The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

America in ebullition

The return of Donald Trump in triumphant relish to the power sanctuary of the White House from where he was virtually expelled four years ago is a defining moment in American and world history. It will be recalled that the real estate magnate did not go lightly. It took dark and dire warnings from the military echelons to dissuade him from staying put. But this did not stop him from encouraging a massive civil disruption which led to bloodshed and mayhem. One of the first things Trump did on getting to the Oval Office this past Monday was to sign an Executive Order granting state pardon to all those convicted of taking part in the uprising, a thousand, six hundred and sixty stalwarts in all. It is a deeply divided and culturally polarized America all against itself with the rest of the world looking on askance and perplexed.

   When applied to politics, ebullition is a condition of turmoil and turbulence leading to generalized disorder and deep anxieties. It was introduced to Nigeria’s pre-independence political lexicon by Adegoke Adelabu, a remarkable political prodigy of Nigeria’s pre-independence politics who was killed in a car accident about sixty seven years ago. He had titled his survey of pre-independence politics in Nigeria as: Nigeria in Ebullition. Adelabu could well have been thinking about America in particular and the world in general in the Trumpian era of multi-lateral meltdown. Donald Trump has made it clear that it is America that matters to him most and not some bogus mythical order known as world order. The rest of the world must either key into this American neo-Exceptionalism and frenzied one-upmanship or seek the nearest exit door.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the brainy American president and former university professor, who put the League of Nations together, must be turning in his grave. An ebullition either simmers down or it boils over into anarchy and chaos. An early indication of how things can shape up is the fact that a day after Trump issued his blizzard of executive orders eighteen states had already taken him to court to challenge the constitutional validity of the forfeiture of citizenship by birth which is enshrined in the American constitution. The Illinois Police chieftain has let it be known that people under his command will not be part of any attempt to forcibly deport illegal immigrants. A police officer who battled against the invaders of the Capitol on the 6th of January, 2021 and was subsequently injured was heard muttering about the fundamental injustice and unfairness of it all. How did God’s own country come to this sorry pass?

History often unfolds in a neat symmetry and cruel symphony. Eighty year ago in the early summer of 1945, America emerged as the undisputed world leader and the greatest military power the world has seen up to the point. In terms of imperial reach and global influence, America represented the zenith of human capacity and aspirations. Not even the Roman Empire could hold a candle to it in scope and scale. America’s might was further symbolically showcased by the fact that it was enacted against a background of apocalyptic carnage and the ruins of old Europe; the nuclear evisceration of Japan and the virtual obliteration of several German cities. Eighty years after in 2025, a haunting and hugely symbolic reenactment of America’s global dominance and grandiose superiority over other nations was beamed to the world as Donald Trump is sworn in as the forty seventh president in a ceremony marked by medieval pomp and postmodern pageantry. It was a very cold morning in Washington, and only the arctic blast that banished the celebrators to the inner sanctuary of the Oval Office spoke to the need for some caution and soberness.

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But Donald Trump does not do things in half-measures. A master of hyperbolic bombast and factual exaggerations, he manufactures his own truth when acute truth stands in his way and tells his own story when faced by actual history without being incommoded. But you must give something to the old boy: his courage and indomitable will in the face of damning odds. Donald Trump reminds one of those great American heavyweights. No matter what you throw at them, they just kept coming until something gives. Last Monday as the man gave his underwhelming Inaugural Address, you focused on the hardened features to see if something would give way. Trump was wearing half a miserly grin and half a nasty sneer on a face already contorted and distorted by a paroxysm of rage and loathing.

   It was not hard to see why this moment of ultimate triumph was also the moment of ultimate despair. America’s democratic triumphalism was being enacted against a background of conflicting and confusing signals. The Middle East lies in ruins, its land blitzed into a millennial fiasco where former inhabitants could no longer recognize their own residence while their faith in the inviolability of their culture and religion has been contemptuously brushed aside by American munitions delivered by Israeli proxy. But unlike eighty years ago when America stood like a colossus unchallenged and unchallengeable, this time around there are loud external murmurs and internal grumblings. Inwardly, America is a deeply fractured and self-isolating polity. Equally interesting was the fact that the convoy of vehicles carrying aids and relief materials through the desolate and devastated streets of Gaza had barely reached their destination when Hamas started shooting in the air in a victory celebration. Something does not quite add up. Were these not the same fighters that the punitive and unforgiving Israeli fighting machine was alleged to have put out contention?

The arctic stillness that mugged its waters last Monday morning suggested that even the nearby Potomac River felt like something was amiss despite the Trumpian razzmatazz. The ancient American political elite and their old ruling classes have suffered a stupendous walloping. While reveling in martial glory and the political grandeur of liberal democracy particularly after its triumph over Socialist nations, the American ruling classes neglected and failed to act on what the average voters consider the most important needs of existence: food, shelter, medical care and quality education. The long list of Democratic presidents, hooked on fustian rhetoric and elevated platitudes about democracy and the inalienable rights of man, simply forgot the fundamental principle of liberal democracy: it is neither plausible nor possible on empty stomach.

Neither can it be sustained or defended by a horde of medically afflicted, ill-educated, shelter-less and economically resentful rabble tottering on the edge of the abyss. Since democracy is a game of numbers, this déclassé combo of the barely educated bristling with religious superstitions together with the multi-racial underclass, constitute the most potent danger to liberal democracy anywhere in the world. This is a lesson taken to heart by China, Russia, leftwing rulers and the authoritarian Arab monarchies. You cannot pursue earthly military glories at the expense of your own people’s wellbeing and happiness. They will come for you eventually.

Donald Trump, an astute salesman, celebrated con-artist and an implacable rebel against America’s established order, must have been listening in to the fierce rumbling from below while waiting for the opportune moment to cash in. The dramatic reprieve offered the old ruling class by a Joe Biden presidency turned out a damp squib with an exhausted, enervated and perplexed Joe Biden looking very much like a tragic victim of a cruel historic burlesque. Last Monday as a crestfallen and visibly distressed Joe Biden sat in the Oval office while Donald Trump, his bête noire, harrumphed his way through an inaugural address which gave the outgoing president scant regard or respect, it was clear that the new president has come to bury his old adversary rather than to cut him any slack.

   America has seen better times. This was not a normal succession order. It looked more like a churlish and victorious commander reading the riot act to the leadership of a defeated and utterly demoralized enemy force. Barack Obama sat as if transfixed, his legacy and two major victories together with the audacity of hope they revived for this racially, economically and culturally divided land in mortal danger. His no-nonsense wife pointedly stayed away. America is in radical ebullition which may boil over into commotion and chaos. The array of antagonistic forces already ranged against Trump should be noted. What should also be noted is the fact that the current animus against the system is not driven by a passion for social and political justice but by a thirst for political vengeance and social retribution.

Trump himself in the dark paranoid furies and unforgiving trauma that drive him epitomizes this tendency. There is nothing in him or about him which indicates a grand vision of a better society or a better world and the intellectual and visionary wherewithal to bring this about. His core supporters are even worse. As American history has taught us, the imperative of a better and more inclusive society is never driven by unenlightened hobos and rural yokels. This is the remit of visionary intellectuals such as the American Founding Fathers. Trump may end up inadvertently correcting some of the anomalies but at great social and political cost to the nation. That is just about it.

