OYEDOKUN COMMENDS ADELEKE FOR HIS COURAGE

 

"Anyone who knew how the former Asiwaju of Ede, Chief Adetunji Adeleke impacted positively, the lives of People of his hometown, Ede ,Osun State and the entire country, Nigeria ,would have no option than to rejoice with  Governor Ademola Jackson Adeleke for his courage in stepping into the shoes of his late brother as the new Asiwaju of Ede land ."

The Oluomo of Inisa, Chief Shuaib Afolabi Oyedokun has noted.

In a statement released  by the Oluomo of Inisa, he described the life of the former Asiwaju of Ede as a brilliant testimony and demonstration of the golden thought which says that:" it isn't life that matters but the courage  one puts to it ."

"With Chief Adetunji Adeleke, charity also, did not only begin from home ,  the training he imbibed from his Adeleke Dynasty towards his passion for and sense of pursuing people's welfare, became an undying badge which he wore courageously as he expanded the legacy of good governance to the state and Nigeria in general" He  recalled .

 "It is therefore along the pleasant metaphor which  the traditional chieftaincy title of Asiwaju has  exuded in the dynasty, bequeathing worthy  heritage from one generation to another, that I am congratulating  the Osun State Governor for taking up the mantle as the Asiwaju of Ede." Oyedokun added. 

According to him:

It is my prayers that the Governor would brace up to the privileges and challenges which the chieftaincy aptly confers, even towards the progress of the state, not forgetting to do proud the fulcrum , goodwill  and platforms upon which he rode to power, particularly the welfare of the commoners which his Dynasty fought for since the days of his father.

The Oluomo of Inisa then commended the Timi of Ede,His royal Majesty, Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal as well as his council of chiefs for the great honour done to Governor Adeleke and for their commitment to the advancement of the ancient town and the state in general. 

"That this honour is  coming  at a time the Governor is clocking 64, shows that the new age portends  double blessing commensurate with the responsibility of tapping into the wisdom there-from while preparing him graciously for the task a-head ." Oluomo reckoned.

PRECISION HAND OF GOD IS FANTASTIC IN JOURNALISM

 

How does Precision come into the Hand of God in Journalism  ? One may ask.

It is like the promise or covenant which God gives ; it is purified seven times  and re-purified in the fire of fulfillment seven times. 

Conversely, It is an open secret , for instance, that my brand of Journalism practice goes beyond one which fulcrums  on mere western paradigm .

This had become apparent since 1989 when I won my first Best Reporter of the Year award, and after which the then Cross River State University, Uyo,( Department of Communication Arts) invited me to contribute a chapter to a journalism textbook which was then on the drawing board .

 It was after I submitted my contribution that God, during my journey into trance,revealed to me the secret of Journalism, where-in, His breath exuded into the documents while it translated to my first Journalism textbook titled:" JOURNALISTS AND THE HAND OF GOD.

Precisely, the message  in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, Chapter four put it most succinctly :

" After this I looked, and,  behold,  A DOOR WAS OPENED IN HEAVEN ( emphasis in capital letters is mine ) and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, COME UP HITHER AND I WILL SHOW THEE THINGS WHICH MUST BE HEREAFTER. "

No doubt, the Hand of God has been working for me in the profession, knowing full well that in the business of Journalism, which is geared at ensuring good governance, whatever door government is trying to shut for selfish end, is the same door that journalists set out to open up in the interest of the public.

Let me confess here however that until April,14,1994, I didn't know that midwifery is an office with its own door, and that only the HAND OF GOD opens and closes the  door as He chooses.

 Conversely ,when a new King over Egypt which knew not the Biblical Joseph ascended the throne, it was his plan to kill all male children of Hebrew and upon which he recruited midwives detailed to carry out the dastardly act.

