TOPE ALABI AND THE RELIGIOUS IGNORAMUS

Being born into a Christian home, I was named Samson. When I decided not to do religion again, I still maintained my Samson name, but some religious folks would challenge me to change my name since I’m no longer a Christian, and I will always pity their ignorance.

One day, I took my time to lecture one of them. I asked whether he knew the meaning of Samson; he said powerful man but I told him no; the meaning of Samson is "Son of the sun", I asked whether the children of Israel were worshiping the sun in the Bible; he said no. How then do they come about the son of the sun? He didn’t know. That is the case with many of them. Samson has a pagan origin; it was the Kush and Nubians that worshiped Sun in pre-Christian era, and the people who wrote the Bible might have stolen the idea from them. Many other biblical names have the same pagan origin.

Take a look at the days in the week too; every single day is named after one ancient Roman god or Germanic Paganism; in fact, Thursday is a day they worship their god, Thor, who is a replica of Sango in Yoruba and Jupiter in Roman, while Sunday is a day they worship the Sun. Why have those religious ignoramuses not boycotted the names of those days?

Coming back to the richness and beauty of the Yoruba language The language is ornamented with the right wording and robust vocabulary. If you are vast in Yoruba, you would equally be vast in any other language you choose to learn. Soyinka, Achebe, and other prolific writers who have shown excellent control of borrowed languages are also dictionaries of their indigenous languages.

No thanks to Samuel Ajayi Crowther; he did an ignoble disservice to the Yoruba language and traditions, and this is part of the problem we have today. We chant Eledumare and His deities with decorated words, and we are supposed to domesticate these wordings even in religion. You believe there is only one God, but you don’t want to use our rich language to appease God; rather, you choose the good ones and demonize others.

The only son of Eledumare (God) is Ela in Yoruba, Ifa culture. the translators of the Bible refused to translate Ela to Jesus, who is equally regarded as the son of God in Christian mythology, yet he didn’t have a Yoruba name for Satan, who was considered the enemy of God; rather, they chose one of our cherished deities, Esu, to be called Satan. Esu is just one of the 401 deities that are prominent in Yoruba traditions. It took some of us months to sign a petition to tell Google not to translate Esu as Satan again.

Back to the Tope Alabi saga, there are many cases of offered and accepted sacrifices in the Bible. Aboru Aboye are those Yoruba wordings that indicate the offering and acceptance of sacrifice. It simply means a sacrifice has been made and is accepted. If you are not satisfied with the usage of Yoruba language in Christianity, it is better you go and read the Hebrew Bible and communicate with Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic languages in Christendom to separate your religion from our cherished indigenous languages.

Ogunwoye Samson Gbemiga
Iresapupa, Ogbomoso, Oyo State
ogunwoyesamson@gmail.com

His name is Olajengbesi Pelumi, articulately vibrant at the age of 31, he is an indigene of Ijebu Jesa in Oriade Local Government of Osun State.

He graduated from University of Abuja in 2015, he was a SUG President of the institution from 2014 to 2015, also, he led as the Vice President of National Association of University Students.

After graduation, he proceeded to Law school where he graduated in 2017, today, he is the youngest Lawyer with biggest Law Firm in Nigeria. He is the Engineer and National Coordinator of Youths Lead Nigeria Advocacy, also, he is the founder of Itura Foundation.

Presently, he is seeking to represent Oriade Obokun at the House of Representatives in Peoples Democratic Party.

He is contesting against Hon. Wole Oke, a third term honorable Member that is seeking for the fourth term. He is also a PDP member.

Unlike other young men that are clamouring for the inclusion of youths in politics, he has shown genuine devotion to the cause, he is seriously mobilizing the youths across the space for support.

He is going to the nook and crannies to gather and garner supports for this youthful aspiration.

This young man deserves support from every well meaning Nigerians and he poses as a young man that can be emulated by other youths.

PAUL UNONGO, AWOLOWO AND THE TRIBAL POLITICS

I've watched with kin interest a newspaper headline first from Vanguard Online viciously circulating around social media about how Obafemi Awolowo started tribal politics in Nigeria.

