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OPINION: Reliving Adetiloye’s Counsel For Nigeria

Published

2 years ago

November 7, 2023

By Suyi Ayodele

At the funeral service for late Chief Adekunle Ajasin on Saturday, November 15, 1997, this is what the late Primate of the Anglican Communion, Abiodun Adetiloye, said about Nigeria and its leaders. The fiery Anglican priest told those who gathered to honour the former governor of old Ondo State, at Saint Andrew’s Cathedral Anglican Church, Owo, venue of the funeral rites, why, despite the natural resources God blessed Nigeria with, the people live in abject poverty. In the congregation on that fateful day was the equally now late General Oladipo Diya, who was then the Second-in-Command to the expired tyrant, General Sani Abacha. Adetiloye said while other nations with less mineral resources protested to God for being partial to Nigeria by depositing several natural resources in the country, God told the placard-carrying nations to calm down and wait to see the type of leaders He would appoint to Nigeria to manage all the resources deposited in the land. The Anglican Primate saw our present conditions years ago. He asked everyone to look around and do personal assessment of how well their leaders had managed those resources in view of the abject poverty traversing the country in a three-piece suit. That sermon was preached 26 years ago. Adetiloye told those who gathered to listen to him, that God gave Nigeria locusts as leaders to manage its resources. Locusts do no other business; they simply waste every vegetation they invade. So, it has been for Nigeria. If you are not too comfortable with this fact by the late Prelate, just take a look around your neighbourhood and tell your next-door neighbour what you see.

The Nigerian lethargic leadership has made the jobs of religious leaders simple. With the present conditions of the Nigerian masses, pastors and imams alike don’t have to stress themselves asking their congregants to live right to avoid what the Christians call Hell, and their Muslim counterparts refer to as Mashiu Nari (مأواه الجهنم او مثواه النار). I don’t think anyone who lives in present-day Nigeria, who goes through the pains that are visited on the people, will still desire to be somewhere else worse than this place. You may not like the sound of it: Hell, or Mashiu Nari is here with us!

Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election was in Benin last Thursday for a colloquium held in honour of the national chairman of LP, Mr. Julius Abure. In his goodwill message at the event, Obi reaffirmed what Primate Adetiloye said over two and half decades ago. The former governor of Anambra State noted that with the natural and human resources Nigeria is blessed with, the nation had no reason to be poor. He went ahead to say that while he never claimed to be a Saint himself, he boasted that he had not been found doing the wrong thing. Then he dropped the clincher. As much as God was generous to Nigeria in terms of human and natural resources, the Creator did not give the country good leaders, he quipped. Here is how he put it: “All resources,l anybody, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria; Nigeria has one of the best in terms of land, weather, God-given resources and the people. One thing God has not given Nigeria is good leaders; if we have good leaders, we would do better. A country like Nigeria has no reason to be poor if not because of leadership….” Obi appeared, at that event, to understand where our problem lies. He blamed the politicians for our woes. Hear him again: “The reason why the country is failing today is lack of plan; and when you talk about lack of planning, you are talking about lack of implementation because we politicians, when we are campaigning, everything is sweet and good. But once we have the opportunity, we would bring out our true side and start doing the opposite and reserve our pride for implementation.” Nothing could have been more truthful!

