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OPINION: OAU And Ife Deaf Gods (2)

Published

4 years ago

April 4, 2022

Tunde Odesola

Arole Oduduwa, my second mental image of you left me in pure dazzlement of your unfolding personality, which I thought was a perfect fit for the big shoes left behind by the departed Ooni Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II. But William Shakespeare warns, “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.”

Kabiyesi, it’s true that Ooni Sijuwade had dragged you before the EFCC over alleged fraud and forgery, but for a larger-than-life personality such as OBJ to embark on a journey to Ile-Ife just to pay homage to you, I held my suspicion in check, in the hope that there could be more to royalty than the kàrá-kàtá of land buying and selling.

A stickler for promptness, Pastor Fasipe, Segun and I were shocked to discover that Baba Obasanjo wasn’t home when we got to his sprawling hilltop residence by 9am as scheduled.

But he had left word for us to wait for him as he had dashed to Ile-Ife to pay homage to you on the very first day you were to enter Ife as Ooni. “Baba said you should wait, he won’t be long gone,” one of OBJ’s aides told us. So, we waited.

While on the journey to and fro Ife, Baba Iyabo called repeatedly to ask about us, instructing his cook to serve us food and make us feel at home. Before the General returned in the evening, many visitors were already waiting for him outside his main building but we – Baba Fasipe, Segun and me – were in his sitting room all day.

When he arrived, we could hear him from outside, asking, “Pastor mi nkò? Awon journalists ni mo kò fè rì,” meaning: “Where’s my pastor? I want to see the journalists first.”

When Ebora Owu walked into his living room, the atmosphere sparkled in reverence to an enigma I never liked, but whom Segun admired on account of his numerous non-biological children that he was sponsoring at various levels of education.

After apologising, Baba Obasanjo clutched Segun’s hand and my hand in each of his armpits, and led us like captives into his beautiful kitchen that has a dining area, announcing in a hurried tone, “ebi n pa mi o! Ki le ni’le o?” “I’m famished, what food do you have?”

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Ooni, OAU And Ife Deaf Gods (1)

His beautiful wife, Mrs Bola Obasanjo, who came in with him, said there was beans, and Baba said, “E ba ngbe e!” He was given some beans cooked without oil. He put some garri on the beans, and sliced some tomatoes by himself, which he added to the beans, garri and stew. He didn’t sit down all this while as he held his plate of food in his hand and was eating, asking about the wellbeing of some of his foster children.

Oonirisa, OBJ travelled out a few days after the visit. When he returned, he visited you again, and in a symbolic gesture, the then 79-year-old Owu-born former Head of State and former civilian President, hit the ground in prostration before your 42-year-old self. The picture of the almighty OBJ on the floor before you had set the internet on fire.

Oba Adeyeye, that OBJ gesture was a lesson in humility, and an acknowledgement of the father figure that the Ooni stool symbolises to ALL Yoruba. I remember that OBJ, in newspaper reports the following day, charged you to UNIFY ALL Yoruba.

Arole Oodua, it’s, therefore, unfatherly and divisive if the drumbeat from Enuwa today is ‘omo eni ki n se idi bebere, ka fi ileke si’di omo elomi.’ The OAU selection committee has found the waist of the VC-elect, Professor Adebayo Bamire, worthy of the beaded string; let Ife not waste time on frivolities, let Ife disembark from the ladder of clannishness and clownishness. If it pleases your Majesty, let Ife look inwards and put forward a candidate for the position of CMD, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, which would be vacant in six months’ time. If an Ife indigene fairly clinches the post, so be it; if not, better luck next time. However, one thing is certain, your Highness; the emergence of an Ife indigene as VC or CMD would only yield selfish benefits to a few, it won’t deliver OAU land to Ife or improve the fortunes of Ife as a collective.

Kabiyesi, if the Premier of the old western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was cliquish, OAU would’ve been sitting in Ikenne today. Alayeluwa, the song the House of Oduduwa should be singing today is the Awo-inspired Yoruba anthem, “Ise wa fun ile wa.” Putting round pegs in round holes is the Yoruba maxim that says, “Ika to ba to, lo ye ka fi ro’mu.”

Still in the dining room with OBJ, his wife, and cook, we – Segun and me – decided to outfox the old General by killing two birds with one stone. There was a break during the interview when OBJ had to attend to something. “Segun, let’s take more than one interview out of this place,” I whispered. “Why not, if not?” Segun responded. “Ok, I’ll go ask Mama some questions, you just keep Baba busy,” I told Segun, who said, “Ok.”

