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Tag: Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU)

  • OAU professors, research group call for policy reform to tackle elderly vulnerability 

    OAU professors, research group call for policy reform to tackle elderly vulnerability 

    Professors of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State alongside a research group, have called for urgent policy reforms to tackle the growing vulnerability of aged citizens in Nigeria. 

    The group under the aegis of Social Network Research Group also blamed inadequate social protection, healthcare access and economic support systems as factors worsening the living conditions of the elderly across the country.

    Speaking during presentation of the findings programme  held at Ile-Ife, at the weekend, the principal investigator and the Host, Professor Bonke Omoteso, disclosed that the study which was sponsored by Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFUND) was conducted between 2021 and 2023 which aimed investigating the quality of life of the elderly citizens. 

    The don said the study was done in four states including Osun, Oyo, Benue and Imo about the social support that is needed for our elderly people to live meaningfully in the later stages of their lives. 

    “The research was carried out by 11 people. Nine staff members from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, a staff member from Adamawa State University and the last person was from Imo State University.

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    “We discovered that in Nigeria, we don’t take much cognizance of the healthy living of our elderly people. We also discovered that there is no social support system for elderly people in Nigeria.”

    She added that, “formal and institutional systems remain largely inadequate. Psychological vulnerability, accessibility barriers, and policy weaknesses place octogenarians at heightened risk, particularly as traditional family structures continue to erode.”

    Prof Omoteso called for improved access to healthcare services, promotion of economic empowerment through income-generating activities and fostering community engagement and elderly-friendly infrastructure. 

    A member of the team, Dr Akinjide Akintomide of the Obafemi Awolowo University , Ile-Ife, said the study identified substantial policy and implementation gaps in Nigeria’s approach to elderly care. 

    “Although a National Policy on Ageing exists, its implementation remains weak, underfunded, and largely generic, failing to address the specific needs of octogenarians. 

    “Critical gaps were noted in geriatric healthcare, income security, housing, legal protection, and data systems. Existing interventions were fragmented, urban-centred, and heavily dependent on non-governmental organisations and faith-based organisations, raising concerns about sustainability and equity,” Dr Akintomide noted. 

  • OAU honours don for contributions to scholarship

    OAU honours don for contributions to scholarship

    • By Adekunle Gbadebo

    A lecturer at the Department of Early Childhood and Care Education (ECCE) Lagos State University of Education (LASUED) Dr Ashimolowo Ademuyiwa, has been conferred with an Award of Excellence by the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

    The award, courtesy of the institution’s Faculty of Education, was bestowed on Ashimolowo for his ‘outstanding contributions to the development of tertiary education in Nigeria’.

    Ashimolowo alongside others were honoured during this year’s professional induction ceremony of graduating students in the Faculty of Education, by the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

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    The event which held at the Oduduwa Hall of the institution was attended by top principals of the institution; officials of TRCN) and other dignitaries.

    Ashimolowo thanked the university and particularly the Faculty of Education, for the kind gesture. He said the award not only propelled him to continue his evangelism for a better living for teachers, but also alter the impression that an average teacher is synonymous with poverty.

    Ashimolowo believes that every teacher regardless of his/her status, must be able to live a very modest life, and with a roof over their heads.

  • OAU academic attains professorship at 39

    OAU academic attains professorship at 39

    An accomplished Computer Engineer, academic, and entrepreneur, Dr Segun Aina has been appointed Professor of Computer Engineering at the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, becoming one of the youngest professors in his field in Nigeria at just 39.

     Aina’s elevation to the rank of Professor is a testament to his outstanding academic contributions, impactful research, and unwavering commitment to bridging theory and practice within Nigeria’s education and technology ecosystem.

    He currently serves in the Computer Engineering Department at OAU, where he also holds several departmental and faculty responsibilities.

    A distinguished scholar, Aina obtained his Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Kent, United Kingdom, in 2008, followed by a Master of Science (MSc) in Internet Computing and Network Security from the highly ranked Loughborough University in 2009. He later earned his Doctorate (PhD) in Digital Signal Processing, also from Loughborough University.

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    Reacting to his appointment, Professor Segun Aina said, “This milestone is a humbling reminder that excellence, discipline, and purpose-driven work can accelerate impact. I see this professorship not as a destination, but as a renewed responsibility to contribute more meaningfully to academia, industry, and national development.”

