Let the righteous strike me yes, let them strike with truth for in their rebuke lies the rare kindness our politics in Kaduna so desperately needs. Let the voices of conscience rise, even if they sting, for their correction is not an act of hate but of healing. Like fine oil poured upon the head, rebuke refines the soul of leadership and restores the moral fragrance of power.

But in today’s Kaduna, truth has been exiled from the corridors of leadership. Many who once roared against injustice now whisper before it. Power, it seems, has become a mirror that flatters rather than corrects. Leaders now crave the comfort of praise-singers and the applause of flatterers forgetting that unchecked applause is the first note in the dirge of conscience.

As Mallam Aminu Kano once said, “The truth is bitter, but it must be told.” Yet in our time, those who dare to tell it are branded enemies, while those who deceive are crowned as loyalists. The tragedy of our politics is not just betrayal of mandate, but the betrayal of moral courage the unwillingness to tell power the truth that could save it.

A leader who fears rebuke is already enslaved by his own pride. A servant-leader must welcome correction as a necessary fire that purifies ambition. For power, when divorced from humility, turns into tyranny draped in democratic robes.

Let the righteous strike, then let them speak even when their voices tremble. For Kaduna’s redemption will not come from echo chambers, but from men and women bold enough to confront deceit with conscience, and hypocrisy with truth.

Better to be wounded by rebuke than healed by lies. For in this land where betrayal too often wears the mask of strategy, the kindness of rebuke remains the last test of true patriotism and perhaps, the first step toward genuine leadership.

He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who heeds reproof gains understanding.

Comrade Danladi Boyis Hassan, FIICA.