News

OPINION: The Bile In Oshiomhole’s Heart

Published

10 months ago

September 6, 2024

Tunde Odesola

Former Governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, was born on April 4, 1952. If baby Adams had come into the world three days earlier, he would have been born on April Fools’ Day. Adams is now 72 years old, long past 40, the popular age society set as the bar for fools to sink or swim. Oshiomhole is not a fool, he was only born on April 4, the same day and month all hell broke loose in 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. April 4, unto us a baby is born.

Old age doesn’t always beget wisdom, though experience is its forte. This fact is lost on Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s National Assembly, and education policymakers, whose aversion to genius and scholarship informed the barring of under-18 students from accessing tertiary education.

Dressed in the robes of fake leaders, Nigeria’s blind visioners in Asso Rock and beyond bark, ‘Kill them before they grow’, at young admission seekers milling around the almighty gates of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, with Bob Marley’s song, “I Shot the Sheriff,” playing in the background.

Oshiomhole loves dancing. As a comrade in the trenches of the Nigeria Labour Congress, he must have danced to Fela Anikulapo’s Beasts of No Nation, in which the Abami Eda describes himself as Basketmouth. Basketmouth is the street slang for the big-mouthed. When Oshiomhole talks, baskets overflow. But a Yoruba proverb warns, òpò òrò ò ká’gbòn, aféfé ló ń gbe lo, a basket full of words is worthless. Whenever he feels strongly about an issue, the force of his oration appears compelling even if what he belches is just hot air, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Adam was the name of the first human created by God, so say the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran. Adam means ‘Son of the Red Earth’. Aliyu is one of the 99 names of Allah. It means ‘The Most High’ or The Exalted One’. As ‘the Son of the Red Earth’, Oshiomhole’s thoughts and actions are expected to be deep-rooted in the soil of wisdom. As ‘The Exalted One’, his words are expected to typify dignity.

But Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, while on a campaign trail in Edo State a few days ago, defiled his two names. Without regard to wisdom or civility, Oshiomhole threw decency to the dogs as he pronounced his former begotten son and incumbent Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his wife, Betsy, childless. A Muslim reportedly converted to Christianity by his late wife, Clara, Oshiomhole’s characteristic aggression is typical of converts.

When caught midair in the breaking light of dawn, witches become confused and they drop to the ground. They also confess. Oshiomhole said, “I was shock (sic) yesterday to see Mrs Obaseki, the First Lady, saying that our candidate has no wife; I’m sorry that she has to say that because here’s a woman who has no child. Between him (sic) and Obaseki, they have no child, they’re childless. They are even not ready to adopt. I mean, I don’t blame anybody shouldn’t (sic) have a child but people who have love for children, they go to motherless home(s) and adopt children, they have not adopted, they are both in their 60s.

“So, you married, I don’t know whether it’s a contract one, but whatever it is, but they have no child. Now, our candidate not only have (sic) children, he has invested in the education of those children, such that you watch them on live television, covered by your media stations where the first that spoke is a lawyer, the second one is a medical doctor, and they addressed the crowd in Edo-South, in Edo-Central, in Edo-North, and their mother was there.”

I can’t tell why witches are repetitive but I suspect the electoral whipping Obaseki gave Oshiomhole in the 2020 governorship election in Edo has created a hatred in Oshiomhole’s heart large enough to accommodate 10 wounded lions as he described Obaseki and his wife as childless four times in a one-minute video clip. Osho Baba, na wetin?

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The tirade quoted above was what Betsy Obaseki got for declaring at a rally that only the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the Edo governorship election, Asue Ighodalo, was married. Though she didn’t specifically mention any candidate as being unmarried, the undertone of her message wasn’t lost on her audience. The Betsy innuendo was what Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, couldn’t take, and he decided to run the errand meant for media aides and party roughnecks, all for his political son, Monday Okpebholo, the APC governorship candidate. What a great national leader Oshiomhole is!

Betsy could have done the more involving breaststroke swimming style in the sewage of Edo’s political bitterness but she didn’t, she chose the stylish backstroke, maybe for its steaze or womanishness. But Oshiomhole would drag anyone, male or female, without a child, to the bottom of the sewage for child-ish baptism because he’s the god of Edo who gives children.