King Pharaoh resultantly gave them the order :" When ye do THE OFFICE OF A MIDWIFE , to the Hebrew women ,and see them upon the stood, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter then she shall live ."( Exodus 1:16 ) Today  April, 14, 2024 ,I am happy to recall that God, on April, 14, 1994, intervened in opening the Door of the office of midwifery for my wife, Prophetess Idowu  Deborah Fagbola who gave birth to Kayode John Fagbola, now marking his 30th birthday today. 

How did it happen  ?

 My wife had in 1994 kept shuttling, time without number,  between our Ring Road  Ibadan residence and Punch's Oke-Bola-based hospital, anticipatory  and preparatory to her time of delivery in which the arrival of the expected child was mysteriously delayed. 

On the afternoon of this April 14 ,1994, Mummy ,was still in the usual protracted labour when the Lord inspired me to go to the family altar where we always prayed to God ,giving me His gentle instruction that I should fill up the hand bell there with water, bless it and give my wife to drink .

Barely twenty minutes after she took the water, she put to bed effortlessly right in our three-bed room flat.

Hallelujah, Kayode is a child of prayer and indeed an answer to God-inspired prayers.  It was shortly before his birth that Punch Management approved for me a car loan with which I bought my first car, JETA. 

The second precision to this Miracle birth which heralded the arrival of my car was that it revealed the potency in Precision Journalism in which we scoop out big news through subjecting  statistical data into intelligent and intelligible interpretation .

Mrs Christie Ohuabunwa , who was on the Crime Beat, being our Amazon Crime Correspondent, had stormed the news room one afternoon with her usual exclusive stories. 

When I demanded from her the source of her stories, she yielded to me two heavily bound books of Crime statistics which she got authoritatively from credible source. 

After she had exhausted her write-ups from the documents, she yielded the books to me, on request, and for three months, I locked myself up in my office, being the Acting News Editor of Sunday Punch,interpreting the statistics of crime intelligently and intelligibly. 

For a whole quarter of the year, 1994, the statistics of various crimes in Nigeria by Nigerians from 1950 to 1994 were speaking to me while I plotted data of crimes which lay in the kitties of both Federal and State governments in Nigeria. The result was fantastic  !

The Sunday Punch under the supervision of my Editor, Godwin  Nzeakahnnamdi, alias Ogbefi was for the period commanding frontline respect in the market with the newspaper becoming an instant sell out. At one of the board meetings presided over by our actuarial and mathematical Chairman,  Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, my editor gladly presented my case for a car loan, based on my excellent performance while the request was granted instanter.

The Hand of God in Precision Journalism is indeed fantastic. 

OLALERE FAGBOLA REPORTING

EXPERTS CALL FOR SCHOOL PRESS CLUB IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUG ABUSE

Amid increasing cases of  substance abuse and gender-based violence in Nigeria, with attendant toll on socio-political and economic life of the youths ,two child experts and educationists have stressed the need for schools to adopt a threefold educational initiatives towards urgent implementation of ongoing fight against the social malaise.

The recommendations which were adopted at a recent workshop for teachers in Osun State are the setting up of Drug-free Press Club in schools ,the energisation of literary and debating society programmes and the engagement of students in creative drama which fulcrums on  the upliftment of moral values in school environments.

The three-pronged policy is encapsulated from two lectures delivered separately by the Assistant State Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Dr Yetunde Ofoha and the Director of Public Schools, Mrs. A.O. Adeoye .

The two experts agreed that the impartation of needed knowledge through the faithful implementation of their recommendations would go a long way to inculcating sound academic and moral values in the lives of students while building in their psychology, the stamina vital to coping with pressure of life as well as helping to debunk the fallacy that prosperity comes without labour.

Both of them stressed that it was important to integrate the three initiatives into the school time table and argued that if the ongoing fight against drug abuse and addiction would not end up as a mere shadow-chasing antics,  the sensitisation must be methodically inculcated into the school system, beginning from their assembly so that it would serve as a lifeblood which students would carry beyond the four walls of the schools .

