Wale Onifade’s Agbero Onslaught On Governor Abiodun

WERE it not for the bare-faced lies, distortions and slanderous statements that the piece titled “Rewriting History With Lies: Governor Dapo Abiodun’s Dangerous Obsession With Altering Facts,” purveys, there would have been no need for a response. 

For one thing, the piece is so acerbic, so bereft of logic and so painfully illiterate to warrant serious attention. But if experience in this clime is any indication, ignoring drivels such as this can be quite unwise, especially in the terrain of politics where certain individuals readily take advantage of the masses’ general discontent with the state of affairs in the country to launch baseless attacks on their principal’s political opponents with intent to foment public disturbance, incite violence and cripple the climate of peace in which such principals cannot thrive.

In the piece under reference, Wale Onifade, an attack dog of Chief Gbenga Daniel, ex-Ogun governor and senator representing Ogun Central in the National Assembly, purports to address Governor Dapo Abiodun’s alleged revisions of history but apparently because of his intellectual poverty, he does not broach the subject of history but merely rehashes the same old lies that he and his principal spun against the Governor ahead of the 2023 general election. For a writer supposedly writing on historical revisionism, Wale Onifade is astoundingly bereft of substance.

Now let’s cut to the chase. Onifade’s drivel is all about 2027. You see, there is apprehension in the camp of his principal that Governor Abiodun might contest the Ogun East senatorial seat, hence the Bolekaja/agbero pieces. The tactic is simple: de-market Governor Abiodun by raising issues already settled by the courts, including the Supreme Court. 

When, with Governor Abiodun’s support, Senator Daniel got the senatorial ticket he now enjoys, , Onifade and other attack dogs launched vitriolic attacks on him, but their efforts ended in futility, as the Ogun State electorate rewarded the Governor with a second term. 

Now, driven to desperation by the Governor’s rising profile, these moral midgets are in town rehearsing their familiar lies with a bold face. Onifade, like other Judases before him, gleefully references Governor Abiodun’s hesitation, during a Channels TV interview, about disclosing the details of his conversation with the then President Muhammadu Buhari and the subject of his academic qualifications, which was before the court at the time. What he and his paymasters would never mention is how they could not prove their case against the Governor’s academic qualifications at the election tribunal, the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.

Because his intent is vile abuse, Onifade lies like Lucifer. Hear him: “Just days ago..Governor Abiodun, in his now familiar tone of historical distortion, stated that “Chief Olunloyo was a Grade A student during his 200 Level year in the University.” Fellow Nigerians, the statement ascribed to Governor Abiodun here does not occur anywhere in the Governor’s tribute to the late Dr Olunloyo. What the Governor said in his tribute titled “Omololu Olunloyo was highly distinguished even among geniuses”, written in his capacity as chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, is this: “Because of his exceptional brilliance, he succeeded in persuading the university to let him begin his studies at 200 level and graduated with First Class honours at age 26.” However, because he lacks integrity, Onifade crafted a statement and attributed it to Governor Abiodun. Unfortunately for him, even if Governor Abiodun had actually said “Chief Olunloyo was a Grade A student during his 200 Level year in the University,” there would have been nothing wrong with this statement. But hear the incredible claim that the pompous monkey now makes: “Chief Olunloyo graduated with a first-class degree from the University of London before most Nigerian universities were even established. There were no “levels” in his time — only academic years. That Abiodun, a sitting governor, would boldly make such a statement only reinforces the theory: he’s not just bending history — he’s bulldozing it.”

You see, when people make themselves slave of politicians just for a bottle of beer, they cannot fail to advertise their ignorance. The writer is saying that there was nothing like 100 or 200 Level in Nigeria before the 70s, but he is then generalizing this to foreign varsities. Did Olunloyo graduate from a Nigerian varsity? History tells us that as early as 1929, the University of Buffalo had begun using the 100-level designation for introductory courses, and it gradually spread across other universities, both in the United States and in Europe. Just how can anyone claim that UK universities did not know about the phrase, “100 Level” in the 60s? How can anyone be so ignorant?

In any case, even if Onifade’s claim were true, just how is Governor Abiodun, who is addressing a contemporary audience, distorting history by writing “200 Level”, which is the same as the second year in the university? Would a 1970 graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University be “distorting history” if (s)he tells a 2020 graduate, in a conversation, that (s)he is also a graduate of OAU, simply because the university used to be known as the University of Ife? By Onifade’s analogy, a person listing Chiefs of Army Staff in Nigeria who includes those of the 60s would be wrong, because the person called COAS today used to be known as Chief of Staff, Army! To make matters worse for the ignoramus, language, any language, is interpreted in context. That is why such a statement as “You are a big crook!” could be taken as a compliment in certain contexts.

Beyond Onifade and his paymasters’ huffing and puffing lies a tormented psyche. You see, Governor Abiodun’s achievements in various sectors have bruised their ego. Only last week, these political lepers wrote that the National Sports Festival, which is being hosted by Ogun State, will be like inter-house sports. Unfortunately for them, the chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Bukola Olopade, a man who was used to be a commissioner under Gbenga Daniel, now has a new portfolio as the chairman of the National Sports Development Commission, and has vowed to make Ogun 2025 a festival to remember.

The more these political lepers launch acerbic attacks on the people’s Governor, the more the Almighty keeps elevating him. Yes, it can be extremely painful for people long acclimatized to violence to see a Gentleman Governor ruling Ogun State without turning it into a theatre of violence marked by political assassinations. These vile individuals who thrive in chaos, the pestilential category of criminals that the Yoruba call arijenidimodaru, cannot come to terms with the fact that the Iperu-born prince who occupies Oke Mosan is not dancing to their senseless tune, and will never be stampeded into adopting the Machiavellian, totalitarian tactics of their principal who ran Ogun like a pirate and made the state notorious for mindless violence. Ogun people remember the souls cut down in cold blood and the many who escaped death by a whisker. They are happy with the man of peace steadily turning the state into a giant construction site while wailers like Onifade continue to advertise the utter darkness of their mind.

Seyi Bakare

Ogun media team.