Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
dear patient one,
listening to My Back Pages
I sometimes wonder,
where is your sense of humour?
You remember, about ten years ago, all the hullabaloo
about the Oba of Lagos (jocularly) threatening to drown
all his Igbo friends in the Lagos Lagoon
if they did not support
his own chosen candidate ?
Ceasefire? Where?
You may if you like, stop right here
and read no further :
Femi Fani-Kayode and the Igbos of Lagos
This reminds me of the Torah portion Parshat Shemot / Parshat Shemot , of special relevance , the probable fear /fear-mongering among Yoruba stalwarts, Yoruba nationalists, cultural chauvinists, die-hards like our Femi Fani-Kayode, not without cause, another demographic nightmare this time about Lagos, Nigeria, a very particular fear, the fear of being outnumbered in their own LAGOS, their own piece of God's real estate, being outnumbered by the upstart, long-shuffering, stiff-necked, stiff upper lip, chest-beating, self-righteous, "I. Go. Before. Others." immigrant Igbos who are now to be seen everywhere since they started their veritable invasion of Lagos a few decades ago
Exodus 1 : 7 -10 ( King James Version)
"but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."
What you refer to as " anti-Igbo has been variously explained to me by the following analogy : you let the itinerant wanderer in, give him a pallet on the floor in your kitchen ,and gradually, gradually he takes over the rest of your living space and eventually declares himself "Lord of The Manor !" I last heard this analogy from an Algerian acquaintance who was trying to get me all worked up about Israel and the Pals, he wanted to know whether or not I thought it was right that the Israeli settler now wanted to evacuate his Palestinian brother from his own kitchen ?
Here's the foundation to whatever narrative is there for you to understand: You don't go to another country - by air, sea, road or rail) are warmly welcomed by the generosity of the indigenous Yoruba inhabitants of that place, occupy vast swathes of it -. and ( as Fela would say, "gradually, gradually") as your numbers increase -. and by dint of hard work , as you begin to enjoy the fruits of your labour, begin to show some economic dominance and prosperity, you start telling the original inhabitants that the land where you are now prospering is a " No Man's Land." Acting on such a perception is bound to have some consequences , some repercussions - perhaps, some serious backlash such as you taking some "flak" - you think that you're on the moon, take off with some ideological rampage about Lagos being "no man's land", and they do some damage in return, it's known as retribution
I suppose the ultimate nightmare for the ultra Yoruba / Oduduwa nationalists is that the Igbo population in Lagos state could so increase and outnumber the Yoruba, that in a couple of years the Igbos could after a referendum on secession, raise their flag over Lagos and declare that state the New Biafra because they have an overwhelming, absolute majority. Israelis also have or used to have a fear known as the demographic nightmare
I don't know what are the ideological foundations or platform of the PDP of which Obi was a leading member and thought that it was his turn to be ratified as their presidential bearer - instead of Alhaji Atiku
Conversant with the ideological roots of the British Labour Party - and over here, Sweden's Social Democrats, I must confess that I was more than slightly taken aback by the popular Nigerian media's vision of "Obi's Labour" - a party that he became a member of on the ( date) which he took over within a few a few days, and helter-skelter their presidential candidate a few days later
In part, this is the kind of Chameleon that Baba Kadiri was talking about… one who jumps from one ideological platform to another - today he is a " liberal -conservative" whatever that means in the the Nigerian political jungle/ spectrum - tomorrow he is a wannabe leader of "The Conservatives" -like Margaret Thatcher, and Ginny come lately, Kemi Badenoch , then he's born again on board with the Labour Party (Nigeria) next thing you know he's wearing the mantle of the late Karl Marx - like a bumble bee of no fixed ideological abode, commitment or location, any which way the big chop money must come…
As per Baba Kadiri's painstakingly accurate narration,
"However, four days to the PDP presidential primary election, Tuesday, 24 May 2022, P. G. O.O. resigned his membership of PDP. On Friday, 27 May 2022, Obi joined the Labour Party. On Monday 30, 2022, Labour Party had its presidential primary election and Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi emerged as the presidential flag bearer of the party. If the Labour Party had complied with Section 77 (2&3) of the Electoral Acts 2022, it ought to have sent its membership register to INEC latest May 1, 2022, and the name of Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi could not have been there since he was not a member until Friday, 27 May 2022. The implementation of why political parties are required to submit their membership register to INEC thirty days before their primaries, congresses or conventions is to ensure that a person must have been a member of a party for, at least, 30 days to be qualified to contest for an elected post on behalf of the party. Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi was a member of Labour Party for 72 hours when he became their presidential candidate in contravention of *Section 77 (3) of the Electoral Acts, 2022, specifically enacted to prevent those who failed to obtain nomination of their party to contest for an elective post to cross over to any of the small parties to buy nomination. That's how lawful Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi the Chameleon is."
