SEGUN SHOWUNMI’S TINUBU FILE: FIVE POLICIES THAT TURNED A CRITIC INTO “SAUL BECAME PAUL”
In a remarkably candid interview on Nigeria Unfiltered, opposition politician and longtime PDP chieftain Segun Showunmi sat across from presenter Olabode Roland and did something increasingly rare in Nigerian politics:
he explained, policy by policy, why a man who had fiercely criticised President Bola Tinubu in 2023 had gradually reassessed the administration.
Roland- the erudite host of Nigeria Unfiltered repeatedly pushed Showunmi to explain the contradiction of remaining an opposition politician while openly supporting Tinubu’s continuation in office—and Showunmi’s answer was essentially: LOOK AT THE POLICIES.
His words were extraordinary: “If what is on the table today is anything to measure by, miles, Bola Tinubu is better than them. Look at the policies. Let’s break it down.”
And break them down he did. First: PETROL SUBSIDY.
“Do I really think that this country… can do with paying petrol subsidy when we don’t have money?” His answer: “NO.”
That does not mean subsidy removal was painless. It plainly was not. But the fiscal problem Showunmi identifies was real: international institutions had repeatedly warned that the old regime consumed enormous public resources and distorted government finances.
Second: FOREIGN EXCHANGE ARBITRAGE.
Showunmi rejected a regime where government effectively borrowed or rationed cheap dollars that privileged beneficiaries could arbitrage for enormous gains.
Third: GIVE STATES MORE RESPONSIBILITY — AND MORE MONEY.
He asked whether more resources should reach states and LGAs so they can pursue their own development. His answer: “YES. YES.”
The World Bank now reports that between 2023 and 2025 real federation revenues increased 69%, while aggregate state revenues increased approximately 93% in real terms.
Fourth: INFRASTRUCTURE.
Showunmi pointed repeatedly to Abuja and federal road construction.
“Anybody who knows Abuja… may not know Abuja now,” he said, before arguing that major road projects are being pursued across the federation.
More than 2,700 kilometres of highways and major roads are currently under construction, reconstruction or rehabilitation and the named projects—from Lagos-Calabar to Sokoto-Badagry, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and East-West Road—are observable construction programmes.
Then came number five: STATE POLICE.
This appeared to clinch something for him. Showunmi argued that Nigeria cannot keep confronting twenty-first-century insurgency with a policing structure inherited from a far smaller country.
Then came the line: “This guy now is doing that and I’m supposed to realistically tell you that that’s a bad policy when I know that is the right policy?”
The constitutional framework is now under active consideration. None of these points requires believing that every Tinubu policy has succeeded. Showunmi does not make that argument.
His more interesting argument is about HOW TO JUDGE GOVERNMENT.
He says he began as a fierce critic. Then he deliberately “lowered the gaze,” removed partisan anger and asked: “WHAT IS THE PRESIDENT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO DO?”
His description of the transformation: “I WAS SAUL. NOW I’M PAUL.” That may be political heresy. But at least it comes with a policy list.
CharlesCNG
