By Abdulrazak Ibrahim
24th January 2026
Few things fracture the heart like investing emotion in politics and public life, where power, ambition, and human instinct often outpace principle.
At its core, it is the slow realization that moral branding often collapses under the weight of power.
It is placing deep trust in national leadership, in a man once revered as “the honest one,” only to watch that faith erode into nepotism, broken promises, hollow mega-projects, a ghost national airline, foreign-designed national logos financed with public millions, and highways that appear designed never to be completed.
It is standing firmly behind a state leader in a defining political struggle, defending him against a deeply entrenched political order all the way to the highest court, only to watch him later defect into the very camp he once vowed to resist, ultimately embracing the same forces his supporters sacrificed to oppose.
It is laughing off a polarizing global strongman as unserious, then slowly realizing that his policies reengineered global power balances in ways no one can easily undo.
It is opposing a political coalition with conviction, only to later find yourself supporting that same coalition when reality forces a recalibration.
It is watching public memory reset every election cycle, where yesterday’s rejection becomes today’s passionate endorsement.
It is witnessing a hardline political figure, once notorious for confronting elders, enforcing authority with iron resolve, and swearing “by the sword” in his determination to enthrone a national leader, later recast himself as that same leader’s loudest adversary after being shut out from the rewards of victory, leaving observers uncertain whether the pivot reflects principle, wounded pride, long-term calculation, or political survival.
But beneath all of this lies something far older than ideology.
Politics is a theatre powered by evolutionary instinct.
Humans evolved in small groups where survival depended on status, alliances, loyalty, reputation, and the capacity to shift allegiance when conditions changed.
Power activates ancient neural circuits linked to dominance hierarchies, coalition formation, territorial control, and the fear of exclusion. What we often call “principle” is frequently layered on top of deeper biological impulses for relevance, advantage, security, and survival.
Leaders guard power because dominance is rewarded in primate hierarchies. Followers defend leaders because group belonging reduces risk and offers psychological security. Defectors switch allegiance because evolutionary success often favors adaptability over loyalty. Societies forgive yesterday’s enemy because memory competes with convenience, interest, and survival. In the end, political narratives become sophisticated justifications layered over instincts shaped by millions of years of natural selection.
In game-theoretic terms, many political actors are not optimizing for truth or morality. They are optimizing for payoff, leverage, risk management, and long-term strategic positioning.
In evolutionary terms, political behavior is often less about ideals and more about survival, dominance, and fitness within a competitive social ecosystem.
This arena humbles you. It reveals how certainty erodes, loyalties mutate, coalitions realign, and even our strongest convictions are shaped and constrained by fear, ambition, identity, and the biological drive to remain relevant, competitive, and secure.
In the end, political heartbreak is not only about leaders.
It is about recognizing that power does not merely test politicians.
It tests human nature itself.
And human nature is older, deeper, and more primal than any constitution, ideology, or political party.
