By Suyi Ayodele 

A long time ago, when wisdom was not yet upside down, two young men went out in search of knowledge. They both wanted the favour of the world, the type the wise men of my place call àánú ayé (favour of the world). They needed àánú ayé to be able to get the most important thing in their town.

The two were differently positioned for what they both coveted. One was greatly favoured. He had the support of the king of their town. All the chiefs, prominent members (òtòkùlú ìlú) and all that mattered in the town were his friends. The chief custodian of the much-sought after object happened to be his ally. What more! Wherever the king is, is exactly where the town is (ibi tí oba wà làá pè ní ìlú).

So, for the favoured, the search for wisdom was a mere formality for him; let it not be that he did not seek for wisdom when his mate did. Getting what he wanted was a done deal by virtue of the backing he had.

The second boy was the underdog. He had only the hoi polloi in his camp. His only strength against the formidable forces was his goodwill. That made him go the extra mile in search of wisdom. He decided to go to the wise of the land.

The two boys went to an old wise man for divination. The man of knowledge, the story says, had different ways of treating his clients. To some, he would engage in outright divination. And to some others, the old man would allow the clients to choose the nature of their divinations and sacrificial objects. The man knew, from experience, that there is no divination better than the Opele one casts by himself (kò sí Ifá tó dára ju àfúnra eni dá).

When the boys arrived at his home, the wise old man asked the duo to choose the items they would offer to Ifá. The first boy stepped forward, confidently, and chose two items. First, he chose orí Àjànàkú (the head of an elephant). The second item was awo ekùn (the skin of a tiger). Why? The diviner asked him.

The boy responded in proverbs. He told the old man that ‘every stump on the path of the elephant follows the elephant on its journey’. Hence, he chose the head of the elephant. He added: ‘whichever game the tiger kills dies completely’ (eran tí ekùn bá pa, àpafon ni).’ Every great hunter knows that the tiger is the neatest and the most meticulous hunter in the jungle.

The diviner looked at the boy, shook his head and wondered where the arrogance came from. He had never, before then, come across a child, who would speak to an elder in proverbs. In my place, a child who must speak in proverbs must first seek and obtain the permission of the elders. But, the world changes, and we follow it (ayé ńyí, a úntòó). When a child has the backing of the king, he becomes wiser even than his forebears.

Nevertheless, the diviner collected the items – the head of an elephant and the skin of a tiger – and made the necessary charm for the boy according to his personal wishes. The boy left without the courtesy of appreciation to the diviner. He was ready for the battle ahead. He thought he already had victory in his pouch. Don’t blame him. When a child is given a new amulet to wear, his only desire will be war, so say the elders of yore.

Next was the second boy. He stepped forward and requested for the heads of two birds. The first was àwòko, the small singing bird the Western World calls nightingale. Thereafter, he asked for the head of àparò (partridge or bush fowl).

Like he did earlier with the first boy, the old man asked why the second boy chose the two birds. Responding, the second boy told the wise old man that if he knew the answers, he would not have come for consultation. Àìgbón, àìdá mi ló mú mi lo oko aláwo – my lack of wisdom, my lack of knowledge is the reason I seek divination – he told the old man.

The old man collected the items, mixed them in their proportion and handed the potion back to the boy. Then in line with the dictates of Ifá, the diviner using Ìyèrè Ifá (Ifá chant), made some pronouncements that have become axiomatic among the Yoruba people to date.

First, he pronounced unto the boy thus: ‘Igbó kan kò ní p’ohùn mó àwòko l’énu (no forest, no matter how thick, will be able to shut the mouth of awoko). The spiritual implication is that no matter the obstacles, the boy will continue to sing the song of victory.

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Second, the old man decreed that irrespective of the tribulations, and no matter how covert they were, the boy would see them ahead, plan and overcome because the partridge sees with both its eyes and its feathers (àti ojú, àti ìyé ni àparò fi ńrí‘ran).

And lastly, to those, who, out of greed, might want to shortchange the young man in his journey of life, the diviner pronounced that they would suffer the same calamity that befell Ìgbàyílolá. Ìgbàyílolá, history says, was the great hunter of the ancient town of Ìsánlú, who killed an entrapped antelope, and packed the eggs of partridge with his bare hands.

