Change and Hope for the Hopeless and Dummies

By Dr Wola Simmell | 02 Jul 2009

Change must be challenging and uncomfortable for you. The more you try to change your ways, the more resistance you encounter from within, from your surrounding, and from your gods and goddesses. The more you change, the more you revert to your old habits, the more you remain the same.

Keep trying because you are not alone in finding it difficult to shake off your old habits; everyone around you has also gotten used to your old habits of rituals, infighting, backbiting, backstabbing, self-immolation, and selling your soul to the devil. Keep trying because the devil has an unlimited supply of funds to be used in exchange for your souls.

Keep trying, day and night, 24/7, because the same ghosts and demons will keep hunting you until you muster enough courage to change. If pretending would have done the job of change, you would have changed by now because you have been pretending since you fell down from the sky – to pretend, to torment, to exchange your vital organs for water and bread.

Your wife may be reluctant to change. Give her some time, and don’t misappropriate her private parts for money rituals because you will need them in your new and improved abode of changes and change agents.

Your sons and daughters may refuse your invitations to your new vision of new and improved norms and morals. Therefore, don’t let their humiliation stop you from trying because if you succeed in the next few years, everyone around you would have changed in order to accommodate the new improved you. Keep trying and don’t give up. Here are my little encouragement tips for you:

1) Spend little energy and time pretending that you are making an effort looking inward where the change matters.

2) Pretend that you dread no change, that you are ready to live responsibly and on your own wits in your new improved you

3) Pretend that what you seek will bring closure to your centuries of backbiting and beast-like mindset and existence

4) Pretend that internal resistance to change is a natural human tendency not exclusively unique to your kind

5) Pretend that the new improved you – the product of the change – will no longer focus your destructive energy inward on your kind

6) Pretend that there will no longer be others around you in your new, improved abode to be used as the primary excuse for your congenital madness, as scapegoats for your congenital failures and inadequacies and refusal to change

If you persevere and remember my words of encouragement here, then enough of your kind will awake and adjust and accept your new, improved vision and version in your new improved norms and surrounding.

I was deceived to take the pictures, says Alausa
June 2, 2009
By Guardian

CHIEF Wale Alausa the member of the Ogun State House of Assembly who reportedly swore to an oath of secrecy with some of his colleagues has said that he did it for the State Governor Gbenga Daniel who coerced him to do it.

In a telephone interview, Alausa insisted that the oath taking, which was borne out of “intimidation and threat to life” was taken at the private residence of the governor in Ijebu-Ode.
A national newspaper had displayed a picture of Alausa, while he is nude, with that of one of his colleagues on its front page reporting that the duo took the oath at a shrine in Ijebu-Igbo.

But according to Alausa, who represents Ijebu-Ode constituency in the House, “the oath taking was done at the private residence of Governor Daniel with the support of the paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona and some other prominent traditional rulers.

“I did it because there was so much pressure on me, as well as various assassination attempts on my nephews children and my immediate family.”

“I took the oath. I was harassed, intimidated and forced to take the oath when the pressure was too much. The Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona was involved. Other prominent traditional rulers and prominent people also know about it. Ask the Awujale, he knows about it. They put pressure on me through my father.

“There was assassination attempt. There was a kidnapping attempt on my nephews, children of my younger brother. It was such a terrible thing. I could not do otherwise because there was real threat to my life.

“There were several gun shots in front of my father’s house in Ijebu-Ode, Alhaji Agboola Alausa who is the Ogun East Senatorial Chairman.

“The photograph was taken in Daniel’s toilet and bathroom, but the other photographs were super-imposed. I did not take any photograph outside the house.

“I took the oath on the day Titi Oseni was impeached as Speaker, that was why I was not at plenary session that day. While the sitting was going on, I was taking the oath.”

“I was deceived.”

