Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, an exemplary gentleman, in this interview conducted by Huhuonline.com publisher, Emmanuel Emeke Asiwe and Managing Editor, Valerian Agbaw-Ebai bares his mind on mind-boggling issues bothering on his challenges in governance vis-a-viz his performance amid criticism, security in Northern Nigeria and many other national issues.
Huhuonline.com: For about a year, you ran Osun State without a cabinet. Is this an innovation in governance?
Rauf Aregbesola: No, it was not up to a year, I was sworn in November, 2010 and constituted my cabinet in August of 2011. It was about nine months. I ran the government without a cabinet because we had no money to pay wages. The state was bankrupt; I inherited an N18.3bn debt overhang. The debt overhang would not have been an issue if it were not a short-term debt with stringent terms. Every month for the state to meet its wage bill, the state had to take N1bn loan to augment whatever was left in terms of its revenue to settle salaries and wages. That was the state we met and; because of my commitment to the large pool of unemployed youth, I had to do something.
Rather than hold on to that critical need, I moved on the implementation of my youth empowerment programme and postponed the composition of the cabinet.
Please before you go further, ask yourself, is there any time line for cabinet composition in an executive government? For parliamentary system of government, of course there can`t be a government without a composition of cabinet. But in the executive government structures, it is usually unnecessary
Utilizing the same latitude the constitution provides, I was busy reorganizing my finances to meet pressing needs and critical programmes such as the youth empowerment scheme and again sufficiently building up reserve with which I will prosecute other important progammes as well as fund cabinet.
Cabinet is not just gathering of people, whether competent of incompetent. In my own case, I took time to select competent people. It is constituting a body; it is having the resources to make them do what they are supposed to do in government and provide them the wherewithal to serve in their respective positions. That, we struggled to do, which aided their performance when they were sworn in 12th August 2011.
Huhuonline.com: Your plan to introduce Ifa studies in secondary schools in your state has enraged parents, many of who now want to withdraw their wards from public schools. How do you plan to address this?
Rauf Aregbesola: First of all, I will not engage on religion, because when you reduce issues to emotions, not much is gained. You should therefore run away from sentiments and emotions. Religion is sensitive, emotive and could be sensational, to that extent I will not go into but I will answer your question. Before assuming office, I told the people that we would be fair to all manners of men. In my oath of office, it is so clear, it is constitutional that whoever occupies the position I occupy must shun discrimination of whatever nature, that is summarizing it. That particular line in the constitution says you should be fair to all manners of men regardless of any distinction be it gender distinction, shift distinction. You swear.
You must swear as part of oath of allegiance and duty to the people to be fair to all men. The question we must ask ourselves is, are there people in Osun State who are adherents of Ifa? We have to be careful when these issues come up. Don’t reduce it to religion. My religion does not accept Ifa, I don`t patronize Ifa. But the question we must ask ourselves are there people in Osun who are adherents of Ifa, if the answer is yes, then we ought to be careful. They are citizens; they are not sub citizens. They are full citizens deserving recognition, including government support just as you have Christians, Muslims, and atheists, who don’t believe in anything.
What do you call discrminatiom? Discrimination is conscious act against the interest of somebody who is equally recognized by constitution to have what you are denying them. I want to see the injury to anybody if as I have done, we recognize the rights of others.
Today in Osun, we recognise traditional religion in all official functions, so when a Muslim prays, a Christian prays also; traditional worshipers also pray. Initially it was offensive to the two dominant religions. But later they got to understand that it was indeed hypocritical for any government produced by plurality of votes to limit recognition of faith to just two. In the same manner, we are not forcing anybody in private institution to study anything.
What we are simply doing to the extent public school is for all those who believe in God and those who don`t believe in God- Those who worship God through Christian method and those who worship God through Muslim method and those who worship traditionally. It is our duty to allow them to worship the way they choose to worship and have knowledge of how they worship.
The question I expect from you and several other media practioners is, are we making Ifa studies compulsory? The answer is no. Just as we are not making the study of the Bible compulsory or study of the Quran compulsory. We can`t make study of Ifa compulsory. It is optional!
Can anybody legislate faith? When people talk I just laugh. If up till now in Nigeria. CRS( Christian Religious Studies) and IRK(Islamic Religious Knowledge) are not legislated in public schools, why would Ifa be legislated in schools.
We tend to glamorize rubbish- by seeing issues in their clear and reasonable perspective but attempt to confuse what has been done. CRS has been on for as long as we have had western education. Same with the IRK. But no government has ever given recognition to traditional religious studies. Thus we don’t even have teachers to teach Ifa religion.
All we have done is develop a system of electronic learning, in the system we have all examinable subjects that are taught in High School in Osun. This includes CRK, an examinable subject, and IRK, another examinable subject.
