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Bamise’s murder and this Cryptocurrency generation

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5 years ago

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File photo of late Oluwabamise Ayanwole, the young lady who commuted on the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit

 

On Saturday, March 12, 2022, I delivered the paper below at the Kegites Club’s celebration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s 85th birthday which was held at the OOPL (Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, with him in attendance:

At the installation of the new Olubadan of Ibadanland, I took my time to listen to his cognomen, with studied interest. I came out of the encounter first, with laughter, then shock and trepidation. His royal majesty’s praise chants describe him as “omo o toro obe, toro abe; boo bun mi l’obe, bun mi l’abe nitori abe dun j’obe lo”. Roughly translated, this means, the child of he who begs for soup and begs for sex; he says if you don’t have soup, hesitate not to give me the taste of sex because sex is sweeter than soup.

Such cognomens and songs give indications of traditional African society. They reveal, not strictly the promiscuity of pre-colonial Africa but even other sins they committed like killing one another for killing’s sake. Take for instance the cognomen, oriki of the Iloko lineage of Oyo Yoruba. Iloko proudly dances to chants of lines like omo abe’nilori fiyoku bun ni, translated to mean, one who cuts off somebody’s head and then forgives the victim after the act. My friend, Lasisi Olagunju, an Iloko, proudly flaunts this.

Elders of our land, today, your traditional Africa is under serial attacks. That same traditional Africa which, in nostalgia, you label the purest of all societies, is today mocked by a generation I call the cryptocurrency generation. As the Olubadan’s cognomen was being chanted, I listened to a very naughty little boy of that generation beside me say, so their generation too was that decadent; so why do they disdain ours?

Early this week, as the lifeless body of 22-year-old Oluwabamise Ayanwole, the young lady who commuted on the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit, was found, you were mocked, elders of our land. Oluwabamise’s remains had been dumped on Lagos’ Carter Bridge, with some of her body parts alleged to be missing. Whether the young hapless lady’s death was as a result of a rape gone awry or ritual killing, we are yet to be fully told. However, Nigerians have recently witnessed a resurgence of killings for money rituals.

Respected British scholar, John Peel, in one of his works, said his research found out that in pre-colonial Nigeria, mortuary killings were predominant in southwest Nigeria and strangers were often killed to preserve the life of a community.

Whenever and wherever mutilated bodies of victims of ritual killings are found, your traditional Africa suffers a terrible blow. As tears roll down their cheeks, children of this generation are quick to warn you, canvassers of the purity of traditional Africa, to save your crocodile tears for another day. They claim that the graveyards are filled with bones of hundreds of people your forefathers murdered for what they called the sustenance of traditional Africa; that money ritual is one of your bequeathals to their generation.

As if that was not enough, the cryptocurrency generation calls you hypocrites. What impudence! Asked to elaborate, the vociferous ones among them said that while your forefathers, in one breath, fascinatingly rendered the ancient poetic lines of J. F. Odunjo Alawiye’s poem which asked us to spare the crawling insect and not stamp our feet on it because it is also God’s creation in the chant, “Yi ese re si apa kan, ma se pa kokoro ni, kokoro ti iwo ko le da, Olorun lo le da”…in another breath, your cultic forebears gorged out eyes, breasts, hearts and private parts of their victims. They said those body parts symbolized creationism and multiplicity. With body parts for rituals, wealth and communal wellbeing were assured.

I know you are stupefied at this generation’s daring guts. But listen yet again. This generation says it is amused that you are bothered at the common occurrence now of teenagers, barely off diapers, driving around shining, metallic wonders-on-wheels. Why are they aghast that we earn millions of dollars from Yahoo Yahoo scam of white men and women? they chorus.