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Ogun Crisis: How it all started
By Bayo Ohu
Guardian, July 2 2009

The ongoing political crisis in Ogun State that has virtually put leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Gbenga Daniel at loggerheads started after the 2007 general elections when the governor was alleged to have perfected strategies to take over the party allegedly to manipulate it to further his political interest ahead of the governorship election in 2011. In fact, the crisis has been centered around the politics of 2011 and which of the three Senatorial zones will produce the governor.

Indeed, the protracted crisis has polarized the State House of Assembly along two major groups of a group of fifteen members, now popularly being called G 15 and another group of eleven members in G 11. The G 15 is being led by the present Speaker of the House, Hon. Tunji Egbetokun and its primary objective was to antagonize the governor. It was alleged that there were plans by the group to initiate impeachment move against governor Gbenga Daniel. The G11 is comprised of legislators who are sympathetic to the governor.

The crisis and battle for supremacy at the House has led to impeachment of the former Speaker Titi Oseni who is a pro-Gbenga Daniel lawmaker. The G 15 had instigated her removal and installed Egbetokun who has since been championing anti-Gbenga Daniel activities. At a time, the legislative work at the House was paralysed as members from the two camps engaged in open and physical assaults during which some of them were critically injured. The State Police Command, which has also since been accused of partisanship was forced to shut down the House of Assembly complex, which led to a prolonged halt to legislative duties.

Fundamentally, prominent politicians in the state have been drawn into the fray. Specifically, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, Dr. Doyin Okupe and other eminent citizens of the state, especially those from Ogun Central Senatorial zone and the Egbas generally were believed to be at war with Governor Gbenga Daniel over his alleged plan to assist the Yewas/Awori people of Ogun East Senatorial zone to produce the next governor in 2011.

The story has been that the Egbas have always been determined to continue to dominate the political affairs of the state by producing the next governor after Gbenga Daniel in 2011. Along this political thinking, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello from Owu is believed to be very keen in becoming the governor. Speaker Dimeji Bankole too was rumoured to be eyeing the governorship. But his close aides and associates have denied this claim. According to them, Dimeji Bankole, as the number four citizen in the country today is occupying a position that is more important in political ranking than the governorship.

Dimeji Bankole, according to one of his aides is satisfied with his present political pre-eminence over a governor of a state. Bankole, he added has the entire Country as his constituency and he even control a bigger budget and have a wider political influence far more than what any governor can dream of having. He said: ” Bankole should be left out of the crisis in Ogun State as he has no hand in whatever is happening there presently. What Bankole has been doing and will continue to do is to ensure that the House of Representatives work assiduously towards ensuring good governance and enhancing quality lives for the people of Nigeria through legislations”.

In all this, Gbenga Daniel was seen to be scheming to ensure that somebody from the Ogun West Senatorial zone emerges the governor in 2011. But his close aides have denied that the PDP governorship ticket has been reserved for any particular zone.

According to Chief Niyi Adegbenro, Special Adviser on Political matters to governor Gbenga Daniel, there was no truth in the insinuations that Daniel has preference for a particular zone or candidate. He said what the governor believes in and has been saying is that there will be justice and fair play in the process that will lead to the emergence of the next governor. “So, a level playing ground would be provided for whoever decides to contest the governorship in 2011”, he added.

However, the crisis has defied all efforts to resolve it. Prominent traditional rulers in the State, including the Alake of Egbaland, the Awujale of Ijebuland and others have intervened to settle the rift but failed. The leadership of the ruling PDP has waded in to reconcile the warring factions of the party but with little success.

Although at a meeting called by the party in Abuja to reconcile governor Daniel and the other faction led by Senator Jubril Martins Kuye, the two sides promised to end the rift and work together in the interest of the party, there has not been any positive development to suggest that all is well.

Adegbenro frowned at the way and manner members of the State House of Assembly are causing tensions in the state, saying that if the legislators have anything incriminating against the governor, they should send their petition to the Chief Judge who will set up a panel to investigate all the allegations and if the governor was found guilty of any offence, then let them impeach him.