Subsequently, I slipped out of Aremu’s view, and cornered his wife in the kitchen, asking her questions about the home front. But Okikiola was eagle-eyed, he looked beyond his shoulders, caught me, and asked what I wanted from his wife, “Iwo arakunrin yi, kilo nwa lodo iyawo mi?” When Matthew caught me beside Mama again, he warned sternly, saying, “Ma ni ki won ju e si’ta o,” meaning, “I’ll have you thrown out!” But I already got some insight from mama.

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I went down this memory lane, kabiyesi, because your name, Enitan, means ‘man with a history’. Kabiyesi Enitan, in the 61-year-old existence of OAU, Ife candidate, Adedoyin, would be the second Ife indigene who would vie for OAU vice chancellorship!

Kabiyesi, please, tell them to keep their mouths shut, those wailing that the office of the VC had been shut against Ife indigenes since the inception of the university! Isn’t it stupid to expect the OAU to give the mantle of VC to Ife indigenes who haven’t been contesting?

Kabiyesi Enitan, you attended a polytechnic; I attended a university. So, I know how the university system runs. I also understand the universality of the university. Ojaja Enitan, I wasn’t surprised when you said the first university in the world was established in Ile-Ife, and that it was called, “Ifa Fiti,” meaning “Ifa sets apart.” That assertion is laughable, kabiyesi. No archeological evidence supports that claim.

The 51st Ooni of Ife, true Yoruba sons and daughters would’ve stood solidly behind you if you had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to provide hostels for the over 35,000 OAU student population, whose 30% live in decrepit hostels, leaving out over 25,000 to rent houses in Ife town. This was what led to the death of the postgraduate student, Adegoke, and Heritage Ajibola, the undergraduate that fell into a soakaway in February. If both students lived on campus, they wouldn’t have died.

Kabiyesi, do you know Olamide’s hit song, Abule Sowo? Abule sowo means someone who sells land. In the song, Olamide said though he didn’t study Real Estate and Management, yet he’s stinkingly rich.

Oonirisa, do you know Eedris Abdulkareem’s Jagajaga. If Nigeria isn’t ‘jagajaga’, one expects the Presidency to have condemned the Ife shame, and queried the Inspector General of Police for having an inept Commissioner of Police in Osun, whose command looked away for many days while lives and property were threatened in a public institution. Your kingship, I heard the police were mobilised not to arrest the OAU invaders. Insensitively, federal and state lawmakers also turned a blind eye to the abomination.

Kabiyesi, please, permit me to ask President Buhari to investigate why soldiers drafted for the proposed pulling down of the illegal structures built on OAU land retreated at the last minute?

Ooni, please, help retrieve from private pockets, monies collected for the illegal sale of massive OAU land. Where’s the money? Oduduwa’s watching.

Concluded.

Tunde Odesola is a seasoned journalist columnist with the Punch newspaper and a writer here.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com
Facebook: @tunde odesola
Twitter: @tunde_odesola

Related Topics:#opinion OAU Ooni of Ife Tunde Odesola

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[OPINION] Trump: Kurunmi’s Lessons For Tinubu

Published

17 minutes ago

November 10, 2025

Editor

By Festus Adedayo

Greek philosopher, Socrates, may be the most famous Western figure of his time to have swallowed the poisonous plant’s juice called hemlock. But, Africa, too had its. As he was sentenced to death in 399 BCE, Socrates was forced to drink this poisonous plant secretion which causes muscular paralysis, leading to respiratory failure. As he lay dying, having swallowed his own hemlock kept in a calabash bowl, the tragic life of Kurunmi, 19th century Yoruba military general and Yoruba race’s 10th Aare Ona Kakanfo, stands as a huge lesson for contemporary leaders. Though Kurunmi learned the lesson too late, its precepts are that, through decisions or indecision, leaders lead their people to avoidable bloodshed.

If irascible Donald Trump eventually attacks Nigeria as he has been roaring to do in the past one week or thereabout, Nigerians have their leaders of the 4th Republic to blame. If this happens, one historical narrative often deployed as a fitting recollection of such invasion is the story of Kurunmi, one of the governors of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Atiba.

In the infamous Ijaiye war with Ibadan, Kurunmi lost all. His warlords’ stubborn insistence on crossing River Ose was one of the first steps to spell a monumental disaster for the Ijaiye warriors. They all perished inside the river. Kurunmi lost Iwawun which came to him as a chilling news. The generalissimo was contemptuous of Ibadan’s military might, having earlier defeated the people in the battle of Odogido. He derogatorily called Ibadan “bush goats” and “horses full of muscles, small in sense.” The BasorunOgunmola warriors had to fight to the last pint of their blood to reclaim their pride. In the process, they demonstrated to Kurunmi that they had huge sense and possessed sterner military prowess.