In 1945, the League of Nations lay in ruins as the collateral damage of the Second World War. But the process of creative destruction and the decolonization project that went with the war threw up a slew of visionary statesmen who were to put together the rubric of what came to be known as the United Nations which has turned out a better, more inclusive and far more coherent version of the older body. Eighty years after in 2025, the United Nations is mortally wounded as a result of American unilateralism and contempt for civilized global norms. It will take a new generation of global statesmen to help repair the damage and to set the world and America on a new course.

January 26, 2025
Okon arranges his own loan

As historic hunger coursed through the land, all has been quiet on the Okon front. These days, the crazy contrarian is more overheard than heard. And when he ventured to speak, it is in barely audible whispers, as if the mad boy is afraid of his own shadows. Okon has lost all his old ebullience and elocution. Field Marshal Hunger is indeed an equal opportunity terminator, not distinguishing between tribe or tongue, or between creed or credo. All is game. After a series of savage budget cuts and stringent austerity measures which reduced the entire household to the status of a penal colony with the dreaded scourge of famishment laying a siege on everybody in sight, Okon was overheard complaining to no one in particular. “He be like if say na hunger dem one take drive everybody comot Lagos. Yam we no fit chop. Garri man no fit smoke again. I hear say food still plenty for Etinam and Itigidi. Make man come begin waka go home.”

Last Wednesday, as yours sincerely was enjoying a mid-morning reverie, Okon suddenly jumped in. “Oga, I wan quickly reach dem bank for Allen make I collect free loan like everybody. As I come miss tradermoni, I no one miss dis one”, the mad boy hollered beaming a devilish smile.

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“Ah wait Okon, wait. First thing first”, snooper admonished, jumping out of bed in alarm.

“Oga, na you dey mention name. I never mention any Yoruba bank dem name ooo”, Okon cautioned.

   “Ok, what is your collateral?” Snooper demanded.

    “ Oga, sebi collateral na kolanut after loan? Make man collect loan first”, the mad boy snorted. Sensing a banking hall disruption and upheaval of apocalyptic dimensions, one began remonstrating with the crazy one. “Is Baba Lekki with you in this one?” snooper inquired.

“Ah dat one hunger don dabaru him head. Him de groan every night and him dey cry, osiki, osiki ooo. I come ask am wetin be osiki and him say na old name for Egusi soup. But dis morning him say him wan go sign condolence letter for Bode George.” Okon sniggered.

“Okon, it is not Bode George. It is a distinguished businessman and man of learning and culture”, snooper corrected the mad boy.

   “Wetin consign me about dat one? Yoruba people na the same”, the mad boy screamed and stormed out.

January 26, 2025
The wages of murder

It is sweet music that Rahmon Adedoyin is to die by hanging for the murder of Timothy Adegoke

I am glad to be back on this page, after about six weeks annual leave. But it is sad that I have to resume with my comment on the vexatious issue of an influential Nigerian who murdered a young and promising Nigerian, in the latter’s attempt to better his life.

But first, let me apologise to my readers, some of whom were wondering what the matter was, especially when they suddenly discovered my column had disappeared without notice early last month. So, so sorry.

I didn’t make any formal announcement about the leave because I wasn’t quite sure whether I would suspend the column during the period or not. Usually my column does not go on leave, except if for reasons absolutely beyond my control I couldn’t write in a particular week. Just that this time around, I felt I needed to rest my brain. I needed a complete break from every official routine. And I think it is good for my system. The truth is; it is not easy to sustain a weekly column, especially for someone who wants to focus on topical issues. So, whether it is a ‘dry’ week like the one you literally have to scavenge to get a topic; or one in which there is a glut of issues to comment on (that is typically Nigerian, with its one hour, one absurdity), choosing something topical to write on every week is laborious.

It is easy to be on annual leave and still be tasking one’s brain as if one is not, if the tradition of quality or standard must be maintained. So, once again, sorry for my deciding late to let the column too take a well-deserved rest with me. I must tell you though that came with its sacrifice. For example, I think it was the week I began the leave that the story of the 753 duplexes in Abuja broke. It took me some time and discipline to say ‘’no, I won’t comment on it’’ despite its significance, and also despite the fact that the person fingered to be behind them was a man I had devoted six or seven consecutive Sundays writing on when he decided to punish Nigerians with his cashless policy (which actually lived to its name as Nigerians scrambled for the few cash that was available) in 2022; a record yet to be beaten by any person, living or dead, in my decades of column writing.

My apology taken, I thank God for the privilege of resuming the column after my leave with the ‘Adedoyin affair’. I also thank the Court of Appeal for delivering its judgment on the case on January 23, barely 24 hours after I resumed, thus providing me the opportunity to start on a ‘good’ note. The court’s judgment was timely; at least I didn’t have to search too long for something to resume with.

I know you would be wondering what is ‘good’ in the gruesome murder of a young man, Timothy Adegoke, by a very important but characterless personality like Chief Rahmon Adedoyin, a prominent businessman and hotelier in Ile-Ife. Adegoke was a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), also in Ile-Ife.

What happened was that in November 2021, Adegoke travelled from Abuja to Moro, Osun State, to sit for an examination at OAU’s Distance Learning Centre. He lodged in Adedoyin’s Hilton Honours Hotel in the town to prepare for his examination, only to be declared missing two days later when his wife could no longer reach him on phone. The family and the police then began the search for clues. Arrests were made, including some of Adedoyin’s workers in the hotel. Eventually, they found clues linking the victim’s murder to the hotel. To cut a long story short, Adedoyin was arraigned for murder alongside some of his hotel workers. Two of the workers — Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem and himself — were eventually sentenced to death by hanging by the Osun State High Court in 2023, after being found guilty of the 2021 murder.

Justice Adepele Ojo, the Chief Judge of Osun State, who gave the judgment, held that the circumstantial evidence presented to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while being a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin. The judge dismissed Adedoyin’s alibi that he was not within the hotel when the late Adegoke lodged there, as if physical presence was a prerequisite for committing a crime.

Apart from sentencing the trio to death, she also ordered the forfeiture of the hotel and the Hilux van used to transport the body of the victim after killing him. Not only that, she ordered that the victim’s children be put on scholarship by the convict.

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Like all criminals, Adedoyin attempted to avoid paying for his sin. He went on appeal and it is gratifying that the Court of Appeal finally disposed of the matter on January 23. The sweet music is that the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s main decision that Adedoyin and his accomplices killed Adegoke and they too must die. But the court quashed the order that the hotel be forfeited, and that asking the convict to take responsibility for the education of the victim’s children. “The order of forfeiture of Hilton Hotel is quashed and set aside. The order of education scholarship to children of Timothy Adegoke by Adedoyin and others quashed and set aside,” Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, who read the lead judgment, said.

Although nothing can be done now to bring back Adegoke from the grave, the least the society owes his soul is to get justice for him by making his killers get their comeuppance, which is what the courts have justifiably served.

Adedoyin’s sentencing is a welcome relief because we do not know how many such killer hotels exist in the country. Others who operate such death traps in the name of hotel should be made to know that they may not be lucky all of the time, since, as they say, “every day for the thief, one day for the owner”. We do not know how many innocent lodgers’ blood Adedoyin had shed before Nemesis eventually caught up with him.