    Beyond academia, he has built a reputation as a pragmatic academic and serial entrepreneur, committed to translating research into real-world solutions. In 2010, he co-founded Fluid Click Solutions Ltd, an IT services and engineering project Management Company. His business interests span EduTech, Agriculture, Hospitality, Capacity Building, and Technical & Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

    He noted that his lifelong commitment has been to ensure that academic knowledge does not exist in isolation, but actively solves real problems.

    Aina said he remains passionate about mentoring the next generation of engineers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who will shape Africa’s future.

    A COREN-registered engineer, he is an active member of several professional bodies, including the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

    He has served in key governance and advisory roles, including as a member of the pioneer Governing Council of Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere, Ekiti, and as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Queensland Academy, Isolo, Lagos.

  • OAU okays N15billion Faculty of Architecture

    OAU okays N15billion Faculty of Architecture

    Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has approved the establishment and building project of a new Faculty of Architecture, marking a historic milestone in the university’s drive toward academic expansion and infrastructural excellence.

    The project, estimated at N15 billion, was formally approved by the university management led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adebayo Bamire, on November 6.

    The vision for a Faculty of Architecture was first conceived in 2022 by the former Head of the Department of Architecture, Prof. Adesoji Jiboye, following the National Universities Commission’s (NUC)’s approval of six new programmes under the proposed faculty.

    Prof. Bamire’s administration embraced the idea wholeheartedly, giving consistent support to what has now evolved into one of the university’s most ambitious development projects.

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    The initiative gained new momentum during the Ife Architecture Summit 2.0, held on May 19, and organised by the Ife Architecture Students’ Association (IFASA). The event was attended by the President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Mobolaji Adeniyi, who pledged the institute’s full backing toward actualising the faculty.

    The meeting, attended by the university management, NIA Osun chapter representatives, and students, further aligned professional and academic aspirations in architectural education.

    The design proposal, developed by the 1995/1996 B.Sc. Alumni Set of the Department of Architecture — Akintunde Akinajo,  Dare Sanni and Femi Ogunlana — was presented during the management session.

    In recognition of his leadership and support, NIA Osun chapter presented an Award of Excellence to Prof. Bamire.

    Following the approval, a brief visit and prayer session were held at the proposed site, symbolising the official beginning of a new era for OAU’s architecture education.

    The new faculty will comprise five departments: Architecture and Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Furniture and Product Design.

  • Awujale: A question of integrity

    Awujale: A question of integrity

    The metaphor — of the tragedy of privilege without responsibility — always loomed, in Death and the King’s Horseman, a Wole Soyinka play, written at the Churchill College, Cambridge University, England, but which premiered in 1975, at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

    The late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba II, seems to have flipped that creepy Greek saying.  Though he died “happy” here, and got his death wish for a Muslim funeral, he would appear “sad” there, at the other world!   

    That has been clear from the ugly controversy that has enveloped his opting to shut out the Ijebu traditional priesthood and conclave from his burial rites. 

    But a fiery traditional elite have scoffed back, in blazing ire and fire: their former king, though highly revered in life, just “died”, as any common mortal. He did not romp into ethereal blaze, as Yoruba monarchs gloriously do!

    “Awujale ku ni,” the most radical and iconoclastic among them huff, “Ogbagba o waja!”

    That open heresy, in the traditional Ijebu cosmos, is a big deal!  With that institution’s memory of the elephant that seldom forgets, that might yet come back to haunt the king’s direct descendants; and even the fortunes of his ruling house — at least the Ogbagba segment of it — whose slot he filled with rare glory for 65 memorable years!

    That Awujale-after-death scorn is spectacular upbraiding of that Greek classic: only the dead stay happy!

    By its grim logic, the human is at the mercy of malevolent gods.  Even with a second left to breathe his last, the gods could swoop, swish, conk and crush: undoing all the glory the mortal had done, all his life — a classic case of the divine envying the mortal!

    But that’s all just cultural dramatics, bordering on the farce!  Malevolent — or benevolent — “gods” are no more than human foibles.  Conceit rapidly builds; and in Chinua Achebe’s Igbo-speak, the man starts challenging his chi (personal god) in a fit of hubris! 

    So, that Greek saying is dire warning for man to stay simple, humble and happy!  But man won’t be man without pushing his luck!

    In truth, the late Awujale pushed his luck a lot, at the crest of his glorious reign. But the more he bucked the norm, the more prestige he corralled.

    Hubris?  “Hell, no!” The modernists, among the avant-garde traditionalists, particularly the younger breed of Ijebu monarch-professionals, would roar back! Rather, it’s healthy evolution, which craves reformation of the extant tradition.

