Adeolu Ojo (PhD)

MONDAY MUSINGS: ARE WE ALREADY INVADED? The turn of events in the nation is certainly cause for worry. When I say, we are already invaded, people tend to assume that this relates to the security situation, strictly. As a Health and Safety Practitioner, with decades of experience, I know that the current state of insecurity is merely the symptomatic expression of an underlying situation; the ROOT CAUSE. Our national invasion started with our national orientation and character. Every other thing just follows. Let me tell you a short story: When the ancient Chinese wanted to live in peace, they built the great wall of China. They thought no one could climb it due to its height. But in the first 100 years of its existence, the Chinese were invaded thrice. And each time, the hordes of enemy infantry had no need of penetrating or climbing over the wall, because each time, they bribed the guards and came through the doors. The Chinese built the wall but forgot the character-building of the wall-guards. Thus, the building of human character comes BEFORE building of anything else. Like one Orientalist said: If you want to destroy the civilization of a nation there are 3 ways: 1. Destroy family structure. 2. Destroy education. 3. Lower their role models and references. 1. In order to destroy the family: undermine the role of MOTHER, so that she feels ashamed of being a housewife. 2. To destroy education: you should give no importance to TEACHER, and lower his place in society so that the students despise him. 3. To lower the role models: You should undermine the SCHOLARS, doubt them until no one listens or follows them. For when: - a conscious mother disappears, - a dedicated teacher disappears; and - there's a downfall of role models? WHO will teach the youngsters VALUES? So, here is the question: Are we already invaded? Have a great week ahead, peeps/ Peace and love!

To put this in proper context, Angola's population is just around 20% if Nigeria's. This means, Ceteris Paribus, like for like, Nigeria would have been talking of $20b, or N28trillion for fuel subsidy. Wisdom is profitable to direct.

Imagine this. Yet, someone purportedly if his caliber and exposure should know that, according to Bertrand Russell: war doesn't determine who is right, only who is left. So, you gather in the UK, and beat drums of war in Nigeria, right? No problem. As a Yoruba saying goes p: omo to ba da ifa nu...

There's a Yoruba saying: eni ti kiki e o yo ni, aiki e ko le pa ni l'ebi...

Who remembers this from the time when Nigeria was "good"?

Just wait. They will report you to yourself before Christmas 🤣

Have you bothered to check the meanings of uncanny, and extraordinary? You may find that it's not achieving your intended slur, actually.

Ti a ba ni ka fi oku iya were fun, ko sin bo se wu, o le sun je o.

Do you know what Agbawo means in Yoruba? It means borrowed clothes. Seems you borrowed more than clothes. You borrowed even sense, but the wrong type, that's why you are so senseless. Only a senseless person will type the nonsense you just did, and feel that it makes sense. I wish you perfect healing.

Before POS became so commonplace, na apple we dey buy. At a time when apples were going for N50 each, you go buy one for N1k 🤣🤣🤣 Human beings.

A robbery incident happened in a bank in Ikorodu around 2015. The robbers called customers who came to deposit, instructed the bank tellers to collect the monies and give them stamped deposit slips, then quietly collected the monies from the bank tellers. Until you have evidence of deposit, you are OYO.

My elder sister is married to her lecturer from university. They got married while she was still an undergrad. They've been married since 1989