When calamities began to happen in Ìsánlú, the elders made enquiries and found out what the hunter did. His punishment was instant banishment from the town, and he died a wanderer in the forest. Ìgbàyílolá’s story gave birth to the saying: A’fàgò k’ éyin àparò, ohun ojú ńwá l’ojúú rí. Nobody packs the eggs of partridge with bare hands and lives to dance the dance of victory. Such an act comes with grave repercussions.

I first heard this story long ago when an elderly man lectured my generation about the futility of the Yoruba metaphysics called Àwúre (fortune-pulling charm). His admonition was the Yoruba saying: Ìwà ni oba àwúre (character is the charm for fortune).

What happened last Saturday in the governorship election of Osun State can be likened to the story of the two boys above. Governor Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke of Osun State faced the greatest political battle of his life in that election. August 15, 2026, is a day Adeleke will never forget. The same goes to the people of Osun State. Nigeria as a whole, will also mark the day as an indelible watershed in its political history.

One cannot pin Adeleke to a specific Faith. His name, Nurudeen, suggests he is a Muslim. His other name, Jackson, though neutral, points to the religion of the Western world, Christianity.

His presence at both Christian crusades and the Muslim prayer ground during Sallah is also confusing. Again, nobody can take a bet on where the governor goes when it is dark and he is left alone with his destiny.

But one thing is sure: Governor Adeleke must have sought the wisdom of the wise of the land. Those who are knowledgeable must have prepared him like the boy who chose the heads of àwòko and àparò to offer to Elérî Ìpín so that he could get the most important position in the state.

Although grace plays a significant role in the trajectory of those so divinely endowed, I beg to adjure that grace alone did not win the battle for Adeleke. How on earth did he survive the presence of Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President; leading Bamidele Opeyemi, the Senate Leader and other senators; 30 governors from the All Progressives Congress (APC), with Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State and his nauseating hype men leading the charge; countless House of Representatives members; ministers and presidential aides?

What about the hostile members of Nigeria’s security architecture? The APC men, especially James Abiodun Faleke, the House of Representatives member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, and Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, have said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be praised for his ‘commitment to upholding democratic values and respecting the will of the people.’

And to demonstrate his ‘neutrality’ and love for democracy, President Tinubu, as confirmed by Adeleke, put a congratulatory call across to the governor even before the final result was officially declared.

And like the old fox that he is, the President, immediately Adeleke was announced winner of the election, issued a statement endorsed by Bayo Onanuga, his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, saying Adeleke’s victory “is a fitting assurance that democracy will continue to flourish in our land.”

So, to Faleke and his ilk, flowing from the above, Tinubu must take the glory for providing ‘a level playing field’ during the election.

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Yes, the APC wants the credit for Adeleke’s victory after intimidating the governor with 32 Commissioners of Police, 35,000 policemen; 10,000 civil defence corps and hundreds of armed soldiers in full military gear, including tanks.

The APC-led federal government did not stop at that. Many members of Adeleke’s Accord Party, including the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Teslim Igbalaye, were arrested. Homes of state commissioners were invaded and statutory allocations to the 30 local government areas of the state withheld for months. That is the APC’s definition of ‘level playing field.’ If it were not so, maybe, the governor himself would have been arrested, and locked up! Shame, big shame!

This is where the people of Osun State come in. They gave a good account of what Yorubaland should be. I watched them as they voted and jealously guarded their votes. I saw the videos of how they collected various amount of money from the APC agents but went ahead to vote for Accord party and Governor Adeleke.

I listened to the owó wo gbó (wasted money) lyrics as the people collected as much as N50,000 from the APC and voted against the party. I read comments about Osun people who said that after cooking and eating the rice the APC gave to them, they then had enough strength to walk to their various polling centres to vote for Governor Adeleke. Then, I wept, bitterly.

I wept not for victory, but for the good people of Ekiti State, who, on Saturday, June 20, 2026, collected loaves of bread, packets of spaghetti and as low as N3,000, to vote for the APC. I wept because it had never crossed my mind that a day would come when indigenes of Ekiti State would chase after trucks carrying loaves of bread as prices for their ballots, until the APC performed the magic!

