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OPINION: South-West, Run, Ganduje Is Coming

Published

1 year ago

October 22, 2024

By Suyi Ayodele

“In this geopolitical zone, we must deliver 100 per cent in favour of APC. Therefore, Ondo State, you must be at the forefront, the two other states – Oyo and Osun – we will capture them, but I will not reveal our secret. We are strategising. Everything must be 100 per cent behind President Bola Tinubu.”

The above vow was made by Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, APC National Chairman, at a meeting with APC stakeholders ahead of the November 16, 2024, governorship election in Ondo State. He did not stop at vowing to capture Ondo State. He listed two other states: Osun and Oyo, as part of the states he would “capture” for supper.

When that is done, the entire South-West geo-political zone will be 100 percent APC-controlled region.

I am bothered about Ganduje’s choice of words. His use of the word ‘capture’ reminds me of how Samuel Ajayi Crowther was captured by the Fulani and sold into slavery some 200 years ago at his village, Osoogun, near Oyo town. History says “Ajayi was around 12 years old when he and his family were captured, along with his entire village, by Fulani slave raiders in March 1821 and sold to Portuguese slave traders.” Ganduje is Fulani.

I checked the semantic implications of the verb, “capture”, using the Semantic Principle of Contextualisation. Ninety-nine percent of the results I got have negative connotations. For instance, one meaning describes it as “take captive”, another synonym gives it out as “subjugate”; and one informal usage says it means “collar’.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: “act of seizing or taking as a prisoner or prize; gaining possession of by force…” (Pg 345). Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Fourth Edition), adopting the Stylistics strategy of Foregrounding says “capture” means: “to take someone as a prisoner, or to take something into your possession, especially by force” (Pg 218). Collins English Dictionary & Thesaurus says it means: “to take prisoner…” (Pg 173). And Webster’s Universal Dictionary & Thesaurus defines it as: “to take prisoner; (fortress, etc) to seize; to catch…” (Pg 87).

The heat from the political furnace of the APC will also roast many of the PDP-controlled states in the South-East, South-South, North-Central, North-East and North-West. Some of these states will willingly surrender to the ruling party, while the others will be decimated. Nothing can change that permutation as long as Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains the President of Nigeria, and he seeks to be president again for the second term.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:Wike, Fubara: Bitten By Tiger Cub [OPINION]

When a woman speaks, pay attention to what she says with her eyes. The axiom is equally applicable to the menfolk, especially the political elite of this era, who can give anything, and do anything, to achieve their goals. The only beautiful thing is that our politicians warn us before they strike. The fault is ours that we fail to act to counter whatever they say.

In the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, President Tinubu said that “Political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. They don’t serve it a la carte. At all costs, fight for it, grab it, and run (away) with it.” Nigerians refused to pay attention to him. We waited for the February 25, 2023, presidential election date to know the full import of what Tinubu said.

But then, it was too late. By the time we realised what was happening, the same Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and its Result Viewing (IReV) portal, which worked for the senatorial and House of Representatives elections held the same day, time and venues with the presidential election, did not work when it came to Tinubu’s election. The man did not only grab and run away with the election, but he has also done a dash with our collective posterity.

The APC employed that method in 2015 when it captured the entire country. It repeated the feat in 2019 and took it to a bestial level in 2023. Now, 2027 is knocking on the political door and Ganduje is already telling us what to expect. The whole mess in the country is all because of the 2027 second-term ambition of President Tinubu. Nobody should be deceived by Ganduje’s addendum of “but I will not reveal our secret.”

Every good student of Semantics and Stylistics must pay attention to words, their meanings and the strategy deployed in using them. When a man employs the strong evocation, as contained in the modal auxiliary verb, “Must”, the way Ganduje used it in Akure, my Semantics teachers said it has one basic function to perform; and that is compulsion!

What Ganduje meant is that the APC would win Ondo State and other states that he mentioned, by all means! This deployment of diction does not pay attention to the political preferences of the voters. The APC “MUST” win because the region “must” be 100 percent behind the president.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: The President Is Missing

The APC National Chairman has already told us what was in the offing. APC has only one “strategy” and one “secret”: win and let the opposition go to court. All the states in the South-West must go into the APC’s captivity for Tinubu to obtain 100 percent home-base support. I am worried because too early in life, I was trained to pay attention to what a man says and use the same to measure his character,

Brother ‘Biodun Ogunleye taught us Literature-in-English in Form Five. He was a colourful teacher. He never allowed any of his students to call him “Mr. Ogunleye”. He was content with the simple “Brother Biodun”. He said that made him closer to his students. And he was indeed close to us. He was not a teacher; he was, and he is simply a brother. We loved and enjoyed his classes.

