Opinion
Wole Soyinka: Still at the Receiving End of Innuendos at 90!

Back in 2002, as residents of 16, Apple Avenue, No Man’s Land, Kano, which housed the Foremast Hill Anchor Point, Herbert Nwaka, Kingsley Ayewe and I discussed the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission otherwise known as the “Oputa Panel”. Of particular interest then was the petition filed by the National Association of Seadogs (the Pyrates Confraternity) on behalf of some of its members.
In his testimony, Ifeanyi Onochie who was arrested in Enugu on the orders of the then Military Administrator of Enugu State, Colonel Sule Ahman a few days after his wedding in 1997 told a chilling story of torture and excruciating pain. He and other known members of the Association were described as National Security Risks (NSR) after their arrest.
Herbert had asked if anyone had videos of the Panel’s sittings but quite unfortunately, our plans to ask at the Library of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Kano never came through.
Soyinka calls killer herdsmen ‘bloodthirsty terrorists’, reveals what Buhari should do
21 years later, I shared a clip on my WhatsApp status, it was that of Professor Wole Soyinka being cross-examined during one of the sittings of the Oputa Panel. In the video, a female lawyer asked whether Professor Soyinka’s children or family members were members of the Pyrates Confraternity. His response drew applause when he pointed out that his son, Olaokun was a member and that “he was initiated in Zero Meridian, that is, the chapter in London”.
One of the friends on my contact list was quick to wonder why the response should be applauded. In her opinion, those clapping were oblivious to the fact that “Prof sent his son abroad while he was encouraging the children of others to be doing rubbish in Nigeria”. My efforts to remind her that Dr. Olaokun Soyinka who served as a Commissioner in Ogun State had a British mother didn’t seem to make sense to her.
I asked what her answer would have been if Professor Soyinka had answered that none of his children or family members were Pyrates, and that ended the conversation.
Professor Soyinka is not new to “dragging” as the internet-savvy generation often describes self-satisfying criticisms usually done online. But now that the New Media has given a seemingly unlimited freedom of expression, the intensity of the dragging seems to have been increased a hundred-fold.
A line of thought recently surfaced online that African writers like Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’O, and others boycotted the Nobel Prize when Wole Soyinka won it in 1986. One begins to wonder how the boycott was never heard of until 38 years later. When there was no evidence to support that narrative, they pushed further that he betrayed other African writers by accepting the Prize, since in their opinion, the Royal Academy had until then ignored African writers.
It was, however, never on record that Achebe publicly criticized Soyinka for winning the Nobel Prize. It was also never heard that Professors Soyinka and Achebe quarreled in the latter’s lifetime. In March 1986, J.P Clark, Wole Soyinka, and Chinua Achebe visited Dodan Barracks to plead with President Ibrahim Babangida to spare Major General Maman Vatsa, who had been charged with plotting a coup.
2019 presidency: Wole Soyinka discloses who he will vote for
The spotless white ram Wole Soyinka sent as a 60th birthday gift to Chinua Achebe in 1990 would not be forgotten by those who attended the reception, especially those who partook of the barbecue it ended up being used for. It was on record that as the animal was delivered, the celebrant quipped, “Typical of Wole”. That was how close they had become over the decades.
It is an open secret that the casus belli with the Internet Generation were Soyinka’s stance on the 2023 presidential election and his “gbajue” comment on a claim of victory. Interestingly, an aggrieved member of the party claiming to have been robbed of victory recently made a video querying what the party would tell the “six million plus people that voted for the party” if it cannot ensure internal democracy. That in itself was an allusion that the election results were indeed correct. Sadly, the children of the people whose rights Soyinka advocated for when he was jailed for criticizing the Gowon administration in 1967 were most prominent in the recent dragging frenzy.
Describing him as the “Father of Cultism in Nigeria” is already overstated. Many have completely forgotten that the Pyrates Confraternity was formed by Soyinka and six other undergraduates of the University College Ibadan (as the University of Ibadan was then known) who are hardly ever given credit. What is perhaps more worrisome is that no one bothers about who founded other fraternities some of whose members have caused untold damage to lives and properties in campuses across Nigeria.
One thing is obvious, at 90, Wole Soyinka’s Kongi has not melted. Age and his belief in Ogun Lakaaye notwithstanding, he is still the humanist he has always been and he still adheres to the ‘Seven Four’ Creed of the Pyrates. That explains why members of the Confraternity still esteem him, especially now that he is the only one of the Original Seven still alive. The criticisms will keep coming as long as he does not slow down.
Choose between MKO Abiola , Abacha, stop confusing us – Soyinka confronts Buhari
The reason? No one stones a fruitless tree and the only way to avoid criticism is to say nothing and do nothing which the WS I know will never do. Anyways, in his typical manner, he is never tired of stating that, unlike the hoodlums who now parade the campuses, Pyrates of yore were “mischievous but not criminal”.
As Professor Soyinka is being celebrated at different across the continents, one can only pray for a smoother sail for the man styled after Peter Blood, the Captain of Cap’ns.
Adejumo sent this piece from Ibadan
Opinion
Bodija Explosion: Victims’ Hope Fades as Oyo Government’s Promised Support Remains Elusive

One month after the anniversary of the devastating Bodija explosion, victims are still waiting for the promised support from the Oyo State Government.
Despite initial assurances, the much-needed aid remains elusive, leaving affected individuals to wonder if they have been abandoned.
In a press release issued on January 16, 2025, the Oyo State Ministry of Information announced that Governor Seyi Makinde had received the report from the special committee led by the Deputy Governor.
The statement assured that disbursement of support would commence within two weeks. However, more than four weeks have passed, and victims insist they have yet to receive any assistance.
For many, this delay is not just an administrative lapse—it is a matter of survival. Some victims are still recovering from injuries and require ongoing medical care, while others have been rendered homeless, forced to rely on relatives or struggle to find shelter.
The Oyo State Government had previously positioned itself as transparent and responsive, with Governor Makinde providing regular updates on the explosion during the GSM Media Chat. Yet, the failure to deliver on these commitments has raised doubts about the administration’s resolve to see its promises through.
As frustration mounts, there is growing concern that the Bodija explosion might become yet another forgotten tragedy in Nigeria’s long list of unfulfilled governmental pledges. It is, therefore, imperative that the Oyo State Government acts swiftly to provide the necessary relief to those affected.
Adepegba sent this piece from Bodija, Ibadan.
Opinion
Tinubu’s Re-Election: Northern Support, a Sine- Qua-non | By Adeniyi Olowofela

Politicians are restless ‘animals.’ President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is barely halfway through his tenure, yet neither he nor his cabinet members have openly advocated for his re-election. Instead, he remains focused on reengineering the Nigerian state.
Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political leader Mahatma Gandhi was once quoted as saying, “If Indians cannot clothe themselves, let them walk naked.” This statement rejuvenated the people, driving them to invest heavily in textile production, which has since blossomed into a thriving industry.
Tinubu’s Economic Reforms
Fundamentally, President Tinubu has declared a privatization policy in the oil industry, allowing market forces to determine prices based on the basic law of supply and demand.
For years, the Port Harcourt refinery had been plagued by unseen factors beyond the understanding of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. However, Tinubu and his team have resolved these longstanding issues. With oil being the lifeblood of Nigeria’s economy, its proper functioning is a commendable feat that deserves recognition.
Education and National Development
A former Nigerian minister once lamented, “What is this mad rush for education in the Southwest?” Today, that so-called “mad rush” has extended beyond the region, becoming a national priority.
To support this growing demand, President Tinubu has established the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to provide financial aid to indigent but determined students seeking higher education. This initiative ensures that no willing student is left behind due to financial constraints.
Regional Development and National Unity
The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) has long-established policies for cooperation among states in the Southwest. Similarly, each geopolitical zone now has developmental frameworks tailored to its needs. For those agitating for the country’s balkanization—whether Biafra agitators, Yoruba Nation proponents, or others—these regional initiatives present an opportunity for meaningful progress within a united Nigeria.
The Political Reality: What’s in It for the North?
When the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) won the June 12, 1993 election, ex-military President Ibrahim Babangida annulled it, plunging the nation into political chaos. In an attempt to stabilize the situation, Babangida hurriedly appointed Chief Ernest Shonekan—neither a politician nor a military general—as the head of an interim government.
With MKO Abiola placed under house arrest, the restless General Sani Abacha ousted Shonekan and assumed full military control. However, Abiola’s mandate remained a thorn in the nation’s political conscience. Under Abacha’s authoritarian rule, prominent figures like Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’Adua were imprisoned, while the nation was gripped by fear and tension.
Years later, both Abacha and Abiola died under mysterious circumstances. General Abdulsalami Abubakar then became Head of State, promising a return to democracy. The anger in the South, particularly in the Southwest, remained intense. In response, Northern political leaders orchestrated a power-sharing arrangement, leading to both major political parties fielding Yoruba candidates—Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP) and Chief Olu Falae (APP/AD). Ultimately, Obasanjo won and governed for eight years.
His successor, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, couldn’t complete two terms due to illness and death. His deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, took over, finishing the remainder of the tenure and winning another full term. When the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged from a merger of ACN, CPC, and a faction of PDP, it provided the platform for Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency, which lasted two terms.
