We exist in a Dickensian society. Those entrusted with securing citizens against public theft are themselves crooks in Messianic raiment. The watchdogs are themselves bloodhounds and vampires.

Paperwhite:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/before-femi-adesina-tasted-power/%3famp

PlayerMeji:
Adeshina is Squealer in our Animal Farm...

Kings don’t die. They depart to ancestral underworld in vaults known to the Yoruba as aja ile. The mountainous confetti of praise heaped in the trail of the departed Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, is bigger than the entire Oyo kingdom because Iku Baba Yeye was larger than life itself.

What’s Iku Baba Yeye? The appellation didn’t issue from tongues twisted by palm wine at the market square. It was forged in the furnace of the first black physicist – Sango Olukoso, the husband of Oya – who mastered and deployed the science of lightning and thunder in warfare.

Iku Baba Yeye, according to the retired and respectable Methodist octogenarian bishop, Ayo Ladigbolu, is a panegyric for Sango in Ifa literary corpus called Odu Ifa. “The appellation came out of Odu Ifa. It is used when praising Sango because Sango is the only god, going by Odu Ifa, that can kill and wake, and Alaafin was the son of Sango. This is why no other king is called Iku Baba Yeye,” Ladigbolu said.

I didn’t have an interpersonal relationship with Iku Baba Yeye. It was with the foregone Oonirisa of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the jìgbìnnì bí àte àkún, ekùn aki’mo pìrì, ò y’omo l’óko láàlà s’onù, ò sun’mo lè, sun’mo ení, ò kun’mo lósùn, kun’mo láta, with whom I had a relationship.

After listening to my probing journalistic questions on the phone, Oba Sijuwade Olubuse II would say in Yoruba, “My son, the king doesn’t play politics, the king administers the land. When are you coming to drink champagne in the palace?” For most of their reigns, the Ife lion refused to be the treasurer to the Oyo tiger, hence both went on their separate hunts, reinforcing the Yoruba proverb, “Kàkà kí kìnìún se akápò ekùn, oníkálukú á se ode tirè lotootò…”

After reigning for almost 35 and 52 years respectively, the Ooni and the Alaafin descended into separate ancestral underground vaults. But quite unlike their forebears, neither of the bickering first-class monarchs was buried with an Abobaku as was the practice aeons ago.

Now, the Abobaku. The job of the Abobaku is simple, though I won’t take it for Elon Musk’s $252.2 billion wealth. His job is only to run royal errands for the homeward transition of the king’s spirit. To be able to perform this task, the Abobaku mustn’t be dead. He must be alive to light the path for the king’s spirit in the dark tunnel of the afterlife. Thus, the Abobaku is buried alive with the corpse of the king!

In Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, the Elesin, who is the Abobaku, tries frantically to escape sojourning with the departed king to the underworld honourably, but he dies a dishonourable death after committing suicide upon learning that his son, Olunde, who trained abroad as a medical doctor, had offered himself, and was buried with the bygone king so that the shame of his father’s refusal could be washed away from the family’s lineage.

After the white man stepped foot on our land, the wheel of modernity gradually catches up with the past, and the Abobaku loses his primitive role in society, shedding the toga of his deathly fate to wear government epaulettes such as Chief of Staff, Senior Special Adviser, Senior Special Assistant etc.

Among greed, arrogance, realism and idealism, what feeds the inspiration and serves as impetus to the Abobaku is indiscernible to the untrained mind.

Each time I listen to Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, to Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), I quiver and wonder what on earth could transform a dove into a tortoise.

For me, if there are extraterrestrial powers of darkness in Aso Rock that befuddle a good man’s reasoning and make him go bad overnight, such powers are called avarice, hypocrisy, insensitivity and psychosis.

I was dazed by oga Adesina’s dove-like humility in Ile-Ife over 10 years ago when I was a guest at his relative’s wedding. On the occasion, Adesina didn’t only serve us personally, he also insisted on packing the plates used in serving my colleagues and me – a move which we resisted – and jointly packed the plates with him. Then, Adesina was the Editor-in-Chief, The SUN newspaper while I was merely the Osun State correspondent of PUNCH.

The second time I met the Ipetumodu-born Adesina was in Lagos on July 4 of either 2013 or 2014 at a workshop in the US Embassy to commemorate America’s independence celebration. His  humility, humour and depth reflected at the interactive workshop. By this time, I had been transferred to Lagos and made News and Politics editor of PUNCH.

However, defending the unpardonable pardon granted the disgraced former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba states respectively, Adesina, on April 22, 2022, tried to apply lipstick on Buhari’s pig.

