https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHt0tEWdZAs
Let me say this plainly: I am disappointed in Tracy. Very disappointed. But I am even more angry with the wicked Nigerian system that made this kind of disgrace possible. Because this is not just about one woman apologizing. This is about power bullying a citizen into submission, then using that surrender to mock everybody who fought for her. That is what is painful. That is what is infuriating. A woman cries out. Citizens rise up. Sowore speaks. Take-It-Back stands up. VDM, Mama P, Oshioks, and other Nigerians lend their voices. People put pressure on the system. People say no, this cannot stand. And then what happens? The same system turns around and forces the victim to bow, retract, apologize, and make it look like activism was nonsense from the beginning. That is the part that should make every Nigerian angry. Not just Tracy. The system. Because Tracy’s public apology happened. Sowore then argued publicly that what happened was coercion and a payoff, not some clean moral victory for the powerful. So no, I will not sit here and insult only Tracy as if she is the main problem. She may have folded. She may have sold out. She may have disappointed everybody who stood for her. Fine. But what kind of country do we live in where the powerful can allegedly lean so hard on ordinary people that they begin to apologize for their own pain? What kind of country is that? A bad one. A deeply broken one. A dangerous one. Because the message here is not just for Tracy. The message is for all Nigerians. The message is: if you speak, we will deal with you. If activists defend you, we will break you. If citizens unite around you, we will force you to kneel and then laugh at those who tried to help. That is the message. That is why my heart goes to Omoyele Sowore. That is why my respect remains with Take-It-Back. That is why my respect remains with every Nigerian who fought for her. They are still the heroes. Let nobody rewrite that. The hero is not the man surrounded by power. The hero is the citizen who still speaks when speaking is dangerous. The hero is the activist who still shows up when the system wants silence. The hero is the movement that still resists even when betrayal comes. Because betrayal does not cancel sacrifice. A sellout does not erase solidarity. And one frightened apology does not suddenly make oppression innocent. Never. If anything, it exposes how evil the system is. It exposes how power works in Nigeria. Not by truth. Not by justice. But by fear. By pressure. By humiliation. By breaking people publicly so others will learn to stay silent. That is why I am not celebrating Umahi. I am not impressed. I am disgusted. Because when power uses its weight to crush public resistance, that is not strength. That is cowardice. When a system bullies people until they recant, that is not vindication. That is intimidation. And when activists are mocked because the victim could not withstand the pressure, that is not a failure of activism. That is proof of how brutal the system really is. So yes, Tracy disappointed many people. But Umahi and the system he represents should carry the greater shame. Because this is the kind of Nigeria they have built: A Nigeria where citizens are frightened into submission. A Nigeria where truth is negotiable if power is heavy enough. A Nigeria where public office too often looks like a weapon, not a responsibility. But let me end here. To Sowore. To TIB. To VDM. To Mama P. To Oshioks. To every Nigerian who fought for Tracy: You are still the heroes. You did not fail. You stood for somebody when it mattered. You raised your voice when silence would have been easier. You reminded this country that conscience is not yet dead. And even if the system forced a different ending, never forget this: The shame is not on those who fought. The shame is on those who used power to make fighting look useless. That is where the shame belongs.
