“The world is a complex place, and the influence of the media in its representation and its power of communication and interpretation is a remarkable amplifier of emotions, and of illusions.” Tariq Ramadan The marriage or inclusion of the media in politics is inevitable. The only credible institutional link between the government and the people, other social institutions and the masses is so interwoven with the reality of the society that, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu started his own media outfits, he had already known what he wanted before setting out for it. It’s not just for self but for the…
Author: Abiodun Komolafe
In an interview with journalists recently, the Elegboro of Ijebu-Jesa in the Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State, Oba Moses Oluwafemi Agunsoye stated that “no one can sit on the throne as a monarch nowadays without having good money”. According to the first class monarch, “gone are those days when people brought things to the palace, where the Kabiyesi would sit down and expect manna from heaven. Now, it is the palace that is giving out … So, an Oba must be up and doing, must have a job, or source of handsome income and he cannot rely on…
Abba Kyari, CFR, OON! Remember him? Kyari was the Chief of Staff (CoS) to former President Muhammadu Buhari. Born on September 23, 1952, he served in that prestigious position between August 2015 and April 2020. While in office, little was actually known about Kyari in the public realm. Unfortunately too, his name actually symbolized an uncanny error of namesake. The Borno State-born lawyer and banker shared a name with somebody who once had a favourable public perception, until Satan smiled; and the ‘super cop’ lost it! Kyari died on April 17, 2020, following complications from COVID-19. In the case of…
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State deserves a pat on the back for instructing the three senators representing the state in the Upper Chamber to “mobilize support for former Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s nomination as Minister” during last week’s screening exercise. Of course, it is a gesture that could not be caged! But beyond sheer propaganda, did the senators’ support amount to anything? Are we saying that, as senators, they cannot reason or talk unaided? If Osun senators have spoken against Nominee Oyetola, would the senate have rejected him and would the president have dropped him? How many ministerial nominees have…
In a nationwide address last Monday, President Bola Tinubu announced some palliatives to mitigate the impact of the high cost of living brought about by the fuel subsidy removal. Great speech! Excellent delivery! So, kudos to Mr President! However, a section of Nigerians frowned at the speech because ‘it was one-sided’. According to this group, the president only pleaded with the masses to persevere without telling Nigerians what the elite and the privileged clique would be sacrificing to make Nigeria great again. Though Nigerians have never doubted Tinubu’s capacity to be to Nigerians what Prophet Elijah was to the widow…
“Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.’” Nehemiah 2:17 The belief in some quarters is that the Bola Tinubu presidency is being confronted by two enemies: the cabals and the masses. Well, while Nigeria’s real enemies are the impenitent and chauvinistic cabals, fact remains that the masses have consistently been at the receiving end of successive governments’ bad policies and programmes. Nigeria’s real enemies are the uncaring…
Not long ago, Adeola Olatunde (not his real name) fell ill and was admitted to hospital. At a point, his condition became so critical that help had to be sought from public-spirited individuals. Eventually, former Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State heard about it and took up the challenge. Nigerians remain grateful to the Iragbiji, Osun State-born politician for this benevolent act. Obviously, Olatunde was fortunate because a Good Samaritan intervened when help was most needed; otherwise, the story would possibly have been worse. But then, his case was not that of one indolent beggar or non-possession of ‘a second…
On May 29, 2023, Bola Tinubu assumed office as Nigeria’s president, 16th leader. Nigerians wish him success in the onerous tasks ahead. All the same, it is important to note that President Tinubu’s Nigeria is home to an array of folks: the diligent and the intelligent, the determined and the focused, plus the great boasters and the little doers; and they cut across her socio-political geography. Tinubu’s country harbours the progressives and the conservatives, the strong and the weak, the praise-singers and the faultfinders, the slippery and the flippant, the perpetual pessimists and the embittered opposition. Above all, it is…
Change is inevitable! The trouble however is that, most times, one doesn’t see it coming; not even the military; otherwise, all coups would have been preempted and suppressed before they’re eventually executed. So also, it is reasonable to say in public administration that, in the few weeks of Bola Tinubu’s administration, there have been many upheavals and things that quite a few Nigerians never believed were possible that have been announced and addressed; and the nation has remained the same, even stronger. Going forward, President Tinubu wants to fly in the air at 1 a.m. He wants all the youth…
All through history, finding and keeping round and square pegs in their respective holes has never been a Sugarcandy Mountain party. It’s a tough job for experts and committed people! Therefore, President Bola Tinubu must keep working round the clock, looking for leaks and blocking same. Take a look at the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), which, at its inception, was with its spectacular fanfare and related brouhaha. OFN was with the notion of an idea whose time has come; but the intangibles waited patiently for it. As fate would have it, the scheme’s promoter eventually became its albatross. The…
I am an angry Nigerian and those who know me must know why I have to be! As the pioneer Administrative Secretary of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), one of the major organizers of the famous ‘Occupy Nigeria’ in 2012, yours sincerely can conveniently align his thoughts with a parody in Yoruba which explains the situation Nigeria has found herself in the last 60 years. It is called ‘subu-sere’. Translated literally, it means ‘instability’. Of course, that’s why a Godwin Emefiele could imagine himself being a future president of Nigeria. It also defines the miraculous emergence and imposition of the…
There’s an awe of a legend; and this awe is fed or fuelled by the happenings in the life of that legend. When Obafemi Awolowo said certain things during his lifetime, subsequent events could only be explained and substantiated, at times, by the metaphysical analysis of those events. Take, for instance, when the late sage was being taken to prison, he told the Abubarkar Tafawa Balewa-led government that he was going “from this twilight into the darkness, with a brave heart, with confident hope, and … unshaken in” his “trust in the Providence of God that a glorious dawn will…
On July 29, 1966, Adekunle Fajuyi, a Lieutenant Colonel, and Military Governor of Western Nigeria, staked his life, when some revenge-seeking counter-coupists came for the head of Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigeria’s military ruler. Aguiyi-Ironsi was on a visit to the region; and the governor told the coupists that they’d not kill his guest in Ibadan, the regional capital. But the soldiers insisted. Ultimately, they killed the guest and his host. But there was no compensation, either for Fajuyi’s family or the Yoruba race, for the supreme price he paid to keep the country together. Instead, the atrocious crime was…
There is an unraveling mystery about the Nigerian press. The custodian of this value is clearly misunderstood and misused in opportunities. But it is for the present crop of journalists to reinvent themselves into relevance; otherwise, the Nigerian press will remain a caricature of itself and the ideas of its founding fathers. Nonetheless, the patriots were also guilty. When it’s time to go back to that story, we will! Thank God the 2022 Osun governorship election has come and gone! A victor has finally emerged and the losers have ‘moved on’. However, that the victorious Governor Ademola Adeleke and the…
Flowery words are oftentimes appropriate but then, they are generally not the fulcrum main messages. Whichever way, the message must not be lost on the altar of flowery languages. Without mincing words, tourism has become the world’s phenomenal finance garnering centre that every serious government must look for in its search for a legitimate means of shoring up its revenue base. So, no matter what, old and new governments must look for the means of securing succor from the tourism sector. The opposite, so to say, is to leave it aside and live in regret thereafter. The history of Osun…
My series of intervention in Nigeria’s governance and institutional reform dynamics and imperatives have always been with the objective of providing a wide-ranging array of ideas and insights that will unravel the inner working of these issues for Nigerians. This, I believe, will enhance their sense of the governance issues and challenges that shape their lives. But more fundamental still is the opportunity for any new administration, like the incoming one, to have a storehouse of germane approaches and paradigms—iterations of possibilities—from which it could energize its policy architecture and the commitment to transforming the lives of Nigerians. At this…
On Monday, May 1, 2023, the immediate past governor of Osun State, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola inaugurated “an 11-man committee to stimulate, revamp, restructure and reposition the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun State Chapter”. Nigerians wish the Professor Isaac Adewole-led Committee well in the onerous tasks ahead. That said, there’s a Yoruba adage, which says: ‘Bi omode ba subu, yio wo iwaju, bi agbalagba ba subu, yio wo ehin’ (Upon falling, a youngster looks ahead – for help; but an elder looks back – for the cause. For Osun APC, it can only look back with a view to unraveling what…
Let me start by saying that I am not an indigene of Ekiti State but Oluwafunmilola, my beloved wife, is from the famous Awosusi family in Aramoko-Ekiti, which, by the by, is only a stone’s throw from Ijebu-Jesa, my Native Nazareth in Osun State. So, apart from being a stakeholder in the Ekiti project, so keen has my interest been in the ‘Fountain of Knowledge’ that I authored a touching tribute, ‘Funmi Olayinka: Yes, I knew her’, to Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka, the late Deputy Governor of the State, who died on April 6, 2013. That said, there are basic principles…
Mutatis mutandis, politics is not the same as repudiating the ethics of public administration. To say that the executive governor of a state has the right or power to stop the payment of workers salary, what they earn legitimately – is, to say the least, an evolution throwback! That the society could not be bothered, due to political reasons or factors, is also a tragedy! The Governor of Osun, Ademola Adeleke, has done the unprecedented by withholding the November 2022 salary and allowances of public servants (political appointees) in the state. Not only that, he has also refused to pay…
In most human societies, visible phenomena are oftentimes credited or associated with the causes of other events. Then, the analysis will take off from there. But, most often, there are other unknown forces or factors that are not easily discernible but are sometimes the real causes, or, responsible for a particular phenomenon. Take, for instance, what started as #EndSARS focussed mainly on police brutality. Somewhere along the line, other unknown-but-important factors such as youth unemployment, hunger, frustrations, lack of opportunities, bad political leadership, economic hardship and subhuman standard of living contributed largely to what was surnamed #EndSARS. Unfortunately, ending (the)…
