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Osun election: Between hope and fear | adekkatv

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By abiodun KOMOLAFE Hope springs eternal, and with elections just days away to determine the next governor of Osun State, we should strive to keep the hope alive. The saber-rattling, threats and counter-threats should stop because everyone in the state is a bonafide stakeholder. Whatever the outcome of the election, it is meant to prepare for the future. For those who care to know, the future is important for, right now, Osun State - to be fair, like a lot of states - is socioeconomically wounded, and the task of finding its bearing is daunting. Like every other subnational, our dear state faces a demographic nightmare: there are simply too many young people to take care of, educate and prepare for a future of hope. The state therefore does not need violence. Osun needs a visionary - a thinker-leader, gentle as a dove but wise as a serpent, not an autocrat drunk on power or privilege - with a plan to tackle the very troubling tasks ahead. For him, authority will be about service in lov...
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Dìbò k’ó se’bẹ̀ and the raw reality of politics - (2) | adekkatv

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  By abiodun KOMOLAFE As Adlai Stevenson Jr. famously observed, “A hungry man is not a free man.” This truth conveniently haunts our troubled polity, where politicians tend to demand absolute electoral loyalty while offering nothing in return. But, again, can a hungry populace give their best while fending for themselves in a vacuum, and can one harvest where nothing was sown? For any political system to endure therefore, the social contract ought to be more than a one-way street. The two hands must clap: if we expect total commitment, we should first provide the security and the tools that make such commitment possible. The contrast between a positive past and our present is deeply disturbing, and indeed ominous. We should do everything to prevent a catastrophic future, the fault lines of which are already visible in daily occurrences across the nation. The key issue which needs to be addressed is that Nigeria’s political establishment detains us in an appearance of disagreement w...
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Dìbò k’ó se’bẹ̀ and the raw reality of politics - (1) | adekkatv

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  By abiodun KOMOLAFE The current state of what we call “politics” in Nigeria throws one back in time. One is reminded of Nigeria if, after decades, someone goes back to read the treatise by the revolutionist and founder of the now-rested Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In his 1902 famous handbook of political activism, What is to be Done?, Lenin made a puzzling point: he argued, strangely at first reading, that “revolutions do not occur during times of mass, grinding poverty; they occur during times of relatively rising prosperity.” To justify this seemingly contentious position, he looked back into history to present examples backed by data. The Nigerian political elite seem to have misinterpreted Lenin’s position entirely. From “Dìbò k’ó se’bẹ̀” (Vote and be sure to cook soup), to “Aṣáàjẹun” - those who live for the next meal - the prevailing playbook assumes that mass poverty is a sufficient deterrence against revolution. To all intents ...
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Osun guber: Lessons from Ekiti (2) | adekkatv

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By Abiodun Komolafe From all indications, the surge in voter interest is a clear signal that Osun is a bigger test and, fundamentally, it is the last mock exercise before January 16, when all eyes - including those of the global investment community - will be on Africa’s biggest democracy. Again, for all stakeholders, the guiding principle should be to follow the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared! One of the gains from what we can describe as a test run in Ekiti State is that it has put to rest the fear of pre-written result sheets. As the Lord would have it, transmission of results in real time is now incontrovertible. We might have glitches here and there, but the improvement, given the deficit of technological infrastructure, is a massive advance in boosting voter confidence. Hopefully, it’d lead to high turnout and greater citizen engagement, which is vital to the development of our democracy. Based on my observation of the June 20 Ekiti governorship election, I can also confidently...
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Osun guber: Lessons from Ekiti - (1) | adekkatv

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  By abiodun KOMOLAFE The off-cycle election in Ekiti State, which secured the reelection of the incumbent governor, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO), should be interpreted as a roadmap to things to come - and those changes are already upon us. For the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it was a mock examination passed creditably. The commission, however, must refine critical logistics, as well as the deployment and efficacy of its technological systems. Kudos to the umpire! The organization is beginning to show that it is capable of delivering a peaceful, tech-driven election. The onus is now on the security forces to conduct a thorough investigation into the causes and effects of the sixteen recorded infractions across the state on Election Day. This is critical, more so as the off-cycle election on August 15 in Osun State promises to be a fiercely contested affair, unlike what we witnessed in Ekiti State. Deep reflection is needed as INEC, the political class, and ci...
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Just In: Kidnapped Oriire pupils, teachers rescued

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  The pupils and teachers in Oriire in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, have finally regained their freedom. Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser, Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, made the announcement of the development on X on Friday. He stated: “Finally, all the kidnapped pupils and teachers in Oriire, Oyo have been rescued by our security agencies. “One of the rescued teachers in Oyo sends a thank you message to President Tinubu and the security agencies.” One of the rescued teachers in Oyo sends a thank you message to President Tinubu and the security agencies. pic.twitter.com/bGeuhvWH7F — Bayo Onanuga, OON, CON (@aonanuga1956) July 10, 2026 In the video,  one of the rescued victims, Rachael Alamu, principal of Community High School, said “President sir, our father, we are grateful, we understand your commitment to our safety and we appreciate all you did for us…. And every security operatives, they tried so much and that is why we are still alive by now, God bless you...
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Beyond the policing abracadabra | adekkatv

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  By abiodun KOMOLAFE  “One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas. No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.”  - Victor Hugo, Histoire d'un Crime, 1852. Victor Hugo, the French philosopher, is absolutely right: the devolution of policing powers to subnational and local governments is long overdue. This is not a radical departure; it was the reality during the colonial era and the First Republic. It is worth noting that the Office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) did not even exist until 1964, when Louis Edet became Nigeria’s first indigenous head of the Force. It is, therefore, not surprising that the British avoided creating a centralized IGP during the long stretch following 1829, when Sir Robert Peel established the world’s first modern policing system in London. Even under our former colonial masters, policing has remained fundamentally devolved. The British could not have invented the Inspector Gene...
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