*MONDAY MUSINGS: IF YOU SELL YOUR KINDRED CHEAP* I want to share a story I got some 10-12yrs ago with you: I had just finished cleaning up my small apartment, one evening, when my brother phoned me and said: *I am coming to visit, and my wife is with me*. I entered my kitchen to prepare for them whatever I could, But I could not find anything available to serve them. I went looking for something to serve, but I did not find anything except a few oranges. Therefore, I made two cups of cold juice immediately. When my brother and his wife entered I was shocked to see his mother-in-law who came to visit for the first time. So I served the two cups of juice to his wife and his mother-in-law, and a cup of plain water I placed in front of my brother, and said to him: I know that you like 7up, he drank a sip and realised that it was water. And suddenly his mother-in-law said : I'm feeling for 7up , please give it to me! Here I was baffled and caught with embarrassment. My brother saved me by saying to her: I will bring you a clean glass from the kitchen. And after a while we heard the sound of a glass breaking, so he came back and told his mother-in-law: sorry, it fell from my hands and the glass broke, ... but no problem I will go to the shop to get another one. His mother-in-law refused and said: there is no need for that, it was not meant for me. When they were going out, my brother bade me farewell and placed into my hand some money and said: don't forget to clean the kitchen of the 7up, so that ants do not come. And he bid me farewell with a smile and love. This is a very touching story, isn't it?. So, let me throw it to you: how do you treat your siblings? Even your friends? Even your country, Nigeria? Do you cover them or mess them? Do you take pleasure in exposing their shortcomings to others, or making excuses for even their obvious shortcomings? In Yoruba, they say: *Ti a ba ta ara ile eni ni opo, a o le ri ra ni owon*. If you sell your kindred cheap, you may not be able to buy them at an exorbitant price, when the time comes. So, how do you talk about family and friends and your country, Nigeria? Do you sell them cheap? How do you treat them, or talk about them before others? Do you disparage friends, family and acquaintances, before others? Do you call your country a zoo, an irredeemable place? Apart from there being power in the tongue, do you remember that as the Yoruba saying goes: *bi onigba ba se pe igba e la se mba pe*. You call a hawker the way he or she hawks his/her products. There is no way you will call a garri seller pepper seller. The way you portray your country, and your people; family and friends, to others, is the way they will eventually be seen and addressed. More importantly, however, yet another Yoruba idiom says: “Ko si bi a se fe pe ori aja, ti a o ni pe ori ikoko ti won fi se”. How do you want to talk about the head of a dog, without a mention of the pot that was used to cook it? The same brush with which your kindred are tarred, will be applied unto you. Or, do you think you will come out looking like a saint, when your family is branded criminal? Or, perhaps you think you will be seen as the only good person out of your country, because you are so vociferous in condemning her? You will be a suspect, probably worse than the country itself. Consider this: If you cannot be loyal to your family, or your country, how can you be loyal to others? So, as this is the Month of Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary, its time for sober ruminations: Do you sell your people cheap? Do you denigrate your country in local and foreign media? Do you make them look inconsequential? Will they be redeemable when you need them? Is whatever satisfaction or gratification you will get worth the price of selling them so cheap? Remember, if you sell your kindred cheap, you may not get them to buy at an exorbitant price. Peace and love! *@ Ade Bronco (05.10.2026)*

Enjoy your weekend with this beautiful tune, and philosophical lyrics.

Dear John, Thank you for your feedback. I was initially tempted to respond to you in like manner, or simply block you. However, my instincts tell me that you need help, specifically, enlightenment. First, Yorubas believe that your name reflects in your attitude, but it doesn't appear to apply to you. No John would be this abrasive, unprovoked Second, you know nothing about me, yet, you assume I'm someone you can just insult, because you think you have the anonymity of Social media? See, bitterness eats you up, more than it affects the person(s) you are directing it at. If you were to ever find yourself in the position of any of my kids, you would thank God. I wish you perfect healing. You will be alright.

I attended University of Ibadan between 1987 and 1992. Education was highly subsidized then. My school fees was N45 per session. But there were people who could not afford it. More important, however, the failure to appropriately price education is what led to the decay of infrastructure and the intermittent strikes by ASUU. This is also responsible for the proliferation of private universities. The NELFUND is an excellent initiative. Who feels it, knows it.

