A new twist was introduced into the Ibadan explosion of 16 January, 2024 by the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement (YSDM) when it alleged that the explosion was not caused by any errant legal or illegal miner, be it Malian or Nigerian, but that it was a failed assassination attempt on the life of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Led by Prof. Banji Akintoye, YSDM is a pro-Yoruba or Oodua Nation nationalist group.

In an open letter to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, YSDM commiserated with the governor and people of Oyo State over the gruesome incident but also commented on what many have described as Makinde’s hasty conclusion that mining explosives, stored in a private home in a thickly populated residential area, was the cause of the explosion that was directly responsible for the death of seven people, with close to a hundred others wounded, and causing extensive damage to properties worth billions of Naira.

The die is cast! Before the vultures begin to swirl, we must act fast!

Said YSDM: “One group of our Yoruba patriots has suggested that the explosion was caused by a big military-grade bomb; that the bomb seems to have been brought to Ibadan for use to wipe out a large number of leading Yoruba citizens gathered at a large celebration in the International Hall, University of Ibadan, at which President Tinubu was scheduled to be present; and that when President Tinubu did not attend, the owners of the bomb took it back to an inappropriate storage in a living house in nearby Bodija Estate, where some sort of mishandling caused it to detonate…”

This allegation is weighty and could not have been lightly made by an organization of YSDM’s stature or pedigree, which is the foremost assemblage of Yoruba self-determination protagonists. Akintoye himself is a scholar of international repute and a leading figure in the Yoruba socio-cultural-cum political organization, AFENIFERE. It is instructive that neither Makinde nor the Federal Government has responded openly to YSDM’s allegation. The relevant agencies must still be investigating the matter. Could the allegation be true or is it a mere crying wolf?

Hopefully, when the investigation is done with, the authorities will let us know. For sure, this incident is not one that should be swept under the carpet, not in view of other circumstances surrounding it, apart from the alleged attempt on the president’s life. Remember, it was in this same city of Ibadan that the masterminds of the July 1966 counter-coup cornered and killed Nigeria’s first military Head of State, Gen. JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi, and his host, the Western Region governor, Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi. The events that followed led to a 30-month civil war. Can Nigeria afford another civil war?

Before arriving at its conclusion that the Ibadan explosion was an assassination attempt on Tinubu’s life, the YSDM laid the foundation as follows: “Those among us who are knowledgeable about explosives say that this explosion is not consistent with an explosion caused by a miner’s store of dynamites. They say that a miner’s dynamite can only be stored as packages in boxes and bags, and that a mishap with the contents of the storage can only set up a series of explosions lasting for some minutes, and cannot set up one mighty explosion that does all the terror and destruction (that took place at Ibadan)”.

Continuing, the YSDM told Makinde: “It does not sound plausible, Your Excellency, that any master miner would store a large quantity of dynamites of his profession in his home or bedroom. Furthermore, and very importantly, what do our Oyo State Government and people know about this miner who is said to be from Mali Republic, who does considerable mining on our land with a Federal Government licence, who pays business taxes to the Federal Government only, and who, according to some of our people who have had contacts with him before, desires no contact with the Oyo State Government or the local government of his place of residence?”

Not done yet, the YSDM argued: “And still further, Your Excellency, it is very well known that Dejo Oyelese Street, off Adeyi avenue, where the explosion happened, is one of the choicest parts of Bodija Estate, containing the homes of many prominent Yoruba persons – professors (retired and serving), highly-placed professionals, retired governors, retired senior civil servants, etc. – whose houses have now been destroyed. Does the importance of Dejo Oyelese Street have anything to do with this explosion? In other words, was the explosion meant to eliminate many important Yoruba citizens at one blast, with the purpose of seriously hurting the Yoruba nation? Is this (explosion) some sort of threat to us Yoruba people in Nigeria?”

Questions, questions, and questions but will the appropriate answers ever come other than those meant to sweep this matter under the carpets, like the others before it? The reason being that the authorities themselves are complicit in the criminal activities taking place all over the place. Where they are not criminally negligent, they are hands-in-gloves with the perpetrators of all sorts of criminal activities that hurt the people they are elected into office to serve and whose interests they swore on oath to protect and advance.

