KWAM1: From Runway Blocker to Aviation Ambassador — The Nigerian Way

Only in Nigeria can you obstruct an aircraft, disrupt airport operations, and still walk away with a shiny new title: Ambassador for Airport Security Protocol. In most countries, that stunt would earn you a mugshot, a court date, and maybe an orange jumpsuit. Here, it earns you applause.

Kwam1 didn’t just break the law. No, that would have been too ordinary. He parked his ego on the runway, spread his arms wide like he was auditioning for a poster of “Nigeria the Musical,” waved at the cameras, and dared the system to touch him. And the system? It didn’t just touch him, it hugged him.

Remember how this drama started? The Aviation Minister came out swinging, voice thundering like a hero from a Nollywood courtroom scene. He talked of justice, consequences, even hinted at placing Wasiu on a no-fly list. Nigerians clapped. “At last!” we said. “Someone is standing up for the rule of law.”

But in Nigeria, thunder is often followed by drizzle. Only God knows the kind of high-level abracadabra that played out in the smoke-filled corridors of power. Because now, we have a new Keyamo ,gentler, softer, suddenly allergic to punishment, championing leniency for those who make a mockery of our laws.

In saner climes, Kwam1 would be explaining to investigators the difference between a runway and a red carpet. Here, the only investigation needed was into how quickly they could get his name engraved on a plaque.

And that’s the Nigerian governance masterclass, folks: Commit the offence, offer a carefully worded public apology, then sit back and watch as your disgrace is upcycled into decoration.

We’ve seen this play before. This is the same country where ex-convicts parade as “elder statesmen.” Where people who looted our commonwealth are given national honours, sometimes with televised fanfare. The same place where thugs become kingmakers and crooks are rebranded as philanthropists.

Our institutions? Weak. Paper-thin. A mosquito could bite through them. In Nigeria, personalities are stronger than the very laws they’re meant to obey -and that’s not by accident. The system is designed to bend for the high and mighty while crushing the small and powerless.

Just when you think maybe -just maybe- our leaders deserve a chance, they toss fresh insults into our faces, daring us to “look on the bright side” while they dim the light completely. Our laws are stage props. Our justice system, a comedy skit. And our leaders? Directors of the world’s longest-running theatre of hypocrisy.

The signal to the world is loud and clear: in Nigeria, the law isn’t blind; she’s a shameless flirt, batting her eyelashes at the rich and powerful while stepping squarely on the necks of the poor.

So here we are. Kwam1, the man who blocked a plane, now wearing the sash of Aviation Ambassador.

If irony were a currency, Nigeria would be the richest country on earth.

What a country!

Babs Daramola is a Lagos-based broadcast journalist.