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.

FIRST FCT MINISTER IS DEAD

Nigeria's first Minister of the Federal Capital city, FCT Abuja, Chief Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun is dead.

A statement released by Oluremi Ajose-Adeogun FNIA  for the family, confirmed that the former Minister  and businessTitan  died last Saturday, July, 1, 2023

Chief Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun, appointed as the Minister by the General Muritala Mohammed military government, was responsible for the Master Plan of Abuja during his time as the Federal capital city Minister .

 

Before he was appointed  as the Federal Capital city  Minister, Chief Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun had served meritoriously as a  two-term Federal commissioner.

He was the Federal Commissioner for Cooperatives and Supply( August 1975) 

and was later appointed as the Federal Commissioner for 

 Special Duties, Federal Capital Development Authority .

 

Chief Ajose-Adeogun of Ita-Aladan, Obun Eko , Isale Eko, Lagos had a distinguished career with the Shell Petroleum ( West Africa) and also  in Manufacturing and Real Estate.

DREADLOCK :AN ADDICTION WORSE THAN HEROIN AND COCAINE

 

Just as it is said of Time, as having its different seasons, to everything upon the earth , is attached , its different purposes. It is when one is ignorant of the purpose to which a thing is being put into use that abuse, misuse or even disuse becomes inevitable. Also , to every sense ,  is its own measure does revolve around , but when it is  without moderation , it becomes an addiction. To be addicted to a thing is to be bound or hooked to such thing .

It is a curse of the Cross of dependence and a prick that pierces and stabs.

Yoruba calls it :" eedi" or " eefun" to which spell one is metaphysically and irrevocably tied.

Sociologically and psychologically, it becomes a stub or a stump of equivocation, and upon which gutter, one stumbles or trips and falls into , leaving behind wounds which stigma or scar ,  have become an injury that time have refused to heal up .

It is generally believed that hard drugs are the only  substances which are easily abused and to which people are addicted .When Nassim Nicholas Taleb however wrote that :" Salary is a financial  drug that is as strong as cocaine or heroin " the reactions that yelled at his statement drew tons of distasteful comments from readers. 

I am afraid that I will  definitely attract from my readers and listeners, a more distasteful reactions by my own declaration and conviction, right here,  that dreadlock is a social and religious opium that  is worse than heroin and cocaine put together.

To illustrate the irrevocable ugliness pervading the dreadlock either as a fashion , religious or as an ideological expression, it is worth recalling here the encounter between a woman and Winston Churchill over a matter  revolving around drunkenness and ugliness. A woman had once approached Winston Churchill, ostensibly stepping upon the tail of his cobra, having planned in her mind to embarrass him in public. 

" You are drunk" She said to Churchill , who, was reputed with the knack of an orator ,not known to suffer fools gladly. 

" You are ugly " Churchill charged back,  adding :" Madam, I may be drunk today and be sober tomorrow but yours is irrevocable."

 In drawing similarities between salary and hard drugs,  Taleb argued that both give us " high" as the brain releases same hormone. 

" You hate your job but the next day it's " bam " ! your salary releases dopamine in the brain while you keep the job despite all struggles..."

 For the salary earner , the job is an indispensable part of life , which like drugs, you can't live without as there appears to be no other option for success and sustenance, even as this predicament resembles that of a drug addict.  You are accustomed to earning more money without mental efforts , receiving than giving; more on consuming than producing; no incentive for invention ; no application of mind to solve challenges and in a state of numbing creativity, courage and determination. So much addiction for salary and for the salary earner,  but worse addiction for the dreadlocked whose addiction is irrevocably weaved around the neck of ugliness, even on  his or her hairdo like a rattlesnake. The word , ugly, going by its dictionary definition, means" unpleasing to the sight".   It derives from old Norwegian language, " uggligr; to be feared, and from the word:" ugga " meaning " to fear , to dread ".

Just as the word ugly is an appearance that causes dread or horror, dreadlock is a word that  connotes fear . It is a number of ugly and dreadful looking strands of hair , curled or hanging  together with ferocity.