    That would appear to have driven their ambivalence — enlightened self-interest? — towards the Ogun State Obas, Chiefs, Council of Obas and Traditional Council Law, 2021.  This law offered the legal anchor for the late Awujale’s outrageous funeral rites — at least, to the dyed-in-wool traditionalists.

    For pushing this law, Oba Adetona may well end up the historical scapegoat! How do the Yoruba put it: he who does what none had done before, sees what none had never seen? 

    But if it forces lasting reformation, by a syncretic marriage of foreign faiths to native rituals in royal burials, posterity may well thank him.

    That would be in the long, long run, though.  Right now, the sharks are out, in the short, short run!  And boy, are they angry!

    In truth, that law offered the late monarch instant legalistic cover.  But unsparing sociology still left him stark naked.  What’s a law without its sociological spine?

    That harsh sociology also passed him off — fairly so — as some glorified opportunist who, in life, had the best of the Ijebu Obaship, played the Unquestionable — Kabiyesi o! — to the hilt, earned all the power and all the glory, only to duck paying his ultimate debt in death!

    That brings the discourse right back to the dark Elesin Oba metaphor, in Death and the King’s Horseman.

    The Elesin knew the deal: he would live the life: food, wine, women and prestige, in sheer epicurean paradise, right here on earth. But he must also die the death!

    The moment the Kabiyesi ascends — “w’aja” — he too must die, with the royal horse and the royal dog: the Elesin Oba, as royal guide in the grim sojourn to the other world; the horse, the royal carrier on the grim journey of no return; the dog, the royal protector, to bark off malevolent ghommids and keep sundry hostile spirits at bay!

    But this particular Elesin had it all but balked at that fateful hour — in any case, by his body language.  In fairness to him, he was aided and abetted by colonial Brits — led by Simon Pilkings — who decreed that tradition was barbaric, which indeed it was.

    But it turned a reverse irony for the tragedy to sink in.  Olunde, Elesin’s son, lured abroad by the same British personages to study Medicine, but be thoroughly brain-washed in the so-called “civilized” Western ways, turned the tale: a new champion of the grim tradition his father tried to dodge; which the intruding Brits helped to stall.

    Enter: one suicide call, two fatal prizes!  Elesin’s son committed the ritual suicide expected of his dodging father!  The shame-faced Elesin had little choice but to follow suit. Two tragedies for the prize of one!

    Still, a let-off of a sort — which may well open some long-term cold comfort, after this Awujale burial tragedy had blown over.  After the Oyo dramatics that fed our own WS the raw materials for Death and the King’s Horseman, that grim tradition itself became history in Oyo Alaafin, after the 1940s, which provided the play’s real-life setting.

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    Would that also prove true, for the Ijebu, after — in Shakespeare’s Macbeth-speak — the hurly-burly is done; and the roaring battle, over “Isese” rights in Oba burials, is lost and won?

    If it does, then the dead Awujale would have had the final laugh! 

    But right now, that looks so far-fetched that Oba Adetona — and descendants — would have to lug that ignominy of cheap pretenders as life-long defenders of tradition, but life-end deserters.  After all, what’s life without a good ending?

    Still, that troubling question must be asked: why did the dead King, and his loved ones, shirk whatever awaited his body after passage, so much so that they “blocked” such horror(?) with Muslim burial rites? 

    Are the dire suggestions true: that as the Kabiyesi was unquestionable in life, after death, the community too became unquestionable with whatever they did with his remains?

    Even with the awe — if not naked fear — that drives Yoruba spirituality, there would appear a fair call for reformation to assure troubled royal families of respect for their dead.

    But until such are sorted out with sane give-and-takes, to the mutual benefits of all involved, the dead Awujale risks lugging in death the diametric opposite of what he beamed all through his glorious reign and illustrious life: a crass lack of integrity.

    That’s hardly fair to the memory of a monarch that, in the secular, if not Ijebu spiritual eye, lifted the Ijebu throne to heights hitherto unimagined, earning a GCON to boot!

  • ‘Writers are not gods’

    ‘Writers are not gods’

    In continuation of the public reading of his latest book titled Juju Eyes, the author, Mr Sam Omatseye was at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife, Osun State. In the course of the reading of the book, to an audience mainly of students and lecturers, he told them that Juju Eyes is a child of necessity. And that it takes comportment, discipline and self-denial to be a writer. Indeed, writers are no gods as he beseeched the audience to start on time to develop the habit of writing. EDOZIE UDEZE reports.