Again, they ask you to cover your face in shame. Rather than the villains you say they are, the cryptocurrency generation says it is a generation of heroes and warriors. Their defence is that this is a generation that has chosen not to stand by and lament the over-a-century slave trading and despoliation of the fecund lands of Africa. According to them, they chose instead to fight your battles, battles that you were too effeminate to fight and could not have won against your taskmasters. By defrauding offspring of your colonial taskmasters who took you into slavery centuries ago, the cryptocurrency generation claims it is helping you repatriate the unpaid wages and sweats of your forefathers who, centuries ago, were hewers of woods and drawers of water for Europe and the Americas.

In your very eyes, those lullabies of purity of traditional Africa are exploding into smithereens, elders of our land, you who are the last surviving offspring of traditional Africa. You are at a crossroads. You are right now at that place where three footpaths meet, the very place you called the crossroads that turns the stranger into a novice, the ikorita meta ti n damu alejo.

In the name of fashion, your children are today the archetype of what you resented with the whole of your being. Your children happily flaunt sartorial madness, regalia of that same species of beings you loathsomely labelled as one whose insane dances at the market square are scintillating to watch but whom no one prays to have as a child; the were dun wo loja, ko se bi l’omo.

This cryptocurrency generation wears that same locked, dishevelled, filthy, lengthy, bushy, dreadlocked hairs that the local madman in your area wears, the equivalent of the hairs on the head of Jesus the Christ’s generation’s madman of Gadarene. Your abetiaja cap they mock to ridicule as Stone Age sartorial cruelty and your agbada receives their scorn as a needless parachute. In its place, they wear torn jean trousers like this same madman of Gadarene and place their trousers below the heap of the two clefts of their bottoms – the bebere idi. But of course, they are ever quick to refer you, our elders, to the aforementioned Olubadan’s cognomen as proof that the generations of yesteryears were not as innocent and pure as they have been made to believe!

Ah ah! The myth of purity is exploding in your very eyes like vapours of nothingness! Today’s fashion, the fashion sense of the cryptocurrency world that we live in, blatantly mocks all that excessive coverage of the essential body parts. Your daughters scarcely wear anything at all today. They make public spoils of their nakedness, advertising their cleavages, the bodily variant of what legendary Yoruba Kennery Music exponent, Orlando Owoh, called the sweet pineapple within which there is multiple sweetness – the ope oyinbo to fi dundun s’ewa.

Didn’t your forefathers teach that there is wisdom in masking glory before its maturation, which you concisely couched in that pithy aphorism, bi isu eni ba ta, a f’owo bo je ni? Your male children today and their new wives pose for photographs on Facebook and Instagram with protruded pregnant alaboyun tummies, more naked than the prehistoric Adam and Eve, in a wild celebration they call Baby Shower. When your forefathers sighted a naked man or woman on the street, aghast, they shouted: “Ikunle abiamo o!” a lamentation of the labour pain of a woman that has come to ruins. If in lamentation of nakedness, your forefathers, when they saw a naked madman on the streets, murmured, aso o b’Omoye mo, Omoye ti rin’hoho w’oja, why do you, elders of our land, tolerate your children wearing nakedness as clothing to the marketplace and you laugh and dance with them?

The best place to begin the interrogation of what has gone wrong with us is to find out whether this generation and generations before them share a meeting of the minds on what values are. We need to dispense with this before we accuse one of cultural and value impunity and beatify the other as torchbearers of standards, values and purity. Why has social media become the new German philosopher, Fredrich Nietzche’s Superman, dishing out absolute moral codes to our children and turning them into alien spectacles we can scarcely recognize? Why have we chosen to look away in odious resignation while our fruits, the leaders of our tomorrow, decimate the values that gave us our sterling identity and pride of old?

In Africa, such values as respect for elders, hard work, respect for seniority, the extended family system, valour, premium on children, etc reigned. Pre-colonial Africa is often held as the Golden Years of the continent.

Let us pick the above African values one by one and see where they are in a 21st-century world. Respect for elders. Celebrated columnist, Reuben Abati, faced one of the most acidic attacks ever recently when he demanded that his age be properly attributed on a television programme. Abati was facing what the late poet, Gabriel Okara, mirrored in his ‘Piano and Drums’, piano symbolizing modernity and drums, traditional Africa. Unfortunately for Abati, he forgot that television and modern broadcasting are 21st-century objects, with their own set codes and ethos, to which he wanted to sacrifice pre-colonial ritual objects! Greetings and respect for elders in Africa, Nigeria, and among the Yoruba, like Rome, were not built in a day and did not die in one day. They die gradually. In Yorubaland, the gradual death of respect for elders began from youngsters offering what is called idobale igbingbado – the corn-planting prostration position. It then moved to the merely-bowing-of-head position and today, respect for elders is facing total annihilation. Youngsters offer handshakes as greetings to elders.

Hard work. Today, only a tiny population of our youths believes in hard work. They want to ride Bugatti and Bentley the day they are born. Music as popular culture in pre-colonial Africa and even immediate post-colonial Africa helped to underscore the value of hard work. Musicians of that period sang that sorcery and magic cannot make one wealthy. Today, musicians sing praises of felons and exalt virtues that they say are in scamming and 419.

In the same manner, the values of the extended family system, valour, premium on children and others have become extinct. Those days, Europeans and Americans celebrated our virtue of communal living, our Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a South African social philosophy of culture which explains Africa’s capacity to express compassion, dignity, harmony and humanity while building and maintaining a sense of communality, justice and mutual caring. Ubuntu is a fellow human feeling which is diametrically opposed to the individualistic theory of society propounded by the French philosopher, René Descartes, expressed in the Latin word, “cogito, ergo sum” – I think, therefore I am. For us in Africa, our underlying social philosophy of culture was, I am because we are. Today, Africa has returned to Descartes. It is everyone for himself and God for us all.

Social media is today held as the culprit of the implosion of immorality in Nigeria. I do not subscribe to this fully. I think what we have now is an explosion of reportage of evil, not an explosion of the act. The truth is, there is little difference in the decadence prevalent in pre-colonial African society and now. The little difference is that the ratio of righteous countrymen then, compared to now, has dwindled considerably. Promiscuity was like pestilence then and immorality ruled our world. Until the Nigerian law forbade it, bastard children, products of liaisons with married women, littered the space. Murder was like sport and injustice was everywhere. In the politics of the First Republic, dead bodies were brought to the front of the houses of political opponents so as to rope them into murder. What the social media can be accused of doing now is coordinating all these indecencies that seem to be latent in us – ones in Zamfara, Ebonyi, to Osun – and making them available across time and space, in a baffling spontaneity that looks like a spike.

The way to begin is for each of us to return to our homes. As the saying goes that whoever the gods want to destroy, they first make mad; the family in Africa has become a mad place. William Yeats, Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature, wrote in his poem, ‘The Second Coming’, talked about things that have gone awry, purity that has been polluted. It is the same in our families today. The falcon cannot hear the falconer as things (have) fallen apart; the centre cannot hold. Right inside the family, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. Parents gladly receive car gifts from their Yahoo Yahoo children who they know are kingpins of scamming. They are the ones who help to philosophise the fraud rot that has destroyed many victims’ lives forever by saying that Yahoo Yahoo is an attempt to repatriate stolen African valuables by the West. I learnt there is even an association of Yahoo Yahoo mothers.

We have to begin from our homes to teach our children the values and purity of hard work and the unenduring worth of indolence and fraud. We must begin to teach them morals by asking our children to remember the child of whom they are. Though we are in a 21st-century world, J. F. Odunjo’s books, his poems, the stories of tortoise and his wife who we called Ijapa and Yannibo, stories that moulded us to responsible adulthood, are evergreen, imperishable, relevant for this age and are calling for our attention today. Each family must teach their children, from the diapers, about Odunjo’s classic poem, ‘Ise l’ogun ise‘ (Work serves as an antidote to poverty). In fact, it must be hung on the wall as we did almanac those days. That poem teaches that we should intensify efforts at work because, not only is there dignity in labour, work is the only thing that can lift one up.