Interesting: Julius Malema speaking live from Nigeria
To the best of my knowledge, such a thing has never happened -the Obidients"... exuberance /over-enthusiasm when some of them went on the rampage in Lagos, claiming Lagos to be " No Man's Land ".II understand it as a narrative created by APC Lagos when they lost the Presidential election to Obi"s Labour.Hopefully the same multi-ethnic coalition which defeated them will do it again.I have been following the subject closely before, during and after the elections.People need to breathe after the less than people elevating politics of the Nigerian political class.All this talk of owning or not owning Lagos is ultimately a smokescreen created by people whose interests is in distracting the electorate while they emasculate them of their political vision to unseat vested interests impoverishing Nigerians.ThanksTheyOn Mon, Aug 25, 2025, 10:04 PM Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin,
Once upon a time, only because of Uncle Jeff ( John Bandele Jeffery-Coker) and Herbert Macaulay, I became interested in the early history of Lagos mostly gleaned from Michael Crowder's The Story of Nigeria. I am not a Lagosian , unfortunately, I never kept the appointment I had with my friend Chris Okonkwo at the Surulere Night Club. Maybe, just as well.
You had better look into this matter of who is saying most vociferously that "Lagos is no man's land". I daresay that it's not the original Yoruba inhabitants that are making that kind of outlandish, absolutely preposterous Christopher Columbus type of claim. Unfortunately, some of the people asserting " Lagos is no man's land" took some flak. Well grounded or not, I'm sure that you must have read about it in the newspapers. It was discussed in this forum.
You must understand that people - Nigerians - including Nigeria's former Minister of culture and tourism could get a little emotional when defending or asserting some proprietary rights over their own hometown and homeland. Take Freetown for example once the capital of the Western Area of Sierra Leone , which was a crown Colony. The very last time that I was there - and for only a total of ten days - 20th April to 30th April 1970 and then back to Ghana - the population of Freetown was less than 250,000 souls. Today it's over 2 million, with an overwhelming influx from the former protectorate…
Today's Cosmopolitanism does not necessarily confirm the idea that "Lagos is no man's land" - Search - or that New York, London, Paris or indeed Jerusalem is a " No man's land !"
It should be interesting to convene a special panel discussion of this palaver featuring you, Kwame Anthony Appiah , Kemi Badenoch , Peter Obi and of course Femi Fani-Kayode
Third World : Lagos Jump
E.T Mensah & Victor Olaiya : Trumpet Highlife
On Monday, 25 August 2025 at 20:07:54 UTC+2 Oluwatoyin Adepoju wrote:Thanks, Cornelius.
Could you describe the details of this- im not aware of such a thing happening-
"the Obidients"... exuberance /over-enthusiasm when some of them went on the rampage in Lagos, claiming Lagos to be " No Man's Land ".
Bcs you suggested it, I looked into the FFK link. As expected, it's one of the most idiotic things I have ever read.
The man has no shame.
He and Bayo Onanuga, assistant to Tinubu, were the most visible arrowheads of the struggle to reverse APC's historic defeat in Lagos, using ethnic war as a means of dividing the electorate.
Everything he wrote there is nonsense and desperate fantasy which he too knows there is no evidence in support of.
He was mouthing ridiculous things about IPOB, a separatist movement which has no interest in Nigeria as something Obi will impose on Nigeria while Obi has not even suggested any identification with IPOB.
He excoriates Rhodes Vivour then Lagos guber candidate, on the grounds of his having an Igbo wife as therefore an anti Yoruba aspirant while he, FFK, had earlier boasted of his amorous relationships with Igbo women.