When the poison’s pang meandered through his entrails with deathly searing pain, Kurunmi cursed his remaining generals, Mosadiwin and Abogunrin. The curse would assume its potency, he pronounced, if they did not inter him immediately but allow “my body stay(s) here for the vultures of Ibadan to peck at… if my skull serves as drinking cup for Adelu.” His last words as he committed suicide, was, “When a leader of men has led his people to disaster, and what remains of his present life is but a shadow of his proud past, then it is time to be leader no more.”

The above earlier excerpts were the result of a literary, though fictional re-calibration of what was left of the true but tragic life of Kurunmi, one of Yorubaland’s most famous war generals. Written by Professor Ola Rotimi in his epic drama, Kurunmi, Rotimi also characterized Kurunmi as a great military leader and war general whose fatal ending came as a result of a leadership Achilles’ heel. It is, taking others for granted.

In the days of yore, in centuries that preceded the advent of colonial rule, vile comments against a people, the type of which was recently credited to American president, Donald Trump, were enough to provoke a war. Kurunmi said as much against the Ibadan and provoked their anger. “Bush goats” and “horses full of muscles, small in sense” were as villainous as “the now disgraced country” of Trump’s description of Nigeria. The disgrace isn’t that it was coming from the leader of another country; the disgrace is that Nigerian leaders are actually disgraceful. They are the proverbial self-advertizing ripe fruits of an orange tree who invite stones and wood-pummeling on the mother tree. From Olusegun Obasanjo, to Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari and now to Bola Tinubu, Nigerian leaders of the Fourth Republic have left their food plates unwashed and have invited Trump, the green fly, to feast on their failures.

When Boko Haram insurgency began under Modu Ali Sheriff as governor of Borno State, Obasanjo was in the saddle. While holding court in Maiduguri, on July 28, 2002, Mohammed Yusuf, founder of the dreaded Islamist organization and its spiritual leader, got surrounded by Nigerian military troops. They enveloped the sect members and arrested Yusuff two days after. Captured by the military in that expedition, Yusuf was taken to custody of the police where, for fear that he could name his sponsors in government, Yusuff was summarily executed outside of the police headquarters. Rather than decisively stamp his feet on this potentially viral cells of an affliction, President Obasanjo would rather order the rout of Odi and ZakiBiam.

I was one of the reporters who covered the blood-curdling news of the amputation of Jangebe, the first victim of the politicization of Islam, in Gusau, Zamfara State in 1999. On October 27 of that year, Ahmed Sani Yerima, as governor, dared Obasanjo and introduced the Sharia law. The eleven other states in northern Nigeria who parade majority Muslim populations, immediately followed suit, regardless of the stipulations of the Nigerian constitution which stated that Nigeria is not a religious state. Obasanjo had the renown of the warrior, Morilewa who Odolaye Aremu sang his panegyrics as “Òtagììrìp’egbèjeènìyàn” – one who, with the clinical sprint of a tiger, eliminates 140 people at a go.

In this instance, however, because he wanted to be politically correct and didn’t want to hurt the north, Obasanjo became too feeble to stop the north. There were vehement protests everywhere against the move, including riots, leading to several deaths. Yet, Obasanjo was too busy demolishing towns where policemen and soldiers got killed to bother about this stoked national fire.

Yes, since 1960, there had been calls for Northern Nigeria to return to the Sharia, which is a way of life of Muslims. Reference was made to its seamless practice in the Sokoto Caliphate and Kanem-Bornu empire before the British colonial rule of the 19th and 20th centuries. Yes, this empire prospered tremendously under Sharia and the people wanted a return to “the glory of former times”. Were southern Nigeria to seek a return to “the old glory” of the buoyant Oyo empire, it could also have advocated for this movement backwards to move forward. Moving backwards to the Oyo empire would have meant a wholesale reproduction of the draconian laws and the barbaric precepts of kings seizing women that caught their fancies, which were not in consonance with modernity. Beheading of opponents to the king’s command would also have come with the broth. However, since the introduction of the criminal Sharia laws into the penal laws of the 12 northern states in 2000, Northern Nigeria has remained backward, more existentially challenged ever, while its political leaders use Sharia as a draw-card for votes.

