News

OPINION: Animals In Human Skin

Published

4 months ago

June 2, 2025

Tunde Odesola

Situated in a dark groove is a drum never to be beaten. Thin as a strand of hair, the delicate drum transmits sound waves. This drum does not speak; it only listens and understands, even before its owner does. This drum is located deep inside the ear, rightfully earning its name, eardrum.

Sounds travel into the ear canal in waves, vibrating the eardrum, which transmits sounds to the three tiny bones behind it. The tiny bones are named malleus, incus and stapes–fragile trinity inside the shrine of sound. Located in the middle ear, these three bones, also nicknamed the hammer, anvil and stirrup, are collectively called the ossicles, and they are the tiniest bones in human anatomy.

The little bones amplify sound vibrations from the eardrum and transmit them to the inner temple called the cochlea, where the mechanical sounds are converted into electric signals, which are sent to the brain.

Like an expert sound engineer mastering a tape, the brain reads the signals from the cochlea and, for instance, interprets the wah, wah of a crying baby and elicits empathy; transmits the clap of thunder and evokes fear; dissects the promises of politicians to provokes disdain; even as it identifies the blindfold of justice and demands fairness. To beat this drum is to shatter the membrane separating hearing from deafness; it is to wave sound goodbye.

But I know many drums that rejoice when sticks rain fierce strokes on them. Long before the written word wormed its way into print to produce a code of morality, the drum encapsulated society’s moral codes. The drum instructed, warned, praised, rebuked, prophesied and cursed. It told the truth absent in a million lying mouths. Give me a drum; drown the Nigerian political elite.

In Yoruba cosmology, drums are objects of worship because Àyàn Àgalú, the god of drumming, is capable of rewarding or reprimanding drummers, depending on the work of their hands. Àyàn Àgalú is the primordial spirit of drumming and divine custodian of rhythm. He’s believed to be the first ever deified ancestor to make the drum talk like a human, not just beat.

Every drummer in Yorubaland is called Àyàn, in relation to Àyàn Àgalú’s ancestral origin. For the African, particularly the Yoruba, the drum is a link to the past. It is not just the skin of an animal talking in a human voice, no; it is much more than òkùewúré ti o n fo ohùn bi ènìyàn, the drum provides a spiritual communication between the dead and the living.

When things are looking down for the Àyàn, he performs rites on his drums and calls on Àyàn Àgalú for a turnaround. The power of Àyàn Àgalú to change the fortunes of the drummer for good is encased in the saying, “Sèkèrè kii ba won re òdeìbànújé,” which means that the rattling gourd is never found at mournful occasions. It symbolises an expectation that the downturn being experienced by the drummer will fade away as joy is coming.

Aside from the foregoing roles drummers played in societal cohesion in time past, they are also intelligence officers in palaces–processing and disseminating signals, and on the warfronts–inspiring soldiers on courage, patriotism, gallantry and history.

Despite these roles, however, drummers were regarded as the dregs of society, whose reward included water suspension from pap, hence, they were referred to as “Alùlù gbomi èko”.

Many, many years ago, palaces had a retinue of drummers who woke, warned, praised and entertained kings and their royal households. Then, kings were not expected to entertain their subjects by playing the drum for them. But this narrative began to change when Prince Adetoyese Laoye emerged as the Timi of Ede on December 9, 1946, and embarked on a 29-year reign, which terminated in 1975.

Professor of History, Siyan Oyeweso, in his book, “The Quintessential Oba John Adetoyese Laoye I (1946 – 1975): Personification of Royalty and Culture”, describes Oba Adetoyese Laoye as the first Timi of Ede, who had a Western education.

Oyeweso says Oba Laoye, a dispenser, druggist and pharmacist, “Belonged to the tiny club of those Nigerian traditional rulers who historians refer to as ‘Intellectual Monarchs’ or ‘Philosopher Kings’…This class of monarchs has acquired Western education in the opening years of the 20th Century, and also distinguished themselves as authors and historians…”

According to Oyeweso, the father of Oba Laoye I, Prince Oyebisi Omolaoye, was a successful Muslim trader in Togo and a protégé of a white missionary named Dr Greene, who later returned with him to Ede. Prince Omolaoye begot a son and named him Yusuf Adetoyese Omolaoye. “At baptism, Adetoyese was christened John, but because Dr Greene could not pronounce the name Omolaoye properly, he shortened it to ’Laoye,” says Oyeweso.

Throughout his reign, Oba Laoye was a major protagonist of Yoruba renaissance as he upheld the dignity and unity of the traditional institution, says Oyeweso.

In the view of Oyeweso, Oba Laoye was an uncommon king who elevated drumming into an aristocratic art, not minding the view of the palace and society on drumming. He was the author of the signature tune for the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service Corporation/Western Nigeria Television, (which says) ‘This is Nigeria Broadcasting Service’ (but) which has been variously interpreted as ‘B’olubadan ba ku, ta ni o joye’, ‘Ninu ikoko dudu lati n se’be’, ‘Gomina akoko o n’imu oru’, ‘Ko sionigbese ni bi, lo si ile keji’, ‘Ojegede dudu, inu ta bon’, ‘Belo Gbadamosi Olori Ole’, ‘Eko je’badan lowo, 13 pounds’.

Explaining the significance of drums to the African, the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, said Yoruba talking drums were unique in their characteristic mimicry of human voice, stressing that no other drums worldwide had such a function. Adeyemi, who said this in an address captured in a viral video, maintained that drums were used for reasons such as teaching, worshipping, informing, news dissemination, intelligence and warfront duties, and entertainment.

“Drums are used in palaces and in the residences of dignitaries. Drummers advise the king about how to behave in public,” Adeyemi said. The close relationship between the king and drummers bred the proverb, “Oba kii mu o nkorin.” But this is not the case with Nigeria’s political class that gags freedom of speech and disregards the Freedom of Information Act.

In a telephone interview with me, cousin to Oba Laoye, Prince Adewale Laoye, says the late monarch picked drumming from the family of his mother, revealing that his own father, Prince Elkanah Olatinwo Laoye, was the Baba Kekere–a synonym for Chief of Staff–to Oba Laoye throughout his reign.

Adewale, who is the founder, Aafin Ilu–Palace of Drums–located in Ede, Osun State, says he established the institution to revamp various Yoruba drums, which are gradually going into extinction.

“My father was the younger brother of Timi Laoye I. Their mother had two boys and a girl, who was the lastborn. I was gifted a talking drum when I was three, and I still have the drum with me to date. It was given to me by my big uncle, Pa Ajao Ayangbayi, from my father’s mother’s side. My grandmother, Iya Odefunke Omoware Ayangbayi, was a drummer from Ile Ologun Compound in Ede,” Adewale explains.

He continues, “I went to some towns and realised they didn’t have a complete drum set like the dundun at their egungunfestival–this was what prompted the idea behind Palace of Drum. Many people tried to discourage me from playing drums, saying a prince shouldn’t be seen playing drums. Thank God for my supportive mother who stood by me, but she didn’t live to see me actualise my dream on drums. Oba Laoye and my father were both choir masters, who invested in music, with my father teaching me the art of music. I see Oba Laoye in my dreams, asking me who would continue the family’s tradition if I stopped?”

Despite the inroads of some monarchs into music, royalty and society still look down on musicians and drummers, in the main. Juju music maestro and Ondo prince, Sunday Adegeye, MFR, popularly known as King Sunny Ade, had to lie to his parents that he had gained admission into the University of Lagos, for him to leave Ondo and pursue his music career in Lagos. King of Fuji and Ijebu prince, Wasiu Ayinde, was luckier as his mother supported him when he decided to go and live with Fuji music creator, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, at a tender age.

It’s not only crowns that frown on princes taking up music as careers; wealthy and educated families also discourage their scions from becoming musicians. Afrobeats superstar, David Adeleke, aka Davido, is an example. His billionaire father, Dr Deji Adeleke, once got him arrested by the police, just to discourage him from singing.

