'fola

In Life, there are NO ABSOLUTES.
Native of 🇳🇬 :|: Citizen of the W🌍🌎🌏RLD

['fola @_adefola]

@LegendaryJoe If there remains a sliver of opportunity to salvage Nigeria, it will require the following:
1. Bring back regional governments
2. Reconstitute Nigeria as a confederation
3. Enshrine the right to secede in the Constitution
4. Each region MUST rigorously enforce assimilation

[Bayo Bilisi (Back Up) @Bayo_Bilisi]

This guy is absolutely spot on about Ibos except being a major tribe...

[D' Jagaban @DJagaban1]

I have noticed a pattern with some Yoruba religious activists.

When the discussion is about education, they divide Yorubas into Muslims and Christians.

When the discussion is about politics, they divide Yorubas into Muslims and Christians.

When the discussion is about history, they divide Yorubas into Muslims and Christians.

Yet they wonder why religious suspicion keeps growing.

A people cannot build a common future if every conversation begins by reminding them they belong to different religions instead of the same civilization.

The irony is that this thread accuses missionary schools of creating division, yet its conclusion is to encourage further religious separation.

Instead of asking, “How do we build excellent Yoruba schools that respect every Yoruba child?” the answer is “Build Islamic schools for Muslims.”

That is a religious project, not a Yoruba project.

The more Yorubas define themselves primarily by imported religions, the weaker Yoruba unity becomes.

If every historical discussion ends with “the Ummah” or “the Church,” then Yoruba interests will always come second, and the little peace we enjoy in this land will be torn into shreds. Maybe that’s what some desire: World history has shown that already.

[Olufemi Adebimpe @femiadebimpe]

One of my classmates is an uztas today & he told all of us he can still remember all the verses of STAND UP STAND UP FOR JESUS in the SOP.

The conversation came up at our reunion three years ago when he noticed that we still knew all the Muslims prayers & responses.

This idea that Muslims in the SW were being persecuted when they were not allowed to wear hijab is coming from those who want exceptionalism in multi religous community. And those who want religous exceptionalism are always just one step away from extremism.

[Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ 🇳🇬 @wandyvirus]

When Hollywood casually throws in a name from Yorùbáland Tómi Adéyẹmí; in a major remake of a blockbuster #Devilwearsprada

But who is @tomi_adeyemi

She is best known for her novels the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy (the award-winning novel @ChildrenofBandB is the first of these thrillers)

What is remarkable about her?

Though her parents were “Yorùbá buts” who decided not to teach her or her siblings Yorùbá language or culture, she would later embrace her heritage as an adult.

She said: “I didn't think too much of it and I think that is the kind of an experience of the first generation. You're just trying to fit in. You don't realize how cool your culture is until you get out of that phase of trying to fit in.”

She would later describe one of her novels as a love letter to her Yorùbá culture.

Absolutely proud of you Tómi Adéyẹmí.

[TheSunOfGod @Africanistkemte]

Imagine being dark-skinned in Egypt, standing in the land of your ancestors, only to have some Arabs tell you that you are not native and must be from Sudan. That kind of identity policing is wild, especially when Arabs themselves are not indigenous to Egypt or the rest of Africa.

What makes it worse is that these same racist lighter-skinned Arab Egyptians will question the origins of dark-skinned Egyptians, then turn around and claim direct descent from the ancient Egyptians. If people want to say “modern Egyptians descend from ancient Egyptians,” they need to be more specific and honest about the ethnic lineages.

Egypt was not untouched by foreign settlement or conquest. Persians, Greeks/Macedonians under the Ptolemies, Romans/Byzantines, Arabs, Kurds under the Ayyubids, Mamluk military slaves, and Ottoman Turks all ruled, settled, or left their population in Egypt at different points.

So dark-skinned Egyptians alone should never be treated as foreigners in a land that has always been deeply connected to Africa and the Nile Valley.

The hypocrisy is the problem: some Arabs want to claim ancient Egypt when it gives them prestige, but reject dark-skinned Egyptians when their appearance does not fit the image they prefer to be advertised for their country.

[Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ 🇳🇬 @wandyvirus]

I could have been Adéyẹmí.

I had everything I needed to make stupendous money from the Federal Government.

1. Access to the Presidency
2. Access to a minister and his retinue of SAs
3. Access to a ministry and agencies under the ministry.
4. Access to top civil and appointed public servants.
5. Access to stupendous money from another agency that I had access to.
6. Unfettered access to offices, homes, and hotels of these powerful people.
7. At least one of them would pick my call if I was name-dropping and asked to call the person (it happened several times and that was all the 2FA needed).
8. Access to documents, signatures, and seals.

I walked away. Why?

1. I was raised well.
The amount of money we are talking about was turning heads and the ease at which I had access to it was awe-inspiring. My father, Samuel Odù Adálémọ had however taught me that money was a tool, a means to an end not the end in itself.

So if it is too good to be true, Then it is true and it is not good.