Boko Haram indeed sidled into Nigeria under the veil of Islam. Under Jonathan, who literally threw his hands up in surrender, and Buhari, whose amorphous anger against the Islamist group was undisguisable, the insurgents became such a hydra whose taming was a huge challenge.

Now, Nigeria has come to the valley of decision. An untrained child would receive cudgel training outside their father’s compound. Donald Trump has come with his disgraceful cudgel for Nigeria. As usual, Nigerians are hiding behind a finger. The almost 26 years of leadership hypocrisy, politicizing of faith, ineptitude, abetment of mass killings of Nigerians, all in the name of looking good in the sight of northern voters, have come full throttle. It reminds me of Peter Tosh, the iconoclast Jamaican reggae musician, warning, in his No Way track, that, “Nobody feel no way/It’s coming close to payday I say…/Everyman get paid a quota’s work this day/Can I plant peas and reap rice/Can I plant cocoa and reap yam/Can I plant turnip and reap tomato/Can I plant breadfruit and reap potato?”

Nigeria planted breadfruit over the past 26 years and desires to reap potato. The world endured the nuisance of our leaders for decades; it waited with bated breath to see whether renaissance would come from within. Now, a Sheriff for whom scruple, precis and diplomatese and the concept of national sovereignty are balderdash, is in the saddle. You may dislike the gruff of Trump as I do; in his CPC tag on Nigeria, you may see through a veil of seeking to please his American evangelicals and harvesting support at home, amid a shutdown of American government. However, you cannot denounce Trump’s statistics that brim with blood of our innocent compatriots. Their only crime was being Nigerians practicing their faith.

In my piece entitled Ted Cruz’s genocide, blasphemy and Ida the slave boy (October 26, 2025) I laid bare the crux of Ted Cruz’s matter. The world cannot stand successive Nigerian governments’ hypocrisy any longer. Citizens have resigned themselves to their fates in the hands of their oppressive leaders. In the north, faiths other than Islam cannot be practiced without fear. In the name of blasphemy, many have had their heads decapitated and burnt. In the words of Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan-Kukah in Lagos on Friday, “If Nigeria does not kill the dragon of religious extremism, it will be only a matter of time before we become a larger Gaza.”

But, supremacists flourish like cedars of Lebanon here. The first thing to do is to face the fact that, the forefathers of insecurity in Nigeria – banditry, Fulani herdsmen, kidnapping etc – are Boko Haram and ISWAP. They kill, maim and destroy churches and mosques, in the name of a religion. Yes, we should agree that they are ill-informed and unrepresentative of what Islam, the religion of peace, truly stands for. But, with the genealogy of Boko Haram and ISWAP that we know, it will then be very disingenuous and hypocritical to claim that the killings in Nigeria’s northern states are in equal proportion of both Christian and Muslim adherents.

In the figures they gave of casualty of Boko Haram and ISWAP’s genocidal rout, Trump, Cruz and others spearheading this genocide claim on Nigerian Christians cannot be wrong. They may be wrong on the functionality that the grim statistics serve for them. If and when the Islamists strike, not only do they shout “Allahu Akbar,” a census of opinions of victims in northern Nigeria would reveal that their killings tilt more towards Christians and the Kafir Muslims who the insurgents see as no better than Christians.

I believe Tinubu can rout the Islamists. He stands at a tangential point to do this due to his syncretist background of being both Christian and Muslim, by birth and marriage. Trump’s irascibility is a wake-up call on Aso Rock. It is also a blessing to Nigeria. We don’t want America to storm Nigeria with her missiles. We want Trump to make Tinubu bend over backwards to smoke out those bloodsucking animals and their apologists off our land. Tinubu can do it if he blinds his eyes to the enticing pie of a second term re-election. To do this, he must heed the clarion call in the Ola Rotimi proverb which says that, “When an elder sees a mudskipper, he must not afterwards say it was a crocodile”.

Tinubu must call the mudskipper of Boko Haram sponsors their real names. He should begin by flushing out bloated vermin military generals who sell arms to Boko Haram and their allies in barracks who warehouse Intel reports for sale. Since we began voting trillions of Naira for fighting insurgency, military Generals and their civilian allies have stolen billions of our national patrimony yearly. I am sure America has their dossiers. She should smoke them out. America must then banish their feet from her precious soil where they love to move their blood-encrusted heists. It is in this that Trump can “attack fast, vicious, and sweet”. It will hit the insurgents hard, thereby bringing peace to the “cherished Christians”.

