By Kunle Kalejaye (SAN)
Within the arena of modern Nigerian politics, the street phrase “see finish” has grown from everyday slang into a cynical, weaponized strategy of realpolitik, functioning in practice as a doctrine of radical, adversarial exposure. In everyday language, see finish happens when you become so familiar with a person or institution that you lose all respect for them, exposing their flaws and breaking their spell of authority.
Historically, Nigeria’s political elite survived on an unwritten gentleman’s agreement to protect one another: a sort of mutual indemnity pact keeping their bitterest rivalries behind closed doors while showing the public a united, dignified front. The usual retort is that a political disagreement is a “family affair”. An internal matter: a private problem, argument, or decision that outsiders should not interfere with or join. This unspoken covenant ensured that no matter how deep the betrayals ran, the ruling class always maintained an appearance of institutional respectability.
However, the current political landscape has been completely redesigned and formatted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, who has turned this concept into a strategy for political survival and relevance. The Wikerealpolitik style flatly rejects the polite, diplomatic language that has shielded Nigerian politicians for decades, choosing instead to strip away their political immunity and appearance thus openly exposing the transactional motives of both sides of the aisle. This open casting replace elite politeness with a brutal, confrontational style of public truth-telling. Wikerealpolitik has rewritten the rules of Nigerian power, shifting the burden of proof from moral oratory to physical, verifiable evidence of governance. Yet, this approach raises serious concerns about the degradation of democratic institutions, as public governance is reduced to personal warfare.
A major goal of the strategy is to tear down national political giants, stripping them of their moral high ground and showing them as ordinary, typically biased litigants in the court of power. For years, major opposition leaders were treated by their followers as untouchable, apotheosised patriotic figures who were above regular politics. The Wikerealpolitik shattered this illusion during his latest media broadcast. He dragged heavyweight leaders like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi directly into the political trenches. By bluntly declaring that these opposition figures would “hunt” him down if President Bola Tinubu loses the 2027 election, he reframed the opposition’s goals not as a noble rescue mission for Nigeria, but as a personal, vindictive grudge match. Through this clever use of see finish, he denies his rivals the ability to claim the moral high ground, presenting them to voters as politicians simply looking to settle old scores. By arguing that everyone in the political arena is playing the exact same transactional game, he establishes a parity of motive, leveling the playing field and forcing the public to view the upcoming 2027 election with absolute, clear-eyed realism. However, this strategy is inherently reductionist; by insisting that all political motives are base and transactional, he actively poisons public trust in leadership and delegitimizes the very concept of principled political opposition.
Furthermore, playing the game of see finish carries a massive risk, because teaching the public to look at politicians with deep cynicism means they will eventually look at you with that same critical eye. To protect himself from the very cynicism he creates, Wikerealpolitik relies on a strong defense built on concrete, visible performance; treating infrastructure as the ultimate exculpatory evidence. He appears to be on terra firma in this regard. Nigerians have seen finish with empty promises, political manifestos, and flowery speeches, so he anchors his political life in physical and verifiable projects. His style of governance works on a very simple premise: a cynical voter can easily question a politician’s integrity, but they cannot ignore a brand-new highway, a modern school, a brand new hospital, comfortable transit hubs or a flyover that eases traffic and considerably shortens transit time.
By constantly reminding everyone of his track record like building 12 flyovers as Governor of Rivers State or completing 76 infrastructure projects in the FCT; he shifts the case from a trial of moral intentions to a verdict based on physical reality. The counter-argument, however, point out that this “brick-and-mortar” jurisprudence ignores the deeper, systemic components of governance, such as human capital development, institutional integrity, and the rule of law. A city cannot be paved over its broken democratic processes, and the transactional focus on infrastructure serves as a convenient distraction from the lack of a cohesive, long-term policy vision for structural reform.
Importantly, Wikerealpolitik does not just use this weapon against the opposition; he turns it with equal force on his own allies within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), breaching the implied contract of intra-party solidarity. In traditional Nigerian politics, disagreements within the ruling party are settled quietly through back-channel arbitration to keep up the appearance of a unified front. This tradition is totally broken by airing party’s dirty laundry in public, openly naming powerful figures like Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma as people working against him under the radar. By exposing these elite cracks, he shows that the ruling party is not a united family driven by a single vision, but a loose alliance of competing interests. This style creates a state of permanent leverage for the FCT Minister, ensuring his position in the cabinet remains safe because his colleagues know that any attempt to sideline him will result in immediate, public exposure of the party’s holy of holies. This survival mechanism, while effective reveals a chaotic and unstable governing style that prioritizes self-preservation over administrative stability and team cohesion.
Ultimately, Wikerealpolitik of see finish has permanently changed how power is negotiated and held in modern Nigeria, but at a profound cost to the political ecosystem. By destroying the old illusions of elite unity, he has ushered in an era of aggressive transparency where power is fought for out in the open through leverage and infrastructure rather than quiet consensus. While this style wins Wike a fiercely loyal base of everyday supporters who love his “talk-and-do” reputation, it also creates a massive, dangerous coalition of powerful enemies across all political parties. By stripping away the traditional respect and protection that politicians usually give one another, Wikerealpolitik has ensured that if he ever loses political footing, his adversaries will show him absolutely no mercy and come for his jugular. As the country moves closer to the 2027 elections, Wikerealpolitik as a political strategy will serve as the ultimate testcase for Nigerian realpolitik, proving whether concrete performance is enough to save a politician from the collective anger of a demystified political elite, or if a divisive, scorched-earth methodology will lead to an ultimate political isolation.
As the different political calculus changes and new jurisprudential formats emerge, it is hoped that a genuine Nigerian formatted political ecosystem will emerge. This will place emphasis on infrastructural optics mixed with human capital development, institutional integrity, advancement of the democratic processes and the rule of law. Surely there is enough for students and academics to chew. Indeed these are interesting times.
Asiwaju Kalejaye (SAN) is the founder and Chairman of Eagle102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu
