Author: Abiodun KOMOLAFE

The charade of Nigeria is never-ending! Only recently, one of Nigeria’s best-known cross-dressers, Idris Okuneye, alias Bobrisky, was arrested on charges of abusing banknotes. He was later convicted and sentenced to six months in prison. Not long after, popular socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, aka Cubana Chief Priest, was also arrested for alleged naira abuse and he’s already being prosecuted. Nigerians wait to see how events unfold! In the considered opinion of this writer, jailing Bobrisky is, to say the least, amusing! It’s too pedestrian! As things stand, Nigeria’s revenue target reportedly stands at N18 trillion. Of course, that’s pathetic! Where things…

In the past few days, videos of market women leaders, aka Iyalojas, in Ekiti State moderating the prices of goods in the markets within their jurisdictions have been trending. According to reliable information, the genesis of the viral video was a call made by the First Lady of Ekiti State, Olayemi Oyebanji appealing to the Iyalojas to prevail on their members to bring down the cost of goods. Oyebanji was also reported to have had a meeting with female chiefs, urging them to intervene. It didn’t stop there! The State Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Tayo Adeola summoned a…

The 10th anniversary of the abduction of 276 schoolchildren from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria, has again brought an eerie feeling of despair and panic. The anniversary is a high point as it has again shown the entire security apparatus of Nigeria as gravely inept and compromised. That’s what it tells us! The most important thing about Chibok is not just that it happened! It ought not to have happened! Instead, it is about what the country has learnt in ten years! People’s lives have been destroyed but it seems as if Nigeria has moved on! According…

In the week, I had cause to be at the Akure, Ondo State home of the Afenifere Leader, Reuben Fasoranti, and I saw modesty in its raw form. From Fasoranti’s symbolic bungalow which has played host to presidents, governors and other crème-de-la-crème of the society in their monstrous agbada or Babarigas, to the information gleaned from Nigerians in and around his residence, yours sincerely couldn’t stop marvelling at the Spartan lifestyle of this 97-year-old Awoist. Anyway, that’s a story for another day! Well, the threatening truth is that Afenifere is down and the progressive camp is beaten! So, when will…

When sometime in 2008, the late Yinka Odumakin invited me to his 23, Sylvia Crescent, Anthony Village office in Lagos, little did I know that a big surprise was waiting for me. A fine gentleman with a consistent commitment to the progressive bent, Odumakin had offered to visit me but since it was unYoruba for leaders and elders to initiate the kind of visit he was envisaging, I opted for the opposite. And there I was, face-to-face, with the inimitable Odumakin and the irresistible Jimi Agbaje, aka JK. One thing led to another and I eventually became the pioneer Administrative…

When, in 1814, Europe’s leading statesman, Count Metternich, said that Italy “is only a geographical expression”, the former Deputy of the Kingdom of Italy and the Father of Modern Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi, didn’t take it as an offence. Instead, the only question on his mind was how to create Italians. Take the recent detention escape of one of the Binance Executives held in Nigeria for tax evasion, Nadeem Anjarwalla, as a case study! Anjarwalla’s escape from protective custody didn’t tell us anything other than the statelessness of the Nigerian state. In some countries, there would by now have been a…

The Lagos State Government recently endorsed a food production agreement with the Niger State Government. The partnership, known as the ‘Produce for Lagos Initiative’, is aimed at ensuring a steady flow of agricultural products to the end consumers. Interestingly, this agreement is coming at a time when Sheik Ahmad Abubakar Gumi is warning the Federal Government of Nigeria that unless it negotiates with the terrorists and bandits, recent attacks will be “the tip of the iceberg”. Well, irrespective of what Gumi stands to profit from this threatening statement, it is obvious that insecurity in Nigeria is spreading and no region…

As of today, the basic problem with Nigeria in the war against terrorism is that she is following a defective strategic front. This is what the situation is and it is very sad! All the empirical evidence in the last ten or so years has shown that Nigeria has been following the wrong policy in her counterterrorism warfare and all eyes can see it. The problem is that we are fighting unconventional warfare in which our security forces are not trained in terms of equipment, strategy and mindset. To get things right, the reboot must start from the military academy…

Nigeria is at a crossroads and Nigerians are trying to find the responses to an economic crisis and currency turmoil. Of course, all manner of symptoms keep appearing! Towards the end of February, Governor Biodun Oyebanji unveiled an N12 billion economic relief programme for Ekiti residents. That’s in addition to other proactive steps already taken by the governor to mitigate the effects of the fuel subsidy removal and naira floatation by the national government. In Borno State, Governor Babagana Zulum has been putting in a stellar shift even as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has also been doing well…

Nigeria is at a critical juncture; and in such a context, it is “cometh the moment, cometh the man”. For President Bola Tinubu, this adversity should be turned into a historic advantage which should propel him to be the creator of a new society and his place in history will be assured, not for all time but forever. Men who took advantage of their opportunity include Park Chung Hee of South Korea, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. Take it or leave it, Nigeria is in it already but…

