News

Tribune At 74: A Reporter’s Diary [OPINION]

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2023

By Suyi Ayodele

I was just about five days old in Benin as the Edo State correspondent of the Nigerian Tribune when I thought I had run into a turbulence. I got a traditional summon.

“You are the new correspondent of the Tribune?” Chief Nosakhare Isekhure, asked. I said Yes, sir. The old man was the Chief Priest of Benin Kingdom. He looked deep into me and continued: “I called you here to welcome you and to also encourage you. I read the story you did on Lucky Igbinedion and the teachers. That is how to work, and that is what the Tribune represents. The founder, Chief Obafemi Awolowo lived for the people. Tribune is the paper for the people, and I hope you know that.” I nodded.

The Governor Lucky Igbinedion versus teachers’ story the chief referred to was published on the back page of the Nigerian Tribune on, October 26, 1999, with the headline: “Edo teachers dare governor.”

The High Chief went on to tell me how he called a few journalists to his palace and gave them some documents. Chief shifted in his chair and expressed anguish and utter disappointment on how he discovered that the documents found their way into the hands of some people in government. Pointing at the entrance to the living room, he asked if I saw the shrine on my way in and I answered yes. Adjusting himself again, the chief said he found it difficult to believe that anyone would come to his palace and behave the way the journalists did after he spoke to them and gave them the supporting documents. Then he affirmed: “The gods and our ancestors will handle those ones. You are a young man, and you have the years ahead of you. Always stand by the truth, verify your stories and be professional”, he counselled. He offered some prayers and we left. On our way back to the office, Tribune’s sales executive in Warri who was with me to answer the summon, Mr. Adekunle Oladini, elaborated on the particular issue the chief raised and the ‘trouble’ the matter generated.

I assumed duty in Benin on Friday, October 22, 1999. I just came back to the office from an official assignment, my first, given from the headquarters. It was the coverage of the official opening of the First Bank branch on Textile Mills Road, on Monday, October 25, 1999. The sales representative, Mr. Festus Fadare, gave me the message thus: “Chief Isekhure called that you should come and see him.” I asked who Chief Isekhure was. Fadare’s counterpart in Delta State, Mr. Oladini, answered: “The Chief Priest of Benin Kingdom.” He added that the chief was some two houses away and volunteered to take me to “his palace.” Mr. Oladini led the way and I followed. We entered the house located on Sokponba Road, a little distance from the Tribune office. On the right was an arsenal of traditional items. You have got to fear the objects assembled in that dimly lit corner. That was the Isekhure, nay Benin shrine. We entered a large sitting room, with carved chairs. Facing us as we entered was the Chief Priest himself, Chief Isekhure. He sat on the biggest chair, or if you like, a throne, donning all white apparel with a peculiar hair style I later learnt is exclusive to Benin palace chiefs. We prostrated and greeted him. He answered us “koyor”. Then he ushered us to our seats with a wave of the hand.

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Why did I choose to start this page with that story today? By Thursday, November 16, 2023 – some 48 hours away, the Nigerian Tribune will be 74 years old. The paper first hit the newsstands on Wednesday, November 16, 1949. Of all the things Chief Isekhure said during my encounter with him, two things remain the most important to me till date, and those two things are the driving forces behind this column, and every one of my engagements in Tribune. The first is that the Nigerian Tribune is always on the side of the people. The second is equally important: the newspaper stands for nothing but the naked truth. At 74 years of age, the Tribune has held on tenaciously to those two fundamental principles. Irrespective of the darts, rocks and pebbles thrown at it, the paper has remained resolute, unbending, and unyielding. I found these principles in their naked form in my first encounter with the newspaper at the funeral of the late Pa Michael Adekunle Ajasin in Owo, Ondo State, some 26 years ago. I relayed the story in my piece, “Adekunle Ajasin: If only the dead could rise”, published on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