It is particularly gratifying because many Nigerians had thought he would have been able to use his influence in the society to pervert the course of justice. He failed at the court of first instance that tried the case. To the satisfaction of many Nigerians, the Court of Appeal affirmed his death sentence, even though it rejected some aspects of the lower court’s judgment. But what Nigerians are interested in most was what the appellate court affirmed, to wit: that Adedoyin must die by hanging. This is not only true in law; it is what the scripture also says: the wages of sin is death. Someone who took another person’s life for no just cause does not deserve to keep his.

But there are lessons to learn from the gruesome murder of this young man. One, appearance or ownership could be deceptive, especially when checking into a hotel. Given the public perception of the murderer in this case, at least before his real character was revealed, who could have thought such a highly respected Nigerian could be involved in such heinous crime that bothered on rituals? Those who don’t believe in ritual killing would have to provide another reason why such a crime should have been contemplated not to talk of actual commission of the murder by an otherwise eminent Nigerian. Why would such a seemingly cosmopolitan and educated man be involved in the kind of gruesome killing if not for money or influence? Did he want to eat the victim’s body?

Mind you, Adedoyin is not just a business man; he also owns a private university, Oduduwa University as well as The Polytechnic, both in Ile-Ife. This was a man who claimed in an interview with a national daily that the Late Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the immediate past Ooni of Ife, had nominated him as Ooni before his death, due to his ‘’developmental strides, particularly in the cradle of Yoruba land’’.

If this is true, then we can only imagine what could have happened to the revered institution of the Ooni if a flawed character like Adedoyin ever mounted that throne. But thank God he never did and never can, at least not with his present baggage. Adedoyin’s story confirms the Yoruba saying that whoever does not know the source of his peer’s wealth would run to his death in his quest for wealth (eniti o mo bi egbe oun se la, onitoun a sare ku).

Be that as it may, we must realise that it is possible to get to the root of the murder because Adegoke made the appropriate contacts to let those who should know his whereabouts know. This is a mistake many people make. Many people behave like fowls when they go out. They just wander from one place to another without telling anyone their itinerary. They think letting one or two people know their movements belonged in the past or takes something away from them. Many people with such attitude have disappeared without trace.

I know Adedoyin would still want to try his luck at the Supreme Court. I wonder why people who see nothing wrong in snuffing life out of others unjustly want to protect theirs at all cost. Even after the apex court would have affirmed the death sentence, he would still ponder the possibility of appealing to God, even with his soiled hands.

But, let Adedoyin hear this: no matter the number of times one throws up a coin, it would always land on its side. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot escape this one. The blood that he spilled is too strong for him to escape justice. That was clear from the very beginning. And that was why all the buttons he pressed did not work. He should brace up for life in prison. Mercifully, governors no longer sign execution warrants in Nigeria. So, unless something changes that, he can only expect to spend the rest of his life in jail. Better still, he may look forward to freedom if one shameless politician decides to pardon him. But even then, things can no longer be the same with him or his brand again.

January 26, 2025
The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (V)

Anyone who has been following this series faithfully would no doubt be impressed by the vast quantities of money or if you prefer, the loot which was flooding the coffers of a few countries in Western Europe in what appeared to be an unending stream. As soon as the Spaniards and Portuguese arrived in the Americas and parts of Africa respectively, they began to exploit those territories in a way which had not been seen in the history of the world. European Empires of the day rose up quickly and fell just as quickly without leaving behind such structures as the pyramids of Egypt, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Pantheon of Greece or even the impressive road networks of the Roman empire. The lasting legacy of this period can however be identified as the rise of capitalism in Britain, from where it spread to the rest of the world. This has changed the world in a profound manner even whilst sowing the seeds of dangerous human division. This is because capitalism has its roots in the brutal exploitation of the vast majority by a miniscule minority and is based on the unhealthy platform of unhealthy rivalry between and within states. But underneath it all is the division of humanity into the league table of race and racism, the eggs from which it was hatched. Before the arrival of capitalism, culture, traditions and religion were the bases of human division into groups. But, for capitalism to develop humanity had to be divided strictly according to exploitable human races identifiable by skin colour. I am afraid that when the history of this era is written in the future it’s lasting legacy will be the anti-human division of the human race into manufactured human sub-races resembling different species.

The artificiality of the division of humanity into so called races is based on one simple and undeniable observation; there is only one human race known to science as Homo sapiens or to give it its descriptive English translation, Wise man (woman). It has to be said that this species was not suddenly inflicted upon the earth. It took a long time in arriving, having evolved through numerous clearly inferior races into the current version of the human race. This evolution is calculated to have taken place over a period of fifty million years, a very long time in human terms but very brief in geological time scale given that the formation of the world around us has been going on for more than four billion years. The brevity of the presence of Homo sapiens is established by the length of the earthly tenancy of our race which is no more than three hundred thousand years, only the last five thousand years or so being captured in authenticated human history. It is only since 1492 that the modern era of racial identification by skin colour began.

I remember listening to JJ. Okocha, the extravagantly talented Nigerian footballer claim that he did not know that he was black until he arrived in Europe to ply his trade on the football fields of that continent. That is a common experience of practically all adult black people who have made that transition at some point in their lives. And really, what is the point of the skin colour graduation that now rules the world? As the great Nelson Mandela is famously reported to have retorted to a white interlocutor who pointed out that he was not black but rather a shade of brown, ‘neither are you white but rather a shade of pink’ he shot back. The colour scheme that humanity has chosen to impose on itself is wildly imprecise most probably because of its artificiality. Human skin colour tones vary over a broad spectrum. From the jet black of some people living around the equator to the nearly paper white of those who were born in arctic regions. In other words, geography more than any other factor is responsible for the spectrum of colour seen around the world and all the differences are no more than skin deep. In biological jargon, it is no more than an adaptation to the environment. People who call the equatorial regions home need protection from the harmful rays of the sun and so have dark skins which filter out the worst effects of the sun. Those who live in places where the sun does not shine for long periods on the other hand are denied the opportunity of using sunlight for the production of vitamin D which is associated with bone strength. White people who live in tropic regions are susceptible to skin cancer whilst people with dark skins are likely to develop brittle bones in the absence of adequate sunshine. It is worth pointing out that there are other adaptations brought about by geographical dictates.

Some examples of this phenomenon are quite interesting but none of them is as well defined as skin colour.

It has now been demonstrated that people who live at high altitude have a greater lung capacity than those who live at sea level. This is because the concentration of oxygen is reduced at higher altitudes. Football followers must be aware of the difficulty of beating Bolivian football when they play at high altitude in La Paz because visiting teams have to play against the team in front of them as well as the difficulty of getting oxygen into their blood. Another interesting adaptation associated with high altitude is a congenital lack of the fear of height among people who live at high altitude. Some indigenous people living in the Andes mountains have absolutely no fear of heights and are superbly adapted to building sky scrapers or washing windows on the upper stories of finished sky scrapers. Such people look no different from the rest of us and are therefore not easily identified as being people who are set apart by their respective talents.

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The point to be made here is that our having been separated into different racial groups is strictly for economic reasons and that separation occurred long after the enslavement of the indigenous peoples in the Americas as well as the peoples of Africa. I feel bold to say it because Shakespeare wrote his iconic tragedy in the seventeenth century and it could only have resonated with his audience because it was still possible at that time for black men to hold important posts in Europe. In that play, Othello, the hero was not only black but was the commander of the Venetian army, leading his predominantly white forces and winning against the Turks who were in perennial conflict with the Venetians. He was commissioned to do a difficult job purely on merit and was not judged on the colour of his skin but on the contents of his character and manifest competence.

