The Tinubu Syndrome: When Folly Becomes A Culture
By REVEREND SIMON OLADAPO
BEYOND the present hardship facing Nigeria lies a deeper, more corrosive tragedy—one that threatens the moral and intellectual fabric of society long after the economic crises fade. That tragedy is what I call the Tinubu Syndrome.
This condition is not merely political; it is psychological, cultural, and deeply moral. It is a creeping disease that strips educated minds of their capacity to reason and compels them to defend the indefensible. Men and women once regarded as wise now find comfort in celebrating folly, parading their servitude as patriotism.
When Knowledge Becomes Ignorance
The Tinubu Syndrome devalues education and exposure. Degrees, titles, and international experience become meaningless when their holders bend truth into absurdity. Rationality collapses under the weight of blind loyalty. Those who should know better become apologists for poverty, justifying their own suffering while glorifying their oppressors.
It is a dangerous inversion of values where idiocy is paraded as virtue, and foolishness is projected as a noble tradition. In this warped reality, intellectuals are reduced to robotic voices, programmed to echo falsehoods with pride.
The Culture of Dehumanization
At its core, this syndrome empowers the oppressed to worship their oppressors. It conditions the poor to adjust to hunger and wear deprivation like cultural attire. It trains citizens to romanticize their chains and to applaud the very forces tightening those chains.
In such an environment, debate becomes futile. Once you notice the symptoms—irrational defense of failure, blind justification of exploitation—you must, as I warn, slam on the brakes. Continuing the conversation is like speaking to a mirror that repeats only what it has been programmed to say.
The Fall of a People Once Proud
What makes this tragedy sharper is its betrayal of heritage. A tribe once known for its cosmopolitan outlook and egalitarian ethos has now descended into what it once condemned in others. The pride of free thought has been traded for the false glory of submission. All thanks to the Tinubu Syndrome.
The danger is not only in what it does to politics today but in how it corrodes the moral foundation of tomorrow. A nation that celebrates folly as wisdom cannot hope to build a future of dignity. Unless we confront this syndrome head-on, the cycle of worshipping oppressors and rationalizing suffering will continue to haunt us.
