“Igboho Oosa”, is it true you’re arrested? - By Niran Olatona

When asked why he sometimes looked back while dancing to _pooro_ (a local percussion in the city of Okemesi-Ekiti), my late father responded that it was a stylish way of having a 360-degree view of his admirers and to guide him on when it was time to stop dancing. It’s useless to dance when the ovation has died out like an unsustained note of the piano. 

Because of the ridicule faced in primary 3 when agbalumo (the African Star Apple) smeared my mouth and hands due to poor handling of my tiny fingers, I have kept the fruit at a distance over the years. Sunday Igboho came, saw but whether he conquered or not is a function of his handling of the opportunities and he had and the threat he faces. As the elders say, a child would hardly eat the solid pap (eko) without messing up his fingers.

If he was truly caught as reported, he’s demystified the title of _Oosa_ (a deity) that many of his followers gave him. If he were a very strong man as acclaimed, he may have chosen to rather die than be caught like a fowl. This is a man who told the BBC that he was relying on traditional powers to protect himself and should not be accused of gun-running. 

If _afeeri_ (a charm that would make him disappear) could not help and _egbe_ (supernatural transportation charm) could not make him land in Germany, is reliance on charms not tantamount to leaning on arrows with the needle-sharp ends covered with a light foam? The more you throw your weight on it, the more you'll be disappointed and wounded at the end of the day. God knows I am not mocking him but when I noticed it seems he had bulletproof under his dress in one of his rallies, it occurred to me this man may not be Fabunmi of Kiriji War. This could not be Ogedengbe agbogun gboro. Oil and water hardly mix in cold waters.

Now, what becomes of the die-hard supporters of Chief Sunday Adeyemo (aka Igboho)? Would the men who died in his house during the invasion have continued with him if they knew their hero could be caught like a chicken in the tiny Benin Republic? Now, he would join his loyalists that have been in the enemy’s cage for days. Kai, he could not turn to a cat or dog or even an ant and escape! The “made-in-Igboho” tribal mark may have made him an easy person to betray as his Judas-Iscariots needed not to give him a kiss of death.

What role would the maja-masa elders play now? When he was warned to calm down and that a warrior sometimes leaves the battlefront so as to stay alive and fight another day after developing new strategies, did we not cast aspersions on Ooni and others and called them names? The men his ardent followers pronounced as cowards are now proven to be wise enough to know the angle and side that the hand fan thrown up would fall. Who would now beg the devouring lions to let him leave their den unhurt? Can Gani Adams and others that were disparaged do so? I pray they have the heart to forgive him and not leave him to be totally consumed.

FGN has spoken through PMB’s kinsmen and DSS has amplified the music. It may be too loud for comfort but it’s for the deaf to hear it clearly: “kolomo kilo f’omo re….” (let all parents warn their wards to avoid being crushed). 

Whoever dares the DSS would use his mouth to pound his yam and the soup will be his saliva! Now that the knife to peel the yam is lost in Cotonou, how long do we eat our mouth-pounded yams with its brownish skin covered with dirt?

What would be his thoughts now? I can hear some moans of regrets.  Would it not have been better if he had remained a quiet man like most Nigerians waiting endlessly for a day of a miracle when we shall be free from the noose that gets tighter on our necks each time we attempt to escape? Our Igboho is tied like an Ileya ram. If he’d kept his cool, he would have hosted hundreds during this festive season to feast with him.

I suspect if he had some education like Nnamdi Kanu of IPOB, he may have been shown the NADECO route as many of the elites lambasted may have obliged him. I am not sure he read any James Hadly Chase. Perhaps if he’d watched some James Bond films, he could have escaped into a nearby country where Yoruba is hardly spoken. Native intelligence would always bow to international intelligence. Igboho is someone to be pitied.

Do we fold our hands and say "serve him right" when the real terrorists who brought people like Igboho into the limelight are still in our bushes? That would be foolish. The battle towards rescuing our nation from the few oppressors is a battle of wits. Our Amotekuns would need more than physical swimming skills in stopping fishes from Futa Jalon from polluting our waters from Osun to Ogun and to the Lagos Lagoon.

What's the way forward? We need to trust in the God who removed reproaches from Israel using the young David to finish the Goliaths of our day. 

We should not be engaged in prayers alone. We still need men with wits to fight and win the battles at the intellectual realm of negotiation. Our intellectual prowess should not just be to 419 others for personal dubious gains (be it pecuniary or political) but to rescue our future. 

It is high time we pushed party affiliation to the background and think of our common survival. 

Thank God our governors are working in harmony. Beyond them, We, the elites and political analysts still need to use our brains to safeguard our fatherland as we carefully navigate all labyrinth required to rescue our men who had the zeal of John in reaching the grave first but had no courage of Peter in entering. To abandon them is to make the foes believe they've won.

Niran Olatona is a chattered accountant and a public analyst.