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Fashola’s eureka moment at Lekki tollgate By Tunde Odesola

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STEALING PUBLIC TRUST . Premium Times’ Low Premium Reporting
Fashola’s eureka moment at Lekki tollgate By Tunde Odesola
Donkey’s years ago, before greed overtook leadership and snatched the reins of governance, Lagos was a free society without a tollgate.
Fashola’s eureka moment at Lekki tollgate By Tunde Odesola
Doubtlessly, the tollgate was a taboo in Lagos ages ago. This was in the days when history took culture under its wings together with language and tradition, forming a formidable foursome.
Fashola’s eureka moment at Lekki tollgate By Tunde Odesola
This was before government calamitously embarked on the journey to remove history from school curricula, deify foreign cultures, denigrate Nigerian languages and scorn tradition.
Fashola’s eureka moment at Lekki tollgate By Tunde Odesola
Nowadays, the four-pronged society preservers – history, culture, language and tradition – have been rendered as gaping as the four missing incisors in a mouth sentenced to pronouncing, “Surely, every thief stealing seashells by the Lagos seashore shall die by the sword at Tinubu Square.”
Fashola’s eureka moment at Lekki tollgate By Tunde Odesola
This pronunciation task is an impossibility for anyone without the incisors because the  incisors, what the Yoruba call ‘eyin faari’, are needed to pronounce dental sounds.
If you know Lagos very well, you will know its history, culture,  language and tradition. You will know the Eyo. If you know the Eyo, you should know the opambata, the aro and the agbada.
The opambata is the long, fearsome stalk of the palm tree wielded by the Eyo masquerader. The agbada is the white, overflowing regalia and the aro are the panegyrics of the Eyo.
Born at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital and raised in Mushin, I memorised the ‘omo alagbada tolonga, tolonga’ Eyo panegyrics, a must-know chant among fellow youngsters back in the day.
That was a season when Lagos was sane, bold and unconquered. It was a time when Lagosians boastfully chanted the Eyo praisesong, recalling how their forebears’, in these tuneful lines, vowed never to pay toll at the boundary: “Eyo baba n’tawa, to nfi goolu se’re, awa o ni sanwo onibode, o di’le.”
But Lagosians now pay toll, to and fro, at the Lekki profit gate everyday. Even the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, a true Lagosian, can’t mobilise fellow Lagosians not to pay at the Lekki bondage, sorry, boundary gate. Iyen ma lewu. Odikwa risky. Baba-Baba mustn’t hear that.
I understand the encumbrances of serving and past Lagos governors. I know how gingerly former Lagos governor and incumbent Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, carries the burden of loyalty. But millions of Nigerians don’t. I’ll jog their memory.
When asked at a senate ministerial screening in 2015 about his view on loyalty, Fashola responded, “The concept of loyalty is a strange one. The real answer is that may our loyalties never be tested. I always pray that may my loyalty never be tested.”
He went ahead to narrate the story of two daughters who were unwilling to donate a kidney to their sick mom after the Lagos State government promised to send their mom abroad for transplant, stressing that he never wished his loyalty to be tested because no one knows the cost.
Fashola, at the intense screening, insisted that he had never been disloyal to any cause he has ever ‘signed on to’, stressing that, ‘no one can accuse me fairly of giving my word and going back on it’.
Fashola is fervently loyal, I know. He’s an unfrivolous Lagos poster boy who minds his business, plays his table tennis and smokes his cigarettes.
Fashola was loyal to his godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, first – as chief of staff and later as first term governor. During his second term as governor, his loyalty was seriously tested, and Fashola doesn’t like his loyalty to be tested.
Several days after Nigerian soldiers murdered many youth protesters at the Lekki tollgate plaza last month, Fashola visited the scene after it had been washed clean of innocent blood.
As he stepped out of his vehicle and made a solitary and determinable peregrination at the scene of the public execution, Fashola’s loyalty was on trial. But remember, he had warned that he doesn’t like his loyalty to be tested.
