News

OPINION: The Unkingly Timi And Lousy Wasiu Ayinde (2)

Published

4 months ago

January 31, 2025

Tunde Odesola

‘Ga’nu sí’ is a six-letter Yoruba phrase with three syllables. The first syllable, ‘ga’, means to ‘set open’. The second syllable, ‘nu’, is a contraction of ‘enu’ (mouth) while ‘si’ means ‘to’ or ‘upon’. Therefore, a literal English translation of ‘ga’nu sí’ is ‘set open the mouth to/upon’…. Examples: (1) Wasiu ‘ga’nu sí’ dollars. (2) Omogbolahan ‘ga’nu sí’ Tinubu.

Now, I’ll track back a little for lucidity sake. Some days before the ‘ga’nu sí’ saga broke out, I had picked a side in the raging online war that tested the elasticity of respect among the Yoruba, when Talazo Fuji creator, Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde, referred to President Bola Tinubu, using the ‘o’ singular pronoun during a private telephone conversation, which was unethically recorded and posted online.

By the way, the Yoruba and their culture are huge on respect – the reason why elders and superiors are shown respect through prostration and the use of the ‘e’ singular pronoun. In contrast, the ‘o’ pronoun is used for younger ones and agemates, among other forms of veneration.

To lampoon Ayinde’s act of crass stupidity, I began this two-part article, “The unkingly Timi and lousy Wasiu Ayinde,” last Friday, with the article’s first part kicking off with the indiscretion of the Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Lawal, who knelt to the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.

This week, I had hoped to conclude the second part of the article by showing Wese Boy why his act of irritable arrogance and idiocy makes him unworthy of the Mayegun and Olori Omo Oba Akile Ijebu titles he holds.

Neither the late Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, nor the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, would be proud of Ayinde’s abuse of privilege, disrespect for old age and the Office of the President.

But the ‘ga’nu sí’ imbroglio broke out and appears to catch up with the second part of my article because I partly like the stance Ayinde took against the alfas, thus leaving in my mouth a pinch of salt and a fizzle of fart. Salt is tasteful; fart is distasteful, so say the Yoruba proverb. I’m prepared to consume both.

Then, my mind wandered back to the burial of the mother of Orobo Fuji creator, Ajibola Alabi aka Pasuma, in 2023, when Ayinde told the ‘ga’nu sí’ alfas at the occasion that Fuji artistes in attendance would not give money as sàárà at the burial. Afterwards, some aggrieved alfas called Ayinde an Ifa worshipper and they threatened thunder and lightning. But no personal tragedy befell Igi Jegede since then.

So, when the ‘ga’nu sí’ video went viral, and I loved it, I started to wonder if the fake alfas who accused Ayinde of using ‘mádaríkàn’ were not right, after all. Or, why have the two issues left me with salt and fart?

I’ll dismount the horse called tie-back this minute and address ‘ga’nu si’ headlong. If the non-Yoruba wish to comprehend the insult contained in ‘ga’nu sí’, the inner eyes called ojú inú need to travel to the jungle and picture a lion chasing down an antelope, with dust swirling, veld swaying and the ground quaking.

At last, the lion corners the antelope: two hearts pound madly to the beat of life or death – the die is cast. The lion leaps, claws unsheathed, tail hard as bone and jaws wide open, aiming for the antelope’s jugular. When death opens the door, life exits.

F-r-e-e-z-e! Here’s the picture! The lion’s open-mouthed leap is the perfect example of ‘ga’nu sí’. Yes, the lion, by intent and purpose, ‘ga’nu sí’ the neck of the antelope, like beggars ‘ga’nu sí’ sàárà – solicited money.

For those defending Ayinde, ‘ga’nu sí’ is not a dignifying phrase. No one smiles when smeared with the ‘ga’nu sí’ tar. Probably, its temperate cousin, ‘t’eba si’, could have been a better choice for Ayinde to use in describing the beggarly action of some alfas at the eighth-day fidau prayers offered during the burial of his mother, Alhaja Halimotu Shadiya Anifowose, who lived to 105 years.

Ayinde, speaking with an unidentified middle-aged man, declared in aviral video, “Ile baba mi ni Fidipote, awon afa, won lo be; ibi ni gbogbo wa se kinni? Ni won wa ga’nu sí,” lamenting how Muslim clerics pitched up at his residence with their oral cavities wide open.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: The Day Alcohol Showed Me Shégè (2)

Since the Wasiu Ayinde ‘ga’nu sí’ outburst, two images have refused to leave my mind. One is the image of wild-growing mushrooms with big caps; the other is the image of crocodiles with jaws flung apart, lying doggo as they ‘ga’nu sí’ oxygen.

In my writings, I’ve been more caustic of Christian clerics than their Muslim counterparts, though I’m a Christian. Because it riles when robbers in Christian cassocks mount the pulpit and boast like God was answerable to them, lying shameless and extorting their foolish congregations, who hail in delirium.

One of such robbers on the pulpit, a light-skinned stark illiterate, who calls himself a lion, was formerly a shoemaker from Anambra; another, an apostle, said he wished for COVID to continue because he bought a jet during the pandemic while another, a bishop, ceaselessly lies about tithe and offering. Yet, all of them fled into their holes until science reined in the reign of COVID.

I had thought Islamic clerics were more organised until I witnessed an Islamic burial where the alfas were soliciting money in a fashion unbefitting for Area Boys.

In an interview, an A-list thespian, who attended both Pasuma and Ayinde’s ceremonies, disclosed told me, “I was at the burial of Wasiu Alabi Pasuma’s mother, where alfas acted shamelessly. Some were at Pasuma’s house for eight days, sleeping inside vehicles. What’s the meaning of that? And, those clerics were the uninvited ones.

“When they see a dignitary come in, they call him or her to come and donate money under frivolous pretexts. But when it was time to share the sàárà money, a bitter fight broke out openly among them.”

“Wasiu Ayinde invited me to the burial of his mother. I was in the town a day before the event. I lodged in a hotel. I saw how the uninvited alfas were struggling to extort dignitaries. It was this set of people that K1 was referring to as, not the credible alfas he invited.”

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: The Day Alcohol Showed Me Shégè (1)

Personally, I enjoy the threats of fire and brimstone against Wasiu by some known and unknown Muslim clerics who ‘ga’nu sí’ microphones, belching illogical reasoning to drive online traffic. A couple of them even threatened Ayinde and his family with death. If the God they profess is as vindictive as their hot air, Wasiu should be with his mother by now.

The powerlessness of their threats should open the eyes of their followers that Allah is best encountered on a personal level rather than relinquishing access to Him to some alfas who only bark without bite; whose only knowledge of Allah is the ability to cram the Holy Quran and speak in Saudi tongue. Is that all that is to serving God?

I return to Aso Rock and its haughty bard. Ida ahun ni a fi n pa ahun. The tortoise is killed by its own sword. Without seeking the permission of Tinubu, Wasiu recorded a private conversation, which found its way online. Similarly, the ‘ga’nu sí’ conversation the musician had with the middle-aged man was recorded and sent online.

Therefore, it would be wicked of Wasiu to mete out punishment to the person(s) that sent the ‘ga’nu sí’ video online. As the saying goes, what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.

I listened online to a non-Lagosian commentator say using ‘o’ for elders was an Eko thing. I disagree. I was born at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos Island, and was bred both on the island and mainland. My parents never raised me to use the pronoun ‘o’ for my elders or superiors.

If Ayinde had a sense of perception, he should know that the younger generation would not hesitate to use ‘o’ for their parents and elders after seeing him use ‘o’ for the President.

If Tinubu could allow Wasiu to get away with such a high level of disrespect, I wonder what values he imbibed in his children. Some commentators attribute the disrespect to some unlit dealings between the two in the past, but I don’t care. All that matters to me is that both should not bring their dirty linings to the public laundromat. Period.

* Concluded.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

News

[OPINION] 2027: Tinubu And The Snake

Published

4 hours ago

June 13, 2025

Editor

Tunde Odesola

To the Westerner, land is one of the four factors of production, riding in the same vehicle with labour, capital and entrepreneurship. In the terminology of modern economics, land is a variable. A variable is inconsistent, like Nigerian politicians. Land is also a utility, like the Nigerian masses, used and dumped. Land is a means of profit. Prophets profit in Nigeria sinfully. Land is an asset…A broader definition adds technology and human capital to the four basic factors.

In Africa, land holds a spiritual significance beyond its role as a factor of production. Land’s ancient name is Earth. Land is the endless embroidered mat of brown and red soils, lying face-up to her celestial twin, Heaven, who gazes back with sun and moon for eyes.

Unlike Heaven’s big eyes, the sun and the moon, which watch over humans, every step taken by man on land ticks on the conscience of time. Land is ferocious karma. It never forgets. While Heaven symbolises the eyes that watch all human deeds, land is the judge that rewards benevolence and punishes malevolence. This is why the Yoruba revere land in these words, “Ilè ògéré, a fi oko yeri, alapo ika ti o n gbe ika mi, says Ifa scholar and Araba of Osogbo, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon. Expatiating, Elebuibon states that ogere is a divine trap; a quicksand that caves in under the feet of evildoers, swallowing them up.

After creation, Man and every creature live in their respective habitats within the garden. Biblical and Quranic accounts say God made Man lord over all other creatures, urging him to multiply and subdue the earth. However, Prof. Wande Abimbola, Awise Agbaye, says that foreign religion believers are applying God’s injunction wrongly, noting that African religions, including Ifa worship, provide room for the mutual coexistence of all creatures. He explains that Western civilisation, aided by science and technology, has gravely polluted the earth.

The former vice chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University expounds, “Humans, animals, insects and trees should coexist. If we can’t coexist with nature, we will perish. There are 700 million vehicles worldwide, and there are 350 million of them in the US alone. If you sum up the acreage of roads in the US, it’s more than the size of New Jersey. We have intruded on nature, disrupted ecosystem balance, and killed countless organisms under the soil through construction.

“The injunctions by foreign religions, urging people to go into the world and subdue and multiply, are probably responsible for our wastefulness and population explosion. Where are the trees in Ibadan, Ikeja, Port Harcourt and Zaria? If we see an insect, we kill it. If we see a snake, we kill it.”

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Pounding Yams On Stubborn Bald Heads

But, how did the snake get its venom? Wait, I’ll tell you. Creation stories snake through cultures, shedding skins of meaning from culture to culture. In the Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – the snake got its venom on Creation Day, before sneaking up on Man Adam and Woman Eve, to trick them out of Eden. Thereafter, the snake became cursed and haunted.

In African cosmology, however, the snake is not the Devil. Neither is it Satan who morphed into a serpent in Eden. The snake is not exiled from Paradise; it is a bona fide creature in creation, possessing the most beautiful skin of all, a shapely head and bespectacled eyes.

How did the snake get its venom? Elebuibon uncoils the tale, “In time past, the snake was called ‘okun ile’ – earthly rope, because it was used for tying objects like firewood. People carrying firewood from the bush dump their firewood on the ground at home, smashing the snake, crushing its spine,” Elebuibon explains.

“Then the snake consulted a babalawo named ‘Òkàn Wéré Wéré’, who divinated an Ifa verse, Òkànràn Òsá, for him. Snake was told to make a sacrifice of needles and worship his head. When Snake did as instructed, he became envenomed,” Elebuibon concludes. Man knows better now.

The life of the snake is not only a pot of venom and fangs. Globally, the snake kills far fewer people than the mosquito and war. According to BBC Wildlife Magazine, the snake ranks among the 10 deadliest animals to humans, including the hippopotamus, elephant, saltwater crocodile, ascaris roundworm, scorpion, assassin bug, freshwater snail, Man, and mosquito.

Indeed, Man should be grateful to the snake because it preys to protect balance in the ecosystem. Though its venom kills a very few, it saves millions who suffer from cancer, hypertension, blood disorders, etc via the medicines made from it. A paper titled, “Therapeutic potential of snake venom in cancer therapy: Current Perspectives,” published by the National Library of Science, USA, says, “Some substances found in the snake venom present a great potential as anti-tumour agents. In this review, we presented the main results of recent years of research involving the active compounds of snake venom that have anticancer activity.” The snake is not all about coiling and slithering, though scientists and engineers model robotic movement after its muscular geometry.

The Idemili community of Anambra State comprises two local government councils called Idemili North and Idemili South. In Idemili, pythons are not cursed; they are consecrated. They slither around freely into homes on silent feet; never bruised, nor battered.

The Awise Agbaye says some Yoruba communities worship pythons in the olden days because they believed that the founder of a community, upon death, turned into a python in the afterlife, where he sits on a stool to welcome members of his clan who attained old age before dying.

Many African folklore songs extol the python. One of such songs is ‘Terena’, by Dele Ojo. Another is ‘Sirinkusi’, which belongs in Yoruba oral history. The theme of both songs includes love and respect, with a young man trying to prove his prowess to a love-struck lady.

In ‘Terena’, the young man tells the lady not to call him ‘Awe’, that is, ‘Mister’, but ‘Aba’, which is ‘Father’. The lady refuses and the young man takes her on a journey where he respectively turns into a python, tiger and water, but the lady doesn’t budge. It was when he turned into fire that she eventually called him father.

I will call President Bola Ahmed Tinubu father. I will call him a python, too. With the way he has traversed Nigeria’s political terrain since 1999, no other politician qualifies to be called the Father and Python of Nigerian politics. Tinubu, it was, who wrestled to the ground the Federal Government headed by General Muhammadu Buhari, to emerge President against all odds.

Tinubu is the wiliest politician in the history of Nigeria. And I fear for him, lest the trap set by the tortoise entraps the tortoise. I remember, the level-headed Tafawa Balewa faced opposition, the sage, Obafemi Awolowo, faced opposition, and the charismatic Zik of Africa faced opposition.

General Ibrahim Babangida, aka Maradona, was booted out of power. Though MKO Abiola rode on the back of popular support in 1993, he still faced opposition. And, before he died like a brief candle, General Ole, Sani Abacha, coerced Nigerians to support his self-perpetuation. Every Nigerian sang the name of Abacha. Those who didn’t sing fled the town before dawn.

Clearly, I remember, ‘Third Term’ agenda burnt the fingers of the hypocrite farmer in Ota after democracy returned to the country, even as the herdsman General fled to Katsina to enjoy his bounty in peace, two years ago.

Father Tinubu, the way everyone is falling to the anointing in Abuja is foreboding. I don’t know what will give, but something seems out of place and ready to give. Tinubu is the current father of Nigerian politics. I pray he lives longer than the ancient python. I wish he would stop deploying his massive muscles against opposition voices and his sons in Lagos, Rivers and elsewhere.

Though politicians cling to power when the nation gasps, the snake sheds its skin when it outgrows it. Though the snake strikes to protect its terrain, the politician steals to destroy his terrain. I pray Tinubu was the hissing snake that strikes corruption to death, and not the politician that kisses to steal.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

News

CSO, Stakeholders Lament Impact Of Mining In Edo Communities, Want A Halt

Published

6 hours ago

June 13, 2025

Editor

A Civil Society Organization – The Ecological Action Advocacy Foundation (TEAF) – has called for an immediate halt to mining activities in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State particularly in Igarra, Ipesi, Dagbala, among other communities.

The organization said the call became necessary in order for the companies operating in the area and the communities to come to a round table and discuss the terms and conditions of operations.

INFO DAILY reports that the one-day dialogue event drew participants from communities where mining activities are taking place in Akoko-Edo and the civil society community.

Speaking at the one-day Community Dialogue on Halting Extractive Activities in Akoko-Edo, an environmentalist and climate justice campaigner, Comrade Cadmus Atake-Enade, lamented that “mining and extractive activities have rendered community people hopeless in their own lands, hence need to stop.”

“We must stand in unity to halt these destructive activities and actions. We must stand firm to halt all forms of extractive activities that have destroyed our lives and wellbeing,” he added.