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Sir Wilson Leonard Spencer Churchill was the United Kingdom (UK), Prime Minister twice from 1940 to 1945, and 1951 to 1955. His leadership qualities, especially how he managed the post-second world war UK, remain a reference point till date. His numerous speeches on quality leadership and good governance are seminar papers for students of social sciences. Speaking of the great leader, an American writer, speaker and businessman, James Strock, in a November 29, 2022, article titled: “10 Winston Churchill Leadership Lessons”, says: “There is an ultimate test of leadership: would events have turned out differently but for their service? Churchill is one of the rare leaders of history who undoubtedly passes this demanding test. The history of England, the history of Europe—indeed, the history of the world, would have turned out differently but for his individual contribution of service in 1940-41.” Not yet done, quoting Geoffrey Best, who Strock describes as “one of Churchill’s most effective recent biographers”, the American writer pens these words again of Churchill: “By the time Churchill died, Britain was fast turning into a land in which such a man as he was could never again find room to flourish, with a popular culture increasingly inimical to his values and likely therefore not to notice or properly appreciate his achievements….In the years 1940 and 1941 he was indeed the savior of the nation. His achievements, taken all in all, justify his title to be known as the greatest Englishman of his age…” He added a caveat thus: “That is not to say he was always right. He could be disastrously wrong and wrong-headed”, but everything put together, Churchill remains the best the UK ever had. This opinion is reinforced by the popular Cambridge scholar, Sir Geoffrey Elton, who says of Churchill thus: “There are times when I incline to judge all historians by their opinion of Winston Churchill—whether they can see that no matter how much better the details, often damaging, of man and career become known, he still remains, quite simply, a great man.” Adetiloye, titled his referenced sermon “Teach Us to Number Our Days”, taken from Psalm 90:12. On Pa Ajasin’s tomb at the Saint Matthew’s Cathedral Anglican Church, Owo, is written this epitaph: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (Rev 14:13)”. Do our leaders really care about what people will say about them after they are long gone? Do they give a thought to what my people call Àtubòtán (Hereafter)?

There is no argument about the fact that acquiescence and docility on the part of the followers are parts of our problems as a nation. Obi also pointed this out in his Benin engagement when he intoned that while the locust leadership stole and wasted public funds, the masses “celebrate them”. But the greatest problem, in my opinion, is the insensitivity of our leaders. The type of people that we have had and still have in positions of authority in this nation, especially from 1999, when the present ‘democratic’ dispensation began, are too unfeeling; they are simply far removed from the pains of the people. The last two or three weeks have been very troubling for Nigeria that one begins to ask if we have effigies at the top of our affairs. While we are still debating the insensitivity of members of the National Assembly who are acquiring Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), worth N168m each as their official cars, because, as they argued, “our roads are bad; and not motorable”, another one was dropped on us by the Executive arm, which submitted a supplementary budget of N2.176 trillion to the National Assembly for approval, without a single line item on the list having anything to do with how to ameliorate the harsh economic condition of the poor people, or to build any of our moribund or decaying public utilities. All the supplementary budget, presented less than 60 days to the end of the year, contains items that have to do with the personal comfort of the president, the vice president, and the wife of the president. How will any rational mind justify a budget of N4 billion apiece for the renovation of Dodan Barracks, Lagos official residences of the President and Vice President? How much will it cost to build new official residences for the duo, if indeed, that is our priority at this moment? What exactly will the president and the Vice President be doing in Lagos such that they must be quartered in buildings “renovated” at the cost of N8 billion naira? President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s residence in Ikoyi is less than 10 minutes’ drive to Dodan Barracks. Are we saying if he has any business to stay in Lagos for a day or two, his Bourdillon Street mansion is no longer befitting? Where, for instance, will he retire to after his tour of duty as president? Is it just the case of what my Ekiti people call “Àdá aládã poo lòra igi” (it is another man’s cutlass that is used anyhow to cut any tree).

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The nation’s economy is gasping for breath with the oxygen running out, faster than we can imagine. The economists in and out of the government told us that only Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) could bail us out. We did not question their submissions. But tell me, which foreign investor would put his resources in an economy, where the first budget the DFI-infested government would present is one which allocated a whopping N1.5 billion to buy official cars for the president’s wife? Just last week, like common japeries, wives of former and current governors gathered in Ibadan, Oyo State, for what they termed: “First Ladies Against Cancer”. I asked, like the Cross River State correspondent of Daily Trust, Charles Eyo, once asked Chief Femi Fani-Kayode: who bankrolled the Ibadan junket? How much of Oyo State Government funds were expended on the hosting of the “First Ladies”? What about the other ‘First Ladies’ who attended the event with their aides, who paid for them? What is the relevance of governors, or president’s wives to the day-to-day running of the government? We had a national disaster on April 14, 2014, with the mass abduction of our daughters in their school in Chibok, Borno State, and what did we get as the immediate reaction of the leader we elected to protect us? Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), was the one who summoned the parents and teachers of the abducted girls to Aso Rock Villa, where she made her risible “Daris God ooo”, remarks! What is the use of N1.5 billion cars for the wife of the president, when Nigerians are stranded at bus stops waiting for non-existing public transport? Did Nigerians elect the president and their governors alongside their wives such that separate offices are created for them at the expense of our common patrimony? So, a sensible foreign investor reading all the charades would still bring his funds to be eaten up by locusts?