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Gov Daniel treacherous –Alausa
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE and WILLY EYA
Daily Sun, July 1, 2009

The controversy over blood oath taking in Ogun State deepened on Tuesday as the embattled lawmaker Wale Alausa alleged that virtually all elected officers were compelled to take allegiance oath to support Governor Gbenga Daniel. The lawmaker, flanked by his colleagues including the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Tunji Egbetokun made the allegation at a press conference in Lagos.

Alausa whose nude picture was taken while taking blood oath was published in the media re-emphasised before journalists that Governor Daniel was the mastermind of the fetish act, which according to him, was being manipulated to blackmail him.

“I was used, dumped and abused by the same man that is now trying to pin a label of a fetish oath taker on me,” he said, describing Daniel as a treacherous individual. The lawmaker nearly broke down in tears while relating the harrowing experience he allegedly went through in the hands of the state governor.

“When the story about the oath-taking first came out, my first instinct was to hide myself given the shame and ridicule that the Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, is trying to put my family to. But following spiritual advice to that effect, I have no choice but to continue with what my conscience had earlier asked me to do, struggle for justice on behalf of my immediate constituency in Ijebu Ode, and Ogun State citizens in general.

“Friends, colleagues and people that I don’t even know have been calling me all kinds of names with abuses for taking a fetish oath. Some even went as far as to say I am a desperate politician who wants to remain in office to enjoy the spoils of politics by all means necessary. To such people, I say, forgive me. I am sorry. But you also need to understand where I am coming from and why I did what was reported by Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s newspaper in a manipulative way. I was used, dumped and abused by the same man that is now trying to pin a label of a fetish oath-taker on me.

“As a Yoruba, and an Ijebu for that matter, I am not an Omo Ale (bastard). I challenge you journalists here and those of your colleagues in Ogun State to go back and check my past activities as a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly. I was a very vibrant member of the Group of 15 credible legislators who declared through our removal of Hon. Titilayo Oseni as Speaker last year that we’ve had enough of civilian dictatorship in Ogun State. We stood our ground despite physical and spiritual threats to our lives. We were called names. They even said we took money from the former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to effect Oseni’s removal. But to God be the glory that the people of Ogun State and Nigerians interested in the affairs of our state have seen through that falsehood.

“Now, back to the issue of Omo Ale. It may surprise you to know that my father is the Chairman of the Ogun East Senatorial District of the Peoples Democratic (PDP). He is a well-respected title-holder as Otun Balogun of Ijebuland. Following our action against Oseni last year, pressures were mounted on my father to prevail on me to withdraw my support for the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tunji Egbetokun. My father knows he has a principled son. His response to Otunba Gbenga Daniel each time such pressure came was that his son is an adult with a family of his own, who is able to take decisions without recourse to him.

However, when the pressures on my father became too much, he became the butt of jokes in party circles. It was as if he could not control his son. Suddenly, a non-existent Ogun East Elders Council was formed by Otunba Gbenga Daniel to usurp the functions of the constitutionally recognised Ogun East Senatorial District Executive headed by my father. Daddy was thoroughly disgraced wherever he went in the state by agents of Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Nevertheless, he did not budge. He left me to decide what is best for my constituency without putting any pressure on me. But the involvement of our royal father, (names withheld) by Otunba Gbenga Daniel, I believe, made my father bent a rule which he imbibed in us from childhood that, once we believe in something we should face it squarely without fear of anyone except Almighty Allah (SWT).

“You may want to check past editions of your newspapers to confirm what I am about to say. Somewhere along the line, the G-15 became G-14. This was celebrated in Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s newspaper as well as others without mentioning my name. But I hereby confess I was the one who left the group to pledge allegiance to the Governor following the untold pressure on my dad, especially the need to respect our royal father. The condition of pledging allegiance to Otunba Gbenga Daniel was humiliating, but before the Almighty Allah who created me, I stuck to my guns that unless he also took the same oath, I will refuse to do so.