Please Cornelius, if you bring up FFK in this discussion again I will ignore it.
I shall also ignore any anti-Obi critique that is not critically grounded.
We need to use our time better.
You might need better grounding in the background to these issues you are so confidently addressing.
Apologies for any abrasiveness.
We are better off in our religio/philosophical discussions.
Thanks
Toyin
On Mon, 25 Aug 2025, 17:07 Cornelius Hamelberg, <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin,
Moving forward after so much grieving about the past , I really envy your vantage position, that you are actually in Nigeria and can feel the political temperature there, whereas, for instance, I can only sympathise with you in a more abstract way when you suffer epileptic fits of no electricity and have to read by candlelight
Hopefully, you will soon catch up with modernity!
Cheers ! President Bola Ahmed Tinubu the transformer is on the move!
Freedom starts here : Top 50 Massive Projects Transforming Lagos State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n13YmkG1qYo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsxtM7To4I4
Sadly, your judgement passed on Wole Soyinka has not changed. You seem to believe that he is not being even-handed because he seems to be or has been less critical of Nigeria's former President Buhari and Nigeria' s current President Tinubu. That, dear Oluwatoyin does not invalidate, diminish or detract from the many truths that he has voiced about Peter Obi, including the incontrovertible fact that as the anointed leader of his flock "the Obidients" Obi could have done more to curb the flock's exuberance /over-enthusiasm when some of them went on the rampage in Lagos, claiming Lagos to be " No Man's Land ". He could have told them to stop the nonsense , and as faithful
" Obidients "or Zombies, they would have probably obeyed him. Did you follow up on Femi Fani-Kayode's commentary on the concept of Lagos as a" No Man's Land"?
First of all, let me set the record straight : I'd like to assure you that I'm not into the idolatry and deification business. It seems that you are always asking for some incriminating "evidence " without which the criminal is presumed to be innocent, right ? According to Spinoza Forever and Witness of The End when it comes to deification, even Jesus is not exempt, speak less of a wanton sinner like your Peter Obi .
As I've already told you, I don't have a dog in the fight about who is going to win the next Presidential Election in Nigeria. Not even if Johnny Onyeukwu or Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju or Ojogbon Falafel himself or Her Distinguished Royal Highness Lady Ofe Owerri herself were to be running for that unenviable position.
For your edification : Nahjul Balagha :Sermon 3 in which Amir al Mu'minin - Imam Ali, alaihi salam says, "But I remained low when they were low and flew high when they flew high" . In the given circumstances that's an example of strategic adaptation…
Please take note : It was not Cornelius Ignoramus that said "Peter Obi is a chameleon" - although in my view it is always a matter of degree, the extent to which political chameleonism , camouflage, adaptive political behaviour, critically adjusted to be in synch with circumstances as could be required to survive and even triumph, gains the upper hand in certain circumstances. It should be therefore understandable that in trying to win the support of Bishop David Ayedepo he should play the religious card , likening his position of Christian presidential candidate to that of flagbearer of the Cross of Jesus and comparing the presidential election to a religious war between him and his main opponent, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim and by definition, belonging to the army of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa salam. The chameleonic behaviour of course kicks in when on the campaign trail the pragmatic opportunist Peter Obi travels to Nigeria's Muslim North and in his own strategic interest does not repeat that kind of nonsense, that" it's a religious war" but on the contrary , as the smart guy that he is, whilst courting the Muslim vote he knows that at the very least he must give the Muslims the impression that he truly loves them and does not want to annihilate them in a religious or a non-religious war; he may even quote this Quranic passage that declares "Christians are closest to the believers" and therefore policy wise try to act accordingly (humbly)