Fashola wore brown plain clothes underscoring the prevailing sombre mood. The plain clothes were also a foretaste of the breakthrough about to happen. He folded his hands behind his back like a wise man while his roving eyes scanned the drainage, road and tollgate pillars.
Like a prophet who takes the cue when his hour has come, Fashola looked up at the tollgate beacon and continued on his solitary mission…then his eureka moment unraveled in broad daylight when he suddenly discovered the crime-scene camcorder!
As he fetched a handy piece of cloth from inside his plain clothes, headlines for the next day’s newspapers probably flirted around his mind, “#ENDSARS: Fashola unearths secret camera,” “Fashola discovers breakthrough lead at Lekki,” “Detective Fashola!”
Brilliant people are gifted with anticipatory thinking. It’s possible that Fashola envisioned himself being swarmed by reporters after his earthquaking finding, falling over themselves in the bid to ask questions while he basked in smiles of triumphal accomplishment.
But killjoy Nigerians felt Fashola was acting a comedy. They weren’t grateful that Fashola didn’t act like the Greek polymath and inventor, Archimedes, who reportedly ran home naked from a public bath, shouting eureka! upon discovering an insight into volumetric displacement.
Shame on fault-finding Nigerians! They descended on Fashola and smeared his reputation on social media. If Nigerians accuse Fashola of owing his allegiance to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), rather than to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I’m sure they won’t be mistaken as to where the allegiance of the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly lies.
Perpetually in the news for wrong reasons such as staggering corruption allegations, the Lagos legislature is tethered to Tinubu, to whom members of the House publicly pledge their allegiance, always.
By now, former Nollywood actor-turned-lawmaker in Lagos, Desmond Elliot, must’ve seen how his foreign surname has been turned into a rhyme scheme of unprintable adjectives signifying stupidity.
Employing dishonest reasoning, Elliot drew the ire of Nigerians when he called the Lekki protesters ‘children’, warning the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, about the need for an urgent clampdown on Nigerians using social media users to demand better governance.
Elliot wasn’t outraged about the merciless killings of innocent youths by Nigerian soldiers at the Lekki tollgate, but was scandalised that protesters, in reaction to the killings, could storm the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, and seize the fleeing king’s staff of office.
Because Elliot must please the gods, he boomed, “When I went through the comments I could not believe it (sic); the curses, the abuses from children, and I asked myself, ‘Is this Nigeria? What is going on?’ Culture is gone!.., Mr Speaker, in the next five years, there will be no Nigeria if we don’t start now!
Start what kwanu? Start a fresh orgy of killings? Elliot’s statement was one of the most horrendous vituperations against the memory of those who lost their lives in the Lekki peaceful protest. The way he feigned annoyance and laboured to string passable sentences in the weirdest accent was dishonorable.
Without living in the Tabon-Tabon area of Agege, the phonetics-speaking Elliot even fired a couple of Chief Zebrudaya bullets, among others. Hear him, “The youth is (sic) not only those who do the peaceful protest!”
Reacting to the fallout of the state-induced riots that greeted the Lekki killings, a colleague of Elliot in the legislature, Mojisola Alli-Macaulay, said most Nigerian youths are on drugs, most of the time. What!?
Alli-Macaulay is a member of the current ninth Assembly that pardoned former Lagos Deputy governor, Femi Pedro, and restored all his outrageous privileges to him while Pedro’s predecessor, Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, who committed no offence as Pedro never got her privileges restored.
Shamefully, Alli-Macaulay is a member of a House whose Speaker has a yoke of corruption allegation hanging at his neck.
Which one is it better to be, a drug addict or a chained Assembly?
Facebook: @tunde odesola
Twitter: @tunde_odesola

