Beautiful Madness

By Sunday Oladapo

Omoyele Sowore has perfected the art of turning noise into relevance. He is not a freedom fighter, not a visionary, and certainly not the saviour of democracy he pretends to be. What he peddles is a dangerous cocktail of half-baked radicalism and street theatre—an endless cycle of provocation that he brands as “revolution.” This is not activism; it is beautiful madness, and it deserves to be called out for what it truly is: reckless self-promotion at the expense of national stability.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has become Sowore’s favourite punching bag, yet it is one of the few institutions holding the line between fragile order and total chaos in Nigeria. While our nation grapples with insurgency, banditry, and secessionist movements, Sowore adds fuel to the fire with reckless calls for insurrection. He thrives on tension. He feeds on disruption. He does not want reform; he wants mayhem, because chaos is the only stage where he still matters.

Every time the DSS acts to rein him in, his chorus of supporters wail about “oppression” and “human rights.” But let’s be honest: no country on earth allows someone to openly incite revolution without consequences. Sowore knows this, but he gambles on Nigeria’s democracy being too weak to discipline him. He hides behind the same freedoms he seeks to weaponize against the state.

It is pathetic that a man who once aspired to the highest office in the land now survives by playing the role of a professional irritant. Sowore is not speaking truth to power—he is mocking the very idea of responsible leadership. His antics are not about justice; they are about ego, spotlight, and the desperate chase for relevance in a political space that has long outgrown him.

Nigeria does not need Sowore’s brand of “beautiful madness.” It needs stability, reforms, and order. The DSS is right to treat him not as a harmless activist but as a potential destabilizer who mistakes recklessness for courage. Sowore’s revolution is not about Nigeria—it is about Sowore. And that is the ugliest truth behind his so-called beautiful madness.