By Steve Osuji
They didn’t know that we knew. There was a popular joke of the 90s christened: they didn’t know that we knew. It is actually best rendered in Yoruba. The title, which is in itself hilarious in its native state is: Eyin o mo pe awa mo.
Let’s attempt a go at the joke: An Egun barber called Agosu, was a tenant to a randy landlord. Agosu had tenanted in the house for so long without a rent increment or nary a rough word from Baba
Landlord.
One day, Baba Landlord came for a haircut at the shop of Agosu, his tenant. It was still the age of cutting hair with a pair of scissors.
At a point in the process of cutting the hair, Agosu the barber lowered the pair of scissors around the jugular of Mr Landlord, squeezing it dangerously tight but refraining from inflicting any cut yet unless his captive tried a break free.
“Agosu, what’s going on! Have you gone out of your mind?” Baba Landlord yelped, more in dread than pain.
Thereupon, Agosu laid his grievance: “Baba Ranrod, eyin o mo pe awa mo – (Baba Landlord, you didn’t know that we knew).”
“Knew what,” Baba Landlord growled, still trying to muster some authority.
“You didn’t know that I knew that you have been dallying with Iya Agosu all these years?!”
Baba Landlord’s ego and essence crash as he immediately lapses into a plea mode: “Ah, Agosu haba; are we no longer brothers? How long have you lived in my house? Did I ever raise your rent, did I ever raise my voice at you …?!”
The lesson from this little tale is that President Bola Tinubu has been riding roughshod over Nigerians since the inception of his administration. He has taken the people for granted and has trampled upon them for so long that he probably thinks they have all passed away!
But what is more troubling is that he seems not to know or he just does not care that we know. He seems to hide behind one finger all the time but of course, the populace can see through his shenanigans.
Nigerians thought former President Muhammadu Buhari’s was an era of idiocy. What with the brazen attempt to make Nigeria a Fulani enclave by seeking to impose Fulani hegemony over the nation.
But President Tinubu on his part, seems to oversee an annal of profound idiocy. When you think we have reached the limits of obduracy, he takes Nigeria to a lower rung.
Igboho’s 100,000 Iru-Ekun Militia is in aid of what?
What else if not for the purpose of intimidating opponents in the next general elections. This would be the immediate conjecture of any right thinking Nigerian.
A crucial national election is in a few months and a die-hard Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemi, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, is being supported to create a militia that’s more than half of the nation’s army. Do you need a soothsayer to know that the militia would serve the ruling party’s cause in an election that’s already looking highly combustible?
Goodness gracious! Why would any president/leader allow a rabid ethnic irridentist to build an equivalent of a Field Army in his domain? This immediately makes the impetuous Igboho a Field Marshal – higher in rank than any General of the Nigerian Army today! A Nigerian army general will feel small around Igboho today because he commands a bigger army!
To think that the active troop size of the entire Nigerian Army is about 160,000!
Igboho’s army (80,000 – 100,000) is larger than the army of most of the countries of Europe, e.g., Portugal, Belgium, Bulgaria, name it!
Igboho’s Army gets support all round
This state of anomie started in May, six months ago. Not a word has emanated from the presidency! But the grapevine says President Tinubu is in tacit support of Igboho.
However, Igboho’s most notable endorsement came from the Ooni of Ife, the Natural Head of the Oduduwa Race Worldwide, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. The paramount monarch of southwest Nigeria, he is also addressed as the Permanent Chairman of the southern Nigeria Traditional Rulers Council (SNTRC). That speaks volumes.
Support cannot come any higher than this. The monarch doled out N100 million and a brand new Hilux truck to support this fledgling Odua Army.
Another body known as Yoruba Nation Group has donated 100 motorcycles to assist Igboho’s militia. Yoruba elite is said to be supporting Iru-Ekun quietly.
Iru-Ekun, which means, the Tiger’s Tale is already deployed in six states of Nigeria so far: Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Kwara, Edo and Delta.
During the launch of the Ogun Command last August, Igboho spoke like a true Field Marshal as he addressed the mammoth crowd of youths who had trooped out to enlist.