The Tribune resilience that I encountered that fateful November 14, 1997, was that of Lasisi Olagunju, the current editor, Saturday Tribune. He covered Pa Ajasin’s funeral alongside his photographer, Tommy Adegbite, for the Tribune titles then. As a freelancer, I flew on the wings of Tribune to cover the most militarized funeral, ever, because Olagunju, having become familiar with my lack of a functional identity card as a freelance reporter with the defunct Sunday Diet, edited by Sheddy Ozoene, he offered to take me along. This is how he put it in his Oyo dialect: “Ko si’yonu. Iwo o maa tele wa ni (No problem. Just follow us wherever we go). With that encounter, Tribune came across as a place where there are willing hands to help. Trust yours sincerely, I stuck to Olagunju and Adegbite like a leech and gained entry to all the venues of the funeral rites. Whatever I achieved for the Diet titles during Ajasin’s funeral was made possible because Tribune gave me the wings to fly!

I returned to Lagos; and when there was no hope of a permanent job in The Diet family, I dusted my certificates and returned to the University of Ibadan for a Master of Arts degree in English Language. The very week my supervisor, Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, approved all my MA project’s chapters, my cousin informed me that she had information that Tribune was recruiting reporters. The following day, I went to the Imalefalafia office of the paper, where I met some other applicants. We were all subjected to a written test and asked to come back the following week to check the results. I returned as asked and behold; I passed the aptitude test. The successful candidates were further subjected to oral interviews, after which 12 of us were employed. It was at the point of being assigned beats that Olagunju showed up in the office of the then Director of Publications (DOP), Mr. Folu Olamiti, and requested that I should be posted to the News Desk because he had met me before on the field. Olagunju was then the News Editor. That was August 2, 1999.

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As a new reporter, I was one day in October assigned to cover the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)’s Network News. I did and the report I generated was well used the following day. On resumption for duty in the afternoon of the following day, Olagunju simply told me: “Won ni kii nmu e wa loke” (they asked me to bring you upstairs). No more information. I just followed him as we climbed the stairs, wondering whether my village ‘people’ had again followed me after four years of searching for a job! Again, Mr. Olamiti and the then Editor, Pastor Segun Olatunji were present. A brief interview, I was dismissed. Later in the evening, I was summoned by the Human Resources (HR) Department and handed a letter redeploying me to Edo State as the state correspondent for the Tribune titles. What is the essence of this narrative again? Tribune has an eye for talent, and it makes use of its resources. Only an organisation which builds confidence in its employees would assign a probationary employee to go and manage a state like Edo, which was one of the biggest markets for the titles then! So, if Nigerian Tribune has survived this far, one of the contributory factors is the ability to build, nurture and encourage staff to explore their worlds. We shall return to that shortly. What did I make of my stay in Benin as a state correspondent? Without sounding immodest, I wish to state here that those five years I spent in Benin were the most exciting and eventful of my earlier days in journalism. My return to the Tribune family after 16 years of corporate experience underscores how Management valued, or still values, my modest contributions.

Leaving the Tribune family for a corporate job was one decision I did not want to take. I was having fun with the Tribune titles. All the encouragement needed was in huge supplies. But a day came on August 4, 2004, when I resigned my appointment with the foremost newspaper. And for 16 solid years, I was physically away from the newspaper but maintained an open and cordial line of relationship with virtually everybody in the family. Then the ‘tsunami’ happened in my ‘corporate’ work, and I was made “to feel the weight of a paper”, on June 23, 2020. On my way home from the Lagos Island office of my ‘corporate’ job, I put a call across, again, to Olagunju. After the exchange of pleasantries and jokes, I told him: “Oga, I have information for you”. He asked what it was. “I have been asked to go home”, I announced. “What happened?” He asked. I said nothing. “Ok, pele o. a ma soro lola” (sorry, we will talk tomorrow). The day broke. Olagunju called. “Ekiti man, how are you? He asked and I said I was fine. He expressed sympathy again and added: “I told the MD yesterday what happened to you. Hold on, he wants to talk to you.” The next voice I heard was that of the MD/EIC, Mr. Edward Dickson. He expressed the usual sympathy and then added: “Wo Suyi, ma worry. Come back to us. Tribune is your home; you are a member of the family. You will be happy after all”. That was less than 24 hours after I was shipped out of a company, I spent 16 years with, and another one that I left was asking me to come back home! You are still wondering why Tribune is thick and remains solid? Here is the reason. Check most newspapers in Nigeria; hardly do they allow any ex-member of staff, who they tagged, “politically exposed” to return to the newsroom after their tour of duty. But that is not so with Tribune. What the paper looks for is competence and experience. My case is an example. During my interaction with the MD/EIC, preparatory to my resumption, his emphasis was that I should bring my experience in the corporate world to bear on the job. I hope he and all those who built that confidence in me are not disappointed. Re-absorbing an ex-staff is a gain and Tribune has demonstrated that that is one of its strengths above its competitors.

