LAGOS, Nigeria — Chude Jideonwo, host of the syndicated talk show #WithChude and Chair of the FourthMainland Creator Fund, has reflected on his deep disillusionment with Nigeria’s political landscape in his new book, How Depression Saved My Life, released last week.
The media entrepreneur, who was among the young strategists behind Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 presidential campaign, describes how his initial optimism quickly turned into despair after the former general’s historic victory.
Jideonwo writes that he and his co-founder, Adebola Williams, believed Buhari’s win could usher in a new era of reform and integrity in governance. But just a month after the election, the signs began to worry him.
According to Jideonwo, a close associate from within Buhari’s inner circle called him to express frustration about the president-elect’s conduct.
“Chude, this is a mistake,” the associate reportedly said. “This man doesn’t listen to anybody. He doesn’t take any advice.
“All the governors around him are frustrated. They call him to briefings and he angrily dismisses them.
All that humility he was showing during the campaign, listening to everything we were saying, it has now disappeared. I think we created a monster.”
Jideonwo recalls that the conversation confirmed his worst fears — that the incoming administration was already losing touch with the promises that had galvanised millions of Nigerians to vote for change.
Later offered a position in the new government, Jideonwo turned it down, a decision that drew criticism from some within the ruling party.
“A serving minister called me ‘conceited’ for refusing to join,” he writes. “I couldn’t imagine being part of something my spirit had already rejected.”
He describes the sense of purpose that initially drove the campaign.
“Many of us were convinced beyond a doubt that our country was about to be changed, speedily, for the better. It was the purest, sharpest, densest hope,” he notes.
But that hope soon collided with the reality of a transition dominated by “courtesy visits and the luxuries of power rather than urgent policy action.”
Between 2015 and 2017, Jideonwo says, his faith in nation-building eroded.
“Even as I was publicly speaking against the new government with the certainty of a disappointed citizen, in private I was losing my grip on what I believed about nation building,” he writes.
“After believing that this one was the movement that would change the country, I didn’t see how I could come to such passions again.”
The experience marked a personal and professional turning point. Jideonwo began to withdraw from politics, focusing instead on storytelling, emotional healing, and social impact through his media platforms.
How Depression Saved My Life chronicles that transformation, exploring themes of faith, mental health, and self-renewal.
The book is available in bookstores across Nigeria, on Amazon, and on Kindle via book.withchude.com.
