OPINION
Kemi Badenoch: Shettima as Flutist with ‘Gègè’ on His Neck

By Festus Adedayo
This past Monday, Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, held the fèèrè (flute) and blew it admirably. However, bystanders listening to the rhythm of his flute didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. Moyo Okediji, Assistant Professor of Art at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, in his “Art of the Yoruba” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, (Vol.
23, No. 2) described the flute held by Shettima as a symbol of the trickster god Esu, also known as the divinity of the crossroads. According to Okediji, Esu was so powerful that he could help or hinder the craft and life of man. The fere was so influential in traditional Africa that it was equally a symbol of royal might.If you went to the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo during the reign of late Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, as you approached the palace court, traditional flutists demonstrated their craft in magnificent candour. As they blew the flute, their eyes popped out like an ostrich’s, cheeks inflated like the rotund belly of a toad.
It is the same with drums. Apart from the rhythm they provide, drums are communicative instruments. So, while blowing the flute and beating drums, the crafters are engaged in the powerful medium of communication. Oba Adeyemi once told me that, shortly after the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, was enthroned, he, Alaafin was with the Ooni at an event in Ile-Ife. Palace drummers, continuing the decades-long tiff between Oba Adeyemi and Ogunwusi’s predecessor, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, suddenly changed the tone of their drumming.
They then began to drum out abusive messages to Alaafin with each descent of their sticks on the drum. Being ardent in the mastery of language of drums, Alaafin told me he immediately called the attention of Oba Ogunwusi to it. Ooni was apparently unschooled in drum language, and couldn’t penetrate the rain of expletives. “Kìlò fún awon onílù re” – warn your drummers – he told me he said to the Ooni to cease the tirades or he would storm out of the occasion.
The art and craft of flutists however arrest the attention of the audience who marvel at the beauty oozing out of their mouth. So, if a flutist is unfortunate to suffer from goiter, what the Yoruba call gègè, at the time he is blowing it, it will be double jeopardy for him. Goiter is an irregular growth at the thyroid gland which, as a result of its enlargement, makes its sufferer present with a big swelling on the neck. So, Yoruba say, the King who employed Onígègé– goiter patient – as a flutist will have a large audience of scorners watching his craft. In which case, the object to watch by the audience will be two – the flutist’s enlarged neck and the rhythm that comes out of the flute.
British-born Nigerian UK Conservative Party Leader, Kemi Adegoke, otherwise known as Kemi Badenoch, has been in the eye of the storm for her unflattering comments about Nigeria. Kemi became British as a result of her birth in 1980 at St. Teresa’s Private Hospital in London. Her professor of physiology mother, who taught at the University of Lagos and in America, had brought her pregnancy for birth in the UK on January 2 of that year before the British Nationality Act 1981 abolished the automatic birthright citizenship in England. She got married to Hamish, British banker. Since her climb up the ladder of British politics, Kemi has regaled Britons with the “very tough upbringing” she had in Nigeria, especially how it was enveloped by fear and insecurity.
She had said, “This is my country. I don’t want it to become like the place I ran away from. I grew up in Nigeria, and I saw firsthand what happens when politicians are in it for themselves, when they use public money as their private piggy banks, when they pollute the whole political atmosphere with their failure to serve others… I saw poverty and broken dreams. I came to Britain to make my way in a country where hard work and honest endeavour can take you anywhere. I grew up in a place where fear was everywhere. You cannot understand it unless you’ve lived it. Triple-checking that all the doors and windows are locked, waking up in the night at every sound, listening as you hear your neighbours scream as they are being burgled and beaten, wondering if your home would be the next.”
Apart from insecurity, Badenoch has consistently described Nigeria as a country plagued by corruption. Her family was said to have resided in the harsh middle-class neighbourhood of Surulere in Lagos, while she schooled at the Lagos International School.
