The Nation Newspaper

Tag: S/West

  • 2019: PDP in dilemma over presidential campaign in S/West

    The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be in a dilemma on how to design the appropriate campaign message to woo voters in the Southwest geopolitical zone for its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    Starting from tomorrow, the various political parties will commence their presidential campaigns in line with the campaign timeline released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Presently, the PDP cannot boast of any of its key positions occupied by members from the Southwest at the national level within the party hierarchy.

    The highest position held by the Southwest in the party’s hierarchy is that of Deputy National Chairman (Southwest) which is being occupied by Elder Yemi Akinwonmi from Ogun State.

    Investigation conducted by our correspondent at the weekend revealed that it was one of the key issues that dominated discussions in a meeting held by the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, with key party stakeholders in Abuja Wednesday night.

    Those that attended the Wednesday meeting included the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; governors elected on the platform of the party, among others.

    Our correspondent gathered that some stakeholders have pointed out that the All Progressives Congress (APC) having Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari may constitute an uphill task for the PDP campaign in the Southwest.

    On the other hand, the PDP has picked Atiku’s running mate, Mr. Peter Obi, from Anambra State in the Southeast geopolitical zone while the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus is from Rivers State in the South-South geopolitical zone.

    This, according to some of strategists, has stripped the Southwest of any representation in key positions within the PDP.

    In their submission, this makes the situation more difficult for the opposition party, considering the fact that the entire six states in the Southwest are being controlled by the APC.

    Moreover, the fact that the Buhari administration also parades a number of South Westerners in key positions in his cabinet and other key federal agencies may also give the ruling party an edge in the zone.

    They cited the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing manned by one of the prominent sons of the Southwest, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

    There is also the case of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) which is being headed by another South Westerner, Mr. Babatunde Fowler from Lagos State.

    Similarly, some analysts have argued that restructuring the country, which the PDP has projected as one of its key campaign points, is an elitist concept that does not strike any chord with the voting masses in the zone.

    “For instance, what is the Yoruba word for restructuring and how do you pass the message across to the market women, artisans and the masses that form the bulk of the voting population?” a PDP chieftain who spoke on condition of anonymity asked.

    The source also described the positions of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SFG) and that of the Speaker of House of Representatives which the PDP promised the Southwest as uncertain, stressing that it is only if the PDP wins the Presidency that that can be fulfilled.

    In a swift reaction, however, the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, disagreed with the postulations, saying that prevailing circumstances have changed voting dynamics in the country

    Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone yesterday, Ologbondiyan said: “Nigerians are not talking about who occupies certain positions. They are interested in who can give them power and make ease of doing business available.

    “Nigerians are interested in who can save them from hunger, starvation, killings, bloodletting and all the pain that the Buhari government has imposed on them.

    “The issue is not about who occupies what positions; it is about that candidate that understands the nuances of our nation. That candidate that can turn our economy around and make life better for Nigerians.

    “Having said that, it’s important to state that the PDP is interested in the value of life. The PDP is interested in the equitable distribution of wealth in the nation. The PDP is interested in making life better for the average Nigerian.

    “As such, every group and every geopolitical zone will be well captured and well represented when we form government.

    “This is the type of division that the Buhari administration has continued to set Nigerians against one another with all manner of ethnic crises. But Nigerians have come to resent this approach.

    “It is unfortunate that even the President is so insensitive to the plight of Nigerians that he does not realise that this is not the time Nigerians will be thinking about who comes from where.

    For now, Nigerian are only keen on good governance.”

  • Food security and S/West governors

    Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all” – Jesus Christ (Mark 10:43)

    Last week, tomatoes and vegetables disappeared from Lagos markets. This was attributed to disruption in the regular flow of some food items from the north to the south by the sallah holiday. Our inability to feed ourselves 17 years into the fourth republic is perhaps a clear manifestation of deficit of Christ’s defined attributes of servant-leadership among some of our clowning South-west ‘activists’, the ‘constituted authority and ‘Oshokomole – Ebora tin je jollof’ governors who behave and act as if they are beyond reproach or that leadership is about being hailed by sycophants, thugs and okada commercial motorcyclists.