If we religiously do this, we will be rescuing this generation and the ones to come from the madness of swindling, indolence and warped sense of achievement. More importantly, we will be saving our children from the hands of this fast-moving, all-that-is-wrong-is-right cryptocurrency generation, the scions of the ZaZuZeh culture that kills the Oluwabamises of this world for rituals, believing that in their severed body parts, lie antidotes to poverty.

 

 

Dr. Festus Adedayo, a Journalist, Lawyer and Columnist writes 

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Opinion

OYO 2027: MAKINDE EATS SOUR GRAPES, ADEKANMBI’S TEETH MUST BE SET ON EDGE

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1 day ago

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November 4, 2026

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The confusion within the ranks of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) is becoming increasingly difficult to describe.

The political empire built by Governor Seyi Makinde on what critics describe as lies, betrayals, broken promises and greed appears to be crumbling by the day.

Indeed, Makinde and his APM loyalists are providing an endless source of amusement these days.

Virtually everyone who leaves the Makinde administration is suddenly dismissed as a “paperweight” by the party’s social media attack dogs.

I have often wondered whether these fellows are unaware of the wisdom behind the Yoruba belief that even cotton wool, when gathered in sufficient quantities, can become a load too heavy for one person to carry.

As the Yoruba proverb puts it: Eni ní òwú ò t’ẹrù; ìwọ̀nba tó fẹ́ fi tan iná ló mú.

You keep losing prominent politicians and influential party stakeholders, yet you dismiss them as political nonentities. But which heavyweight has the power to cast more than one vote for a preferred candidate?

I am certain that even Bimbo Adekanmbi must be wondering how things deteriorated so badly for the APM.

Before his emergence as Governor Makinde’s anointed governorship candidate was made public, I granted an interview on a television station during which I openly predicted that Adekanmbi would get the governor’s endorsement and that his choice as successor would spell trouble for both men.

To one another, both men have become potential political albatrosses. Unfortunately, Governor Makinde’s ego appears to have blinded him to realities beyond his immediate political calculations.

I am particularly surprised that Adekanmbi failed to recognise that he was walking into a political trap by accepting Makinde’s endorsement.

Greed, indeed, can be a dangerous disease. In Adekanmbi’s position, no discerning politician would have ignored the number of political enemies Governor Makinde had accumulated during his seven years in office.

It follows, therefore, that Adekanmbi would inevitably inherit many of those political liabilities. Sadly, he either failed to appreciate the implications or simply chose to overlook the consequences.

By the time Governor Makinde, or perhaps Seye Famojuro, settled for Adekanmbi, the governor was already embroiled in disagreements with prominent political figures, including former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Taofeek Oladejo Arapaja, Alhaji Bisi Olopoeyan and several first-class traditional rulers in Oyo State.

He had also fallen out with several influential political figures, including Senator Hosea Agboola, Alhaji Razak Gbadegesin, former Deputy Governor Barrister Gbolarunmi Hazeem, Chief Mrs Jumoke Akinjide, Hon. Mulikat Adeola Akande, former Deputy Governor Engr. Rauf Aderemi Olaniyan, Prince Diran Odeyemi, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and even President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Beyond these strained relationships, several stakeholders within the Makinde political camp were already uncomfortable with the process that produced Adekanmbi as the APM governorship candidate.

There were also contentious discussions about whether Governor Makinde should be succeeded by a Christian. Equally troubling to some stakeholders was the question of whether it made political sense for Makinde to present Adekanmbi as his preferred successor when both men hail from Ona-Ara Local Government Area.

At the time, agitations were mounting over Governor Makinde’s alleged failure to comply with the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments.