On Monday, 25 August 2025 at 03:51:04 UTC+2 Oluwatoyin Adepoju wrote:EditedCornelius,I stated I'm yet to see evidence that backs Soyinka's claim that Obi controls the negative behavior of the combative ones among his followers.If you describe Obi as a chameleon, what is Soyinka?Please go over the reasons why I told you Soyinka's comments are not worthy of being taken seriously, being the stance of a person's whose perspectives are no better than those of an APC stooge.When you are prepared to analyze the specific points I made about Soyinka's politics instead of of quoting the same Kadiri, an anti-Igbo ideologue, who, in the wake of Obi 's victory in Lagos in the last elections, argued in this group, in a bout of fantasy, that IPOB was working on invading Lagos, then we can have a serious discussion.Otherwise we might do well to remain on spiritual and philosophical discussions.Soyinka is a great writer and a superlative thinker on cultural issues but he is an unreliable politician which is the more accurate way to see him,not simply as a social activist.He seemed to have supported Biafra during the war, going by his memoir The Man Died and he also legitimized IBB's coup created govt by accepting an appointment in it.He was a solid fighter against the first Buhari regime but he also enabled Buhari's becoming President even though not only was there no evidence that Buhari was reformed but the evidence indicates that Buhari had become a terrorism supporter.He is known to condemn Obi but is not known for much critique of Buhari or any critique of the deeply controversial govt of Tinubu.So, Soyinka is not best seen as an epitome of political values but as a once impressive social activist as well as a mercurial politician.You are invoking Femi Fani Kayode on Peter Obi.Do you know anything - with all due respect - about the political history of FFK?And you are invoking the chameleon concept against Obi in contrast to FFK?Are you aware that FFK is the consummate Nigerian politician of no fixed ideological identity?A once vitriolic critique of Tinubu he crossed over to APC and became an APC attack creature, writing hateful things against Igbos after Obi's victory in Lagos, advocating a sweeping economic emasculation of Igbos in Lagos even if it meant the denudation of the Lagos economy?A brilliant writer but a person of no political stability.I looked through what Kadiri had to say about Obi.Has Kadiri similarly addressed the controversies about Tinubu and Buhari?Why the selectivity?ThanksToyinOn Sun, Aug 24, 2025, 9:51 PM Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:Cornelius,I stated I'm yet to see evidence that backs Soyinka's claim that Obi controls the negative behavior of the combative ones among his followers.If you describe Obi as a chameleon, what if Soyinka?Please go over the reasons why I told you Soyinka's comments are not worthy of being taken seriously, being the stance of a person's whose perspectives are no better than those of an APC stooge.When you are prepared to analyze the specific points I made about Soyinka's politics instead of of quoting the same Kadiri, an anti-Igbo ideologue, who, in the wake of Obi 's victory in Lagos in the last elections, argued in this group, in a bout of fantasy, that IPOB was working on invading Lagos, then we can have a serious discussion.Otherwise we might do well to remain on spiritual and philosophical discussions.Soyinka is a great writer and a superlative thinker on cultural issues but he is an unreliable politician which is the more accurate way to see him,not simply as a social activist.He seemed to have supported Biafra during the war, going by his memoir The Man Died and he also legitimized IBB's coup created govt by accepting an appointment in it.He was a solid fighter against the first Buhari regime but he also enabled Buhari's becoming President even though not only was there no evidence that Buhari was reformed but the evidence indicates that Buhari had become a terrorism supporter.He is known to condemn Obi but is not known for much critique of Buhari or any critique of the deeply controversial govt of Tinubu.So, Soyinka is not best seen as an epitome of political values but as a once impressive social activist as well as a mercurial politician.You are invoking Femi Fani Kayode on Peter Obi.Do you know anything - with all due respect - about the political history of FFK?And you are invoking the chameleon concept against Obi in contrast to FFK?Are you aware that FFK is the consummate Nigerian politician of no fixed ideological identity?A once vitriolic critique of Tinubu he crossed over to APC and became an APC attack creature, writing hateful things against Igbos after Obi's victory in Lagos, advocating a sweeping economic emasculation of Igbos in Lagos even if it meant the denudation of the Lagos economy?A brilliant writer but a person of no political stability.I looked through what Kadiri had to say about Obi.Has Kadiri similarly addressed the controversies about Tinubu and Buhari?Why the selectivity?ThanksToyinOn Sun, Aug 24, 2025, 7:51 PM Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju :
Your problem seems to be that it's not the veracity or reasonableness of Soyinka's critique that bothers you - it's the identity of the critic, and there too you unwittingly commit the biographical heresy, after all Wole Soyinka is not celebrated or venerated by either hagiographer or detractor, as a confounded liar, on the contrary his credibility is not undermined but cemented by the values espoused in his Reith Lectures, which I recommend you pay some attention , and please stop exaggerating about the petty and the patently ridiculous such as his alleged " running battle with GEJ's wife"
This man ( Eddie Palmieri) just died.