    But it has not always been like this. We were once blessed selfless leaders and role models with templates for developmental strategies that did not only guarantee self-sufficiency in food production but promises of a more just, egalitarian society. We remember with nostalgia the selfless services of leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, S L Akintola, Anthony Enahoro, Oduola Osuntokun Abraham Adesanya, and their other colleagues who left a lasting legacy in education, health, housing and agriculture with judicious management of the little resources available to them. Their second republic successors such as Olabisi Victor Onabanjo, Lateef Jakande, Bola Ige, Ambrose Alli and Adekunle Ajasin who as governor refused to spend N50, 000 to fix a leaking government house claiming Ondo State could not afford the luxury at the time, followed the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors by providing quality service to their people. The fourth republic threw up Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Niyi Adebayo, Segun Osoba and Pa Bisi Akande who like Jakande used his personal car as official car until the state forced him to abandon it. Like their predecessors, they selflessly served the people and we today remember them with melancholy.

    The crisis of leadership in the West started in 2003 when Obasanjo under his dubious mainstreaming policy decided to impose leaders on the West. He was to become a godfather to the likes of Lucky Igbinedion, Segun Agagu, Ayo Fayose, Segun Oni, Gbenga Daniel and Olagunsoye Oyinlola as well as other ambitious individuals such as journalists, academics and other professionals who, following their losses in the primary elections of their parties, were seduced by Obasanjo federal government’s offer of funds, security and vehicles to destabilize south-west.

    Obasanjo’s hand-picked leaders as it turned out, unlike their predecessors, served none but themselves. Igbinedion left Benin City after eight years in office like a war-torn city. Fayose traded a College of Medicine for a fraudulent poulty farm during his first coming; Oni took Ekiti through three years of nightmare while fighting to keep a mandate the courts finally ruled he never won. His major legacy includes foisting three universities, including the one sited in his village on Ekiti that had no resources to effectively run one. Olagunsoye  Oyinlola who admitted to a judicial commission of inquiry of awarding and paying in advance contractors to build stadia around some towns in Osun State and Gbenga Daniel who went around Ogun State with ex-President Jonathan commissioning uncompleted  and yet to take off projects.

    With Obasanjo’s humiliating defeat by Tinubu, some of the immediate and current leadership which represents the mainstream south-west political orientation were expected to have taken after their first and second and republic forbearers. Unfortunately they seem to have found their shoes too big.

    Let us start with Ekiti, the land of honour.  Fayemi no doubt made some impact in education and social welfare. But with Ekiti State as the 35th  out of 36th on the nation’s revenue ladder, diverting N2.7b of the  N25 billion bond  his administration secured from the capital market to build a grandiose government house because the then ‘Osuntokun Lodge lacked many facilities befitting of the residence of a governor  and therefore very inferior’ to other government houses in the country was indefensible when his government could have rehabilitated the run-down  Ikun Dairy farm established by Ajasin in the second republic as part of solution to a geographical region that depends on other geographical zones for the 10,000 heads of cow  it consumes daily.

    Aregbesola, after retrieving his stolen mandate through the courts had enjoyed tremendous support and goodwill of the people, all of which he seems to have frittered away because of his leadership style. Although he swears by Awo’s name, he appears to be his own role model. His rather insensitive comment about the state of mind of Ademola Adeleke who recently defeated his APC candidate in the Osun south senatorial by-election after rightly reminding Ede people that the senatorial seat was not hereditary seem to confirm the fears of those who argue Aregbesola has been wearing a shoe bigger than his leg.

    Ajimobi during his first term, keyed into Buhari’s  green alternative initiative which focuses on commercial agriculture development programme, by allocating tractors, planters and harvesters to each of the 33 local government areas. Most of those equipment are however said to have either been sold off or mismanaged by past caretaker chairmen while he as ‘the constituted authority’ battles those who put him in power especially students of Oyo State tertiary institutions who have been out of schools for the greater part of the year and their civil servants and pensioners parents who have not been paid for several months.

    Ajimobi who started well is also today enmeshed in Ibadan traditional chieftaincy controversy as he apes ill-informed military men who unilaterally made kings out of ‘Baales’ as he creates, by fiat, kings with crowns and sceptres without kingdoms.