In one of the sessions, he taught us the topic, characterisation. He stated that every character speaks according to his or her psychological make up. The adopted text then was Ola Rotimi’s “The Gods Are Not to Blame. He would ask us to read out the words uttered by a character and then ask us to describe who the character is based on what we read.

It was from him we learnt that King Odewale, the main character in the play is “temperamental.” ‘What a man says speaks more about his personality’, the teacher of teachers said. Brother ‘Biodun is eternally correct. He later left the teaching profession for Law. At a time, he was the Ekiti State Secretary of the APC. How our darling Brother Biodun ended up with the figures in the APC is one topic I will take up with him anytime we happen to be together. But thanks to him for that cradle knowledge about how to situate every character.

Words don’t just come out of human beings. All the words we utter are processed first before they are vocalised; except in the cases of some Nigerian politicians who utter words before they process them. A former National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, once described his successor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, as a man who talks before thinking. Every man is therefore as good as what he says.

I am applying the same principle to the utterances of Ganduje in Akure because of his antecedents, and more importantly, the antecedents of the political party he represents. When a political party is populated by people with Machiavellian tendencies the way APC is configured, the people suffer.

This is why the people of Ondo State, and the two other states Ganduje mentioned should begin to have sleepless nights. APC will “capture” Ondo State; there is nothing anybody can do about that! Sad! But that is the reality! Anyone who witnessed how the September 21 governorship election in the neighbouring Edo State turned out will understand that Ganduje was not joking.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: The Streets Are Empty

But you must love Ganduje for who he is. Negative as his political character portraiture may look, he must be commended for forewarning the people of the three states waiting to be “captured.” A foretold war is not likely to kill a wise lame. The man with walking difficulties is usually counselled to begin the journey to exile the very day the warning bell was tolled. Unfortunately, it may be too late for the people of Ondo State.

I say this because APC is not a silly party like the docile opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ganduje said he “will not reveal our secret.” One would expect the PDP or any of the opposition parties to decode what “our secret” means.

But not the PDP, not any of the non-existent parties! When a child eats eko (agidi) with an elder, and the elder does not stain his fingers, let the child know that the secret is under the leaves used in wrapping the eko.

Incidentally, the wisdom in the above saying is lost on the PDP. The party is too busy with the distraction from its recalcitrant children like Nyesom Wike and Ayo Fayose of this world to be able to think outside the box! A political party which lacks the testicular fortitude to deal with the likes of Wike and Fayose will always be at the receiving end of the political shenanigans of a rampaging APC. Shior!

This is why Ganduje threw diplomacy and decency to the wild winds and announced that APC would “capture” Ondo, Osun and Oyo States for Tinubu. He is a man who states it as it will happen. His antecedents confirm that. He is like that notorious character, Obika, the son of Ezeulu, in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God, who gets away with virtually all his irresponsible actions. When a man’s character depicts the negative side of life, attention must be paid to whatever he says and does.

Under Ganduje as governor, the streets of Kano were a sea of suffering – beggars, old, young, male and female. The number of out-of-school children ballooned in unimaginable percentages. That is the marketer-in-chief of the APC in a South-Western state in 2024. Bí ìyà ńlá bá gbé ni sánlè, kékeré á g’orí eni.

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa should run away from him if he would be lucky again and the world would truly be his’. A man who answers Orimisan (My head is good) as his middle name should be circumspect when in company with dangerous, devil-may-care people. The man who wears a white garment has no business embracing the man who carries a keg of palm oil! “Wisdom is profitable to direct”, says the Holy Book in Ecclesiastes 10:10.

APC and Ganduje can gloat today because they get away with whatever perfidy they concoct. But I have a word of advice for them. The duo should not rejoice because they have the capacity to capture the entire nation. The day will always break; so, the one who rejoices for wearing a rag in the darkness of the night will be totally exposed. There is a limit to which the people can be pushed before they will react.

When a goat is pursued to the wall without any escape route, it turns to attack its traducer. One day, the ones in captivity will break the chains and fetters holding them bound to violence. Obika rides on the personality of Ezeulu, his father, to commit all manners of crimes. But, when the people got tired, they ensured that he was humiliated by being flogged publicly by the white man. Every act of perfidy has an expiry day. Maybe the November 16, 2024, “capturing’ of Ondo State will be the Nunc dimittis for the APC; who knows?