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Another strong point of the oldest newspaper in Nigeria is that Tribune runs a very flexible policy that allows its personnel to further their education. In the Editorial Department of the paper today, you cannot find up to five people who don’t have one postgraduate degree or the other in addition to their entry qualifications. The same Editorial Department has over the years produced not less than six doctorate degree holders. I am here talking about the likes of Dr Segun Olatunji, who was a former MD/EIC, Dr Omotayo Lewis, who heads the Sales Department at the moment; Dr Kehinde Oyetimi, who was the Head, Features, before he left to join the Department of English and Literature, University of Ibadan in 2022; Dr Bayo Alade, who left Sunday Tribune some few months ago; Dr Lanre Akinmoladun, formerly of the Sub-Desk of Nigerian Tribune, Dr Leon Usigbe, the Abuja Bureau Chief, and of course, Dr Lasisi Olagunju, Editor Saturday Tribune. The beauty of Olagunju’s editorship is that, again, in the history of newspaper title editorship in Nigeria, Olagunju is the first title editor to hold a PhD! That is a major strength of the Tribune. The paper may not necessarily pick the bills for the academic attainments of those mentioned above and many others, but it creates an environment that allows its personnel to engage in personal development through training and re-training. There are no encumbrances, no limiters to prevent any member of staff from attaining any academic height. The Tribune has that deliberate policy of encouraging its staff to go to school and be trained. So, if you are living in Lagos and you have the impression that Ibadan reporters are “Ara Oke” – people of the hinterlands – you need to meet the Tribune eggheads.

Seventy-four years is a long time in the life of a man. It is much longer in the life of a corporate body. Like human beings, corporate bodies also suffer high mortality rates. Many newspapers that were Tribune’s contemporaries and many after it have since gone under and long forgotten. Today, Tribune remains the only longest-surviving newspaper having outlived the likes of Daily Times, owned by the Federal Government, Daily Sketch, which was established in 1964 by the late Samuel Ladoke Akintola government to counter Tribune. There were The Democrat, The Republic established by Major General Shehu Yar’Adua and the New Nigerian Newspapers, established for the north by its only premier, Sir Ahamadu Bello. The Tribune is not standing today because it suffered no tribulations or persecutions. No! In fact, it can be said of the newspaper, like the Psalmist did in Psalm 34;19, that: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him from them all.” Festus Adedayo, one of the legendary columnists in the Tribune family, took the nation on the voyage of persecutions the Tribune has suffered in the hands of successive governments right from its inception in 1949, in his Flickers of Sunday, November 12, 2023, under the title: “Nigerian Tribune: Salute to the elephant at 74.”