“You might then wonder how the photograph came about. Long before then, especially before the 2007 elections shortly after the party primaries, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, had ensured that most, if not all those seeking elective offices took the oath of allegiance to him. You can ask your colleagues in Ogun State, if they are honest, they will also tell you that there is no Council Chairman that did not take the oath before their elections. But at that time, they know my background and they know such a thing could not be forced on me because the role I’ll play in the election will even be more than all of them combined together. So, I was left alone. But it was my dad they believed will hold me anytime they want.

“One thing I thank God for in all of these is that the confidence of my colleagues which I betrayed because I do not want to be labelled an Omo Ale has been restored by God Himself. Because how can one explain Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s release of a photograph he took deceitfully? I know he has been angry because he expected I’ll return to the G-15 and begin passing details of our meeting to him. But I refused. The oath I took was to the effect that I will not be among those who will impeach him from office.

It did not include spying on my colleagues. Part of the argument was that as an Ijebu, I should not allow the Egba to disgrace our son, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. I agreed after that pressure from my dad. But it was a reluctant decision, which I made as a dutiful Yoruba son to a father who has been everything to me.”

Speaking further at the press conference, Alausa who represents Ijebu Ode state constituency alleged that Governor Daniel ensured that elected officers take the oath of allegiance shortly after primaries of the People Democratic Party (PDP) before the last election in the state.

Alausa maintained that he was not alone and gave graphic details of how the state governor subjected the assembly members and other elected officers to take oath before the last general election in the state.

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..He’s a pathological liar – Ogun Govt
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE and WILLY EYA
Daily Sun, July 1, 2009

The Ogun State Government has reacted to the statement by the embattled Hon. Alausa that the oath-taking and nude photographs of him took place in Otunba Daniel’s house, describing it as series of lies, outright falsehood and brazen inconsistencies.

Acccording to the state government in a statement entitled: THE PLOT OGUN STATE: FINALLY THE TRUTH IS BEGINNING TO EMERGE and signed by Kayode Samuel, Hon. commissioner for Information & Orientation, “not a few people have become confounded about the seemingly intractable political crisis in Ogun State, especially since the emergence of Hon. Tunji Egbetokun as the speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly. Hon Egbetokun is the leader of the G15 of lawmakers of which Hon. Wale Alausa is a key member.

“The chicken came home to roost a few days ago when a national daily, the National Compass published the picture of Hon. Alausa indicating that it was taken at a shrine in Ijebu Igbo while a blood oath was being administered on the member of the House of Assembly.

As the state and the nation awaited a denial or confirmation of the publication, what has emerged from Hon. Alausa are series of lies, outright falsehood and brazen inconsistencies.

The litany of inconsistencies
“Within hours of the story’s publication the first reaction of Alausa was done through proxies who maintained in posting on the Internet that the picture was fake and the face of the Hon. Alausa was superimposed on a naked body. “However, in his own reaction as reported in PM News (the paper that has become the mouthpiece of the G15) of Monday, June 29, 2009, Hon. Alausa was quoted by the paper to have maintained that the pictures were genuine. He, however, claimed that they were taken in 2007 inside Governor Daniel’s Sagamu home and its environs when he was forced to take an oath before he could get the PDP ticket to the state House of Assembly

“On the same day the story changed when he spoke to The Punch which was reported on Tuesday,, June 30, 2009. Hon. Alausa told The Punch that “the oath was taken in a shrine in Ijebu Ode. He said further that the oath was done shortly after the 2007 primaries.

“However, on the same day when he spoke to the Nigerian Tribune he said ‘the photograph was taken in Daniel’s toilet and bathroom on the day Tti Oseni was impeached’. And since the impeachment was done on May 15, 2008, it means that Hon. Alausa is claiming a new date for the macabre blood oath taking.

“The embattled lawmaker added a new dimension in the slant he gave to Daily Sun where he attempted to implicate the revered Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona and other traditional rulers claiming they were all involved in the oath taking process.

“At a news conference on Tuesday, June 30, 2009, at a location in Lagos he further claimed that all local government chairmen and other political functionaries also took the secret oath.”

