Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
Senator Ali Ndume, the lawmaker representing Borno South in the red chamber and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army has again kicked against the amnesty granted to Boko Haram members. The lawmaker who urged the federal government to change its tactics in granting amnesty to repentant insurgents after undergoing a six-month De-radicalization, Rehabilitation and Re-integration training via the Operation Safe Corridor programme, maintained that it is wrong to grant amnesty to terrorists when the war is still far from over. Ndume called for more resources to be channelled to resettling the victims of insurgents, while also pointing out that granting amnesty to Boko Haram insurgents without apologizing to the victims and the state cannot bring about the required peace. He told newsmen on Sunday, September 13; “The war must be over before we start doing that. “The military could open up the corridor, allow everybody to enter and start profiling them and keep them somewhere as prisoners of war and train them. “The current arrangement where the repentant insurgents are granted amnesty without apologizing to the victims and the state cannot bring about the required peace. “Despite the difficult challenges confronting the military operation in my area, the soldiers deployed to fight the insurgents have been very wonderful. “At Ngoshe for instance, the military personnel there, apart from repelling the attacks from the insurgents, have mobilized resources to start rebuilding, through direct labour, houses that were destroyed by the Boko Haram fighters. The soldiers did not know the owners of the houses they are rebuilding.”