It was said that the publication was an excerpt from an interview granted to one of the surviving Nationalist, Paul Unongo who was a UMBC politician in the pre-independence era.

Well, after reading the news, I quick to conclude that it is either Unongo is intentionally been economical with the truth, or he was envying the political dexterity of the late sage.

As a well tutored student of Political History, I will try to provide justification for this my intransigent insinuation.

Paul Unongo failed to narrate to us the incidence that happened in NYM in 1941 that later made Azikwe to leave NYM and form NCNC.

Up till and few years after 1941, only four indigenous people were constitutionally allowed to be members of Legislative Council in Nigeria, three from Lagos and One from Calabar. As at this year, NNDP formed in 1922 was already replaced with NYM, therefore, NYM was the party in Nigeria producing all the four members of Legislative Council as a Nationalist Party.

Precisely in 1941, Sir Kofo Abayomi who was a member of Legislative Council resigned, this created a vacuum that needed to be filled from the party. During the selection process for the replacement, Obafemi Awolowo threw his weight of support behind Ernest Ikoli who was an Ijaw man against Samuel Akinsanya who was Awo's Ijebu brother. With Awo's support, Ikoli emerged victorious. Nobody accuses Awolowo of tribalism on this ground.

Now, coming to the political permutation that sent Azikwe out of Western Region in 1951, I will like to make some cogent clarifications.

Nigeria as at them was practicing Parliamentary system of government, with this, the party that has the majority In the parliamentary house produces the Premier of the government of each region. It should be noted that coalition government (Alliance of different parties) is also a nitty-gritty of parliamentary system of government by then, and even today.

As at this era, South West capital was Ibadan, and three political parties were visible in the election, we had the NCNC under Azikwe, AG under Awolowo and Ibadan Party under Adedibu Penkelemesi.

In the election, NCNC won the majority of the house because of its long standing political engagement since 1944, this could have ordinarily made Azikwe the first Premier of South West Region, but the politics did not start and end with the election, the political alliance that followed the election disfavoured Zik as AG and Ibadan Party formed alliance to create a coalition government, this favoured Awolowo and made AG to produce the first Premier of the region.

As for Dr. Paul Unongo, maybe he should further educate us on how alliance between political parties becomes tribalism in politics, or he should let us know whether it is a sin to have alliance between political parties controlled by tribesmen. The same type of coalition government was what we experienced in 1959 between NCNC of Azikwe and NPC of Ahamdu Bello that produced Azikwe as the first Ceremonial Head of State in Nigeria.

Talking about Nigeria politics at large, Obafemi Awolowo remains a principled man without blemish. The only politician whose ideology lives years after his demise.

At this juncture, I urge we should try to devour subjectivity with objectiveness when past is to be exhumed.

Writing from University of Abuja.

Comr. Ogunsamson.

I am Ogunsamson, SSA on Media to Uniabuja SUG President.

Here is the fact about the incidence!

1. The man is a Fulani.
2. The Fulanis have huts around our Main Campus.
3. Gwari farmers also farm around our campus.
4. The Fulani man allegedly stole Yam from Gwari man's farm.
5. He was caught by the farmer and they fought.
6. The farmer overpowered him and macheted him.
7. He ran from the scene of fracas to a road that leads to boys hostel.
8. He lied down in the pool of blood.
9. Students saw him and called Union.
10. The Union came and reported to the necessary authorities.
11. The man was not dead.
12. Fellow Fulani were called and they took him to hospital.
13. The man is still alive and the matter is under investigation.

MY EXPERIENCE IN BAYELSA STATE

In my first four days at Gbaran kingdom in Bayelsa State, December 2013, as I was supervising the engineers that were moulding the blocks around 9:00am in the school day, I heard students of the Gbaran Primary School whose Premises we were making the blocks singing a song, guess which song?

...now that day is over, night is coming near...e. t. c.

I waited patiently to hear what they were saying, maybe it was another lyric with the same tone. But I got to notice that it was the same song that we used to sing while closing for the day in Primary school.

