peaceful advocacy, and every legitimate constitutional means available to insist that leadership begins to serve the people and not merely govern over their suffering.

This country belongs to the people.

Nigeria is not the private estate of the political class.

Power is not an ornament; it is a duty.

Public office is not a throne; it is a trust.

And when that trust is shaken by insecurity, hunger, economic pain, and silence in the face of mass suffering, the people have every right to speak, to demand, and to insist on better governance.

Mr. President, this letter is not merely criticism. It is a warning from the conscience of a wounded people. It is the cry of citizens who are tired of burying their loved ones, tired of stretching empty salaries, tired of counting coins in markets, tired of living in fear, and tired of hearing that things will improve someday while their lives collapse today.

Nigeria must work for Nigerians.

Government must protect Nigerians.

Leadership must answer to Nigerians.

And the time to act is now.

May wisdom, courage, and genuine patriotism guide those in authority to do what is right before this national pain deepens further.

Otunba Babatunde Olushola Senbanjo (BOS)