Can our political leaders and top traditional rulers claim ignorance of both legal and illegal mining activities taking place in their domain? Where they and/or their cronies are not directly involved in these activities that destroy our environment and benefit the people, the communities and the government itself nothing, are they not in cahoots with those that do? Why is it that our governments cannot take these licences and partner with professional miners openly and transparently to mine our God-endowed mineral resources to our benefit? Why are aliens the ones carting away our resources before our very eyes? They feign it but can any of our governors in all honesty claim not to be aware of the rip-off going on? Are our leaders not part of the racket?

In the final analysis, nothing is hidden. There are no selfish and/or corrupt activities that anyone engages in that is hidden. Afterall, they have accomplices-in-crime. They have foot soldiers running their dirty errands for them. I will give a few examples. Why are they not allowing DAWN – Development Agenda for Western Nigeria – to function properly? Why the lack of synergy among our leaders for the rapid development of the South-west? Why is everyone more concerned with the “development” of their individual pockets?  Why are we not properly funding Amotekun? With all the criminality being unleashed on Yoruba land today, why is securing the life and property of the people not a priority? Why do our leaders maintain criminal silence or speak tongue-in-cheek when they should have spoken out forcefully in defence of their people?

I started my journalism profession at the Ibadan-based Sketch newspapers, owned by the southwest states, in 1985 but where is Sketch today? Why did our governors of the time allow it to die? From what we heard, when those who wanted to buy and convert it into their personal property failed in their bid, they let the newspaper die! The Yoruba used to be the doyen of the media; no more! If you give ideas that can benefit the people to our leaders to execute, they always look for avenues to appropriate and corner it for themselves. Examples are legion.

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Ask our young men and women churning out proposals after proposals, they have stories of woes to tell. I, too, suffered such in the past. Ask our professionals in the Diaspora bubbling with ideas and who, being patriotic enough, came home to sell their ideas to our leaders; they will regal you with stories of betrayal and selfishness. Ask our leaders what happened to Odua Net (O’Net). If you fling open the closets of our leaders, serving or retired, dead or alive, you will cry for Yoruba land. It is said that the enemy within throws the door open for the enemy without. I don’t know if I can make any exceptions, but if you can, please do!

It is time we began to hold the feet of our leaders to the fire. What are they doing with the humongous amount they collect monthly from Abuja? What are they doing with their security votes that secure nothing? Why are the Yoruba regressing on all the fronts where they used to occupy the commanding heights – the professions, education, industries, name it! We have seen Dangote refinery; we have seen the BUA and Dangote cement factories; we have seen Ibom Air, among many others; let our leaders tell us the industries they, too, have established.

Having said all of the above, it does not in any way exonerate Miyetti and kidnappers from censure for their renewed criminality. I said somewhere else that I have removed “Allah” from Miyetti’s name because there is nothing godly in them and their activities. Now, why is Miyetti demanding that no Fulani should be arrested over the Ibadan explosion? What does Miyetti know about the explosion? If there was no Fulani involvement, why threaten the government not to arrest any Fulani over it? And if involved, why should any criminal be shielded by anyone, except like-minded criminals?

Miyetti’s latest antics include the brazen setting up of an armed-to-the-teeth Fulani militia, whereas Amotekun and other para-military groups elsewhere were denied sophisticated arms. Not only that, they have begun hurling attacks at the Tinubu administration, threatening to make the country ungovernable for him and inhospitable for the generality of Nigerians. In a statement issued on January 24, 2024, Miyetti virtually declared war on the country; that is treason. Not only its leaders but also all its militia members must be brought to book.

It is time we began to hold the feet of our leaders to the fire. What are they doing with the humongous amount they collect monthly from Abuja?

