Strategy, Not Rage: The Only Way Forward for Nigeria

By Ugo Benitez

Because rage is not strategy.

Throughout history, we’ve seen how anger without structure leads to failure. The #EndSARS protesters had numbers but lacked coordination and leadership beyond the streets. They reacted emotionally to injustice but didn’t plan how to win. Today, many Nigerians are repeating the same mistake.

We see it clearly in the Rivers State crisis, where power struggles have turned into chaotic street battles. A breakdown of governance, betrayal within political structures, and lack of strategic conflict resolution continue to plague the state. Instead of building stable institutions, factions lean on brute force and public outrage.

Take Natasha Akpoti’s courageous battle in Kogi politics. Despite systemic sabotage, intimidation, and legal hurdles, she didn’t resort to rage. She used strategy—courts, advocacy, and persistence. Her resilience shows that lasting change requires planning, patience, and the intelligent use of institutions.

The likes of Patience Jonathan could lock up 15 domestic staff since 2019 because, upon discovery, nothing would happen beyond online protests and rage. Strategically, there’s no deterrent—no legal follow-through, no institutional pressure, no consequences. The system rewards impunity when outrage isn’t paired with action.

The 2023 elections revealed deep abuses of the system. Electoral officials were compromised, security forces were weaponized, and violence was normalized. Yet many citizens responded only with emotion—outrage on social media, protests with no clear demands, and eventually, silence. Meanwhile, those who understood the system’s flaws strategically deepened their grip on power.

Bigotry entrenched in places like Lagos during the elections exposed another weakness. Rather than uniting against bad governance, politicians weaponized ethnicity and religion to divide Nigerians. Emotions ran high, but again, there was little structured response to dismantle these divisive narratives.

Even in the tragic killings across Nigeria’s Middle Belt, the pattern persists. Communities suffer mass atrocities with little national outrage, while isolated killings, like the Uromi incident, spark Northern rage and swift political reactions. The difference? Strategy. Those who know how to harness grievance into political leverage get results. Those who only wail get forgotten.

If Nigeria Must Rise

It won’t be because people got angry again.
It will be because people got strategic.

Because they learned the rules of power—and how to bend them.
Because they built institutions that outlast emotions.
Because they shifted from protest to production:

Producing lawyers who can rewrite laws.

Producing teachers who can reshape minds.

Producing media that can redirect narratives.

Producing technology that can bypass broken systems.

Rage makes noise. Strategy makes change.

If Nigeria must rise, it must be by design, not by accident.