The project was legit, the access to the funds was legit. The ease of access given my contacts was true but the sharks and the padding was unreal and almost intoxicating.

Whatever it was, all I required was drop the name of my contact in the Presidency and the civil servants will work their magic. No further questions asked.

I was the one asking the questions, probing, rejecting insisting on paperwork.

@BiolaAkinyemi_ and I spent a ton of money following actual BPP processes, those in the know understand how expensive that is, it is in tens of millions.

@BiolaAkinyemi_ literally borrowed to ensure things were done right after all, the project will cover the cost.
In fact, we were able to save on the BPP cost because I had a friend who is a relative to the VP.
The VP is the Chairman of the BPP.

The greedy SAs and civil servants were not happy. I kept on hearing “just sign this” “you don't need all of that” “this boy doesn't know anything”. I kept at it. It cost me almost everything especially my friendship with @BiolaAkinyemi_ .

That brings me to

2. I know Juju, no not the music genre, the actual African science. I saw it at work and the people who wield it the most look like Adéyẹmí. Unkempt, warts and all.

There was this particular SA that was moving documents from one office to the other with lighting speed. Legal officers were signing off and Directors trembled before him.

I was worried about the haste to access the funds but just shrugged thinking it was because I was from the Presidency.

Then I noticed a pattern. It wasn't fear, it was something else that made everyone participate in that illegal thing.

Each time he spoke to me asking me to sign something and I balk, he begins to insist in so many words, and then I will have this searing headache like something is trying to open my brain, tearing into it.
It was so painful that my entire day is ruined, and I am completely spent. I get back to my Wuye Apartment sick and disoriented.

It was then it dawned on me that he was using some àfọ̀ṣẹ to talk to me. I smiled.

First I am from Ọ̀tà, Ògùn State.

Second I have Jèhófà.

He was constantly angry with me as I was insisting on the proper things done. He was in a constant rage. I realised later that his rage came from the fact that he couldn't manipulate me.

There was another civil servant in that agency that he detested because he couldn't manipulate her.
Interestingly she had project oversight. She is Ebira, beautiful, sound and firm. I wish I could mention her name because we need people like her in the civil service.

Anyway this Juju wielding SA started working against me. Actually turned the MD and another director against me. When I am with them, they understand the project and the benefits to Nigeria and it's citizens. The moment I leave, and he is updated he goes in manipulate them again.

He asked to meet my people in the funding agency and in the Presidency. I took him. He was awestruck and then the greed tripled. He questioned who I was to have such access and why was such an amount budgeted for the project. Why must it be me? He had other contractors he will want me to work with.
The Ebira lady told me those contractors were his companies and that he had about four of them doing some project for the agency.

As the entire sordid event was getting out of hand, I got everyone into a meeting, the ministry, the funding agency and my contacts at the Presidency 'cos I had cleared my account to fund processes, travel, and accommodation and I needed to know where the entire thing was heading.

It was a Friday. Everyone agreed on the right path to move as no one could pinpoint what the issue was. The Juju man wasn't at the meeting.

By Monday, the entire wall was up again. The MD refused to sign, the directors went AWOL. If I wasn't playing ball, I wasn't getting anywhere.

I counted my losses and moved on. I don't think @BiolaAkinyemi_ has forgiven me because against our policy of “no Government project” I took on this one because I was invited to help solve a perennial problem.

It cost us everything.

If I didn't have a conscience and if the Juju had worked, I would just be another Adéyẹmí, another Abuja “big boy”.

There are hundreds like him in Abuja.

All you need is to drop a name, make a call to validate you (it doesn't matter if you are fake or real), and the doors will open.

We worship humans and sacrifice to greed. That is why this happened. That is why Adéyẹmí will continue to happen.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those whose names I can mention, who were as baffled as I was and who made frantic efforts to make sure that project saw the light of day.

HRH the Emir of Kano. Thank you for your fatherly advice, It made it easy to walk away.

@the_davidatta

@ayodeji_og

@mrlurvy

@biolakazeem who actually sent me money when I went broke. He paid for my ticket back to Lagos when I walked away.

@iredumare who also contributed financially to ensure I have “paper trail”.

The powerful ones I cannot mention, thank you for the faith in me and the constant check-in to see if I'm OK.

I'll be fine. I am alive.

['fola @_adefola]

@BachelorIdan @MattOlaleye Forgetting the people made the land and not the other way around.

[Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ 🇳🇬 @wandyvirus]

In an hour. Let's reimagine FTTH

[Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ 🇳🇬 @wandyvirus]

The people screaming till their voice is hoarse are the Alápámáṣisẹ́ Association of Nigeria.