Besides those examinable subjects, the only other place you can have any semblance of Ifa knowledge is in Yoruba. There will be some mention, reference to Ifa but there is no exposure to Ifa. CRK as a subject is distinct from Bible. You may say Bible is the source. There is no doubt about that. IRK has its source from the Quran, but its distinct from the Quran.
For those who want to know about Ifa, we have provided a reference material in the “tablet of knowledge.” just like we did with Bible and Quran.
In the usual annual prayers, we have been having in Osun, one of the priests raised the issue of recognition of traditional religion and I informed him that it not just a question of recognizing traditional religion, we have in the “tablet of knowledge” that we shall be distributing Quran, Bible and Ifa.
That does not mean that Ifa is made compulsory; it is an elective, it’s uploaded in this electronic device for whoever cares to know read about it.
Ifa religion is morals- the course content are importance of patience, importance of money, sex education, roles of language in society, dangers in polygamy, awareness and appreciation of God.
Religion is a touchy subject. In our society are people who do nothing but worship Ifa, just as you feel about your own religion, they too feel bad that their children are taught CRK and IRK. If we want to strip it of any arrogance, what is it that gives one the right to think his religion is superior to others? It is bigamy, prejudice conditioned and forced by those who have been managing our affairs. We cannot be so enslaved for life.
I am Muslim, my religion tells me it is the only religion, only way of life. The question which we should ask ourselves is, is that permitted in modern civilized society? The answer is no. No matter how hard I feel about my religion, I can only have such say for myself. I can’t impose it on you. That is the ethos of modernity that is civilization; that is what we call socialization in modern time: accommodation and acceptance of differences between you and the other. If that becomes relevant, we must be able tolerate those with varying opinions on faith. You don’t have more rights than the man who does not believe anything. What must not be done to you is for your child to be compelled to study Ifa. At that time, you must say no, because it is against your belief. So also it is against the belief of Ifa adherents to have their children forced to learn Bible or the Quran.
Huhuonline.com: Can we say, the governor has taken in terms of public policy, take the least common denominator and say ok, this issue is controversial and heat up the polity, let us take way religion whether western or indigenous out public space.
Rauf Aregbesola: Listen, If we remove the study of IRK and CRK, there will be more hoopla. It may be difficult for you to accept, but your mind tells you this man is telling you the truth. What is called civilization? It is matured relationship. That is the capacity to absorb the nuances and excesses of the other man without taking offence because you know in the public space you have the right. Somebody can be Agnosium, It unethical, unhealthy, but the best you can is to move away from him. I had to make that point to know that what is called civility is the ability to accommodate others. The point I’m trying to make is, what is it is about Ifa that offends so badly?
Ifa teaches about the importance of patience. Let’s read what it says: “In Yoruba traditional religion, patience and perseverance in every human endeavor is held in high esteem. They believe that for one to excel in life one needs to endure a more challenging encounter to one’s journey to success.”
If indeed governance is about creation of awareness, popularization of culture, promote accommodation of differences, I think it perfectly in order to allow students know their culture very well and not screened of an aspect of their lives, that is as relevant to them regardless of their faith.
Huhuonline.com: Your Excellency, you seem to court controversy. Recall that you were in court for three years, trying to reclaim your mandate; you were accused of masterminding a bombing; and more recently, you were alleged to have ties with a radical Moslem group linked with the Boko Haram Islamist sect. Do you actually have ties with Boko Haram?
Rauf Aregbesola :You claimed that I have been linked with radical Islam, How? I won a popular mandate. Even going by your own admission, which I say is false. How can somebody win a popular mandate if he is identified with a radical sect, which is in the minority? When was the phenomenon of Boko Haram? When was my mandate? Boko Haram became a phenomenon in 2009, I ran for office in 2007. So where is the link?
You went further to say I was linked with a bombing incident, honorably speaking, nothing can be more fallacious; there was no such thing anywhere; they’re just your own fabrication. And I want to appeal to people in the media that it is in our collective interest to take pain to crosscheck our facts before putting them in public domain, because once they are in the public domain they are permanent; because we do not want misinform the public. This is high responsibility, which we must all seek to be conscious of before we launch out, otherwise we will be injuring people unnecessarily while propagating rubbish and falsehood. But I will put the issues in context. Rauf Aregbesola is confidently and unpretentious a Muslim. And that is a right I have, just as very one the right to bear the faith they profess.