Here's one of his early hits
Eddie Palmieri : Harlem River Drive:
" You all know the story -- how it all began
It took five days - and then came Man
Oh, the land was free; and so were we
No slavery - to lead the poverty"
The lyrics continued : https://genius.com/Harlem-river-drive-idle-hands-lyrics
Yes indeed,
and on the sixth day God
made man, the political animal
and so, no holds barred
we primates descend
from the cosmic sea, from
the compassionate, speculative,
mystical, sublime, to the profane,
partisan, patriotic, sometimes insane,
contemporarily political:
What Wole Soyinka says about Peter Obi
What Femi Fani-Kayode says about Peter Obi
The very last I read on this matter was PETER OBI IS A CHAMELEON by
Baba Kadiri, it's quite a long a piece that thus metaphorically begins:
"As we all know, chameleon is a cunningly deceptive reptile blessed with the ability to modify its skin pigmentation to reflect the predominant colour of its immediate environment. Most snakes, birds or other known Carnivore have no appetite for the chameleon, perhaps due to the fact that the skin is reportedly poisonous. Changing colour, combined with its slow movements and its swift swift and sticky tongue which is the longest in the world and can be launched and retrieved in a fraction of second makes it a predator in its own right. Insects and small birds are its major victims. Factually, the chameleon changes its colour not for self- protection but most importantly for its stomach."
As for me, over here in my quiet corner, I have no dog in the fight.
As the bird sang,
"You may be livin' in another country under another name
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes, you are…" (Yes, you are a servant)
And that's why you Gotta Serve Somebody
As a profound Nigerian national I suppose you have every right to pick and choose what interests you, to vote for Alhaji Atiku or the not so holy Peter Obi and if need be and your good heart so moves or leads you, to vote for some contemporary Biblical Barabbas or the name of the thief on the cross who was crucified with Jesus about whom Jesus said, "This day wilt thou be with me in paradise"
For your purview, some more food for thought, the first part of
PETER OBI IS A CHAMELEON By S. Kadiri
As we all know, chameleon is a cunningly deceptive reptile blessed with the ability to modify its skin pigmentation to reflect the predominant colour of its immediate environment. Most snakes, birds or other known carnivores have no appetite for the chameleon, perhaps due to the fact that the skin is reportedly poisonous. Changing colour, combined with its slow movements and its swift swift and sticky tongue which is the longest in the world and can be launched and retrieved in a fraction of second makes it a predator in its own right. Insects and small birds are its major victims. Factually, the chameleon changes its colour not for self- protection but most importantly for its stomach.
When General Sani Abacha took over power in 1993 and many Nigerians demanded that justice be done to the results of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, be the young Peter Obi, then in his early thirties, cunningly presented himself as a lover of Abacha's dictatorship. Consequently, General Abacha selected him to be the Director of Nigerian Ports Authority. Obi's period at NPA was noted for importation of junks into Nigeria and coincidentally Obi got enough money from NPA to invest in Fidelity Bank.
After the death of Abacha, June 8, 1998, the plan for a democratically elected government in Nigeria began. Obi could not join any of the political parties in 1999 because most of them were anti- military dictatorship. However, by 2003, Peter Obi joined the APGA party led by Odumegwu Ojukwu to contest for the governorship of Anambra State. Dr Chris Ngige of the PDP was declared the winner of Anambra State gubernatorial election, 2003. Peter Obi challenged the result in the Court. While the case was pending in the Court, a dispute occurred between Governor Ngige and Chris Uba, the brother of Andy Uba who was Special Adviser to President Obasanjo. Both Andy Uba and Obasanjo were of the opinion that Governor Ngige should at least share the money budgeted for security with Chris Uba who had facilitated the election of the Governor. Ngige refused despite all manners of State's power deployed by Obasanjo to compel Ngige to comply. Thereafter, Chris Uba went public to declare how election result sheets were thumb printed in private lodges in favour of Dr Chris Ngige to become Anambra State Governor. Chris Uba later witnessed in Court against Ngige whose election was nullified six months to the 2007 Federal election and Peter Obi was immediately sworn in as the Governor of Anambra State.