    While Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State on his part is striving to turn his state to number one industrial hub in Nigeria with plans to build airport before 2019, two years to the end of his second four years term, his plan towards agriculture that will lead to industrialisation remains a plan. In any case, since people have to eat before the transformation of agriculture from commercialization to industrialization, keying into the Buhari agriculture initiatives designed to achieve food security, alleviate rural poverty and end hunger ought to be the starting point.

    If leadership, as Sun Tzu, (Chinese General, and 544–496BC) has said “is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline”, a well-focused Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos who operates as a servant rather than a ‘constituted authority’ better appropriates the virtues of his forbearers. After insisting “there is no alternative to achieving food security other than tilling the land and embrace best practices that will improve efficiency in the agricultural value chain”, he has in practical terms sealed a landmark partnership with Kebbi State government for the development of agricultural commodities such as rice, wheat, groundnut, onion, maize and beef value chain. His government has also acquired 500 hectares of farm land for rice cultivation in Eggua, Ogun State, 84.7 hectares at Okinni in Osogbo for oil palm processing.

  • S/West and Fulani herdsmen’s terror

    In the past couple of weeks, we in the South-west have not been experiencing much of Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism in our part of Nigeria. We hear of it still going on very brutally in parts of the Middle Belt – still more or less regularly taking the lives of many people, destroying villages, and forcibly seizing territory in Benue State, Southern Kaduna and other parts of the Middle Belt.

    Obviously, we in the South-west would be fools if we allowed ourselves to fall into the thinking that it has ended in our South-west. It has not. In fact, whenever one travels through any part of the South-west these days, one cannot avoid the very clear impression that the cattle herders and their cows are streaming in larger numbers than before to the South-west. They are everywhere, from the tall grass terrains of our northern territories (in northern Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states), all the way to our southernmost districts, including our Lagos State in our farthest south. They are roaming in places where there is, obviously, only thick forests and broad-leaf vegetation and no visible grass. Even though the reports of the herdsmen’s violent attacks on farms and farmers and villages have been muted in the past few weeks in our South-west, we need to watch out. Their coming at all, and their coming in the larger numbers that we are now seeing, is not good for our well-being and cannot be good for our future.

    We must entertain such fears for obvious reasons. When, at the early high points of the Fulani herdsmen’s massacres and destruction of farms and villages in various prats of our South-west, we cried out in pain, the responses we got were such as should always keep us on our guard. Some leaders of the association of Fulani cattle herders responded to us that there was nothing we could do to keep their herdsmen and their cows out of our homeland, and that their being Nigerian citizens, and their living under the ECOWAS agreements, gave them the unlimited freedom to enter with their cows into any part of our land, even if they were engaging in violence and destruction there. We, as Nigerians, deserved protection by the Nigerian federal government; but, not only did the President of Nigeria keep silent about these outrages by his Fulani kinsmen terrorists, the general behaviour of the federal government was such as to make us suspect that the powers and influence of the federal government were being used to support the Fulani herdsmen terrorists. We can see, as many Nigerians have pointed out in the media, that the Nigerian Police seem to fear to arrest the murderous terrorists, even when the terrorists carry AK47 rifles in the public, and even when the terrorists are suspected to have killed people or destroyed property.

    When the government of our Ekiti State made a law to curtail the rampages of the Fulani terrorists in Ekiti State, and the leaders of the herdsmen’s associations responded that they would disregard the law and defy the Ekiti State government, we could only conclude that they derived their defiant spirit from the support they were getting from federal sources. And, finally, it is no longer a secret that our governors are under federal pressure to accept the cattle herders, and to provide land for them, in our states.

    In short, there are good reasons why we must suspect that there is a plot in high places to inflict some horror on our homeland in Nigeria, and that the Fulani herdsmen terrorists are part of the instruments of the plot. Most informed Nigerians believe by now that some very influential Nigerians are behind the radicalization of the Fulani herdsmen in these times – that some influential Nigerians are supplying sophisticated weapons to them, training them in military assault tactics, indoctrinating them against the rest of Nigeria, and attracting foreign elements (Libyan militia men and Fulani desperadoes from neighbouring countries) to come and join them in killing and destroying in Nigeria. The ultimate objective of all this remains a puzzle to us; we only know that it cannot possibly be good for us or for the other Nigerian peoples that have been under the attacks since 2014. There is no doubt that this is some sort of invasion.