A friend sent to me some videos of a retired Naval officer, Commodore Kunle Olawunmi, who, while explaining the desirability of the N5 billion presidential Yacht included in the supplementary budget, said that the yacht was meant for the president to inspect the nation’s Navy’s war fleet known in military parlance as “Flag showing, or Fleet Review”, a ceremonial parade of the Navy’s war ships arsenal. Good enough, the retired military man, who is now into academics, expressed misgivings about the newness of the yacht, and its actual cost, which he said might be just a fifth of the budgeted cost. On a personal note, I don’t have any problem with the president having a presidential yacht as it is the practice in other countries. My issue with this one is the timing. Is this what we need now? What is the use of our president inspecting the warships on the fleet of our Navy from a N5 billion yacht, when the same Navy has not been able to halt the daily theft of our crude oil from the high sea? Were there no Navy and its fleet of warships when a vessel siphoned our crude, sailed off, undetected, only to be apprehended in faraway Equatorial Guinea, which does not boast of one tenth of the fleet of our Navy? How about the pirates who torment seafarers unchecked by the ‘war ship’ that the navy would want to showcase at a “Fleet Review”? At this period of our economic woes, which is more desirable between a ceremonial presidential yacht and naval equipment that would make the monitoring of our international waters seamless for our military? The one they labelled “clueless”, GEJ, as reported by Daily Trust newspapers in its June 30, 2010, edition, received a proposal for a N3.3 billion presidential yacht by the Navy, and he shot it down by the stroke of his pen! Who inserted that item into the supplementary budget? Who vetted the budget before it was sent to the National Assembly? Why has no head rolled for causing the president such an embarrassment such that his government had to explain? While those who should know have given us the definition of what a presidential yacht is and that is the practice all over the world, the Presidency came up with its usual slatternly explanation that calling the N5 billion yacht “Presidential Yacht” is a mischaracterisation. One wonders why it is difficult for the president’s aides to come to terms with the fact that the issue with the yacht is not about its desirability or ownership, but the wrong timing of either the Navy or the Presidency purchasing the yacht. To add to the insult, one of the key figures in the government, Senator Ali Ndume, the Senate Chief whip, announced on a live television programme that the yacht had been purchased, and delivered, but only to be paid for! Can anyone beat that! Pray, which company, and which country, released a N5 billion ship to an insolvent economy like Nigeria’s? When will those in power accept that the Nigerian people have some level of intelligence? When will our leaders at all levels of governance start to write their names in gold? When exactly will they begin to number their days to acknowledge the vanity of their whims and profligate desires?

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[OPINION] Gov Adeleke: Cure Madness With Madness

Published

10 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Tunde Odesola

This is the definition of shock. A squirrel’s stomach rumbles like a faucet belching water, despite a barn of walnuts in full view. But the barn is utterly inaccessible. Fidgety on the same spot, the squirrel sits, skips, sighs and yawns in hunger, furtively watching four moustachioed scarecrows guard the four pillars of the barn. Two of the scarecrows wear buba and sokoto, the other two wear agbada and abeti aja caps.

Then came a whirlwind. The squirrel, head peeping out of its burrow in the earth, watches as one abeti aja cap goes up in the air, while the scarecrow donning the abeti aja cap crashes facedown on the barn gbooaa!

Terrified, the squirrel dashes into the ground on the limbs of lightning. By the time it came back to peep from its burrow, another scarecrow had crashed and crumbled like Humpty Dumpty. If it were human, the squirrel would have spoken in pidgin English, with a thick Warri accent, “Ehn-ehn? I see. So, na effigy I bin dey fear since all dis days wey hunger dey wire me? Human beings wicked o. I go show dis farmer pepper!” In this moment of sudden realisation, the look on the squirrel is the definition of shock.

