Recycling Power: When Leadership Becomes a Closed Loop By Seyi Oduyela

Nigerians seem to be slipping back into a familiar cycle, where a small group once again determines the fate of over 200 million people.

Take Ogun State as an example. The contest is shaping up around three former governors. One spent eight years in office with little to show and is now returning to the Senate for a third term. Another completed his own eight years and is already in the Senate. The third is about to conclude what many consider an underwhelming eight-year tenure and is now positioning himself for a Senate seat as well.

Two of them are still drawing pensions as former governors, and the third will soon join them. They will continue to receive these benefits while also earning salaries as senators. Public service, in this case, appears less about service and more about sustained access to state resources.

What makes the situation more troubling is that all three have, at different points, presided over a system that owes workers at Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu, months of unpaid salaries. Their time in office has left many families struggling, yet they continue to present themselves as worthy representatives of the very people affected by these policies.

Part of what enables this pattern is the erosion of grassroots governance. Local government structures have been weakened, limiting genuine political participation. Party delegates and leadership structures are tightly controlled, allowing a few individuals to impose candidates and decisions with little resistance.

This is hardly democracy in its true sense; it feels more like a distortion of it.

While I am not aligned with any political party or candidate, it is reasonable to expect more. People deserve leadership grounded in ideas, accountability, and genuine public service, not a rotation of familiar figures whose primary achievement is maintaining access to power.