According to the University of California San Francisco’s Memory and Ageing Center – Weill Institute of Neurosciences – there are three major areas of the brain responsible for speech and language. They are the Bocca’s area, Wernicke’s area and the Angular gyrus.

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In a research, “Speech and Language,” published on its website, the university says, “When someone has trouble understanding other people (receptive language) or explaining thoughts, ideas and feelings (expressive language), that is a language disorder.”

UCSF, a world-class citadel of knowledge, added, “When someone cannot produce speech sounds correctly or fluently or has voice problems, that is a speech disorder.”

In a society where pettiness is a virtue within the ruling class, Betsy’s preoccupation with marriage and Oshiomhole’s fixation with childlessness reflect the shallowness of the characters who populate Nigeria’s corridors of power.

The lack of roadmaps by Presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Muhamadu Buhari, Bola Tinubu, and governorship, legislative and local government council candidates standing election entrenches us firmly at the bottom of global development. The silence that greets misgovernance in Nigeria concretises our national doom.

At election times, the Nigerian electorate bickers over frivolities and expects candidates who had no manifestos to wave the magic wand after snatching and robbing like mafiosos.

In our electoral childishness, childlessness was a talking point in the Edo governorship election in 2020 when Oshiomhole was accused of not fathering a child with his Cape Verde wife, Iara. Oshiomhole, who has children with his late wife, Clara, could choose not to have children anymore. In Nigerian politics, the shoe is always on the wrong foot. The PDP threw the first stone in 2020, and now the APC is casting a rock.

It’s ironic that Oshiomhole who is kicking against Betsy’s remarks today, had in 2016, accused then-Senator Dino Melaye of not capable of ‘maintaining a decent matrimonial home’ after Melaye said on the floor of the Senate that there was the need to enact a law that would stop Nigerians marrying foreigners from paying dowries in dollars – in a veiled reference to Oshiomhole.

The former Edo governor thundered in a statement, “It’s an open secret that Senatoe Melaye cannot maintain a decent matrimonial home hence he could descend to this pedestrian level of using the hallowed chambers to categorise women as if they were pieces of items for purchase.”

In Africa, children are viewed as inheritances from God. It’s wrong to needle anyone with children or lack of them. When I was a child, I remember I was occasionally taken to the house of my father’s childhood friend, the late Mr Jacob Asha Afainiya, because his wife, the late Mrs Olajumoke Comfort Afainiya, who was my mom’s childhood friend, had not conceived, despite the two couples marrying about the same time.

The Afainiya couple got their firstborn, Seun, when my parents had their third, Florence, now deceased. I occasionally stayed with the Afainiya family, who lived a stone’s throw from us in Mushin, in the belief that my ‘head’ would call from heaven children for the Afainiya couple – ori omo lo ma n pe omo waye. That’s the African belief. It also shows the importance which Africans attach to children. And I enjoyed going to the Afainiyas because mummy Afainiya made okra soup like no other mother.

One day, in the presence of both couples, I told my mom to cook her okra like mummy Afainiya’s, and everyone present laughed. When I got home, I cried for my basket-mouthedness as my mom descended on me.

Nigeria, it’s high time we based our campaigns on developmental issues and stop running our mouths like torn baskets, please.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

News

Congress Newspaper @4: X-Raying The Evolution Of Media In Ijaw Nation

Published

4 hours ago

July 11, 2025

Editor

By Joseph Kanjo

When Congress Newspaper/Online TV was launched four years ago, profit wasn’t the priority. “We weren’t looking at making money,” said Comrade Austin Ozobo, Managing Director of Congress Newspaper and a notable rights activist.

“I was in government as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA), and the salary wasn’t much. But I needed a platform where my voice—and the voices of like-minded individuals, especially my people—could be heard. So, I floated it. But today, things have changed. The profits are coming naturally,” he added.

These remarks came during my phone conversation with Comrade Ozobo, just days ahead of Congress Newspaper’s fourth anniversary celebration on July 10, 2025.

A well-known advocate for the rights of the Ijaw people and president of the Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI), Ozobo emphasized that his primary motivation was to amplify marginalized voices—especially those of his people. He reflected a sentiment similar to that of British musician and activist Peter Gabriel, who once said, “Those of us who have the eyes and ears of the media have a responsibility to amplify the voices of the voiceless.”