The first Africans to land on North American soil were bought from a passing English ship in 1619 but were not treated as slaves. Like many whites working on farms at the time, they were treated as indentured servants who were free to live as full citizens after a prescribed period. After their period of servitude they were able to acquire lands like their white neighbours and could employ servants of their own. As time went on however, demand for cheap labour went up and state after state promulgated slave codes which abolished the tenured servant status for black people and created a heritable slave status on every black person. This Africans were, on the strength of the slave codes converted into chattel to be sold, bought and otherwise exchanged at the whim of their white owners. From that point onward, they had become items of trade and remained so by law until their fraudulent emancipation in 1865. Human generation time has been fixed at thirty years which means that roughly ten generations of black people were born into slavery in the United States. The last person who was born a slave died in 1972 and it has been claimed that the last children of those born into slavery are quite possibly still alive. Another five generations of direct descendants of slaves have been produced since emancipation and American slavery has not yet been completely buried under the weight of history. A little dig today will expose the bones of slavery in America. The millions of Africans who have done nothing but suffer and died whilst creating wealth and criminal gentility for people who at least constitutionally think that they are only three fifths of a human. At least, they were thought to be marginally better than mules with which they worked side by sides out in the fields.

Once Africans became items of commerce, it became imperative that their status be recalibrated and their human status permanently revoked thereby opening the door to racism which has since become the single most important determinant of status in the world today.

Slavery has been a factor in practically all societies all over the world for several millennia but the virulent form which was inflicted on the world in the Americas was something completely unknown. For the first time in human history, slavery became an inheritable characteristic, to be passed down to coming generations ad infinitum and it was based on the colour of one’s skin. But when the colour of one’s skin became ambiguous or indeterminate as a result of racial mixing, a great deal of which was non-consensual, there was a recourse to blood. The iron rule in the USA is that if you could be connected to one drop of African blood reaching down to any number of generations, then you were classified as black with all the attendant consequences that your classification entails. In some other parts of the Americas, there is a hierarchy bypassed on skin tone with the lightest at the top and the darkest far down at the lowest level. In short, skin colour has been weaponised with those with dark skins relegated to the bottom. This only serves the purpose of ordering a world in which capitalism reigns supreme and as long as this is the case, true emancipation from slavery can only remain a pipe dream.

January 26, 2025
SNAPSONG 244

Memorable moments are made of these too

The interlock of mating roaches

On the kitchen floor, surprised by

Hungry footsteps and winking lamps

The slippery smile of the sink

As spitting faucets wage a to-to-to war

On its aluminum silence, while oily dishes

Dread the fury of foaming sponges

Have you ever eavesdropped the gossip

Of house rats as they mock

The laughable anger of bulbous-bellied

Landlords who feast on nibbled leftovers

Of last night’s mousy raid.

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Kriririi kraaaa on dripping dishes

Sleepless rage behind the doors

Criminal canines are quick on the job

The ceiling is the sky

But not for gallant geckoes

Their slippery slide, their gritty grab

Their whitish droppings on the suffering sofa

Memorable moments, memorable moments

Domestic deal, unflattered deeds

Beyond the royal bugle, far from

The scam in the camera’s eye

January 26, 2025
Trump speech: repudiation of US global leadership

United States president Donald Trump is used to being insulted. But luckily for him, not only has he developed a thick skin against insults, he has also become proficient in hurling invectives. His inaugural address last Monday was an example of how inaugural addresses should never be written. The speech was most remarkable for its repudiation of America’s global leadership. In his first term, he enunciated that repudiation and attempted to execute it. But Americans and the rest of the world were so shocked by that seismic redirection that they attempted a pushback. That pushback led by President Joe Biden lasted for four years, and enjoyed only partial success. Now, as Mr Trump doubles down on his first term policies in his inauguration address, that audacious and provocative policy of isolationism will now be reinforced to the hilt.

If a million commentaries were written on Mr Trump’s inauguration speech, it would clearly still not be enough. He treaded on many old grounds and beliefs, and casually broke new ones. He barely acknowledged his predecessors, who silently endured the ordeal of listening to his long and dreary speech, and largely ignored their contributions to America’s greatness. And, with all the grandiloquence and foulness he could muster, he deprecated their presidencies and insulted their persons. The speech was all about him, his deep sense of insecurity, his messianism, his superficialities, and lack of historical perspective. It mimicked and is suffused by his colloquialisms, and it lacks any iota of inspiration in language and style as well as in substance and reality. The speech chased shadows, or was chased by shadows. It was not just unworthy of being called a speech, let alone an inauguration address, it was also provocatively bad in every detail.

No single paragraph holds redemptive value. Four of his predecessors sat grimly and listlessly through the thoroughly vexatious speech, hoping that every next paragraph would ameliorate the badness of the preceding paragraph. But every next statement is worse than the previous, until finally the ordeal comes to an end in a string of hubristic attestation of American strength and boasting that seems eerily apocalyptic. In the very second paragraph of the address, President Trump begins needling his predecessors, insinuating that they wasted opportunities and that America got worse under them. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first. Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponisation of the Justice Department and our government will end. And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free. America will soon be greater, stronger, and far more exceptional than ever before.”

Put simply, to Mr Trump, he is the all-American icon: resplendent, transcendental and unparalleled. He thinks his first four years unequalled; now he is convinced the next four years will set him above George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, or all of them put together, as he makes America ‘far more exceptional than ever before’. The phrase ‘than ever before’ will go on to be the leitmotif of his address, and probably his presidency. He is not just a narcissist, he is also delusional and megalomaniacal. Hear him: “Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250 year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you.” He thinks he was challenged more than President Washington (War of Independence), Lincoln (American civil war, Emancipation Act) and President Roosevelt (World War II). The mere hint of that megalomania is not just fiendish, it is also inflammatory.

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In the sixth paragraph, there is no let up on his boasting. It seems muted at first, but it soon soars to crazy and unpalatable heights as he rechristens his inauguration. Says he: “For American citizens, January 20th, 2025 is Liberation Day. It is my hope that our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country.” It takes excess of stupidity and sycophancy to contemplate that Mr Trump’s election ‘is the greatest and most consequential ever’. The statement is remarkable for what it has not said openly, that the election, in his deluded mind, is all about reclaiming the country for white America. All other gestures to all religions, race and gender are mere tokenism.

Now to his aggressive agenda borne out of his eclecticism. “As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.” Everything about his programme, in line with his insecurities, must simply be compared with those of his predecessors, or they were not worthy or grand enough. Everything is about upturning other leaders’ legacies. It is a miracle that President Biden walked out of the Capitol Rotunda unaided at the end of the inauguration, given how Mr Trump savaged him and his policies, so gracelessly, so peevishly, and so populist. His supporters hailed him, validating the description Hillary Clinton gave them as the deplorables. He would end the Green New Deal and…revoke the electric vehicle mandate, “saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers. In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice. We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago.” While the world is marching furiously ahead with new technologies, under President Trump, America would march furiously backwards repudiating clean energy, climate change ameliorations, and electric vehicle. Four years of marching backwards will ineluctably cost America dozens of years in the future.