If I told you I became an Ambassador when I was 12 years old, I’m sure you would be shocked. But that’s the truth. It was at Araromi Baptist Church, located at 42, Sokunbi Street, Mushin, that I was made an Ambassador in the Layode Chapter of Royal Ambassadors – a male youth group that mentors teenagers and young adults in faith, leadership and service. The motto of the Boy Scouts-like organisation is, “We are ambassadors for Christ,” a quote domiciled in 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Though our church is located in Mushin, where we grew up, Royal Ambassadors didn’t take marijuana, not to talk of colos, loud, codeine, tramadol, cocaine, heroin, etc, hard substances popular among today’s youths.

According to Royal Ambassadors’ cherished manual, which contains the philosophy and guidelines of the organisation, “An ambassador is the one who represents a king at the court of another king.” All churches under the Nigerian Baptist Convention have Royal Ambassador chapters. In my days as an ambassador, we learnt how to pitch a tent in an open-air camp, make a lanyard, control traffic, conduct a march-past, sing and play martial and secular musical instruments, and preach the word of God.

Of late, in Nigeria, however, there’s a strong umbilical cord connecting shock and the term ambassador. Thesaurus, the book of meanings, says scandalise is a synonym for shock. It also gives ‘emissary’ as the equivalent of ambassador.

From popular marijuana-smoking Naira Marley to tarmac-invader, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, and the content-creating irritant, Ayomiposi Oluwadahunsi, aka Mandy Kiss, who sought to bed 100 men in 24 hours, and earn Guinness World Record fame – the official reward for infamy in Nigeria is an ambassadorial award.

But the ambassadorship conferred on me by Araromi Baptist Church is in Christ, not in crisis. Nigerianly, the ambassadorships conferred on Naira Marley, Wasiu Ayinde and Mandy Kiss were rewards for the crises they precipitated.

In the southwestern domain of Governor Nurueen Ademola Jackson Adeleke, three issues stand out as either befitting of Nigeria’s present-day ambassadorial awards or outright condemnation. They are the embarrassment the Osun Amotekun Corps is fast becoming, the Apetu of Ipetumodu saga, and the gassing Oluwo of Iwo. Thank goodness, Adeleke has not yet glorified the ridicule these three have smeared on public consciousness by making them ambassadors. It is, however, instructive to note that he has yet to condemn any of them. And, silence, wisdom whispers, is another name for consent.

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Dear Governor Adeleke, the people of Osun are asking, “Where has one of the kings in our State of the Living Spring, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, gone? The people of Osun are saying the Apetu’s royal head that wears the beaded crown of Ipetumodu has been exposed koroboto in a US jail, shining to the derision of inmates who wonder why a king dragged his nobility in criminal mud. It is too big for my basketmouth to ask the Oba Elewon if it was greed or ambition, or both, that pushed him off the throne into the trash of dishonour. Your Excellency can help the people of Osun ask him, using the authority of your office.

My governor, the Oriade of Ipetumodu will not only be sleeping outside his domain in the next four and a half years, the Igba Keji Orisa will be sleeping in a foreign prison, wearing prison clothes, eating prison food, bathing with fellow prisoners and doing prison labour. Abomination! Do the Yoruba not say ‘oriade kii sun ita?’ Governor Adeleke, this oriade has slept outside; it should not be allowed back into the palace.

Thank heavens, Governor Adeleke has no visual challenge; thus, I ask, “Is the optics of Apetu in prison orange uniform good for the integrity and image of Osun? If it is not, why has the Peoples Democratic Party-led Osun administration kept quiet for many weeks after the jailing of the Alayeluwa? Remember, Mr Governor, many months after the Apetu was arrested in the US over a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund fraud, your administration said it would await court judgment to know the direction to go on the matter.

On August 28, 2025, however, a US Distinct Judge in Ohio, Christopher Boyko, found Oloyede guilty of leading a conspiracy to exploit COVID-19 emergency loan programmes designed to assist struggling small businesses, sentenced him to 56 months in prison and ordered him to refund $4,408,543.38, $90,006.89, forfeiting the house he bought in Medina, Ohio, with the proceeds of the fraud.

