celebrity radar - gossips
Buhari: Our president, their patient
Buhari: Our president, their patient By Tunde Odesola
Buhari– His name outnumbers the 26 letters of the English alphabet. Arguably, the most creative hands to ever hold a chisel and a paintbrush, but unmistakably the sublime genius embodying the inventive force of the Renaissance Age.
A sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is the 38-letter name a little wizard was given at birth. But the world picked Michelangelo from the names and stuck it to his forehead.
A year before he died at age 88, Michelangelo, an Italian, who lived between March 6, 1475 and February 18, 1564, wrote in Italian language on a sketch he was working on, “Ancora Imparo,” meaning, “I’m still learning.”
The quote is akin to the pearl of wisdom from compatriot, fellow polymath and older rival, Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452–May 2, 1519), who had earlier said, “Learning never exhausts the mind.”
For Michelangelo, every work of art he embarks on is a challenge, a task accomplishable on the flourish of his brilliance. He defines his raison d’être in these enduring words, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
I affirm that Michelangelo’s imperishable legacy stands on four cardinal pillars: learn, discover, act and set free. These, for me, are the hallmarks of great leaders, great epochs.
Depressingly, however, these same pillars are conspicuously absent in the regime of Nigeria’s President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), which comes across as standing on the pillars of ignorance, neglect, inertia and persecution.
Whereas Michelangelo describes learning as a life-long process, President Buhari appears to see life from a short-sighted spectrum, having not learnt any economic and patriotic lessons from his over 40 years of medical tourism to the United Kingdom.
In an unlearned defence of government policy, Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed; and Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, severally said it was right for the President to patronise foreign medical services for over 40 years.
This is despite the fact that Made-in-Nigeria doctors, who migrated abroad as a result of the rickety state of Nigeria’s medicare, today hold vital positions in first-class hospitals worldwide, potentially including Buhari’s hospital in the UK.
Last Thursday, Mohammed, in a display of the confusion that has continuously characterised the Buhari regime in the last six years, said those criticising the President for seeking medical care abroad were making ‘inconsequential attempts to de-market him’.
In a jejune defence, Adesina also said, “President Buhari has been with the same doctors and medical team for upward of 40 years. It is advisable that he continues with those who know his medical history and that is why he comes to London to see them. He has used the same medical team for OVER 40 years. Once you can afford it, then stay with the team that has your history.”
With soaraway inflation crippling Nigerians, Adesina should know that Nigeria cannot afford the unending presidential flights to the UK and the sacks of pound sterling in medical fee for gerontocratic ailments treatable in Nigeria.
The hotness of Lai Mohammed’s sophistry and the coldness of Adesina’s remarks will win trophies in Sodom and Gomorrah.
The display of profound arrogance by both Buhari spokespersons runs against the time-tested advice for caution in a Yoruba proverb that says, “When a man is sent on an errand fit for a slave, he should display discretion.”
What would Buhari and his image-makers say about Aisha, the wife of the President, who went to Dubai last year to treat neck pain? Dubai doctors must have been treating Aisha from the womb, right?
In a move to deflect public criticism from her neck-pain trip, Aisha spun the red herring fallacy when she said her flight back to Nigeria encountered a turbulent storm, hoping to mask the wastage of public funds, which her trip symbolises, with public sympathy.
Then she pushed her luck over the precipice and rubbed insult into injury by saying, “I, therefore, call on the healthcare providers to take advantage of the Federal Government’s initiative through the Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines for the operation of N100bn credit support for the healthcare sector as was released (and) recently contained in a circular dated March 25, 2020, to commercial banks.
“This will, no doubt, help in building and expanding the capacity of the Nigerian health sector and ultimately reduce medical trips and tourism outside the country.”
What hypocrisy! Scarcely had Aisha’s flight from Dubai touched down than she started to talk about reducing medical tourism. If she knew that medical tourism was a drain on Nigeria’s economy, why did she embark on it? Nigerians, whose taxes are being used to maintain Buhari and his family’s expensive lifestyle, are grumbling, ‘like husband, like wife’.