Other contentious issues included the controversial Circular Road project, the sale of government assets and the proposed transfer of Oyo State farm settlements to estate developers.

The state’s debt profile, which has remained a subject of public concern and debate, was another issue that had yet to be satisfactorily addressed.

All these issues were already in the public domain before Adekanmbi accepted the offer to become Makinde’s anointed candidate.

One is therefore compelled to ask: what could have persuaded Adekanmbi to accept such a politically dangerous offer?

I can only think of one reason: greed.

When Governor Makinde claimed that he had advised Adekanmbi not to inherit his enemies, he was being economical with the truth.

The reality is that those political liabilities became Adekanmbi’s the moment he accepted Makinde’s endorsement.

The governor knows that he is carrying a political baggage that could weigh heavily on his preferred successor. Yet, he appears unwilling to be held accountable for the political consequences of his own administration.

Unfortunately for both men, even Adekanmbi’s campaign slogan tells a story of its own: “Omi Tuntun 3.0”.

How, then, does he intend to separate himself from the “Omi Tuntun” administration and the controversies surrounding it?

Governor Makinde has never hidden his discomfort with genuine local government autonomy. Adekanmbi, by his posture, appears prepared to sustain the same political template, which critics blame for weakening the 33 local government councils in the state.

On virtually every issue over which the people of Oyo State have expressed concern, Adekanmbi appears to be offering continuity rather than a departure from the policies of the present administration.

He has failed to condemn the controversy surrounding the proposed transfer of the Ogbomoso Farm Settlement to estate developers, despite protests by residents of the ancient town.

He has equally remained silent over the controversy surrounding the administration’s reported moves involving the Saki Farm Settlement.

He also appears untroubled by the reported transfer of the 4,000-hectare Eruwa Farm Settlement to investors, whose whereabouts and activities have, according to critics, remained unclear two years after the arrangement.

Indeed, Adekanmbi appears not to appreciate the extent of the challenges facing the state. For instance, Oyo State is said to be short of six general hospitals if the benchmark of one general hospital per local government area is adopted.

Yet, when Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli promised in his manifesto to address this deficit, APM spokespersons reportedly went on the offensive, describing the manifesto as “lacking in originality”.

Governor Makinde has been in office for more than seven years. During this period, his administration has received ecological funds on several occasions.

The question, therefore, is simple: what has happened to those funds?

There are concerns over the utilisation and accountability of the ecological funds received by the state. The governor owes the people a clear explanation of how these resources have been deployed.

There are also questions surrounding the proposed upgrade of the Alakia Airport, a project for which Adekanmbi himself was appointed by Governor Makinde to head a committee.

I have been reliably informed that the contract sum for the airport upgrade was reportedly reviewed upwards from its original figure of over N50 billion to well above N150 billion.

I have raised this question before, but I am yet to hear Adekanmbi offer a convincing explanation or response to the allegation.

Similarly, Governor Makinde reportedly approved more than N60 billion for the renovation of the Government House, an expenditure that attracted public criticism.

As of today, the visible works include the construction of a hall, the painting of the Government House mosque and church, and the replacement of tiles in both places of worship.

I challenge Governor Makinde to tell the people of Oyo State how much of the more than N60 billion reportedly approved for the renovation has actually been released and expended.

Beyond that, the governor should invite members of the press to conduct an independent assessment of the work carried out so far. The people deserve transparency and accountability, not unanswered questions.

The state government’s performance in education is another area that demands urgent attention.

Oyo State’s performance in WAEC and NECO examinations has continued to attract concern, particularly when compared with the performance of other states, including neighbouring Osun, which has been celebrated for its fifth-place position in a recent examination ranking.

Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli has argued that the state must return to an educational system that makes teaching and learning more conducive. One of his proposals is a 30-pupils-per-classroom policy.

But rather than engage constructively with the proposal, APM voices have dismissed its feasibility.