I decided to investigate what was happening, behold! I was told that no teacher comes to school for the day, therefore, the students gathered themselves to depart to their various homes as early as 9:00am.

I was first shocked because I'm seeing that for the first time! I then weep for the community!!! Nigeria in extension.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN BAYELSA STATE

In December 2013, I was contacted by an intimate friend and a course mate to accompany him on a journey to somewhere.

To where? To Gbaran Kingdom, after Amazoma in Bayelsa State.

To do what? My friend's elder brother who was an active PDP member and also worked at Wadata Plaza won a contract from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This was to construct a hospital for the people in the targeted Locality and he empowered his younger brother who is my friend as a contractor.

What was my role? I was told by my friend to work with him as Site Manager. At this time, my school was already on strike and house was bored.

What happened at Gbaran Kingdom? Getting to the village after travelling with a speed boat from Amazoma and used more than 2 hours on the water, we finally got to our destination with our engineers. We were warmly welcomed and offered two rooms in one of the Chief's house.

The following day, I discovered that Ex-militants and potential militants were everywhere in the community. I decided to mingle and giggle with them, on street level, I made friends and dined with those guys.

My friend that was contractor did not know how to roll with the street, he then preferred travelling two hours everyday to Yenagua and sleep in Hotels. He slept with me in Gbaran for only three days out of a month used in the community.

We brought 415 bags of Cement with Ship, the community youths collected #500 for unloading each of the bag of cement from the ship. We also brought some bags of Granite stones with Iron rods of different type and length, also, some other construction materials.

My friend as Contractor also needed to settle different groups of people in the community with thousands of Naira.

The engineers started moulding blocks and in about three to four days under my supervision, we've had thousands of block to start the project.

Guess what? We were taking to a site to construct the building, some groups of people later came that the land belonged to their family and we should not dare build anything there.

After that place, we were taken to another 10 different places and we met the same fate as the first place. Some places we have paid for clearing before some men would pop up like pop corns and threatened to kill us if we dare continue on the land.

After all the efforts to settle their differences failed, we were then taken to a piece of land that belonged to the government Primary school in the community. The following day, we started making the foundation hoping that nobody would disturb since the land belonged to government.

But we were surprised in the third day to see some men coming from Port Harcourt and Yenagua to stop the work. In fact, after knowing that the contractor was not around, they were looking for me as Site Manager, if not for someone that convinced them that the site manager was just a small boy, maybe they could have kidnapped me.

My friend the contractor went to the Governor and we were told by Governor that Soldiers would come to protect us while working in the day, they would leave at night, I was the first person to oppose that generosity because nobody would be there to stand for us if Soldiers would leave in the night.

The Contractor did not even come to that community for like two weeks before I left, I was the last person to leave after a month and a day.

Now, the project was abandoned, I heard now that about 310 cements that were left behind were already taken by individuals. The granite, iron rods and other construction materials that we bought for the purpose were also shared. The community remains without hospital, they travel through three communities before getting access to health care.

Up till today, I still find it difficult to believe all I saw and experienced. I thought of South West, if we have had the luck to get such a project in my village, the Contractor and his entourage would be treated like a king, and the youths of the village would even volunteer to have the work done.

With this experience of mine, can somebody still blame Goodluck Jonathan for not doing things in his State?

WE SHOULD BE KIND TO HISTORY, LADOKE AKINTOLA BETRAYED NOBODY.

History is written only by the survival, not by the dead, and until lions have their own historians, history of the hunting will always be in favour of the hunters.

In the case of Ladoke Akintola, It is either history is not fair to him or people are not fair to history. The early demise of Chief Akintola almost turned the history against him, a valour was portrayed as villain, but people with the spirit of decipherment will always stand with fairness.

Out of what I called perversion of history, or deliberate attempt to score a cheap Political point, some people tend to recognize Ladoke Akintola with villainy, this is far from reality. Akintola of old western region was a valorous man that deserved to be celebrated by every well-meaning Yorubas in Nigeria. His courage earned him the title of Are-Ona-Kakanfo "Generalissimo" of Yoruba land.