I once had an interview with Deji’s elder brother and first Executive Governor of Osun, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, the Serubwon of Osun politics and patriarch of the Adeleke family. In the interview, Serubawon revealed how Davido blew all his school upkeep on a big piano while studying in the US and he had to give him another money, though not as much as the money he blew – just to teach him a lesson.

Culture expert, musician and ewi exponent, Chief Sulaimon Ayilara, aka Ajobiewe, advises, “If you visit a town and there’s no drumming there for three days, please, leave the town,” adding that the use of metals in martial music was a form of drumming too.

It is normal when animal skin talks like humans. But it is strange when animals wear human skin, according to Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, in Beasts of No Nation.

Plateau, Borno and many parts of the North have been turned into killing fields by terrorists, just as other parts of the country have been battling with other forms of killings and insecurity. The hopelessness of the government in tackling security and economic challenges is disturbing; the preoccupation of the government with corruption and politicking while the country boils is heartbreaking.

I see more animals in human skin at the helm nationwide than I see real humans. Animals are lording it over human beings. What do you see?

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Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

News

Otuaro Thanks Tinubu As PAP Deploys 161 For Foreign Post-graduate Scholarship

Published

34 minutes ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

•••Urges Niger Deltans to Support President’s 2027 Reelection Bid

The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, has expressed deep appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for strongly supporting the agency’s recent deployment of its foreign post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries.

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Mr Igoniko Oduma,
Special Assistant on Media to the PAP administration.

Otuaro said the PAP had, as at the last count, sent 161 post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries to universities in the U.K. for the 2025/2026 academic year.

He also expressed gratitude to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for his invaluable input and guidance in the exercise.

He attributed the huge number of beneficiaries so far deployed abroad for studies in various industry-relevant programmes to the backing and generosity of the President.

He urged stakeholders of the Niger Delta to stand with President Tinubu and support his reelection bid in 2027.

Otuaro stressed that the president has demonstrated good intentions for the region and deserved reciprocal action in 2027.

Recall that the PAP office had penultimate week organised pre-departure briefing for two batches of the beneficiaries on the foreign post-graduate sponsorship in Abuja.

Otuaro noted that the PAP’s “decision for the massive deployment aligns with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and his genuine love for the people of the Niger Delta.”

He said the President was aware of the region’s challenge of human capacity development gap and the need to close it, empower the people, and galvanize socio-economic growth and development in the area.

According to him, the region’s human capital development gap can be increasingly closed if the huge deployment of scholarship beneficiaries within and outside the country is sustained.

Otuaro further said, “I am eternally grateful to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, for graciously supporting the Presidential Amnesty Programme as we deploy foreign scholarship beneficiaries for the academic session.

“But for the President’s magnanimity, it would not have been possible for us to send 161 beneficiaries to universities in the U.K. The number is huge and it aligns with His Excellency’s Renewed Hope Agenda and reflects his undying love for the Niger Delta.

“I am equally immensely thankful to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for his usual incredible guidance and supervision, which helps us a great deal.

“I am highly encouraged by the President’s backing of our formal education and vocational training initiatives, and his strong desire for the socio-economic growth and development of our region.

“I believe that if we sustain the high number of scholarship deployments within and outside the country, the issue of human capacity development gap in our region will be decisively tackled.”

The PAP’s helmsman restated his call on all scholarship beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity, complete their programmes successfully, and return home to add value to the development of the region and indeed the country.

News

OPINION: Befriending Bandits

Published

1 hour ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

The photograph is graphic. The message is obvious. The semiotics are unmistaken. A bandit in military fatigue sits comfortably. On his lap is an AK-47 assault rifle. Around his neck are various communication gadgets. His look betrays his hubris. He is a man of power! His confidence shows who is in charge. It is audacity in its illiterate form!

Another man in a native attire bends towards the bandit. He smiles sheepishly. He holds a handset, in a very suggestive manner. The caption tells the entire story: “Nigerian Government Official ‘Exchange Contact’ with Bandits After a ‘Peace Deal’ Meeting in Subuwa LGA in Katsina State.”