    Nomadic cattle rearing is one of the most primitive survivals of barbarism into the modern world. In most countries where it still exists, the authorities are striving to bring it to an end and to replace it with modern cattle ranching. In contrast, in Nigeria, the authorities are manoeuvring to create space for it even in regions where it never existed even in ancient times. The record of our history shows that we Yoruba, living in a homeland that is mostly tropical forests, have never engaged in nomadic cattle rearing. In the course of the past 6000 years, we have steadily developed our sedentary crop farming into the most successful in tropical Africa. On the basis of that success, we built the richest urban civilization in the history of Black Africa. But today in Nigeria, we are being pressurized to push back on civilization in order to create space for barbarism on our land.

    We must make it abundantly clear to Nigeria and to the world that we will never yield to this outrage. We will pursue our best and most sustainable options in the circumstance. We will not harass or antagonize our governors in this matter. We know the kind of pressures they are operating under. We only demand of them to dare to speak out clearly in ways that fully and unambiguously express our wish. Then we ask that they should, like the Ekiti State governor, make laws that will push back on nomadic cattle rearing in our states.

    And finally, to nail our approach to this problem definitively, we must ask our state governments to embark on programmes for the development of modern cattle ranching. This would mean that, in the grasslands of the northern provinces of our states, we should set aside areas that we designate as ranch-lands; and in such places we should encourage our own citizens to acquire, at minimum costs, appropriate sizes of land for ranches; and we should set up programmes for helping them to develop their ranches and to enforce ranch regulations and security. As a corollary to this, we should set up cattle markets in the same northern areas of our homeland, and encourage our business folks to establish slaughter facilities or abattoirs, and to put frozen meat trucks on the roads to supply beef to our towns and cities. We have reached the point at which we should prohibit the rearing of cows through our farmlands, and prohibit the driving of cows though our city or town streets. We have also reached the point at which we should see to it that our beef retailers will buy their beef supplies at frozen depots and sell with smaller frozen facilities.

    If other people desire to bring cows for sale from outside our region, they should bring their cows, by approved pathways, to our cattle markets and sell there only. In all these, there are great business opportunities for our people. There are also great business opportunities for citizens of northern states in their own states, if they would choose to take advantage of what we are doing. We will gladly buy the cattle that they bring to our cattle markets. These are things we and they can do quite easily. For us and for them, it is a win-win proposition. But we must not wait for anybody; we must go right ahead regardless. If we handle this well, we in the South-west can soon become a major exporter of beef.

    In summary, we must not let ourselves get embroiled in wild and messy battles over our farmlands. We must mobilize the factors of civilization to win the primitive war that some people have chosen to wage against us. Let us win it – in ways that are peaceful, in ways that will advance our progress and prosperity. I hope that our governors – Akinwumi Ambode, Ibikunle Amosun, Abiola Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola, Rotimi  Akeredolu and Ayo Fayose – are reading this. And I hope they will spring into action. If they do, they can count on our powerful backing at every step.

  • Famakinwa, DAWN and S/West renaissance

    The death of Dipo Famakinwa is a very sad one. I have known the Director General of Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) for a few years now and I have come to respect not only his maturity, quiet personality, relational skills, solid professionalism, but also his sound credentials as a development expert with commendable entrepreneurial intelligence. Famakinwa did not become the DG of DAWN by some kind of lucky coincidence. On the contrary, he came to that multidisciplinary organisation in 2013 with a solid educational background, business acumen and an enviable professional experience at both the public and private sectors, as well as at home and abroad. He was a consummate administrator, able to motivate and inspire.