In the 2007 Federal election, Andy Uba contested against the six months old Peter Obi's governorship. When Andy Uba was declared the winner of the election, Peter Obi filed a constitutional case at the Supreme court, asking it to determine if his four years tenure began when he was sworn in as a Governor late in November 2006 or not. The Supreme Court decided that his four years tenure began when he was sworn in and as such the April 2007 gubernatorial election in Anambra was null and void. Thus, Peter Obi was a two-term APGA political party's Governor of Anambra for 8 years before he handed over to Willie Obiano in 2014. During his 8 years tenure Anambra did not become New York, Paris, or London. Mostly, he deposited a huge portion of the Revenue Allocation received from the Federation Account into fidelity bank in which he had substantial interest. While the people of Anambra were afflicted with constant dysentery and cholera due to lack of potable water, Peter Obi invested billions of naira of Anambra money in beer brewing which was 50 naira per share then but worths only 5 naira per share today.
Back in 2012, Peter Obi publicly vowed never to leave APGA but 8 months after handing over to another UPGA Governor, Peter Obi the Chameleon changed his party colour to PDP. At the 2019 Presidential election, Peter Obi was on a joint ticket with Atiku Abubakar as a Vice-president candidate for PDP. After the eight years tenure of Muhammadu Buhari as the President, it was assumed that it was the turn of the South to produce the president as agreed by the political elites. Atiku Abubakar insisted on contesting in the presidential primary of the PDP. On April 29, 2022, Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi and Atiku Abubakar were among 15 members of the PDP screened and cleared to contest in the PDP presidential primary election scheduled to take place on May 28, 2022. That implies that the PDP in compliance with Section 77 (2&3) of the Electoral Acts, 2022, must have sent register of containing names of its members to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) latest 28 April 2022 as specifically required in Section 77 (3) of the Electoral Acts, 2022. The PDP membership register thus forwarded to the INEC on 28 April 2022 must have contained the name of Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi as a member of the PDP. However, four days to the PDP presidential primary election, Tuesday, 24 May 2022, P. G. O.O. resigned his membership of PDP. On Friday, 27 May 2022, Obi joined the Labour Party. On Monday 30, 2022, Labour Party had its presidential primary election and Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi emerged as the presidential flag bearer of the party. If the Labour Party had complied with Section 77 (2&3) of the Electoral Acts 2022, it ought to have sent its membership register to INEC latest May 1, 2022, and the name of Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi could not have been there since he was not a member until Friday, 27 May 2022. The implementation of why political parties are required to submit their membership register to INEC thirty days before their primaries, congresses or conventions is to ensure that is to ensure that a person must have been a member of a party for, at least, 30 days to be qualified to contest for an elected post on behalf of the party. Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi was a member of Labour Party for 72 hours when he became their presidential candidate in contravention of *Section 77 (3) of the Electoral Acts, 2022, specifically enacted to prevent those who failed to obtain nomination of their party to contest for an elective post to cross over to any of the small party to buy nomination. That's how lawful Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi the Chameleon is.
