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OPINION: The Scandals In Abuja

Published

2 years ago

January 8, 2024

Some cabinet members went to Western Region premier, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, to complain about the corruption of one of their colleagues. They said the man was stealing their party’s funds and eating government money with reckless abandon. They said the gentleman’s impunity knew neither the fear of the law, nor of the party and the people. “He is even building two houses at the same time,” they rammed it in. Chief Akintola listened attentively to the complainants and their complaints. He then turned to the accused who was also seated right there.

“You heard that? They said you are building two houses at the same time; you are building one in Oyo; you are building another in Ibadan. You are the party’s treasurer; you are also in charge of the government’s finances. Can’t houses be built one after the other? (Ngbó, wón ní ò nkó’le méjì léèkan soso; ìkan l’Òyó, ìkan n’Bàdàn? Ìwo ni treasurer egbé; ìwo náà ni minister owó. Sé ilé ò seé kó ní’kòòkan ni?).» If that line of adjudication was strange to the complaint lodgers, Chief Akintola was still not done with them. He had some words for the accusers.

“Each of you is in charge of a ministry of government. If we flash a torch into your anus, won’t we see faeces?” He asked, looking straight into their eyes. They looked down. Then Akintola faced the leader of the accusers. “And you, but I know that you have just built a house in Ibadan for one of your mistresses (Ìwo, mo sebí o sèsè kó’lé fún àlè re kan n’Bàdàn ni). The accusers were shocked by their leader’s bent of justice. But they ought not to be shocked. The leader once said publicly that he was a master of equivocation. The premier didn’t release his guests without a warning to both sides to be sensitive to public sensibilities in their use of public funds.

Dr Omololu Olunloyo, a second republic governor of the old Oyo State, will be 89 years old this year. He once told me the significance of this year in his life but I am not permitted to say it – at least, not now. Where I come from, a man does not tell all he is told. Olunloyo also knows too much, perhaps that explains his ‹refusal’ to write his autobiography despite our prodding and pressure. But he told me stories, one of which is the Akintola story I just told above – although I have hidden the names of the accused and the accusers. I will tell yet another one from that former governor, especially now that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is enmeshed in an argument over whether or not it is permitted and legal in public service to officially move public money into private accounts.

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Olunloyo was very close to Akintola. He was also very close to Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. One day, Balewa drew Olunloyo aside and told him his story of helplessness: “Doctor Olunloyo, this country is a country of thieves. As I sit here, my appointees managing the central bank are stealing money. If I move my seat from here to the CBN, right under my nose and supervision there, they will still steal money. Look, I just caught a thief, but they said I can’t prosecute him because of where he comes from – unless I catch at least one thief each from the other regions.”

If Vulture claims that it is not today that the rains started beating him, you think he is lying. Please, believe Vulture. The two cases above occurred in the early 1960s – that was some sixty-something years ago. And it wasn’t only the political class that was implicated. Even the wretched of the earth believe in fish eating fish to get fat.

In 1952/1953, seven years before independence, there was a commission of inquiry into the administration of Lagos Town Council. The commission found that «in hospitals, nurses require a fee from every in-patient before the prescribed medicine is given, and even the ward servants must have their ‹dash’ before bringing the bed-pan; it is known to be rife in the Police Motor Traffic Unit, which has unrivalled opportunities on account of the common practice of overloading vehicles; pay clerks make a deduction from the wages of daily paid staff; produce examiners exact a fee from the produce buyer for every bag that is graded and sealed; domestic servants pay a proportion of their wages to the senior of them, besides often having paid a lump sum to buy the job.» Can you see the class of those implicated in those findings? Ordinary workers. Public and private sector workers still do it; politicians do it; they buy and sell positions. Indeed, our political situation has always been like eighteenth century England when «it was taken for granted that the purpose for going into parliament or holding any public office was to make or repair a man’s personal fortune» (R. M. Jackson, 1958, page 345).

