Nigerians need to stop acting like victims and start believing they can actually change things. That's the message from veteran columnist Donu Kogbara, who published a sharp piece on Friday taking aim at what she calls the country's "knee-jerk fatalism and craven defeatism."

Kogbara argues that too many Nigerians believe leaders are untouchable — that there's no point fighting back because "they have the yam and the knife." She says this attitude is hurting the country as it struggles with economic hardship, insecurity, and social decay.

"I say that even if these leaders also have the pot and frying pan in addition to tubers and knives galore, leaders are not omnipotent," she writes.

She points to history to prove her point: the British, French, and Russians overthrew monarchs once seen as gods. Haitian slaves led by Toussaint L'Ouverture won their freedom. Syrians drove the Assad family into exile in Moscow. Tunisians ousted their president during the Arab Spring. Nelson Mandela and the ANC crushed apartheid. Women won the right to vote. Even Barack Obama made it to the White House.

Closer to home, Kogbara notes that Bola Tinubu himself was part of the pro-democracy NADECO group that ended military rule in Nigeria. And Goodluck Jonathan lost the 2015 election despite being the incumbent.

"Anything can happen if people take the trouble to persistently seek change," she writes.

She also wonders why so many state governors — elected by voters who rejected the APC — have quietly joined the ruling party instead of standing up to Tinubu's "bullying and blackmail."

"I wonder why a very elderly president is able to wrestle much younger blokes to the ground."

Kogbara also takes aim at attacks on Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, the coordinator of HYPREP, the Ogoni clean-up project. She says a group that protested at the Federal Ministry of Environment on May 13, 2026, doesn't speak for Ogoni people.

Along with Chief Priscilla Vikue and Barrister Anthony Tabu (Secretary of the South-South Peoples' Conference), Kogbara drafted a statement defending Zabbey. They called the protest "manufactured" and built on "recycled accusations, zero evidence, and a refusal to engage with facts."

"Calling HYPREP a 'laboratory for corruption' is easy when you bring no names, no documents, and no verifiable case," the statement reads. "Dismissing UNEP's verification process is easy when you have never read it."

The statement warns Ogoni youth not to be used by people who want to halt the clean-up. It says that under Zabbey, HYPREP has moved from "stalled plans to measurable work" — sites are being remediated, and community engagement now follows structured consultations with documented outcomes.

Kogbara's message is clear: stop believing change is impossible. Start demanding it.