But, like an obstinate or deaf King’s flutist afflicted with onígègé, Shettima didn’t care about the embarrassing swelling on his neck. In the process, both his message and the affliction on his neck became a laughing stock for the global audience. During a speech on migration in Abuja last week, Shettima was quoted to have said that the Bola Tinubu government was “proud” of Badenoch, “in spite of her efforts at denigrating her nation of origin.” However, Shettima said, “She is entitled to her own opinions; she has even every right to remove the ‘Kemi’ from her name but that does not underscore the fact that the greatest black nation on earth is the nation called Nigeria.” Continuing, the VP compared Badenoch’s unpatriotic treatment of her country of birth to that of Rishi Sunak, her predecessor, who became UK’s first Prime Minister of Indian heritage and noted that, Sunak was that “brilliant young man” who “never denigrated his nation of ancestry”.
Badenoch’s office did not allow the melody from the “Onígègé onifere” – the flutist with goiter – to subside. It responded accordingly.” She (Badenoch) is the leader of the opposition and she is very proud of her leadership of the opposition in this country,” her spokesman told reporters. “She tells the truth. She tells it like it is. She is not going to couch her words.”
What we should ask Shettima and people of his persuasion is, was Badenoch wrong because she is Nigerian-born or she was wrong by the certitude or otherwise of her claim? We must get his beef right. In other words, is Badenoch’s reminiscing a painful recount and frustration with the stagnation of her country of birth, or a mere demonization? Why didn’t she say this about Ghana? It is simply because she has no affinity with the Kwame Nkrumah country. Why would Badenoch take pleasure in the destruction of her fatherland? Let us even agree that those snide comments were meant to demonize; are the comments true about Nigeria? If they are true, should they be glossed over or spoken of, peradventure, the runners of Nigeria, who can be typecast as in the same trove with the Ifeoma Okoye novel’s title, Men Without Ears, (1984) can turn a new leaf?
The only issue I have with Kemi is her excessive patronizing of the British. While she may be British, she is not English. People have cited John Fashanu, the British footballer’s travails in the hands of the British press when he landed in trouble. It reminds me of Ilorin Dadakuada music exponent, Odolaye Aremu, who sang about the “Adìye òpìpí”, a rare species of featherless hen which looks like the hawk. It came into the world with scant feathers. In a moment when the Opipi hen forgot herself and identity, she thought herself to be hawk, until she was torn into pieces by this carnivorous bird.
Today, there are two schools of thought on the travails Nigeria is grappling with. None of them can be considered less patriotic than the other. While one believes in the methodology of alarm for redemption and shaming the devil, the other subscribes to the tactic of domesticating the rot (k’á se egbò l’égbò ilé). In other words, whilst both agree that there is a cancerous sore on the leg of Nigeria, one believes finding remedy should be domesticated, while the other says remedy should be escalated to the whole world. At the intersection where they both meet, however, there is an agreement that their country is the proverbial sickly child. Should its condition be broadcast so that intervention could come, perhaps off-coast or, the condition be lidded, in which case, it could worsen and the child dies?
Whether you are a Nigerian living in Nigeria, outside its shores, a friend of Nigeria or observant of Nigeria from afar, the truth is that Nigeria isn’t really a good story. Tomes of publications have been reeled out about our country’s journey into its present stasis. Political scientists, historians and anthropologists have struggled to locate the gene of destruction inside the pod of Nigeria that is responsible for its poor harvest. One of the most apt capturing of the Nigerian situation was given by foremost political scientist, Eghosa Osaghae who, as title of his book, called it a Crippled Giant. Whenever I remember Professor Osaghae’s descriptive book title, I remember a line in the song of Ayinla Omowura, Yoruba Apala music songster. He sang, “ijó ńbe nínú aro, esè ni ò jé,” meaning that dance is innate within the bones of the crippled but they are disenabled by wobbly feet. Very many attempts to explain Nigeria have failed. Nigeria takes one step forward, ten steps backwards.
Let us even confine ourselves to the period between 1999 and now. For decades before military handover of power, Nigerians wasted blood, flesh, resources and hope believing that once the “enemy” – the military – retired into the barracks, an end had come to the underdevelopment of their country. However, 25 years down the ladder, we have lived ruinous years. The period is comparable to an attack by termites. Their comparison with termites here is instructive. Termites, over the centuries, are one of the greatest enemies of man. Wherever they strike, their presence is concealed and undetected, until they have visited the most rapacious and severest damage on timbers and woods necessary for man’s use. As the devastation goes on, while man sees a normal thin exterior layer of wood, at discovery, it is almost always too late to reverse the colossal ruins.