    The sprawling auditorium II of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Osun State, was the venue of the programme. The announcement for the event had earlier been made through the Head of Department of English, Professor Emmanuel Babalola. The announcement was in relation to the visit by Mr Sam Omatseye, the editorial board chairman of The Nation Newspapers. This sensational author of Juju eyes, a book that has been described and adjudged by many art critics and reviewers as the real Juju Eyes of a nation in search of sanity and direction. The public reading of the book by the author was announced to sensitize students and some stakeholders in this citadel of learning, that here comes a book that has succeeded in tearing the eyes of the juju that has been monitoring and misdirecting the affairs of the society.

    Now, Omatseye, a worthy graduate and ‘son’ of OAU one of its most pronounced, outstanding and recognised man of letters would appear on stage on May 20. And so it came to be. The deed was done. Omatseye, whose every visit to OAU has always been seen as homecoming (Omoluabi), of sorts, appeared in a blaze of glory. The students had gathered in clusters of groups, discussing the possible contents of this fictional narrative. As it turned out, they had been asked earlier to suspend lectures for three hours that day because of the programme. So, the auditorium was more than half full. The handler of the show, Professor Chijioke Uwasomba, a literature teacher of many years, took hold of the day. He was all over the stage and intimating everyone about the sequence of the reading while describing Omatseye as a prose fiction expert who loves women so incurably. Yes, because in his two previous narrative fictions Omatseye gave the main female characters erotic and elevated clarifications.

    But Omatseye’s love for women which he admitted, has also given him the vent and audacity to produce another remarkable book, Juju Eyes, building a female character, Shay that surpases mere mundane. So, it is in order when a male novelist pries deep into women to bring them out without reservations. The person of Shay Ekanem as portrayed by the author is beyond what any other narrator but the person of Omatseye, master storyteller, can create, unravel and even recreate. The character is almost utopian, reaching a point of crescendo that has not been witnessed or experienced in this clime.

    Therefore Omatseye is just being quintessential in the way he built Shay, a demonstration that shows the hidden characters of some society women and erotic men who veer into politics to swindle in the name of love and avariciousness. The author handled the whole reading himself so as to bring the students out of their cocoons. It was a solemn moment as he read on. The calmness in the hall was profound. He first situated in proper perspective why the story became necessary and why the message in it is good, timely and topical.

    Professor Oyeniyi Okunoye, Dean of Arts was present. Dr Bisi Chima Anyadike, Omatseye’s classmate, was also there with some of the pupils of her private school. Also present was Professor Chima Anyadike who was Omatseye’s teacher in the years of yore. He breezed in to identify proudly with one of his brightest students. Also present was Professor Oluwole Coker and some other scholars from different locations and disciplines. Thus, the hall was ignited with academic flavour as all ears became keen to listen to the hottest literary gist in town. Uwasomba introduced Omatseye as a proud great Ife, one of the greatest shining lights of the school. A man who came to study History as his major, but ended up taking literature as his greatest love. Today he has transcended all genres of literature in his writings. “Omatseye, you are a shining light to the students. Creative writing is not easy. However, the faculty produces quality graduates who shine everywhere in the world. You read History, but your soul was always here in English and Literature”, he said as the students heralded him.

    After reading a citation about the author, the hall erupted with acclaims for him. There are other authors produced by OAU like Ayobami and others who are currently controlling world attention with their spicy stories. Omatseye, a former human rights activist, journalist, who went to the United States of America for further studies has given the world more than a dozen books. He knows the values and importance of human experiences and foibles which he pours into stories. He uses his In Touch column in the Nation every Monday to reshape minds and remold opinions. This is why he believes that journalism is history in a hurry. Nonetheless as he Omatseye himself stood on the dais in front of the audience, he recounted how the same platform offered him and others the rarest moments to interact with their teachers in their days on campus.

    “It is a pleasure to be here once more” Omatseye began with that trademark habitual smile on his face. “It was on this stage that people like Professor Anyadike mesmerized with works of great writers in those days. We looked up to them as they taught us leadership through the values of literature. One day too, some of you students will have the same privilege to stand here and address people. I was a troublesome student. I was fond of arguing a lot with our lecturers, and most times, I would walk away when the argument did not turn out well. Infact I still remember vividly some of the events that took place in those years”, he noted with nostalgia.

    He then went on to read the prologue, a bit of it, though. Thereafter he read bonfire, chapter sixteen of the book. It is one of the most sensational part of the novel where, for the sake of political rascality and intoxication, someone had to set bundles of naira on fire. This was in Ibadan and those who witnessed it didn’t understand why and how that action could define the political future of somebody. The author said he read it to teach the younger ones the stupidity of some political leaders and how they can be avoided in the future. Politics is dirty. It is a dirty game. A situation where someone’s money is cremated to give him power, is utterly criminal, it is evil and devilish.