Speaking exclusively to PUNCH newspaper after the judgment, Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dosu Babatunde, said the Adeleke administration would not act based on social media reports.

Babatunde said, “While it may be true that the monarch has been convicted and jailed, there is no official record with us. We cannot rely on Facebook posts and stories to justify such a serious matter.” Babatunde added that the government would get the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment before making any decision regarding the stool.

In a shocking move that unfolded two days after his imprisonment, however, persons believed to be loyal to the 62-year-old Oloyede, subsequently ransacked the palace and allegedly carted into hiding crowns and royal paraphernalia in a bid to stall the appointment and installation of a new king. While the people of Ipetumodu are calling on the state government to commence the process of appointing a new king, the deafening silence on the part of the Adeleke government appears to be a tacit tactic to stall and hold the crown down for the criminal king.

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As a US resident, I know it is not likely to take up to 15 minutes to obtain the CTC of a case in a US court, upon application, having obtained information myself in a court sometime ago. The statement by the Osun State government that it needed a CTC to commence action on the Apetu’s case reeks of foot-dragging and hypocrisy when the king had been held in prison since April 2024, sentenced in August 2025, with the report of the sentencing on the official website of the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio.

By asking for the CTC, does the Adeleke administration intend to appeal the judgment on behalf of the Apetu? If yes, did the state governor or government benefit from the proceeds of the fraud? And, why has the government not obtained the Almighty CTC since judgment was given? Oba Oloyede is the second case of an Osun monarch jailed for criminal offences in the US, the first one being the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba, Emir, Alaafin Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Telu I. Why is the Adeleke government buying time for a king whose royal gourd Ipetumode kingmakers should have smashed into oblivion by now? Is the state government saying the monarch has been on a sabbatical holiday since April 2024, when he was held in the US? Now that the king has been jailed and the report has grabbed headlines across the world, it is absolutely unthinkable that the Osun State government appears undecided and clueless on the matter. The people of Osun need an answer to the question of the jailed Apetu urgently.

My governor and aburo Serubawon of blessed memory, getting a CTC in a US court is far less stressful than the energy you exert dancing. The people of Osun voted for you to show good leadership. There is no better time to prove your mettle than now. You bear the illustrious title of Asiwaju; it’s time to prove you are not the snail that carries two horns on its head, but lacks the power to butt.

Egbon Ademola, the lastborn of Pa Ayoola Adeleke and Mama Esther Adeleke, remember the son of whom you are. You’re the descendant of Timi Agbale, Olofa ina. You are omo arogun ma fi t’ibon se, omo Mapo Arogun, iyako agbo, omo aji lala oso, aji f’ojo gbogbo dara bi egbin. The pall of darkness cast over Ipetumodu by the Apetu’s imprisonment needs your Imole. Shine your light to chase away darkness in Ipetu.

I’m sure you know Dr Olusegun Mimiko. He is a former Governor of Ondo State. His nickname is Iroko. When the then Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adeshina Adepoju, engaged his wife in a public brawl, Iroko uprooted him and flung him outside the palace, replacing him with the incumbent king, Oba Adegboye Adesida. Baba B-Red, please, prove to the world that if Ondo State had Iroko, Osun State has a true Asiwaju, too.

But if Imole is jittery to take action on Oloyede because of his re-election bid in 2026, I’ll advise him to listen and take courage from the song titled, “Were la fi n wo were,” by a Juju musician named G Melody.

Is the governor surprised that the song doesn’t even belong to Taye Currency, a low-current Ibadan-based Fuji musician, who inappropriately sang the song at the recent coronation of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Adewolu Rashidi Ladoja? I was surprised, too. The song belongs to G Melody. But Currency sang it energetically as if it were his own, without giving credit to Melody.

While investigating the ownership of the song, I called music aficionado, Bimbo Esho, of the Evergreen Musical Company fame, and asked who owns Were la fi n wo were. Bimbo sent me a voice note containing the voice of Ogun State-based G Melody in which he told the story of how he got the inspiration to compose the song.