So, let us do a breakdown of Badenoch’s allegations. Is Nigeria broken? I recently saw a book entitled Leaders Eat Last written by Simon Sinek. It contains nuggets on how leaders, who are the highest ranking officers, should “be the last to fix their plate at mealtime in order to ensure the people in their command were fed and catered for.” Is that what Nigerian leaders/politicians do as compared to other saner climes? Do our presidents, ministers, governors, legislators and their allies, since 1999, as alleged by Kemi, turn public money into private piggy bank? Is an Accountant General of the Federation on trial for stealing N109 billion? Did a public servant build 753 duplexes in Abuja? Do we know what job Bola Tinubu has done between 1999 and now that makes him one of the richest Nigerians alive? Is our judiciary corrupt, fantastically corrupt, a la David Cameron? Have Nigerian leaders failed in the last 25 years? Is our country plagued by corruption? Isn’t the Nigerian school so badly run that students carry chairs to school? Should Britain be a dormitory for residue of the failure of Nigerian leaders? Is everything broken in Nigeria?
It will be difficult not to answer the above posers made by Kemi in the affirmative. Only recently, David Adeleke, a.k.a. Davido, the singing sensation, courted the ire of those who are too blind to see the Nigerian situation. He, too, had thrown mud (ògúlùtu) at runners of Nigeria from far away in the United States. The Tinubu government is all movement and no motion, what in street parlance is called “efisi”. While Sinek tells us that leaders eat last, Tinubu and his minions are growing rotund cheeks while this Christmas, Nigerians face the most barren festivity ever. The ruining gang has almost finished the food on the dining table while even crumbs are not left for the ordinary people.
Whilst this column was going to bed, Badenoch’s reply to Shettima’s tirade and her late father, Femi Adegoke’s interview with the BBC Yoruba, surfaced on social media. Kemi had been quoted to have said, “I am Yoruba: I have nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, the Boko Haram where Islamism is.” If you listened to the elderly Adegoke’s interview, you will understand why Kemi’s bluntness and boldness are an inherited gene. In the interview, apparently conducted before 2022, the year of Adegoke’s passage, he said anyone who saw Tinubu becoming Nigeria’s president with the hope that he would right wrongs against the Yoruba, needed their head examined. In very sharp, deep Yoruba, Adegoke said the idea behind Tinubu’s “Yoruba” presidency was “òrò òpònú gbáà, tí kò m’ógbón wá” – it is a brainless argument. He based this on Tinubu’s silence as his kin were kidnapped and murdered by Fulani herdsmen whilst he mouthed the shibboleth of “gedegbe l’Èkó wà” – Lagos is non-aligned – all because of Lagos’ wealth. Adegoke believed that the 1999 constitution must be abolished if Nigeria wants to make any progress.
Again, Kemi, Adegoke’s daughter, has come under visceral attacks for her latest remarks. As usual, that comment is perceived on social media from an ethnic filter. Igbo compare her with the novelist, Chimamanda Adichie and Hausa/Fulani see her comment as the usual superiority complex of the Yoruba. An examination of it will show that every word Kemi uttered was in line with her avant-garde opposition role in the British parliament and reflects her usual down-to-earthness. Is Kemi Yoruba as she claimed? Very correct! Does she have anything in common with any other part of Nigeria? Certainly, not! Should she have? Yes. Today, many Yoruba, rightly or wrongly, believe that “the Gambari” is the axis of evil in Nigeria.
Kemi belongs to that persuasion. Is the north the epicentre of many of Nigeria’s current challenges, including Boko Haram and out-of-school children, the latter which gave birth to the former and the former which manifested from the Vice President’s home state, Borno State in 1999, especially under Shettima’s leader, Ali Modu Sheriff? Yes. Nigeria spends a considerable part of her budget fighting insecurity, almost 80 per cent of which is located in the north. So, should Kemi have couched her words so as to patronize the rulers of Nigeria? Certainly, not! If she did, she would not be an Adegoke’s daughter, the man whose friends nicknamed “Fariga” – disputation.