    To say the least, as the students followed the reading, the shock on their faces showed how scared they were. You see, there is a way mere stories told to reflect the society can pierce someone’s heart and bring it back to reality. Yes, juju eyes has assumed such power and the students were carried away by the aura of the juju eyes. The eyes of Shay, yes, her starry eyes are captivating. As the author read the story about Madam Lola, a woman who produced magic and miracle babies, the hall, in fact, the students themselves could not hold back their stunning surprises. But trust the author. He read it with accurate precision in order to allow the effect stir deeper and sink into their hearts. Here, the issue of baby factories, one of the most unfortunate scenarios that has come to dominate the nucleus of a rudderless society was registered. The author carefully established its modus operandi, the sort of racket it is and those who are usually behind it. Madam Lola and her cohorts are usually the greatest patrons of such evil cloning. Hence miracle babies, usually planned and executed with the connivance of equally evil and fake pastors abound.

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    One of the chapters that evoked empathy is thirty-three titled The Deck. There, Shay, the Juju Eyes herself is involved in female protests in Rivers State. Because her man Mista Naija was kidnapped just like some other foreigners who often strayed into enemy camps, Shay joined other women to protest half naked to effect his release. It is a well decked and orchestrated account by the author. It gives the picture of a society where lawlessness predominates.

    “Shay marched beside her as they climbed up the deck… Few knew why she would join a group of militant women… But she hardly expected that the fight for her man had emboldened and changed her life forever into a willowy radical and into one of the other women walking as God made them”’ (pg 216). This is vintage Omatseye, saying it to break the record and curry for the beauty of storytelling.

    Questions came in torrents. Students, particularly the pupils were eager to know how the idea of the story eventually climaxed into something so big and expository. How does the spark develop? One little girl asked. “Yes, when you read and follow your mind, the spark will definitely come”, Omatseye said in response. The book exposes also the vanity of the so called society women who also celebrate nothingness in order to belong. The author told the audience: If you want to write, write. Deny yourself a lot of comfort to be able to write. But first, you have to be a good reader of other people’s works. That is the starting point. You must have the right attitude, discipline… You can write protest Literature. Your work can be simple or complex like Ben Okri most of the time. Then you have to tell your story.

    “Yes, women in my stories are the emblems of the society. I love women; they produce events that generates stories, they are fundamental to Nigerian society. They are more daring in their actions and deeds. They also represent the foibles and otherwise of the society”. In the end the price of the book was reduced for the sake of the students who were ready to purchase. Professor Anyadike gave prize books to students who show interest in the area of Literature he taught. Some were procured for the library while some were taken to the bookshop for marketing and sales. The takeaway from Omatseye’s is that writers are not gods. What makes the difference is that where others are docile, the writer takes the bull by the horns, making unnecessary sacrifices to produce books.

  • OAU gets multi-million naira CAD/CAM world-class laboratory 

    OAU gets multi-million naira CAD/CAM world-class laboratory 

    …OAU VC lauds fintech boss on upgrade of dept. to world-class lab

    The Mechanical Engineering department laboratory at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, has received a digital upgrade with state-of-the-art equipment valued in the millions, aimed at benefiting engineers and innovators.

    This enhancement was made possible by the foundation of fintech executive Tosin Eniolorunda, who renovated the laboratory to serve as a Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) facility.

    Eniolorunda, a co-founder of Moniepoint and an alumnus of the department, commissioned the project alongside the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simeon Bamire, over the weekend.

    The laboratory, now named after Eniolorunda, aims to bolster Nigerian students’ interest in science and technology, particularly in areas such as prototyping, design, and engineering.

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    Professor Bamire said: “We are very grateful for this laboratory considering that we are almost phasing out some of these things as a result of paucity of funds. This laboratory will help improve and enhance a lot of things within the University for students and staff and also drive collaboration between the academia and industry,” he said. 

    In his remark on donation, Eniolorunda said, “this newly revamped laboratory represents more than just an upgrade, it stands as part of a personal commitment to foster a generation of engineers and innovators to inspired them to think critically and creatively about real-world problems.

    “These state-of-the-art multi-million naira resources will provide students with hands-on experience in the latest CAD/CAM technologies, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application in the field of mechanical engineering”. 