    We became very good friends because after my retirement in 2015 when it became clear to us that we share some commonalities that border on ideas about federalism, development in general, regionalism, but most especially the significance of the Southwest as a development signpost for Nigeria’s federal framework. Recently, Famakinwa’s DAWN and the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) have been looking for a unique joint project around which these shared ideas could translate to active proposals that would further the objectives of the two organisations. No one can doubt Famakinwa’s concern for the development of Nigeria through a constant reassessment of the mechanics for structurally recreating Nigeria’s federalism. A critical opponent of platitudinous rhetoric about reform, he was concerned with a deep and operationalized rehabilitation of the Nigerian project that goes beyond mere constitutional exercise. For instance, he was very critical of recent confabulation experiment like the National Conference of 2014 and all its internal inconsistencies, contradictions and lack of solid understanding of what ails Nigeria. For him, the renegotiation of Nigerian federal experiment must commence from an unbiased diagnosis of where we are presently. For instance, we will all be playing the ostrich and hiding our heads from our geopolitical reality if we think that, say, the creation of more states has the capacity to rejuvenate federalism.

    Now, Dipo Famakinwa has been snatched by death at the prime of his life. This ought to be the time when DAWN blueprint for strategic integration of the Southwest into a large context of good governance and infrastructural development should be going into implementation. He ought to have been present to add his administrative and coordinating skills to the complex implementation exercise simply because the blueprint was articulated by his team. It derives from a vision which he himself had carried for five years since he became the director general at DAWN. Death has been said to bring finality to all things, to aspirations and to dreams and to hope. For Malene Dietrich, “When you are dead, you are dead. That’s it.” Final. Finality.The end.

    But not this time. This is because even death does not have any power over any combustible idea. Death itself can be the route to immortality. “Between our birth and death,” says Christopher Fry, “we may touch understanding.” This is not an automatic achievement. Many came into the world and died without achieving significant understanding, especially of the roles they are expected to play and the duties they owe mankind. Dipo Famakinwa was not that kind of man. For 50 years of his life, he was a leader. But leading was not just enough for him; legacy was. With DAWN, he was read to take his credentials and reputation that regionalization for development is the path for Nigeria’s progress. How then can we make his death the platform for the establishment of his legacy, DAWN?

    DAWN has strategic reform significance. This is the understanding that Famakinwa committed his professionalism, intelligence and development expertise to. DAWN possesses the operational capability to conceptualise, negotiate and implement the renaissance of socio-economic well-being for Southwestern citizens of Nigeria. In fact, at a deeper level, through DAWN, we can achieve the ignition of a national revolution in development.The DAWN vision and mission is grand and beautiful. But far more significant are the five development pillars around which the vision and mission are woven—economic development (around agriculture, tourism, solid minerals and applied science and innovation), social and human development (health, wellness, education and workforce development), infrastructural development (transportation, power, energy, science and technology), building inclusive institutions (civil society, civil service), and homeland affairs (security, cultural preservation, promotion of excellence).

    This, for me, constitutes a complete reform agenda for the South-west. It is to the commendation of Famakinwa that there is in place already a strategic roadmapfor bringing to birth the blueprint for the regional development of the South-west. But this does not abate my professional fear. I have, in my short years as a reformer, seen the death of so many beautiful strategic plans and roadmaps. Ideas and ideals die easily on the platform of good intentions. And yet, even the readiness to implement is also fraught with terrible foreboding. However, Famakinwa was never afraid of implementing the roadmap. The challenges he faced went beyond just the roadmap itself. Would his death signal the end of his vision and his staunch belief in their implementability? Very soon, encomiums will start pouring in. Many people will reflect on his life time and achievements. Others will make many promises to his left behind family. Some portion of DAWN building may even be named after him. And a picture will remain at the DAWN headquarters as a memorial. Famakinwa will then be buried, and silence will threaten to obliterate his development efforts. The strategic roadmap will still be dogged by political and administrative impediments.

    The best memory we can inscribe to his legacy of courageous development thinking and administrative perspicacity is to commence the implementation of the roadmap he staked his professional credentials on. Specific issues are at stake in implementing the DAWN strategic roadmap. The most important, I think, is contained in the DAWN’s 10 operating principles. Underlying all these principles is a solid orientation towards policy implications of DAWN’s development pillars. Converting these pillars into significant policies in the South-west is the most important challenge DAWN has to face after the demise of Famakinwa.