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It is a fact that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the founder of Tribune, was never allowed to become the president of this nation because he refused to pander to the wishes of the north and call their cows buoda (brother), to eat meat. It is also a fact that anyone down south, who wants to amount to anything at the national level, politically, must eat the phlegm of the northern hegemony. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), of yore did it and the promoters amounted to nothing, after the initial gragra! The late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola relied on his political, social, and economic IOUs sowed to the north, but they all failed him. The present leadership adopted the blueprint of the NNDP, to ascend to power; we wish them well. But the Tribune I know will not likely endorse NNDP’s blueprint to be numbered among the ‘friends’ of the government. A legend in the pen profession, the very inimitable Lade Bonuola (LADBONE), the grand old MD of The Guardian, situated this properly in his last week column titled: “Truth and its majesty”, in The Guardian thus: “…. There is all manner of dirt being thrown at the newspaper editors and their columnists for their position on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is too late to get the Tribune to bend to anybody’s inclination, tendencies or beliefs or gag her editors…. Tribune has lived up to her billing. She is the oldest lady among the pack of private newspapers in the whole country today; where are her peers? She has remained standing because she has successfully warded off all pressures considered inimical to the interest of Nigeria…” Nothing could be more encouraging!

This is exactly who we are in Tribune. Incidentally, and in fairness to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his core media boys, they are not complaining. They do not see Tribune as their enemy. The ones carrying the battle for the president are the agborandun, the busybodies, people who drag praise name with Esu Odara, who answers the name: The ones who cry on behalf of the bereaved and the bereaved gets scared (Abelekunsukun-ki-eru-o-b’elekun). But does it really matter? Should everyone’s life be measured in terms of naira and kobo? Should we all sleep and face the same direction? I answer with a resounding no, to all the questions. Come to think of it; with all that we have been saying, and the country is like this, what would have been our lot if everyone had become a yes man?

The Tribune has come a long way, at 74. Its wine can only get better and sweeter. It is too late in the day for the newspaper to change the colour of its editorial contents. The people matter. Truth is constant. Those who stand by the truth don’t usually have the crowd. The crowd itself doesn’t usually get the job done. “The fewer we are, the greater the share of honour”, is the popular saying of my old secondary school principal, Chief Animashaun Agidigbi. Tribune is an institution; its weapon of survival is truth, and the pillar, the people. The legend who established the newspapers, those who nurtured it to maturity and those who handed over the batons to our generation, did not make any mistake. Posterity waits by the corner to dish out to everyone who has passed through the institution, and those who will still pass through, the measure each deserves. “Hi a tori mi baje” (May it not spoil in my time), is a prayer for sustainability in my native Ekiti dialect. On this note, may I paraphrase the evocations of Birago Diop in the poem, Viaticum, as I say to Tribune at 74: And whenever you approach the wicked, the men with black hearts, whenever you approach the envious, men with black hearts, before you move the Breath of the Ancestors. Ase!

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[OPINION] Gov Adeleke: Cure Madness With Madness

Published

4 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Tunde Odesola

This is the definition of shock. A squirrel’s stomach rumbles like a faucet belching water, despite a barn of walnuts in full view. But the barn is utterly inaccessible. Fidgety on the same spot, the squirrel sits, skips, sighs and yawns in hunger, furtively watching four moustachioed scarecrows guard the four pillars of the barn. Two of the scarecrows wear buba and sokoto, the other two wear agbada and abeti aja caps.

Then came a whirlwind. The squirrel, head peeping out of its burrow in the earth, watches as one abeti aja cap goes up in the air, while the scarecrow donning the abeti aja cap crashes facedown on the barn gbooaa!

Terrified, the squirrel dashes into the ground on the limbs of lightning. By the time it came back to peep from its burrow, another scarecrow had crashed and crumbled like Humpty Dumpty. If it were human, the squirrel would have spoken in pidgin English, with a thick Warri accent, “Ehn-ehn? I see. So, na effigy I bin dey fear since all dis days wey hunger dey wire me? Human beings wicked o. I go show dis farmer pepper!” In this moment of sudden realisation, the look on the squirrel is the definition of shock.

If I told you I became an Ambassador when I was 12 years old, I’m sure you would be shocked. But that’s the truth. It was at Araromi Baptist Church, located at 42, Sokunbi Street, Mushin, that I was made an Ambassador in the Layode Chapter of Royal Ambassadors – a male youth group that mentors teenagers and young adults in faith, leadership and service. The motto of the Boy Scouts-like organisation is, “We are ambassadors for Christ,” a quote domiciled in 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Though our church is located in Mushin, where we grew up, Royal Ambassadors didn’t take marijuana, not to talk of colos, loud, codeine, tramadol, cocaine, heroin, etc, hard substances popular among today’s youths.