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: The Judicial Adultery In Kano

Above, you read about people buying public and private jobs in 1952/1953 Lagos. You would think 60 years of independence should be long enough for a people’s redemption to occur. But jobs are still being purchased in Nigeria of 2024. If anything has changed in our story over the last six decades, it is that the acorn of misdeeds of the past has grown to become an oak. The oak is that behemoth no one wraps their arms around to climb. The oak is igi osè in my part of the world. If you are Yoruba, you should be familiar with this incantation: Wón d’òyì k’ápá, apá ò k’ápá; wón d’òyì k’ósè apá ò k’ósè…). That is what corruption has become. The law is helpless before the powerful because no sane person looks into a deep well and jumps into it. It is our major gain in sixty years of flag independence. Our country is fully vaccinated against all virtues. Follow the variegated stories around Emefiele. Instead of retail stealing in the central bank, the CBN itself has been stolen – what we have there is ‹kòròfo ìsáná› – a matchbox without matchsticks. Follow other recent scandals in Abuja. Instead of government ministers being content with stealing their ministries’ money «to build two houses simultaneously,» they are stealing the ministries. Yet, nothing happens to the plunderers because they are like human eyes – they come with divine immunity from intrusive fingers – Àánú ojú kìí jé kí wón t’owó b’ojú. They are also like rattle snakes –Ìbèrù ejò kìí jé kí wón te ejò mó’lè. Another incantation!

You saw a document that surfaced some days ago signed by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu. In that memo, Edu directed the Accountant General of the Federation to transfer the sum of N585,198,500.00 into a private account belonging to one Oniyelu Bridget. There was a national uproar. If you were part of the outrage, it means you no get job. Did you not see that the minister did not disown the document? With her full chest, she owned it and declared what she did as legal. She also did not forget to blame the leakage and the outrage on her enemies. She called them desperate persons implicated in an earlier scandal of N44.8bn in the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA). She said they wanted to «stain her integrity because she alerted the government on the ongoing N44.8 Billion fraud in NSIPA…» She was referring to the scandal that has led to the suspension of the National Coordinator and chief executive of the NSIPA, Mrs Halima Shehu, by President Bola Tinubu. There are reports that Halima moved that amount (N44.8 Billion) into some unusual accounts. We do not have the details. And, we have not heard her own defence direct from her mouth. But her own people plead her innocence; they are accusing her enemies of being behind her ordeal.

Then the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, weighed in on Saturday. She said although her office received the said request from Edu, it ignored it. She said she did not make the payment as instructed because the procedure was wrong.

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The engine of Nigeria’s bureaucracy has broken down. The Yoruba would say if the short one is not wise, what about the tall one? Were civil servants in Edu’s ministry who presumably drafted the memo for her to sign not aware of the existence of the laws guiding the processing, movement and use of public funds? There is Nigeria’s Financial Regulations 2009. Its Chapter Seven, Section 713 states that “personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account.» If the civil servants didn’t know the law, you would think the person signing that half-a-billion naira memo would pause and check. Was there not a retreat shortly after the ministers were appointed? What were they taught at those opulent sessions?

Things are happening. We only know what our husbands allow us to know or what ‹accidentally’ leaks like the N44.8 billion suspension and the N585 million memo. The present Federal Government with its three branches is particularly audacious in doing the unthinkable. The unthinkable is what you calmly do when you know you’ve conquered the world.

We can dismiss all these and say they do not matter, that after all, no money is lost (yet). But that deadly, slithering being called snake has a way of climbing its way to the top of the raffia palm. Ninety-two-year-old British political scientist, Colin Leys, in 1965 wrote on the consequences of corruption, impunity and sleaze on the future of Africa. Writing in his ‹What is the Problem about Corruption?’ Leys argued that «If the top political elite of a country consumes its time and energy in trying to get rich by corrupt means, it is not likely that the (country’s) development plans will be fulfilled.» His prediction reeked of doom. About that time, Ronald Wraith and Edgar Simpkins published their book, ‹Corruption in Developing Countries’ (1963). They looked into practices in African countries, including Nigeria. They said they saw a «jungle of nepotism and temptation… a dangerous and tragic situation.» They described the landscape as «the scarlet thread of bribery and corruption.» They witnessed malfeasance flourishing «as luxuriantly as the bush and weeds which it so much resembles.» They saw the toxins of corruption «taking the goodness from the soil and suffocating the growth of plants which have been carefully and expensively bred and tended.» I suggest you read that metaphor of gloom again. If nothing fruitful grows today, it is because the earth was scorched yesterday.