    As things stand, Nigeria’s economic profile still ensures that state governments are held captive by a crippling fiscal framework, founded on what I have called the “bail-out” monthly allocation mentality, which limits governance responsibility. How then can implementation of the roadmap take off if the wherewithal to achieve its implementation and critical sustainability is missing? The most immediate challenge therefore is two-pronged. On the one hand, to significantly deal with the cost of governance issue by downsizing/rightsizing government institutional expenses in a way that will free up funds for efficient investment in infrastructural development. And on the other hand, there is the urgent need to invest in the active cultivation of internally generated revenue, beginning, for instance, with adequate tax payment enforcement matched with strong culture of performance and democratic accountability.

    There is no other way, therefore, to keep the legacies of Famakinwa alive than for the six governors of the Southwest states to not only renew their commitment to an operationally sound organisation they jointly set up, demonstrate shared ideological commitment that transcends party differences and dichotomies for the sake of the Southwest people, but to also use the former DG’s death as a clarion call to no longer waste development time through paying mere lip service to South-west agenda. This must be the time to bring the governance blueprint alive, together with the cultivation of critical synergies and partnership that could assist in bringing alive the blueprint for South-west strategic integration and governance thus reliving the great Awo legacy. That is what would make Dipo Famakinwa’s untimely death a timely intervention in the trajectory of what he stood for.

     

    • Olaopa is Executive Vice-Chairman, Ibadan School of Government & Public Policy (ISGPP).

  • Moremi controversy in S/West

    Ancient Ife, the first city kingdom founded by the Yoruba people, is a place of great legends and folktales. One of the most popular folktales from Ife is the Moremi story. In Yorubaland in modern times, Moremi has been widely celebrated in songs and drama – usually as a story of great heroism and patriotism. But now, in recent weeks, there has arisen a controversy over the exact significance of Moremi in Yoruba history. The Ooni of Ife has celebrated Moremi as a heroine and patriot with a beautiful statue in Ile-Ife. But the Oba of another Yoruba kingdom, the Olugbo of Ugbo, has responded that Moremi was not a patriot but a traitor – and a public controversy is raging.

    The first thing to say about controversies concerning Yoruba history is that the Yoruba are a very great African people – with one of the highest peaks of urbanism in world history, and with highly sophisticated political, social and intellectual accomplishments. The Yoruba have great stories to tell from their proud history but, unfortunately, because they did not develop writing as part of their civilization, oral traditions of their history can sometimes prove difficult to unravel. It is an honour for us historians to wrestle with these difficulties. And we must thank distinguished historians Toyin Falola and Jide Osuntokun and others for stepping into the present Moremi controversy. My brief intervention here is that of a historian who has spent a whole adult life researching and writing Yoruba history, and who is still strongly involved in the study.

    The setting for the Moremi story is the Ife town (Ile-Ife) in its earliest years. For many centuries before the creation of Ile-Ife, many tiny separate settlements had existed in the area of the Ife forest. (Clumps of such small settlements were many all over Yorubaland). In about the 9th century AD, the small separate settlements in the Ife forest coalesced into a single large town, Ile-Ife, ruled by one king – the first of such in Yorubaland. The path to the formation of this one Ile-Ife was rough, featuring conflicts and wars between the many small settlements of the area, conflicts and wars lasting, according to most traditions, more than 100 years. Even after the inhabitants of the small settlements finally agreed to end the conflicts and settle together in one large town (ile-Ife), there were some people who would not agree. These migrated away in anger into the forests far from Ileì-IfeòÌ, where they settled down and built settlements of their own. The people of Igbo-Igbo, one of such settlements, being still very angry, were determined to destroy Ileì-IfeòÌ. And so the stage was set for the Moremi story.

    Ileì-IfeòÌ town was new, young, and fragile. Suddenly, it found itself in grave danger. From somewhere in the deep forests, some people dressed in strange masks, and looking more like phantoms than humans, came attacking and rampaging in the dead of night, destroying and burning houses, killing people and kidnapping others. Before the Ileì-IfeòÌ people could respond, the phantoms vanished. Sometimes, the attack occurred frequently; at other times it occurred after long breaks. Nobody could tell when it would come. Fear gripped Ile-Ife; many people believed that the attackers were super-human. It sometimes seemed as if the town would break up.

    Among the king’s wives, there was one exceptionally beautiful young woman named Moremi. MoòreÌmi had only one son named Oluìorogbo. MoòreÌmi began to think of the terrible situation. Surely, she thought, there must be something that she could do to help her town. She finally came to a decision.