According to Royal Ambassadors’ cherished manual, which contains the philosophy and guidelines of the organisation, “An ambassador is the one who represents a king at the court of another king.” All churches under the Nigerian Baptist Convention have Royal Ambassador chapters. In my days as an ambassador, we learnt how to pitch a tent in an open-air camp, make a lanyard, control traffic, conduct a march-past, sing and play martial and secular musical instruments, and preach the word of God.

Of late, in Nigeria, however, there’s a strong umbilical cord connecting shock and the term ambassador. Thesaurus, the book of meanings, says scandalise is a synonym for shock. It also gives ‘emissary’ as the equivalent of ambassador.

From popular marijuana-smoking Naira Marley to tarmac-invader, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, and the content-creating irritant, Ayomiposi Oluwadahunsi, aka Mandy Kiss, who sought to bed 100 men in 24 hours, and earn Guinness World Record fame – the official reward for infamy in Nigeria is an ambassadorial award.

But the ambassadorship conferred on me by Araromi Baptist Church is in Christ, not in crisis. Nigerianly, the ambassadorships conferred on Naira Marley, Wasiu Ayinde and Mandy Kiss were rewards for the crises they precipitated.

In the southwestern domain of Governor Nurueen Ademola Jackson Adeleke, three issues stand out as either befitting of Nigeria’s present-day ambassadorial awards or outright condemnation. They are the embarrassment the Osun Amotekun Corps is fast becoming, the Apetu of Ipetumodu saga, and the gassing Oluwo of Iwo. Thank goodness, Adeleke has not yet glorified the ridicule these three have smeared on public consciousness by making them ambassadors. It is, however, instructive to note that he has yet to condemn any of them. And, silence, wisdom whispers, is another name for consent.

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Dear Governor Adeleke, the people of Osun are asking, “Where has one of the kings in our State of the Living Spring, the Apetu of Ipetumodu, Oba Joseph Oloyede, gone? The people of Osun are saying the Apetu’s royal head that wears the beaded crown of Ipetumodu has been exposed koroboto in a US jail, shining to the derision of inmates who wonder why a king dragged his nobility in criminal mud. It is too big for my basketmouth to ask the Oba Elewon if it was greed or ambition, or both, that pushed him off the throne into the trash of dishonour. Your Excellency can help the people of Osun ask him, using the authority of your office.

My governor, the Oriade of Ipetumodu will not only be sleeping outside his domain in the next four and a half years, the Igba Keji Orisa will be sleeping in a foreign prison, wearing prison clothes, eating prison food, bathing with fellow prisoners and doing prison labour. Abomination! Do the Yoruba not say ‘oriade kii sun ita?’ Governor Adeleke, this oriade has slept outside; it should not be allowed back into the palace.

Thank heavens, Governor Adeleke has no visual challenge; thus, I ask, “Is the optics of Apetu in prison orange uniform good for the integrity and image of Osun? If it is not, why has the Peoples Democratic Party-led Osun administration kept quiet for many weeks after the jailing of the Alayeluwa? Remember, Mr Governor, many months after the Apetu was arrested in the US over a multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund fraud, your administration said it would await court judgment to know the direction to go on the matter.

On August 28, 2025, however, a US Distinct Judge in Ohio, Christopher Boyko, found Oloyede guilty of leading a conspiracy to exploit COVID-19 emergency loan programmes designed to assist struggling small businesses, sentenced him to 56 months in prison and ordered him to refund $4,408,543.38, $90,006.89, forfeiting the house he bought in Medina, Ohio, with the proceeds of the fraud.

Speaking exclusively to PUNCH newspaper after the judgment, Osun State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dosu Babatunde, said the Adeleke administration would not act based on social media reports.

