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OPINION: Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu And The Fish God

Published

4 weeks ago

June 8, 2025

By Festus Adedayo

As Ngugi wa Thiong’o says in his Wizard of the Crow, (2007), ire is more corrosive than fire. Make no mistake about it: President Bola Tinubu is angry. When Tinubu was similarly angry, I wrote a piece entitled Tinubu the Ap’ejalodo and his strange fish friend (September 18, 2018). That fable was one of the stories that helped to tame the greed of pre and post-colonial Yoruba society, as well as any tendency within it to play God.

By that 2018, Tinubu had made up his mind to replace Akinwunmi Ambode as governor of Lagos State. The piece, using that anecdote, was to warn him not to take the place of God. Suchlike stories helped to shape the moral man in Africa. His cosmology was governed by anecdotes, lore and mores which prescribed moral codes. For centuries, these sustained the associational and moral forte of Africa. Anecdotes that restrained a potential emperor from treading the path of ruination were told to children, even in their infancies; same about petty thieves who came to ghastly ends. For instance, the destructive end of greed was foretold in pre-colonial Yoruba society in the emblematic story of Tortoise and the scalding hot porridge on the fire he stole and covertly put on his head. It burnt his scalp. Permit me to retell the anecdote.

Set in an African village, the story is that of a young wretched fisherman (Ap’ejalodo) who was ravaged by failure. He was unable to catch enough fish over the years to rescue him from the pangs of lack. One day, however, as he thrust his fishing hook into the river, it caught one of the largest fishes he had ever seen. Excited, Ap’ejalodo pulled his awesome catch up to the riverbank and proceeded to yank it off the hook.

As he attempted to carry it to the basket, however, the fish began to speak like a human being. Ap’ejalodo was at first afraid but he eventually pulled himself up and listened to the sermon of the strange fish. Singing, Ap’ejalodo, mo de, ja lo lo, ja lo lo… (Fisherman, here I come…) the fish pleaded to be rescued by the fisherman.

It promised that if the fisherman spared its life, in lieu of this rescue, he should ask for whatever he wanted in life. Excited, Ap’ejalodo let it off the hook and asked for wealth. Truly, by the time he got home, the ragged clothes on him and his wife had become very big damask agbada and aran, respectively, with their wretched hut transformed into a big mansion. Both now began to live the life of unimaginable splendour.

After a few years, the couple was however barren and the wife entreated Ap’ejalodo to go fishing again and ask his fish friend to rescue them from the social shame. As he thrust his hook into the river again, it caught the strange fish and the earlier process was repeated. This time, he asked for a child and the strange fish granted it, giving him children. Over the years, the fisherman magisterially summoned the fish through same process and the fish bailed the couple out.

Then one day, Ap’ejalodo and wife were just waking up from their magnificent bed when a blinding and intruding ray of the sun meandered into their bedroom. Enraged, Mrs. Ap’ejalodo couldn’t understand the audacity the sun had to intrude into their sacristy. Couldn’t it respect the privacy and majesty of the richest couple in the land? She then angrily commanded Ap’ejalodo to go meet his fish friend and ask that they be given the power to control the temerity of the Sun and other impertinent celestial forces.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION:Nigeria Hosts Nyerere’s One-party Ghost

Off Ap’ejalodo went to the river bank, thrust his fishing hook into the river and again invoked the strange fish. And Ap’ejalodo made his plea. The fish was peeved by the fisherman’s greed and audacity.“You were nobody; I made you somebody and you now have everything at your beck and call. Yet, you want to compete with God in majesty and you will not allow even a common sun to shine and perform the illuminating assignment God brought it to perform on earth!”

The fish angrily stormed back into the river and as Ap’ejalodo, downcast, walked back home, his old torn and wretched dress suddenly came back on him, his mansion transformed into the hut of the past and the couple’s latter wretchedness was more striking than the one of yore.