The Assistant State Commander of NDLEA expressed regret that Nigeria which formerly was regarded as a transit country for hard drugs has now become a producer, consumer and trafficker country, pointing out that the immediate victims are youths, regarded as future leaders.

Dr Ofoha equally noted that it was not even palatable that Osun state is purportedly classified among states with the highest cases of drug addicts.

 She however noted with delight that the United Nation has encouraged the incorporation of spiritualism in the prevention of substance abuse and in the rehabilitation of drug addicts, adding that the NDLEA has equally been operating new strategies in its War Against Drug Addiction, acronymed WADA.

 In her own contribution, the Director of Public Schools in the Ministry of Education, Mrs Adeoye who charged teachers that " discipline is inseparable from teaching," urged workshop participants to be mindful of their behaviours with students whom they are supposed to lead by examples, adding that:" a toaster ( child abuser) of students can't preach honesty before his or her students. "

The Director of Public Schools who described the workshop as very timely, stated that the ministry of education in Osun state is committed to the march against drug abuse and gender-based violence ,stressing that the month of March is intensifying its march against the menace through FIGHT, being the acronymed for Fill In The Gap And Halt The Trend .

 In the commitment of the state Government to rid Osun state of social malaise, Mrs Adeoye disclosed that no fewer than 5,000 new teachers are being recruited by the state government towards the education of youths while ensuring that they equip their students with moral armament needed to fortify them as future leaders.

 At the Uniosun Teaching Hospital, Osogbo workshop venue in which the Osogbo Window on America is located ,resource persons drawn from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA and the Ministry of Education ,presented papers while the Chief Executive Director of Trauma of Dreadlocked Publisher , Olalere Fagbola treated participants to  renditions of poetry  in support of the Fight.

Earlier, the Director of Osogbo Window on America, Mr. Samuel Ibitoye stated that the Window is an initiative of the Public Affairs of the U.S. Consulate , stressing that the workshop,through collaborative efforts with Imole foundation, is part of programmes by which the Window has not relented in empowering youths in Osun state through different educative initiatives geared at moulding their minds in being productive .

The Imole Foundation, a nongovernmental  organisation was established  by Mrs Hembadoon Babatunde and under the Board Chairmanship of Mr Kehinde Babatunde .

Imole foundation. The organisation is committed to the fight against drug abuse, sexual abuse and gender-based violence in schools across Africa.  

The founder has been using her book, WOUNDS THAT WON'T HEAL " now adopted by the Osun State Government for the use of schools in her sensitisation campaign to educate students as well as parents in different programmes for early advocacy for kids .

BY OLALERE FAGBOLA

ATAOJA ENACTS ADIRE PALACE POLICY : BESTOWS OSUNMUNREWA ON BALOGUN SANGO OF USA

The Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun Oyetunji has assured that no stone would be left unturned in the quest to restore the credible old Glory of Osogbo as the cradle of authentic Adire indigo in Nigeria. 

Beaming with smiles as he welcomed to his palace , visiting Balogun Sango of USA, Sangorinu Fabunmi Akinlana, who himself was bedecked in rich flowing Agbada gown of Adire fabrics, Oba Oyetunji added that all efforts would be made to encourage the production and promotion of Osogbo indigenous Adire and Batik all over the world.

The Ataoja announced that he is making it a policy that his chiefs as well as august visitors to his palace wear Adire to annual Osun festival and to other important ceremonies in Osogbo .

The Osun State government has also issued a statement in recent times that civil servants as well as pupils in primary schools and students in secondary schools should wear adire to office and schools respectively in order to encourage the promotion of the indigenous industry.

In recognition of the humanitarian efforts of Balogun Sango of USA, particularly his commitment in promoting the works of Adire and Batik in Osogbo , the Ataoja of Osogbo bestowed a new traditional name of " Osunmunrede on him , stressing that Balogun Sango's patriotic efforts were worthy of emulation.

 Balogun Sango has arrived Osogbo from America to launch the new "Adire digital " being pioneered by a blind genius and Proprietor of African Craft shop, Adebayo Muritala Akanbi David, popularly called AMAD BULLDOZER " .