Adekanmbi, as the party’s governorship candidate, has also failed to offer a clear departure from the present arrangement, under which many public primary and secondary school classrooms remain severely overcrowded and unconducive to effective learning.

Oyo State cannot afford another administration that merely promises continuity without addressing the shortcomings of the present one.

The people deserve better, and they now have an alternative in Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli.

Governor Makinde has eaten sour grapes. Unfortunately, Bimbo Adekanmbi appears destined to bear the consequences.

His teeth, indeed, must be set on edge.

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Opinion

Makinde’s G-Wagon Gift to CCII PG A Disrespect to Olubadan, Alaafin and A Total Disregard for Yoruba Traditional Institutions

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2 days ago

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November 4, 2026

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The reported presentation of a brand-new Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon 500 by Governor Seyi Makinde to the President-General of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Barrister Sulaimon Ajeniyi Ajewole, as a birthday gift has exposed a disturbing development in the governor’s attitude towards Yoruba traditional institutions. Beyond the extravagance of the gesture, it raises fundamental questions about his priorities, sense of responsibility and regard for the revered royal institutions of Ibadan and Oyo.

What is Governor Makinde trying to achieve? A division and deep-seated animosity between Olubadan and the head of a socio-cultural organisation who is supposed to be at the forefront of protecting Olubadan stool from ridicule and disrespect?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Governor Makinde appreciating an individual for his contributions to society. Barrister Ajewole may be entitled to personal goodwill and recognition from Makinde. However, the governor’s insensitive generosity becomes difficult to defend when juxtaposed with allegations that the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, have been deprived of their official vehicles and statutory salaries since ascending their respective thrones.

More than a year after Oba Ladoja became the Olubadan and approaching two years since Oba Owoade ascended the Alaafin throne, the alleged failure of the Makinde administration to fulfil these obligations is an indictment of its priorities and its understanding of the dignity attached to traditional authority.

How does a governor find the resources, enthusiasm and political will to present a luxury G-Wagon 500 to the head of a socio-cultural organisation as a birthday gift, yet allegedly fail to discharge the statutory and institutional responsibilities owed to two of the most revered traditional rulers in Yorubaland? What is the justification for celebrating an individual with an expensive automobile while the occupants of ancient royal stools are reportedly left without official vehicles and their statutory entitlements?

This is not an argument against Barrister Ajewole receiving a gift. It is an indictment of a government whose generosity appears selective and whose priorities are increasingly difficult to reconcile with its public responsibilities.The Olubadan is not just another traditional ruler. He presides over Ibadanland, one of the most historically significant cities in Yorubaland and a cultural centre whose influence extends far beyond Oyo State. The Alaafin, on the other hand, occupies a throne whose historical significance is inseparable from the evolution of Yoruba civilisation. The Alaafin institution is not an ordinary palace establishment; it is a historic symbol of Yoruba political authority, heritage and identity.

These are institutions that existed long before Makinde became governor and will continue to exist long after he leaves office. Their dignity should not depend on the personal disposition, political calculations or convenience of whoever occupies Agodi Government House. Makinde must be reminded that statutory salaries are not birthday presents, and official vehicles provided under government policy are not acts of personal generosity. They are institutional obligations. A governor does not deserve applause for fulfilling obligations that the law or established government policy imposes on his administration.

Conversely, withholding or neglecting such obligations without important justification is a serious failure of responsibility. The troubling question is whether Makinde has reduced the relationship between government and traditional institutions to a transactional arrangement in which personal relationships and political convenience determine who receives recognition and who is left unattended. Does the governor believe that the President-General of CCII deserves a brand-new G-Wagon while the Olubadan and Alaafin can be left to contend with the indignity of allegedly outstanding official entitlements?

What exactly is Makinde’s understanding of respect for Yoruba traditional institutions? A governor who routinely invokes Yoruba identity, cultural heritage and indigenous values should be the first to defend the dignity of the institutions that embody those values. Unfortunately, Makinde’s administration is creating an embarrassing impression that the prestige of traditional institutions is secondary to his personal relationships and political preferences. Oh, does Makinde think CCII PG can marshall his influence to direct members of clubs, associations and unions affiliated to CCII to vote for Makinde’s stooge guber candidate?

Traditional rulers are not political ornaments to be celebrated when convenient and neglected when inconvenient. They are custodians of history, culture, customs and ancestral authority. Their institutions deserve institutional respect irrespective of political affiliations, personal disagreements or their perceived disposition towards the government. The G-Wagon presentation has therefore become more than a birthday gesture. It has exposed a disturbing moral contradiction.

If Makinde could demonstrate such remarkable generosity towards the CCII President-General, why has his administration allegedly failed to demonstrate comparable commitment to the institutional dignity of the Olubadan and Alaafin? Is the governor suggesting, by his actions, that an individual occupying the leadership of a socio-cultural organisation deserves more official consideration than the foremost royal institutions in his state?

The governor owes the people of Oyo State an explanation. He must publicly clarify whether the statutory salaries of the two monarchs have been paid since their ascension, whether official vehicles are provided for their offices under existing government policy, and why these alleged entitlements remain outstanding. If there are administrative or legal impediments, he should explain them rather than allow the controversy to fester.

It is particularly disgraceful that the dignity of two internationally recognised Yoruba royal institutions should become a subject of public controversy under a government that ought to be protecting their prestige. By allowing the situation to persist without a satisfactory explanation, Makinde has dragged the image of Yoruba traditional institutions into unnecessary embarrassment and diminished the respect that should ordinarily accompany their exalted positions.

The governor must understand that he is a temporary occupant of political office, whereas the Olubadan and the Alaafin represent enduring institutions of Yoruba civilisation. He cannot elevate himself above the historical significance of these thrones, nor should he behave as though their dignity is subject to his personal discretion. If the G-Wagon was purchased with Makinde’s personal resources, he is entitled to give it to whomever he pleases.

But personal generosity cannot excuse governmental irresponsibility. A governor who can celebrate an individual with a luxury automobile should have no justification for allegedly neglecting the statutory institutional entitlements of the Olubadan and the Alaafin. Yoruba traditional institutions are not personal appendages of the governor, and their dignity must never be held hostage to his whims, preferences or political calculations.

The Olubadan and the Alaafin deserve honour, not humiliation; institutional respect, not selective generosity. Makinde may be governor today, but he is certainly not greater than the institutions whose dignity he has a duty to protect.

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Opinion

Winning Election Before the Ballot: How Oseni Is Silencing Opponents with 500KVA Transformers

Published

4 days ago

on

November 2, 2026

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In an era when many politicians are remembered more for promises than for performance, Hon. Engr. Aderemi Oseni stands out as a rare exception — a lawmaker whose impact is visible, measurable, and felt in the daily lives of his people. The latest testament to this people-centred leadership is the ongoing delivery of 20 additional 500KVA transformers for distribution to communities across Oyo South Senatorial District.

This is not just about electricity. It is about powering dreams, businesses, and hope.

Oseni, who currently represents Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and chairs the strategic House Committee on the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), is contesting for the Oyo South Senatorial seat under the All Progressives Congress (APC). His candidacy is already being defined not by noise, but by concrete results.

The new consignment of transformers is part of a sustained intervention to address the chronic electricity challenges confronting communities in the district.

For months, residents of Oyo South — traders in Beere, artisans in Ibarapa, welders in Ido, cold-room operators in Ibadan South-West, and students burning the midnight candle in Ibadan North-East — have groaned under the weight of an epileptic power supply. Transformers that have served for over two decades are either overloaded, vandalised, or completely grounded. In many communities, darkness has become a way of life, and with it, economic activities grind to a halt.