In a perverted history, Akintola betrayed Awolowo, just like the perverted history will say Awolowo betrayed Ojukwu, but in a straight history with reality, Awolowo did not betray Ojukwu neither did Akintola betray Awolowo.

It should be known, Akintola was never a pupil to Awolowo, they were both matured men with legal experience when they formed Action Group in 1950, Awolowo was chosen as the leader of AG while Akintola replaced Bode Thomas as the Deputy leader of AG after his death in 1953. In 1953, Ladoke Akintola with his intrepidity led the combined team of Igbos and Yorubas to Kano in what led to the Popular Kano Riot of 53.

In fact, the position that Awolowo occupied after independence, leader of the opposition in National Legislative Council, Akintola was once an occupier in 1950s while Awolowo was the Premier of Western Region in 1954.

Awolowo was the ideologist, a dexterous writer, but Akintola was that oratory multilingual politician that knew how better to progress politically, A sonorous singer and a skilled dancer. He knew the Politics almost perfectly.

In 1959, Awolowo as the Premier of the Western Region wanted to contest for the position of President, he needed to forfeit the position of Premiership, Action Group later favoured Akintola as his successor.

The cordial collaboration of Akintola and Awolowo made the people of Oyo/Ibadan/Ife/Osogbo/Ogbomoso Axis to welcomed Awolowo an Ijebu man wholeheartedly against the background of hostility.

In 1960, during Awolowo Presidential campaign process, Awolowo was reportedly overwhelmed with joy to the extent that he bursted into tears at Liberty Stadium in Ibadan because for the first time, the crowd that came out for his campaign symbolized the fact that he was accepted by the people that were once hostile to him. All because of Samuel Akintola that had the capacity to mobilize them, the duo are masters in different lanes.

Awolowo couldn't make it to the presidency, he became the the opposition leader in Nigeria Legislative Council while Akintola became the Premier of the Western Region.

I think by now, against all odds, we should be enlightened enough to know that Akintola was not a learner neither a pupil to late sage Awolowo. They were both sagacious politicians with the love of the Yorubas at heart.

The feud between Awolowo and Akintola started in 1962, all in the name of two Political leaders of Yoruba with the intention to place Yoruba people in their rightful position in Nigeria, but with variant path to achieve this advancement.

It was glaring at a point that none of the existing three regional political parties (NCNC, AG and NPC) had the requirements to control the central alone without alliance with others. Awolowo preferred having alliance with NCNC of Azikwe for the reason best known to him, but Akintola with his political calculation preferred the NPC of Ahmadu Bello.

Akintola advanced his reasons for preferring the Northern Alliance. At this time in question, Western region was dominated with the Easterners, Educationally, Socially and Economically.

Akintola saw the alliance of Azikwe with the Northerners as the reason for this domination, he argued that for Yoruba to gain back full possession of their region, they also needed to be friend of the party that controls the central. His postulation was jettisoned by Awolowo, this started their differences.

The heat to the feud culminated to the "wild West" or "Wetie" of 1964. Action Group was partitioned, Awolowo version and Akintola version.

As a sagacious Politician, Akintola was able to curtailed the excess of Awolowo by aligning with the party in the central to form NNA, Awolowo couldn't stop him because he aligned with a fraction of Igbos that formed UPGA. Akintola argument was now justified because aligning with the central gave him the impetus over Awolowo.

With this lucid analysis, one has debunked all the fallacious insinuations that Akintola betrayed Awolowo. The duo played Politics, none is superior and none is inferior, they all worked to see the advancements of the Yoruba race but with different means.

Nobody betrays anybody, rather, lack of consensus on the best way to follow to achieve the same course led their history into gory.

Ogunwoye Gbemiga Samson

Student of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja.

THE RECOUNT OF AN EPOCH MAKING NANS PRESIDENT - Comr. Ogunwoye Samson Gbemiga

As a young adventurer into the voyage of National Association of Nigerian Student's escalade, I must confess that I belong to a new breed of student movement. As a student, and also a young man with alacrity to contribute his quota to the betterment of the world around him, I ventured into student's unionism.

