Yes. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a coward. I say it loudly. I say it clearly. I say it without whispering.
What exactly do you expect me to say?
The Yoruba have long warned us: “Wọ́n ki fi eeyan jẹ́ awòdì, k’o ma le gbe adìyẹ (You do not crown a hawk and expect it not to poach or feed on chickens without shame).
Yet, here we are.
What the President displayed in the Nigeria–Burkina Faso tangle was nothing but cheap, unembellished cowardice—at least by the bloodthirsty standards of those who believe leadership must always smell of gunpowder.
And before you tear your shirt in ritual outrage, relax. This is not treason. This is opinion—constitutionally protected and intellectually grounded. Besides, like most people already sharpening insults, you have not read beyond the headline. You merely saw the word “coward” and began vibrating emotionally.
Yes. Tinubu behaved like a coward.A monumental coward. The sort of coward history stubbornly refuses to forget.
Now sit down.Breathe. And allow logic to publicly embarrass emotion. Let me begin with a confession: I am disappointed in my President. Walai!
I regret campaigning for him. I regret shouting myself hoarse at rallies, defending him in hostile rooms, burning my intellectual candles down to the wick just to see him win. I regret my volcanic essays against Atiku, Obi, and every political adversary that crossed his path. I even regret serving on the Special Media Committee headed by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode.
Because how—how—did I end up voting for a man who would choose peace when war was screaming his name?
Who would have thought that the Jagaban of Borgu— a title bestowed on him because of his perceived bravery would turn out to be so irritatingly calm ,quiet and inactive when he is expected to spit fire and thunder ? I assumed the title came with a constitutional obligation to intimidate neighbours, harass smaller states, and occasionally humiliate them for sport—both justifiably and unjustifiably.
Is Nigeria not the giant of Africa?
So imagine my joy when a tiny country like Burkina Faso—whose population, by my very generous arithmetic, is barely larger than Usi-Ekiti—had the audacity to seize a Nigerian jet that mistakenly landed on its territory.
Ah! At last.A righteous excuse.I rubbed my palms like a satisfied war merchant.
“This is it,” I told myself. “This is where the Jagaban flexes.” “This is where Nigeria reminds everyone that she is the elephant and others are grass.”
I expected gunboat diplomacy. Testosterone diplomacy. Press conferences with veins popping and threats underlined in CAPITAL LETTERS. I imagined tanks stretching their tracks, fighter jets warming their engines, and a regional panic that would trend globally.
I expected Burkina Faso to become the suya example—well roasted, well spiced—served hot as a warning to countries who mistake Nigeria’s patience for weakness. Something between Odi, Rambo, and a Netflix special titled “Don’t Try Nigeria.”
But no.
The President failed me. He restrained himself. He controlled himself. He refused to foam at the mouth like a WhatsApp general.
Instead of war, he talked. Instead of bombs, he used brains. Instead of blood-blood, he chose jaw-jaw.
Can you imagine such cowardice?
No missiles flying. No mass graves expanding. No widows learning emergency survival. No orphans becoming statistics. No Nigerian soldiers returning home in sealed boxes over something that a conversation could resolve.
How disgraceful.
Rather than turn West Africa into a funeral ground, the President chose diplomacy. Rather than massage the ego of armchair warriors and social-media generals, he protected soldiers who are somebody’s children. Rather than manufacture fake national pride from ashes and corpses, he opted for reason.
What kind of coward does that?
The most annoying part?
It worked.
No blood.
No regional firestorm.
No refugees flooding borders.
No ECOWAS collapsing under avoidable madness.
Just resolution.
So yes, President Tinubu failed me. He failed my appetite for chaos. He failed my childish fantasy that leadership means destruction. He failed my Hollywood understanding of power.
And in failing me, he succeeded.
He reminded us that real courage is not the urge to fight, but the discipline to stop. That leadership is not measured by how loud your threats are, but by how many lives you refuse to waste. That nations do not grow by counting enemies buried, but by counting citizens preserved.
President Tinubu chose talk-talk over war-war.
Jaw-jaw over blood-blood.
Sense over savagery.
If this is cowardice, then Africa needs more cowards.
History, however, will give this “cowardice” its proper name:
Statesmanship.
God bless the day Nigeria elected Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ọmọ Ìyá Mọ́gàjì—
a President brave enough to disappoint warmongers and wise enough to choose peace.
….. Wale Ojo-Lanre Esq is the Director General Ekiti State Bureau of Tourism Development