Hon. Oseni understands this pain. As an engineer by training and a grassroots politician by conviction, he knows that electricity is not a luxury; it is the oxygen of economic growth, community development, and improved living standards.

The 20 new 500KVA transformers are, therefore, a strategic economic intervention.

The greatest beneficiaries of this initiative are those in the informal sector — the backbone of Oyo South’s economy. For the woman frying akara in Oja Oba who needs power to grind beans early in the morning, for the barber in Apata who loses customers when there is no light to clip, for the fashion designer in Challenge whose electric sewing machine is idle, and for the young graduate running a computer business centre in Ibarapa — this intervention means everything.

When power returns, productivity returns. When productivity returns, poverty reduces.

It is instructive that one of the beneficiary communities is Ita Baale/Olugbode in Ibadan North-East Local Government — the home community of Governor Seyi Makinde. By extending his intervention even to areas traditionally seen as opposition strongholds, Hon. Oseni has demonstrated that good governance knows no political boundaries. Light has no party colour. Development should have no discrimination.

Many other communities across the nine local governments that make up Oyo South — Ibadan North, Ibadan North-East, Ibadan North-West, Ibadan South-East, Ibadan South-West, Ibarapa East, Ibarapa North, Ibarapa Central, and Ido — are already celebrating while waiting to take delivery of the transformers, with installation already ongoing in phases in some areas.

This transformer project is not an isolated act. It fits into a larger pattern of purposeful representation that has defined Hon. Oseni’s tenure in the Green Chamber.

As Chairman of the House Committee on FERMA, he has been pivotal in pushing for the rehabilitation of federal roads that crisscross Oyo South, easing the movement of farm produce from Ibarapa’s agrarian belt to Ibadan markets and reducing man-hours lost in traffic.

In Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency, his current constituency, his footprints are everywhere: boreholes sunk in water-scarce communities, classroom blocks renovated, financial support for market women, scholarships for indigent students, and the facilitation of federal employment opportunities for youths.

Colleagues in the House of Representatives describe him as “The Star Boy of the National Assembly.” He sits quietly but effectively, a man who prefers to let his work speak. Constituents describe him as accessible — a lawmaker whose phone number still goes through and whose gate remains open.

Oyo South is the economic heartbeat of Oyo State. It houses Ibadan, the political capital of the South-West. It needs a Senator who understands both urban renewal and rural development; a Senator who can navigate Abuja’s power corridors to attract federal presence, yet remain rooted in the palaces, markets, and streets of Ibadan and Ibarapa.

Hon. Oseni brings a rare blend: engineering expertise, legislative experience, and grassroots empathy. His years in the House have equipped him with the legislative savvy to sponsor and support bills that will address the peculiar needs of Oyo South — from urban electricity to rural roads, from youth unemployment to agricultural modernisation.

At a time when Nigeria’s energy sector is undergoing reform, Oyo South needs a Senator who will not just complain about darkness, but who has already shown he can deliver transformers, facilitate connections, and engage distribution companies to do more.

In Nigerian politics, many come with manifestos, but few come with evidence. Hon. Oseni’s campaign for Oyo South Senatorial District is not built on empty slogans; it is built on transformers delivered, roads fixed, boreholes working, and lives touched.

The 20 new transformers are not campaign props. They are installations that will outlive this election cycle. They will power homes long after the ballots are counted. That is the hallmark of genuine service — to do what is needed, not just what is popular.

As the 2027 general elections approach, the people of Oyo South are faced with a clear choice: to continue with politics as usual, or to elevate a proven performer to the Senate to do even more.

If a House of Representatives member can light up communities with 20 transformers, imagine what he can do with the greater influence of a Senator of the Federal Republic.

Indeed, Hon. Oseni is not just contesting to be Senator; he is contesting to bring more light — literally and figuratively — to Oyo South.

 

Joseph Okwuofu worked with The Nation newspapers and is the CEO/Publisher of Naija Examiner online newspaper.

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