Rauf Aregbesola, however, from school, had always proclaimed the amiable right of everybody to freely profess their religion and on that ground I can lay down my life to ensure that nobody is disallowed from professing his religion. I don’t understand anything that we mean by radical Islam; criminals are criminals, whether they are Christians or they are Muslims. A criminal is a criminal. Whoever takes life for any reason either in the course of posolisation or robbery for material gain is a criminal and must be seen as such. That you must understand and that you must see from the fact that I will defend the right of anybody to profess their faith
Thirdly, it is unfortunate that we are very quick to hold on to allegations even when several statements have been issued to debunk those allegations. You read the allegation that I was sponsoring radical Islam, One will like to you to equally make reference to our rebuttal to the allegations.
Huhonline.com: That is why we are giving you this opportunity.
Rauf Aregbesola: If you have read it, you will not even bother asking such questions, because SSS denied issuing that statement. I went to the DG of SSS and said to him, I read this about my person, please for goodness sake, let me have your proof. And he asked me, did I ever contact you that any such statement was made? So why are you accusing us.
I was interviewed in the premises of SSS, and I told the world that the SSS Czar denied issuing such statement.
Huhuonline.com: Excellency, The SSS lie a lot !!!
Rauf Aregbesola: Why was that statement issued? We told the world! Our opponents, believing that if were so stigmatized, it would help them, went about the campaign of calumny, submitting falsehood. We did not stop there; we told the whole world that a man that will accused of Islamisation must be seen in its total form. I have cabinet of 36 members. Cabinents are not formed by elections, cabinets are formed by choice. So a man interested in Islamazation will surround himself with muslims. I have six Muslims among 36 cabinet members. I had a choice when I was running to pick a Muslim as my running mate; I picked a fire brand Christian as running mate, a member of Mountain of Fire and Miracles. That is not all, we have 26 members in the state house of assembly, 10 or less are Muslims.
Huhuonline.com: Your Excellency, Assembly members came in by elections, anyway.
Rauf Aregbesola : Listen, now, you will say that the man wanted to run a faith-based government. You know I am the governor, don’t miss it. Don`t forget I was already a governor before they were elected, before they even ran for the election. Don`t try to reduce the impact of my influence if I wanted to do otherwise. I became a governor in 2010, Assembly election was 2011. I had enough time. Don’t ever gloss over it, please, it is important, because when you want to tell people that I am simply mischievous, you can`t just close it down. If you do, you are mischievous, too.
We have 31 executives at the local government level, sworn in by me, as caretaker committee members, only 10 are Muslims. When you now sum this up, where then is the meat of this allegation? Probably what they are telling you.
Huhuonline.com: It is what we read.
Rauf Aregbesola: What they are telling you, you now take hook line and sinker, in a clime where it is almost a crime to appear as Muslim, I do with relish. In a clime where public office is already seen as a caucus for conformity, a non-conformist is there, who does not give any nonsense about his own faith. I therefore appear in the public sometimes as traditional Yoruba person, sometimes as a Muslim. I concede to others the right to be who they are within the law. I think I have a right to be who I am within the law. That is all.
Huhuonline.com: Do you wear your religion on your sleeve?
Rauf Aregbesola: What makes you think you don’t wear yours on your sleeve?
Huhuonline.com: I don’t hold public office, you are the governor.
Rauf Aregbesola: (Laughter) everything about me is liberal, unless when you want to be openly mischievous.
You met me yesterday; did anything suggest to you that I am a fundamentalist? Nothing, it is a question of perception and the impression you want to have. I said there can’t be a more determined advocate of accommodation than me. In all public statements and outings, I tell people that what you call life has no other definition than service, and service has no colour of religion or colour of nationalism, either ethnic or general nationalism. Service is service, so if that is my ethos, which I preach, which I live by, which I demonstrate, where is this absolute falsehood of somebody being what he is not.
This is not my first time in public office. I was in public office for eight years; I have not changed a bit, in either my public appearance or attitude. I have been like this. I appear in the way that I believe is best suited, for as long as it does not offend the laws of the land. I want to believe just I expect of others; I want to believe everybody has the right to live by his own code, which does not offend the general code of society. I don`t know how well I have responded to you.
Huhuonline.com: In the last presidential election, your state voted against President Jonathan, despite your party`s stance, which made it possible for the presidential candidate of the ruling party to win the presidential election in all ACN-controlled states. What informed this decision, and if the same scenario reoccurs in 2015, will you tow the same line?
Rauf Aregbesola: I don’t know where got you this information from, Can you let me have the categorical endorsement of Jonathan by the ACN. There was no open or secret endorsement of President Ebele Jonathan by my party. My party fielded a candidate, and what we did in Osun was to tow the party line. People must not forget that National Chairman of my party, Chief Bisi Akande is from Osun and sensitive and all important election like that it will have been difficult for the party not to give total support to the most senior person, to the highest leadership of the party as exemplified by Chief Bisi Akande. So without any doubt or cause to want to reduce the decision of the party in Osun as well as the overwhelming support that the party enjoys, I want to tell you that we simply voted for our party to justify the level of popularity that we enjoy in the state.
