For decades, the Nigerian sociopolitical landscape has been heavily defined by an aggressive culture of power projection, where public office, wealth, and proximity to authority are frequently weaponized to suppress the average citizen. In this environment, many of those entrusted with the machinery of state or elevated by societal privilege often try to exploit their positions to deprive ordinary individuals of their basic human rights, bend the arc of justice towards personal interests, and enforce compliance through fear. This heavy-handed reliance on coercion overlooks a fundamental truth about human nature and governance: rule by fear is an inherently unstable strategy with a rapidly approaching shelf life. As the iconic civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously observed, “A right delayed is a right denied, and any structure built on the suppression of the human spirit carries the seeds of its own destruction.” Let’s reflect on the fragile nature of enforced compliance and why the reign of institutional intimidation has a definitive expiry date.
Do you know that the systemic reliance on intimidation by the Nigerian ruling class is rapidly reaching a tipping point of absolute diminishing returns? Across the federation, the everyday citizen faces a barrage of institutional bullying, where an individual’s rights are often determined solely by his or her lack of financial muscle or ethnic connections, leaving him or her vulnerable to the whims of those who command state power. This structural arrogance operates on the deeply flawed assumption that the patience of the oppressed is infinite, ignoring historic and contemporary lessons which prove that fear eventually numbs the mind, transforms into resentment, and ultimately hardens into absolute defiance. Rather than continually resorting to fear tactics to force submission, leaders and individuals in positions of authority must realize that genuine respect is a far superior, more sustainable tool of governance. Coercion requires constant, exhausting escalation to remain effective, whereas earned respect — built on the pillars of fairness, transparency, accountability, and empathy — establishes an enduring moral authority that does not expire when an individual steps down from office or loses his or her political leverage. By treating citizens as partners in progress rather than subjects to be broken, the leadership can foster an atmosphere of voluntary civic compliance, thereby dismantling the toxic culture of “anyhowness” where the powerful act with absolute impunity while the weak are crushed. The current national awakening across digital and physical spaces serves as a loud warning to the elite that the psychological walls of intimidation are crumbling, and those who refuse to transition from rulers to empathetic leaders will soon find themselves holding an empty scepter of expired power.
So, it is time for every citizen to enhance his or her capacity to boldly demand institutional accountability and actively reject the normalization of fear in daily interactions with authority figures across the Nigerian polity. To dismantle the deeply entrenched culture of bullying, citizens must collectively utilize legal, peaceful, and constitutional frameworks to challenge arbitrary abuses of power, ensuring that every act of official overreach is documented, exposed, and legally contested. True systemic reform requires a decisive follow-up action from both the civic space and the judiciary to insulate the administration of justice from political interference, transforming our courts into unyielding fortresses of equity rather than playgrounds for the elite. We must intentionally cultivate communities that prioritize civic education, empowering the ordinary citizen to know his or her constitutional rights so thoroughly that no uniform, political office, or wealthy title can easily coerce him or her into self-abasement. Furthermore, those currently occupying positions of authority must intentionally pivot away from the fragile theatre of oppression and actively invest their energies into earning public trust through transparent service, standardized operational processes, and a strict adherence to the rule of law. It is time to champion an institutional overhaul that actively penalizes public officers who use intimidation as a shortcut to bypass standard procedures, replacing them with leaders who understand that human dignity is non-negotiable. By demanding that respect becomes the baseline currency of engagement between the state and the populace, we lay the foundation for a stable, progressive nation where power is validated by its capacity to protect, not its eagerness to destroy.
As you step out each day, remember that the fear used to diminish your citizenship is an expiring asset in the hands of a desperate elite. We must consistently stand firm in our dignity, recognizing that earned respect outlives the temporary arrogance of political office or temporary access to power. Only when we collectively refuse to be intimidated will we finally break the cycle of oppression and birth a truly just society where the rule of law reigns supreme.
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Esang Esitikot, a chemical engineer, is a professor of occupational health and safety. He is a public affairs analyst, UN Ambassador for Peace, and a pro bono lecturer at the Institute of Health, Safety, Security and Environment, University of Uyo. He can be contacted via 08035103559 (Whatsapp only) or email (esitikot@gmail.com).
