Wolé Williams

BSc Biochemistry. Farmer. Christian. Manchester United.

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

"A moving water will one day find its use."

~W.W.

[Lukas Not Podolski @OtitoNosike]

I have deliberately kept mum on this language issue because the politics of language in Nigeria is a morass, one I have no interest in getting my feet stuck in. But it has been both mind-opening and, to some extent, hilarious reading the comments people have made about it.

I am not sure we understand that the average Lagosian would no sooner vote for MC Oluomo than for GRV simply because Oluomo can speak the language. You cannot come to a people seeking their votes and not speak to them in their language. All this talk about Lagos being metropolitan and therefore making the emphasis on speaking the language of the people somehow unnecessary is, frankly, hollow. Is it not the same Lagos we all live in, work in and commute through?

The thing is that everyone on Twitter lives in this idealistic cubicle where they imagine that ideologies win elections, where they believe that if they speak enough English, say the right things and pander to the people on here, they will somehow win an election. Reality is much different.

Reality is that an amala seller on the streets of Bariga who doesn’t understand a word of English is infuriated that you, a gubernatorial candidate, have come to her stall and are speaking English when she asked you, “Ki lo shele?” Reality is that she is telling you about her difficulties, her challenges with business, and you, a supposed Yoruba child, an Omoluabi, need an interpreter to tell you what she is saying. The optics are terrible and, frankly, whether you know it or not, you have already lost her vote, along with the votes of many others who witnessed the show of shame. An MC Oluomo could come to the same place and, before the woman has even finished speaking, he has told her every lie he can think of in Yoruba and won her over.

There is no world in which an MC Oluomo is more qualified than a GRV. None whatsoever. But precisely because of that language barrier, he can appeal to more people. That is the uncomfortable truth of politics: qualifications do not exist in a vacuum, and neither does communication. A candidate can be eminently qualified and still fail to connect with the people whose votes he needs.

We can choose to keep playing ostrich, or we can acknowledge that if a gubernatorial candidate is seeking to govern a people, learning to speak to them in the language they understand is not some ornamental political skill. It is part of understanding the people themselves. Either way, 2027 is around the corner, and I would hate for all these conversations about language, identity, communication and the realities of Lagos politics to amount to nothing more than cyclical Twitter arguments.

[Dearest B 🦋 @BlehisBack]

Now that the congratulations have whistled down a little, let me give some context. (Read to the end.)

A regular Master’s can cost anywhere from €1,000 to €20,000+ a year, depending on the country and school. An MBA is a completely different beast.
My IESE MBA costs €114,000 in tuition alone. About ₦185 million.

That’s why many scholarships that fully fund regular Master’s programmes (tuition, living expenses, travel, etc.) either cap their MBA funding or exclude MBAs altogether.
Chevening, for example, provides funding for Master’s programmes, but caps its MBA tuition contribution at £22,000.
Erasmus Mundus specifically funds Joint Master’s programmes, not MBAs. (don’t wreck them 😅)

So when you see someone willing to put over €100,000 into your education, it is a BIG deal.
And when I said I received a 100% scholarship to IESE, I meant exactly that. My scholarship covers 100% of my €114,000 tuition fee.
What it doesn’t cover, however, is my living expenses. So I’m sorting out rent, food and everything else myself.

Which brings us back to my “Blessing Private Placement” exercise from months ago. You remember? 😅
Yes, people actually subscribed.
That was largely to help me fund the living-expense side of this journey. A number of people here have known about my MBA since then because I privately sent them my proposal.

I haven’t completely figured out the living-expense part yet, but I’m positive I will.
The hardest part has been solved. I got here, and my tuition is fully covered. Now I’m just figuring out how to live here.

And since it’s public now, I feel comfortable attaching the original fundraising exercise for anyone who wants to see it, laugh at the audacity of it all 😅, or feels compelled to add their quota.
Link➡️:
https://t.co/mbDtT9zVUW

[Oluyemi Oloyede @loynox]

C.H.I. Limited, a company of UAC of Nigeria PLC, has been producing Capri Sun in Nigeria for 46 solid years.