Miyetti’s declaration of what it called “inevitable jihad” against Nigeria is a criminal act and the days of treating these criminals with kid gloves, which has emboldened them, must now come to an end. Fortunately, their grand patron is no longer in office. The new sheriff in town must act swiftly, firmly, and decisively if this country is to continue to hold together. Now, the danger in Miyetti’s declaration of war on all Nigerians who do not subscribe to their hideous ideology is that they gave only two options: Either we succumb and become slaves to Miyetti or we pick up the gauntlet and fight to defend ourselves, our territories, our liberties and freedom.

Unfortunately, I have not heard much condemnation of Miyetti from the North’s leaders and establishment. Does it mean that Miyetti has their back? Is Miyetti merely running errands? If the feudal North will not call its bad boys to order, then, bad boys from other parts of the land will rise and confront them. And their own leaders, too, will back them up. That appears to be the tone of a statement by the YSDM denouncing what it described as “the Fulani declared war on Yoruba Nation”. Reeling off case after case of embarrassing killing of traditional rulers and other citizens, and the kidnapping of school children in Yoruba land, the YSDM vowed that the Yoruba would defend themselves.

The die is cast! Before the vultures begin to swirl, we must act fast!

*Bolawole (turnpot@gmail.com / 0705 263 1058)

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Less than one year into her tenure, this woman was caught up in the web of corruption. The funds involved were those earmarked for the poor, the desperately poor and the multidimensionally poor. Due to the outcry that followed the exposure and, I must say, the penchant, so far, of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to listen to and act on public opinion, the minister was suspended from office; she has also been called in by the EFCC. Apart from these, that front is quiet and the suspicion by many is that after some air has blown over this issue, it will be swept under the carpet like many others before it, and the suspended minister would be given a soft landing; that is, if not recalled!

But how can a country move forward with the “man-know-man” and “highest bidder” kind of recruitment system it is said we operate here?

This will not be the hallmark of an administration that has promised to revive and rejuvenate the country. Prompt dispensation of justice, especially in a corruption case, ought to be the signpost that the administration has zero tolerance for corruption. To allow the matter to drag will send wrong signals on two sides. On the side of culprits, it will mean they can cut corners and get around the problem Nigeria-style. They will be encouraged to press buttons and play games, leveraging on the ample time being gifted them.

Specifically on Betta Edu, we have heard that more big fishes are being dragged into the matter. That is a sure recipe that they may eventually die the matter, as they say. On the side of the people, it would be a clear statement of intention by the Tinubu administration that theirs is same-same or even more of the same; that nothing has changed; and that the more you look, the less you see.

The other side of the coin is the curious actions of some members of the public themselves; the very people at the receiving end of the Minister’s action! Are you aware that some crowd, rented I believe, have carried placards pleading that the minister be given a second chance? Second chance to do what? To perfect her act? To scale up the quantum of cash involved? Some women groups have also weighed in on her behalf, pleading for women’s rights! Because she has proven that what men can do (playing monkey games with the public till), women can also do and even do better? Not to be left out, folks from her place of ethnic origin have also joined the queue, threatening that we must leave their “daughter” alone to continue in office! Are we okay as a people? How can a country make progress this way?

By now this woman should be cooling her heels in jail, just like the Dean of one university’s Faculty of Law is doing right now, deservedly so, in Kuje prison. That professor abused his office; the suspended minister did. The professor misplaced the trust and confidence reposed in him; the suspended minister did. The professor abused his oath of office, the suspended minister did. The professor’s alleged crime was limited to a few individuals but the minister’s offence was committed against the entire country. Yet, one is already in custody while the other walks about freely. What country moves forward this way?

The second example is the menace or, better still, nuisance called Miyetti. I have chosen not to dignify them by identifying “Allah” with their name, and I ask other people to follow suit, because they are through and through evil. We are yet to forget the ruins they and their alleged grand patron subjected this country to for eight gruelling years. Where people know shame and have a modicum of civilized conduct, neither Miyetti nor its grand patron would be able to walk the street, not to talk of strutting like a peacock and letting their voice be heard again.