When the junior rival wife to one’s mother is older and more powerful, one is advised to call her mother (tí orogún ìyá eni bá ju ìyá eni lo, ìyá làá pèé). This ancient wisdom is to ensure a peaceful coexistence within the family. And the peace here goes beyond the idea of a crisis-free environment; it is a comprehensive one that ensures that one lives and is alive, too!

Nigerians, especially our brothers and sisters up North, are tapping into this wisdom. They need to live and be alive simultaneously. They recognise those who have the capacity to cut short their lives. Then they took the most reasonable steps towards survival. Nigerians now go cap in hand begging the new ‘givers-of-life’ in town. We now appease bandits, terrorists and other felons who hold the power to kill and make alive! What impudence!

Our elders say once you recognise the one that will not allow you to eat and be filled, it is better you add his portion while preparing the food. That is what is happening in the various ‘peace deals’ being sealed with bandits in the North. The peasants of the region have recognised that the State is incapacitated.

They have come to the bitter reality that the Nigerian nation lacks the capacity or the willpower to protect them from bandits and terrorists. They have elected to take their collective destiny in their own hands. The new normal is negotiation. This is because the State is completely absent with the terrible leadership truancy syndrome afflicting us!

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It is happening in the North today. The rest of us read about it and shake our heads in incredulity. Many of us feel that it is their problem over there. We feel that the North should find enough bananas for its troublesome monkeys. Majority believe that the problem of banditry is self-inflicted and those in the affected region should carry their burden. But I think otherwise.

I hope nobody, by any stretch of the imagination, thinks that the madness will not go round. Very soon, and this is not being pessimistic, what our northern kith and kins are experiencing at the hands of bandits will be replicated down South and in every part of the nation. The ill wind will soon blow in every part of Nigeria. It is just a matter of time. When those bandits have no more people to kill or maim up North, they will look down South! That is if they are not already in our midst, down here!

Those who feel secure today will have to negotiate with bandits very soon. Kwara State is almost doing that. The bandits operating in the Kwara South Senatorial District have just two more local governments, Offa and Oyun, to overrun, and they will be in Osun State! Ekiti, Ifin, Oke Ero, Ifelodun and Irepodun Local Government Areas of Kwara are already under the control of bandits.

While penning this piece, information filtered in that a prominent member of Sagbe town in Ifelodun Local Government Area was kidnapped! Offa and Oyun, my contact said, “are relatively peaceful for now!” Once they break through those two “relatively peaceful” council areas, Osun State will be next. Osun will affect Ekiti State, which shares boundaries with Ondo, Kogi and Kwara States. All of us will chop breakfast

Even the biblical blind Bartimaeus can see clearly that Nigeria is already a failed State! The government and its apologists can deny it as many times as they want. The reality is too obvious; only the locusts in power cannot feel it. And we won’t blame them. Those in power don’t feel what the ordinary man on the street goes through. That itself is one of the indicators of a failed nation; a situation where the leaders are detached from the led. When you see a country where leaders travel around in armoured cars and the masses are left at the mercy of felons who are constantly on the prowl, look no further for a failed State!

If Nigeria were not a failed nation, how come ‘government officials’ sit on the negotiation table with bandits? What do we call a situation where a supposed government functionary, elected or selected to protect the people, is the one grovelling to have the contact of a bandit who is armed to the teeth to a ‘peace deal meeting’? Where in the sane world would bandits armed with Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPGs), General Machine Guns (GMGs), and AK-47 rifles, be allowed to walk in and out of a ‘peace meeting’ leisurely? After the ‘peace accord’, where do the bandits retire to? Yet, they say Nigeria is working!

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: When The Dead Can’t Rest In Peace

Residents of Matazu Local Government Area, where the ‘peace deal meeting’ took place in Katsina State, expressed shock at the audacity of the bandits to display all those sophisticated weapons without any consequence! One of the residents who witnessed the peace accord was quoted to have quipped: “You came to a peace talk with AK-47 rifles, RPGs, and GMGs, and you return to the bush with the same weapons. How can this be called a peace deal?” That is the type of ‘peace deal’ you get when there is total leadership failure. Imagine that ‘security’ was also provided at the venue!