The vaccine that will cure our political elite of greed has not been made. Lanrewaju Adepoju, a Yoruba performing poet who died recently, looked at a situation like this in the 1980s and declared that nothing overwhelmed a babaláwo more than being confronted with a bad case that permitted no remedial ritual. The Nigerian situation is pretty much like a terminal illness – or worse, like a carcass being mobbed by a pack of wolves and a wake of vultures. Everyone tears at it, exacting their share. And the predators are very bold and daring. Socialists and Marxists will blame this tragedy on the greed of capitalism and its lack of shame. English trade unionist, Thomas Dunning (1799-1873), quoted by Karl Marx in his three-volume work ‹Capital’ said «With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 percent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 percent certain will produce eagerness; 50 percent, positive audacity; 100 percent will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 percent, and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged. If turbulence and strife will bring a profit, it will freely encourage both…” Just sit back and, like Akintola, take a long look at the accused and the accusers in the current scandal in Abuja. Look at the entire business architecture of government. Corruption is the only business that yields returns here. In 60 years plus, the Nigerian state has established itself as a crime scene. We all know that things can’t continue like this without the world coming to an end. But the questions are: Where is the face of the saviour? And who really is clean?

News

How To Identify Fake Kiss Condoms In Circulation

Published

47 minutes ago

December 30, 2025

Editor

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has recently warned Nigerians about the circulation of counterfeit Kiss brand condoms in major markets across the country.

Contents
Original DKT Kiss condoms
Fake Kiss condoms

In a public alert published on its website recently and referenced as Public Alert No. 042/2025, the agency said the warning followed information received from DKT International Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation involved in contraceptive social marketing and HIV/AIDS prevention.

NAFDAC stated, “The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control is notifying the public about the sale and distribution of fake Kiss condoms in various Nigerian markets.

“The information was received from the MAH-DKT International Nigeria, a leading non-governmental organisation focused on contraceptive social marketing. Its mission is to provide Nigerians with affordable and safe options for family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention.

“The fake Kiss condoms have been reported to be found in Onitsha Market, Idumota Market, Trade Fair Market, and various markets in Kano, Abuja, Uyo, Gombe, Enugu, and others.”

Kiss condom is a brand of male latex condoms designed to offer sexual protection, including the prevention of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV, gonorrhoea and syphilis.

To help consumers avoid counterfeit products, NAFDAC outlined key differences between original and fake Kiss condoms.

Original DKT Kiss condoms
The original product comes in a light red box pack with clear instructions printed on the lower part of the pack, including single-use warnings and storage and caution information. The box contains detailed medical device information, including MDSS GmbH, Germany, and a complete Nigerian address at Isolo Industrial Layout, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

The condom pack is light red, with the word “Kiss” closely written on six lines. The wallet outer pack is lighter red, carries the Oshodi-Apapa address, manufacturer details, and a clear product description beside the condom image. The hidden flap includes revision dates, medical device details, and caution information, while the wallet inner contains detailed instructions and eight bullet points under important notes.

The original condom is large, oval-shaped, well-lubricated, and has a large teat end for semen collection.

Fake Kiss condoms
In contrast, fake Kiss condoms come in darker-coloured box packs with little or no additional information. Some boxes are plain white inside and lack condom images. The address is wrongly listed as 42, Montgomery Road, Yaba, Lagos, while the manufacturer’s address is incomplete or missing. Storage and caution information is absent.

The condom pack is darker, with “Kiss” loosely written on five lines and wide spacing. The condom strip is longer than the original. The wallet outer pack is also darker red, carries incorrect or missing addresses, lacks colour wave designs, and shows inconsistencies in barcode lines. Medical device and caution information are missing, and the hidden flap contains no details.