Babatunde said, “While it may be true that the monarch has been convicted and jailed, there is no official record with us. We cannot rely on Facebook posts and stories to justify such a serious matter.” Babatunde added that the government would get the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment before making any decision regarding the stool.

In a shocking move that unfolded two days after his imprisonment, however, persons believed to be loyal to the 62-year-old Oloyede, subsequently ransacked the palace and allegedly carted into hiding crowns and royal paraphernalia in a bid to stall the appointment and installation of a new king. While the people of Ipetumodu are calling on the state government to commence the process of appointing a new king, the deafening silence on the part of the Adeleke government appears to be a tacit tactic to stall and hold the crown down for the criminal king.

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As a US resident, I know it is not likely to take up to 15 minutes to obtain the CTC of a case in a US court, upon application, having obtained information myself in a court sometime ago. The statement by the Osun State government that it needed a CTC to commence action on the Apetu’s case reeks of foot-dragging and hypocrisy when the king had been held in prison since April 2024, sentenced in August 2025, with the report of the sentencing on the official website of the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio.

By asking for the CTC, does the Adeleke administration intend to appeal the judgment on behalf of the Apetu? If yes, did the state governor or government benefit from the proceeds of the fraud? And, why has the government not obtained the Almighty CTC since judgment was given? Oba Oloyede is the second case of an Osun monarch jailed for criminal offences in the US, the first one being the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba, Emir, Alaafin Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Telu I. Why is the Adeleke government buying time for a king whose royal gourd Ipetumode kingmakers should have smashed into oblivion by now? Is the state government saying the monarch has been on a sabbatical holiday since April 2024, when he was held in the US? Now that the king has been jailed and the report has grabbed headlines across the world, it is absolutely unthinkable that the Osun State government appears undecided and clueless on the matter. The people of Osun need an answer to the question of the jailed Apetu urgently.

My governor and aburo Serubawon of blessed memory, getting a CTC in a US court is far less stressful than the energy you exert dancing. The people of Osun voted for you to show good leadership. There is no better time to prove your mettle than now. You bear the illustrious title of Asiwaju; it’s time to prove you are not the snail that carries two horns on its head, but lacks the power to butt.

Egbon Ademola, the lastborn of Pa Ayoola Adeleke and Mama Esther Adeleke, remember the son of whom you are. You’re the descendant of Timi Agbale, Olofa ina. You are omo arogun ma fi t’ibon se, omo Mapo Arogun, iyako agbo, omo aji lala oso, aji f’ojo gbogbo dara bi egbin. The pall of darkness cast over Ipetumodu by the Apetu’s imprisonment needs your Imole. Shine your light to chase away darkness in Ipetu.

I’m sure you know Dr Olusegun Mimiko. He is a former Governor of Ondo State. His nickname is Iroko. When the then Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adeshina Adepoju, engaged his wife in a public brawl, Iroko uprooted him and flung him outside the palace, replacing him with the incumbent king, Oba Adegboye Adesida. Baba B-Red, please, prove to the world that if Ondo State had Iroko, Osun State has a true Asiwaju, too.

But if Imole is jittery to take action on Oloyede because of his re-election bid in 2026, I’ll advise him to listen and take courage from the song titled, “Were la fi n wo were,” by a Juju musician named G Melody.

Is the governor surprised that the song doesn’t even belong to Taye Currency, a low-current Ibadan-based Fuji musician, who inappropriately sang the song at the recent coronation of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Adewolu Rashidi Ladoja? I was surprised, too. The song belongs to G Melody. But Currency sang it energetically as if it were his own, without giving credit to Melody.

While investigating the ownership of the song, I called music aficionado, Bimbo Esho, of the Evergreen Musical Company fame, and asked who owns Were la fi n wo were. Bimbo sent me a voice note containing the voice of Ogun State-based G Melody in which he told the story of how he got the inspiration to compose the song.