ESOTERIC COGITATIONS: IF IT PLEASES GOD…. Do you remember Tunji Oyelana and songs like Alaaru to nje buredi, Guguru perere, epa perere, Enia bi aparo, Gudu morning sir, adupe mo gb’oyinbo o, etc.? They are all songs credited to him. I grew up on many of those songs, if you understand me. From records available to me, he waxed all his records between 1966 and 1979. By inference therefore, his most recent recording was done some 47 years ago. One of his not so popular tracks is the one where he sang about the state of the nation, Inter alia, he sang: To ba wu Ola Oluwa o, yio si daa!, Translating: If it pleases God, it will still be well. When I wrote my WASCE in 1986, one of my elder brothers who was a lecturer in University of Ife at that time (now OAU), sent me a success card. It was unsealed, and inside the card, he put N5 (five naira). It was delivered, intact. When I got my admission to the University of Ibadan in 1987, I didn’t meet the requirement for my first choice course, but, I more than met the requirements for my second choice, and it was available in my first choice university. My letter of admission was sent by regular post to me in downtown Kwara State at the time. I didn’t have to talk to anybody. I didn’t have to pay anybody for *change of course*. It was done seamlessly. In 1995, while processing my admission for Masters at the University of Lagos, we were required to bring copies of our first degree transcripts from our universities. When I went to the University of Ibadan, I was told to drop a stamped envelope addressed to the receiving institution. It was sent. And then in 2003, having worked on the WAGP Project with an American company, the team sent me a souvenir, a branded pen, from the USA by regular NIPOST mail. Guess what happened. Someone at NIPOST punctured the pack, took out the pen, and brought the empty pack to me. So, in 8 short years, we lost value so much that people entrusted with things as trivial as pens, stole them before delivery? Is this government’s fault? Now, compare all the stories above, and you will see how badly we have lost value and self esteem. Indeed, like Oyelana sang: *A se enia ni ile yi ri, o ti di itan now*. This is the reality of our situation in Nigeria, today. We have left undone those things we ought to have done, and we have done those things we ought to have left undone. But, To ba wu ola Oluwa, yio si da. *If it pleases God, things will still be good, again.* Yes! I believe. But, faith and belief are nowhere near enough to turn things around. The starting point is for us all to undertake deep introspection. Search ourselves. Are we doing the right things, regardless of supervision? Someone once wrote: *The true character of a person is shown by what he/she does, when he thinks nobody will find out*. I will add to that: Or, if he thinks, or believes that there will be no repercussion, even if he’s found out. Between 1983 and 1985, we behaved ourselves. Nobody dared drop a piece of paper on the road, for fear of the WAI Brigade. No civil servant dared not be in his/her office by 8am. In fact, people queued to enter buses, because the fear of WAI was palpable. Do you wonder why people behave themselves in traffic around Ikeja? Because they know that there are cameras all over the place, and the cameras will pick them if they beat traffic lights. They also know that the concerned agency will send them a ticket at home, and their vehicle could be impounded if they do not pay on time. This is one way to ensure that things will get better again. So, as we celebrate Nigeria’s 66th Independence, today, let us remember that if we want things to get better, we MUST start the change from ourselves. Not everything is about government. We have too many inherently evil people in our midst. One person CANNOT change this country. A tree does not make a forest Happy Independence Day, Nigeria. @ Ade Bronco (01.10.2026)

I started reading novels almost as soon as I could read fluently. I had already read Things Fall Apart in Primary 5, and Arrow of God in Pry 6. My introduction to Pacesetters was during interview for admission into secondary school. The interviewer gave me a copy of Mohammed Hassan's Undesirable Element, and asked me to read the first paragraph. I read 6 pages, and decided I MUST get the book. I went on to read about 100 Pacesetters, subsequently. I have 2 elder sisters, so naturally, Mills and Boon, Silhouette Romance, Denise Robins, etc., were well within range, along with James Hadley Chace and Nick Carter. Reading was fun.

Snail = Slain Lain = Nail Blame = Amble Teacher = Cheater

Can I ask you a question? What are your metrics for good governance?

You say wetin? 🤣🤣🤣