Lastly, I love a tweet on X last week credited to military General, Ibrahim Babangida. He wrote: “During our time in the Nigerian Military, we don’t (sic) negotiate with terrorists or offer any form of amnesty to radical groups. Those who pose(d) a significant threat (were) scheduled for court to see the judge, while those who pose(d) a much more dangerous (threat) are (sic) scheduled to see God.” It is high time the Tinubu government applied the same stratagem.

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Anambra Poll: CDD Releases Post-election Findings, Recommends improved INEC’s Operational Capacity

Published

5 hours ago

November 9, 2025

Editor

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), has released its post-election findings on the just concluded Anambra governorship election, recommending improvement in INEC’s operational capacity, prioritised voter education, issue-based campaigns, amongst others.

In a post-election press briefing held in Akwa on Sunday, the CDD said the “2025 Anambra election reveals that Nigeria’s electoral challenges are deeply linked to wider governance failures; weak institutions, elite dominance, economic hardship, insecurity, and lack of accountability continue to shape voter behaviour and electoral outcomes.”

In the post-election statement signed by Dr. Dauda Garuba, Director, CDD, and Professor Victor Adetula, Chair,
CDD-West Africa Election Analysis Centre, recommended that the “ongoing electoral reforms must target improving INEC’s operational capacity through timely funding, decentralised planning, and consistent communication.

“Such operational issues include logistics, mandatory real-time result publication via IReV, early voting for essential personnel and adequate personnel training.”

The CDD, while urging political parties to prioritise voter education and conduct issue-based campaigns, the organisation urged politicians to uphold internal democracy and adhere to transparent campaign financing.

“Elections cannot be treated as temporary security events. The government at all levels must develop a more sustainable security architecture that addresses root causes and provides year-round safety for residents.

“Only then can we safeguard electoral processes without relying on massive deployments that strain national resources and offer no long-term protection.”

The CDD, while decrying the prevalent of vote trading in the election, said conscious steps must be taken to discourage this “through deliberate efforts to deliver good governance while promoting civic education across all strata of society to discourage transactional politics.”

“The National Orientation Agency must take centre stage on this. Ongoing reforms of the electoral act must take into consideration the need to arrest and prosecute electoral offenders.”

The CDD said that “as the country prepares for the 2026 off-cycle elections and the 2027 general elections, these reforms must be prioritised.”

It added: “Nigeria’s democratic survival depends not just on voting but on the strength of the institutions and the governance practices that surround it.”

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UPDATED: INEC Declares Soludo Winner Of Anambra Guber Poll

Published

13 hours ago

November 9, 2025

Editor

The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has been declared the winner of the Saturday, November 8, 2025, Anambra State governorship election by the Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Edoba Omoregie.

Soludo, who polled a total of 422,664 votes, defeated his closest rival, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Nicholas Ukachukwu, who scored 99,445 votes, while the candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Sir Paul Chukwuma, came third with 37,753 votes.

According to INEC, a total of 16 candidates from various political parties participated in the election.

The state had 2,788,864 registered voters, out of which 598,229 were accredited. A total of 595,298 votes were cast, while 11,244 votes were rejected across the 21 local government areas.

From the results announced, Soludo of APGA won in all 21 local government areas of the state in a landslide victory.

Announcing the results at the INEC headquarters in Awka on Sunday, Omoregie said, “The number of registered voters was 2,788,864, while accredited voters were 598,229. The total valid votes stood at 584,054, rejected votes were 11,244, and the total votes cast amounted to 595,298.”

He added, “After collating the results as tallied into Form EC8E, it is now my privilege to declare the figures each candidate scored according to their political parties.

“There were a few areas affected by incidents, leading to cancellations in some wards across Anambra West, Anaocha, Awka South, and Onitsha South LGAs, amounting to 10,481 affected votes. However, the margin of lead between the top candidates did not affect the overall outcome of the election.

“I, Prof. Edoba Omoregie, Returning Officer for the 2025 Anambra State Governorship Election, hereby declare that the election was peaceful. Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, having scored 422,664 votes — the highest number of valid votes cast and having satisfied the requirements of the law — is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”

Breakdown of results:

Total registered voters: 2,788,864

Total accredited voters: 598,229

Total valid votes: 584,054

Rejected votes: 11,244

Total votes cast: 595,298

Votes by political parties:
A – 224
AA – 1,145
AAC – 292
ADC – 8,208
APC – 99,445
APGA – 422,664
APM – 892
APP – 73
BP – 126
LP – 10,576
NNPP – 525
NRM – 36
PDP – 1,401
SDP – 241
YPP – 37,753
ZLP – 453