 At the ceremony coming up this Friday at Zebaff Event Centre  Osogbo,  Balogun Sango along with a Ghana-based philanthropist ,Abdul Rasheed Sanni and Adebayo Muritala Akanbi David would introduce the adire digital as one of the projects of their non governmental organisation called " Three Good Hearts "

 In his response ,the Balogun Sango thanked the Ataoja of Osogbo for the honour bestowed upon him and promised to carry Adebayo's project to higher heights ,adding that his moving train is going to metamorphose into a moving aeroplane .

Among highly placed personalities who witnessed the occasion was Chief Jimoh Ibrahim, a forerunner of Nigerian art and bead works.

WHEN ROYAL FATHER( PROFESSOR) AMBUSHED BUHARI'S EX-SPECIAL ADVISER

Where military strategy rules an environment, it is often a fulcrum upon which attire an ambush is masterminded for attacks and it's always the common language spoken by the military who are usually on offensive mission.

Unlike a Hollywood or Nollywood movie where actors die in one episode and resurrect in another one dramatically, ambush is not such a parody crafted as same bedfellow with riddles and jokes.

But the last time I noticed the word :" ambush" stealing publicly into our socio-political vocabulary was in 1998 when the media reported that top notchers of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP ambushed General Olusegun Obasanjo at his Otta farm to present him Presidential ticket to contest on a platter of gold .

Sensing that it would be an uphill task wooing the war General to pick interest in the 1999 Presidential race,and particularly as the PDP was not disposed to exposing its joker and winning strategy for the race to political opponents, the PDP chieftains paid unscheduled visit to Obasanjo's farm and persuaded him to join the party and carry the party's banner.

 Emerging from the meeting with the party stalwarts, Chief Obasanjo described their unscheduled visit and mission to his farm as an ambush, even though it was devoid of attack which is  peculiar to such field operation.

This was exactly the nature of what similarly and  pleasantly played out last week at Origbo Community High School playground where Femi Adesina was ambushed. 

It all happened at the venue of this year's annual Ipetumodu Day Celebration which witnessed His Royal Majesty,  Apetumodu of Ipetumodu, Oba ( Professor) Joseph Olugbenga conferring on Femi Adesina, the coveted chieftaincy title of Oluomo of Ipetumodu ( The Prima inter Pares) amid pomp and pageantry.

 It turned out to be double honour for him as the League of Veteran journalists ,Osun State  also decorated the former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity with the league's Merit Award for his commitment to the pursuit of Excellence in Professional journalism.

That he was conferred with the Oluomo of Ipetumodu chieftaincy title on Ipetumodu Day was strategically driven to lure Adesina to attend the function as it is obligatory for illustrious sons and daughters of Ipetumodu to attend it ,particularly as this year's annual anniversary was intended to raise #500 million Appeal fund for building of Apetumodu Ultra-modern palace of the Apetumodu of Ipetumodu.

 According to the master of ceremony for the Ipetumodu Day, Oba ( Professor) Joseph Olugbenga Oloyede heard it on good authority that Femi Adesina was not given to accepting honorary or chieftaincy titles and may not attend the Ipetumodu day, if he had fore knowledge or any inkling of an Oluomo title waiting in the wing for him .

 With the royal institution adjudging him fit for the title of the Oluomo of the ancient town, Oba ( Professor) Oloyede and key members of the community kept their plan secret ,even as it was strategically not listed on the programme of the Ipetumodu Day .

Trust Veteran journalists who are experts in sniffing news and having penchant for scoops, they appeared to have caught wind of the plan to bestow honour on Adesina but  could not  confirm the nature of award by which Adesina was going to  be decorated .

Just at the beginning of the programme, the League was invited to present its award to Adesina and leading the team was the Chairman of the veterans, Prince Adesupo Atobatele who officially admitted the former Spokesman of the  Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari into the league as a honourary life member and presented him with a certificate of Merit in recognition of his laudable achievements.