After writing that piece in 2018, as fate would have it, I was wrong and Tinubu was right. In spite of the several entreaties to him, Ap’ejalodo had his way and Ambode became history. Today, Ap’ejalodo has warred with all his governor nominees since 2007. He attempted to remove all of them but only succeeded with Ambode. On each occasion, he made himself the victim of his disagreements with his mentee governors, answering to that Oscar Wilde statement that you cannot be too careful in the choice of your enemies. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has joined the infamous train of victims of Tinubu’s ferocious anger.

As far back as January of this year, sullen murmurs of bees of power in Alausa and Aso Rock hinted that Ap’ejalodo was angry. While Ambode’s err was failure to offload requested funds, Sanwo-Olu’s was his indiscretion and temerity. An alleged female friend of the governor was said to have helped him courier Lagos funds to Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to enable him win the 2023 governorship. In violation of the laws of power, Sanwo-Olu thus outshone the Master. While he won his Lagos election, Ap’ejalodo lost. Ap’ejalodo actually didn’t mind him losing the election, with the aim of cutting his wings but regaining his overlordship of Lagos in a subsequent estimated victory in the court. At a meeting of the two, while the governor swore his innocence, Ap’ejalodo was said to have derisively laughed him off, maintaining he had security reports which affirmed the transaction. The stroke that broke the camel’s back was the governor’s effrontery in removing Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, Ap’ejalodo’s protege who had been overtly rude to the governor.

Twice in a week, Ap’ejalodo has ridiculed Sanwo-Olu at both the Lagos-Calabar highway and Lekki Free Port road commissioning. He skipped shaking his hands in one and ensured his absence in the other. You could hear the ghoulish cries of vultures waiting to feed off the flesh of the governor. At the Port road commissioning, Ap’ejalodo was fuming from all cylinders: “I am glad the Deputy Governor of Lagos is here. Take it that we will remove all those approvals given on the setbacks already given. No more planning approvals for those unplanned island being created illegally,” he said. Ngugi wa Thiong’o was indeed right. Ire is corrosive.

Ap’ejalodo, having been lifted up by his fish god friend to have an elephant firmly rested on his head, still wants to know what tiny crickets are doing in their small holes. He is enraged by the audacity of Sanwo-Olu’s Sun to intrude into his sacristy. Couldn’t the lanky fellow respect the majesty of the No. 1 Citizen of Nigeria, its richest

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OPINION: APC’s Leprosy Versus ADC’s Scabies

Published

8 minutes ago

July 8, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

When an elderly supporter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu tried to start a conversation about the opposition coalition party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), its membership and the ‘betrayal’ by the Acting National Secretary of the party, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, I politely turned down the conversation. Rather, I referred him to one of the lessons we learnt in our days about Ikú (Death) and how he lost the power to kill all princes.

The short story is clear in my head. I cannot remember the exact Ifa verse that speaks to the story, but I know it is derived from Òyèkú Méjì, the second biggest Odù, one of the 16 corpus of Ifá. The story is about the wife of Ikú called Olójòùngbodo and how she sold out her husband.

Worried about how Ikú was going about killing other people’s children, the elders of the community sat down to find a solution to the problem. Ikú had killed all the princes in the land leaving only Ayùnré. Should Ayùnré die, there would be no prince to be crowned Oba, and the kingdom will go into extinction. So, the elders took counsel and concluded that the woman’s pant is the closest item to her way of life, and decided that they would entice Olójòùngbodo, Ikú’s wife.

Early in the morning, the time of the morning my people call ìjímùjí (when one can barely see the lines on one’s palm), they sent some elders to meet Olójòùngbodo with gifts. The woman crawled out of her husband’s bed and met with the elders. She accepted the precious gifts and asked them what they wanted. The elders said they needed to know those food items that were forbidden to Ikú.

Without wasting time, Olójòùngbodo told them that her husband, Ikú, must not eat eku (rat), eja (fish), and a kind of vegetable known as ebòlò (very green with sweet aroma). The elders added more gifts and went away.