Fifteen years ago, it would have been difficult to count more than a handful of media outlets—whether big or small—owned or managed by individuals Ijaw from the Ijaw extraction.

Despite the many challenges faced by the Ijaw people, particularly due to the complex terrain they inhabit, their voices were largely absent from national conversations.

But today, that narrative has changed—thanks in part to the rise of online media. Now, there are numerous media outlets owned and managed by Ijaw sons and daughters, both in digital and print formats.

These platforms—each with its own mission and vision—nonetheless share a common thread: they give a voice to the people of the creeks, from whose experiences they often draw inspiration.

Some notable Ijaw-owned indigenous media platforms include:
GbaramatuVoice, Ijaw Voice, Ijaw Heritage TV, Arogbe Ibe Reporters, Iduwini Voice, Ogulagha Vanguards, and Egbema Voice.

In addition, several media outlets with broader or foreign-sounding names are also run by Ijaw professionals, including:
Info Daily, The Liberator, Coastal Times, Penglobal, Focal Point Reports, Dailynews Report, Waffi TV, Niger Delta Mirror, Niger Delta Herald, Daily Watch, and Mangrovepen.

Congress Newspaper/TV, though relatively new, has firmly established itself among these platforms as a consistent voice advocating for the Ijaw cause and broader Niger Delta interests.

Some may argue that media organizations should be neutral and unbiased. While this principle remains fundamental to ethical journalism, one cannot ignore the impact of ownership. Around the world, media ownership often shapes editorial direction, intentionally or not.

During his welcome address at the fourth anniversary celebration, Comrade Ozobo reiterated the newspaper’s founding vision: to provide not just information, but empowerment for Niger Delta communities.

“Our mission has always been to champion the voices that often go unheard and to shine a light on the issues that matter most to our people,” he said.

“We believe in the power of ethical journalism, and we remain committed to being a steadfast voice for justice, equity, and truth.”

Ozobo’s words speak to a broader truth: in media, ownership matters. And when that ownership is rooted in community-driven passion and purpose—as it is with Congress Newspaper—it becomes a powerful vehicle for social change.

As Congress Newspaper marks its fourth year, it stands not just as a media outlet, but as a movement—one that continues to reshape the media landscape in the Ijaw nation and beyond.

Joseph Ebi Kanjo is a practising journalist and Managing Editor of INFO DAILY.
editor@infodailyng.com

News

Supreme Court: Jubilant Supporters Stunned, Locked Out Of Edo Govt House [PHOTOS]

Published

9 hours ago

July 11, 2025

Editor

Jubilant supporters of Governor Monday Okpebholo Edo State, were on Friday disappointed as they were locked out from the Edo State Government House, Benin City.

The order not to allow anyone to access the government house was reportedly from an order from above.

The supporters, which included market women and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had gathered at the Benin Airport about 7am, to give the governor a rousing welcome.

The gathering followed Okpebholo’s triumph at the 2024 governorship election legal dispute at the Supreme Court in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

Okpebholo, whose aircraft touched down at the Benin Airport at about 12.40pm was welcomed by the supporters amid jubilation.

The supporters, many of whom were not mobile, proceeded on foot in a road procession with governor Okpebholo’s motorcades- chanting solidarity songs.

The procession, which lasted for about an hour, terminated at the Edo State Government House where the supporters were informed by security operatives that only Very Important Personalities (VIPs) would be allowed into the government house for refreshments.

The bewildered supporters took turns to lament the development, with many raining insults on the authorities.

One of the supporters who identified herself as Mrs. Ebosele Omogiate said: “In the worst moments of ex-governor Godwin Obaseki, supporters and members were not shabbily treated like this.

“They have won now and have decided to build a wall around themselves,” she added.

“I left my house before 7am for the airport and stood under the sun for hours before the arrival of the governor.

“We engaged on a road show with him to the government house, only for us to be shut out. This treatment melted on us is unfair,” another supporter added.

Earlier, addressing the crowd, Governor Okpebholo thanked God for his victory at the Supreme Court.

He promised that in the next two years, Edo people will know that they have a governor.