Inside the wallet, information is summarised with only six bullet points. The fake condom is thinner, round-shaped, less lubricated, and has a smaller teat end.
(TRIBUNE)

News

Lagos: Police Arrest 14 Suspected Traffic Robbers On Lekki-Epe Expressway

Published

4 hours ago

December 30, 2025

Editor

Fourteen persons suspected to be involved in traffic-related robbery have been arrested at various points along the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos over the past two weeks.

The arrests were confirmed on Tuesday by the Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, via a post on her official X handle, @AbimbolaShotayo.

According to her, operatives of the Command’s Tactical Squad based in Elemoro carried out the operations that led to the suspects’ apprehension.

She explained that the arrests followed sustained patrols and intelligence-driven operations aimed at curbing criminal activities associated with traffic congestion and improving the safety of motorists and other road users along the busy corridor.

Adebisi noted that the development reflects the Command’s determination to strengthen security and uphold law and order on the Lekki-Epe axis, adding that the Tactical Squad has continued to proactively identify crime-prone areas and respond swiftly to threats posed by criminal elements.

She called on residents and commuters to support police efforts by providing timely and credible information that could assist in preventing and detecting crime.

“Security is a shared responsibility. Members of the public are encouraged to stay alert and promptly report any suspicious movements or activities to the nearest police station,” she said.

The police spokesperson further reassured residents and road users of the Command’s commitment to maintaining aggressive patrols and security operations to protect lives and property in the area.

She reiterated the Command’s community policing message, “See Something, Say Something,” stressing the importance of cooperation between the police and the public in sustaining peace and security.

News

OPINION: Don Pedro And Beautiful Benin

Published

7 hours ago

December 30, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

A few years ago, a telecommunications outfit set out to erect a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) at the back of the palace of Oba of Benin. The coordinate fell on Alaka Street, directly behind the palace. Civil works commenced and completed without incident. The next phase involved assembling the tower components of the 75-metre mast. As the riggers worked, the structure began to take shape within hours. However, as the tower rose and became taller than any building in the surrounding area, trouble began.

A group of Benin Palace chiefs arrived and issued an immediate ‘stop work’ order. The riggers climbed down, and the company’s management intervened. Explaining the directive, the chiefs said that the height of the tower would enable anyone on the tower to see the inner recesses of the palace, especially the section where the Oba’s harem lives! They stressed that Benin custom and tradition would not permit such a situation. They noted that around the palace, expansive as it is, no structure is allowed to be taller than the palace itself. The development resulted in a stalemate.

The reigning Oba then, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa, was contacted. The company pleaded with him to intervene. A diplomat par excellence, Oba Erediauwa listened to all the parties. He agreed with the submissions of his palace chiefs from the Ewebo and Ibiwe groups. Then, he also considered the economic, social and developmental effects of the telecommunications towers on the people of Benin, his subjects, and other residents.

Oba Erediauwa said that since the mast would be of immense benefits to the people and since the company had committed so much money into the venture, it would not be fair to ask the company to rig down. But more importantly, Oba Erediauwa reasoned, the people would lose should the construction of the mast be disallowed. He then found a middle way for the problem to be resolved.

Oba Erediauwa ordered that whenever the company’s engineers and riggers intended to climb the tower, they should first notify the palace. By doing so, the monarch said that he would have sufficient time to inform his wives and instruct them to stay indoors for the duration of the work. Everyone present at the meeting chorused Oba gha to kpere (Long live the Oba). Till date, that mast is still standing, and fully operational, contributing to the economic and social development of Benin City.

Yet another encounter with Oba Erediauwa. A few years after the Alaka Street mast erection, the company needed to optimise its network around Ring Road. The problem was that from the Sapele and Sokponba Roads ends of the Ring Road, there used to be a blind spot that cut off communication as one drove to negotiate either Forestry, Mission or Oba Market Roads. The technical unit of the company suggested a booster BTS around the Ring Road. The coordinate fell on the Benin Museum ground and the Roll Out managers negotiated with the museum and got a spot for the mast.

