SAME TINUBU, DIFFERENT SHOWUNMI? WHAT HAPPENED TO OTUNBA SEGUN SHOWUNMI’S 2023 CRITICISM? HE WAS NAILED BY HIS OWN MOUTH.
Akin Samuel Kayode.
The internet never forgets. That is the curse of men without principle.
There is a headline that Segun Showunmi can never delete. It is sitting in the archives, with his face, his name, and his own voice attached.
Daily Post. December thirtieth, 2023. Reported by Olasunkanmi Akinlotan. The headline reads, and I quote: “APC, Tinubu won election through manipulations, now confused in govt – Segun Showunmi.”
That was not said by Peter Obi. That was not said by Atiku. That was not said by a Labour Party supporter on social media. It was said by Segun Showunmi himself. Atiku’s former spokesman. A PDP chieftain. A man inside the political machine.
And in that single sentence, Showunmi gave Nigerians the two most honest verdicts anyone has given about this government. He said the election that brought Tinubu was not won, it was manipulated. And he said the government that came from that manipulation is confused.
He was right. History has proved him right.
That manipulation he spoke about is what gave us a president declared at four in the morning. A result that could not be uploaded. A mandate that millions of young Nigerians who queued under the sun still cannot explain. If it was manipulated in December 2023, it is still manipulation in 2026. Manipulation does not mature into legitimacy because the beneficiary has now invited you to come and eat from the same table.
That confusion he spoke about is what every Nigerian is living in today. It is confusing to remove fuel subsidy without a plan and move petrol from one hundred and ninety seven naira to over one thousand two hundred naira, and then still want to add pump tax on every litre. It is confusing to float the naira from four hundred and sixty to over one thousand seven hundred naira without building a single factory to support it. It is confusing to force Nigerians to pay two hundred and twenty five naira per kilowatt under Band A for light that does not last four hours. It is confusing to introduce tax reforms that drag POS operators, artisans, freelancers and jobless graduates into a tax net in a country where there is no unemployment benefit, no free healthcare, no working student loan, and over one hundred and thirty three million people living in multidimensional poverty. It is confusing to introduce green charges to tax people for using generators when you failed to give them light, and to tax them for using old cars when you failed to give them trains and buses.
Showunmi saw that confusion early. In 2023 it was still a small cloud. In 2026 it became a full storm. Garri that was manageable is now one thousand eight hundred naira per mudu. Rice is now one hundred thousand naira per bag. Beans are now gold. Bread is now a luxury. Children go to school without food. Barbers, welders, and frozen food sellers have folded up. That is the confusion he warned Nigerians about. And Nigerians are living it, raw and painful.
So the question is simple. What happened between the Showunmi of truth in 2023 and the Showunmi of convenience in 2026?
Because the same Showunmi who told Nigerians that APC manipulated its way into power and is confused in government is now on television, on a program called Nigeria Unfiltered with Olabode Roland, telling Nigerians a different story. Hear his new confession in his own words: “If what is on the table today is anything to measure by, miles, Bola Tinubu is better than them. Look at the policies. Let’s break it down.”
Which table, Segun? The table where Nigerians can no longer afford to eat? Which policies? The policy of punishing the poor to finance the luxury of the rich? The policy of taxing poverty into prosperity? The policy of funding presidential yachts and new jets and one hundred and sixty million naira SUVs for lawmakers while asking the people to sacrifice?
If APC won through manipulation, when did manipulation become better? If Tinubu was confused in government, when did confusion become policy?
You cannot condemn a house as a den of thieves in December and become the gateman of the same house in April and expect Nigerians to clap for you.
This is why young Nigerians are tired of politics. Because they have watched men like Showunmi turn politics into hustle. No ideology. No compass. Only appetite. Today he is with Atiku because Atiku feeds him. Tomorrow he is with Tinubu because Tinubu can feed him more. His ideology is where the next alert comes from. He speaks good English, appears in different TV , sounds intelligent, quotes big words, but at the core there is nothing. He can defend anything depending on who is paying.
We are not judging Segun Showunmi by our own words. We are judging him by his own words. We did not say APC won through manipulation. He said it. We did not say Tinubu is confused about the government. He said it. We are only holding him to his own standard. That is the most fair trial any man can get.
If he told the truth in 2023, then he is lying now. If he is telling the truth now, then he lied in 2023. He cannot be a man of truth in 2023 and a man of convenience in 2026.
A man who changes his principle the way he changes his agbada has no principle at all. He has only interests.
Showunmi has chosen to stand with the same confusion he once condemned. That is his choice. But history will record both. History will record that on December thirtieth, 2023, Segun Showunmi told Nigerians the truth that APC won through manipulation and is confused in government. And history will also record that he later abandoned that truth to defend the same manipulation and confusion. The first was a moment of conscience. The second is an act of betrayal.
The mouth that speaks truth today cannot eat lies tomorrow and still claim honour.
Akin Samuel KAYODE.
Member, The Narrative Force.
@all