It is obvious that Shettima is the orange which attracted bystanders to pummel its mother, the orange tree, with stones and woods (omo osàn tíí kó póńpó bá ìyá è). He is also the King who employed the services of a flutist afflicted with goitre to sing his praise. The lesson therein is that challenged flutists should not blow the flute. Shettima’s Nigeria is the flutist’s goitre that attracts mockery of the world. Let Shettima and his boss remove the goitre from Nigeria’s neck by doing right with the power given them.
To Kemi and her deification of the British system: Since she affirmed she is Yoruba, I enjoin her to listen to the counsel of her people to the “Adìye òpìpí”. Because she has no feathers which help hens to fertilize their eggs, keeping such eggs warm and thereby producing offspring, Yoruba warn the Adìye òpìpí to lay controllable eggs which her scant feathers can fertilize. This is to enable her be a mother like other hens. I hope Kemi understands this wisdom of her forefathers.
OPINION
The Impact of Incessant Attacks in Farming Communities

By Efe Omoghene
Rural communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt and the North, which were once the major cities’ food pipeline, are now struggling to feed themselves. Thriving farmlands now bear the weight of fear and insecurity. With each disrupted planting season, the country edges closer to a more profound food security crisis, exacerbating what began as a regional instability into a nationwide emergency.
Incessant attacks have led to deaths and the displacement of farming communities in states that contribute significantly to Nigeria’s agricultural output. In June alone, attacks in Benue State, the “Food Basket of the Nation”, claimed dozens of lives and uprooted entire communities. While these incidents are heartbreaking, they are not new; we are only witnessing frequent recurrence. This troubling pattern of insecurity continues to force farmers off their land, disrupt food production, and weaken the nation’s ability to feed itself.Statistics from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre show that an estimated 295,000 internal displacements related to conflicts and violence were reported in Nigeria in 2024 alone. This includes the states of Benue, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. This is not just a crisis of safety; it’s a crisis of sustenance.For years, states such as Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, and Zamfara have been key food-producing regions, responsible for much of Nigeria’s grains, roots, fruits, and livestock. However, these areas are increasingly becoming places where violence has made farming a risky endeavour. Clashes between herders and farmers, banditry, terrorism, and communal violence have transformed fertile lands into contested zones. When farmers fear for their safety, they often cease farming or abandon their land altogether.The impact is already being felt. Markets are seeing rising prices on staple foods like yams, rice, and tomatoes. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the cost of beans in the country in October 2024 was 282 per cent higher compared to the same period in 2023.The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s trend analysis for the north-eastern states indicates persistently high or increasing levels of food insecurity since 2018. The number of people needing urgent aid has increased by at least four million annually during the lean seasons since June 2020. Additionally, the north-west and parts of the north-central regions now exhibit critical levels of severe food insecurity and malnutrition, identifying them as major hunger hotspots requiring urgent attention from policymakers.A study revealed that 52.44 per cent of respondents in Niger State experienced food insecurity due to various insecurity activities such as blocking local routes, killings, kidnapping, and disruption of market functions. Insurgencies in the North Central states have also contributed to rising poverty levels among livestock farming households, with 83.84 per cent of livestock farmers participating in a study reporting significant declines in livestock production due to insurgency.If this pattern continues unchecked, the consequences could be long-term. More families will face hunger, and young people will leave rural areas for safety and work, draining the agricultural workforce in rural communities. Dependence on humanitarian aid will rise, and the burden on government resources will increase.This year, Nigeria is already projected to face a significant hunger gap, with up to 33 million people at risk of acute food insecurity in the lean season (between June and August), according to the FAO. This represents a seven million-person increase from the same period in 2023.Food security is not solely the government’s responsibility. It is a basic human right and our collective responsibility. Relying solely on farmers in distressed areas is not a very practical approach. Thankfully, the country is not in a hopeless situation.Across Nigeria, there are numerous examples of humanitarian and community-led peacebuilding efforts in action, and Sahel Consulting is proud to be part of this momentum. We are actively collaborating with local and international