People think politics is just about ambition. Until you try to do it with a genuine heart in some of our historic cities.
Even Abraham Lincoln would have paused. Because in some places, politics is not a game of ideas, it is a spiritual examination center. Toxic, risky, expensive, and full of intrigues that no book can teach you.
As our elders say, The white fowl sweats, but the sweat is not visible because of its feathers. Many of us are sweating underneath, carrying heavy burdens, but people only see the smile on top.
Here is the painful irony: here, intellectual politics does not always triumph. Being sound, being brilliant, having a clear blueprint for the people - sometimes it counts for nothing.
Generosity does not guarantee continuity. Empowering people does not guarantee loyalty. The ungrateful beneficiary is like a robber who steals from you. You can give, you can build, you can sacrifice your today for their tomorrow, and tomorrow the same people will look you in the face and say you have done nothing. When a tree is too tall for you, you simply say it is just a tree.
Once your genuine desire mistakenly clashes with someone's personal ambition - which they cleverly package as the interest of the whole city - you are instantly painted as the Enemy of the People. Just like that.
This journey has not been theoretical. There have been nights where life itself was threatened, days when freedom was taken, moments when only God delivered. Kidnap, attacks, close shaves with death - not in movies, but in the course of trying to serve genuinely. And still, by grace, the heart keeps beating for the people.
So if you see a man who still wakes up, still moves around, still listens, still gives, still helps despite betrayal, blackmail, backstabbing and even attempts on his life - please, don't just judge him. Sympathize with him. Encourage him. Pray for him.
Because when a child falls, he looks forward, but when an elder falls, he looks back to see what caused it. The man who is still standing today has survived many falls, many betrayals, many lonely nights, and many dangers.
He has not retired. He has not given up. His heart still beats for the people.
He is not asking for too much. Just a little understanding. Just for people to see that keeping a genuine desire alive in a terrain where intellect does not always win and generosity does not guarantee continuity, is already an act of uncommon bravery.
It takes more than ambition to survive here. It takes grace. It takes God.