And then there were a number of non sequiturs in Mr Trump’s address, ideas and inchoate policies so befuddling that only a warped and uneducated mind could contemplate them. Hear him: “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.” He presumes that there will be no retaliations, or that the countries at the receiving end of his tariffs and taxes will roll over and die. In his first term, he had limited success in that sector; now he plans to revive and strengthen suspect policies. They will, of course, end up being counterproductive; and will injure American interests far beyond what he hopes to gain in the short run.

And still on his chimerical pursuit of American greatness, he exhales: “Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” But they already have the strongest military. Perhaps he sees the Abraham Accords that seeks a rapprochement between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain as the pivot on which to build a great foreign policy. Well, it took a few bombings by Iranian Middle East proxies, chiefly Hamas, to torpedo the agreement. Mr Trump trivialises the dynamics of international politics; he will come to grief sooner than he thinks, for rather than be bullied, the rest of the world will ignore, scoff at and ridicule his naivety.

He will rename the Gulf of Mexico, he thunders, and take the Panama Canal back. Beyond the revisionism at play, Mr Trump has become a regular Rip van Winkle. But the world has changed in ways which old-fashioned, gung-ho American policies can never reverse. He disdains his neighbours, Mexico and Canada, and taunts and affronts them, and boastfully swears that he could end the Russo-Ukrainian War in one day. He tried similar tricks in his first term, even lobbying and romancing dictatorships; but he came to grief. He will soon find out how hard it is to pacify the world. The danger, however, is that once the world moves beyond America’s renascent isolationism, there will be no going back, and it might very well sound the death knell of the American Empire, or at least the beginning of the end.

It was tough for President Biden to endure Mr Trump’s harangue, but the old warhorse bore the childish vituperations of his successor with fortitude. Mrs Clinton repeatedly blanched with horror during the speech, and President George W. Bush winced now and again. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama kept an expressionless face. They must all be genuinely petrified that America, the America dozens of great US presidents built on the foundations of a great and incomparable constitution, stands the risk of being irreparably and irreversibly damaged by a churlish, dysfunctional and self-centred president who, in another clime, could never have risen to the presidency. There is something about democracy that is inherently good and contradistinctively evil, inspiring and depressing at the same time. Mr Trump exemplifies the latter without giving any hint of the possibility of engendering the former. Incredibly, he speaks of the beginning of America’s golden age, but not his contrasting lack of competence and capacity, nor of the deep and countervailing fissures of American society. There was nothing uplifting or soaring about his speech, except coarseness, bullying, street language and religious pettiness. No empire lasts forever, as Rule Britannia attested to in the last century, and no great power retains its strength and vitality for all time, as also the Empire of the Incas, Napoleon’s France, and Carolingian Empire’s Charlemagne illustrated centuries and millennia ago. Having elected Mr Trump as their president, America must now brace up for a rough and disquieting ride; so, too, the rest of the world, which may soon discover that their fascination with America was built on dangerous illusions. And as he leads the US to exit the global power stage, an ambitious nation will seek to exploit the vacuum.

January 26, 2025
Nigerian evangelicals’ fascination with Trump

President Donald Trump’s electoral triumph has exposed and concretised the unremorseful political partisanship of Nigerian evangelicals. In the 2023 Nigerian presidential election, they ignored logic and defied their conscience and went ahead to openly campaign for someone they believed would best represent their sectarian interest, not the interest of the country. They were unbothered by their insularity. At the inauguration ceremonies of US president Trump, particularly the non-governmental and non-political inaugural prayer breakfast, some Nigerian evangelicals ministered, an indication that they rooted for the Republican Party candidate, and exulted his victory. Their Nigerian candidate, Peter Obi, lost badly in the 2023 poll, only for them to discover that the ogre they thought the All Progressives Candidate (APC) to be was unreal. What if in the coming months and years they discover Mr Trump to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Over the millennia, the church has always fared very badly when they foray into politics. Over the centuries they have transmogrified from personifying peace to embodying the most appalling forms of venality, greed, torture, bloodshed and mayhem, and from revivalist dependence on the Spirit to supine embrace of and dependence on the flesh. Their predilections served them badly in Nigeria; they are unlikely, together with their American counterparts, to serve them well in the United States. Before the elections, the devious Mr Trump postured as the champion of the evangelicals, not even the champion of Christianity – for the two are different – but at his inauguration he declined to swear on the bible, though his longsuffering wife dutifully placed them at his reach. The truth is that Mr Trump is irreligious, and couldn’t care less what the rubric of the Christian faith looks or sounds like. He sees Christianity as a tool to be harnessed for political goals, in the service of his deeply divisive, malicious and malevolent career.

Nigerian evangelicals have learnt nothing from the 2023 Nigerian elections. Rather than view society and politics with the circumspect eyes of the Spirit of God, they continue to blunder into partisanship, anchoring it on poor scriptural interpretations. By attending the so-called prayer breakfast last week, they lent credence to Mr Trump’s politics, ideas and lifestyle. They naively see him as a modern-day Cyrus the Great (who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC and ruled until his death in 530 BC) who was used by God to execute an agenda (Isaiah 44 – 45). But they forget that God neither needs their help nor has he told them he would use Mr Trump’s hateful and spiteful agenda against the ‘enemies’ of America. By the way, Cyrus was a far better and more competent leader than Mr Trump. Read his history. The Episcopalian bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, who coaxed and admonished Mr Trump on the principles and practice of love in the face of immigrant crisis and sexual deviancy, among other pressing challenges to the American society, received the full and remorseless length of his tongue. The evangelicals who hail him think that political and legislative solutions would solve the crisis of sexual permissiveness plaguing America; in other words, what the church began in the Spirit could, because of spiritual laziness, be accomplished in the flesh.

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It is true that previous US administrations had given free rein to all sorts of decadence, and there was indeed danger of American society either imploding or descending into outright bestiality. But there is nothing in the history of the early church, which laid the foundations of Christianity, to indicate that the church excels in political pushback. Traditionally, and notwithstanding technological advancements and information overload, the church had always needed revival and spiritual rebirth to push its Kingdom of God agenda. But in America, which Nigerian evangelicals ape, they believe in electing a political champion in whose unworthy and tremulous hands they repose the hope of societal reformation and change. By lying in bed with characters like Mr Trump, the church signals the repudiation of the scriptures in favour of the power of flesh and horses. Mr Trump will be their ruin. There are millions of sexual deviants scurrying around in America, and millions more of illegal immigrants. The methods advocated by the church’s champion in dealing with these societal challenges will test the fundamentals of the Christian faith to their elastic limit, especially when the shrill cries of children and the dispossessed rend the heavens.

The church in Nigeria has fared badly and embarrassingly in recent years in their exegesis of tithes and prosperity, two topics that have been misinterpreted and exploited; now they seem adamant in toeing the controversial line of their American evangelical brethren. Yet, they were sired mostly by British and European churches, but since those forebears acquired football and went overboard in their secularism, Nigerian evangelicals have quickly adopted American evangelicals as their source and champions. There is nothing wrong with being mentored; but it is dangerous when the Scripture which should be the real and ultimate mentor is replaced by human and charismatic mentors. A terrible affliction is ravaging the body of Christ; Mr Trump will apotheosise that perversion in ways that would be difficult to remedy. While Americans brace for the Trump phenomenon, Nigerians, particularly the evangelicals, who see him as a godsend against queers and all other deviants must also brace for a terrible backlash. The Nigerian evangelicals exposed themselves to ridicule over tithes and prosperity; it is alarming that they appear ignorant of what they may be exposing themselves to in their embrace of the irreverent Mr Trump, a small and modern parallel of the abomination that maketh desolate…

January 26, 2025
Electricity transmission tower vandals deserve the death penalty

“The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) yesterday announced that vandals plunged 60 per cent of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) into darkness. This followed the vandals’ removal of the 132kV transmission line and underground cables conveying electricity to the Central Area and its environs.