Ogun Awitele (Foretold War), as a storybook written by inimitable Adebayo Faleti, ends with victory over an audacious band of night marauders. The villagers won because they didn’t go to sleep when they received the promise of the robbers to capture them and their goods. If the South-West wants to become 2024 Ajayi Crowther, let them sleep with all their heads in one direction.

News

Why We Expanded Presidential Amnesty Scholarship Scheme — Otuaro

Published

10 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Otuaro (middle) in a group photograph with the PAP foreign scholarship students in the United Kingdom after an interactive session in London on Saturday, 25 October, 2025.

The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, has expressed his unwavering commitment to ensuring that more indigent students and communities of the Niger Delta benefit from the PAP scholarship scheme.

He stated this while explaining what informed his decision to expand the scheme and increase formal education opportunities for poor students, and to build a huge manpower base in the region.

A statement issued by Mr Igoniko Oduma, Special Assistant on Media to the PAP boss said Otuaro spoke during an interactive session in London on Saturday with the beneficiaries of the scholarship initiative deployed for undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in universities across the United Kingdom.

The engagement, which was at the instance of the PAP boss, provided an opportunity for the Office and the scholarship students to discuss issues pertaining to their welfare and challenges with a view to addressing them.

Otuaro said that while in-country scholarship deployment was 3800 in the 2024/2025 academic year, the figure increased to 3900 in the 2025/2026 and foreign scholarships were about 200.

He attributed the increase in deployment to the massive support of President Bola Tinubu and the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Otuaro stressed that he was greatly encouraged by the President and the NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and that he knows how impressed both of them are concerning the PAP initiatives, which align with the Renewed Hope Agenda.

He reiterated his call on the students to justify the huge investment in their education by the Federal Government by studying hard to make good grades.

He also urged them to conduct themselves and be responsible ambassadors of Nigeria while in the U.K, stressing that “you will be adding value to your families and communities when you complete your programmes successfully.”

The PAP helmsman said, “We want the scholarship programme to impact more students and communities in the Niger Delta. That’s why we have expanded it and increased formal education opportunities.

“We want you to take this opportunity very seriously so that the government, too, will be encouraged. I know how much support His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu GCFR, gives to the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

“Mr President and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, are very impressed with what we are doing. On your behalf I would like to, once again , thank His Excellency and the NSA for giving you this life-changing opportunity. We are confident that Mr President and the NSA will continue to support us.

“The knowledge you are receiving in your institutions today is to enable you plan yourself and prepare for the future. Whatever knowledge you gain cannot be taken from you.

“So as PAP scholarship students, we expect responsible and good behaviour from you. Government is investing heavily in you and you have the obligation to justify the investment. Be agents of change and avoid acts of mischief while in the U.K.”

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OPINION: A ‘Crazy’ African Nation, Where Citizens Eat And Drink Football

Published

12 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

By Tony Erha

It was in October, a semi-summer-month and twilight of the year that ushers in the chilling and extreme winter. A nonagenarian woman gave me a friendly smile that revealed cheeky dimples. As I bowed respectfully to her ripened age, she offered a leathery hand for a handshake, which I received warmly, returning her infectious smile. For a youth who prays for longevity shouldn’t deprive the elderly of the walking stick. I had helped her, carrying a furred handbag to our seats on a night-long intercity bus, from Istanbul to Ankara, in Turkey, the Balkan nation, where we stopped over, in year 2004.

She spoke Turkish rapidly, whilst I retorted in a passable and incoherent Turkish language that ‘I don’t speak the official language of the only country of the world that is located on two continents; Europe and Asia. “You American?” She asked in English. It was obvious that my jeans, necklace and a fez cap that I upturned, in the manner of the Yankees, might have portrayed me as one. “No. I am a Nigerian”, I said, dragging the words. “You Nee-jay-rian!” she exclaimed, whilst I nodded confidently. Then she was elated; “Okocha Jay-Jay!” She spoke to others in the bus that clapped and hailed. I wondered why a 91 years-old-woman, was so passionate about football and one of its heroes, as if she was a youth.

At her request, an old video of a football match showed the mesmerising display of Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, viewed on a television set affixed to the bus. There were instantaneous excitement and catcalls each time Okocha, the great football ‘talisman’ from Nigeria, did his ball flips and dribble-runs that displaced his opponents, earning him one of the few (if not the greatest) football entertainers in football’s history. It was as if the video tape, recorded in his notable plays in Besiktas, a Turkish club side, was a live match. So great was Okocha’s global fame that the old woman relived again; “Jay Jay Okocha is a dangerous footballer, who’s full of tricks on the field of play. The only trick he didn’t do with the ball from his bag of football artistry was to play on top the swimming pool”. In Mustafa Ataturk’s nation, footballers of Nigeria’s decent had and still make their soccer very eventful.