A few days later, the community called for a feast. All the elders were invited. Ikú was given a special table. He felt good by the special treatment. Two beautiful virgins were asked to serve him. Ikú savoured the delicacies given to him in the best carved calabashes. He ate, drank enough palm wine, belched and gave the closing remarks. Then he departed. The elders waited.

When the day for Ikú to kill Ayùnré came, the entire town was on edge. Morning came, and afternoon followed. It was dusk and the sun set. Yet nothing happened. The night crept in and there was no wailing from the palace. Prince Ayùnré was hale and hearty. Then another day broke, and the elders rejoiced, the people rolled out the drums; it was a celebration galore. The people rescued their kingdom from the grips of Death. They sustained the throne and the kingship lineage as Ikú could no longer kill the crown prince.

Permit me for reliving my childhood countryside years here. There were many lessons learnt; many of them learnt on the streets. The elders of those years were full of wisdom. They used parables, folktales and proverbs; all elements that combined to sharpen our sense of hermeneutics, to teach us the basic truth about life. The overall effect is that most ‘village boys’ of my era turned out to be streetwise.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: Col. Umar, Tinubu And Sycophants

Being an ará oko (yokel) -a derogatory term to describe someone from the interior- has its own advantages. In fact, one should be proud to be called an ará ìlú òkè (someone from the countryside). Those from the countryside have an edge over the ‘happening’ boys of the urban centres. One of such is that the storm that will fling the urban man is the one the countryside guy will savour as refreshing wind from the excruciating heat!

I draw inspiration from my native background today to counsel President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the recent happenings in the nation’s political scene. Lasisi Olagunju, while doing a forensic analysis of Zainab Buba Galadima’s interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Saturday, called it a ‘storm’ (see Olagunju’s “From the North, ‘a storm is coming’”, published in the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, July 7, 2025). I see what is coming as being more serious than a storm.

Earlier on Sunday, July 6, 2025, two prolific columnists with the Tribune Titles, Festus Adedayo and Taiwo Adisa (both wrote in Sunday Tribune) dwelt on the same topic using different routes to get to the market of socio-political commentaries. I read Adedayo’s “ADC: Death, Onikoyi and hunter’s pouch”. I juxtaposed it with Adisa’s “APC, ADC, and some unhelpful narratives”, and I added Olagunju’s piece referenced above. Done, I came to Zainab’s conclusion that they “are not good reviews. It is bad; it is really bad.”

Adedayo alluded to ‘Death’ in his headline. I got scared by that name. Death (Ikú), in one of the stories I heard early in life as stated above, was once human, and he is more than the phenomenon that takes people away from the planet earth. Death does more than that; he ends plans, he eclipses people’s visions and aspirations. He is powerful, deadly, vicious, and mean!

But as powerful as Ikú is, he has his flaws, his weaknesses. Death, like most men of power or men-in-power, is also vulnerable. Ancient tradition teaches us that the greatest flaw of Death is his belief that everyone around him loves him and will die for, and with him. How wrong, how shallow Death could be to assume that he cannot be defeated.

Make no mistakes about it. The only Death in Nigeria’s political firmament today is President Tinubu. He is the rallying point for all those who aim to gain political power. He is equally the one-man squad that visits the homes of his enemies with deadly portions. He visited the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and planted seeds of internal destruction there. He went after the Labour Party (LP) and gave them eternal discord. For every seed of wahala Tinubu planted in the opposition, he left enough fertilizer to nourish it. The President has demonstrated, in the last two years, that he has all it takes to ruin the farms of those who share boundaries with him.

But in the last one week, it appears that the owners of the political IOUs are back to collect not only their invested capital but the accruing interests or capital interests. The formation, or rather, the consolidation of the opposition coalition against the re-election bid of Tinubu in 2027 with the coming on board of the ADC last Wednesday appears to be the greatest challenge the Tinubu political dynasty has ever faced in its political odyssey.

