Take the case of Afonja, an Aare Ona Kakanfo (Commander-in-Chief) of the Army of Oyo. An Aare was installed by the king to lead the army, defend the territory and do battles against the empire’s enemies. The families and compounds that produced the Aare were a long proven lineage of warriors. They were not royalty. The royal houses feed the throne in Yorubaland. But Afonja wanted to be king, I guess he got tired of taking instructions from a man who spent his days dressed regally and his nights in the bosoms of the most beautiful women in the land. Why should he, Afonja, spend his days dodging fiery arrows of death and his nights chanting non-stop incantations until his mouth was swollen while the king just flipped his irukere and a dozen slaves fanned him so he would not sweat under all the royal fineries?

So Afonja rebelled, and rebelling against an Alaafin was no small venture. Afonja knew what, or so he thought, was at stake. He went on a massive recruitment drive to expand his army, the one that would make him king. Using Ilorin as base, the rebel warrior organized what Toyin Falola (Ibadan: Foundation, Growth and Change 1830-1960) described as desultory wars in the northern part of Oyo Empire ‘to create the nucleus of a new kingdom.’ He incited Hausa slaves against their masters and recruited those who forcefully left their masters (we know what that means, right?) into his expanding army. Then he went into alliance with Alimi, a Muslim preacher who also had designs on Oyo deeply inside him. Alimi’s primary aim was Jihad and he must have seen the chaos Afonja’s war of rebellion was causing among his people as the pedestal he needed to enlarge his religion frontiers. That was how a rebel and a jihadist bonded against Oyo Empire.

Neither Alimi nor Afonja considered the collateral damage of their self-centered alliance. They did not care whose blood or pain would fuel their ambition. They were just big boys who wanted to be bigger boys. Their alliance did work, for a while. With the help of Alimi, Afonja was able to bring down the Alaafin, walking through the blood of his own people but did not allow him enjoy the kolanut of success for long. The pains of pregnant women who became sudden widows and the cries of babies who suffered hardship because they were born fatherless soon reached the ears of Eleduwa (the Supreme Being). There broke out confusion in the camp of the enemy and around 1823, the Islamic cleric killed the rebel.

According to Professor Toyin Falola, ‘Alimi was probably more ambitious than Afonja.’ He planned to carry the Jihad to  Yorubaland and control a large expanse of the territory in the process. His army repeatedly set out from Ilorin to attack northern Oyo area which had already been weakened by previous invasions by Afonja. Between the bloody ambition of a rebel Commander-in-Chief who wanted Alaafin’s throne for himself and a pretend-pious man who also wanted to build his own empire, the Old Oyo Empire came to an inglorious end.

Ambition, blind ambition. Powerful men who want more powers. Like the popular Fuji artiste, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM 1) sang:

A ba so o

E de gba

K’a f’eniyan je lemomu

Ko tun ma du Seriki.

A chief Imam warned to be contented with his holy title but is determined to become a Sarkin (king) will not end well. That is the translation of those fuji lines, essentially.

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Do you see it, ambition everywhere? Do you see them, ambitious men, everywhere? Ambition in itself is not a bad thing. It is just that in Nigeria, the self-centeredness quickly becomes selfishness and swiftly to blinding ambition. This new set of coalition figures should ordinarily bring us hope. At least now, we have an alternative to all the job seekers who call themselves politicians running into APC, the biggest recruiter today.

Today’s politicians? They are like an impotent man who brags that he would break the waist of his woman but at the end of the day could not rise to the occasion.

Ordinarily, that a group of politicians are volunteering to rescue us from poverty should gladden my heart but it doesn’t. One, I have heard all that they are saying before. Two, I have seen all of them in the same hall before. Three, the things they promised then are still the things they are promising now. I am confused. Isn’t this what they call gas-lighting? Or is it musical chair? The only redeeming feature of this coalition or collusion is that some of the faces of the coalition ahead of 2027 are men who gave a good account of themselves when they were helmsmen of their states. As governors, they built impressive schools, improved health facilities, gave impressive face-lifts to their state capitals. They left their states better than they met it. But as soon as they moved to federal level politics, the accolades started dwindling. People stopped clapping and now they are grumbling. The people are now looking at these once celebrated good men with suspicion. Some cannot even disguise their sneer. Because while the states improved a little under many former governors, too many things fell through the economic cracks.

Too many things have gone wrong. Too many promises have been broken. Too many oaths of office have been breached. Nigerians are feeling like abandoned brides, jilted women. A woman scorned more than once is not a woman you can toast easily. She no longer trusts any man. The man may think he broke only her hymen, no big deal. The deal is big, trust me. A woman robbed of a hymen and left with a broken heart is a woman to be feared. You and I can write a book on how hard she can be, mean and menacing. That is where Nigerians are. They have been taken to the altar too many times by men who did not keep their promises, men who heartlessly threw away the orange after sucking the juice.