 But wait for it :  there are dreadlocks and there are dreadlocks. There are dreadlocks which exquisite beauty, pervading and permeating them, are under the lock and key of gods, having fashioned them after vows of chastity and dignity. 

These are the dreadlocks naturally worn by Nazirites. It is when the hairs upon which crowns, their heads are dignified,  suffer abuse (as a result of ignorance bufuddling the vision , purpose and mission by which  they were created ) that they become an addiction, worse than heroin and cocaine put together.  There are ofcourse , dreadlocks which are worn and cultivated  artificially as mere statements of expression  of ideological and sociological  leanings, but which rules  of engagements, are riding roughshod over the spirituality from which  depths , the strands are curled into threads of dreads and locks. 

For instance, when  Nigerian music lovers, particularly youths , sing with ferocious hilarity, jumping and shouting as they dance to the golden music of Adekunle Gold that:" Dangote and Otedola " ko lori meji ( Dangote and Otedola, each of them does not have two heads) what message are they trying to convey about "Ori " ( head ) being the concrete part of the body personifying luck, fate and destiny  ?  

Was it by mere coincidence that the Ooni of ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and Nigerian billionaire business woman, Evangelist Folorunso Alakija, in separate interviews granted both of them by different media , gave a pride of place to Ori ( Yoruba word for head) being part of the body to which is associated the idea of primacy , chieftaincy, headship and captaincy  ?

 It's however a matter of regret today how too many of our youths are paying lip service to Ori( head ) through the way they are desecrating the sanctity of their heads , attaching to their hairs , the braids and brainwaves of toxicity and oddicity.

Why do many of our African women find it very impossible to appreciate their God-endowed complexion  and hairdos ? 

Does the act of  fastening to our hairs , the yoke of different colours of imported wigs, peculiar to the white , not portray us as a people of low esteem ? 

What of the odious manner in which the African woman bleaches  her natural skin of ivory and olive oil? 

I do not look further, any longer , for any reason, why mere Affirmative action driven outside of the mindset of the African woman, would not liberate the African woman from inferiority complex . No wonder why she is not readily  embracing her rightful position as an amazon, either in political or economic or sociological phase.

However , there are enough case studies about women, who with their natural dreadlocks , have led men , nations and kingdoms to victory , both in moments of crises and at critical periods.

These are women around whose dreadlocks are woven vows of commitment to chastity and spirit of liberation. 

Call them Rastafarians , the Dadas , the Dodondawas or the Nazirites, their Rastafarianism, individually , takes root 

  from " Ras- Tafari" the " Ras" being  " head " sharing same root with Arabic " ra'" while " Tafari" signifies dread fullness. 

An ode to the woman of valour, dignified in her natural dreadlocks, should here suffice. 

" Although I am not in any way effeminately helpless by my bodily construction ,the strands on my head are under the lock and key of gods .

It was this uncultivated  but consecrated land of virginity that raised the metaphor  of "Mariama", "Mary" and "Moremi "in their commitments to their vows of naziriteship.

They were able to devout their offsprings to the gods in order to free their people from the bondage of slavery and menace of satanic forces.  Like the proverbial goose reputed to bring good luck to her family, we are the rare female equivalence of the Biblical Deborah, the woman who is manly in everything she does.

 " I  am not only manly in my physique as a woman but in my behaviour , constituting the opposite side of what people do, even in taste, in my attire and in  my utterances." 

Talk of “nazir" in Hebrew  and “Nadiyr” in Arabic and you are finding my equivalence in the "Ndira" cognate which is referring to a woman behaving like a man-: That's the Ndira Gandhi of India. As the vocabulary dictating my hairdo moved to Greek, my Dada   metamorphosed into "Andrrizonai "which is a personification of one who is not effeminate , but manly enough to confront danger head-long. 

This is why the Ndira of India wears the same robotic android-loaded energy of the Andrew and the android culture in the English expressions.