In 2017, Aisha had lamented that there was no syringe in Aso Rock Clinic, Abuja, when she fell sick. She revealed that, “In the end I had to go to a hospital (in Nigeria) owned and operated by foreigners 100 per cent.”
Similarly, Aisha’s daughter, Zahra had, also in 2017, said there was no Paracetamol in Aso Rock Clinic despite a budget of N3bn for the provision of drugs to the hospital.
That this insane level of corruption could happen under Buhari’s nose without perpetrators fearing the consequences of their action indicates a rudderless Nigerian ship careening against the rocks of insecurity, unemployment, hopelessness and poverty, heading for doom.
When Buhari, who has completely lost the fear factor, doesn’t care about the corruption perpetrated with the precincts of his residence, how would he care about the slaying of farmers by Fulani herdsmen in Igboho or the killings by unknown gunmen in Owerri? How would he care about the kidnapping of schoolchildren in the North or the bloodletting in the Middle Belt? Or care about the worse-than-pigsty hostels in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka?
If Buhari had done something about the anomaly in Aso Rock Clinic since 2017, Aisha wouldn’t have embarked on a neck-pain trip to Dubai in 2020.
When you minus 40 years from Buhari’s 78 years, you have 38 years. For someone who joined the military in 1962 at the age of 19, this means that Buhari had received medical treatment in Nigeria for 19 years, that is, up till 1981 when he was a colonel who had been Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters, a member of the Supreme Military Council, and had been GOC of the 4th Infantry Division, 2nd Mechanised Division, and the 3rd Armoured Division.
I ask, why did Buhari stop receiving treatment in the good, old Nigeria where doctors had his medical records for 19 years?
And if Buhari says he’s been receiving medical treatment abroad in the last 40 years, that suggests that he was receiving medical treatment in the UK between 1983 and 1985 when he headed a military junta that toppled the democratically elected government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983 over allegations that the civilian government was ostentatious and corrupt.
This act of hypocrisy runs contrary to the War Against Indiscipline mantra upon which Buhari and his deputy, Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbaon, rode to power.
In Buhari’s lip-service War Against Indiscipline, public officers were forbidden to own foreign accounts, own houses abroad, send their children to foreign schools, send their underage children on pilgrimage, among other prohibitions.
But when Nigeria’s bloodiest military head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida, torpedoed the Buhari-Idiagbon fascism on August 27, 1985, Idiagbon had gone on holy pilgrimage to Mecca with his underaged son, Adekunle, showcasing another classical hypocrisy of Buhari’s leadership.
Nothing demarkets Nigeria more than Buhari’s over 40 years of medical tourism.
Then British Prime Minister, David Cameron, in May 2016, during a conversation with Queen Elizabeth II, described Nigeria and Afghanistan as ‘fantastically corrupt’.
Cameron is right.
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FACT CHECK: Viral “Trump Post” Blasting Tinubu Over Maiduguri Bombings is Fake
LAGOS — A viral image circulating on social media, purportedly showing a post by former U.S. President Donald Trump criticizing Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been confirmed as false and digitally manipulated.
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The image, which appeared online late Monday, March 16, 2026, claimed to be a post from Trump’s Truth Social account reacting to a deadly wave of bombings in Maiduguri. While the attacks themselves are real, the alleged international rebuke is entirely fabricated.
Hoax Exposed
The fake post alleged that Trump described Nigeria’s situation as a “TOTAL DISASTER” and criticized Tinubu for being on a “State Visit” to the United Kingdom during a supposed “STATE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY.”
However, multiple inconsistencies quickly exposed the claim:
Timeline Discrepancy: The post referenced events occurring while Tinubu was already abroad. In reality, the President only departed Abuja for London on Tuesday, March 17—hours after the image began trending.
Design Errors: Analysts identified a suspicious “whitehouse.gov” button embedded in the image—an element not present on the Truth Social platform.