News

OPINION: BAT Rejects Trump’s Amazing Offer

Published

15 hours ago

July 11, 2025

Editor

Tunde Odesola

The presidential convoy spread out on the Third Mainland Bridge like a cloud of bats on seasonal migration. Sirens screamed. Lights flashed. The convoy of vehicles unfolds like the hail of light produced when the welder’s electrode kisses a metal, shraaaah! shraaaah! E plenty like iná wédà to fóká síbè.

As an insect enthusiast with particular love for beekeeping (cockroaches and bedbugs not included, please), I know that bees, ants and wasps have no kings, but queens, who guard-bees protect with their lives. However, termites have kings and queens, both of whom soldier termites protect with their last blood.

Be they bees, ants, wasps or termites, I love watching the life of cooperation, protection, order and hard work among insects. I love their guards’ provision of security for all and sundry, unlike the guards in this presidential convoy, whose only duty is the protection of the President, his family and bootlickers.

Measuring 11.8 kilometres, the Third Mainland Bridge, a massive masterpiece of concrete and steel work stretching over the Lagos Lagoon, was started in 1975 by the General Yakubu Gowon military administration, and continued by General Murtala Mohammed’s six-month government, before President Shehu Shagari stepped into the picture and did his bit. However, it was General Ibrahim Babangida who took credit for the bridge construction because he ensured its completion in 1990.

If the charismatic Babangida didn’t annul the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Chief MKO Abiola, he almost certainly would have been preferred by Nigerians to shed his military khaki for the agbada of politics, instead of the less gifted and dour General Muhammadu Buhari, who later got the presidency on fake promises.

Regrettably, Babangida apparently lost political goodwill, honour, peace of mind and two terms of civilian presidency to the June 12 annulment. Little did Nigerians know that the official name of the Third Mainland Bridge is Ibrahim Babangida Bridge, but nobody remembers that; people only remember the abortion of June 12. The things men do, live with them.

It was on this Ibrahim Babangida Bridge that the presidential convoy set out en route to the airport. Jesu! Not even the president of the richest and most powerful nation on earth, Donald Trump, has such a long motorcade. From my vantage point, I counted the number of vehicles in the convoy. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40…Ha! Kilode? Is the president japaing? Probably to make counting difficult, the outriders zigzagged and crisscrossed. So, I stopped at 40-something.

But in the middle of the armoured pack, I saw three Rolls-Royce Phantoms, three Cadillac Escalades, three Mercedes-Benzes, three Cybertrucks and three state-of-the-art buses. None of the cars in the convoy was assembled in Nigeria, despite the government’s avowed propaganda about patronising Made-in-Nigeria goods; not even the wash towels used for cleaning the vehicles were made in Nigeria, nor the foot mats.

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Everywhere was on lockdown: air, land and sea – forcing the sun to hide behind the clouds, and birds vacated the air while the poor man’s movement was put on hold by those he voted for. Only the convoy moved. I yawned inside a Lagos BRT vehicle, wondering why the big men’s movement should stop the movement of citizens on the opposite side of the bridge.

This was when the window of one of the three buses opened, and I glimpsed Nigeria’s most recognisable cap, with its trademark chain symbol, the chain of oppression.

“Haa! Bàba Bàbá ni o! Olowo Eko ni ooo!” a youngster hawking alcoholic drinks and bottled water in traffic shrieked. “It’s the BAT, King BAT, the Lord of Lagos!” a hawker of plantain chips screamed, jumping, “I saw him! I saw him! Baba smiled and waved at me! Baba waved at me! The Asiwaju of the Universe waved at me!” A cripple, who begs in traffic, hissed and shook his head, “Una dey praise those who chain una? Ok o, make una kontiniu, una never see anything.”

The heat in the BRT was stifling, and sweat poured from skin pores. Thoughts of Nigeria flooded my mind. Since I was born and now that I am getting old, I have never seen Nigeria changeth (for good).

Inside the armoured bus, seated at the feet of the Lord of Lagos were members of his innermost circle – Noisome Winke, IdanFemi Gbabiamila, Baba Chief AdeBC, Jide-Olu, and Natasha coveter, Chief Dogswill Akpabi.