A tradition has now been established: once elected, a sitting president is almost always re-elected. The North, known for its decisive voter base and political acumen, should consider exercising its franchise in favor of Tinubu’s re-election.
Beyond Economic Hardship: A Call for Patience
The economic challenges facing Nigeria today are the cumulative effects of past administrations, not solely the making of a man who has been in office for less than two years. President Tinubu has disrupted the status quo and is actively reengineering the nation. After darkness comes light—he deserves the chance to continue his reforms.
A Short-Term Sacrifice for Long-Term Stability
A four-year term—just 1,461 days—is a short political sacrifice for the North to make before power rotates again. Supporting President Tinubu for re-election is not just essential for the North but for all geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
Enough of the political blackmail. Let’s give Tinubu the chance to reorder the nation.
Professor Adeniyi Olowofela writes from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Opinion
Bisi Akande, poverty and Ige’s death | By Festus Adedayo

In her biography of Ayo Rosiji, one of the key politicians of Nigeria’s first republic, entitled Man With Vision, Australia-born historian, Nina Mba, citing a Holmes, called biographers “People who knead people.” In other words, biographers knead their subjects from raw flour into edible form. You then wonder what the late lecturer in the History department of the University of Lagos would have called autobiographers. Self-conjurers, perhaps. For, in the process of piecing together bits about themselves, those who write their life histories have been accused of selfishly adding together a mish-mash of two unrelated traditional soup recipes, (lúrú and sápá) falsifying realities and mis-painting the picture of truth.
Last week, sidekick of the Nigerian president and former Chairman of the All Progressives Party, (APC) Chief Bisi Akande, chose to conjure the spirit of a dead dog. In a podcast interview with popular broadcaster, Edmund Obilo, which centered around his autobiography, My Paticipations, the 86-year old came under heavy shellacking on allegations of historical revisionism. The specifics were that he kneaded a wrong dough of history and made a wrong portrayal of himself. In that interview, Akande coasted home with a self portraiture as a man who sat by the edge of a smelly sewage but chose not to smell the rank odour of rot.
By the way, I passed Akande’s country-home, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, by about a week ago. I was on my way to the burial of the mother of Oba Adedokun Omoniyi Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke-Ila. You cannot fail to notice Akande’s house. Its arrogance and domineering spirit in the midst of abject poverty are worn on the mansion’s lapel. Architectured to sit imperially among natives’ poor houses, the mansion fittingly tells the story of a countryside-born boy made good. Don’t bother yourself with the architectural gaffe of such a mansion being surrounded with lock-up shops. It still doesn’t diminish the majesty you see in Akande’s home. Its outward finishing struck me as a repeat of same architecture of his house in Oluyole, Ibadan. Both bear similarities with the State Secretariat’s roofing and burnt brick finishing at Abere which I also saw. His government constructed the secretariat. So, when, in the Obilo interview, Akande kept referencing his retirement to his Ila country-home, planting pepper at his backyard and deliberately choosing not to live the posh life of a president’s consort in Abuja, do not be fooled to believe that the old man lives in less splendour.
Sorry, I digressed. Akande made two weighty assertions in his controversy-baiting interview. One is that the presidency under Olusegun Obasanjo allegedly killed Chief Bola Ige. The second was that the pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere died with the assassination of the Attorney General of the Federation. As the Yoruba say of words in convoluted circumstances as this, they need to be surgically placed in their contexts (élá l’ọrọ ). In doing this, let me begin from Akande’s assertion on Afenifere’s purported death. There is no denying the fact that Chief Ige was the darling of Southwest Nigeria. At his death, the Yoruba lost its most valuable political leader who was famously referred to as Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s heir apparent. At campaign grounds, the evocative song sang to usher Ige into such arena was “Ige has arrived! Ige has arrived! Awolowo’s heir apparent has arrived!” (Ìgè dé, Ìgè dé o, Aróle Awolowo, Ìgè dé o!).
Ige was proud of his Yoruba heritage. He wasn’t one who prostrated on all fours to a cow for the sake of eating its protein. He never suffered fools gladly and belonged to the school of thought which says that every impulse a man strives to strangle broods in his mind and poisons him. So, he spoke his mind without caring whose ox was gored. A lawyer friend once told me of how Ige beckoned onto him and his friend at a public event and, in his usual lacerating words, tongue-lashed them for putting on other tribe’s cap, rather than the Yoruba’s. Though he spoke Hausa very fluently, having schooled in Kaduna, Ige took great pleasure in his mother tongue.