No Verifiable Source: A thorough review of Trump’s official social media accounts and global media reports shows no record of such a statement.
Tinubu’s UK Visit Continues
Despite the security situation at home, the Presidency has confirmed that Tinubu’s scheduled state visit to the United Kingdom will proceed.
The Nigerian leader is expected to be received by King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Wednesday, March 18. The visit marks a notable diplomatic engagement between Nigeria and the UK.
The widely shared “Trump post” is a deliberate misinformation attempt, exploiting a real national tragedy to spread false political narratives. Authorities and media observers continue to urge the public to verify information before sharing.
TO MY BROTHER BOBBY DEE by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode
For my brother Bobby Dee (Chief Dele Momodu) to compare President Tinubu to General Sani Abacha and claim that he is a dictator suggests that he is suffering from a degenerating and worrisome level of cognitive dissonance.
I love Dele and God knows I have immense respect for him but he sounded drained, tired and broken and spoke little sense yesterday in his interview with Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV.
May I humbly suggest to him to try and take a break from politics and political commentary for a while, get his breath back and attempt to overhaul his intellectual engine?
Not only was he uncharitable and disrespectful to the President, the Vice President, the Ministers, the Senators and the newly-appointed Ambassadors, many of whom have far more experience than him in governance and Government, on that programme but he also insulted the collective intelligence of the Nigerian people.
He and his associates in the ADC should focus more on trying to build up their depleted ranks and form a strong opposition that we can look forward to engaging in the field of battle for the 2027 election rather than continously obsesse and talk about what our President and our party is doing.
The ADC cannot even be described as a sinking ship but rather as a badly patched up inflatable plastic life boat that has not even managed to find its bearing or leave the harbour.
It has no engine, no sails, no oars, no captain, no crew, no navigational equipment, no muscle, no firepower, no war chest, no destination and worse of all it is made of rubber and not steel.
How can such an ill-prepared contraption even float let alone do battle?
It cannot possibly survive the rough seas and harsh winds of Nigerian politics because it lacks gravitas, focus, character, intelligence, discipline and strength.
It needs to be built up, better schooled, better trained, better equipped, better educated and better prepared before it can enter the field and before we can even begin to regard it as an opposition party.
Right now it can only be described as a haven and pitiful gathering of vacuous, shallow, intellectual frauds and political renegades who lack foresight and who have no direction.
The fact that they have failed to take off is not Tinubu’s fault, it is theirs.
The fact that political leaders and the Nigerian people are flocking to APC in droves is not only because our President and Vice President are doing well but also because they view the ADC as nothing but a collection of disingenious, desperate and recycled political losers, who are addicted to power, who offer no credible alternative to governance and who, like the three blind mice, are running around in circles, chasing each other’s long, mangy and wrinkled tails with no where to go.
Watching my brother Dele trying to speak for them is pitiful and is even more disconcerting than his assertion that Tinubu will regret his decisions and will be deserted by everyone around him.
The Bible says “who is he that sayeth a thing and it cometh to pass when the Lord God of Hosts has commanded it not?”
Dele should listen to the Holy Spirit instead of to the pagan murmurings, strange whispers, demonic divinations and conjuring projections of the Prophets of Baal and the Witch of Endor.
To be sure Tinubu started well, he is doing well and he will, by the grace of God, end well with no regrets in 2031.
Anything short of that is the counsel of the ungodly and the manifestation and delusions of a diseased and demonised mind.
I appeal to my brother Dele: leave the ranks of the forces of darkness and join us.
You are far too good for the company you are keep.
Your presence in the ranks of the ADC is like that of a gentle, beautiful, well bred, well fed and well manicured flamingo trapped in a sea of ugly, cruel, loud, angry, starving, cackling and relentless crows and vultures.
It does not befit you.
(Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, the author of this essay) is an Ambassador Designate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a former Minister of Aviation, a former Minister of Culture and Tourism, the Sadaukin Shinkafi, the Wakilin Doka Potiskum, the Otunba of Joga Orile, the Aare Ajagunle of Otun Ekiti and a Legal Practioner)
celebrity radar - gossips
Media Respect and Celebrity Responsibility: Lessons from Tiwa Savage Foundation Launch Controversy
Media Respect and Celebrity Responsibility: Lessons from Tiwa Savage Foundation Launch Controversy
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
“Apology from Tiwa Savage’s Team Sparks Debate on Media Treatment, Professional Ethics, and the Role of Journalists in Promoting Cultural and Philanthropic Initiatives.”
Nigerian music icon Tiwa Savage and her management team have issued a formal apology to journalists following allegations of mistreatment during the launch of the Tiwa Savage Music Foundation in Lagos. The controversy, which quickly sparked debate across the media landscape, has raised broader questions about celebrity culture, media ethics, and the professional respect owed to journalists covering high-profile events.
The apology was conveyed through Savage’s manager, Vanessa Amadi-Ogbonna, alongside representatives of the public relations firm Fola PR and management of The Delborough Lagos, the venue where the event took place. According to reports, the foundation launch was held on March 9, 2026, at Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
Several journalists invited to cover the event complained that they were delayed for hours at the entrance of the venue, asked to wait under uncomfortable conditions, and allegedly instructed to wear branded polo shirts before being allowed entry. Many media professionals described the treatment as humiliating and disrespectful to the role of the press in promoting public events.
Following public criticism, representatives of Savage’s team clarified that the singer neither authorised nor condoned the alleged treatment. They expressed regret over the incident and promised improved coordination with journalists in future engagements.
The controversy has reignited conversations about the delicate relationship between celebrities and the media. Scholars in media and communication studies argue that the press plays a vital role in shaping public narratives and promoting cultural activities, including entertainment and philanthropy.
Renowned media scholar Denis McQuail once observed that “the media serve as the central arena where social and cultural life is debated, interpreted, and understood.” In this context, journalists covering events such as the launch of a charitable foundation are not merely observers but important partners in amplifying the message and purpose of such initiatives.
Similarly, Nigerian communication scholar Ralph Akinfeleye has repeatedly emphasised the importance of professional respect for journalists. According to him, “the media are not beggars of access; they are stakeholders in the democratic and cultural process.” His argument highlights the fact that journalists provide visibility and legitimacy to events, especially those tied to public figures and philanthropic causes.
The Tiwa Savage Music Foundation was launched with the stated aim of empowering young talents in the music industry through mentorship, education, and professional opportunities. Many observers believe the initiative could play a significant role in nurturing emerging artists across Nigeria and the African continent.
However, communication experts stress that the success of such initiatives often depends on strong relationships with the media. American communication scholar Marshall McLuhan famously noted that “the medium is the message,” suggesting that the way information is delivered can influence how the public perceives the message itself.
In the case of the foundation launch, critics argue that the controversy surrounding the treatment of journalists briefly overshadowed the noble objectives of the project. Instead of focusing on the foundation’s mission, public discourse shifted toward questions of respect, professionalism, and media relations.
Public relations specialists also view the episode as a lesson in event management and stakeholder engagement. Effective public relations practice requires careful coordination between organisers, venue managers, and media representatives to ensure that invited journalists are treated with dignity and professionalism.
Despite the controversy, many journalists welcomed the apology and expressed hope that it would strengthen future collaboration between the entertainment industry and the press. In Nigeria’s vibrant media ecosystem, such partnerships remain essential for promoting cultural initiatives and amplifying stories that inspire the next generation of creatives.
Ultimately, the incident surrounding the Tiwa Savage Music Foundation launch serves as a reminder that respect for the media is not merely a matter of courtesy but a cornerstone of responsible public engagement. As scholars and industry observers continue to emphasise, the relationship between celebrities and journalists must be built on mutual respect, professionalism, and shared commitment to informing and inspiring the public.
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