The Action Democratic Party (ADP) Lagos chapter responds with outrage and clarity to the statement by former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who, in a stunning admission, declared that “Nigerians are too poor to revolt… The ordinary man is already in hell and has nothing to lose.”
This is no slip of the tongue. This is not careless talk. It is an unvarnished confession from a member of Nigeria’s ruling elite – a lightning flash exposing what the political establishment has long denied but always practiced: a deliberate system of impoverishment, humiliation, and manipulation of the people, designed to keep them too weak, too hungry, and too divided to challenge their oppressors.
The Ruling Elite Have Confessed:
Lamido’s words are not just his own. They echo the mindset of a parasitic class of politicians and businessmen who have fed fat on Nigeria’s resources while ordinary Nigerians – from the vulcaniser in Enugu to the market woman in Ibadan, the fisherman in Bayelsa to the okada rider in Delta – toil endlessly only to fall deeper into despair.
According to him, the elites “up there” unite – they share money, they divide contracts, they quarrel in public but laugh together in private – while the masses are deliberately stripped of dignity, kept in constant survival mode, denied education, social security, and the chance to organize.
This is the political plantation system of Nigeria: keep the slaves too exhausted to resist, too hungry to plan, too fearful to speak – while the masters enjoy their wine, mansions, foreign hospitals, and schools abroad.
The Truth of Our Poverty:
Lamido was right about one thing: the common Nigerian has already been pushed into hell.
Inflation eats daily wages before sunset.
Jobs are scarce, youth are abandoned, graduates roam the streets unemployed.
Public schools rot while children of the elite fly abroad for education.
Hospitals are graveyards where doctors and nurses work miracles without resources, while those in power jet off to London for checkups.
Security is a mirage; farmers can’t reach their farms, traders can’t travel safely on highways, communities live in fear of bandits and thugs.
This is not weakness; it is engineered poverty – a political project.
Our Response: Poverty is Not a Chain – It is a Weapon of Liberation
ADP Lagos rejects the insult that Nigerians are “too poor to revolt.”
On the contrary, it is because Nigerians are poor, abandoned, and betrayed that they must rise in peaceful democratic revolt – at the ballot box, in civic organization, in peaceful protests, and in unrelenting demands for change.
History teaches us that it is not the well-fed who fight for justice – it is the hungry, the insulted, the oppressed.
The civil rights marches in America were led by the descendants of slaves.
The revolutions of Europe were led by workers crushed by poverty.
South Africa’s freedom was won by black South Africans denied dignity by apartheid.
Nigeria is no different. The poverty our elites boast about as their shield will become the firewood that fuels liberation.
ADP Lagos: Our Stand:
We, the Action Democratic Party (ADP) Lagos, declare without fear:
- We will not be fooled by elite unity. They quarrel on TV but share loot in Abuja. Lagosians and Nigerians must open their eyes – their fight is a charade; their real war is against the poor.
- We reject poverty as destiny. Poverty is a political decision, not an act of God. With Nigeria’s oil, gas, agriculture, and human talent, no citizen should live in hell.
- We affirm the dignity of the Nigerian. The vulcaniser, the kerosene seller, the okada rider, the fisherman, the teacher, the nurse, the mechanic – they are the backbone of the nation. They deserve schools for their children, hospitals for their families, jobs for their hands, and security for their communities.
- We call for a peaceful revolution at the ballot. Not with guns, but with courage. Not with thugs, but with ballots. Not with silence, but with voices raised together. 2027 is not just an election – it is a chance to prove that poverty cannot silence dignity.
A Warning to the Elite:
Lamido’s words were meant to mock the masses, to boast of elite invincibility. But he has spoken too much. He has confessed the truth. And when truth escapes, it cannot be caged. Nigerians now know: poverty was never accidental – it was their plan.
To the elite, we say: beware. Every insult, every denial of dignity, every boast that the poor are too weak – is fuel for the fire of change. The people you think are broken are only waiting for the hour of unity. That hour approaches.
Call to Lagosians and Nigerians:
Lagosians, Nigerians, workers, students, artisans, market women, professionals, unemployed youths – this is the moment to prove the elites wrong. Poverty is not paralysis. Hunger is not silence. Despair is not death.
We must rise in unity. We must rise in dignity. We must rise with ballots in hand.
Let us build a new Nigeria, Lagos where government exists not for a few but for all. A Nigeria where no leader can ever again mock the people as “too poor to revolt.”
Conclusion:
Nigerians, Lagosians are not too poor to revolt – Nigerians are too wise to remain in chains.
Signed,
Action Democratic Party (ADP) Lagos Chapter
Press & Communications Office
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