A new coalition? It could work. Maybe it won’t. What is in it for the common man if it does? The ones that seemed to have worked, worked for who? It is a conversation, or questionnaire that leaves you exhausted because we have been at this game for so long, too long, even. Yet it is not how long a man stays on top of his wife that determines whether she will have twins or triplets. A two-minute man can impregnate his wife with quadruplets while the marathon man may end up with just one bouncing baby. Nigerian politicians have stayed too long on top of this wife with little or nothing to show for it. Yes, we can see the sweat. True, the mats and mattresses have suffered under their weight and huffing and puffing. But where are the babies? This wife is old and menopausal. That is why this coalition is not exciting. We have been tickled and tantalized before. This old wife has been left high and dry. She is tired and dry. And it did not have to be like this, old men behaving like teenage boys who are seeing a woman’s naked nipples for the first time. I can understand the wobbly knees and bulging eyes of a 15-year-old boy the first time he sees a woman in her birthday suit but a 70-year-old dazed and drooling at the sight of a woman’s body is embarrassing. What our leaders should have done swiftly at the first attempt is what is haunting them.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo was Premier Western Region between 1952 and 1959, less than eight years and he left such a great legacy that he is today, 66 years later, still a reference point. Alhaji Lateef Jakande was governor of Lagos State between 1979 and 1983 and no minute passes in Lagos that his name is not mentioned. Yes, you read that right. There are Jakande bus stops all over the state, not just for honourary reasons but because of Jakande Estates, affordable low cost housing estates across Lagos. Chief Bola Ige was governor of the Old Oyo state for just four years, 1979 to 1983, and his legacy in education is still a reference point. In four years, these leaders left names their children are not afraid to mention among talaka was Aminu Kano and Sardauna did their bit and became reverred ancestors before they died. Dr Nnamdi Azikwe did not have to relocate permanently into the boxing ring to become a champion.

Today’s politicians? They are like an impotent man who brags that he would break the waist of his woman but at the end of the day could not rise to the occasion. Do you think the next time he comes bragging again, the woman will be impressed? No, she will just yawn loud and long, hiss and roll into a deep sleep, snoring.

*Egbemode (egbemode3@gmail.com)

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Mr Kolapo Alimi, the State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, in a statement in Osogbo, said the curfew was due to a resurgence of crisis between the two communities.

“Following a resurgence of the crisis between Ifon and Ilobu communities, Governor Ademola Adeleke, in a move to curb its further spread, has announced a new curfew time frame from 6.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. daily, until lasting peace is restored,” he said.

He said the governor, however, expressed dismay over the resurgence of the crisis in the warring communities.

“Governor Ademola expressed unhappiness and dissatisfaction with the breakout of fresh communal crises in Ilobu and Ifon.

“To this end, the governor has directed that the initial 10.00 p.m. to 4.00 a.m. curfew on the communities, now be extended to 6.00 p.m. to 6.00a.m, effective today, Friday, March 21, until further notice,” he said.

Kolapo stated that the governor had also directed joint security team comprising the Nigerian Army, Police and Civil Defence, to continue to maintain their usual 24-hour surveillance, to ensure zero tolerance for any act of lawlessness.

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“In addition, the governor directed that an immediate stakeholders’ meeting, including the Olufon of Ifon, the Olobu of Ilobu, and other stakeholders from both communities, be held tomorrow, Saturday, to discuss further resolutions of the conflict,” he said.

The commissioner said the governor urged all sons and daughters of the two communities, as well as their traditional rulers, to follow the path of peace and harmonious co-existence.

He stated that anyone or group of persons found aiding and abetting the crisis would be dealt with accordingly.

Following the incessant communal clashes between the two communities, Adeleke had few weeks ago, imposed curfew on both Ifon and Ilobu communities.

Source: NAN

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The measure came in the wake of a communal clash between the two communities, leading to a total breakdown of law and order.

The Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr Kolapo Alimi, announced the curfew in a statement issued in Osogbo and made available to newsmen on Sunday.

The commissioner disclosed that the curfew would hold “until further notice” between 8 p.m. and  6 a.m.

It also announced a restriction in both human and vehicular movements during the period of the curfew.

Alimi stated that the measure became necessary in order to enforce law and order in the two communities.

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The statement partly reads: “This is to inform the public that the attention of the Osun Government has been drawn to the communal clash over land dispute between Ilobu and Ifon communities.

“Based on this, Gov. Ademola Adeleke has directed that curfew begins immediately in the two LGAs of Orolu and Irepodun.

“Anyone caught wandering or moving around in Irepodun and Orolu during the curfew will be arrested and prosecuted.”

“The governor sued for peace between these two LGAs,” the commissioner added, while urging the warring communities to imbibe the spirit of love and unity.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Osun Police Command, SP Yemisi Opalola, has confirmed the death of one Sodiq Alamu, 28, in the clash.

Source: NAN

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