They did not only destroy cables, they carted away 40 meters of 1x500mm XLPE conductor on the 132KV transmission lines.

The ICIR reports that Millennium Park is a stone’s throw from the Presidential Villa, housing the President, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and other prominent government institutions” – TCN in a public announcement published in several Nigerian newspapers on Saturday, 18 January, 2025.

I am by no means a lover, or fan of the death penalty, but one day soon Nigeria, not only Abuja and Lagos, will wake up into utter and complete darkness. Avarice, misdemeanours – corruption in general – has so deeply eaten into the Nigerian fabric that while the big ogas are stealing with their biro pens, the supposedly poor, the hoi polloi, probably as agents of the rich, are either vandalising electricity transmission towers, carrying away huge transmission cables, scooping highly inflammable fuel from distressed petrol – bearing tankers to their peril or, in major Nigerian cities, shamelessly removing giant sewage manhole covers with narry a thought to the probable consequences of their heinous crimes.

As things stand in our country today, I haven’t the slightest doubt some Nigerians can attempt to steal daylight itself. That is how rotten – please pardon the language – things have become in our beloved country that one can say, with all the agony, that there was, indeed, a country!

We keep abusing our political leaders whereas, given the opportunity, literally every Nigerian will fail the integrity test. That exactly is how bad things have become in a, once upon a time, land of honour

May God help us.

Please let nobody tell me these are the results of oil subsidy removal or currency floatation because for ages, some Nigerians have deliberately dismantled NEPA infrastructure, carrying away the cables or paving way for generator sellers, while some ensured that our refineries hardly ever worked for any substantial length of time, despite the billions spent on turnaround maintainance.

The Nigerian power sector has been plagued by various challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, little or even negligible generation over the years, as well as inefficient transmission systems, and rampant vandalism among others.

Vandalism has become a major threat to the country’s power infrastructure with transmission towers and other critical installations being literally uprooted in several parts of the country. The consequences are incalculable – power outages, economic losses, even loss of lives.

Vandalism has become so bad the Federal government must now ensure, working with the National Assembly, that our laws are given the needed teeth to deal with these national economic wreckers. It now appears quite obvious that only the death penalty can serve as adequate deterrent to these nihilists. Unfortunately, as we saw in the case of armed robbery, the death penalty will not completely eradicate vandalism but without a scintilla of doubt it will very substantially reduce this new drag on the Nigerian economic development.

Read Also: Your impeachment followed due process, Lagos lawmakers reply Obasa

Vandalism in the Nigerian power sector is a pervasive problem that has been ongoing for years. Transmission towers, substations, and other critical infrastructure have always been targeted by vandals, resulting in disruption to power supply.

The motivations for these attacks vary, but are mostly driven by a desire for financial gain. Vandals steal critical components such as copper wire and transformers, which they then sell to their collaborators in the black market. It is believed to be used also as a means of extorting money from power companies.

The consequences of vandalism in the power sector are severe and extremely far-reaching. Power outages, which can last for days, weeks or months, will naturally, adversely impact businesses, hospitals, and other critical organisations.

SME’s are usually the worst hit, resulting in stoppage of their operations, and causing significant economic losses.

It is believed that Nigeria loses billions of naira each year due to vandalism-related power outages.

Vandalism, and the attendant power outages also have considerable human cost as they result in increased mortality rates in hospitals where surgeries, as well as the maintainance of critical medical equipments, depend on stable power supply. These are beside the fact that consistent power outages facilitate increased criminalities and insecurity.

It must be noted that government, at various levels, is trying to moderate, if not completely eradicate vandalism in the power sector

For instance, the Electricity and Gas Regulations Commission (NERC) has established rules to prevent, and detect vandalism while the Nigeria Police Force has established a special task force to investigate and prosecute cases of vandalism.

All these, sad to say, have proved so ineffective that the Nigerian national grid has collapsed severally in the past leading to almost zero power, nationally, on many occasions.

As a result of vandalism combined with other reasons like poor infrastructure and paucity of funds, the grid collapsed 12 times in 2024, including on October 16, 2024, when it collapsed twice in 24 hours.

The grid’s frequent collapses have raised concerns about the stability of Nigeria’s power infrastructure to correct which, the government, regulatory bodies, and the power sector need to work together to improve infrastructure, enforce maintenance protocols, and ensure financial viability.

These frequent collapses is the reason one fears that the country may, very soon, experience a sustained period of ZERO POWER, even for days, and we yet won’t hear that any of the fat cats in charge has been fired. It has always been business as usual.

Indeed, current penalties for vandalism, which include fines and imprisonment, are so inadequate they have no capacity to deter any would-be vandal – the reason it is time the National Assembly does its bounden duty of putting in place, appropriate laws to check the terrorism these vandals daily visit on hapless Nigerians.

Needless to say, the lack of effective prosecution, and punishment, for those found guilty has further aggravated the culture of impunity that if things remain as they currently are, Nigerians may not have seen anything yet.

Concluding, the imposition of the death penalty will certainly serve as a strong deterrent to would-be vandals, fully aware that engaging in vandalism could result in the ultimate penalty. It would also reflect the severity of the crime which, as we have shown, can have incalculable economic and human costs.

The imposition of the death penalty would be a strong statement of intent, demonstrating the government’s commitment to protecting critical infrastructure and ensuring reliable supply of power to the citizenry.

January 26, 2025
Week of beating paparazzi and mending Ogoni wounds

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu showed another side to his personality last week. As President, he is always under the spotlight, there is hardly anything he does that does not get looked into or discussed, his quiet time is almost also subjected to the periscope. Just like the social media has decided to make the personal lives of celebrities its business, the goings-in and out of any ‘public figure’, especially the President, become news items for the news grid. President Tinubu has especially been a regular item.

For instance, the media always makes it its duty to track the President’s whereabouts from time to time, especially when he is offshore. That has always been the modus in dealing with all leaders, not just Tinubu, but it has become more pronounced under the President, so pronounced that some outlets seeking attention have resorted to corrupting that task by almost everything to negatives. In many of such cases, the media always failed to see the merit of his diplomatic efforts, rather they resort to counting the Naira and Kobo, which measure negligibly against his end target.

However, this time around we were already on the lookout for his return from the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi, where he went to attend the 2025 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW2025), on the invitation of the President of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, but he did not show up as expected, or should I say we could not see him coming. The prior privileged information was that he would be returning on Saturday evening, but all other indicators that ought to announce his arrival at the expected date and time went bleak, no idea of the President’s arrival.

So we entered the last week believing Baba was still abroad and that there might not be much activities around the corridors of power, especially as his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, had also left the country for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Reaching the State House on Monday, just for the purposes of fulfilling all righteousness and earning the day’s pay, or just whiling the time out, reporters were shocked to realise that President Tinubu was at his desk in his office.