Adesina, who appeared on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, attempted to make the criminal pardon appear as a joint decision taken by Buhari, his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, former Heads of State, ex-Presidents, ex-Chief Justices of the Federation, ex-governors, but the programme’s anchor, Seun Okinbaloye, was smart enough to suffocate his cunning argument.

I shook my head sadly while I watched Adesina sitting before the camera, rolling his head right and left as puerile sophistry cascaded from his mouth, and I wondered if this was the same great man, whose pen incised truth into the conscience of yesterday’s men of power.

Speaking as if he was on oath, Adesina solemnly said: “I have not seen how that pardon vitiates the war on corruption in anyway,” and to distract Okinbaloye, who said a prominent lawyer had faulted the pardon, Adesina added that, “I know that lawyer, he’s a permanent critic, he criticises everything, nothing is ever done right by his standards,” but Okinbaloye held the argument by the jugular. And I wondered if it was against the Constitution to hold views different from those of All Progressives Congress crooks, sorry, I mean cooks, stirring the nation’s broth.

When Channels showed a table confirming that almost three thousand lives had been lost nationwide to insecurity between January and March, Adesina insisted that what was sauce for the goose should not be sauce for the gander, urging Nigerians not to compare the Buhari regime with past governments, saying ‘we shouldn’t be comparing deaths’. I ask, didn’t the APC  compare lives lost during the Goodluck Jonathan days with those of war-torn countries? Though Adesina knows the truth, it hasn’t set him free.

To rub salt into the wound, Adesina added, “It’s not all those figures, and in all those regions that you have either insurgence or banditry operating, there are even some self-inflicted ones in some of those places where the killings are done by the people, the natives against the natives. So, would you then say it’s completely the fault of the President? The government is fighting it (insecurity)?” Alagba Adesina, you’re right, it’s not the fault of the President that people kill one another and government cannot do anything about it; it’s the fault of the three statues at Julius Berger, Lagos.

For a President who, three weeks ago, signed the extension of teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 65, to pardon 64-year-old Dariye and 66-year-old Nyame on account of old age, is fraudulent. That Nigeria’s correctional facilities cannot take care of common ailments such as hypertension and diabetics is an indication that nothing ever grows in the hands of the Buhari-Osinbajo regime. Corruption has not killed Nigeria, Buhari has.

THE presidency said the deadly attack on the Nigeria Defence (NDA) facility by bandits on Tuesday might be politically motivated to embarrass Muhammadu Buhari’s govt.Senior Presidential Spokesperson Garba Shehu said during an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday’s night.

Despite deadly attacks by the terrorists in various parts of the country, especially in the Jos where 37 people were killed on Tuesday in retaliation for 25 Fulanis killed last week, the presidential spokesperson claimed the attack came at a time when ‘major successes’ were recorded by the military in the fight against insurgency and banditry.

Shehu expressed the president’s displeasure with the attack and called on the military to investigate it thoroughly. “The president has denounced it. He is not happy about it. It is now left for the military authorities to thoroughly investigate this and bring out what happened,” he said

“So many scenarios are being painted, though.Could this be truly a criminal attempt to violate the sanctity of that military institution? Was this an opportunistic crime? Is it political? Does somebody want to embarrass the government by doing this?


We are coming from major successes. Look at how Boko Haram is unravelling in the north. They have surrendered, and all of the victories have been recorded even in the North-West where these bandits are being taken out in large numbers.

“So, in a climate -political climate in which people seek to make political capital out of this unfortunate incident, you don’t rule in anything, you don’t rule out anything.”

In a statement issued by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina yesterday, Buhari said that although the incident was regrettable, it would boost the morale of the nation’s armed forces to end criminality in the country.

Nigerians and the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have knocked the president over the attack, which claimed the lives of top military officers.

In a statement, PDP National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan said that the attack was an indication that the nation’s security had totally failed under Buhari.

In the last two months, there have been reported cases of destruction of grown crops on farmlands of some natives in different communities in Plateau State.Among the worst-hit are communities in Riyom, Barkin Ladi, and Bassa local government areas of the State.

Although the development has drawn the ire of the State Governor, Simon Lalong who asked security agents to investigate, apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of the act, the farmers are appealing for help as they fear chronic hunger will pervade the land as their means of livelihood is destroyed.

To this, Irigwe people are calling the world’s attention to their plights, chronicling the series of destruction they have witnessed in recent times.

The people through the National President, Irigwe Youths Movement, Ezekiel Bini, National Secretary, Zamfara Ishagoro and National Publicity Secretary, Lawrence Zongo emphasized the tactic was a deliberate effort to throw “the entire Rigwe nation into famine, dearth, excessive hunger, food insufficiency, inadequacy, and untimely death.”