partners to develop practical solutions in the food value chain, empowering farmers and strengthening agribusinesses across Nigeria.Through our programs in dairy, seed, tuber, and policy systems, we are facilitating the increase in productivity, improving market access, and building capacity at the grassroots level. Whether it’s training dairy farmers in Adamawa, scaling clean seed yam innovations in Benue, advancing true potato seed systems in Plateau, or improving livestock nutrition through feed and fodder initiatives, our work is rooted in collaboration, innovation, and long-term impact.Similar efforts are taking shape through the work of the Gates Foundation. Gates Ag One, in partnership with the Institute for Agricultural Research at the Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna State, is providing farmers with access to improved seed varieties for crops like beans and maize, engineered to resist pests and withstand drought. The foundation also funds projects to enhance livestock productivity and strengthen dairy value chains.State governments have also started implementing policies to support ranching to address farmer-herder conflicts and enhance agricultural productivity. Eleven states, including Anambra, Bauchi, Delta, Jigawa, Kano, Lagos, Niger, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, and Zamfara, are either allocating land for ranches, developing policies, or committing to do so in the future. This initiative is part of a broader shift from open grazing to more modern, sustainable ranching practices. Farmer-herder dialogues, early warning systems, and conflict mediation groups have all demonstrated promise.Private organisations are also collaborating with ministries, agencies, and local partners to support resilient food systems through training, innovation, and market access.This is by no means the end of the story. While these efforts are commendable, their impact is not particularly noticeable vis-à-vis the insecurity, as they are implemented in isolation and on a relatively small scale. The real challenge, and opportunity, lies in collaboratively scaling initiatives that are working. For lasting change, we need to invest more in proven interventions. Government policies must be supported by robust implementation strategies, and private and development actors must be empowered to apply these models in more communities across the country.It is not enough to initiate these projects; we must establish frameworks that ensure they are sustainable, community-led, and responsive to the realities of the local communities. Clear safeguards and inclusive principles must be in place, especially in areas where displacement and land rights are already sensitive issues. Any solution must consider the voices of host communities and guarantee mutual benefit.Let’s focus on what’s already showing promise, such as improved seed distribution, inclusive value chain optimisations, and community-based peacebuilding. But let’s also be honest: we need to do much more, and we must do it together.The key is to make human security a foundation, not an afterthought, for agricultural development. Farmers need more than seeds and tools. They need to know that if they invest in their land, neither their lives nor their farms will be lost to violence; if they plant, they will live to harvest.Food security starts with human security. When fields are safe, they flourish. And when rural communities thrive, the whole country benefits—from Lagos to Maiduguri, Port Harcourt to Makurdi.Efe Omoghene is the strategic communications officer with Sahel ConsultingOPINION
The Task Before North Central Development Commission
By Bridget Tikyaa
The creation of the North Central Development Commission by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rekindled hope and set the tone for a new lease of development in the entire states of Benue, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Plateau, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
These are states that have suffered long years of economic hardship, insecurity, displacement, disruption of basic services including schools and health infrastructure, and much more. With the inauguration of the board of the commission, whose headquarters is in Lafia, Nasarawa State, all is now set for the commission to articulate its programmes and swing into action. Already, the Federal Government has made provisions in the 2025 budget for the funds with which the commission will execute its programmes and projects.One of the key tasks the commission must plan for and address is the endemic rural poverty and economic hardship in the North central region. Over 75% of rural Nigerians live below the poverty line, with widespread economic stagnation, inflation, and insecurity contributing to severe economic hardship. The region’s dependence on oil and limited diversification have exacerbated poverty, with 30.9% of Nigerians living below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day. This, no doubt, deserves frontal, timely and decisive action to contain.Another troubling aspect in the region is the level of insecurity and conflict being witnessed from Benue to Niger, Kwara and Kogi, Nasarawa and Plateau. The region is plagued by conflicts between