As the excavation work for the civil engineering structure began, a new set of Benin Palace Chiefs appeared. They contended that the entire Benin Museum ground was the bedroom of Omo N’Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi of the 1897 Benin Massacre episode. The chiefs added that any excavation beyond two metres would not be allowed as some traditional items were buried in that vicinity. The company needed at lease a 20-metre excavation for its pilling for the four legs of the tower.

The chiefs agreed that such a length of excavation would only be allowed after certain rituals were performed. They fixed the ritual items at N2 million. When the negotiation to beat down the cost failed, an ex-member of staff of the museum, whose mother was a Benin princess, intervened and approached the Oba.

Again, Oba Erediauwa agreed with his chiefs that the museum ground is sacred and any digging beyond two metres would require certain rituals to be performed. Then, having listened to the reasons why a new mast was needed and confirmed that he had received reports of the blind spot in communication around the Ring Road, he agreed that a new mast was desirable. The monarch was shown the picture of the pine tree mast to be erected and how effectively it blended with the vegetation in the museum ground. He then asked why the company was not willing to perform the rituals.

The company’s representatives told the Omo N’Oba about the cost. The Oba kept quiet for a while. Then he addressed his chiefs in the Benin Language. Thereafter, he spoke: “My chiefs have agreed that N50,000 will be enough for the ritual items. Give them and after they have done what they need to do, continue with your work. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Today, Oba Erediauwa has long joined his ancestors, but the mast is standing gidigba on the museum ground and the blind spot is eliminated! May the soul of Oba Erediauwa continue to occupy its rightful position among his forebears, Ise!

I have brought out these two narratives to show that justice, fairness and civility reside in the Palace of Oba of Benin. During the height of the misrule of the expired Head of State, General Sani Abacha, when his deputy, General Oladipo Diya and other top military brass were arrested for a phantom coup plot, it is on record that of all the traditional rulers who visited Abacha in Aso Rock Villa, only Oba Erediauwa and the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, refused to make comments. The two monarchs said that having listened to Abacha, they needed to also hear from Diya and his fellow detainees. When that request was declined, the two kings departed Abuja without saying anything about the coup plot. That is tradition, that is culture.

Today, a lot of issues are happening in Benin and the name of Omo N’Oba Ewuare II, the current king is being dragged to them. The Benin throne, unarguably, is one of the last vestiges of the pride of the African Race. The dignity of that throne is too significant to an average Black man for the negative narratives in Benin now. Any child of history, any proud son and daughter of the Black Race, must be worried, greatly troubled and very apprehensive that the revered Benin throne is being mentioned in many negative forms recently.

On a personal note, I would be long dead before I would believe that the Oba of Benin would mobilise, in any slightest imagination, thugs, parading as keepers of Benin tradition and custom, to attack diplomats as it happened two months ago during the ceremony organised at the premises of the controversial Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) for some diplomats and other arts enthusiasts. Unfortunately, the characters who caused such a monumental embarrassment claimed to have acted in the interest of the Benin Palace.

The issue of MOWAA had hardly died down when another set of street urchins, acting in the name of defending the Benin monarch, stormed a football field and kidnapped one of the prominent sons of Benin, Dr Don Pedro Obaseki. The excuse given was that in his closing remarks at a function in the United Kingdom sometime ago, Obaseki ended his contributions with the clause: “Edo gha to kpere” (Long live the Edo people) instead of the usual salutation of “Oba gha to kpere” (Long live the Oba of Benin).” (Long live the Oba). For that infraction, Obaseki was declared an Oghion-Oba (enemy of the Oba) He was beaten and stripped to his boxers before he was dragged to the palace and ended up at the Oba Market Police Station.

The most disturbing aspect of the ugly incident is the claim by Obaseki that while he was in that humiliating position “inside the Oba Palace, I was slapped, beaten, gagged, and forced to kneel while naked. While in this condition, I attempted to plead for my life and dignity as the Oba drove past me.” I earnestly pray that this account is an exaggeration. I cannot not believe that the Omo N’Oba drove past one of his sons in such a degrading state. It is inconceivable that the Omo N’Oba would be informed of such a commotion within the palace and fail to inquire into it or address it appropriately. May Benin Palace never degenerate to that level; may the gods and ancestors never permit it.