Huhuonline.com: What is your take on the present security challenge in Nigeria? what does Nigeria needs to overcome the security problems, particularly in the North?
Rauf Aregbesola: In all my public statements on the instability in Northern Nigeria, I have all ways been very didactic. When you are didactic about a thing, you are not just superficial. I have spoken at two public events, specifically on the challenges of security in Northern Nigeria. I said that in any environment where disparity exists in the economic status of the people there to the extent that some have more than what they need and a large majority wallow in poverty, unless you bridge the gap, tension, social tension crisis and all sorts of criminality cannot be avoided.
Today, the insurgency in the North is such that we must embark on an immediate youth empowerment programme that will remove the social base for the recruitment of disempowered, disaffected, angered youths that readily gravitate to the misdirected sponsors of the violence. That was why rather than go about forming cabinet even in my own state, in spite of my challenges in funding I pursued aggressively Youth empowerment and I am the first government in the history of Nigeria to develop mass youth empowerment programme that engages 20,000 able-bodied, educated unemployed youths. The programme has been adjudged as the best social safety net by the World Bank. When I began that, am still talking about that, I expect social commentators to readily link my position on the economy and the consequences of solving the economic ethos in the Nigerian polity as the antidote to removing the tension, instability and insecurity.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, on Wednesday, arraigned self-styled relationship therapist Okoro Blessing Nkiruka, popularly known as Blessing CEO, before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, over an alleged fresh ₦13 million fraud.
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Blessing CEO was arraigned before Justice Yelim Bogoro on a six-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence and retaining the proceeds of an alleged unlawful act amounting to N13 million.
The latest case brings to three the number of criminal charges currently pending against the defendant before different courts in Lagos.
According to the anti-graft agency, the charges arose from multiple petitions submitted by individuals and organisations, including the Nigeria Cancer Society. The petitioners alleged that the defendant solicited donations from members of the public through social media after claiming she was battling Stage 4 breast cancer and required financial assistance for treatment.
The EFCC alleged that several donors made contributions based on the representation, only for investigations to later reveal that the medical document she presented to support her claims was allegedly falsified.
The Commission further alleged that the donations, totalling ₦13 million, were obtained under false pretences and subsequently retained by the defendant.
The arraignment marks the latest legal challenge for Blessing CEO, who is already facing two separate criminal prosecutions before courts in Lagos.
On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, she was arraigned before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, over an alleged ₦69.15 million fraud. She was charged with obtaining money by false pretence and stealing.
The EFCC alleged that she falsely represented herself as the owner of a property located at No. 1 Tunbosun Osobu Street, Lekki, and induced Hope Chiropractic Health Clinic Limited to pay ₦69.15 million for a five-year lease. The Commission further alleged that she converted the money to her personal use.
She pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge. Following submissions by counsel, Justice Oshodi ordered that the arraignment proceed and remanded her in EFCC custody pending further proceedings.
The case was adjourned until July 16, 2026, for the hearing of her bail application and commencement of trial.
Earlier on Tuesday, Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, granted Blessing CEO bail in the sum of ₦10 million with two sureties in connection with a separate alleged ₦36 million property fraud case.
The defendant, who appeared in court wearing a long black gown over black trousers, is standing trial over allegations relating to the property transaction.
EFCC counsel Suleiman Suleiman opposed her request to remain in the Commission’s custody, informing the court that the agency’s detention facilities were already overcrowded.
In his ruling, Justice Dipeolu ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional facility pending the fulfilment of her bail conditions.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter until June 22, 2026, for the continuation of trial.
News
In the impatient age of quarterly capitalism, where executives are judged by immediate returns and investors demand instant gratification, patience has become one of the rarest commodities in business. Yet patience, more than brilliance or bravado, has always distinguished the true institution-builder from the mere opportunist. Few contemporary African businessmen embody this distinction more convincingly than Tony Elumelu.
As Heirs Insurance Group marks its fifth anniversary in June 2026, the milestone is significant not merely because of the company’s rapid ascent within Nigeria’s notoriously underpenetrated insurance sector, but because its story is, fundamentally, a meditation on endurance. Behind the celebratory speeches, growth metrics and corporate accolades lies a less glamorous but more revealing reality: the operational licenses that birthed Heirs Insurance took eight years to secure. Yes, you read it correctly. Eight years.
In most corporate boardrooms, eight years of regulatory limbo would have been sufficient to extinguish enthusiasm, redirect capital elsewhere and bury the idea quietly beneath the sediment of abandoned ambitions. Yet Tony Elumelu persisted. That persistence now appears less like stubbornness and more like strategic foresight.