The attendance of the bandits taken at the Katsina State ‘peace deal’ listed Idi Muwage, Alhaji Kabiru, Kachalla Rusku, Kachalla Murtala, Kachalla Mai Saje, Kachalla Dawa, Ardo Abdulsalam Fatika, and Alhaji Labi as leaders who represented their various bandit groups! These are known figures in the killing and maiming of thousands of innocent Nigerians in the state!

In all, a total of nine LGAs: Sabuwa, Dandume, Batsari, Kankara, Kurfi, Musawa, Danmusa, Jibia, and Faskari in Katsina State had at various times entered ‘peace deals’ with bandits, where “it was agreed that there should be a ceasefire, with the bandits agreeing to stop attacking or harming the local communities.

The report of the ‘peace deal’ stated that: “It was also agreed that there should be free movement, with the bandits allowed to enter towns or communities for trade and commerce without being harmed by the local communities. Another issue agreed upon at the meeting is the release of abducted victims by the bandits, while the bandits, on their part, requested the government to release their captured members. Furthermore, it was agreed that both bandits and community members would work towards maintaining peace and stability in the region.” To cap it all, the bandits were “assured of their safety and welcomed them to continue their business activities in the local markets!”

Katsina State is not the only state in the North negotiating with bandits. Kaduna State, for instance, was said to have negotiated with the bandits operating along the Birnin Gwari axis of the state so that the people in the area could go back to their farms. In the entire seven states of the North-West geo-political zone, only Zamfara and Kebbi States were said to have insisted that they would not strike any deal with the bandits.

The North-East and the North-Central zones are not faring better. And gradually, the malady is approaching the southern part of the country. While the late governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), mobilised the states in the South-West to form the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), otherwise known as Amotekun, to combat the menace of bandits and killer herdsmen in the region, the novel security outfit appears dead with the demise of Akeredolu.

Safe for Oyo and Osun States where Governors Seyi Makinde and Ademola Adeleke, respectively, significantly hold the Amotekun banner flying, the outfit is moribund in the other states of the zone. Interestingly, Lagos State, the home state of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, never for one day lifted any finger to support the creation of the security outfit in the first instance. Lagos is aloof from Amotekun because the security outfit does not sit well with the sole proprietor of the state!

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That itself speaks volumes of why the Federal Government under the leadership of President Tinubu is flat-footed in the fight against banditry and terrorism. The government can only deceive itself into thinking it is winning the war. Those who are directly at the receiving end of the security crisis are already in talks with the bandits and the terrorists. We are already befriending bandits!

This is Nigeria of this era. A government that places politics far above the wellbeing of the people cannot but be lethargic in situations where decisive actions are needed! The only reason why bandits would come for a ‘peace deal’ armed and suffer no consequences is politics. The only reason why Sheikh Ahmad Gumi would openly ask for amnesty for bandits, and nobody would bring him in for questioning is the same compromised politics of appeasement!

How on earth, Gumi, with all his acclaimed education, could not differentiate between the militants of the Niger Delta and the compulsive killers called bandits of the North beats one’s imagination. The Niger Delta militants, though condemnable in their approach, had a clear agitation. They took up arms against the State because of the environmental degradation of the region which is the nation’s hen that lays the golden eggs. They were angry because even though the Niger Delta produces the wealth of the nation, the region has nothing to show for it.

Again, those Niger Delta militants did not target individuals. They went after State wealth like oil installations and blew them up. If there were human casualties, they were insignificant, very punny and largely inconsequential. But what do we have in the North with the bandits? Can Gumi explain to us what the agitations by his bandit friends are? What are they fighting for? What exactly do they want? What is the essence of wiping out a whole village? What are the unmet demands of the bandits that necessitated them killing villagers in their sleep!?