But my hope in Nigeria was rekindled when I saw Osun people as they collected rice and other items from the APC, and went ahead to vote their conscience. I became happier as I saw the common men and women troop out in their thousands to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to monitor and defend the collation of their election results.

I watched videos of how some of them mounted okada in twos and followed vehicles conveying the results from the polling units to the collation centres. I became pensive as I watched the people singing while their votes were being counted. I gave a thumbs-up as many of them resisted the armed men deployed to intimidate them at their polling centres.

I followed keenly, how Governor Adeleke’s nephew, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, engaged all the hawks and sharks, who attempted to subvert the process. I saw the power of social media in its raw form and the positive energy it can bring in a dire situation like the Osun election. I remarked loudly: Davido is a child every family should have!

Then, I became alarmed, when, after the victory, Governor Adeleke reaffirmed his loyalty to President Tinubu and pledged his support for the President’s 2027 re-election bid.

As Governor Adeleke, in his victory address, uttered the following words: “At this point, I must deeply appreciate Mr. President, His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his strong support for a free and fair election. Mr. President is a son of Osun State, and I hereby reaffirm my earlier endorsement of him for second term in the 2027 presidential election,” the spirit ministered to me to give a baptismal name to the governor.

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The name that readily came to mind is an Ekiti descriptive and interpretative cognomen, to wit: Amonihiseshuba (A-mo-ni-hi-se-shu-ba), which simply means: he who adopts his tormentor as his father! But I dare not give a name to the governor for certain reasons: custom, his age and his position, nevertheless, it is pertinent to review the governor’s stance on Tinubu’s re-election. For a start, we should just take the governor’s comment on Tinubu’s “strong support for a free and fair election”, to what the British novelist, Thomas Hardy, says in Far From the Madding Crowd, of Sergeant Troy, as someone for whom enthusiasm is a superfluity!

I say this because I don’t know how Governor Adeleke is going to achieve the feat. The 2027 presidential election will take place alongside the National Assembly elections. While President Tinubu will be on the ballot for the APC, Governor Adeleke’s Accord party will feature senatorial and House of Representatives candidates on the same day.

So, is Adeleke saying that the Osun electorate are that literate and politically enlightened to vote for APC on one ballot and for the Accord party on the two ballots for the National Assembly? Or, is he going to ask all Accord candidates for the National Assembly elections to step down because, like he said, ‘Mr. President is a son of Osun State?’

The second dilemma for the governor is the State House of Assembly election that will take place two weeks after the general election. Did Governor Adeleke consider the bandwagon effects of Tinubu’s APC winning the presidential and National Assembly elections in Osun State before the house of assembly election?

Has the governor struck an agreement with Tinubu to the extent that the President will ask all APC candidates for the Osun State House of Assembly to step down for Accord’s candidates so that Governor Adeleke can have peace of mind in his second term? Or does it not occur to Adeleke that he cannot afford to have the opposition APC as members of the Osun State House of Assembly; that his peace of mind for good governance depends on him having his party members in the assembly?

While pondering on the above, permit me to impose on the victorious Governor Adeleke a small exercise in victory management.

Governor Adeleke must not transfer Osun State people’s victory to the man they defeated on Saturday, August 15, 2026. The governor must realise that the votes for Adeleke last Saturday were votes against Tinubu and the entire thing the President represents. He cannot afford to repay the people by taking them back to the Tinubu’s slave sugarcane plantation they escaped from when they voted against the APC at the governorship poll.

If I were Governor Adeleke, I would first go to the streets of Osun to hear what the people are saying after listening to his victory speech. I have friends and relations in Osun State. I heard them clearly. They were unanimous in their position to wit: Governor Adeleke will not be the one to determine who they will vote for come 2027. They are saying a resounding ‘NO’ to his promise to sell them to the Villa. He should not destroy his goodwill with the people!

Governor Adeleke should know that in the fight to give him a second term, many people died. Many will not recover from the injuries they suffered for a long time to come. Many will go down to their graves with the injuries of the ‘revolution.’ And many also lost their freedom and dignity. They should not also lose their victory after the victory!

That said, I congratulate the ‘dancing governor’ on his victory. But more, I congratulate the people of Osun State for giving Nigerians the authentic RENEWED HOPE!