“Civility Is Not Weakness,” Says Statement Written Entirely in Capital Letters

Did you know that a Sunday can go wrong faster than NEPA can take light. At about 1 a.m., while the rest of us were asleep or arguing with the generator, armed men reportedly turned up at the Lagos home of Rilwan Olawale, an NDC mobiliser, and took him away. The party’s Lagos candidate, Funso Doherty, says they identified themselves as DSS. Nobody has confirmed that. No charge, no explanation, no “please come and see us on Monday with your lawyer.”

By Monday, Peter Obi had gone to X, where Nigerian politics now lives, and posted a statement titled, in full capital letters, “CIVILITY IS NOT WEAKNESS. ENOUGH OF THE HARASSMENT OF MY SUPPORTERS. RELEASE RILWAN OLAWALE NOW.” He accused President Tinubu of encouraging and facilitating violence, said nobody should mistake restraint for fear, and demanded that Olawale be released. That is the political version of rolling up your sleeves and saying “hold me back,” and our people love a hold-me-back.

The presidency, for its part, has said nothing so far. In Nigerian politics, silence is either a strategy, a statement or a nap, and nobody can tell which. The police and the APC were also quiet when the reports came out. That has not stopped the internet. Within minutes, Obidients were in the comments with fire emojis, while the other side was asking whether anyone had verified anything.

Let us be fair. Obi is a candidate with an election to win, and every arrest is a free campaign poster. But let us also be fair to the obvious question: if a citizen is taken at 1 a.m. and nobody will say why, you do not need to be a mobiliser to ask. If it is lawful, state the charge. If it is not, bring the man home. The answer is usually one press statement away, a distance nobody here covers quickly.

This is how every election cycle begins. Somebody is picked up, somebody is accused, and somebody’s uncle in the family group chat writes a four-paragraph analysis with a Latin phrase he found online. By Wednesday, the man will be home, in court, or a hashtag. We have seen all three in one week.

Meanwhile, the real victims are the rest of us, who must now pretend to be shocked and pretend we are not already tired. The election is more than a year away, and we have already used up two seasons of outrage.

For now, the facts are few: a man was taken from his home, and officials have not confirmed where he is; a statement is out in capital letters, and the people with answers are very quiet. Until someone says something, we will do what Nigerians do best: refresh, speculate, and forward.