The launch of Heirs Insurance in 2021 alongside the commissioning of Heirs Towers was never merely the unveiling of another financial-services company. It was the extension of a wider philosophical project that has animated Elumelu’s business career for decades: the conviction that African-owned institutions can achieve scale, sophistication and competitiveness comparable to any global peer.
Today, barely five years later, Heirs Insurance serves nearly two million customers across Nigeria. The Financial Times recently ranked Heirs Life Assurance seventh and Heirs General Insurance forty-first among Africa’s fastest-growing companies, a remarkable feat in a sector that has historically struggled for relevance in Nigeria’s economic life.
The statistics become even more impressive when placed against the broader context of the Nigerian insurance industry itself. Insurance penetration in Nigeria remains below one per cent of GDP, one of the lowest rates globally. In practical terms, this means millions of Nigerians continue to rely on informal family structures, religious solidarity and personal improvisation as substitutes for formal risk protection. Insurance, for many, remains distant, misunderstood or distrusted. It is precisely this structural weakness that Heirs Insurance identified as an opportunity.
Rather than replicate the orthodox models of legacy insurers—many of which remain trapped in bureaucratic inertia and elite urban markets—the company pursued a strategy built around accessibility, technology and scale. Digital onboarding replaced cumbersome paperwork. Mobile-first products lowered entry barriers. Microinsurance products targeted demographics long ignored by traditional operators. Insurance was repositioned not as an elite financial abstraction, but as an everyday instrument of economic dignity.
This was not accidental innovation. It reflected a broader understanding of Africa’s evolving economic realities. Across the continent, formal banking, telecommunications and digital commerce have expanded most successfully where firms adapted products to local realities rather than imported rigid Western templates. Heirs Insurance belongs firmly within this new generation of African institutions that understand scale emerges not from exclusivity, but from inclusion.
Equally significant has been the ecosystem advantage engineered through Heirs Holdings itself. Cross-selling synergies involving UBA, Transcorp and Heirs Energies have accelerated customer acquisition and institutional visibility in ways standalone insurers would struggle to replicate. It is an illustration of strategic integration rarely executed successfully within African conglomerates, where diversification often degenerates into incoherence. Under Elumelu, however, the architecture appears deliberate: finance, energy, hospitality and insurance reinforcing one another within a broader continental vision.
Yet perhaps the most important aspect of the Heirs Insurance story lies not in balance sheets or rankings, but in what it reveals about Tony Elumelu’s peculiar temperament as a builder of institutions. Modern business culture frequently glorifies disruption, aggression and velocity. Elumelu’s approach has often been more measured, almost old-fashioned in its emphasis on staying power. He has long understood that enduring institutions are not constructed through viral moments, but through sustained discipline, strategic patience and reputational consistency.
This philosophy has become increasingly rare in contemporary Africa, where political instability, policy unpredictability and weak institutions often encourage short-term extraction over long-term investment. The temptation for many investors is to maximize immediate returns while minimizing exposure to systemic uncertainty. Elumelu, by contrast, has repeatedly chosen the more difficult route of institutional permanence.
The eight-year wait for licensing is therefore not a footnote to the Heirs Insurance story. It is the story. For what distinguished the venture was not merely the availability of capital, but the willingness to remain committed during prolonged uncertainty. Capital, after all, is abundant globally. Conviction is scarcer. Operational leadership from senior Heirs executives such as Niyi Onifade and Wole Fayemi has undoubtedly translated vision into execution. But execution alone does not create institutions. Institutions emerge when leadership combines operational competence with philosophical clarity about purpose and time horizon.
Elumelu’s broader advocacy for raising Nigeria’s insurance penetration to three per cent of GDP similarly reflects a strategic understanding that no company can thrive sustainably within a weak ecosystem. The ambition is not merely corporate expansion, but sectoral transformation itself. If achieved, such growth would deepen financial inclusion, expand long-term domestic capital pools and strengthen economic resilience across households and businesses alike.
At a deeper level, Heirs Insurance also represents something symbolic within the African corporate imagination. For decades, African financial sectors were dominated either by foreign multinationals or by indigenous firms constrained by insufficient scale, technological weakness or governance deficiencies. The emergence of globally competitive African-owned institutions capable of combining technological sophistication with continental ambition marks an important psychological transition.
It is this larger symbolism that makes the Heirs Insurance anniversary noteworthy beyond corporate ceremony. Five years may appear brief in the lifespan of institutions. But within those five years lies evidence of something increasingly consequential in African capitalism: the emergence of patient capital guided not merely by opportunism, but by vision. Tony Elumelu’s enduring lesson is therefore deceptively simple. Institutions are not miracles. They are acts of sustained belief.