That said, I sincerely believe that Omo N’Oba Ewuare II must do something about the men going about harassing people all in the name of the Palace. No African child in his or her right senses would subscribe to any insult directed at any king, more so the Oba of Benin. An average sensible Benin child knows the grave implications of the Benin Palace declaring him or her as an enemy.

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With the known acrimonious issues between the current Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, and the immediate Oba Erediauwa, the monarch never declared Igbinedion an Oghion-Oba because he knew the implications. The consequences of anyone becoming an enemy of the Oba of Benin go beyond the Biblical fourth generation! That is the culture. So, the question is: where did these men derive the power to declare anyone the enemy of the Oba when the Omo N’Oba himself has not made such a declaration?

It beats commonsense that in the 21st century, a group of people would descend to the level of barbarism exhibited on Sunday, December 28, 2025, in the stripping of Don Pedro Obaseki, and dragging him from Igbesanmwan Street through Holy Aruosa Church to Ring Road and the ancient Benin Palace all because he allegedly disparaged Benin culture! In my over a quarter of century residence in Benin, I have yet to come across any Benin culture that allows such an animalistic behaviour.

Every tribe has its good, bad and ugly. Benin is no exception. But I must confess here: If you are looking for civilisation and culture, visit Benin. It is no fun when the Benin forebears submit that Aghasoghe Edo, Edo Odion (When you get to Edo- Benin- Edo is still senior). They did not stop there. They added Aghase Edo, Edo Yere’re (When you get to Benin, Benin is still far), to show how complex the culture of the people can be. Benin home and in the Diaspora, have utmost regard for their Oba and believe that Edo Noba ye (Benin is where the Oba resides) and no other place, hence, they conclude Edo ni mose (Benin is beautiful)!

Where the king resides is where justice inhabits and is upheld. Benin cannot be beautiful when we keep recording these ugly incidents in torrents! This is why Oba Ewuare II must act. This is the reason why Umogun, the Uku Akpolokpolo must come out and denounce these charlatans. The time for the Oba to roar like the Ogidigan (great warrior) that he is, is now! Enough of the embarrassment, enough of the image denting. All that is required to end the trend is for the Omo N’Oba to issue a public statement distancing himself from anyone engaged in such barbaric acts. May the gods and the ancestors grant Oba Ewuare II the wisdom to pilot the affairs of his subjects peacefully. Oba gha to kpere Ise!

Sweet Christmas gift of death from America

Otokunado! That is a Benin street lingo. It simply means he who talks and acts the same way (talk and do). If President Donald Trump of America needs an appellation, Otokunado fits perfectly! My old boss has a saying when anything pleasant happens: E sweet my belle.

The Christmas Day bombing of the enclave of the terrorist of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Sokoto State by the American Government, in line with President Trump’s promise, is one event one should not forget easily. It does not matter if America informed President Bola Tinubu before the bombing or it did not inform him. It doesn’t even matter if the claims by the Tinubu administration that it supplied the intelligence to America turned out to be another of the numerous bovine propagandas by the government.

My people say: ró aso mó ìdí, ró ìdí mó aso, kí ìdí má ti s’òfo ni (tie the wrapper round the waist or tie the waist round the wrapper, just ensure the waist is not exposed). The most important news is that the enclaves of the felons were bombed and many of them died! Nigerians should just allow our government to keep telling itself the narratives it chooses to propagate. We should not bother about why the Federal Government, and our Military could not use the same ‘intelligence’ it supplied the American Military, or why Aso Rock waited for President Trump to announce the encounter before it issued its usual nauseating statement!