farmers and herders, banditry, local militias particularly in Benue and Plateau states, resulting in loss of lives, displacement of communities, and decline in agricultural productivity. Insecurity has also limited access to cropland and restricted access to agricultural inputs. It is therefore imperative for the commission to interact with key stakeholders and devise a regional approach to the security challenges, including the establishment of a regional security, including support to existing security agencies to ensure a decisive and prompt response to the challenges. The safer the region, the more it takes the right steps to address other challenges.The North Central Development Commission should also have a blueprint to respond to the climate change and environmental issues in the region, from rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, flooding, and drought, to erosion and deforestation. Presently, these challenges have intensified existing vulnerabilities, disrupting education, health services, and community protection mechanisms. Climate change has also contributed to resource-based conflicts over land, water, and minerals as in Benue, Niger and Plateau states.One fundamental issue the commission must develop a Marshal plan for is the scourge of displacement and humanitarian crisis due to conflicts that had made over 300,000 homeless in just four states, including Benue and Nasarawa. This has resulted in increased vulnerability to gender-based violence, exploitation, and abuse, particularly among women and girls. This vulnerable population needs protection, security, emotional and economic support, and mental health evaluation, among others. The commission, therefore, has a huge task ahead of it, working in sync with the government of the six states, development partners and other stakeholders, to justify its creation by making a huge presence in the lives of the people of the region.The six states in the North Central also face limited access to basic services, including healthcare, education, and protection mechanisms. There are a number of areas where health facilities and schools have been destroyed or disrupted, thereby exacerbating the existing vulnerabilities. There are also the governance and leadership challenges due to weak governance structures, corruption, and poor management of the region’s natural resources. Over the years, the lack of effective leadership and accountability has hindered efforts to address poverty, insecurity, and climate change in the region and other parts of the country.These interconnected challenges, no doubt, require a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to address, and the North Central Development Commission can greatly contribute to the solutions by vigorously promoting the region’s development, sustainable growth and stability.By Bridget Tikyaa is a Media Expert and writes form MakurdiOPINION
Olukoyede and the New EFCC

By Reuben Abati
Last Friday, 18 July, the incumbent Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede was in Lagos to hold a sensitisation programme on Naira Abuse, at the Colonades Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos. What was reported in most newspapers and other platforms, was the EFCC czar’s disclosure that 18 currently serving Governors are under investigation by the EFCC, and that as soon as these Governors are out of office, the EFCC will pounce on them.
He hid the juicy part of the story by not disclosing names. Nigerians would have loved to know who these suspected thieving Governors are, at a time the people are groaning under the effect of petrol subsidy removal, high cost of living and the state governors are getting more money than they ever did.The EFCC has the powers to investigate sitting Governors, Deputy Governors, the President and the Vice President, but they are covered by Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution which grants them immunity from prosecution while in office.The intendment of Section 308, is to prevent this category of public officials from being distracted by a plethora of petitions that they may need to respond to. This is however not the case in every part of the world. In countries like South Africa, Israel, the United States, Brazil and France, not even the President is protected from prosecution.In March 2021, for example, former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to a year in prison for corruption and influence peddling. In 1974, US President Gerald Ford lost his position because of clear, irrefutable evidence of wrong-doing in the Watergate scandal. In South Korea, sitting and former Presidents have been sent to jail, the latest being President Yoon Suk-Yeol, and before him, President Lee Myung-bak (MB).In Brazil, the inimitable President Luiz Lula da Silva spent time behind bars (2017-2019). The principle is that nobody is above the law, and that misdeeds at any level must not go unpunished. Nigerians would want a review/amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to hold public office holders, all of them, regardless of position, accountable. It is most unfortunate that this is not a major issue in the ongoing discussions about constitutional amendment. It is unthinkable that any President, former or