In an era intoxicated by immediacy, Heirs Insurance stands as a reminder that the most important revolutions are often quiet ones; built patiently, painstakingly and almost stubbornly over time until what once seemed improbable becomes inevitable.
In The Spotlight
Nearly three weeks have passed since 39 schoolchildren and eight of their teachers were abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. Three weeks of rain, hunger, fear, and unimaginable trauma. Three weeks of parents living in a purgatory of hope and despair. Three weeks of children sleeping on wet forest floors while their governor behaves as though time is an infinite luxury. This is not merely a failure of security. It is a failure of leadership.
Governor Seyi Makinde has responded to this crisis with a detachment so baffling, so cavalier, that it borders on dereliction of duty. At a moment when every second counts, when every drop of rain falling on those children is an indictment of the state, Makinde has chosen bureaucratic caution over moral urgency. The children are still in captivity. The governor is still dithering. And the people of Oyo are left wondering: What exactly is he waiting for?
For two weeks, hunters, traditionalists, OPC, Agbekoya, and Sunday Igboho’s network; people who know the forests, who understand the terrain, who have rescued victims before, have offered their help. They have asked for nothing but the governor’s permission so they are not later branded as “non state actors” or “bandits.” Makinde has not only refused them; he has refused to even acknowledge them. Not a meeting. Not a briefing. Not even the courtesy of a public statement.
This is the same governor who once distanced himself from Igangan’s rescue operation, only to watch as non state actors succeeded where the state failed. One would think that experience would have taught him humility. Instead, he has doubled down on a strategy of paralysis disguised as prudence. The hunters say they are ready. The OPC says it is ready. Agbekoya says it is ready. Igboho’s men say they are ready. But the governor; the one man with the constitutional authority to greenlight action is not.
Let us speak plainly. These children are not in a safe house. They are not in a guarded compound. They are in the forest, exposed to the elements, sleeping on mud, drinking whatever water they can find, and living under the psychological torture of armed captors. Every day that passes is a day of dehydration, hunger, illness, trauma and the risk of death. What is the governor’s plan? What is the strategy? Where is the urgency? The silence from Agodi is deafening.
Yes, Nigeria’s security architecture is federally controlled. Yes, state governors are constrained. But constraints are not an excuse for complacency. A responsible leader does not shrug helplessly while children are held hostage within his own state. A responsible leader does not reject help from those who know the terrain better than any police unit dispatched from Abuja. A responsible leader does not pretend that “everything is under control” when the evidence of collapse is everywhere.
In the last few days alone, there have been more kidnappings in Ibadan, more killings across the country and more evidence that criminals now operate with impunity. The truth is simple: the government has been overwhelmed. And Oyo State is not an exception; it is a symptom, but Makinde’s failure is not just tactical; it is moral. Leadership is not measured by press statements or security meetings. It is measured by the willingness to act decisively when lives hang in the balance. Makinde’s refusal to mobilize every available resource, including local actors with proven track records is not caution. It is criminal negligence. It is a betrayal of the children, their parents, and the people of Oyo State.
Nigeria’s insecurity crisis has become a political football. Ethnic blame games. Religious narratives. Partisan point scoring. Meanwhile, criminals do not ask for your tribe before abducting you. They do not check your religion before shooting. They do not care who you voted for. This is not a Fulani problem. This is not a Christian or Muslim problem. This is not a PDP or APC problem. This is a national emergency. And in Oyo State, it is a humanitarian emergency, and the Governor must act now!
Governor Makinde must authorize vetted local hunters, OPC, Agbekoya, and other community groups to join the search. He should create a joint command structure that separates genuine volunteers from charlatans, and provide logistical support to all rescue teams. Makinde should stop pretending that the current strategy is working; and demand federal reinforcement with urgency. He should prioritize the safe return of the children above all else. Nothing else matters until those children are home. The parents of Oriire do not need speeches. They do not need condolences. They do not need promises. They need their children. And the governor who swore an oath to protect them must stop hiding behind bureaucracy and start acting like the chief security officer he claims to be. History will not remember the excuses. It will remember the children, and what he did, or failed to do, to save them.
Opinions
In The Spotlight
“Thank God it is over”
“Yes oh. Now, Arsenal players and their fans can now allow all of us to rest. They have their Premier League trophy. PSG have taken the Champions League. History made on both sides. Heroes made.”
“Who is talking about Arsenal or PSG? Why is it that you, Nigerians are always so unpatriotic? Before you think of your own country, you are more concerned about what is happening in other parts of the world. When I say it is over, I am referring to the party primaries that have just been concluded in Nigeria’s political space. The INEC deadline expired on May 30.”
“Oh, I see. But it is not correct to say it is over. The correct thing to say is that Nigeria is now on a path to a new beginning, a return to high-wire politics that could have serious implications for the future. The end of the primaries is merely the commencement of warfare which Nigerian politics is.”