As an avowed Federalist, Nigerians expected Tinubu to have sent a Constitution Amendment Bill to the National Assembly to tinker with dozens of items on the Exclusive List in favour of the devolution of powers, state policing and the like. But it is too early in the day to say that it is too late! Since Ekiti is an APC-controlled state, Oyebanji can lead the process of putting the national government on its toes. The neutrality and/or objectivity of the various arms of the security services and interfaith community will also help tremendously in determining the distance of Nigeria’s road…

Well, much as causation has been attributed to poverty, religious and ethnic extremism and others, it’s time the Federal Government revisited its security architecture and remodelled countermeasure strategies to yield fruitful results. The faithful choice of a good businessman is to recoil his strategies if the output isn’t justified by investments and governments across the board must get the message right. That the price is rising and that the cost is becoming incalculable is like trying to find the words, especially in a celebratory culture of violence. Therefore, governments at the national and subnational levels must interrogate assumptions on how…

Thank God Ekiti school children and their teachers who were kidnapped on Monday, January 29, 2024, have now been released and reunited with their families. May the ‘Land of Honour’ never witness such a horrible experience again! Yours sincerely also join other well-meaning Nigerians to commiserate with those who lost loved ones to the two tragedies. May God repose the souls of the faithful departed and grant the bereaved families the courage to process their losses and the strength to face whatever lies ahead! Most of all, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, aka BAO, deserves a pat on the back for…

Once upon a time, growing up in Lagos was akin to living in El Dorado. Life in Igbosere Road and Lafiaji was tolerable, with good social amenities and infrastructure for the common good. On a rather sad note however was the degeneration that became its lot due to rural-urban migration; and there was no town planning, which was more rigorous in the 1950s and the 1960s. These put immense pressure on public facilities and infrastructure to a breaking point, more or less turning the state into a looming disaster. Well, this situation could have been foreseen by those in government…

Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution is explicit on the differences between citizens and settlers. But then, there’s a saying in Ijesaland: ‘Gbogbo ìjesà ni omo Owá, sùgbón b’álé bá lé, àwon omo Owá mo ara won.’ Translated literally, it means ‘Kings have many children but when the chips are down, each king knows his real children.’ To put it succinctly, therefore, when it comes to nativity, no settler in Lagos can claim to be an Igbo and a Lagosian at the same time. Not only that, while an indigene can be likened to a tap root with the capacity…

My discussion about the performance of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu must be put in the context that I met him at Saint Andrew’s Anglican Church, Okepopo, Lagos; and that was in 2003, under the vicarship of the then Reverend Canon ‘Segun Ajayi. Meeting him, I remember Sanwo-Olu as a man with a good dose of human empathy. By the time I became a member of the Christian Progressive Association (CPA) of the Church later that year, he had already completed his tenure as its President. But I can confess that this man of many parts has a human touch, one who…

Sometime in 1989, a friend told a story of how he was in dire need of sponsorship for his university education. When all things proved difficult, he approached one of the presbyters in a church in Ibadan, Oyo State who eventually advised that his impressive General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O-Level) results be announced to the congregation during a Sunday service with a view to wooing Good Samaritans. Though that was done, help did not come! The presbyter’s wife pleaded with his husband to rerun the announcement. ‘Who knows, help might come!’ But ‘Iya Yard’ (preacher’s wife) was…

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu is dead! May God repose his soul! Since nature abhors a vacuum, his Deputy, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa has now been sworn in as the substantive governor of the state. May God order his steps in the onerous tasks ahead! By the way, if Aiyedatiwa could become the governor despite the intimidations from those whose hearts were made of rocks, nothing is impossible on earth. But then, this is just the beginning of what to expect in the foreseeable future, especially if the Obe-Nla, Ondo State-born politician is eyeing Alagbaka as its Chief Tenant, post-February…

When our forefathers came up with the wise saying that ‘the earnest wish of potters is for the earth to be clay’, it was not only worthy of commendation but also no mean achievement. The beauty of the adage is that, in some 1000 years to come, it will still be relevant. So, instead of concentrating on having more wealth, the wisdom in it is learning how to be frugal and maximally productive with the little that’s available. Simple Economics: economic activities breed taxation while taxation without representation is problematic. Generally, the mission of governments is revenue generation which practically…

Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been advised to focus on policies and programmes that will help put food on the tables of the ordinary Nigerians and make life better for them. The Bishop of Ijesa North Anglican Diocese, the Rt. Revd. Isaac Oluyamo gave the charge while delivering a sermon at the first-year remembrance service in loving memory of the Archbishop of Lagos Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Lagos, the Most Revd. Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye. Speaking at the programme held at St Matthew’s Cathedral, Ijebu-Jesa in Osun State, Oluyamo charged the president and his team to also pay attention…