    One night, MoòreÌmi stole out of the palace and went to the small river EòsinÌmiÌnriÌn in the forest, not far from town. Standing in the darkness, she invoked the spirit of the river for help for Ile-Ife. At last the river spirit answered and agreed to help, but demanded a reward. Moremi pledged to offer her only son, Oluorogbo, as sacrifice to the river spirit as reward.

    And then the river spirit gave Moremi her instructions. On the next coming of the raiders, Moremi should deliberately let herself be kidnapped and taken away. She would go through a lot of experiences, but she should not fear, because she would be under protection. And she would someday come back to Ileì-IfeÌ, and her return would finally lead to the destruction of the enemies and the end of their attacks.

    So, when the attackers came next, Moremi let herself be captured by them. They rushed her and some other captives into the deep forests. After a long march in the forests, they reached their destination – a small town surrounded by thick dark jungles. Among Yoruba people, the practice was that kings and chiefs took as wives young women who were captured in war. So, the king took Moremi as wife.

    And so MoòreÌmi found herself in the very heart of the secrets of the enemies of Ile-Ife. In the many months that followed, as a wife to their ruler, she was able to listen to their conversations and plans and learn the minutest details of their secrets. They were not phantoms at all, but humans wearing masks. And their masks were inflammable.

    One morning, while fetching water alone at the brooks, Moremi felt the urge to bolt away. She said a short prayer and started off into the jungle. She had a fair knowledge of the forest paths. She knew that some men would soon be chasing her, but she was confident that they would not find her – that was what the spirit of the river had promised.

    Finally, she burst into her familiar Ile-Ife. She was taken before the Ooni and his chiefs, and she told them all she had done and suffered and learned. She revealed all the secrets of the supposedly phantom raiders, and made suggestions how their menace could be finally brought to an end.

    The raiders came at the time that MoòreÌmi had said they would. An ambush was waiting for them, mounted by men armed not only with the usual swords, spears, bows and arrows, but also with fiery torches. The phantom raiders were completely vanquished. The next morning, as MoòreÌmi had advised, a large army set out through the forests to go and attack Igbo-Igbo. The small town was taken by surprise and destroyed. Many survivors, including their king’s son, were brought captive to Ile-Ife. Many other survivors fled into the forests – and settled far away as new towns.

    In Ile-Ife, rather than order the execution of the captives, the Ooni allowed them to stay and live honorably as free citizens. The Ooni even conferred the title of a priest on their young captive prince, in which position he was allowed to wear his father’s crown. And Ileì-IfeòÌ lived and prospered from then on, and became the source from which many other YoruÌbaì city kingdoms were founded.

    MoòreÌmi’s personal story and agony was not yet ended. She still had her pledge to the spirit of the EòsiÌnmiÌnriÌn river to fulfill. One day, she took Oluorogbo to the bank of the river and offered him as sacrifice. Most versions say that, at that point, Oluìorogbo was snatched up to heaven and became a spirit. Some other versions say that after Oluìorogbo was sacrificed, the rulers and priests of IfeòÌ deified him. Oluorogbo’s shrine is said to exist still in Ile-Ife.

    Some historians doubt whether the Moremi story is myth or history. But, whichever it is, it is a very important story to the Ife people and to most Yoruba people.

    Moreover, if the Moremi story is indeed history, then it should not surprise us that, while most Yoruba regard Moremi as a heroine and patriot, people in some places in Yorubaland (probably descendants of those who suffered defeat and distress because of her actions) regard her as a traitor. In the history of the world, that commonly happens to important persons. It all depends on how an important person’s life impacted different people in his or her time. For instance, most French people regard Joan of Arc, who once saved France in a battle, as a heroine and patriot; but some regard her as an insane woman possessed of the devil.

    We Yoruba will always have colourful controversies from our great history. We must not quarrel about such. Our duty is to respect our past, and to try responsibly to study and understand difficult points in our traditions. Fortunately, we are always producing competent historians today. In the Moremi matter, the Ooni deserves our nation’s gratitude for the beautiful new statue of Moremi in Ile-Ife.  We Yoruba need to have many statues of our local and nationwide heroes and heroines in our homeland.