I understood clearly that my knowledge of the present would be lame without a clear picture of the time before, just like my historian would say, "he forever remains a kid, he who does not care to know the world before he was born".

My expedient expedition into the historical trajectory of student's unionism in Nigeria pointed to Ladipo Solanke as the frontrunner in the business as he spearheaded the formation of West African Student Union (WASU) in 1926. Little we know that Awolowo, Azikwe, Ahmadu Bello, Akintola and other nationalists were firstly groomed as student unionists in their early time, this prepared them for the role they performed in the days of nationalism.

The establishment of University college of Ibadan in the late 1940s domesticated a vibrant Unionism in Nigeria. This led to emergence of National Organization of Nigerian Students (NONS) that intransigently fought against second slavery that could had become Nigeria fate with the ratification of Anglo-Nigeria Defence Pact of 1962. The movement was later changed to National Union of Nigerian Students after the civil war, one of the epoch making Student's leader of that era was Olusegun Okeowo that championed the popular struggle of "Ali Must Go" in late 1970s.

Military junta of Olusegun Obasanjo suspended NUNS and incarcerated some of the freedom loving leaders. But the return to democracy in 1979 made NUNS to return in 1981, not as NUNS again, but as NANS, a name that is maintained to this present moment. NANS under articulate and indefatigable leaders stood against imperialist innovated SAP of Babangida Junta in 1986, also, NANS was at the forefront in the struggle to defend the popular mandate of June 12, 1993. But in a period of about two decades, the student's union movement in Nigeria has lost focus, the prebendalists mounted the arena and the struggle became a toothless bull dog. Infact, Obasanjo that suspended NUNS and incarcerated it leaders in 70s was honoured by NANS leaders in the mid 2000s. This is a total aberration of what Student Union stood for in the time past.

Also, it must be painstakingly stated for the sake of record that I was a staunch support of Comr. Igwe Ude Umanta during the electioneering process of 2016 NANS convention. In fact, I mobilized my media artillery in his favour. A decision that I never regret. But following the unfolding realities of the aftermath of Gombe Convention, it became apparent that the emergence of Chinonso Obasi (Comrade IBB) was a work of divine Providence to bring about revivification in NANS.

My admiration for his leadership dexterity brings me closer to him, and I must confess, the glaring realities have shown that NANS has gotten to another epoch in the history of her existence. Comrade IBB has supplied a clear voice and vision to the genuine emancipation of Nigerian Students. His approach to issues are always conceptualized on the pedestal of objectivity.

In fact, Nigerian Students have regained their rightful position at the centre of decision making in the nation. Comrade IBB has taken back Student's Unionism to the campus, for the first time in two decades, students of my calibre in their mid 20s could have free access to the NANS President while contributing their quotas to the continue struggle for emancipation. I was fortunate to be with Comrade IBB some days ago, guess what? He received a call from unknown Nigerian domiciling in the faraway land of Germany, during the phone conversation, the person categorically said that he lost confidence in NANS some long years ago, but with the reality on ground under the leadership of Comrade IBB, he saw that the dusk is over, and a new dawn has come.

A detribalized Nigerian per action, Comrade IBB has shown it overtly and covertly that his only interest is to supply articulated voice and vision to the genuine student's struggle in Nigeria. His idiosyncrasy shows lucidly that he is only competing with nobody but his good conscience, and also devoted to the service of the Nigerian Students.

I have no doubt that Chinonso Obasi (Comrade IBB) has carved a niche for himself and he has written his name in the heart of history as the history of contemporary NANS would be centered around his momentum contributions as the epoch making emancipator.

Writing from University of Abuja. Comr. Ogunwoye Samson Gbemiga (Ogunsamson).
P.R.O of NANS, JCC, FCT Abuja.

The only person that has the support of the Nigerian students is comrade Chinonso Obasi. He is an articulate young man that has demonstrated that NANS can still be revived. Here is the picture of the immediate past president with the incumbent President.