In the fleeting moment when the Lord of Lagos let down his window, I saw his gaze travel beyond the hailing roadside traders, resting on the 13-storey Senate Building of the University of Lagos, across the lagoon. I saw desire lit up in his eyes. “My name will suit the university more than its current name. What is UNILAG? Why not UNIBAT?

Winke, the ultimate bootlicker and mind reader, will not miss the opportunity to massage the ego of the Lord of Lagos. Though he cleared his throat, the frog in it would not keep silent. “Jide-Olu, don’t you think you should name UNILAG and this world’s best bridge after our personal Lord and Saviour?” Jide-Olu smiled, “No, Winke. UNILAG and the Third Mainland Bridge do not belong to the state. They belong to the centre, which is headed by our Lord and Saviour.”

Sounding more like a masquerader battling stomach upset during a market show, Winke said, “Uhmm, it doesn’t matter, you can start the call from your end – that our leader deserves the university to be renamed after him. Or does he not?” Jide-Olu, “Why not, if not? In fact, I suggest we should call on the National Assembly to name all federal universities and polytechnics after our leader. That way, the nation will save money.”

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Lord of Lagos: What do you think about these suggestions, Natasha, oh sorry, I mean, Akpabi?

Akpabi: (Smiles like a child eating ice cream, his special Ibibio accent booming loud and clear) Ha, you are our òká o. And, as our òká, iris not too much if we name Nigeria after you, I swear. Nigerians cannot reyect it. On Monday, the yoint session will rook at how we are going to do it, so that the opposition and Nigeria Rabour Congress will not begin their wahala.”

Lord of Lagos: Baba AdeBC, what do you think?

Baba AdeBC: Well, it’s not a bad idea for Nigeria to show gratefulness to her messiah and defender. I think it’s a good idea. (Baba AdeBC beams his trademark smile, which is as lifeless as the beach foam left behind on the shore by the roaring ocean)

Idanfemi: Your Excellency, you have a phone call from the US President, sir.

Lord of Lagos: Oh, connect me, Idanfemi.

Trump: How’re you doing, BAT?

Lord of Lagos: I’m doing great, Donald. Thank you. How’re you and your wonderful family?

Trump: We’re fine, and thanks for asking. Hey BAT, can I pick your brain real quick?

Lord of Lagos: Ha! No oooo; leave my brain alone o. Please, don’t pick it. My brain is old already. Ma se erekere iwo arakunrin yi. When you know you need Nigerian brains, why did you restrict your visa to three-month single entry? If you want millions of Nigerian brains, you open your borders for 24 hours and see.

Trump: No, you’re getting me wrong. I don’t mean to pick your brain literally, I mean to ask for your knowledge and advice on some issues.

Lord of Lagos: Oh, I see. Fear don catch me. I don’t want anything to touch this my political brain o.

Trump: Exactly what I’m saying! That your political brain is what I want to pick. I just saw your convoy on CNN! How do you afford such a large convoy and retinue of sycophants?

Lord of Lagos: That’s not for me to worry. The state takes care of that.

Trump: OMG! You mean the state bears the brunt of all that drain on taxpayers’ money? Are you kidding me!? I think it’s better to be president of your shithole than be president of America, seriously.

Lord of Lagos: You have come with this shithole thing again, Donald? You’re not serious.

Trump: Can you believe that as president, I pay for the food my family and I eat, I pay for drinks and clothes. I pay for private parties when I host them, I pay for gifts when I buy them for foreign dignitaries, I cover my vacation accommodations, and I pay for private events hosted outside the White House. Additionally, I pay for general household items like toilet paper, toothpaste, and garbage bags. Do you know that Bill Clinton incurred $16 million in debt for legal and personal investigation fees, which he paid over time?

Lord of Lagos: (Bursts into laughter) And you say you’re prezdent? Hahahahah! You’re prezdent indeed. Hahahaha! Yes, you’re the most powerful prezdent on earth, but are you the most indulged? Certainly, no! You’re just an administrative paper prezdent, I’m the ultimate ruler.

Trump: I wish we could trade places.

Lord of Lagos: Ha, trade places ke? No ooo! Let me be prezdent of this shithole, you continue to be prezdent of your superpower country. Stay with your democracy. I’ll stay with my empire. I don’t want to be Prezdent of America. I don’t wan die in prison, please.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesolap