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

Published

8 months ago

January 31, 2025

Editor

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] House Agents: The Bile Beneath The Roof

Published

4 hours ago

September 17, 2025

Editor

By Israel Adebiyi

I had tried, for months, to keep this subject at arm’s length. After all, The Nation’s Pulse has, by tradition, stuck its gaze on the big picture of national polity. But last week, my colleague, Joseph Kanjo, the ever-blunt Ijaw man, reminded me with his usual candour: “Israel, forget it. This matter has swum into national waters. You’ve got to discuss it on air.” And so here we are.

From Lagos to Abuja, Port Harcourt to Benin, in every major Nigerian city, there exists a tribe of middlemen who have turned the simple act of finding a home into a nightmare theatre of deceit, extortion, and despair. They call themselves “agents.” But tenants, with good reason, now call them Shylocks.

Nigeria is living through one of its most pressing social problems, a housing deficit of over 20 million units. As urbanisation outpaces construction, the scramble for shelter has grown more desperate. The result? An inflated rental market where landlords demand one, sometimes two years’ rent upfront, and tenants are left calculating survival in instalments.

In this scarcity, agents found their goldmine. They became gatekeepers, the ones you must pass through before seeing the landlord, the ones who “hold the keys.” And, like Shakespeare’s Shylock demanding his pound of flesh, they squeeze tenants until every drop of naira is bled dry.

Take Chinyere, a young nurse in Abuja, who shared her ordeal with me. After months of searching, an agent finally led her to a one-bedroom apartment in Kubwa. The rent was ₦600,000. By itself, already steep. But then came the add-ons: 10% agency fee, 10% agreement fee, inspection fee, caution fee, and a mysterious ‘legal’ fee. By the time she finished calculating, her total outlay stood at ₦850,000 – nearly ₦250,000 more than the agreed rent. “When I asked what the ‘legal’ fee was for,” she said, “the agent laughed and said, ‘Madam, that one na normal. No legal o.”

Or consider Osatohamwen, a factory worker in Benin, who parted with ₦50,000 as “inspection and commitment” fee just to secure a viewing. The agent vanished, phone switched off, house nowhere to be found. Such stories abound, whispered in frustration and traded in bitterness by Nigerians across class divides.

What deepens the irony is that many of these agents take you to houses even they themselves would not live in. Dilapidated structures with cracked walls, leaking roofs, toilets that smell of neglect, and kitchens that could host cockroaches for dinner. Yet, they pitch them with salesmanship worthy of a Broadway stage: “Madam, this one na hot cake. If you no pay today, tomorrow e go don go.”

It is the cruelest part of the deception, dressing up misery as opportunity, knowing full well that desperation will silence protest.

The tragedy is not just that tenants are extorted. It is that housing, one of life’s most basic needs, has become a gamble. Instead of safety and stability, many Nigerians now associate house-hunting with anxiety, loss, and betrayal. Families uprooted because a landlord suddenly doubled rent. Students stranded because an agent promised a “self-contained” that turned out to be a room with shared facilities. Newlyweds spending their honeymoon nights on relatives’ sofas because the house they paid for was given to someone else with “better money.”

The bigger shame is that Nigeria’s regulators look the other way. The housing sector remains one of the most unregulated spaces in our economy. No clear codes for agents. No enforceable penalties for fraud. No safeguards for tenants. In the vacuum, chaos reigns and the Shylocks thrive.

The comparison is sobering: in developed countries, property agents are licensed, their fees capped, and their conduct regulated. Here, anyone with a key ring and a contact on WhatsApp can become an “agent.” And Nigerians, desperate for shelter, must play along.

Let’s be clear: agents are not the disease; they are the symptom. The disease is a deep housing crisis that leaves millions without roofs, and those with roofs perpetually at risk of eviction. The cost of cement rises, urban planning is chaotic, mortgages are inaccessible, and public housing is virtually non-existent. In such a system, desperation breeds exploitation, and agents merely mirror the larger dysfunction of the state.

But it need not be so. Shelter is not a luxury. It is a right. And like food and water, it must be treated as such. Nigeria must wake up to the urgency of reforming its housing sector by building more affordable homes, regulating agents, and protecting tenants from predatory practices.

Until then, the Nigerian tenant remains trapped between the landlord’s demands and the agent’s extortion, forever paying pounds of flesh in a market where survival is traded for profit.

So, when next you hear the phrase “house hunting,” don’t imagine a hopeful family searching for a new home. Picture, instead, a weary Nigerian, pockets drained, dignity bruised, whispering under their breath: What’s up with Shylock house agents?

News

Textile, Garment And Tailoring Workers Assault Journalists In Edo

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Some members of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Edo State branch,
on Tuesday, assaulted journalists who were invited to their secretariat to cover their meeting.

Deputy General Secretary of the NUTGTWN, Comrade Emeka Nkwoala, invited the journalists to the secretariat of the body to get the outcome of a meeting he was directed to hold with them following the resignation of the branch chairman, Mike Ochei from the Caretaker Committee, and the suspension leadership of the union in Edo State over his resignation.

The Caretaker Committee was set up by the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to resolve the crisis and conduct election into the state leadership of the Congress.

Ochei, while resiging was quoted to have said that he was coerced into the membership of the caretaker committee, hence his resignation.

Trouble, however, started, when, after the journalists introduced themselves inside the hall, and as Nkwoala about to talk, some of the members of the body started shouting ‘we don’t need press,’ it is an internal affair, they must leave,’ which was followed by some of the union members physically assaulting the journalists. One of the members poked his hands into the eyes of one of the reporters, while they used derogatory words on them.

Addressing journalists after the uproar that followed the meeting, Nkwoala said Ochei was contacted and informed before he was nominated to serve in the NLC committee, stressing that it was, therefore, wrong for him to have claimed that he was coerced into the committee.

He, thereafter, apologised to journalists who were harassed by some members of the union.

Nkwoala said: “I want to apologise on behalf of our union, we are a matured union, we hold the press in high esteem and we relate very well with the press. From the inception of our union, our past leaders didn’t joke with the press. Is it Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Issa Aremu or the current General Secretary Comrade Ali Baba? We don’t joke with the press. We apologise for the embarrassment that our members caused you. We are not known for such.

“The state of our union right now in Edo State is that we have suspended the Mike Ochei led state exco. They are on suspension till further notice. That was the resolution we reached with the various chairmen of the zones in Benin City today, it was also the resolution of our National Administrative Council (NAC) of our Union via our zoom meeting yesterday (Monday). So they cannot represent the NUTGTWN anywhere in whatever capacity.”

On the way forward for the crisis in Edo NLC, he said: “Our allegiance is to the national leadership of the NLC ably led by Comrade Joe Ajaero and the Professor Monday Igbafen led caretaker committee. We believe that the leadership of the NLC has machinery in place to deal with some of these issues, for us we are part and parcel of the NLC and we will continue to pay our allegiance with the leadership of congress led by Comrade Ajaero.”

News

Edo Deputy Gov Tasks Lab Scientists On Research, Vaccine Production

Published

17 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Deputy governor of Edo State, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, on Tuesday, urged the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN), to go into deep research, and channelled scientific findings to boost public health.

Idahosa also urged the scientists to set up a vaccine manufacturing company in Edo State.

The deputy governor spoke when he played host to the state chapter of AMLSN, saying “as we speak, we still do not have a vaccine manufacturing company or industry in the whole of Nigeria. That, to me, is worrisome.”

Idahosa, who hosted the scientists on behalf of Governor Monday Okpebholo, added: ” This is the heartbeat of the nation. I think we should roll up our sleeves and do what other states in this country have not done before. Let Edo be the beginner.”

He appreciated the laboratory scientists on the courtesy visit, just as he commended them for their contributions and medical interventions, which he said had given a boost to the public health sector delivery system in the state.

Making reference to the campaign manifesto and five point SHINE Agenda of Okpebholo, Idahosa affirmed that, “after security, health is number two. We are laying so much emphasis on health. Edo State is going to be happy with what we are going to do with the health sector.”

Idahosa assured the scientists that he was going to work closely with “the think tanks in the health sector based on raised areas of needs,” as “government would look at the best way to proffer solution to some of these challenges.”

State Chairman of the AMLSN, Dr. Ekhaguere Ehigie who earlier congratulated the Edo State Government for victories at the polls and in court, highlighted issues that plagued laboratory practice in Nigeria.

He advocated the setting up of modern molecular laboratories and use of Nano technology to boost disease diagnosis, accurate laboratory results and monitoring/surveillance of public health.