The reactions from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and members of the Tinubu’s government to the ADC coalition reminds me of the old man and the leftover pounded yam. The old man, the saying goes, says he is not pained that someone else ate the leftover pounded yam, but he keeps removing his clothes ready for a fight over the same food he calls useless (kòdùn mí, kòdùn mí, àgbàlagbà únbó èwù ní èèmefà nítorí iyán àná). Many of Tinubu’s ‘friends’ who have spoken against the ADC coalition said that the party would amount to nothing. Ironically, they refuse to rest, eat popcorn and lick ice cream! If the coalition is useless, why bother about it?

One of the narratives against the coalition is the aspersions cast on the person of the Acting National Secretary of the ADC, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Today, Aregbesola is regarded as a betrayer and a Yoruba outcast. In all honesty, no one in his right mind will lift a finger in defence of Aregbesola. He is not alone. I find it appalling that any common man would want to defend any politician given what these locusts have done to our collective wellbeing as a people!

I shared the Ikú story above with the elderly Tinubu man. I told him that Aregbesola should be one of their least worries. Rather, Tinubu and his men should look inwards. How many Aregbesola are in the house? How many Olójòùngbodo are sharing the same bed with the Jagaban? If indeed Aregbesola is a betrayer, can we ask Ikú (Tinubu) what he was doing, and where he was, when his wife crawled out of his bed to meet with the enemies?

Ikú, in Yoruba cosmology, is a very rich deity. This is why they say a kìí wá orí tì nílé Ikú (heads are not in short supply in Ikú’s abode). If that is so, what did Tinubu deny Aregbesola such that the enemies could entice him with gifts to join the coalition? The Ikú fable teaches us that every strongman must pay attention to his household. This is what Tinubu should do instead of listening to the clappers telling him that the coalition is nothing.

Again, Tinubu should also know that it is not every prince that Death can kill. When Tinubu, like Ikú, went after the opposition and decimated them with governors being compelled to join the APC, what did he expect? That the people would sit by and allow him to run Nigeria to a one-party State? What type of strategy is that; one that will leave nothing even for the fowls of the air to glean and eat? When APC was displaying that sense of rapacity for power, did it not expect a reaction from the people? What Tinubu is getting today from the ADC is exactly what the people of yore did when Ikú killed all the princes of the land but one! Our elders are right when they posit that the owner of the hut will not allow it to be pulled down by hostile neighbours.

And if we may go down a bit, what is ADC doing today or going to do tomorrow that the APC did not do in the past? Before Tinubu became the sole proprietor of the APC, did he not betray a whole clan? Where is Afenifere today? Where are the founding fathers of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD)? How did AD die, or who pierced the heart of the party with the long poisonous knife of betrayal? How many former loyalists of President Tinubu are in some nondescript corners today licking their wounds?

It is rather unfortunate that Nigeria is at a stage when the likes of Aregbesola, Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, Nasir el-Rufai and other hawks are the topics of discourse in our political system. That itself is a big shame! But when you have two terrible items to choose from, is it not true that the people will look for the lesser of the evils?

Ask me a million times. I will tell you that the APC and its twin evil brother, the ADC, are leprosy and scabies. And this again, reminds me of one of the songs by the hunters during rites of passage for a departed hunter (Eré ìsípa ode) about leprosy and scabies.

During those dirge possessions, especially when it got dark, the lead chanter would warn that the non-initiates should retire home as the hunters’ masquerade had nothing good to offer. Once the chief chanter raised the song: Èté òhun èyi, abiyamo yàn kàn h’ómo rè (between leprosy and scabies, let mothers choose one for their children), we knew that the time to go home had come.