If an average Nigerian does not know the truth, the nation which carried out the bombing knows how it did it and how many people knew about the plan. President Tinubu, while joining the victory dance, should be encouraged to ponder on the saying of the elders of my place to wit: Alágbò so àgbò sí ojú ebo, oníkálukú dé ibè fi wúre; ebora mo ohùn Alágbò, ebora mo ohún eni tó únwúre ( A man brings a ram to the shrine for sacrifice and another one takes it to pray for goodness from the deity. The deity knows the voice of the ram provider and the voice of the one using it to pray). While thanking him for the Christmas gifts of death to the most undesirable felons sent to hell, can we remind President Trump that a New Year gift of greater measure would not be a bad idea!

God bless the United States of America and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Hell to terrorists, the world over!

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Man-of-the-people, Man-of-himself

Makinde and Fayose: The dog and its puppies

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and his erstwhile friend, former Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, are in the news. They are fighting today because they no longer share the same political ideology. Ironically, Fayose still claims to be a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). That itself defines who our politicians are. I don’t know if I am the only one feeling like puking each time Fayose or his new paymaster, Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), claim to be in the PDP. The idea is too disgusting for me.

Fayose is after Makinde because the latter said he would not be supporting President Tinubu in 2027. Another disgusting fact is that Makinde in 2023 supported Tinubu against the PDP’s presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku. How the PDP accommodated that rebellion beats my imagination till this minute. The ex-Ekiti State governor is pissed off because Makinde had the effrontery to declare that he would not be backing Fayose’s god in 2027. To show how an ‘ingrate’ Makinde has turned out to be, Fayose said that the Oyo State governor collected a whopping N50 billion for the Bodija, Ibadan, bomb disaster, and gave the victims a paltry N4.5 billion.

Like he claimed years ago when he said that the late General Muhammadu Buhari would die by the minute, Fayose again added in 2025 that he had the evidence of the payment of the N50 billion to Governor Makinde. When he was dared to publish the evidence, like his front page announsorials of Buhari’s imminent death, Fayose published what turned out to be a request for the sum of N50 billion by the Oyo State Government for the Bodija bomb blast victims.

Did Fayose read the document? Or did his aides read it before it was published? How on earth would a man of Fayose’s standing equate a request memo to actual disbursement when the memo itself is self-explanatory? But he is Fayose and only an Ayodele Fayose could arrive at such a laughable conclusion. That, however, is not my worry here.

I must confess that I was scandalised when Makinde’s media aide, Dr Suliman Olanrewaju, issued a rejoinder, explaining how much was given, how much was disbursed to the victims directly and how the rest was used or is being used. Why would anyone trouble himself to dignify Fayose with a response over a matter that the public has turned to a joke?

Even from President Tinubu’s camp, not a few of them are having fun about how ridiculous Fayose could be when it comes to producing documentary evidence to back up his numerous spurious claims. The same gang that gave Fayose the fake pictures of a ‘dead’ Buhari on a London hospital bed also gave him the information of a N50 billion donation and the ‘evidence’ he published! They told a father that his child is stupid, and he answered that it was fine as long as he was not dead. Pray, what kills faster than stupidity?

Someone I discussed the Makinde-Fayose debacle with asked me what would have been my advice if Governor Makinde had consulted me over the matter. My response was a simple saying of our elders. Those men of wisdom say: A dog that eats its puppies should never be engaged to guard a corpse (Ajá tó ńje omo è, a kìí té òkú tìí).

My interlocutor asked me to explain, and I said if the governor had sought my advice, I would simply send him the last month’s video of Fayose’s mother lamenting that the ex-Ekiti State governor and his children were about sending her out of the house Fayose gave to her to stay. I also said that I would add the videos of Fayose’s younger brother, Isaac Fayose, and the last of his siblings, and ask Governor Makinde to watch and determine the character of the man who is fighting him. It is not every issue that requires a response.

The character of the one raising an issue counts and counts very importantly. A man who could treat his mother and siblings shabbily would not spare anyone. Those men of knowledge in my place caution that when you see a man who intentionally steps on his own cloth, know that he can set yours on fire. That would have been my closing remarks to Governor Makinde!

This is wishing you a fruitful New Year. See you in 2026, Insha Allah!