  • Aiteo, director get awards

    Aiteo has received an award of excellence from the African Institute for Science Policy and Innovation (AISPI) of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

    Aiteo’s Head, Media Operations, Ndiana Matthew broke the news in a statement. He said the award is conferred on individuals and corporate entities for their contributions to the sector.

    Aiteo’s Group Managing Director Victor Okoronkwo reiterated Aiteo’s commitment to policy development in the oil and gas industry.

    He said: “We have been at the fore and continue to be interested in policy for driving oil and gas industry, which translates to economic growth. From fiscal policies to regulatory frameworks that would attract investment and technical know-how, be rest assured that our strategic objectives are in consonance.”

    Aiteo’s Global Group Director, Procurement & Corporate Services, Mrs. S. P. B. Jigo, a lawyer, said: “Aiteo as a firm believer in Corporate Social Responsibility and charitable endeavours strongly align with interest groups and institutions like you (AISPI) to further policies that will deliver sustainable goals and invariably a better society for us all.”

    She expressed Aiteo’s desire to continue to work with the institute. “We look forward to collaborating with the institute in developing innovative solutions that target pipeline security challenges in the upstream oil and gas industry sector thereby effecting sustainable development in our ever widening economy,” she added.

    Aiteo Group is one of Africa’s fastest-growing energy leaders. It operates through her subsidiaries of which Aiteo Eastern E&P Co. Limited is her main subsidiary.

  • Our Yoruba hosts will defend us if there’s attack- 50-yr-old Fulani man, others born and bred in Osun

    The abduction of Prof. Olayinka Adegbeingbe, a lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, by suspected herdsmen on Ibadan-Ife Road in Osun State early in May this year, naturally drew the world’s attention to the activities of the criminal elements among the herdsmen in the state.

    The OAU lecturer was believed to have coughed out a whopping N5.045 million before he was released by his abductors. “The people who abducted me were Fulani herdsmen and they had four guns and multiple rounds of ammunition as well as other weapons,” he told reporters in an interview.

    Indeed, in a space of two days in the month of May, no fewer than four people, including two officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were kidnapped in the state. While the security agents were battling to rescue the two officials of the FRSC abducted on Ilesha/Akure Expressway, another set of victims travelling between Esa Odo and Ilare, both in Obokun Local Government Area were also abducted by gunmen, allegedly by herdsmen also.

    The victims, Amusa Olaleye Dunsin, said to be the chief hunter for Obokun town, and a lady named Tayo and three others were said to be heading towards Ilare from Esa Odo, when their vehicle was intercepted by the abductors.

    In all the kidnap cases in the state, accusing fingers have pointed to the Fulani herders living in different communities in Osun State. But the spate of killings and kidnappings in the state is not only worrisome to the indigenes but also to the Fulani who many suspect to be the brains behind the incidents.

    While some people would want to believe that the state of insecurity in the state is exaggerated, the presence of regular and riot policemen on Ibadan-Osogbo and Ibadan-Ilesha roads points to the fact that all is not well in the state.

    Our correspondent visited some of the Fulani communities in Osun State and found majority of the Fulani herdsmen resident in the state expressing worries over the incidents of kidnapping over which accusing fingers have pointed to them from different directions. The development, some of them said, had put them in a difficult situation, considering that they have lived all their lives in that part of the country and may not even belong among their kindred in the northern part of the country if they have to leave their current domains for any reason.

    For instance, 50-year-old Yesuf Sulaimona, a Fulani herder, said he was born and bred in Oogi, a community in Osun State as a member of the third generation of Fulani herdsmen who migrated to the town more than a century ago. “I am fully integrated into the Yoruba culture,” he said.

    Absolving the Fulani population in the state of any involvement in the kidnapping and other criminal activities that have bedeviled the state and indeed the South-West region lately, Sulaimona said: “Our own Fulani do not belong to the ones involved in criminal activities. The Yoruba people here can bear us witness.”

    Sulaimona, his wives and children live in a secluded settlement, a stone’s throw from the residences of the members of their host community. Although he admitted that there had been pockets of attacks by robbers, he said there had not been reported cases of kidnapping in Oogi, adding that the presence of herdsmen in the community had helped in checking the activities of robbers who were initially terrorising the community and the commuters plying the road.

    He told The Nation that the activities of armed robbers had forced him and his family members to vacate their initial abode, saying “since we came here, that has stopped. If we had been stealing or involved in criminal activities, the truth would have been revealed. The so called Fulani people that accused of engaging in criminal activities, we have not seen them.”