Apparently, the President returned as scheduled on Saturday, but also ensured to deliberately keep that part very discreet; all the effects that could have alerted the media to his return were delicately avoided; no helicopter noise above my roof, no arrival video of picture, even the security details usually sighted along the route from the Presidential Villa and the airport were concealed by the night’s cover. He left us no clue.

It initially felt like dereliction to me because in the past, I have been very apt monitoring arrivals and departures of the President, just like I did during his predecessor’s time, but this one beat me and I was wondering ‘how did I miss this?’. I however came to the conclusion that it was actually deliberately orchestrated to pass a message; if Tinubu decides to be invincible to the media, he can be really out of sight, even while he does his things. If I am allowed to say it, I would say Mr. President pulled another ‘idan stunt’ on us, despite our acclaimed eagle-eyed watch.

Healing the Wounds of Ogoniland

Meanwhile, last week, the President took a decisive step towards resolving decades of discord and environmental degradation in Ogoniland. Meeting with Ogoni leaders and the Rivers State government, using the time to make a heartfelt appeal for unity and cooperation as the federal government considers the resumption of oil production in the Ogoni axis of Rivers State—a venture fraught with historical pain and community division.

The scars of Ogoniland’s troubled past are deep. The brutal execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists in 1995, alongside the tragic deaths of the four Ogoni chiefs in 1994, left the community fractured and embittered. These events etched a painful legacy of environmental degradation and political strife. But as President Tinubu aptly noted, while history cannot be rewritten, there is a pressing need to “correct some anomalies of the past going forward.”

At the heart of this dialogue lies a complex challenge: the Ogoni community remains divided, with some aligning themselves with the memory of the “Ogoni Four,” and others with the “Ogoni Nine.” President Tinubu acknowledged these fractures but urged the people to look beyond their differences. “We cannot heal the wounds if we continue to be angry,” he said. This call for reconciliation was underscored by his directive to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to lead inclusive negotiations aimed at fostering mutual understanding.

The President’s remarks carried a tone of personal connection and responsibility. “It has been many years since your children and myself partnered to resist military dictatorship in this country,” he reminded the delegation. Tinubu’s acknowledgment of his historical ties with Ogoni activists served as a poignant reminder that he, too, has walked the path of struggle. His words, “I know what to do in memory of our beloved ones so that their sacrifices will not be in vain,” resonated as a promise to honour those who paid the ultimate price for justice and environmental sustainability.

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In his bid to pave the way for peace and progress, the President emphasized collaboration at all levels. He directed the Rivers State Government, ministers, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to work in concert with the Office of the National Security Adviser to bring about a resolution. The meeting, as he described it, was not just a dialogue but an opportunity “to bring peace, development, and a clean environment back to Ogoniland.”

Yet, achieving this vision requires more than government intervention—it demands community buy-in. The President urged the delegation to return home and engage in deeper consultations, ensuring all voices are heard. “Go back home, do more consultations, and embrace others,” he said. This call for inclusivity reflects an understanding that no lasting solution can be imposed from above. Instead, it must arise from the grassroots, from the very people who have borne the brunt of Ogoniland’s challenges.

President Tinubu’s approach also underscores the importance of trust, a scarce commodity in a region where promises of environmental remediation and economic development have often gone unfulfilled. By commending the delegation for embracing dialogue, he sought to lay the foundation for rebuilding that trust. “We must work together with mutual trust,” he emphasized—a sentiment that will be crucial as the community navigates the complexities of reconciliation and resource extraction.

The stakes are high. Beyond resolving historical grievances, the resumption of oil production in Ogoniland has the potential to revitalize the local economy and bring much-needed development to the region. However, this can only be achieved if all parties—the Federal Government, the Rivers State Government, and the Ogoni people—commit to a shared vision of peace and prosperity.

As the President concluded, the moment is ripe for healing and progress. “It is a great honour for me to have this meeting,” he said, acknowledging the significance of the occasion. Indeed, the dialogue represents a crucial step towards turning the page on Ogoniland’s painful past and charting a new course for its future.

The path ahead will not be easy. But if President Tinubu’s words are any indication, there is hope that the people of Ogoniland can finally come together to build a legacy of unity, environmental restoration, and economic empowerment—one that honours the sacrifices of the past while looking firmly towards the future.

Renewed Hope for Nigeria’s Armed Forces

Then on Thursday President Tinubu unveiled his Renewed Hope Agenda for Nigeria’s Armed Forces. He once again demonstrated his commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s security infrastructure with the groundbreaking ceremony for a new defence complex and the inauguration of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Army Barracks in Abuja. The dual event symbolized more than a construction project; it was a bold declaration of his administration’s vision for a well-equipped and professional military.

“This ceremony marks the start of a construction project and the foundation of a renewed commitment to our military and the values we hold dear as a democracy,” the President declared. His words underscored the strategic importance of fortifying Nigeria’s defence capabilities at a time when the nation is recording significant successes in combating various security challenges.

The President used the occasion to express gratitude to Nigeria’s armed forces, commending their dedication and resilience in the face of adversity. “I want to use this moment to personally commend the remarkable efforts of our armed forces under the leadership of the CDS, General CG Musa, who stands guard with the Service Chiefs and men against the evil forces that seek to retard our cherished peace and development,” he said.

Tinubu’s acknowledgment of the troops’ sacrifices resonated deeply, reflecting his understanding of the essential role they play in safeguarding national unity and peace. “Your dedication, courage, and resilience protect our freedoms and uphold the very principles upon which our nation was founded,” he added.

With the promise to support military personnel and their families, the President reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensuring a modern and capable defence force. “Under our Renewed Hope Administration, I reaffirm my commitment to building a well-equipped and truly professional military that embodies our nation’s pride,” Tinubu vowed.

This groundbreaking event not only lays the foundation for physical infrastructure but also signals a renewed hope for a stronger and more secure Nigeria.

Besides the events and occasions highlighted already, the week was loaded with other very significant events, including the announcement of forty-five appoints into various federal government agency offices on Friday, as well welcoming three new ambassadors to Nigeria, including that of Finland, to whom he spoke on the arrest of Simon Ekpa openly, for the first time.

A new week starts today, coming with its own activities. Like I always say, let us wait to see what it holds.

January 26, 2025
Need for royal reconciliation in Oyo Alaafin

Royal scramble and squabble have been key elements in traditional succession politics in Yoruba land since immemorial. Wherever you look across the Southwest, you find traces of dissensions among contenders for a royal stool. Therefore, the stiff competition for the stool of Alaafin of Oyo is not new. The imbroglio is not peculiar to the ancient town. The acrimony is similar to the experiences of other towns with vacancies to fill their thrones.

Four factors usually account for the bitter struggle in Oyo.

First: The Alaafin is perceived as the first among equals in Yoruba land. In his October 15, 1881 letter to colonial Governor W. B. Griffiths, imploring him to intervene in the armed conflict between Ibadan and Ekitiparapo, Oba Adeyemi I described himself as “king of Yoruba” and his claim was not disputed, not even by Derin Ologbenla, Owooni (and Baale of Okeigbo). His forefathers ruled the Oyo Empire. Therefore, the Alaafin is a highly revered and prestigious title.

Two: The Alaafin was the only ruler who presided over a vast empire comprising most Yoruba towns. His soldiers at Ibadan saved the Yoruba from invasion and subjugation by the Fulani forces, particularly the Emir of Ilorin who wanted to “dip the Qur’an in the sea”. Historians have always recalled the titanic battle at Osogbo, which frustrated the invaders’ plan. It is not out of place for the Alaafin to call himself the defender of the race.