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Grace Nation Worldwide Celebrates  Dr. Chris Okafor’s Birthday Amid Easter Reflections

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Grace Nation Worldwide Celebrates  Dr. Chris Okafor’s Birthday Amid Easter Reflections

 

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” — Dr. Chris Okafor

 

 

Grace Nation Worldwide marked a special occasion as members gathered at the international headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, to celebrate the birthday of the Generational Prophet and Senior Pastor, Christopher Okafor, who turned a year older on April 4, 2026.

A Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration

 

The atmosphere was filled with gratitude as sons and daughters of the ministry came together to appreciate God for the life and impact of their spiritual leader.

The celebration featured a variety of activities, including special musical renditions, Bible recitations, choreography presentations, and a vibrant praise and worship session led by the Liberation Voices.

 

The highlight of the event was the ceremonial cutting of the birthday cake, followed by joyful celebration and thanksgiving, all dedicated to the glory of God.

 

Teaching on the Death and Resurrection of Christ ,Earlier in the day, the service also commemorated the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with Dr. Okafor delivering a message on “The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

 

In his teaching, he described the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary as the foundation of the Christian faith.

 

“The death of Jesus represents the depth of God’s love for humanity,” he said, while emphasizing that the resurrection is the ultimate confirmation and strength of the believer’s faith.

 

The State of Humanity Before Redemption

 

Dr. Okafor explained that before the sacrifice of Christ, humanity was bound by sin, subject to judgment, and separated from God. He highlighted the consequences of the fall of man, including spiritual loss and the inevitability of judgment.

The Purpose of Christ’s Sacrifice

 

According to the cleric, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought restoration and reconciliation between God and humanity.

“When a person is restored to God, life becomes meaningful,” he noted, adding that the sacrifice of Christ signifies the forgiveness of sin and a new beginning for believers.

 

A Message of Hope

In conclusion, Dr. Okafor stated that the resurrection of Jesus Christ provides believers with the opportunity to live a fruitful and abundant life, anchored in faith and divine purpose.

The combined celebration of his birthday and the message of Easter created a moment of reflection, joy, and renewed commitment among members of Grace Nation Worldwide.

 

Grace Nation Worldwide Celebrates 

Dr. Chris Okafor’s Birthday Amid Easter Reflections

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IGP Disu Unveils New Security Vehicles, Bikes In Ogun

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IGP Disu Unveils New Security Vehicles, Bikes In Ogun, 

 

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu, on Saturday took centre stage at the commissioning of landmark projects in Ogun State, reaffirming the Nigeria Police Force’s commitment to strengthening national security and deepening collaboration with state authorities.

The high-profile event, attended by top government officials and security stakeholders, highlighted the strategic importance of security in driving development. Disu’s presence underscored ongoing efforts by the Police leadership to align operational priorities with infrastructural growth across the country.

A key highlight of the ceremony was the commissioning of new security vehicles and electric motorbikes aimed at boosting the operational capacity of security agencies in the state. The IGP commended the Ogun State Government for what he described as a proactive and forward-thinking approach to security, noting that the newly deployed assets would significantly enhance rapid response and patrol efficiency.

He stressed that effective policing remains central to maintaining peace and order, assuring residents that the Force would continue to evolve strategies to tackle emerging threats. According to him, the Nigeria Police Force is committed to working closely with both the Federal Government and sub-national authorities to ensure the safety of lives and property.

Disu further called on members of the public to support security agencies by providing timely and credible information, describing community cooperation as vital in combating crime and sustaining a secure environment.

The Police leadership also expressed appreciation to the Ogun State Government and other dignitaries for their continued partnership, noting that such collaboration is essential to advancing security initiatives and fostering national development.

 

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PDP Stalwart, Fagbemi, Resigns From Party in Ogbomoso South

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*PDP Stalwart, Fagbemi, Resigns From Party in Ogbomoso South*

 

A former Secretary of Ogbomoso South Local Government, Temidayo Fagbemi, has formally resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party.

 

Fagbemi, a major financier of the PDP in the area, tendered his resignation in a letter addressed to the Ward Chairman of the party in Ijeru II, Ogbomoso South.

 

In his letter, Fagbemi stated that leaving the party he had diligently supported, contributing to PDP’s victories at both the state and local government levels for two consecutive terms, was a difficult but necessary decision.

 

He wrote: “I, Temidayo Fagbemi, hereby submit my resignation as a member of the PDP.”

 

“My decision to leave the party, which I worked hard to support and helped secure victory at both the state and local levels for two consecutive terms, is not an easy one. However, it has become necessary.”

 

He thanked party leaders for the years of shared political engagement and wished them success in their forthcoming primaries.

 

His resignation marks a significant development within the Ogbomoso South PDP, given his influence, contributions, and long-standing role in strengthening the party’s structure.

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