Nigeria on the Brink of Collapse — Elder Oyelese Warns President Tinubu and Political Leaders

Elder Wole Oyelese, a former Minister of Power and Steel and respected elder-statesman, has issued a stark warning that Nigeria is rapidly approaching a critical tipping point. He cautioned that unchecked corruption, moral decay, and growing popular suffering are activating what he described as a “moral volcano” beneath the surface of the nation.

In his address, Elder Oyelese said that every act of injustice, every large-scale embezzlement, and every show of indifference to citizens’ hardship is adding heat to the volcano. He argued that when those in power lose their conscience, the governed may eventually rise not out of malice but because they can no longer breathe and survive.

Oyelese lamented the trend in which public funds—running into hundreds of billions—are quietly written off while countless families go hungry at night. He voiced particular concern about the “emperorship mentality” among some state leaders who act as if they are beyond accountability. According to him, no nation is more threatened than one where thieves become kings and the law serves their protectors.

Addressing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directly, Elder Oyelese stated that selective courage will not save the country. He called on the President to admonish the powerful—no matter how large—and to restore order that respects the poor, the weak, and the voiceless. He asserted that responsibility must not be shifted upward: governors and local councils must own their role in governance.

Highlighting the structural dimension of the nation’s plight, Oyelese called for full implementation of local-government autonomy, insisting that the renewal of hope begins where people live: villages, towns, wards. He said that when local councils have true financial and administrative freedom, development breathes again and hope returns to the base.

He concluded with an urgent plea: those on the mountain of power must remember that the base they stand on is not eternal—when the base erupts it swallows the peak. He urged leaders to act with conscience while there is still a nation to govern, saying the poor do not want revenge—they want relief.