Victor Osimhen, the leggy playmaker and striker with a dye-hair like the white mushroom head, who recently renewed his contract with Galatasaray, a Turkish top team, is also a Nigerian, who has received the applause in the peninsula country and across the globe like Jay Jay Okocha. Candidly, Oshimen, the goal mechine, who is a tonic to the Turks and football fans across the world, also does the unimaginative with the round leather, but certainly not with the same fascinating skills of Jay Jay! But the Turkish fans are readily tilted to football fanaticism.

Victor Osimhen

If it’s ‘fanatic-fans’ in Turkish football, it’s certainly ‘supporters hooliganism’ in the United Kingdom (UK), where association soccer (football) was founded in 1863, with similar kicking games played in Greece, China and Rome since 2,000 years. In UK, football is played with fanfares, pool betting and media vuvuzela. English soccer is a gainful entertainment industry raking in huge gate fees from plays, promotions, television and media razzmatazz, which is often imitated in Nigeria, with passions and ‘occult’ following. So worrisome was the ‘social hype and lawlessness’ youths and others attach to English soccer that security operatives have constant migraine fighting soccer addiction and frequent street brawls.

Jay Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Dan Amokachi, Taribo West and other Nigerian stars, that once dominated and currently rule other foreign clubs, opened the floodlight of extremist football following into the country. Once upon a time, the then Prince Charles (now the king of England), was spotted (with young boys) playing the game, inside the Buckingham Palace, all wearing jersey number ’10’ with Jay Jay Okocha’s name inscribed). That the number-one-global-royalty adored soccer by wearing the jersey of a footballer from a third-world African nation, somewhat illustrates that which is often said about soccer being more than a mere sport. ‘Football Tripper’, a British online news porter, describes soccer as “oxygen” to numerous men and women. In Brazil, the South American nation, there is a deity called “Soccer”, as well as it’s a vivacious Reggae, a unique music genre in Jamaica.

Still, it is food and sups in Nigeria. In this Africa’s most populous nation, with plentiful viewing centres and liquor spots, there are live television football tournaments and soccer video games, with consumable food, alcoholics, carbonated drinks and some ‘unlawful substances’ that are at the behest of business owners and ‘intoxicated’ fans.

In what soccer dramatics came to know as ‘the Dammam Miracle’, viewing centres, beer parlours and restaurants were instantly sold out in the country, in 1989, after ‘footbocrazy’ Nigerians, stormed the streets in prolonged wild celebrations. For the Nigerian U-20 football team, at the FIFA World Youth Championship, held in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, came back from a four-goal deficit to level up and defeat the Russian counterpart, making the Nigerian team the first to come back from a semi-final to win a FIFA tournament. Soccer, indeed, is a crazy sport in Nigeria. Once upon a time, a man had shattered the screen of his expensive television, because Austin Jay Jay Okocha, his favourite star, had lost a penalty in a continental match!

It’s said that football, especially when the Nigerian national teams of men and woman play, tends to unite Nigerians than other national blights that turn them apart. Now, the current national fanaticism is for the Victor Osimhen-inspired Super Eagles, to qualify for the 2026 World Cup gala, even though it has to go the extra obstacles of playing more legs, whereas the team had frittered the early opportunities to qualify.

And sensing that most Nigerians care less of the economic woes that plagued them, but for the football fad, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the nation’s President, would cash-in to feed their ago awarding huge cash to high profile football tournaments and wins, like he recently accorded the Super Falcons, the female national team, for achieving a similitude of the Dammam miracle, to bring home a coveted African Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy!

News

Ex-soldiers Fume Over Lifetime Benefits For Sacked Service Chiefs

Published

17 hours ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The sacked Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, and two other service chiefs, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, are set to receive generous retirement benefits.

The benefits include bulletproof vehicles, domestic aides, and lifetime medical care.

Their exit follows President Bola Tinubu’s appointment of new service chiefs on Friday.

General Olufemi Oluyede has been named the new Chief of Defence Staff, while Major-General W. Shaibu takes over as Chief of Army Staff.

Air Vice Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke becomes the new Chief of Air Staff, and Rear Admiral I. Abbas the Chief of Naval Staff. The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General E.A.P. Undiendeye, retains his position.

The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said in a statement on Friday that the removal of the service chiefs was in furtherance of the Federal Government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s national security architecture.

According to the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers and Enlisted Personnel in the Nigerian Armed Forces, signed by President Tinubu on December 14, 2024, the service chiefs are entitled to substantial retirement packages upon disengagement.