Melody said, “It’s my song. People have been calling me about the song. Some of the boys I trained, like Ola Liberty, sing it. Ola Liberty is my very good son. I’m not a noise maker. It’s my song. There’s another song of mine, “Kilode te n ya were, abosi?”, that they are singing all over the place now. I composed Were la fi n wo were song in Imeko, where I had gone to sing at a political rally. Some guys were trying to disrupt the rally, and I said they should calm down, that they cannot stop me. I infused it with political undertones, saying they cannot steal our votes, and if they do, we would cure madness with madness – were la fi n wo were.”

Governor Adeleke, it is high time you cured madness with madness in Osun. It is not right for a hunter to flee homeward from the forest, shouting, “Help! Help! Save me! A ferocious animal is on my heels!” Please, restore the Omoluabi ethos of dignity, integrity and honour to Ipetumodu royalty.

It’s obvious the same affliction of greed that plagues the Ipetumodu crown plagues the Iwo monarchy; àrùn to n se Ipetumodu lo n se Iwo, but Iwo manifests a malignant and metastasised cancer needing urgent surgery. First, the Oluwo should be deposed for his criminal conviction in the US over fraud, just like the Apetu. Second, the public actions and utterances of the Oluwo negating the honour and source of the Yoruba should be investigated and sanctioned by the state government.

In an old video, Oluwo said, “Me and Ooni do talk, we have a very good relationship. He (Ooni) is the head of all kings in Yorubaland; that is the source. It doesn’t matter what anybody says; Ife is the source of all crowns. Ife is where Oduduwa lived and got his crown from. Every other king who is from ancient town is a prince from Ife. I am a prince from Ife. Every other crown that you see, that is an ancient crown in Yoruba land, is prince from Yorubaland. So, the crown he (Ooni) is wearing is the father of all the crowns. It doesn’t matter what anybody says.”

In a new video, Akanbi, who named his palace, “Aafin Olodumare Iwo,” dares the Ooni to speak Ife dialect in Ibadan, and inferred that the Ooni was not a Yoruba king because he does not wear ofi clothe, insisting that Yoruba kings do not tie their clothes over their shoulders as the Ooni does. In a moment of epiphany, fueled by God-knows-what, Akanbi also says Ife is not the source of the Yoruba, leaving people who had watched his earlier acceptance of Ife as the source of all crowns, wondering if all is well with the Oluwo of Iwo.

Were la fi n wo were. Governor Adeleke, as a matter of urgency, should take this song to the headquarters of the Osun State Amotekun Corps, where a malignant form of madness is festering.

Reports emanating across Osun against the modus operandi of Amotekun indicate that the corps has turned into a full-fledged organ of terror. The corps, under the leadership of a retired policeman, Isaac Omoyele, is a classical example to be cited by antagonists of state police. Evidence abounds that the corps now extorts the citizenry, detaining people and charging them money for bail.

In June, officials of the corps were accused of illegal arrest of residents in the Itaapa community, a situation which led the residents to stage a protest in Osogbo, the Osun State capital. The Odofin of Itaapa, Olusegun Owoeye, who led the protesters, said Amotekun officers arrested some members of the community’s security volunteer team alongside some chiefs, following a complaint by a leader of the governor’s party, the PDP.

Omoyele had insisted that those arrested were criminals armed with guns, but the community said the guns belonged to the town’s vigilante members.

Before he was appointed by Adeleke as Amotekun commander, Omoyele, in 2022, was accused of brutality by an #ENDSARS panel while serving as a police officer.

In its latest show of barbarity, officials of the corps stormed the Akinlalu community and opened fire on innocent citizens, killing no fewer than four people, while claiming that they did so in an attempt to retrieve a pump-action gun some youths of the community seized.

Before Osun is turned into a lake of fire, the governor should tell his Amotekun that it is wrong to carry out reprisal attacks on innocent people while trying to retrieve a gun, just as the arrest of 20 members of the corps by a special squad of the police is commendable.

Omoyele, who was the chief security officer to Adeleke, should be relieved of his post, while a more mature, disciplined and experienced replacement should take his stead.