The environmentalist, who noted that “communities where extractions have taken place experience mostly negative impacts,” stressed that “mining and the extractive industries are among the most destructive sectors on the planet, especially for indigenous and farming communities.”

He added: “These activities pose grave threats to cultures and community life because it takes generations for them to recover from the damages done to their community environment.

“Most of these negative impacts are usually in the rural areas where smallholder agricultural production is carried out in Africa and where the bulk of extraction occurs.

“Most of our farmers are women and they are disproportionately affected by mining and extractive activities.”

Giving a damning narration on how a JSS 3 student lost her life in the course of looking for her daily bread,
Angela Alonge from Ipesi community, while listing the risk involved in mining sites, said “a JSS 3 student who went to look for her daily bread in one of the mining sites lost her steps and fell into the pit and died at the spot. A pit deep enough to contain a 10-storey building. It is pathetic.”

She added: “The children in our communities are used like rags. The children are fending for themselves and the family. The community does enjoy any positive impact from mining.”

Joseph Lawson from Igarra community, lamented that rather than being a blessing to the people, the reverse is the case, adding: “Mining ought to create jobs for the community but the reverse is the case. Mining could cause earthquakes.”

Lawson, who urged the state government to re-register the over fifty mining companies in the area with a view to regulating them, urged the government to also intervene in the incessant clash between the communities and the mining companies.

Also, Precious Momoh from Igarra, lamented that “God has blessed us with natural resources yet we are suffering. We have limestone that they use for road construction yet we have no road.”

He added: “We need empowerment and development in our communities. People cannot be earning billions from our communities while we remain in abject poverty. Also, there should be rules and regulations for these mining companies.”

News

Hope Rises As Ijaw Nation Wades Into Okomu Crisis

Published

19 hours ago

June 13, 2025

Editor

Photo: File copy

There seems to be solution at sight to the crisis bedeviling Okomu community in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State following the setting up of Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee by prominent Ijaw monarchs drawn from Edo, Ondo, Delta and Bayelsa states.

The setting up of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee by the Ijaw kings followed a request by His Royal Majesty, Pius Yanbor, the Pere (king) of Okomu Kingdom to his Ijaw brothers peres (king), appealing to them to intervene in the crisis that had led to the burning of houses and loss of lives.

Worried by the crisis and the consequent appeal by HRM Pius Yanbor, the Ijaw peres (kings), namely, HRM, Oboro Gbaraun II, the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State; HRM, Zacheus Egbunu, the Agadagba of Arogbo Kingdom, Ondo State; HRM, Capt. Frank Okiakpe, the Pere of Gbaraun Kingdom, Bayelsa State; HRM, Joel Ibane, the Pere of Iduwini Kingdom, Delta State; HRM, Godwin Ogunoyibo, the Pere of Olodiama Kingdom, Edo State; HRM, Eseimokumor Ogonikara I, the Pere of Tubutoru Kingdom, Ondo State; HRM, Roman Bohan, the Pere of Furupagha Kingdom, Edo State, and HRM Stephen Ebikeme, the Pere of Oporomor Kingdom, Bayelsa State, in an acceptance memo of the Okomu king’s request which was made available to INFO DAILY stated: “We, the undersigned traditional rulers of Ijaw extraction, have unanimously aligned in agreement to take a deep dive into the crisis that has been rocking and bedeviling Okomu Kingdom for the past three years, with a view to providing respite and bringing lasting peace to the aforementioned kingdom.”

They continued: “This alignment however, is a fallout of a series of robust engagement amongst well-meaning and revered monarchs of Ijaw extraction, whose primary role in their various Kingdoms is to foster peace and unity.”

The Ijaw monarchs, thereafter, appointed Chief Sunday as the Chairman of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee, High Chief Pascal Akpofagha as the General Secretary and 16 other notable Ijaw sons from various kingdoms as members.

The 18-member committee is saddled with the responsibility of interfacing with the warring parties in the kingdom with a view to restoring lasting peace to the kingdom.

The revered Ijaw monarchs further expressed their commitment to providing the necessary support and work with the committee within the ambit of the law in order to ensure peace and harmony return to Okomu Kingdom.