“Yes. Yes. I know that there will be fall-outs. After all, there have been very loud complaints about the mode of the primaries, consensus arrangements that marginalized many eligible participants and direct primaries that were openly rigged, shamelessly too. And I dare say, no party is innocent.”
“Well, well, well, I have not heard of any complaints from the African Action Congress which chose Omoyele Sowore by popular acclamation, Accord Party which announced Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) that selected former Governor Donald Duke, Governor Seyi Makinde’s Allied People’s Movement, Action Democratic Party where you have Aliyu Bin Abbas, and of course the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) which produced Peter Obi. In these parties, the choice of the flagbearers has been relatively peaceful. It is only in the APC, the PDP, and the ADC that we have had controversies.”
“Not true. There have been issues in all the parties. And this is the point that Minister Wike was making during his media chat on TV yesterday. He said those politicians in ADC and NDC who claim they know how to run Nigeria are all liars, because ordinary party primaries they could not even organize successfully.”
“Are you still taking that one serious?”
“But he has a point. No opposition party has been able to show that their party is better than the APC. We are faced with the same of the same. Wike is right to laugh at them.”
“Peter Obi, the ADC Presidential candidate has promised to generate 10, 000 MW of electricity in 4 years of the single term that he is proposing. He will also empower MSMEs and address youth unemployment. That is something different.”
‘I beg. Is power generation the problem? Electricity is a value chain. How about transmission and distribution? How about tariffs, liquidity? Leakages, wastages. And where were you when failed aspirants in the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and the Labour Party (LP) were asking for a refund of monies paid into the party’s coffers. In Imo State, one APC aspirant wept openly and on social media claiming that he had spent over N100 million to buy forms for the House of Representatives slot only for the party to impose a woman who never bought any form. He said it will never happen.”
“Did you say an APC aspirant?”
“Yes, from Owerri”
“If he knows what is good for him, he will keep quiet and sulk in silence. The ticket belongs to the party. Even the aspirant that challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the APC Presidential ticket is now singing his praise. And what does your Imo friend want the 14 lawmakers in the Lagos State House of Assembly who have been sent away to do, and all the Ministers who resigned their positions to run for one elective office or the other. Maybe only one of them succeeded. The Godfather system that they run in the APC simply means you have to obey and accept whatever you are given by the powers-that-be.”
“But that is not democracy. That is tyranny.”
“Who told you there is a universal model of democracy?”
“There are principles.”
“I know. Take the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) founded by countryman Senator Seriake Dickson. The party is now the beautiful bride. That is why Peter Obi and Dr Kwankwaso left the ADC and ran there.”
“Wike says Peter Obi is a food-is-ready politician! He will run to any party that others have worked hard to build.”
“Don’t mind him. They are all the same. What I am saying is that for you to join the NDC, you have to go to Seriake Dickson’s house. To get an expression of interest form, you also have to go to his house. Major meetings are also held in his house, except may be the party’s convention and that must have been due to reasons of space. That too is democracy. And look at Wike. He gave a directive to events owners and hoteliers in Abuja not to allow any “illegal political groups” to use their premises, otherwise their licenses and land titles will be revoked. The David Mark faction of the ADC fought back but the Turaki faction of the PDP ended up holding their event at an open field. I guess that too is democracy.”
“No, that is against the principles of fair play and equal access. But what do you think will happen now?”
“To be honest, I see a lot of confusion. So much uncertainty. Out of 22 registered political parties, only 11 have announced their Presidential candidates. I doubt if anyone has made any submissions to INEC
by the deadline of May 30. The deadline for moving from one political party to the other was set at May 10. Long after that deadline, we have now seen politicians moving from one party to the other. Babachir Lawal for example has dumped the ADC. Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has moved out of the APC in protest to join the NDC.”
“I believe this is because of the two conflicting judgements in the Federal High Court. Abuja Division. Youth Party vs INEC by Justice Mohammed Umar and SDP vs INEC by Justice James Omotoso. INEC has since gone to the Court of Appeal and has applied for a stay of execution. Meanwhile, everything is in abeyance. Even the lawyers are taking one side or the other, offering conflicting interpretations.”
“Whether we like it or not, Nigeria’s 2027 general elections will be determined by the courts, not by the voters. Look at the confusion in the parties, especially the ADC which has three factions, three Presidential candidates – the Nafiu Bala Gombe faction with Chris Uba, the Kachikwu faction with Dumebi Kachikwu and the David Mark-led faction with Atiku Abubakar. Then the PDP with two factions, two Presidential candidates – the Wike faction with Senator Sandy Onor and the Kabiru Turaki faction with President Goodluck Jonathan.”