MORE FROM THE AUTHOR:OPINION: The Genocide In Benue

This is the exact song the political class is singing for Nigerians today. The choices before us as represented by the ruling APC and the coalition ADC, are leprosy and scabies. My elders say the gun births no good child because just as the pellet kills, the bullet kills also. Either APC or ADC, it is the same skin of the cobra; it cannot be used to sew waist amulets (awo oká ni, kò seé rán ìbànté)!

However, one beautiful thing about the ADC to me is the way the David Mark group has left the moribund PDP for the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FTC), Nyesom Wike. Like my former boss is wont to say the thing sweet my belle!

Now, Wike has the entire PDP to play with. The coalition has solved the problem of the despicable promise to remain in the PDP and work for Tinubu in 2027 for him! What a man, what a character! Since the ADC unveiled its plan on Wednesday last week, Wike has been running here and there like Sisyphus in Hades, bashing, castigating and insulting every leader of the group. Wike, like the proverbial dog with skin rashes, has spoken against the coalition more than the APC Itself. There are no names he has not called those behind the coalition. Yet he says the coalition will fail! Shouldn’t Wike be happy that he has succeeded in taking over the PDP; why is he whining by the nanosecond like a common egbére (goblin)?

This is one of the problems I think President Tinubu should address as he navigates the political terrain ahead of 2027. My late mother, God repose her soul, had a saying: “Ajá tó je omo è, a kìí té òkú tìí (you don’t ask a dog that eats its puppy to guard a corpse). If Tinubu and his supporters are looking for betrayers, let them look inwards. A man who could bring the political party that gave him life to its knees would not blink twice before doing-in a mere generous benefactor like Tinubu. As an elder, the President should know that the house built with spittle will be wrecked by dew!

I recommend that Tinubu should watch the Zainab interview. He should listen to the lady speak directly. The president should not rely on any executive summary of the interview by any of his aides. He has a lot to benefit from it. The material is not the usual stuff from the Villa’s lying band; it is different from what any of the bootlickers around him in Aso Rock can offer

Zainab Buba Galadima warned that 2027 “is going to be the toughest battle he (Tinubu) will ever see. It is going to be the toughest.” I have no point to counter that. The only addition here is that it should not be lost on us that neither the coalition nor the APC is fighting for the welfare of the common man. Looking at the characters in both the APC and the ADC, one will easily conclude that the only unifying factor here is intrigue (rìkísí pa wón pò, wón di òré).

The opera season has opened. Nigerians should just locate the nearest popcorn sellers and ice cream joints, buy bagful and watch the unfolding season films. Then they can decide which one they prefer: the current leprosy or the coming scabies.

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Online Reports On Protest False, Intent To Tarnish Our Image – AAU Ekpoma

Published

10 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Editor

The management of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, has debunked recent online reports alleging a protest by students of the institution over exam delays, unpaid lecturers, and inaction by the university administration.

The institution described the claims as a “false narrative” allegedlybbeing peddled by “mischief makers” intent on undermining the university’s reputation for personal gains.

Speaking at a press briefing in Benin on Monday, Otunba Mike Aladenika,
Principal Assistant Registrar/Head of Information & Public Relations, AAU, Ekpoma, said what occurred at the main gate was not a protest, but rather a gathering of part-time students from the Directorate of Sciences and Humanities (DSH), who sought clarification on their academic programs.

“What happened that day was not a protest, but a gathering of part-time students who wanted to know their academic positions, but the management promptly responded to their concerns, providing further information and assurances that satisfied the students.

“There was no protest that warranted tension in the university, contrary to the erroneous report,” he added.

Aladenika further noted that those behind the online publication were previously instrumental in bringing about the now-defunct Special Intervention Team (SIT) regime, stressing that they may be attempting to reignite tensions to destabilize the current administration.

“Clearly, the intention is to tarnish our institution’s reputation,” he said.

“The current administration, led by Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sunday Olowo Samuel, inherited a deeply troubled part-time programme beset with challenges, including un-cleared staff claims and delayed examinations.