1. Hook up culture people (àwọn aládòóbọ́)
2. Cyber fraudsters (Àwọn olè ayélujára)
3. Fake everything producers(Àwọn atọ̀wúnrìwá)
4. Drug and narcotics pushers( Àwọn olóògùn olóró)
5. Lekki wannabes (Àwọn ọ̀lẹ Márọ̀kọ́)
6. Yorùbá Christians who have been told that prosperity is just by believing in Jésù( Àwọn alágàbàgebè gba wèrè m'ẹ̀sìn)
7. OAPs, influencers and the likes who live in delusional utopia (Àwọn tí pajápajá ti mú l'ọpọlọ)

All of this have one thing in common: Dem no wan kpai but dem wan go heaven.

The brutal reality of @SenRemiTinubu revelation that hard work is rewarding no matter how menial, cuts their conscience in a thousand places. They can't look into that mirror. What they see condems each one of them.

Since our mother is not mirroring their delusional utopia, they are in the 10th level of intense gnashing and wailing and anger.

Anyways I have my own Àkàrà. What should I eat it with?

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

When you Westerners visit Iran, the Islamic regime say: “Our country, our rules.” Wear the hijab. Cover your hair. No handshakes.

But when they come to the West, somehow it’s still their rules. Cover the nude statues. Hide the wine. Tone down your traditions. Don’t offend Islam.

Watch my conversation with @jaketapper to see why the regime is now asking America to respect Islamic values on American soil.

[Aɴᴛ @AntSpeaks]

When the World Cup was held in Qatar, alcohol was banned at stadiums even when two non-Muslim countries were playing against each other.

But now that the World Cup is being held in the United States, a non-Muslim country is somehow expected to bend over backwards to accommodate the demands of Muslim countries.

Yeah... no...

[Brendan Backstrom @lowbackability]

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Play the long game. ❤️‍🩹

[Elyon @0xkitng]

They’ve turned the whole “olodo uprising” thing into targeting people they dislike, whereas the average Nigerian shares a similar thinking faculty and sits around the same spectrum as the people they’re calling out.

The only difference is that some of you have had more exposure and are better educated. But when you open your mouth and speak, the ideas coming from your head, outside of your educational qualifications, are often not much different from those of the same people you criticize and use as examples.

['fola @_adefola]

@JohnFanimokun Succinctly said.

['fola @_adefola]

I think we're missing the point here. The society at large (young people especially) careens towards what's rewarding/rewarded, and Olódo here is more of a trope/placeholder not meant literally - anyone with a good grasp of the Yoruba language would have gotten this.

That said, are these social media stars really elevating the quality of our conversations and space or not? The conclusion is open to discussion.

There's enough history behind us to indicate there might be a better way.

Young people like the rest of us will always seek money and power, we just have to put incentives behind the right type.

[Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ 🇳🇬 @wandyvirus]

Ycee once again proves that Yorùbá is unique and complete even when it comes to labels.

I've as an example been saying "we platform fools" but that is not anywhere as punchy as how Ycee labeled this social construct.

"Olódo Uprising" aptly captures, defines and situates the sad state we find ourselves as a people. It gives breath and thus life to a problem that threatens to consume us. It is already frustrating us.

What makes it harder is that those of the Olódo uprising have "role models" super Olódos or better still Olódo ràbàtàs making stupendous money.
To many, material possession is the ONLY barometer of success (yes I know it is Olódo to think that way) and they in turn strive for their version of Olódo success.

What I know is that nature loves Olódos. Nature breeds them, gives them an environment to thrive and replicate and propagate.

Nature needs them for its next cataclysmic act, its life ending shows, its social defining master class.

Each time nature strikes, the Olódos are its fodder. The uprising is prove that nature is about to orchestrate one of its grandest show on the planet.

[JB and family @SimmonsBart]

We’ve received increasing requests to certify our beef as halal. As Christians, we respectfully decline and focus exclusively on regenerative agriculture—restoring soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and producing exceptional beef—while keeping religious and ideological certifications out of our operation.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Do you agree with our decision?

[Gbenga Adewoyin🃏 @gbengadewoyin]

There were a bunch of Yoruba people who went to the UK and created a “Yoruba party” that to many Nigerians might mean it’s okay that they managed to achieve that in a country they are not indigenous to, but to me, I think the UK has done poorly in educating its electorate. Starting a party like that actually means they do not even know why laws exist and the role of government. If I was the British government, I’d put measures in place against such tribal actions. Just so you know if you think the reason why I do not want multiculturalism in South-West is because I have a reservation towards an ethnic group, I don’t. The UK is British, it should remain British. The political expression of any other culture must be curtailed. I simply know what makes a country and what breaks it.

Thankfully those ignoramuses lost.

[Ayọ̀wándé Adálémọ 🇳🇬 @wandyvirus]

Ọmọde ò mọ oògùn, ó n pèé l'ẹ̀fọ́.

@drobafemihamzat influence over the last 20+ years in Lagos spans technology to infrastructure to grassroots policies and politics to

He literally is the backbone, our system encyclopedia, the memory of the Lagos master plan and one of its earliest architects.

[Michael McCarthy @punishablepress]

Ireland just got its first black mayor of Galway.

The Irish media couldn't get enough.

Who is Helen Ogbu?