Ruminating on the dreadlocks of artificiality, and the half-obedience to the rules of Naziriteship ,even , the criminality which  partiality constitutes an addiction, like hard drugs, the phenomenon of which has become worse than heroin and cocaine put together, I am reminded of Nazirites that have come and gone , leaving behind "so-so" sorrow.  Knights are no longer knights but Knaves. Nazirites have ceased to be nice, Notoriety is now the stock in trade of Nazirites, even as all manner of Dadas are feigning dreadlocks and painting the picture of stupidity. 

" We now wear dreadlocks that are as fascinating as they are incriminating.

" I am Dada Ogbegun in Yoruba land, the Dodondawa in Hausaland. 

With my hairdo, I break into the garden of fantasy, recruiting into fashion every fad of fallacy .

what an array of youths whose vision and mission are as blurred and as dead as dodo.

Fake prophets in their artificiality, Sorcery and sophistry are all at street corners disciplining the riff- raffs in their hundreds. Reckless house wives keep filling the ilks  with insanity of the highest order.

I am  now the Dada Ogbegun, I am recalcitrant, a truant, dropping out of schools like a teddy boy.

 I dared the forest of ten thousand demons with the midas touch of my terrific hair do.

 Even against sense, reasoning and Commonsense.

I smoke weeds of different cannabis in the wee hours of the night. 

You would find me at the proverbial lya fatality's joint , smoking like hell, snuffing weeds, Sweet grass like a teddy grass.

I am still myself, the David of the Hebrew generation. 

The only Dawodu whose David is without the sceptre of honour.

I exercise power without responsibility as I am Lemuel who has rubbished the sanctity of my mother's vow. 

Poor contemptible Bobby who has continually disgraced his father's Corrections.

I shunned my mother's pruning as a wild cannabis which twines have twinged her heart a thousand times. 

I am not like the obedient Sammel who stood rooted to his mother's post at Shiloh.

I have been placed on the narcotics of the sacred herb, ganja, goaded with the fantasy that it was capable of erasing other scriptures that do not believe in the truth of our Rastafari.

Amid this rebound of an echo of character, would it not amount to fighting Belzebub with belzebub ? Would this dreadlock of unending narcotic not going to end in a deadlock of insanity?

I am Dada Ogbegun , or simply call me Dada Dodon Dawa.

I am the brother of Ojo the proverbial Troublemaker who is fond of brewing defiance from the bridge of his two nostrils.

I have desecrated every rule of Nazirite, dragged in the mud of temerity, the name of Moses Orimolade, the first Dada of honour in Yorubaland.

I am the Samson , heavily dread-locked in my mission to break the jinx that had haunted long my people of Israel.

 Alas  I endedup being broken between the two laps of Delilah who made me foul my nazirite ship.

OLALERE FAGBOLA

( Dedicated to commemorate International Day Against Drug Abuse .

Delivered at Osogbo Window on America. 

Sponsored through collaborative efforts of Imole foundation and Trauma of the Dreadlocked Publishers .

Monday, June, 26, 2023 .

Photo Credit : Pixabay

TITILOLA CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT, PARENTS SYNERGY

The wife of Osun State Governor, Chief ( Mrs) Titilola has called on the people of the state to form a robust synergy with the administration of her husband, Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke in his efforts at giving the youths a brighter future while improving the standard of living of the people of the state.

Titilola Adeleke who stated that the youths occupied a pivotal place in the agenda of Governor Adeleke, believed that Nigeria would be rapidly transformed if all stakeholders inculcated in their children moral values towards re-orientating their consciousness and sense of responsibility.

She further charged  parents and other stakeholders to reawaken their sense of responsibility towards building their minds,  being the only sustainable measure to safeguard them against numerous predicaments, such as child abuse, underage marriage, female gender mutilation, examination, school dropout  ,malpractices and internet fraud among other vices for which Osun state government has zero tolerance.

She gave this charge in her address at Ataoja School of Science , Osogbo, last Friday during this year's Day of the African Child at which occasion , the Imole Foundation, convening the programme presented an award of Excellence to the wife of the governor for being an icon whose life has been dedicated to the upliftment of the youths.