Melody said, “It’s my song. People have been calling me about the song. Some of the boys I trained, like Ola Liberty, sing it. Ola Liberty is my very good son. I’m not a noise maker. It’s my song. There’s another song of mine, “Kilode te n ya were, abosi?”, that they are singing all over the place now. I composed Were la fi n wo were song in Imeko, where I had gone to sing at a political rally. Some guys were trying to disrupt the rally, and I said they should calm down, that they cannot stop me. I infused it with political undertones, saying they cannot steal our votes, and if they do, we would cure madness with madness – were la fi n wo were.”

Governor Adeleke, it is high time you cured madness with madness in Osun. It is not right for a hunter to flee homeward from the forest, shouting, “Help! Help! Save me! A ferocious animal is on my heels!” Please, restore the Omoluabi ethos of dignity, integrity and honour to Ipetumodu royalty.

It’s obvious the same affliction of greed that plagues the Ipetumodu crown plagues the Iwo monarchy; àrùn to n se Ipetumodu lo n se Iwo, but Iwo manifests a malignant and metastasised cancer needing urgent surgery. First, the Oluwo should be deposed for his criminal conviction in the US over fraud, just like the Apetu. Second, the public actions and utterances of the Oluwo negating the honour and source of the Yoruba should be investigated and sanctioned by the state government.

In an old video, Oluwo said, “Me and Ooni do talk, we have a very good relationship. He (Ooni) is the head of all kings in Yorubaland; that is the source. It doesn’t matter what anybody says; Ife is the source of all crowns. Ife is where Oduduwa lived and got his crown from. Every other king who is from ancient town is a prince from Ife. I am a prince from Ife. Every other crown that you see, that is an ancient crown in Yoruba land, is prince from Yorubaland. So, the crown he (Ooni) is wearing is the father of all the crowns. It doesn’t matter what anybody says.”

In a new video, Akanbi, who named his palace, “Aafin Olodumare Iwo,” dares the Ooni to speak Ife dialect in Ibadan, and inferred that the Ooni was not a Yoruba king because he does not wear ofi clothe, insisting that Yoruba kings do not tie their clothes over their shoulders as the Ooni does. In a moment of epiphany, fueled by God-knows-what, Akanbi also says Ife is not the source of the Yoruba, leaving people who had watched his earlier acceptance of Ife as the source of all crowns, wondering if all is well with the Oluwo of Iwo.

Were la fi n wo were. Governor Adeleke, as a matter of urgency, should take this song to the headquarters of the Osun State Amotekun Corps, where a malignant form of madness is festering.

Reports emanating across Osun against the modus operandi of Amotekun indicate that the corps has turned into a full-fledged organ of terror. The corps, under the leadership of a retired policeman, Isaac Omoyele, is a classical example to be cited by antagonists of state police. Evidence abounds that the corps now extorts the citizenry, detaining people and charging them money for bail.

In June, officials of the corps were accused of illegal arrest of residents in the Itaapa community, a situation which led the residents to stage a protest in Osogbo, the Osun State capital. The Odofin of Itaapa, Olusegun Owoeye, who led the protesters, said Amotekun officers arrested some members of the community’s security volunteer team alongside some chiefs, following a complaint by a leader of the governor’s party, the PDP.

Omoyele had insisted that those arrested were criminals armed with guns, but the community said the guns belonged to the town’s vigilante members.

Before he was appointed by Adeleke as Amotekun commander, Omoyele, in 2022, was accused of brutality by an #ENDSARS panel while serving as a police officer.

In its latest show of barbarity, officials of the corps stormed the Akinlalu community and opened fire on innocent citizens, killing no fewer than four people, while claiming that they did so in an attempt to retrieve a pump-action gun some youths of the community seized.

Before Osun is turned into a lake of fire, the governor should tell his Amotekun that it is wrong to carry out reprisal attacks on innocent people while trying to retrieve a gun, just as the arrest of 20 members of the corps by a special squad of the police is commendable.

Omoyele, who was the chief security officer to Adeleke, should be relieved of his post, while a more mature, disciplined and experienced replacement should take his stead.

