October, 2014. One after the other, my friends began hyping Buhari's praise. These friends - many of them- of 25 plus years of knowing them. Others a few years after my return from self-exile in 2010.

When I mean friends, I mean friends who experienced dictatorship first hand. Some who were older than me fought the Buhari-Idiagbon junta as students activists/leaders

Others fought IBB and Abacha. Close friends who were at the barricade. We argued weeks before I left Nigeria late 2014, exchanged bitter correspondences on social media

Many of them, particularly my northern and south eastern friends got tired of my views and blocked me on social media. Others kept the distance. I found new online friends.