    Sulaimono said neither the vigilance groups nor the hunters in the area had arrested any of his family members committing crime, arguing that the stereotyping of the Fulani could be due to the nomadic lifestyle of Fulani people. “Some people tag us as criminals simply because we live in the bush,” he said.

    Asked if he was afraid of possible reprisals over the recent incidents of kidnapping in Osun and other parts of the South-West region by people suspected to be herdsmen, he said he was confident that their Yoruba hosts would defend them if matters came to that.

    He said: “We hear that Fulani people are being accused of various crimes. We are not afraid of any reprisal attack. We are more concerned about our jobs. Our Yoruba hosts will surely defend us if there is any threat or something that could jeopardise our interests.”

    Why farmers, herdsmen don’t clash

    According to Sulaimono, the configuration of the community makes it difficult for the Fulani and their Yoruba hosts to engage in any serious clash. “Since kidnapping by herdsmen became an issue, the paramount traditional rulers in the area have called us for meetings and asked us to be watchful and report any suspicious moves,” he said.

    He also said that any conflict that could arise from cattle destroying farms is always nipped in the bud because the herdsmen involved would immediately go to the farmer, report himself and pay the necessary compensation. He said there were no cattle rustlers around the community, though he admitted that there could be occasions where one or two cows or rams are stolen in the night.

    He said: “If you wake up in the morning and the cattle are complete, fine. If not, good. As long as nobody is caught stealing the cow, we believe it is an act of God. Cattle rustlers are not here, but we often hear stories that rustlers disturb them a lot in the north.”

    The 50-year-old says he does not speak any other language than Yoruba. “I was born and bred here. How would I speak Fulani? The people of my age who speak Fulani go out to learn it.”

    He also disclosed that many of the cows in their stable belong to Yoruba people. “Anybody can give us cows to keep. What we do is agree on a contract terms and the two parties adhere to the agreement,” he said.

    Another herder, Alfa Mumuni Adam, has lived on one of the farms in Ede for the 30 years. Unlike Sulaimona, he speaks Fulani. Our correspondent encountered him and his three other family members while they grazed their cattle early in the morning. Our correspondent noticed that the herders made conscious efforts to see that the cows did not stray into the farms around the grazing field.

    Mumuni’s attention was more on the cows even as he spoke with the reporter, intermittently shouting at them in a strange language. With the stick he held across the back of his neck, he whipped any straying cow into line to prevent them from going beyond a certain part of the field.

    Confronted with the allegation that herdsmen in the state had been kidnapping and robbing people, he said he only heard that that was happening in the north.

    He said: “We hear that such things happen in the north but we have not heard about it here. When I heard that, what came to my mind was to secure where we stay. We are for the security of the town we live in. We cooperate with our hosts to prevent any form of insecurity.”

    Mumuni said it would be difficult for the farmers and the Fulani herders in the community to clash because no herder would deliberately allow his cows to stray into another person’s farm. He said that if that happens by accident, the herder would go to the farmer and resolve the issue amicably.

    He noted that intermarriage between Fulani herders and their Yoruba hosts had helped a lot in fostering peaceful coexistence in the community.

    ‘We don’t carry AK47’

    Our correspondent sought to know if Mumuni protects his cows with AK47, but he went into a prolonged laughter.

    “We don’t have AK47. What do you see with me? A stick and apere tungbo (a small woven basket).

    “There is nothing like that here in Osun. We work together with the governor. We don’t want such here, and if we hear anything like that, we will quickly report.”

    Corroborating what Sulaimono and Adam, a Yoruba farmer in the area, Akeem Adeoye, said the farmers and herders in the area had reached an understanding on how to avoid conflicts.

    He said: “There are rules and regulations laid down by the elders of the community in the sense that any Fulani that mistakenly enters any farm must pay damages except the farmer decides to overlook the damages done to his farm.”

    The Nation also gathered that anytime a Fulani herder is taking his cattle for grazing, the farmers are notified, probably for joint supervision of the cows.

    Adeoye also believes that the brains behind the kidnapping incidents in the state are not the Fulani people resident in different parts of the state but the nomadic Fulani herders who live outside the communities.

    He said: “There is a set of Fulani herdsmen known as Bororo. They don’t speak any of the Nigerian languages. They don’t have a base. They sleep where the day closes and move on the next day.

    “Some of them don’t even sleep. You would see them with all their loads. They don’t even care about anything. They enter any farm they come across, graze their cattle and move on. They are the ones killing, according to the information.”

    In defence of Fulani

    A clergyman who identified himself simply as Rev Akintunde said he had been living with Fulani people in Ede, a popular town in Osun State, since he was a teenager. He believes that there is more to the criminal activities of herdsmen in Osun than many people think. He sees the issue as more of politics than crime.