And if we may ask, why is Gumi concerned about the welfare of the bandits, and he is not bothered about the calamities suffered by the victims of the bandits’ operations in the North? Can he, in his sober moment, imagine the number of orphans, widows and widowers that the bandits he loves to protect so much and defend have donated to the North? Where in the Holy Quran is it written that one must kill others for a living?

Has Gumi, in his erudition, ever come across the works of great Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Ali (December 1874- October 13, 1951), Maulana Sadr-ud-Din, Basharat Ahmad (1876-1943) and the British Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (October 14, 1840-March 22, 1899)? Is he familiar with their incontrovertible position that “the Quran forbids initial aggression, and allows fighting only in self-defence?”

For as long as Nigeria continues to tolerate curmudgeonly figures like Ahmad Gumi to dictate the pace without commensurable consequences, bandits and other felons would continue to hold the tilt of the sword while the masses would be at the receiving end. The danger here is that when the killers of the common men have no more common man to kill, they will turn to the protected elite! That is how nature balances societal equations.

News

Court Bars CCETC From Entering Ossiomo Land, Using Its Property

Published

4 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

An Edo State High Court in Benin has restrained Jiangsu Communication Clean Energy Technology Company Limited (CCETC) from entering the land of Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company
Limited pending the hearing and determination of motion of notice.

Hon. Justice Mary Itsueli—vacation judge, gave the restraining order in an ex-perte motion filed before the Honourable Court by Emmanuel Usoh, counsel to Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company
Limited.

In the suit marked: B/242/2025, Ossiomo Investment Limited, Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company
Limited, Ossiomo Offsites and Utility Limited, Quadrant Gas Development Company Limited are the claimants while Jiangsu Communication Clean Energy Technology Company Limited (CCETC) stands as defendant.

Usoh had, on behalf of Ossiomo Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company
Limited, approached the court, sought an interim injunction restraining CCETC from gaining access to the land or utilising any property belonging to the claimant.

Usoh sought an interim order restraining “the Defendant whether by itself, agents, representatives, Directors, staff, privies assigns, or anyone directly or otherwise and howsoever described from parading itself as a member or a shareholder of the 2nd Claimant or relying o using the Joint Venture Agreement pending the hearing and determination o the Motion on Notice.”

In the enrollment of order dated September 11, 2025, Justice Itsueli, said having “given a most careful consideration to the application, supporting affidavit and annexures, I am minded to grant the interim order of injunction.”

The vacation judge, therefore, ordered that, “The Defendant whether by itself, privies, assigns and anyone directly or otherwise and howsoever described are restrained from accessing, utilizing the infrastructure of the Claimants including the 33KVA lines, gas engines and gas infrastructure built by the Claimants to supply gas to the power plant and generate electricity supply whether by bulk sales or transmission to corporate entities or individuals in Edo State pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice already filed.”

Hon. Itsueli also ordered “the Defendant whether by itself, agents, representatives, Directors, staff, privies, assigns, or anyone directly or otherwise and howsoever described are restrained from parading themselves member or shareholder of the 2nd Claimant or relying or using the Joint Venture Agreement pending the pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice already filed.”

Recall that Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company
Limited and CCETC have been in ownership tussle which led to the power plant being shut down on September 1, 2025.

Speaking during a press briefing on the latest in the power tussle between Ossiomo and its investment partners, Usoh said, CCETC, having aware of the restraining order, had so far approached the arbitrary panel in Singapore.

He said: “CCETC, being aware of the restraining order, also immediately approached the arbitrary panel for arbitration in Singapore. The rationale behind this update is for the whole world to know that Singapore, being the seat of economics arbitration globally, is aware of the issues happening between Ossiomo and CCETC. We had the opportunity of seeing the copy of the arbitration, and we are replying accordingly.”

On Ossiomo and Edo State Government, Usoh disclosed: “Our relationship with the Edo State Government is what we call Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Ossiomo develops power and sells to Edo State Government at market value. They are our landlord, we cannot owe grudge against the government. My appeal to the government is to do business with us so that everyone in Edo will benefit.”