Ojulari: True, True, Na Face Alone We Fit See…By Bola BOLAWOLE
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“If the Super Falcons can come back from two goals down to turn the tables and win, why not Tinubu? And Morocco is not the first of such miracles. We had the Dammam miracle where the Eagles came from four goals down to turn the tables”
A Yoruba proverb says: “Oju l’ari, ore o d’enu/A-r’ire ba’ni je, agbon isale”. “Na face alone we fit see, no man fit see the stomach!” No one knows what another man thinks or purposes in his mind. They may joke or laugh with you, but inside of them wells plots to harm you. They speak eloquently of good deeds but harbour evil plans and plots they will be quick to execute once the opportunity presents itself. They look like angels but deep down they are the devil incarnate. You see them and think they are perfect gentlemen; but they are the worst rogues ever! Put your trust in them; they soon let you down where and when it mattered most.
The Yoruba have another proverb for them: “Eni a ba f’ehin-ti; gbogbo ara l’o fi s’egun/Eni a ni ko fe ni l’oju; ata lo fi s’enu” Oh, yes! The one you think you can rest on covers himself with thorns/Him that you run to, to help you blow away the speck in your eyes has his mouth filled with pepper! And this is not a new phenomenon! It is as old as creation itself. It is not limited to only political associates or principal/subordinate relationships. Even your own blood can betray you!
Hence, another Yoruba proverb says “Ajumobi o kan t’aanu; a fi eni ori ba ran si’ni” That we are of the same parentage does not mean we will be merciful unto each other. Better, then, to ask God for your own God-sent or divine helper! Cain got jealous of his brother Abel, tricked him to the countryside and slaughtered him there. Esau and Jacob were twin brothers but Jacob did not bat an eyelid to trickishly collect Esau’s birthright. The brothers of Joseph got jealous of him and initially plotted to kill him but eventually sold him into slavery.
What kind of betrayal has history not recorded? There are no new happenings under the sky! In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Anthony described Brutus’s strike on his friend Julius Caesar as “the unkindest cut of all!” In Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, Okonkwo’s was the final strike that sent Ikemefuna to the great beyond – a child who called him father and who had run to him for protection!
Put your trust in no man! If you were the Jewish traveller who was attacked by robbers, stripped of his possessions and left for dead by the wayside, who, out of a priest, a Levite (both considered as religious figures), and a Samaritan (considered by Jews as an outcast and despicable lot) – which of these three would you expect to offer you help? The first two, of course, but that was not to be! (Luke 10: 25 – 37).
Did man not even disappoint God, his Maker, leading Him to say of man that the imaginations of his heart became evil from his youth (Genesis 8: 21) and that the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it? (Jeremiah 17: 9).
As human beings, try as we may, oju la ri; only God sees and searches the heart. Even the prophet Samuel got deceived when he got to Jesse’s house to anoint another king over Israel, after God had rejected King Saul. That story is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 16.
If I may ask, what did President Bola Ahmed Tinubu consider before making the Ojulari appointment? Paper qualifications; work or cognate experience; geo-political zone, personal heroics, among others? Someone might have recommended it. Perhaps, the candidate himself has had a personal contact with the President or must have done one thing or the other that pointed attention to him. Political correctness might also have played a part. That appointment is not a small one. But against the run of play, as they say, all of that – whatever the attention paid to details, and the belief that the right choice has been made – all now amounts to oju la ri! And why won’t a flabbergasted Tinubu exclaim, “Et tu, Ojulari?”
Tinubu was said to be livid! He should! Who does not know that he would, on account of this, become the butt of cruel jokes? Imagine an appointment that did not go unchallenged. On account of his name and, possibly, ancestry, he was seen as Yoruba and not a Northerner that he actually is. He wasted no time to convince people that he is more Northerner than those who pride themselves as Northerners! Some parts of the country are so unfortunate to be treated as a bat – when the political permutations profit the power-mongers, they are seen as belonging, but when the tide turns, they are treated as outcasts or osu.
What will those who challenged the appointment now say? How will Tinubu look them straight in the eyes? Will the President’s media spokespersons who put out tonnes of printed materials defending that choice not feel let down now? No one should attempt to ask former President Olusegun Obasanjo what he feels about it!
Obasanjo’s opinion on the refineries are well known; a major plank of which is that corruption would never let them work. And that any fund sunk into it is money thrown down the drains.Obasanjo as president sold the refineries; some people prevailed on his successor, President Umaru Yar’Adua (now late), to buy it back. Since then, efforts – and huge sums in foreign currencies – have been expended on the refineries with no appreciable result. The immediate past NNPCL boss raised our hopes when he said the Port Harcourt refinery had roared back to life, but that victory soon turned out pyrrhic. A disappointed Tinubu relieved the man and the entire NNPCL board – headed by Tinubu’s former boss and benefactor – of their post. That demonstrated the extent of the President’s anguish. Now this!
The present NNPCL GMD came with a swagger, his antecedents having travelled far ahead of him. He was advertised as the poster boy with the magic wand to achieve what many had said was impossible. He will silence Obasanjo! He will make Yar’Adua proud in his grave! When he delivers on his mandate, he will give President Tinubu to gloat and remind Nigerians: “Didn’t I tell you? E lo f’okan ba’le!” Now this!
When the monopoly man came up with his red herring that the refineries would never work, an alarmed nation waited with bated breath to hear from the new NNPCL boss. At first he kept everyone guessing. The suspense was thick in the air. Eventually, he broke the cheery news: the refineries will not be sold! They can work and will be made to work! The mistake of the past has been unearthed: The rush to make the refineries work when rehabilitation work was still in progress was the culprit. A traumatised nation heaved a sigh of relief. But, now this!
If you were Tinubu, what would you do? Throw in the towel, in boxing parlance, and echo Roberto Duran’s “No mas, no mas”, meaning “No more, no more”? Bring your full weight down on those concerned? You can also decide to still forge ahead. Never say die! If the Super Falcons can come back from two goals down to turn the tables and win, why not Tinubu? And Morocco is not the first of such miracles. We had the Dammam miracle where the Eagles came from four goals down to turn the tables.
A country badly let down awaits the President’s decision.
Super Falcons: When students trump their teachers…
I am in support of the largesse lavished on the Super Falcons; I also support the follow-up largesse doled out to our basketballers – D’Tigress. If the sharing keeps going like that, maybe one day it will get to you and me! But I agree with Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, in his sermon of Sunday, 3 August, 2025, that a student should not be better remunerated than the teacher that taught and guided him/her to success.
When we do, we run the risk of inadvertently creating not just schism, envy and jealousy in the team, we also inject the poison of superiority/inferiority complex into the relationship between students and their teachers. The end result, which we have seen with many of our senior team professional footballers, is that they become too big to learn and take instructions. The end result has been failure and destruction of budding talents.
Is it not true that the technical expertise of the coaching crew played a crucial role in turning the tables over the Moroccan team? So, if it is not too late to make amends, kindly do! Otherwise, next time, please; next time!
Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.