According to the trio in a statement, “The Fulani marauders have been wreaking havoc on the farmlands of Rigwe nation where a variety of crops such as maize, sweet potatoes, acha, Irish potatoes, pepper, tomatoes, cabbage, carrot, green pepper, soya beans, etc have been encroached, destroyed and shattered beyond growth within the span of seven months of this year, 2021.

“Over 700 farmlands with crops worth over N2,000,000,000 have been destroyed within the said time frame. The recent destruction of farm crops in Rigweland for the month of June and July are as follows:

“On the 3rd of June, 2021 four farmlands at Chuvo were destroyed; on the 4th June, 2021 five farmlands were destroyed; on the 6th June, 2021, three farmlands were destroyed all at Chuvo. On the 17th June 2021, nine farmlands at Ri-bakwa were destroyed; on the 18th June 2021, four farmlands at Nnunche Kpara were destroyed.

“On the 20th June, 2021, 12 farmlands were destroyed at Ri-bakwa and Te’egbe; on the 4th July, 2021 eight farmlands at Chuvo were destroyed; on the 9th June 2021, over 45 farmlands at Zonwrru were destroyed. On the 10th,12th,14th July 2021, 22 farmlands at Nzhwaruba were destroyed; on the 16th and 18th, July 2021 six farmlands at Chuvo were destroyed.

“Over 25 farmlands have also been destroyed by the same marauders at Ancha village within the same period. Rikwe-Chongu village also experienced the same destruction worth over 50 farmlands and the most recent is the total destruction of over 25 plots of farmlands on the 19th July 2021 at Ri-bakwa and Nchetahu of Kpachudu Community.”

They added, “A Rigwe man’s best identity is farming and that for ages has been our major source of livelihood, one will not be wrong to state that the ultimate target of the marauders is to use hunger as another strategy of wiping the entire Rigwe tribe.”

They asked that the directive by the governor for the incident to be investigated and the perpetrators punished should not be swept under the carpet.

They stressed, “We are happy that the State Governor, Barr Simon Lalong has swiftly reacted this time around, to the recent one at Ri-bakwa village of Kpachudu community with stern warning and directive that security agents immediately swing into action by investigating the act of terrorism with a view of ensuring that the perpetrators are apprehended.

“He also directed the Plateau State Peace Building Agency (PPBA) to visit the affected place to ascertain the level of damage with a view of providing succor. And he finally said that justice will be served.

“All these are well commended and applauded however, it is on record that similar press releases and statements have been done in the past with no action seen and that has contributed in allowing the perpetrators continued having a field day in committing their atrocities.

“This can be affirmed that even after the Press Statement of the Governor on Wednesday 21 July 2021 that the perpetrators be arrested, the Fulani marauders dared him and with effrontery macheted and destroyed over 15 farmlands at Zanwra on the night of Wednesday 21 July 2021( Same day the Press Statement was issued) They also ambushed and killed one of us at Ancha village of Miango District same Wednesday 21 July 2021 around 6 pm.

“These are proofs that its time the Government and all other statutory bodies bestowed with the responsibility of safeguarding lives and property go beyond rhetorics by giving them the treatment in the language they understand because these are purely acts of terrorism and should be treated as such.”

They added, “A Rigwe man’s best identity is farming and that for ages has been our major source of livelihood, one will not be wrong to state that the ultimate target of the marauders is to use hunger as another strategy of wiping the entire Rigwe tribe.”

They asked that the directive by the governor for the incident to be investigated and the perpetrators punished should not be swept under the carpet.

They stressed, “We are happy that the State Governor, Barr Simon Lalong has swiftly reacted this time around, to the recent one at Ri-bakwa village of Kpachudu community with stern warning and directive that security agents immediately swing into action by investigating the act of terrorism with a view of ensuring that the perpetrators are apprehended.

“He also directed the Plateau State Peace Building Agency (PPBA) to visit the affected place to ascertain the level of damage with a view of providing succor. And he finally said that justice will be served.

“All these are well commended and applauded however, it is on record that similar press releases and statements have been done in the past with no action seen and that has contributed in allowing the perpetrators continued having a field day in committing their atrocities.

“This can be affirmed that even after the Press Statement of the Governor on Wednesday 21 July 2021 that the perpetrators be arrested, the Fulani marauders dared him and with effrontery macheted and destroyed over 15 farmlands at Zanwra on the night of Wednesday 21 July 2021( Same day the Press Statement was issued) They also ambushed and killed one of us at Ancha village of Miango District same Wednesday 21 July 2021 around 6 pm.

“These are proofs that its time the Government and all other statutory bodies bestowed with the responsibility of safeguarding lives and property go beyond rhetorics by giving them the treatment in the language they understand because these are purely acts of terrorism and should be treated as such.”