“I don’t even understand why President Jonathan will allow anybody to drag him into this state of confusion. He is an international statesman. He is a man of stature, widely respected locally and internationally. He should stay above partisan politics.”
“Wike says nobody drags anybody into politics. It is only when you show interest that people will come and offer you what they think you want.”
“The way you keep quoting Wike this, Wike that, I hope there is nothing. You better don’t waste your time. Wike no send anybody oh. But I agree with you on President Jonathan. He is legally eligible, constitutionally and by all means as recently decided by the Federal High Court of Justice Peter Lifu. But it is not advisable for him to get involved in the PDP crisis. There are two Federal High Court cases in contention: the Court of Justice Uche Agomoh in the Ibadan Division, and the court of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik at the Abuja Division on the basis of which INEC recognized the Wike faction. Wike served President Jonathan as Minister of State over 10 years ago. No. No. No. He cannot be seen to be dragging anything with his own subordinates. He is too distinguished for that.”
“But in the United States, President Trump left office and he still came back and was re-elected. In Ghana, President Mahama left and returned.”
“The situations are not so similar. President Tinubu vs President Jonathan. It will look too messy. It will be too complicated. There is also the constraint of time. We are just about seven months to the elections. Not enough time to mobilize.”
“I think that there is even more than enough time. With the right momentum, 24 hours is a long time in politics. I imagine that with the seven months gap ahead, many politicians will even run out of cash. Many will sell their grandparents homes to keep up with the unrelenting pressure of campaigns and politicking. I even hear that it is Tinubu sponsoring Jonathan. But if I were President Jonathan, and I want to dare everything, I will choose a man like Nasir El-Rufai as my running mate.”
“Stop making suggestions that will not work and do not make sense. Why would President Jonathan want to dare everything? He is not that kind of person. He will not do anything to disorient the country because of personal ambition. He is a leader, not a food-is-ready politician.”
“Then let him issue a strongly worded statement to dissociate himself from partisan politics. No, thank you are three simple words in English. Let him come and say that he is not running for office in 2027.”
“Okay then, let us just sit down and look. But by the way, did you go to Ijebu Ode for the Ojude Oba after Sallah?”
“No. But I followed everything on social media. Very impressive as usual. The colour. The Equestrian displays, the pageantry and the paraphernalia, even in the absence of the Awujale. I like the fact that the festival is community-based and family-based as well and many families stood up to be counted: the Adesoyes, the Kukus, the Adeshiles, the Ashirus, and there was enough space for the traditional societies, the Regberegbes to promote Ijebu nationalism. The good thing is that other Ijebu communities are beginning to have similar celebrations: in Ososa, Ijebu Igbo, and Ago-Iwoye for example. Nigerians have a way of stealing laughter from the jaws of despair. Think of the Durbar in Ilorin and the Bariki Sallah celebration in Bida All good.”
“I also enjoyed the Ojude Oba, I liked seeing the King of Steeze, Farooq Oreagba and his son in action. But what I could not figure out was one woman who showed up this year, Toyin Olushile, whom they called the Queen of Steeze, all the way from New York City. She had a big tobacco pipe in her mouth and she was puffing smoke into the air like a locomotive train. I did not find that funny. The Ojude Oba should not be used to promote smoking of any type. There are children involved and they are watching.”
“Well, it was all part of the show. But talking about children, this past weekend was a sad one for me.”
“Me too. I watched the video of Mrs Alamu pleading for help, from captivity, and my heart sank. I saw her husband, a Professor, kneeling down and pleading with the Oyo State Government to do something to rescue all the 46 children and teachers in captivity, and I felt for him. In Borno state, Askira Uba Local Government, 45 students were also abducted. Same day, May 15, in the same coordinated fashion. Something sinister is happening.”
“Governor Seyi Makinde has tried. He went to the community to empathise with the people. The Federal Government has also sent a delegation. What I do not understand is why the state and the Federal Government had to respond separately. They could have co-ordinated their efforts. Nobody should play partisan politics with human lives. Governor Makinde went to the community on Saturday. The Federal Government delegation showed up on Sunday in a helicopter. The politics was too obvious.”
“Yes. Both the states and the Federal Government should always work together. Human lives are at stake in Oyo, in Borno and other parts of the country.”
“I really couldn’t enjoy the UCL Champions League final.”
“Forget about Champions League. The Super Eagles were playing in the Unity Cup finals against Jamaica at the Valley Stadium in London, the same day. They defeated Jamaica, 4 -0. You are here talking about Arsenal and PSG.”
“Congratulations to the Super Eagles. Gunners ForEver!”
“How about Enugu Rangers?”.
“Rangerrs. Who are they?”
“They won the Nigerian Football League.”
“Oh. Sorry. Never heard of them.”
“Of course”.