“These issues were largely as a result of poor funding over the past eight years and restrictive policies imposed by the SIT.

“Despite these obstacles, the administration has recorded substantial achievements in revitalizing the Directorate of Sciences and Humanities,” he added.

He disclosed that the 2022/2023 first semester lectures, delayed by 11 months, commenced in March 2024 and were concluded with examinations in January 2025, adding that the second semester followed from February 26 to May 2, 2025, paving the way for the commencement of a new academic session.

Aladenika maintained that the institution has implemented a new result release policy, highlighting interventions by the Edo State Government.

“By implementing these changes, Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma demonstrates its commitment to improving academic processes and student experience.

“Beyond the faculties and departments sourcing alternative power supplies, the state government has announced plans to provide a 1.5-megawatt alternative power supply to support all sectors of our main campus.

“Additionally, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will be installing a solar plant, a testament to our university’s prominence in the South-South region.

“Notably, Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma is the sole beneficiary of this initiative in the region,” he said.

“The Computer-Based Examinations (CBEs) for 100 Level students of the Directorate of Science and Humanities were processed and released within one week. All results for the 2023/2024 academic session are now available online,”

Aladenika, also said AAU, Ekpoma has entered into Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with a Chinese University for knowledge transfer and partnership.

“Furthermore, we’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a Chinese university, paving the way for technology transfer and exchange programs.

“This partnership will undoubtedly enhance our academic and research capabilities,” He concluded.

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Obi In Benin, Donates N15m To St Philomena School of Nursing Sciences

Published

11 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Editor

…says life without help to humanity, is not worth living

Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Monday, July 7, 2025, donated a sum of N15 million to St. Philomena School of Nursing Sciences, Benin, as support to the school’s ongoing project, saying “life without support or help to humanity, is not worth living.”

The former governor of Anambra State said For the future of the country, “we need to invest in you (students of nursing),” predicting that “by year 2030, the world will be short of nurses to work in the hospital,” due to the high demand.

Obi, who described health, education, and pulling people out of poverty as the most important investment in any nation, disclosed that due to the premium he placed on health particularly nursing, out of the 52 weeks in a year, he visits at least one health facility every week, stressing that this act of visit and donation is not politically motivated but what he had been doing even before he came into politics.

Obi said: “I’m here to support what you are doing. I’m here because, for the future of this country, we need to invest in you. Across Nigeria, I support over 50 school of nursing sciences. 52 two weeks of the year, every week I must visit a school of nursing sciences.

“My weekly visit to the schools is not because of politics, because people think it’s because of politics that I’m doing this, but no. I was doing this even before I came into politics.

“Life without support or help to humanity, is not worth living.

“Father didn’t ask me to come back; none of you called me to come back. I was the one who called Father last night that.

“You might not know what you’re studying now. By the year 2030, the world will be short of nurses to work in the hospital. Because healthcare is the most important thing today.”

He continued: “Like I always say, school is the most important investment you can give to humanity: number one, education; number two, health. It is said that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. So, we must invest in health.

“The most important measurable developments are health, education, and pulling people out of poverty — and I am focused on all the three.

“You can’t talk about health without talking about the human capital infrastructure within it. The most important infrastructure in health are the nurses because they are the closest to the patients,” Obi added.

When asked his presidential ambition and his alleged alignment with the newly formed coalition, Obi declined comment while he noted: “When I arrived the airport this morning, the journalist asked me why I’m Benin, and I said to them please I’m not in Benin for politics. I’m in Benin to talk about the future of Nigeria.

“We the politicians spend too much time talking about politics while leaving the Nigerian children and people to suffer. This is not what I’m here for.”

On his part, Rev. Fr. Jerome Idebe, while appreciating Obi for the kind gesture, noted that the donation will go a “long way in completing the project we started years ago.”

He assured the former Anambra State governor that the funds will be rightly channelled towards the betterment of the school and the students.