OUR POSITION
“It is common knowledge that at the time Mrs. Titi Oseni was removed, the governor was out of the country and the time he saw the Awujale of Ijebuland was May 16 at a reception for a former president of the country in Sagamu. It is also noteworthy that the Awujale of Ijebuland and the biological father of Hon. Alausa, Chief Agboola Alausa have publicly denounced the claim of the lawmaker, describing him as a pathological liar.

“It has also been established by a scrutiny of the records of the House that Hon. Alausa was indeed present at the sitting of May 15, 2008 and actually took part in the impeachment proceedings, contrary to his claim that he was not in the House on that day.

“The question for discerning minds is why have they now vowed to destroy the man who ostensibly administered the oath on them. Interestingly, the G15 members had said at various fora and television interviews that they never took any secret oath.

Again the Chairman of ALGON, John Obafemi, has on behalf of the other chairmen disclaimed the lawmaker’s allegation that all local government council chairmen took any oath.
“From the foregoing, it is clear that given the level of outright falsehood and inconsistencies of Hon. Alausa and his co-travelers, the people of Ogun State and Nigerians at large can now decipher the truth and appreciate what our state has gone through in the last 12 months - lies of the vilest kind told by dishonourable people who are supposed to be honourable members of the House.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Gbenga Daniel has never and will never administer secret oath on anybody and will not get involved in any sordid acts that will bring our state into disrepute.”

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Nude pictures: Publish more if you have any
By Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta
Daily Sun, July 1, 2009

The leadership of the Ogun State House of Assembly has dared Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who they identified as the sole proprietor of the Compass Newspaper that published an obscene picture of one of them to go ahead and publish more.

The newspaper last Monday published a nude picture of Hon. Wale Alausa where it was alleged that the member representing Ijebu-Ode State Constituency was involved in blood oath.

The newspaper also threatened to publish more of such messy pictures about the lawmakers who appeared to be against Governor Daniel’s administration in its subsequent editions.

Addressing a press conference at the Committee Room on Tuesday after a solidarity rally with Alausa who had earlier addressed a press conference in Lagos, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Tunji Egbetokun, described the development as unfortunate, messy and stinking.

“He (Daniel) caused the photograph to be published because he’s the owner of the paper. Let him publish other ones if he has them. The whole things is unfortunate, messy and stinking which I know he would be regretting by now.

“How could you publish such a photograph of a honourable member from the same party with you in your newspaper? He had acted on a bad advice of some people who surround him.

“Let him go ahead to publish more, but I know he does not have the pictures of any one of us here. If he has my own, let him publish it through all manners of publication anywhere and I can assure him I will not go to court.

“Why are they threatening us that they have more of such pictures. They did not tell us they had Hon. Alausa’s picture before they did what they did. Let me tell you if they had any more of such pictures, they would have posted that of Hon. Remi Hassan because he’s a pastor. That would have been more marketable for them than anybody else.”

Egbetokun, who was the immediate past secretary to the Obafemi-Owode Local Government also admitted that he once took oath of allegiance at the instance of Governor Daniel before the 2007 election.

“Yes, I once took oath of allegiance to Governor Daniel, that was during the 2007 election but I was not naked. It was right at his house in Sagamu.”

Egbetokun, who spoke in the presence of the G.15 member excluding Alausa, who though was within the Assembly complex but was attending to some people from his constituency listed some of the names of those that took the oath with him. Egbetokun, who said the House would investigate and take proper action on the Alausa’s saga also alleged that 80 percent of office holders are spiritualists.

Meanwhile, elders of the ruling Peopls Democratic Party (PDP) in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of the state have described the allegation by Alausa as “mother of all deceptions”.

The Chairman of the forum, Chief Sina Adejobi described Alausa as a devilish man. “His admission that the photograph published in Monday’s edition of Nigerian Compass where he appeared naked while taking the blood oath had shown that he belongs to the kingdom of darkness. He should kneel down before God and pray for forgiveness otherwise, the wrath of God will be kindled upon him.”