I won’t mind if my governor gyrates to Were la fi n wo were, sliding two fingers over the corner of his eyes while his followers shout themselves hoarse, but he must truly cure the madness in Osun with madness.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

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Jonathan To Meet Tinubu Over Nnamdi Kanu’s Detention — Sowore

Published

14 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, said former President Goodluck Jonathan has agreed to engage President Bola Tinubu on the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Sowore disclosed this on Friday via his X handle after meeting with Jonathan in Abuja.

According to him, their discussion centred on the “urgent and compelling need” to address Kanu’s case “decisively and justly.”

Sowore said, “Earlier today in Abuja, I met with former President @GEJonathan (Goodluck Jonathan) to discuss the continued incarceration of Mazi @NnamdiKanu

“President Jonathan agreed that there is an urgent and compelling need to address this matter decisively and justly. I thank him sincerely for recognising the importance of resolving Kanu’s case in the interest of peace, fairness, and national healing.

“Particularly assuring was that he promised to meet @officialabat (President Bola Tinubu) to discuss this issue as soon as possible.”

He noted that with this development, Jonathan joins a growing list of Nigerians who have called for justice in Nnamdi Kanu’s case.

“A list that already includes ex-Vice President @atiku, Femi Falana SAN, Senator @ShehuSani, and many others across political and regional divides,” Sowore said.

The activist reiterated his call for Kanu’s release, saying the IPOB leader “remains in detention today because he took up the just cause of confronting the long-standing issue of marginalisation in Nigeria.”

He also urged political, cultural, and religious leaders, including Peter Obi, Chukwuma Soludo, Alex Otti, Francis Nwifuru, Peter Mbah, Hope Uzodinma, Oby Ezekwesili, and Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s John Mbata, to join the campaign for Kanu’s release.

Kanu has been in detention since 2021 after being re-arrested abroad and returned to Nigeria to face trial on charges bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.

Several court orders granting him bail or ordering his release have yet to be implemented.

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Yiaga Africa, Kukah Centre, Others Demand Live Broadcast Of INEC Chair Screening

Published

14 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have appealed to the Senate to ensure that the screening of Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) for the position of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is broadcast live to the public.

According to the groups, a live broadcast of the screening would promote transparency, accountability, and public confidence in the process of appointing the head of the nation’s electoral body.

In a statement made available to The Guardian on Friday, they emphasised that, given the crucial role INEC plays in safeguarding Nigeria’s democracy, citizens have a right to witness and assess the integrity, competence, and independence of the nominee being considered for such a sensitive position.

The CSOs include Yiaga Africa, Women Rights Advancement Protection Alternative (WRAPA), International Press Centre, The Kukah Centre, Centre for Media and Society, TAF Africa, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Nigeria Women Trust Fund, Accountability Lab Nigeria, and YERP Naija Campaign.

According to the organisations, live coverage would help dispel any suspicion of bias or backroom dealings, while allowing Nigerians to engage more meaningfully in discussions about electoral reforms and leadership within the electoral body.

“We call on the Senate to ensure that its confirmation hearings are transparent, televised, and inclusive of citizen and civil society input through memoranda, petitions, and participation in the confirmation hearings.

“The Senate should undertake a rigorous examination of his competence, public records, vision for electoral reform, INEC’s institutional strengthening, as well as his capacity to resist political interference and uphold electoral integrity.

“The Senate should also interrogate the nominee’s plans to address systemic challenges, including voter registration, result transmission, and enforcement of INEC’s regulations and guidelines.

“Nigerians expect the Senate confirmation process to be open to citizens’ participation in line with the Framework for Citizens’ Engagement in the INEC Appointment Process previously submitted to the Senate by the undersigned civil society organisations. This includes full disclosure of the nominee’s credentials, public service history, and capacity to manage elections without political interference,” the statement reads.

While acknowledging Professor Amupitan’s academic and professional accomplishments, they declared that they have no objection to his nomination, even as they tasked him to “demonstrate moral courage and resistance to political interference,” if confirmed by the Senate.
(GUARDIAN)