With the stage set for the surprise package, Oba Olugbenga Oloyede recalled , with joy ,how Femi Adesina had use his good offices to facilitate the choice of Ipetumodu as the location for citing and building of the multimillion naira and Ultra-modern 80-bed multi-purpose hospital. He added pointedly that  he was conferring the title of Oluomo of Ipetumodu on Femi  Adesina in recognition of his many contributions to the development of the ancient town. 

It was thunderous ovation that rent the air amid booming of dane guns by traditional hunters who fired intermittently to the sky ,even as drummers and acrobatic dancers celebrated Adesina, punctuating the royal speech with applause.

According to Apetumodu, the hospital which he described as " second to none" has been fully equipped and furnished with modern health gadgets to serve not only the locality but its environs as well as passersby Ibadan-Ife Express Way and the state entirely

Oba Oloyede then appealed to the Osun State  government to ensure commencement of operation in the hospital .

Among very important dignitaries who witnessed the occasion was the Yeyeluwa of Ede,Dr. ( Mrs) Modupe Adeleke-Sanni who was the Mother of the Day .

Barely few weeks to the time Adesina  bowed out of office honourably as the Special Adviser  to President Muhammadu Buhari, he had begun to be vindicated. 

Judging from comments now referring to the patriotic way in which he handled his immediate  constituency ( the Press ) with fairness, not stifling press freedom in any way, even in spite of all vitriolic attacks on his Principal,  it is certain that history has begun to absolve him.

 In an open letter written to Bayo Onanuga by Richard Akinnola, he stated that it was remarkable that , Femi Adesina, as Special Adviser, Media and publicity to the President,  did not petition against any media throughout his tenure. 

Let the golden words of 

Fidel Castro, in his historic speech," HISTORY WILL ABSOLVE ME" continue to serve  Chief Femi Adesina, the Olu-Omo of Ipetumodu. 

" To those who would call me a dreamer , I quote the words of Marti:

" A true man does not seek the path where advantage lies, but rather the path where duty lies,and this is the only practical man whose dream of today will be the law of tomorrow, because he who has looked back on the upheaval of history and has seen civilisation going up in flames, crying out in bloody struggle, throughout the centuries,knows the future well-being of man,without exception ,lies on the side of duty ."

OLALERE FAGBOLA.

FEMI ADESINA: A LESSON IN FRATERNAL PHILANTHROPY AND EQUANIMITY

The plan by my association, Association of Veteran journalists, AVJ,Osun State to host Femi Adesina in a Media chat today, September, 20, 2023 became known to me only yesterday through a Press statement forwarded to me by my God father in politics, the Olu-Omo of Inisa,Chief Shuaib Afolabi Oyedokun who is currently in America. 

That the media chat with him ,under the Chairmanship of the state Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation  Alhaji Kola Alimi ,is being held as a way of welcoming him back home to his state ( Osun state) after his eight years of meritorious service to the father land  ,is another way in which I see history absolving him .

 One of the reasons why I did not, in good time ,know about this historic event in which the Special Adviser to former President, Muhammadu Buhari would be at home in the midst of  Chief Executive Officers of ten Broadcasting Officers, among others, is because I have not been attending meetings of my Association regularly.

 This is not however unconnected with the fact that in the past two years, I have steadily been a care giver to a mental patient, one of my children, whose medical treatment has not been without the philanthropic assistance of Femi Adesina.

 In a new book of my authorship titled:"TRAUMA OF THE DREAD-LOCKED " documenting the TRAUMA within TRAUMA associated  with his  mental illness amid shuttle from five different hospitals ( 2019-2023) I wrote in the Acknowledgment page of the yet- to- be launched book ,the immense contributions, notably ,of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Femi Adesina for their moral,financial and spiritual support to my family towards ensuring that my son did not walk naked to the market square.