 She stressed that as Osun state is joining the Organisation of African Unity ( OAU ) to commemorate and honour the African Child , mothers particularly should look into various challenges confronting our children with a view to engaging them in dialogues and actions that would ensure a better world for them.

The wife of the Governor was presented with a plaque in recognition of her iconoduly in offering hope for the Girl child and the youths in general while she unveiled a new book written by the Chief Executive  Officer  C.E.O. of Imole Foundation, Oluwaferanmi Babatunde titled:" Wounds that Time won't heal ."

In her lecture titled  " Maintaining Zero tolerance Against  abuse of the Osun state Child, the Head of the Legal Unit of the university of Osun teaching hospital, Osogbo, Barrister Olopade Abimbola noted with delight that Adeleke-led administration, since assumption of office, has supported the creative energies of women affairs ministry in stamping out the menace of every form of abuse , neglect or exploitation of the child in the state.

She noted that government and its relevant agencies have constantly raided streets to rid them of children hawkers, embarked upon regular sensitisation of traditional and religious leaders on the evils associated with child trafficking and organ harvesting while government's school feeding programme as well as its " Omoluabi culture " have been energizing the girl child to resist abuse of her dignity.

Earlier in his welcome address, Babatunde Kehinde, the Chairman of Spectacular International Magazine under which auspices the Imole foundation organised the event , commended the remarkable achievements of the wife of the Governor, Chief Titilola Adeleke whom he described as a beacon of inspiration, guiding light and symbol of Hope for the children of Osun state .

IMOLE FOUNDATION HONOURS THE WIFE OF THE OSUN STATE GOVERNOR : SOLUDERO

 As part of this year's celebration of the Day of the African Child, The Imole Foundation under the auspices of the Spectacular International Magazine , would on Friday, June ,16, 2023, 10am,  honour the Wife of the Osun State Governor Chief Titilola Adeleke at Ataoja School of Science Osogbo. 

At a three- In-one  occasion in which the Orangun of Oke-ila, Oba ,( Dr) Adedokun Abolarin would  be the Royal Father of the Day , the International magazine would officially launch its non governmental  organisation, Imole Foundation , present to the public its first book titled " Wounds That Time Won't Heal "authored by Hembadoon Oluwaferanmi Babatunde while holding an interactive session that promises to create networking opportunities for all stakeholders in the   promotion of the good welfare of the African Child .

A statement signed by the Publisher of the international organisation,  Babatunde Hembadoon , affirmed that the celebration of this year's Day of the African Child is fashioned at honouring the wife of Governor Ademola Adeleke , Chief Titilola Adeleke whom she described as an Icon of hope and a Mother whose unwavering commitment and tireless efforts in championing the cause of the children's rights is unequalled and commendable.

 The Head of the Legal Unit of the University of Osun Teaching hospital, Osogbo, Barrister Abimbola Olopade is going to deliver a paper on " Maintaining Zero Tolerance Against Any Form of Abuse , Neglect or Exploitation of Osun State Child "  at the occasion to which the cream of the society would be identifying with the Child as a day of showing gratitude to caring leaders worldwide.

 The international Day of the African child being celebrated since 1991,  originally was in remembrance of hundreds of protesting youths massacred in the Soweto uprising of 1976 where-in they were demanding their rights to quality education . 

In identifying with the spirit behind the protest and towards ensuring the realisation of the rights Of the African child  , leaders as well as non governmental organisations around the world have been commemorating the day to draw the attention to the many plights of the African children towards  enlisting the support of caring stakeholders to promote the welfare being of the child .

" We adopt the African Union themes and campaign from the Sustainable development goals (SDG) relating to the welfare and progress of the Nigerian Child.

Accordingly, we have joined the states in the African Union,  Unicef, WHO, the Civil society organizations, the international and private sectors to highlight issues that are germane to the contemporary Nigerian child, especially on access to health care, including child and maternal health ;education, including gender equality ,eradication of violence and safety ,and quality of life."

  The African Union theme of the 2023 day of the African child event is " Eliminating Harmful Practices Affecting Children: Progress on Policy and Practice since 2013.

Hembadoon Oluwaferanmi Babatunde

Publisher/ Convener