The truth however remains that the January 1999 D’Rovans hotel presidential primary election of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) which took place in Ibadan marked the beginning of the cracks in the wall of the AD and Afenifere. It has been alleged that Ige sponsored the creation of alternate sociocultural groups to get back at the so-called “Ijebu Mafia” who allegedly worked against his presidential aspiration. To that extent, Akande may be right that Ige saw the fractionalization of the original Afenifere. To however say that Afenifere died with Ige will be excessive hyperbole.
Again, after the death of Ige, there doesn’t seem to exist any group, apart from the two factions of the sociocultural group – either Chief Reuben Fasoranti or Ayo Adebanjo’s – who can surpass the duo in how they deify or factor in Yoruba’s recent ancestor, Chief Awolowo, in all they do. I am sure the man Chief Akande is his sidekick, Tinubu, in his closet or among his coterie of Yoruba hangers-on, gloats, like Obasanjo did in his autobiography, that the presidency which Awolowo couldn’t attain in his lifetime, was handed him on a platter. Since Tinubu became president, unless I missed it, I am yet to hear him pay tribute to Awolowo’s fabled sagacity in governance. I do not know if Bisi Akande, who is now mouthing Afenifere’s Catholicism, more than the Pope, has ever spoken to the president about this historical memory loss. It was good Obilo asked Akande if the Fasoranti who Tinubu visited in Akure as president wasn’t head of the same Afenifere he claimed was dead or if the members of the group Tinubu hosted in Aso Rock belonged to Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Such selective memory is said to be Akande’s stock-in-trade. When he engages in this kind of revisionism, his opponents remind us of his self-confession he made that he was never an Awoist until Chief SM Afolabi invited him to be a member of Awo’s Committee of Friends.
On the assassination of Ige in 2001, there is also no doubting the fact that the failure of the federal government to find the killers of this highly respected Nigerian is a blot on the Obasanjo government. On the list of assassins who possessed the raison d’être to kill Ige, the fact that the presidency ranks top is an unassailable fact. If you knew the awe with which Ige was held in Yorubaland, his resignation from the Obasanjo government would indeed have dented the Ota farmer’s second term presidential bid. However, with Ige’s obsession for his Yorubaness and the disdain and awe with which the north held an obsessive Yoruba in power at that time, Ige’s presidential aspiration could not have stopped Obasanjo’s second term bid. After all, even when the southwest refused to vote for him in the first term, Obasanjo still became president. If Akande was desirous of Ige’s killers being apprehended, why didn’t he factor in more theories on the assassination? For instance, could some persons, who nursed ambition to be Nigeria’s president someday, have stopped him, knowing that an Ige presidency in 2003 could put paid to their ambition? Yes, the theory of armed robbery has been eliminated due to the clinical planning of the assassination, but, is there any possibility that we cast our nets too narrowly?
It is of great importance for us to drill down further into Bisi Akande’s claim that the government headed by Senator Rashidi Ladoja, as Oyo State governor, demanded and got a nolle prosequi in the trial of alleged Ige murderers. Was it a deliberate attempt to play politics, attempt to even political score or share political banditry? Not only did Ladoja denounce this claim with facts, he went ahead to accuse Akande of a penchant for lying while threatening to drag Akande to court for defamation.
It should also be said that while Akande was enamoured of unraveling the killers of his mentor, Chief Ige, under his leadership and direction as governor of Osun State, his ‘boys’ supervised the impeachment of his deputy governor, Iyiola Omisore, allegedly so that the Ile-Ife-born politician could lose his immunity and be ready to face trial for the same murder. If I were Akande’s interviewer, I would have raised further question for his answer on what his government did to unravel the assassination, a few days before Ige’s murder, of an Osun State legislator, Odunayo Olagbaju. So, what moral right does he have to ask Obasanjo to find Ige’s killers when his own government equally looked the other way when Olagbaju was felled? In the interview, Akande made many other assertions on Ige’s death which should make the police ask him, instead of Ladoja, to come forward for interrogation so that the spirit of Bola Ige could get justice finally. He appeared to know more than he was telling the world, even by his own admission.
Let me go to another issue of importance in the Akande interview. Of recent, the power apparatchik that surrounds the Nigerian president must have discovered that the narrative that all his life, Bola Tinubu had wanted to become president, was flawed. At a meeting with some political operatives immediately after attending a Chatham House engagement in December, 2022, Tinubu was seen on video telling them that “Political power is not going to be served in a restaurant. They don’t serve it a la carte. At all cost, fight for it, grab it and run with it”. The vehemence with which then presidential aspirant Tinubu told these operatives of the cold-bloodedness of power had same cadence and grits with the vehemence with which a leopard pursues an impala. Tinubu sliced the words with his teeth with same clinical finish and precision with which the leopard slices the impala’s throat. So, when, a few weeks ago, some misguided fellows, without the president’s consent, impeached Mudashiru Obasa, erstwhile Lagos House Speaker who the Lagos Landlord installed by himself, they courted the wrath of a man who though shoulders the behemoth hunk of flesh of an elephant, is yet interested in the flesh of a grasshopper. Since 1999, Tinubu has held Lagos as a fief, his incisors tightened round the neck of the politics and economy of the state.
No political juggernaut in the Tinubu political clan had enough cognate sidekick ‘followership’ around the president to dissolve the above narrative in the minds of the world like Bisi Akande. Since they both left office as governors of Osun and Lagos in 2007, Akande has maintained his political ‘follow-follow’ role around Tinubu. He was the most qualified for the task. So, in the Obilo interview, Akande attempted to push a counter-narrative. Tinubu didn’t want to be president, he emphasized. There was a bedlam in the Tinubu camp when he told all the scroungers around him that he would not be contesting for the presidency, Akande said further. Pius Akinyelure attempted to convince him, yet he would not bulge. Akande then had to be enlisted to do the convincing. He then told Tinubu that his being Nigeria’s president was a clarion call which he must yield to. In other words, Tinubu was persuaded against his earlier wish to be Nigeria’s president.
But, as James Hadley Chase volunteered in one of his classics, a liar must have a very good memory. The interviewer then momentarily badged in. But, that same Tinubu told Nigerians it was his lifelong ambition to be Nigeria’s president? Obilo asked. In fact, at the famous but controversial Abeokuta campaign in June 2022 where it was believed he dared Muhammadu Buhari to do his worse, Tinubu actually told the world that he, the godfather, had come to take over a throne that rightly belonged to him. With that Emilokan pronouncement, Tinubu literally said he was tired of playing the second fiddle. When the interviewer confronted Akande with Tinubu’s claim of entitlement to the presidency, the Tinubu sidekick went into an incoherent waffle. With that Abeokuta speech whose summary was akin to “my feet are tired,” many of Tinubu’s followers have compared his audacity and self-entitlement mentality to the seat of Nigeria’s president to that of African-American rights activist, Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on the American Montgomery City Lines on December 1, 1955.
As it is with politicians who play the ostrich with verifiable facts, in the interview, Akande also attempted to muffle the facts of Buhari’s opposition to Tinubu’s presidency. In the Abeokuta declaration, it was obvious that the “they” Tinubu knocked for putting barriers before his ambition were Buhari, Godwin Emefiele and their accomplices. So, why was Akande attempting to potato a glaring fact that is negative to his party, the APC?
The final issue of concern in the Akande interview is his claim that only lazy Nigerians are hungry. While the interviewer squared up with him admirably over this claim, Akande’s fabled gambit of playing the ostrich sprang up here. He couldn’t see hunger in the land, he claimed. To be fair to the ex-APC chairman, he may not see hunger if his impoverished kinsmen in Ila-Orangun have found him too insulated from their existential plights, so much that going to him for help is a waste. None of his children, it is obvious, with his role as consort of the Villa, would feel the hunger in the land. So, how could he see hunger? Even when confronted with palpable cases of hunger under the government of a man he claimed was next good news after the so-called discovery of River Niger by Mungo Park in 1795, he still defiantly claimed that the pepper he allegedly planted at his backyard was the antidote to the impoverishment sown by the Tinubu government. If I may ask, why did Chief Akande ask the president to put his daughter in charge of dollar-denominated National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and not ask that she heads Ogun Osun River Basin Authority so that she would plant “one grain of corn and reap a thousand cobs”?
All the above put together remind me that, in their daily fight for dominance and conquest, a fleeting nature of power and dominance exists among Nigerian politicians. It is the type of desperation found among the lion and a warthog. In Nigerian politics, there is an unending, constant and relentless struggle between preys and predators, with each seeking dominance and conquest. In doing this, politicians deploy worldly cunning to foist false narratives on the populace. Bisi Akande’s interview and a huge chunk of his autobiography are a further reinforcement of this frightening fight in the political wild.
-
Opinion6 days ago
Tinubu’s Re-Election: Northern Support, a Sine- Qua-non | By Adeniyi Olowofela
-
Politics1 week ago
Rep. Oseni Hails Oyo APC Leader, Chief Akin Oke, at 86
-
Politics1 week ago
Southern Kaduna PDP Stronghold Crumbles as 3 Lawmakers Join APC
-
Education4 days ago
Nigeria’s Development Hinges on Innovation, Information Management—Rep Oseni