  • S’West: Obas can’t guarantee Jonathan’s re-election

    S’West: Obas can’t guarantee Jonathan’s re-election

    The Southwest Peoples Assembly (SWPA) has said that moarchs in the region can not gurantee the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls.

    The group said: “President Goodluck Jonathan is not sincere with the people of South-west since he assumed office about six years.” It pointed out that the Yoruba people had been schemed from strategic positions or appointments under his leadership.

    Its Mr. Lai Omotola, said in a statement that the South-west “has the most sophisticated voters that cannot be bought with petro-dollars or influenced by traditional rulers.

    He added: “In South-west, petrodollars will not impact much, but pedigree will be key on the basis of who have stood by the Yoruba agenda, who can be trusted, who can put Yoruba on the right pedestrian. Integrity has electoral weight in Yoruba land.”

    Omotola said that the purported inroad by the president into the South-west and the apparent shifting of all campaign machinery into the zone to win votes “is nothing, but an exercise in futility.”

    He said: If the president is sincere with the Yoruba people, then what happened in other key appointments like Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) among others.”

  • S/West PDP in fresh bid to oust Tambuwal

    S/West PDP in fresh bid to oust Tambuwal

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest has launched a fresh move to unseat Mallam Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives and Mr. Solomon Onwe as acting national secretary of the party.

    The Southwest PDP wants the two positions restored to the geo-political zone to redress what it calls undue marginalisation in the country’s leadership structure.

    Stakeholders of the party in the region believe that the party’s chances in the 2015 elections will depend largely on its own occupying the two positions.

    Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the PDP National Secretary, was eased out in the festering intra-party crisis. The national leadership of the party, however, said Oyinlola’s removal was in compliance with a court decision.

    The Southwest PDP also lost the slot of speaker to Tambuwal from the Northwest on account of the Southwest’s inability to agree on a common candidate.

    They unanimously agreed that there is need for the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and general -secretary of the PDP to be occupied by South-westerners if the party’s quest for a good showing in the region during the 2015 general election is to be realised.

    The Nation gathered that party leaders and stakeholders told the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at a meeting in Ibadan that unless the Speaker’s position is returned to the Southwest, the cry of marginalisation by the people of the region will not stop. The leaders said as politicians, they are expected to support the aspiration of the people and as such, it has become important to address the issue of alleged marginalisation of the region.

    Tukur was in Ibadan to resolve the crisis which has torn the party into shreds in the geo-political zone.

    The reconciliatory move, however, hit the rock following the boycott of the meeting by Segun Oni, the sacked Deputy National Chairman of the party.

    Tukur, according to sources at the meeting, appealed to the PDP Southwest leaders to be patient and allow the party to address what he admitted was lopsidedness in the distribution of political offices by the ruling party.

    One PDP leader in the zone said:”Yes, we are in a position to push for the redistribution of political offices. Specifically, we want the position of the Speaker and that of the party secretary to be given to us in the Southwest. It doesn’t matter that some people currently occupy the positions. The party’s zoning principle gave them to us and so they should be ours.

    “If we must tell our people to look in the way of the PDP again, we must be able to tell them the party respects and desires them. If the people feel they are not wanted by the party, it will be difficult to tell them about the party.

    “From the presidency to the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, that is about ten top positions in the country, no Yoruba is there. We can feel it that the anger of our people against the party is just because of that. We are determined to push for redistribution in line with the constitution of the party.

    “Initially we wanted the issue raised publicly at the reception but the leaders prevailed on us to allow for a private discussion of the matter given how sensitive it is. That was why a brief parley followed the reception same day.”

    The complaint, which was to be formally presented to Tukur at a reception held in his honour at Premier Hotel on Friday night, had to be dropped by those delegated to speak for the zone.

    However, former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu in his own submission at the reception, harped on the need for the PDP to respect its constitution and promote equality and fairness among its members if it intends to continue to do well as a political party in the country.

    “There is too much arbitrariness in our party. There are too many people claiming leadership positions. The earlier we found a solution, the better for us,” he said.

    Other party chieftains at the deliberations, according to our sources, include former Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, Erelu Olusola Obada, Senator Teslim Folarin and Chief Buruji Kashamu.