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Why I took a fetish oath - Ogun lawmaker - Gov evades journalists
Kunle Oderemi and Shola Adekola, Lagos
Tribune, July 1, 2009

EMBATTLED mem- ber of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Honourable Wale Alausa, on Tuesday, gave a more graphic account on how he took a fetish oath at the threshold of the 2007 general elections in the state.

Accompanied by members of the G15, led by the Speaker of the House, Honourable Tunji Egbetokun, he said at a press conference in Ikeja, Lagos, that he was a victim of a use-and -dump syndrome.”

His shocking revelations followed a photograph published in a ntional daily on Monday where he allegedly took the oath at a shrine in Ijebu-Igbo.

The state governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel, however, evaded journalists at the Lagos airport when asked to comment on the unfolding drama in the state.

Alausa, who represents Ijebu Ode Constituency, accused Daniel, of dishonesty and vowed not to be intimidated by any act of blackmail. He begged for understanding and forgiveness from the public for descending so low as to taking a fetish oath, alleging that he was used and dumped by the governor.

“Friends, colleagues and people that I don’t even know have been calling me all kinds of names for taking a fetish oath. Some even went as far as to say I am a desperate politician, who wants to remain in office to enjoy the spoils of politics by all means necessary.

“To such people, I say, forgive me. I am sorry. But you also need to understand where I am coming from and why I did what was reported in Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s newspaper in a manipulative way. I was used, dumped and abused by the same man that is now trying to pin a label of a fetish oath-taker on me.”

Despite the alleged campaign to smear his image, the lawmaker said he remained resolute in the struggle to rescue the state from the perceived stranglehold of the governor, whom he called unprintable names. He said, “When the story about the oath-taking first came out, my first attempt was to hide myself, given the shame and ridicule that the Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, is trying to put my family to.

“But following a spiritual advice on the issue, I have no choice but to continue with what my conscience had earlier asked me to do: struggle for justice on behalf of my immediate constituency in Ijebu-Ode, and Ogun state citizens in general.”

Giving an account of the photograph, he stated, “ Long before then, especially before the 2007 elections, shortly after the party primaries, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, had ensured that most, if not all those seeking elective offices, including some serving members of the National Assembly, took the oath of allegiance to him. You can ask your colleagues in the Ogun State House of Assembly, if they are honest, they will also tell you that there is no Council Chairman that did not take the oath before their elections.

‘But at the time, they know my background and they know such a thing could not be forced on me ... so, I was left alone. But it was my dad they believe will hold me any time they want me.”

Alausa challenged whoever had any incriminating thing against him to make it public. He said his father was not just the holder of the prestigious title of Otun Balogun of Ijebuland, but was also the Chairman of the PDP for Ogun East Senatorial District.

He said his father has continued to face all forms of degradation because of his (son) pursuit of principle, recalling how the old man had to succumb to pressures following intervention of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, in the protracted political crisis in the state.

All the other lawmakers, who spoke on the occasion, said there was no retreat and no surrender in their current war against the governor. In a related development, governor Daniel who was at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Local Airport, Lagos to receive some Chinese investors, when asked jokingly by one of the airport journalists if he actually did what the lawmaker alleged he did, only dodged the question and walked away smiling.

The governor, who was at the presidential lounge to wait for the Chinese investors, for fear of being quizzed further by journalists on the topical blood oath, went inside the inner lounge without coming out until the Chinese investors finally arrived.

As a way of distracting the journalists from achieving their aims, Governor Daniel only engaged in taking group photographs with the Chinese investors after which he dashed into his official black sport utility vehicle (jeep) which drove him away.

The Chinese investors’ who were over 20, were driven away in different buses and cars along with the governor to an unknown destination.

The Ogun governor has been enmeshed in a broil with some members of his state House of Assembly over irreconciliable political differences.

The climax of the face- off was when a nude photograph of one of the lawmakers was placed in a newspaper with the allegations that he took the picture during an oath at a shrine in Ijebu Igbo to enable him obtain the ticket.