Recently, a Nigerian woman by name, Comfort Emmanson, on Ibom Air Uyo-Lagos flight AN 513 was involved in an altercation with Ibom Air's staff. On arriving in Lagos she was manhandled by the staff of Ibom Air before causing her to be arrested by the police and charging her in court where she was remanded in custody pending trial. A week earlier, a male airline passenger was also involved in a dispute with the crews of the airplane during boarding in Lagos. The Staff of the airline, not Ibom Air, did not report the incident to the law enforcing agent. Reacting on the two incidents, Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi saw selective justice where Comfort Emmanson was arraigned in court but not Wasiu Ayinde. At the same time, Obi the Chameleon was apologizing to the Staff of Ibom Air for what he termed the unruly behaviour of Comfort Emmanson. However, NCAA has debunked selective justice according to the following link: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/08/why-ibom-air-passenger-emmanson-was-charged-to-court-and-not-kwam-1-ncaa/
*Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi was Governor of Anambra State for eight years and during this period two-thirds of inmates in Anambra were people awaiting trials. Most of them had been in solitary confinement for over five years for offences which on conviction would not be higher than six months. Obi's compassion did not make him to release those innocent souls from prison, even though he had power to do so. We have heard about *Pandora Papers and Peter Gregory Onwuabuasi Obi's involvement in Offshore Companies in Tax Havens in the British Virgin Islands and Barbados. Obi remained as Director of Next International (UK) Limited while serving as Governor of Anambra State which was in direct variation of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. Obi's non- declaration of his Offshore Companies was in gross violation of the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria that requires public officers to declare all their properties, assets and liabilities. If not for selective justice, people like X-governor Obi would have been behind the bar. Actually, the justice system in Nigeria is selective but as the Yoruba aphorism says, "Bi oju akata ba yo ewo, enu adie ko ni ao ti gbo," meaning if there's boil in the face of jackass, the fowl is not qualified to talk about it…
On Saturday, 23 August 2025 at 22:50:40 UTC+2 Oluwatoyin Adepoju wrote:Great thanks Cornelius, for that passionate and illusive style of scholarship.
Yes, I admire Soyinka's writings and his pro-democracy political activity but his partisan politics does not excite me.
If truly he made those comments about Obi, where are his assessments of the stewardship of Tinubu as President or of Buhari?
When anyone dismisses a Presidential candidate such as Obi, who has a better pedigree than Buhari, whom Soyinka supported and has not disavowed nor does he have the identity challenges of Tinubu why should I be particularly interested?
Is this not the same Soyinka of "The Trouble with Buhari ", the most trenchant anti-Buhari critique before his Presidency enabled by those in the anti-GEJ camp to which Soyinka was central?
Is that not the Soyinka known for his problematic alliance with then Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi and his running battle with GEJ's wife?
Why should I take such a political commentator seriously?
Im tempted to divert attention from this response and check out what Soyinka actually stated about Obi but is that worth my precious early morning time?
Would Soyinka analyse why Obi was able to defeat Tinubu in Lagos, an epochal feat of the kind that has occurred only twice in Nigerian history, the first being Ziks victory in the SW in the 60s?
Will he compare the strategies used to nullify Ziks victory with that used by Lagos APC to regain ground in the subsequent guber elections through a rabid anti-Igbo campaign which some see as continuing through govt declarations and policies till the present, such as threats of rescinding certificates of land ownership and the renaming of streets?
Will he examine the actuality of claims that Igbos are actively competing with Yorubas for dominance in Lagos, declaring that Lagos is a no man's land free for dominance by anyone?
Is the Soyinka of 2015-2025 the same as the Soyinka of the 60s and the anti-Abacha struggle era?
I've just had a look at what Soyinka is described as stating about Obi and it seems to confirm my initial stance not to take Soyinka seriously on the subject.
He is quoted as stating Obi can't lead beceause he encourages the vitriolic behaviour of his more combative supporters and even controls such behaviour.
I am yet to see evidence corroborating that view. Ill be pleased to have it pointed out to me.
I also recall the same Soyinka openly supported and enabled the ascension of Buhari, a master of incitive political strategy, whose followers massacred innocent youth corpers beceause Buhari lost an election which it was clear he could not win, the same Buhari who declared that "the dog and the baboon would be covered in blood" if his earlier electoral defeat were repeated in the last race that eventually brought him to the Presidency, the same Buhari who used the Boko Haram insurgency as a political tool by declaring Boko Haram the work of the GEJ govt and on another occasion declaring the war against Boko Haram a war against the North?
Is this Soyinka the kind that should be taken seriously?
Is his current politics different from that of an APC stooge?
A superlative writer and spiritual thinker but an unreliable politician.
Having addressed what would ordinarily not command my attention bcs I would consider it not worthy of my time, I can now proceed to address other things in your comments.
I would not want my response to the sublime things you are discussing to be mixed with the unenriching discourse on Soyinka's politics so I'll continue in another message.
On Fri, 22 Aug 2025, 23:07 Cornelius Hamelberg, <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
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