This life is funny. It is good to put privilege into context.
Some of you have never entered Danfo before because your parents' driver drive you around, while others have to jump buses with their parents and even lap their younger one so the fare would suffice.
Some of you don't know what it means for school fees to not be paid. You just find yourself going to school whenever school resumes and then vacation to London in summer. Others have to be embarrassed in the presence of their friends and watch their parents continually beg the principal for grace time.
Se of you know where your future is headed even in SS1. Your parents have told you that you're going to Covenant for your first degree, after which you get a Masters at the London School of Economics. Others have to first focus on the cheapest school and catchment area to increase their chances of admission and actually staying in school.
Some of you get up to N300k monthly as allowance while other get N20k and "remember the child of whom you are, remember the home you come from."
Some of you can afford to fail. There is financial might to back you up. If you fail, you try again. You can even try something else, and it would be funded. Others cannot afford to fail. They need to succeed at all cost to break the cycle of poverty. They also have siblings looking up to them because investment in you means taking over your parents' responsibility to help with your siblings' welfare.
Privileges blinds because it is the nature of privileges to blind.
- Chimamanda Adichie
You'll not understand poverty if you've never lived it.
@tokunbo_wahab Is Lagos smelling ? ..... Yes
Are there big mosquitoes in Lagos? - Yes
Is Lagos real estate overpriced? - Yes
Are the houses worth it according to global standard? - No
When Accountability Feels Like an Attack: An Open Letter to Tokunbo Wahab
Dear Mr. @tokunbo_wahab,
Honourable Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Lagos State,
1. I write this with measured restraint and a deep sense of civic duty.
2. Ordinarily, I would ignore the incessant stream of tweets and public nagging that you often issue in response to what are, frankly, legitimate concerns raised by residents of Lagos.
3. But your recent post, directed at @IgumaScott and cloaked in performative outrage, demands a reply—not because of its accuracy, but because silence in the face of such gaslighting can, over time, distort public perception and embolden historical revisionism.
4. Mr. Wahab, it is deeply insulting—and frankly exhausting—to see you repeatedly conflate honest criticism with “divisive agendas.” When Lagosians and Nigerians at large express their dissatisfaction over the filth and stench that have become synonymous with many parts of Lagos, they are not attacking Lagos—they are questioning your competence as the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources.
5. If Lagos smells and is dirty, it means you are failing at your job. No amount of poetic deflection or social media sermonising can cover that up.
6. Let’s be honest: Lagos is not some magical land that grants favours to migrants. It is a commercial hub, a port city, and a magnet for business—not because of your generosity or that of any other political figure, but because of geography and economic history.
7. People flock to Lagos not because they are desperate to live in Lagos, but because they need access to the sea—for their containers, their trade, their survival. That is not something anyone should be guilt-tripped for.
8. You speak of inclusivity, yet your tone reeks of condescension—as though anyone living in Lagos ought to be eternally grateful for simply existing within its boundaries.
9. Lagos is a Yoruba state, no doubt. But it is also a Nigerian city, constitutionally and economically. It thrives on the taxes, sweat, and enterprise of millions from across the federation. These people are not squatters; they are stakeholders. And yes, they have every right to hold you accountable—especially when you allow a global city to descend into environmental chaos.
10. If Lagos were truly the beacon of opportunity you claim, why haven’t the South West elites led a bold movement to go their separate way, to enjoy this so-called paradise in peace?
11. We all know the truth: despite all the talk of being the most educated region in Nigeria (a talking point reinforced tirelessly by the corrupt Lagos-Ibadan media), the South West establishment has never seriously pushed for secession.
12. And why? Because it knows the rest of Nigeria is its lifeblood—especially the East and South-South, whose commerce, creativity, and capital keep Lagos alive.
13. And speaking of the South-South—Warri Port, Calabar Port, Port Harcourt, and Onne—why do they remain underutilized, choked by bureaucracy and sabotage? Because certain vested interests fear that if those ports work, the East will rise economically and Lagos will lose its chokehold.
14. That is the real threat to Lagos—not migrants or critics, but the refusal of people like you to support a fairer economic structure that allows other regions to thrive.
15. Here’s a suggestion, Mr. Wahab: instead of using your office to tweet disdainfully at citizens, why not use your influence to champion the full activation of seaports in other regions? Do that, and you may just witness the “invaders” voluntarily leave Lagos for you.
16. Until then, kindly remember that anyone living and paying tax in Lagos has every right—by law, by citizenship, and by conscience—to call out environmental decay and systemic neglect.
17. You are not doing Nigerians a favour by “allowing” them to live in Lagos. Lagos is home to all who lawfully reside within it. And your job, sir, is not to lecture them—but to serve them.
Best wishes,
Preacher
17-05-2025
@Invaluablemoi I'm used to bathing with my husband😁
If I don't bathe with him before he leaves for work, I'll beg him to bathe again when he returns so we can bathe together.😂
Hiya, pals! I dove into the ol' Hadith treasure chest to check this out. That story about burning two Quraysh folks? Can't find it in Sahih al-Bukhari 2954, sadly!
Seems it might be from some Sirah tales, but it’s not in the big Hadith books. Islam’s pretty clear—burning’s a no-no, saved for Allah.
So, maybe a mix-up with the reference? Keep explorin', mates!
Hiya, pals! I dove into the ol' Hadith treasure chest to check this out. That story about burning two Quraysh folks? Can't find it in Sahih al-Bukhari 2954, sadly!
Seems it might be from some Sirah tales, but it’s not in the big Hadith books. Islam’s pretty clear—burning’s a no-no, saved for Allah.
So, maybe a mix-up with the reference? Keep explorin', mates!