 It is a cause of painful concern for me that Femi Adesina's home-coming chat with the veterans is happening today, a date in which I am supposed  to be in Lagos towards keeping an appointment, ( 12 noon ) with an Abuja-based  indomitable lawyer  Rockson Igelige who is studying my case and considering instituting legal action against a reputable record company for violating my intellectual property.

I do now recall that Femi Adesina was with the National Concord newspaper when I was also working with the Punch newspaper,  ( 80s through to 2000 ) and we knew ourselves only  through our bylines which rocked the weekends

 But it was through an earlier media chat in 2015 organised by the Association of Veteran journalists for him at NUJ Press Centre, Osogbo that we met for the first time, flesh and blood.

At the end of our question and answer session , Femi Adesina got a complimentary copy of my Journalism textbook, Journalists and the Hand of God,  second edition ,leaving me with  a remark that continues to surprise me till now .

 " I must not take this book for free, please let me sow a seed to encourage you ." He remarked as he handed over to me a robust sum of money.

 When I was a Media Consultant ( Senior Executive officer ) in charge of the production of the magazine of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital ABUTH, Zaria, I had genuine reason to initiate a fund-raising charity to take care of whooping medical bill of a kidney patient,  Mass communication graduate, Miss Mercy Echeburu, who was then on admission at the hospital.

 It was through the direct assistance of Femi Adesina, then ,Editor-In - Chief of the Sun newspaper that my project to raise the needed fund through his newspaper succeeded.

And barely a month to leaving office as the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, Richard Akinnola  in an open letter to Bayo Onanuga ,stated that it was remarkable that Femi Adesina, in spite of vitriolic attacks by the Press on his principal ,did not in any way, stifle press freedom.

Unlike the characteristic manner in which some  spokesmen for Presidents and Governors often master minded  booby traps of detention for fellow journalists  through unleashing  venom of petitions against them for criticising their principals , Femi Adesina did not for once engage in such unholy act .

Rather he engaged and still engages minds,  pen for pen ; point for point ,allowing a more superior judgement to rule while making saner conclusions possible.

In assigning values to my collective experience as a journalist,  I have  for some times been praying that nobody may dare me over my long-held view about journalists that sometimes we are our own worst enemies.  

Were I to be dared , I may have to relate  different case studies in which journalistic cocks of wire-pulling, betrayal and dog-biting dog syndrome had crowed many times, louder than the Biblical cock .

If I were  opportuned today to be one of his interviewers at the NUJ Press Centre for his home-coming reception,  one question I would have asked him is this : 

" From where did you draw your equanimity in  resisting the temptation of using your high office to selling out your fraternal brothers in spite of their vitriolic comments and attacks on your Principal ?

Let the golden words of 

Fidel Castro, in his historic speech," HISTORY WILL ABSOLVE ME" here ,serve Femi Adesina at this home-coming reception :

" To those who would call me a dreamer , I quote the words of Marti:

 " A true man does not seek the path where advantage lies,but rather, the path where duty lies, and this is the only practical man, whose dream of today will be the law of tomorrow, because he who has looked back on the upheavals of history and has seen civilisation going up in flames, crying out in bloody struggle, throughout the centuries, knows the future well-being of man ,without exception, lies on the side of duty ."

OLALERE FAGBOLA.

THAT LIGHT MAY BEGET LIGHT FOR THE AFRICAN CHILD ( SOLUDERO : IMOLE FOR IMOLE)

Light complexioned and cloudlessly wrapped up in blue royalty, the front cover page of "WOUNDS THAT  TIME WON'T HEAL" presents a  picture of a beautiful lady whose  arms and ankles shrank in DEPRESSION:

HEAD BLOODY BUT UNBOWED .

Going by this picture of Depression at its gloom ,the Front cover of this book  leaves us with the impression of the lady whose wounds are psychological and which TIME has refused to heal.

 In this intelligible and intelligent account rendered  in the 90-page literature however,  I perceive that the evil of procrastination ,is  the thief which has been robbing the society of decisive action on how to stamp out the evils of abuses that have been befuddling the African Child .