incumbent would be convicted in Nigeria. The immunity at that level is for life.Olukoyede had disclosed that the typical pattern for serving Governors is to run away before the expiration of their right to immunity. We are all witnesses to the fact that it is standard practice indeed for Governors to “japa” and not even wait to hand over to their successors. By simply serving notice, it is not impossible that the guilty among the Governors would be afraid and try to cover their tracks.The media won’t choose what will sell the news, and perhaps it is juicier to focus on the fact that 18 serving governors are being watched closely. The main substance of Olukoyede’s sensitisation programme however, was Naira Abuse, an event organised in “close concert with the Central Bank of Nigeria.” Before then, Olukoyede’s EFCC had set up a Task Force on Dollarisation and Naira Abuse to address “some of the practices that threaten the value of the currency”.Within the purview of Section 21 of the CBN Act, 2007, all acts that constitute Naira abuse are punishable for a term of not less than six months or a fine of not less than N50, 000 or both. These include the spraying of the Naira, dancing on it, marching and stepping on it, mutilation or defacement, and the selling or trading of Naira notes.This latter is a very common practice in Nigeria – the banks never give out new notes but every weekend at parties, naira merchants sell crisp national currency for profit, making us wonder whether there is a parallel Mint in the country where the Naira is printed.Ola Olukoyede, has made the protection of then naira, a major point of campaign. It is on record that with him as EFCC Chairman, many celebrities have been called to question for abusing the naira. There is the case of Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky, who purportedly spent six months at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre for spraying the Naira at a public gathering. Bobrisky pleaded guilty.Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest was also arraigned in April 2024, but he pleaded not guilty. His own lawyers even went as far as questioning the jurisdiction of the court and the prosecutorial powers of the EFCC.Bobrisky was convicted, Cubana Chief Priest escaped with a fine of N10 million. Both men have not abused the Naira since then. Bobrisky is in fact so beaten and sober that he/she in fact took the safe option of lying low, disappearing from the social scene.Who would have thought that the famed “Mummy of Lagos” having gone to the college of imprisonment would calm down? As recently as May 2025, one Okoli Frank Emeka was sentenced to six months imprisonment for marching on the naira at Al Moruf Garden, Isheri Olofin, Lagos. The same month, one Kelly Okungbowa, aka Ebo Stone was arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Benin on a two-count charge of Naira abuse.In Kaduna, a TikToker and content creator, Muhammad Kabir Sa’ad was arrested and charged to court for mutilating the Naira. Kabir dared the EFCC in a video online to come and arrest him. They did. But the arrests were not limited to the average, struggling Nigeria.Earlier in January 2025, two sons of billionaire businessman, Razaq Okoya – Wahab and Raheem Okoya were invited for questioning for spraying bundles of N1, 000 Naira notes in a promotional clip for Raheem’s new song, “Credit Alert”.In May 2025, the EFCC also summoned the celebrated actress, Iyabo Ojo, self-styled Queen Mother, for the abuse of the Naira during her daughter, Priscilla’s wedding to the Tanzanian artiste, Juma Jux in Lagos. Iyabo Ojo was lucky, and she has not been seen anywhere spraying Naira notes again. Another actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was not so lucky.She was sentenced to six months imprisonment for spraying and tampering with the Naira at an event at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos on January 28, 2023. In May 2025, the popular comedian and actor, Ayo Makun was also invited for questioning. He was so happy that the EFCC pardoned him, he issued a statement in which he said he had learnt his lessons.Despite all these cases, Nigerians continue to abuse the Naira contrary to Section 21(1) of the CBN Act, 2007. What the EFCC seems to have achieved is a drastic reduction in the obscene spraying and mutilation of the Naira that was the norm, and the effrontery of the partying crowd.The abuse started with the fun-loving people of the South West, the Yoruba who enjoy spraying the naira lavishly as a show of class and wealth but the behaviour soon spread to other parts of the country, particularly the East where the Igbo nouveaux riche have added spectacular colour to the spraying of the Naira and other currencies with the aid of a hand-held spraying gun, and accustomed sass. I once deplored this practice in a controversial article titled “Obi Cubana and the Oba Funeral”, (ThisDay, July 20, 2021).But neither this nor any other intervention has encouraged Nigerians to obey the law. Their standard excuse as articulated by Deyemi Okanlawon, an actor, is that the EFCC should focus more on other issues rather than the spraying of the Naira which is “a cultural problem”. It is perhaps for cultural reasons that many Nigerians have