He spoke in Yoruba for obvious reasons and full effects:
“We already have bases in Delta and Edo… Our seawing is here too…
“You will be trained, you will be issued ID cards and uniforms, you will get bikes. You will be paid because you have wives and children. We shall appoint commanders…
“The governor (of Ogun) will find a place to keep us… and if we do well, we shall be better than even the civil defence, you know how they started but look at them today.”
He urged them to be disciplined noting that the federal government would provide support for them.
Let’s call this the making of a Nigerian debacle
A dozen and one matters arise already from what is clearly a catastrophe in the making. Let’s look at a few:
First: What would happen to this horde of largely jobless youths being radicalised as separatist fighters? What would happen to them after the elections in January 2027. Whichever way the election result swings, is this mass of agitated and perhaps, armed militia sustainable? Is Nigeria ever going to be able to maintain two separate armies?
This is in addition to bodies like Amotekun, Forest Guards, NSCDC, Mining Marshals, Aviation Security, and the State Police (in the making), among others.
Second: We forget so easily. Or shall we say the ruling APC acting like a blundering bum, seems to forget so quickly how they imported bandits for the purpose of snatching the election in 2015.
After it won the election, it couldn’t manage the militia it armed and camped in the northwest. They became the bandits that have terrorised Nigeria without let since 2015. It’s easy to give a monkey a drink, retrieving the cup is the challenge.
Third: Already, Igboho has taken a commanding position in the southwest. He is already giving extra-judicial orders as seen in one of his online videos ordering his Militia to kill at sight, any civilian bearing a gun in Yorubaland.
He also warned opposition candidates like Peter Obi not to step their foot in the west for campaign. The auguries are dark already.
Third: If there’s no sinister motive to all this, is President Tinubu no longer the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces? Why in the world does he need another army larger than the army of half of European states.
Fourth: Many have conjectured that Tinubu is hard on the Odua liberation agenda to be kick-started on the other side of his second tenure. They have pointed to several other glaring indicators. But when a region of a country assembles a hundred thousand-strong army, then such a region can well be accused of a separatist agenda. In fact, it becomes an open challenge and threat to other regions.
Fifth: Are we going to build similar massive regional armies in the remaining five zones of Nigeria as a counterpoise to the southwest? What about the huge employment opportunities now available to the youths of the Southwest and of course, the need to balance forces across zones?
Six: Finally, never mind the talk about complementing conventional military and security agencies like the Nigerian Army, Air force, Navy, etc., Igboho’s army represents a resounding vote of no confidence both on the C-in-C and on the Generals and commanders in Nigeria.
Shouldn’t’ we now release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and apologise to him?
A certain Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has been jailed by the Tinubu administration for trying to raise an army to defend his people from serial injustice and rampaging Jihadists. Now that Igboho has built a massive regional army for the same purpose, President Tinubu should not only release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu pronto, he should apologise to him.
LASTLINE: One Military Plane Mishap Too Many
Nigerians woke up last Monday to be hit by the news of yet another Airforce Plane mishap. This time, the aircraft bearing 20 passengers and five crew members crashed in the riverine area of Igbokoda, Ilaje LGA of Ondo state.
It is noteworthy that over a dozen plane and chopper crashes have occurred since 1980.
However, most of these have happened since 2009 in the wake of Nigeria’s fight against the Boko Haram terrorists.
But what’s troubling is not the frequency of crashes or the size of fatalities. No. It is the lack of proper investigation, detailed reporting and careful closure of some of these crashes. In one case which happened in the Sambisa forest, Borno State, the helicopter was never found and the crew was declared to be “presumed dead.”
Another source of worry is the emergency response capability of the country. We couldn’t even pull out a passenger manifest at the first call!
Things do not seem to improve over these years despite recurring incidents.
For instance, the scene of the latest crash in Ilaje was raucous as usual. The response time was unduly long and the interventions were crude and unprofessional.
This column suggests that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) must go beyond its fixation to sharing relief materials. It must equip itself for prompt response, rescue, salvage and evacuation operations, no matter how difficult the terrain. Let’s see some evidence that Nigeria is at least inching forward a bit, and not stagnated.
OSUJI, a veteran journalist, was Editor at The Guardian, THISDAY, as well a member of the editorial board of The NATION
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