Three: It is the right of Oyo princes to aspire for the exalted throne whenever there is a vacancy. Only a few princes, like the Adesiyen, would decline if the opportunity arise. Adesiyen declined due to old age and illness. Over time, the royal house has grown in leaps and bounds as sections have evolved according to the order of births. Thus, the contest is stiff.

Four: Apart from the prestige, the throne is a guarantor of permanent wealth, prosperity and invaluable privileges.

In the days of yore, tributes (isakole) enriched the king, his wives, children and high chiefs who assisted him in ruling the kingdom. Today, the five per cent allocation to the palace from the councils fills the void. Therefore, the legitimate contest is highly competitive and rewarding. Naturally, it is a winner-takes-all.

However, the onus is on the winner of the crown, Oba Abimbola Owoade, to set an agenda for reconciliation. The peace moves should be in layers. There is a need for reconciliation between the oba and the divided Oyomesi, the kingmakers and traditional ministers under His Supernal Highness, the Basorun, the traditional prime minister. This is important because they would play important roles in the coronation rites.

The governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has insinuated that members of the Alaafin-in-Council received gifts from a contestant, and it appeared that some problems ensued while sharing the gifts. The gifts were in the form of currencies, as alleged, unlike in the days of yore when aspirants gave out cowries, lands, crops, domestic animals, expensive clothes, and beads, and made promises to dispense favours, including giving their daughters in marriage to the families of the high chiefs, in a demonstration of gratitude.

What may have been uncritically confused as bribes in some quarters could have been customary proceeds from guided selection politics before ifa divination stepped in to separate the wheat from the chaff.

There is also an urgent need for a truce between Oba Owoade and other aggrieved members of the Adelu Agunloye royal family, who are his kith and kin, particularly the ardent supporters of his arch-rival, Gbadegesin Ladigbolu. The Alaafin is the father of all in Oyo, but he occupies the stool on behalf of the extended family of royals, nobles, and aristocrats. He is first and foremost a prince from the royal house before becoming the property of the ‘kingdom’.

It is not new that the struggle has shifted to the court. The legal fireworks may be prolonged due to the slowness of the judicial system unless there is an accelerated hearing. Oba Owoade is fortified by the singular fact that he was a prince before ascending the throne, and his anticipated triumph at the temple of justice may be predicated on his inalienable right to the prestigious throne, like other princes.

After the court case, the monarch would still need to reconcile with the rival, who the crown has eluded, as a matter of courtesy. This is a very challenging matter, more so when the Yoruba tend to believe that people do not renew friendships after a bitter court case.

Embarking on reconciliation demands humility, courage, self-sacrifice, and abnegation. It is an attribute of leadership that would assist the Gen-Z monarch to stabilise and expand the scope of partnership required for propelling the town to progress.

The people of Yoruba land also look forward to a synergy between the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and Alaafin Owoade as the two foremost monarchs in the Southwest who are expected to liaise with other monarchs of Egba, Ijebu, Yewa, Awori, Ijesa, Ekiti, Akoko, Ikale, Ilaje, Lagos, Agbadarigi, Popo, and Ajase in strengthening the bond of unity and defending the collective interest of the race. The old acrimony between past Ooni and Alaafin cannot reoccur because of the peaceful steps Oba Ogunwusi has taken in visiting Oyo.

It is a new era in Oyo. The death of Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III marked the end of an era. He was the link between the old times and the new dispensation, characterised by the rise of educated kings who had to lead the ancient town to adapt to modern realities.

Read Also: Protesting Oyo royal family welcomes new Alaafin, seeks implementation of 1976 declaration.

It is doubtful if the old pattern of rites and rituals can be rigorously followed in placing the monarch on the throne. For example, if any Alaafin-elect is to pick Igba Iwa, he has to follow a guided process in this modern time, with the assistance of the wise ones.

In the olden days, the Igba Iwa was said to contain two separate covered calabashes with similar shapes and sizes and identical decoration. They were brought before the oba-elect to pick his choice: one contained cowries (money), cloth, and beads, indicating a happy and prosperous reign. The other contained gunpowder, bullets, razors, knives, miniature spears, and arrows, indicating wars and turmoil.

In his book, History of Yorubas, Samuel Johnson, a cleric and historian, recalled that Oba Adeyemi I chose the latter and his choice determined the fate of the Oyo Empire. His reign was full of tension. The climax was the 16 years of protracted wars between Ekiti/Ijesa and Ibadan, which led to the loss of Yoruba independence to the British interlopers.

Also gone with the wind was the ‘crowning’ of the first son as ‘Aremo.’ In those days, Oyo produced reckless ‘Aremos’ who were despots, although some good ones also succeeded their fathers as Alaafin by popular acclamation.

Those conditions that permitted the allotment of duties to an Aremo no longer exist in this modern era.

The selection of the new Alaafin has confirmed the split in the Atiba lineage. It also affirmed the trend of rotation between the two extended families of Adeyemi Alowolodu and Adelu Agunloye, which were once a single family through their progenitors – Adelu and Adeyemi – being the direct children of Alaafin Atiba.

In the final analysis, there is only one ruling house in Oyo, the split notwithstanding.

Atiba had many other children, whose descendants may still be recognised as princes but have not been privileged to occupy the throne. These are the offspring of Adelabu, Adesiyen, Adediran, Adejumo, Olawoyin, Tele Agbojuloogun, Ala, Adewusi, Adesetan I and II, Adeleye, Adedotun, Afonja, Agborin, Tela Okitipapa, Ogo, Momodu, Adesokan, and Adejojo.

Those who occupied the throne were not insulated from troubles. While Adelu, the Crown Prince, was widely tipped as the successor to Atiba, he was rejected by Are Ona Kankanfo Kurumi of Ijaye, who insisted that the Aremo should die with his father. It led to a war. Assisted by Ibadan forces, led by Balogun Ibikunle, the Alaafin won.

Adelu’s death sparked a succession crisis. His crown prince, Amubieya Agogo-Ija, could not succeed him.

Following the rift, Amubieya left for Ibadan, hosted by Aare Asubiaro Latosa, the then ruler of Ibadan. But after the demise of Adeyemi I, he returned home to be crowned the Alaafin.

He ruled for six years, between 1905 and 1911. His children were Siyenbola Ladigbolu, Lawuwo, Agboin, Tella, and Owoade, the grandfather of the current inheritor of the throne.

Agogo-Ija was succeeded by his son, Ladigbolu I, who was succeeded by Adeniran Adeyemi, son of Adeyemi I, who ran into political turbulence. After the removal of Adeyemi 11 in 1955, Bello Gbadegesin (Ladigbolu II) ascended the throne. He died in 1968 and a protracted tussle ensued between Sanda Ladepo and Lamidi Adeyemi 111, who eventually triumphed. He reigned for 52 years.

It is now the time of Oba Owoade. The young prince is fulfilling his destiny. Having inherited the throne, he should be more condescending.

His predecessor, Adeyemi 111, set a standard. He should strive to surpass it. May God give the new monarch the wisdom, like King Solomon, to reign in Oyo with the fear of God, and may his reign usher in a new era of peace, progress, and prosperity for the ancient town.

January 25, 2025