continued to spray the Naira, but they have found a way of taming the law.It is common these days to find celebrants carrying cartons or boxes into which money is deposited. Quite a number of thick-headed persons still spray and abuse the Naira at parties though, stubbornly insisting that they have the right to do what they wish with their money.Ola Olukoyede responded to this cultural argument as follows: “there is nothing cultural about spraying and stamping on the Naira or throwing wads of the currency in the air at social events. Nowhere in the world is such despicable practice tolerated.Nobody who works hard to earn money will go to social events and stamp on the currency. As a salary earner myself, it is unimaginable for me to go out and start throwing my hard-earned salary in the air!” The EFCC chair added that the Naira is a symbol “of our sovereignty and economic might” whose integrity must be protected.Its abuse is a punishable offence. He further cited the example of a former Governor, who after his tenure in office, celebrated his birthday in a hotel in London.The said Governor sprayed 50 and 10 bills in pounds sterling. The hotel manager having never seen such a thing in his life, called 911 and summoned the Metropolitan Police. The former Nigerian Governor was arrested and the police wanted to put him in an ambulance. According to the EFCC Chair: “The people – his friends, colleagues, and two governors – who went to London to celebrate with him had to intervene.They said the ex-Governor was not a mad man because the hotel manager thought he was mad.” It should be considered quite interesting that what is considered normal in Nigeria is interpreted as pure madness in other countries.Olukoyede has brought an evangelical fervour to the fight against economic and financial crimes. He is, by the way, a Pastor in a Pentecostal church. What he has achieved is to remind his audience and the larger Nigerian community that ignorance of the law is not an excuse, and that no one is above the law. He also drew attention to what the law says.He is a lawyer. In attendance at the Colonades Hotel event were musicians, actors, event organizers, influencers, content creators, hospitality stakeholders, financial sector representatives and the general public. Some of the celebrities in attendance included King Alabi Pasuma, the Fuji artiste, MI, Ill Bliss Goretti, Osas Ighodaro, Pretty Mike, Terry Apala, Mercy Aigbe, Kazim Adeoti, Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, Anto Lecky and others.Musicians and event organizers depend on the spraying of Naira for extra patronage and encouragement. What is new is the EFCC’s attempt to invest heavily in public sensitization. The agency also has an anti-corruption radio station, EFCC 97.3 FM in Abuja, whose broadcast is live streamed through the EFCC website, www.efcc.gov.ng. Ola Olukoyede rose through the ranks within the EFCC to get to the apex position, but other Chairmen before him did not bother as much about public sensitisation.Section 6(p) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004 as amended, states among the functions of the agency: “carrying out and sustaining rigorous public and enlightenment campaign against economic and financial crimes within and outside Nigeria.” Olukoyede is giving effect to this to a higher degree like no one else before him.Past Chairmen have been accused of allowing the EFCC to be used as a tool of political intimidation, and witch-hunt as has been robustly evidenced in two books by Muhammed Bello Adoke viz: Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney General (2019) and OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 bn Nigerian Oil Block (2025).This is not the case with Ola Olukoyede. But he has also had his own share of criticisms as in for example, Steve Osuji’s “EFCC’s alarming impunity” (July 10, 2025) which has attracted a rejoinder in a piece titled “Campaign of calumny against EFCC” (Punch, July 21, 2025) by Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesperson.Last Friday, the EFCC Chair painted a picture of the achievements of the EFCC under his watch, denying any charge of impunity. To be fair, there has been relatively less hysteria in his campaign against corruption. He regards the battle as a collective responsibility. He wants an all-of society-approach. It will be recalled that he was the first EFCC Chairman to admit publicly that there is corruption even within the EFCC.In 2024, Olukoyede sacked 27 of his own men for misconduct and fraudulent activities. He also ordered a probe into an alleged fraud of $400, 000 linked to a sectional Head of the EFCC. But perhaps what is more remarkable about the EFCC these days, is that there have been no serious allegations that the agency is being used for political vendetta.The credit for this belongs to Olukoyede, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has given him the free hand to do his job, the best way he understands it. But will he win the battle against Naira abuse? The best that he can hope for is limited success. The madness of Naira plunking seems to be a genetic affliction among Nigerians. He would be better off finding a cure for it. He is doing well.Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.