Whenever a section of the society wants to embark on something new, it’ll first fly a kite. To sane minds, flying a kite is like testing the waters. If the society is gullible enough to ‘collectivise, objectify, even sacralise’ it, then, it becomes the norm. Unfortunately, societal norms tend to grow organic; and continue to evolve that, very soon, people may not even remember its origin. Such is the interim national government plot by some political gladiators in Nigeria. While it is no longer in doubt that the call has again added flavour to the political vocabularies available to the…
Nigeria is preparing for another round of population census rendezvous. Thanks be to God! But, if, at least, we must learn from past experiences, then, the primary question is: is the 2023 Census necessary? If one may also ask, when was the last time Nigeria held a census and how effective have previous exercises been? Or, must we fulfil the ritual of population headcount in Nigeria just for its sake? From the look of things, one may safely conclude that the National Population Commission (NPC), the body saddled with conducting censuses in Nigeria, has become an association created for political…
Oftentimes, intrigues exist in political matrixes. Concepts such as political mass participation, collective demands, group identity and determination, and collateral damages could all mean different things to different people. It only depends on which side of the divide the definer pitches his or her tent. This unrestricted latitude and privilege to operationalize concepts and political ideas (especially in Nigeria) with ‘sidon look’ response from the masses breeds complacency on the part of the political gladiators. The salient issue, however, is that a little divergence from the standard definition or central course gnaws on both the integrity and legitimacy of the…
There is a Yoruba adage, which says that ‘ogbon odun yii, were emii ni.’ (The wisdom of this year is foolishness in the course of time). Talking philosophically, when one relies on an older matrix to work in the present, one’s failure is likely to be like Atiku Abubakar’s. Why? The dynamics of the present may certainly not be exactly the same with the past. In fairness to posterity, the mindset of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and, of course, its presidential candidate – as Nigeria approached the last presidential election – was that the North was still the (typical)…
In the choice of a fitting title for this piece, the late Professor Tai Solarin, one of Nigeria’s foremost educators and social activists, readily came to mind. May the labour of our heroes’ past not be in vain! That said, the title of the write-up suggests an overview of an anticipated journey and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Metaphorically, a rough road suggests an onerous means of achieving arduous set goals. However, the good news is that it keeps the journeying people awake and at alert all the time, because the road is not smooth. Coming to Bola Tinubu,…
Democracy is a political paradigm, albeit, with a specific ideological undertone; and the ideological tone refers to the attributes of democracy. Indeed, that distinguishes it from other ideological classifications. Making it simpler, democracy is different from, say, monarchy in that, while the former embraces and encourages all to participate in a political system, the latter is reserved for the privileged family. In other words, it is family-specific, hereditary and it is essentially the government of the few. So, it’s either one belongs or one doesn’t! Lest we forget, the evolution of democracy has its rich history in a rebellion against…
Talking seriously, Democracy as a concept was alien to Africa, and by implication, Nigeria. Largely, right from inception, democratic norms and values were never assimilated and internalised by Africans. At best, its definition and perception were conveniently based on assumptions. So, it meant different things to different people who thought differently! Needless to repeat that there was no conscious effort on the part of the elite leadership – partially or deliberately – to teach the people its real meaning because it was antithetical to the process of maladministration that had gained currency in the land. We need not forget that,…
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Nigeria’s presidential election will hold on February 25, 2023. So, as the D-day nears us by the eyelids, we are akin to focus on the grand agenda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in producing Nigeria’s next president and plausible threats to Bola Tinubu’s ultimate ambition in politics. Obviously, APC covets support from all the geo-political and ethno-religious divides, just like any other political party with a determination to coast home to victory in an election. But, as the popular saying goes, ‘charity begins at home.’ For Tinubu, the Southwest is his domicile political zone while the Yoruba nation is…
In general terms, Sociology refers to the scientific understanding and interpretation of social actions. With this in mind, that the Nigerian society consists of very poor people, both in material and spiritual essence is no longer news! Arising from the above, that poverty of ideas has generated the culture and ideas of poverty may also not be too far from the truth! What that means is that, in the struggle for survival, democracy of the stomach plays a very important role. To put it mildly, it is the culture of ‘what we shall eat first’ that takes pre- eminence whilst…
To start with, election candidacy ought not to be an impromptu decision. For inspiration, we may have to turn to the Western civilization for succour. After all, our social structures and institutions are patterned after theirs. In the United Kingdom, as in other saner climes, young men and women who participate in school politics – and are interested in running governments – are provided with the ample chance to express themselves in an enabling environment; and they follow through till they graduate from these schools. It’s like a recruitment centre; and they eventually form the bulk of the grooming pool.…