I won’t mind if my governor gyrates to Were la fi n wo were, sliding two fingers over the corner of his eyes while his followers shout themselves hoarse, but he must truly cure the madness in Osun with madness.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

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Jonathan To Meet Tinubu Over Nnamdi Kanu’s Detention — Sowore

Published

8 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, said former President Goodluck Jonathan has agreed to engage President Bola Tinubu on the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

Sowore disclosed this on Friday via his X handle after meeting with Jonathan in Abuja.

According to him, their discussion centred on the “urgent and compelling need” to address Kanu’s case “decisively and justly.”

Sowore said, “Earlier today in Abuja, I met with former President @GEJonathan (Goodluck Jonathan) to discuss the continued incarceration of Mazi @NnamdiKanu

“President Jonathan agreed that there is an urgent and compelling need to address this matter decisively and justly. I thank him sincerely for recognising the importance of resolving Kanu’s case in the interest of peace, fairness, and national healing.

“Particularly assuring was that he promised to meet @officialabat (President Bola Tinubu) to discuss this issue as soon as possible.”

He noted that with this development, Jonathan joins a growing list of Nigerians who have called for justice in Nnamdi Kanu’s case.

“A list that already includes ex-Vice President @atiku, Femi Falana SAN, Senator @ShehuSani, and many others across political and regional divides,” Sowore said.

The activist reiterated his call for Kanu’s release, saying the IPOB leader “remains in detention today because he took up the just cause of confronting the long-standing issue of marginalisation in Nigeria.”

He also urged political, cultural, and religious leaders, including Peter Obi, Chukwuma Soludo, Alex Otti, Francis Nwifuru, Peter Mbah, Hope Uzodinma, Oby Ezekwesili, and Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s John Mbata, to join the campaign for Kanu’s release.

Kanu has been in detention since 2021 after being re-arrested abroad and returned to Nigeria to face trial on charges bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.

Several court orders granting him bail or ordering his release have yet to be implemented.

News

Yiaga Africa, Kukah Centre, Others Demand Live Broadcast Of INEC Chair Screening

Published

8 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have appealed to the Senate to ensure that the screening of Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN) for the position of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is broadcast live to the public.

According to the groups, a live broadcast of the screening would promote transparency, accountability, and public confidence in the process of appointing the head of the nation’s electoral body.

In a statement made available to The Guardian on Friday, they emphasised that, given the crucial role INEC plays in safeguarding Nigeria’s democracy, citizens have a right to witness and assess the integrity, competence, and independence of the nominee being considered for such a sensitive position.

The CSOs include Yiaga Africa, Women Rights Advancement Protection Alternative (WRAPA), International Press Centre, The Kukah Centre, Centre for Media and Society, TAF Africa, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Nigeria Women Trust Fund, Accountability Lab Nigeria, and YERP Naija Campaign.

According to the organisations, live coverage would help dispel any suspicion of bias or backroom dealings, while allowing Nigerians to engage more meaningfully in discussions about electoral reforms and leadership within the electoral body.

“We call on the Senate to ensure that its confirmation hearings are transparent, televised, and inclusive of citizen and civil society input through memoranda, petitions, and participation in the confirmation hearings.

“The Senate should undertake a rigorous examination of his competence, public records, vision for electoral reform, INEC’s institutional strengthening, as well as his capacity to resist political interference and uphold electoral integrity.

“The Senate should also interrogate the nominee’s plans to address systemic challenges, including voter registration, result transmission, and enforcement of INEC’s regulations and guidelines.

“Nigerians expect the Senate confirmation process to be open to citizens’ participation in line with the Framework for Citizens’ Engagement in the INEC Appointment Process previously submitted to the Senate by the undersigned civil society organisations. This includes full disclosure of the nominee’s credentials, public service history, and capacity to manage elections without political interference,” the statement reads.

While acknowledging Professor Amupitan’s academic and professional accomplishments, they declared that they have no objection to his nomination, even as they tasked him to “demonstrate moral courage and resistance to political interference,” if confirmed by the Senate.
(GUARDIAN)