The document stipulates that each retiring service chief will receive a bulletproof SUV or an equivalent vehicle, to be maintained and replaced every four years by the military.

They are also entitled to a Peugeot 508 or an equivalent backup vehicle.

Beyond the vehicles, the package includes five domestic aides — two service cooks, two stewards, and one civilian gardener — along with an aide-de-camp or security officer, and a personal assistant or special assistant.

They will also retain three service drivers, a service orderly, and a standard guard unit comprising nine soldiers.

The benefits extend to free medical treatment both in Nigeria and abroad, as well as the retention of personal firearms to be retrieved upon their demise.

However, while officers of lieutenant-general rank and equivalents are entitled to international and local medical care worth up to $20,000 annually, the benefits for the service chiefs, though not stated in the document, are believed to be considerably higher.

The HTCOS reads, “Retirement benefits for CDS and Service Chiefs: The following benefits shall be applicable: one bulletproof SUV or equivalent vehicle to be maintained by the Service and to be replaced every four years. One Peugeot 508 or equivalent backup vehicle.

‘’Retention of all military uniforms and accoutrement to be worn for appropriate ceremonies; five domestic aides (two service cooks, two stewards, and one civilian gardener); one Aide-de-Camp/security officer; one Special Assistant (Lt/Capt or equivalents) or one Personal Assistant (Warrant Officer or equivalents); standard guard (nine soldiers).

“Three service drivers; one service orderly; escorts (to be provided by appropriate military units/formation as the need arises); retention of personal firearms (on his demise, the personal firearm(s) shall be retrieved by the relevant service); and free medical cover in Nigeria and abroad.”

However, the policy specifies that such entitlements apply only if the retired officers have not accepted any other appointment funded from public resources — except when such an appointment is made by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In such cases, the officers, according to the document, will only receive allowances commensurate with the new role rather than a full salary.

Retired soldiers protest lavish perks

Reacting, some retired soldiers decried what they described as the luxurious benefits and entitlements reserved for service chiefs and senior military officers.

They lamented that junior personnel continued to suffer neglect and unpaid entitlements despite years of service to the nation.

The retired officers expressed frustration over the disparity in welfare and treatment between senior and junior ranks within the military.

One of the leaders of the discharged soldiers demanding their owed entitlements, Sgt. Zaki Williams, expressed frustration over the entitlements reserved for the service chiefs.

Speaking in an emotional tone, Williams, who claimed to be speaking for more than 700 soldiers in his group, said many retired non-commissioned officers had been abandoned despite dedicating their lives to defending the country.

He said, “I don’t really understand how our people in Nigeria do things. The people at the top always do things to favour only themselves. They don’t care about the poor or the junior ones who sacrificed everything.”

The retired sergeant recalled that government officials had made several promises to improve their welfare, but none had been fulfilled.

“Since the day they made those promises to us, we went back home and didn’t hear anything again. Everything just ended there. We’ve been waiting till now, but nothing has happened,” he added.

Williams said the situation had left many of his colleagues demoralised and divided over whether to continue pressing for their entitlements.

“Some of us said we should protest again, but others refused. We told them that day that we were not going for another protest. If the government wants to help us, they should help us. If not, we’re done,” he said.

He also accused senior military officers of frustrating efforts by the defence ministry to address the concerns of retired personnel.

According to Williams, life after service has been extremely difficult for most of them who retired voluntarily or were discharged without compensation.

“How can someone retire after years of service and still not get their entitlement? Many of us can’t even build a house. The senior officers have houses, cars, and everything good, but the rest of us have nothing,” he said.

He added that the little compensation given to some was not enough to rebuild their lives.

“If they give you N2m today, what can you really start with it in this country? You have children, family, and responsibilities, yet you can’t even afford a plot of land,” he said.

Expressing disappointment, he said most junior officers had lost faith in the system.

“We’ve handed everything over to God,” he said quietly. “We’ve cried and done our best. They promised us, but in the end, it’s still zero. We haven’t seen anything. That’s why many of us are now silent.”

Another retired soldier, Abdul Isiak, lamented that promises made to retired personnel had remained unfulfilled, leaving many struggling to survive.

He said, “All you said they would give to them would be done promptly, and they are more than what we need to sustain our lives. This is very unfair. We have suffered a lot, and they’re yet to give us our entitlements after leaving the service. What is our offence? Is it because we are junior officers?”

The former sergeant said the senior officers continued to enjoy generous retirement packages while lower ranks were denied their due benefits.

“We are preparing for another protest for them to pay us. This is very bad,” he said.

(PUNCH)