But  with the way the author of this book has intelligently weaved through her account however, her strong clarion call for action gives one the hope that the involvement  of an AFFIRMATIVE ACTION for effective  participation of women  in decision making , would assist in ensuring that the ongoing sensitisation would yield fruit afterall.  .

 It is therefore good news that WOUNDS THAT TIME WON'T HEAL authored by Feranmi Babatunde has been adopted for use in all secondary schools( junior and senior classes ) in Osun State, having recently received the stamp of approval by the State Ministry of Education. 

In recognition  of her consistent  contributions to the upliftment of the welfare of the girl child, the book, launched on the 2023 International day of the Child was faithfully dedicated to honour  Her Excellency, Soludero , Titilola Adeleke; The wife of the Governor of Osun State , Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke .

 This is indeed a great challenge before Her Excellency whom the author ,herself, ( in her opening remarks) described as an Icon of hope .

It is also not by mere coincidence that iron sharpens iron and that Imole foundation, owned by the author , has thought it fit to honour a gubernatorial Adeleke dynasty which has become Imole of Osun state . Honour begets Honour ; Light should equally beget Light  for the African child, and this hopefully should manifest in the plan and policy of the office of Her Excellency in carrying the product  of this ngo( the book ) to enviable heights .

 It is said that the Destiny of a people would be determined by their response ( not reaction ) to the challenges facing them . It is really unfortunate that Osun state appears to be the only state in Nigeria where there is no single woman in the legislature .

How does the hallowed chamber ,in this regard, ensure adequate voice for the girl child ? 

Thank God however that this book could be one of the  road maps with which Her Excellency( herself an Icon in championing the cause of women) could choose as a vessel of raising the heads of the girl child and in giving education to their parents on how to prevent their girl child from becoming victims. 

Amid good signals also coming from the National Assembly which is making it mandatory for schools to include lessons on how to prevent gender-based violence in their curriculum, it would be adding value to this policy if the office of Her Excellency ensures that this book ( which readily fits in ) is given wide circulation in secondary schools.

The only way to doing this is for her office to bulk purchase copies of the book for free distribution in all schools. 

 There is no doubt that the words : WOUNDS AND HEAL are not words that appeal only to the physical but more to the psychological and the Spiritual.  In the holistic healing of the wounds , there is no way religious institutions could be left out of the scheme . The Imole foundation must therefore ensure that it makes up the leeway by ensuring that its book circulates wide in our religious circles .

There is no doubt that this is a critique which should be driven on the fulcrum of objectivity.  However, as much as newspapering thrives on facts which are adjudged to be sacred ( even as comments are free ) the soul of any newspaper document worth its salt is its editorials . Just as an editor without an opinion would go nowhere, a critique without its own constructive voice would be pointless.  It should be noted here that the  International Day

 of African Child, being  the date chosen for the public presentation of the book, is built on the education consciousness of the African child who were painfully mauled down ( in hundreds )  for asking for their rights to be well-educated. It  behoves on government and all of us to support the dreams and vision of this foundation which are being formidably prosecuted  in its sensitisation drives through the nooks and crannies of the state . 

There is no doubt that the administration of Governor Nurrudeen Ademola Jackson Adeleke is stepping up to higher level its policy on zero tolerance  against child abuse in Osun state, it is noteworthy that the African child in Soweto ( in 1976 ) dared bullets fired at them by their assailants in their hunger for true development . They chose the path of true development in their demands to be educated in their mother tongue, even in the African language.  We can therefore borrow a leaf from here by ensuring that this book , having been recommended for use in our secondary schools, is given financial muscle , by philanthropists and governments  for wider circulation while equipping the foundation with necessary wherewithal to translate the book into the Yoruba language so that parents can be educated on the standards to preventing our wards from falling prey to the whims of criminals masquerading as relatives and child caregivers.

-OLALERE FAGBOLA.