    “Why singling out the Fulani as criminals? He asked. “Of those that have been arrested, how many of them are Fulani?

    “I knew from day one that those people committing crime were not Fulani. We have been together for long. There is no tribe that does not have criminal elements in Nigeria, but I know that this menace or attacks are politically motivated.

    “I live with them. I speak their language. If I want to marry a Fulani tomorrow, I can, because our relationship is so deep. When I was travelling, I left the keys of my house with them. I’ve never seen any of the Fulani people I live with commit crime.”

    He believes that the crisis is being orchestrated by politicians. “All of them have forerunners that work for them politically. Little by little, we are going to find out the truth. God is going to expose those who are responsible for this,” he said.

    He said that Yoruba people own majority of the cows in his community, adding that the Fulani people have just a little percentage of them.

    He said: “You see, the Fulani are a tribe that do not keep money; they just want their comfort, they want just want to get satisfied, unlike those herders that commit crime.

    “You can imagine Yoruba people giving them cows to breed. What they gain from those cows is the milk that they use for their cheese. Majority of our House of Assembly members own cows. That is to tell you that everything was a blackmail.”

    He advised government to look beyond the Fulani people if it wants to find a permanent solution to the upsurge of crime rate in the state.

    Omotosho Abiodun, one of the elders in Ooogi, shares Akintude’s views.

    He said: “We have been living here with the Fulani for over 50 years. Since we have been living with them, we have not had any problem with them.

    “But I understand that the Fulani are of two types. The Bororo Fulani are the ones people complain about, but we don’t have them here. We and the Fulani here coordinate the activities of the town, including the religious activities. We don’t have problem with them.”

     Osun government’s intervention

    Mudashiru Toogun is the committee chairman for the co-existence between the Bororo Fulani and farmers in Osun State. Contrary to what was being reported, he said there was no insecurity in the state.

    He said: “There is no insecurity in Osun so far. There are no pockets of kidnapping in the state again. There used to be, even though it was not as bad as people tried to portray it. But right now, Osun is completely peaceful.”

    Explaining the genesis of the upsurge in criminal activities by herdsemen, he said the displaced people from Zamfara got attracted to the mining site in Osun, and the migration brought with it criminal elements.

    He said with the two security conferences, one each in Ilesha and Osogbo, the governor, Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, was able to nip the security challenge in the bud.

    “Now the governor has repaired all APC vehicles; 19 of them. He has also assisted security agencies in the state to repair their patrol vehicles and we are getting fullest cooperation from vigilante groups and the local hunters.

    “Currently, Osun has gotten a security number code that citizens can call if there is security infraction in their own area. The number is 293. You don’t need to have credit on your phone. These are efforts we have made and have resulted in permanent peace in the state.”

  • Thief terrorising OAU bags 15 years imprisonment

    One of the thieves terrorising the staff, students and other residents of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) the has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

    A release by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Abiodun Olarewaju, stated that one Odionye Wilson was arrested by the security unit of the university when the students who were sitting for examination dropped their belongings as is customary of them during examination.

    The 23 years old Wilson, who claimed to be a rusticated student, informed the University Security team, during interrogation, that be belonged to a seven-man syndicate that specialised in coming to OAU to rob people and steal their valuables. He was subsequently handed over to the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Police, “A” Division, Ile – Ife, which arraigned him in court and secured his conviction.

    Wilson, and others now at large, on Wednesday, 31st July, 2019, at about 1625:00 hours at the ICT centre of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife, did steal one Itel S31 handset, valued #29,950:00 property of one Abayomi Oluwatobiloba; IPad phone, valued #200,000:00; itel phone valued #7,000:00; and one BlackBerry phone valued #45,000:00, total valued #252,000:00, property of one Ilegieuno Ibrahim.

    Read Also: OAU student commits suicide over poor academic performance

    Others items stolen include: Tecno Canon X phone valued #50,000:00 and one Tecno 66 phone valued #8,000:00 property of one Ajayi Jonathan. Rukayat Olajide’s Tecno Pop phone valued #38,000:00, Tecno phone valued #5,000:00, phone charger valued #3,000:00 and the cash sum of #5,000:00 were also stolen

    In a Charge Sheet No: MIF/305/2019, Commissioner of Police versus ODIONYE Wilson ‘m’ Age 23 years, Magistrate Owolawi found him guilty on counts one, two and three and accordingly sentenced him to five years on each count. The sentence were to run concurrently.