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But why will Miyetti not grandstand when their grand patron is also all over the place gloating about his time in office and how he did his best for Nigeria?  His best was to hold the country down for looters and for Miyetti to skin alive. And how will Miyetti not threaten Nigerians with Armaggedon when one of the spin doctors of the most clueless, most incompetent, most corrupt, and most irresponsible government in the country’s history had the temerity, a while ago, to launder the image and deodorize the stench still oozing out of the chambers of the Muhammadu Buhari maladministration? All the suffering in the land today can, and must, be traced to the Buhari administration. It will take time and effort to repair and restore the country again to good health.

Miyetti and its likes ignore the bitter truth and will seek every opportunity to pull the government down. The unrestrained access they had to the government and its resources is no longer there. The protection of the State that they used to enjoy is also no longer available. So, their leaders, who used to be above the law, can now, to their utter surprise and consternation, be called in for questioning and be made accountable for their actions. That is how it should be and we must not relent. Their ego trip, bordering on lunacy, that they own this country, has been cut short. Without State protection and patronage, they will soon be cut to size and be weaned of their hallucination that they own Nigeria.

Miyetti’s rag-tag militia cannot overrun the country. Let Miyetti set them up! They will be uprooted in the fullness of time. The other nationalities that make up this country will not let Miyetti have its way. The latest excuse they, and their co-travelers, have latched on to is the relocation of some agencies of the Federal Government from Abuja back to Lagos for ease of operations and to save cost. Reasonable men and women will analyze and interrogate the reasons adduced, and not insist that everything must remain in the North, be it profitable, be it otherwise, because the North wants it so! Baloney!

Towing the same path as many other concerned Nigerians, I have been vociferous in my call for the Tinubu administration to drastically cut down the cost of governance. So, I was one of those who criticized his bloated administration of ministers, advisers and assistants. I spoke out against the car loans and humongous allocation awarded the National Assembly members. I queried the number of delegates the president took along with him to his first UN General Assembly meeting in New York, USA. Of course, I raked against the scandalously-high delegation to this year’s COP28 summit in Dubai.

Therefore, if the government is now doing something to reduce the cost of governance, it must be saluted, not pilloried. Except, of course, we have evidence that this is not so. The everything-for-us and nothing-for-the-others mentality of some Northern leaders will not wash. If they took the other parts of the country for a ride in the past, the chickens have now come home to roost. In fact, the Tinubu administration must continue the further decentralization of government ministries, agencies and parastatals not only to Lagos but to other parts of the country. That is the practice elsewhere. Nigeria belongs to all its people, not to a few arrogant block heads and empty barrels that rejoice in making a lot of noise and setting the country backward. Mercifully, reasonable Northerners have distanced themselves from the maddening crowd of Northern feudal irredentists.

The third example is that of the mint-fresh deputy governor of my state, Ondo, Mr. Olayide Adelami, who was quoted as saying he did not lobby for the post, which some other people almost killed themselves over. Fair enough! And kudos, Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his recruitment team. But in doing that, Adelami inadvertently let the cat out of the bag when he said he was busy chasing after a Federal appointment when the deputy governor job came! His exact words: “I never contested for deputy governor; I was looking for a federal appointment when I was called to be deputy governor…”

Miyetti and its likes ignore the bitter truth and will seek every opportunity to pull the government down. The unrestrained access they had to the government and its resources is no longer there.

So, people go to look for Federal appointments? How? So, all the rumours we hear of how people do all sorts to get appointments, how appointments are bought and sold, may not be all lies after all! So, what happens to competent people not willing to go look for appointments? They rot away in their little corners? Is there not a system where we can headhunt for the best materials whether or not they go looking for appointments, just as happened with the job of deputy governor that Adelami landed without lobbying?

So, then, is this scripture fulfilled before our very eyes: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7: 7-8).

But how can a country move forward with the “man-know-man” and “highest bidder” kind of recruitment system it is said we operate here?

*Bolawole (turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533), former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of the Westerner newsmagazine. He writes the “ON THE LORD’S DAY” column in the Sunday Tribune and “TREASURES” column in the New Telegraph newspapers. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

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