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

@Harkurahku Happy birthday Kofo❤️🎉

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

Are you madddd??!!!

[Director Bae_u @isbae_u]

Drops 6pm today!

[Grove Kifasi ✟ @GroveRKifasi]

CHRISTIANITY IS A RELIGION

[Lasisielenu @lasisielenu]

To the president and 36 state governors 😔

[Eric Gugua @eric_gugua]

PH City was such a vibe!❤️🔥🔥

[Four-eyed Edo Boy™ @Alex_Houseof308]

I fi(na)lly understand leg day now. I be(lie)ve I’ve reached a new level of discipline.

This is growth. I fi(na)lly get it, I have now embo(die)d true strength. (I) will (de)finitel(y) keep pushing

[TobyWrites @tobyasky]

I want my first job at a professional football club to be one where I can help them identify talents across the world. Identify players to be signed at a low price, then after few years, they sell high.

Like what Brighton, Benfica, Dortmund, and the likes do.

Elliot Anderson was 20 years old when I made this tweet, and he was playing as a winger sometimes, in fact, I thought he would succeed as a winger. See me saying Saint Maximin won’t be missed.

He wasn’t even a starter, but every time I watched him, I just knew he was a baller. There was something about him. Without even playing much games, Nottingham Forest coughed out £35m for him.

People wondered why Forest would pay that high for an unknown player or someone who’s not proven anything. Same Elliot Anderson was sold for £116m to Manchester barely 3 years after.

The person that signed Anderson from Newcastle is called Ross Wilson, he was Forest’s chief football officer (he’s at Newcastle now), same man that signed Van Dijk from Celtic to Southampton for £13m when he was Director of Football Operations there and sold for £75m. He’s known for identifying hidden “value”. Signed Elanga for £15m from Man U, Elanga went for £55m to Newcastle.

Ross Wilson also signed Bassey from Leicester for less than £250k, sold him for over £20m. It was a free transfer, but they had to pay training compensation, I’ve written about that before, you can search my tweets.

These are the kinds of people I want to work under, I’ll offer so much value because I watch so many games, I travel too, and I can tell a good player easily, especially players that probably don’t have those G/A stats that everyone is looking at. I look at what everyone are not paying attention too.

I can help such clubs Identify very good players that low value, and in future, they can sell them high.

Time and chance. I’ll get my moment.

[dára sobaloju @darasoba]

Shazam, but for the Bible.

Coming to Pewnote soon.

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

I don't have an "attention span" problem! 😭😭

[𝐀𝐬𝐚𝐤𝐲𝐆𝐑𝐍 @AsakyGRN]

Just look at how smoothly she struck up a conversation with a guy she met at the park. Nigerian women need to watch this and take notes.

[Oṣóyínká 🪔 @sledge_baba]

They'll come and call you names; impatient, you don't know ball, boring and all, but I tell you, believe them cos they are right😂.

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

Ìbínú ẹléwòn!!!!

[OLI @Oli_Ekun]

I loved him so much in Ìbínú ẹlẹ́wọ̀n, Owo Blow and lots more. He will be sorely missed. Action po bí ogogo! 🕊️🤍

[Kayode Okikiolu @KayodeOkikiolu]

How do we fix this?

It is happening right in the middle of civilization!

[Dolapo🩷🌟 @dtf_szn]

🥹

[Shooting Stars SC @ShootingSc]

NEW WARRIOR. 🔵

Issa Yusuf is here.

#3SC | #UpShooting | #WarriorSteeze

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

@withifeoluwa Discoverd this song in 2020 too (corona period).
I so listened to it that my mom had to beg me to give it a break😭

[Wolé Williams @TheWoleWilliams]

@mrpeller_ 🙌🙌🙌