There is a very popular saying in my native Yoruba language. It reads thus:
“Ó sọ sì mí l’ẹ́nu, ó tún bú iyọ̀ sí. Ísò kò ṣe é pọ̀n l’à, iyọ̀ kò ṣe é tu dànù.”
This saying is used when we find some matter as being ugly and reprehensible and at the same time loathing it and being unprepared or unable to spew it out. Sometimes too, we say in Yoruba that:
“Ọ̀rọ̀ pé sì jẹ.”
This four-word sentence shows or is a pointer to the frustration that engulfs us when we come to cross-roads. Since these expressions are only relevant to the second part of this writing, I would leave them out for now until they become relevant subsequently and sooner too. In doing so, I crave the reader’s indulgence to let us go international before coming to ply the domestic route in our engagement for today.
This out-going week, the American president Donald John Trump (DJP) authorised the attack on the nuclear facility of the country called, Iran an emerging powerhouse in the politics of the Middle East.
Why? Of course, he had reasons for it. Historically, last Sunday’s strike on the Iranian nuclear site has been some 15 years in the making. President Trump did brag after the strikes that it was very successful, describing the nuclear sites as having been “completely and totally obliterated.” This is contrary to early intelligence reports which suggested that the strikes on Iran did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear programme but only gave it a setback. Whatever that means is not the concern here.An operation had been carried out to success. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also towed his boss’s line of thinking when he said after the June 22nd strikes that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.” In order to strike on Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment plant, the US had had to apply 30,000-pound GBU-57 “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” bombs. We are told the design of those weapons, the plans, and strategy for the attack had been in the works for some 15 years.
Talk of proper and very extensive planning and you’re right! Only such long-term planning can deliver such a result, which is very much like the one Barack Obama had in taking justice to Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The immediate result of this complex and secret military operation is the ceasefire agreement and the temporary end of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel that had been ongoing before then.
When Americans say they are great, for sure they are. As part of the 15 years of planning, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, says two officers of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) had studied the Iran nuclear site target,which is some 60 miles from Tehran, the capital. In the words of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Sunday morning at 2:15 am in Iran was a historically successful day. He goes on: “It gives us a chance to have peace, a chance to have a deal, and an opportunity to prevent a nuclear Iran.”
So the US said they went on that mission called Operation Midnight Hammer for three reasons: peace in the world, to get a deal, and prevent Iran from having nuclear capabilities. Those of us who were around as youngsters in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, or who have read about the Iran-Israel relationship, will admit the two Middle East nations were the best of friends before 1977 when things fell apart and the centre could not hold any more.
Long, long before that and going into early civilization times, Iranian and Jewish history could be said to be intertwined. God called Abraham in the Bible, from his native Ur, which is in today’s Iraq to settle in Israel.The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers that washed the Garden of Eden are in today’s Iraq The old Babylonian Empire was located in what is today called Iraq. It was from there that a damsel was head-hunted for Isaac from Abraham’s kinsmen of old to marry. All countries in the Middle East are neighbours. The Jewish State of Israel, a tiny long stretch of land mass shares borders with Lebanon and Jordan.Jordan shares with Iraq and Iraq with Saudi Arabia Kuwait and Iran which the US descended on last Sunday.
Israel may be Jews, but a significant percentage of them are Arabs. All her neighbours are mostly Arabs. But that does not make the regular contestations we find between and amongst them a religious one.
When the United Nations created Israel in May 1948, Iran was a country under monarchy. The relationship between the then two neighbouring countries was very cordial. Iran was the second country in the Middle East to recognize the creation of Israel as a sovereign nation-state. The Iranian monarchy saw Israel as a strategic partner. The two went into business and economic partnership that profited both sides. Then, the nations saw eye-to-eye. Prime Ministers of Israel regularly visited Iran. It was co-operation all the way.The Shah of Iran called for such co-operation to check the spread of Soviet influence in the Middle East. In those years, Iran supplied Israel with oil and even allowed the Jewish nation to use its airspace for training. Israel helped to train the Iranian army. In fact, the Uzi guns made by Israel then were sold to the soldiers for the use by the elite guards of the Iranian monarchy. It was a partnership that was based on necessity and mutual trust. This shaped the security and economy of both countries.
Israeli economic delegations that used to visit Iran admitted they were treated like kings. Trade with Iran made Israel get the resources it needed to develop its military capabilities that we know of today. But that was all before the Islamic revolution that Ayatollah Khomeini led in 1977, which forced the Shah into exile in February 1979. The Islamic fundamentalists had seized political and administrative power in Iran and turned the country into an Islamic Republic. Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown on 11th of February 1979 as Shah of Iran. He had ruled Iran for nearly 38 years, between 1942 and 1979.
His overthrow gave way to today’s Islamic Republic of Iran. His exit gave way to the coming on board of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader. In the last 46 or so years since the fundamentalists took over, Iran has been in the news for many wrong reasons that border on human rights abuse, high-handedness, autocratic rule, religious intolerance, and contestation even among Islamic sects.
Even if the obliteration of the nuclear sites is a hyperbole from an ever over-exaggerative DJP, the fact is that Operation Midnight Hammer that the US launched on Iranian nuclear sites a week ago will certainly go down to douse tension in the Middle East and force the “policeman” of the zone to observe some self-restraint.
One is impressed by the summation of Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who proudly declared at a news conference after his president had broken the “we have obliterated Iranian nuclear capabilities” news to Americans. The General had said also that this is what America’s joint forces do. “We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we test, we evaluate every single day. And when the call comes to deliver, we do so.”
Isn’t all that about being proactive? Yes, it is. Why then should the Yankees not be more proud and confident a people, even like the peacock? I am very impressed: they think, develop, train, rehearse, test, and evaluate every day, and so when the call comes to deliver, they do it at top-notch.
The same cannot be said about Nigeria. We do think, yes, but we don’t develop nor train nor rehearse. Habaaa! We hardly evaluate and so don’t deliver. Perhaps “can’t” is the word. But how shall we deliver at a perfection rate when we hardly evaluate?
This brings me to Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s arraignment before an Abuja Federal High Court by the Federal Government. People may say it is the Department of State Services (DSS) that is behind it. Okay! Who set up and owns the DSS? From the Director-General to the least in the hierarchy? Come on give us a break jooo!
A lawmaker is accused of defamatory statements she used on the Senate President of this country, Goodwill Akpabio (a man the lady senator has an allegation against before the whole world), and former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. This is a man the senator is accusing of planning with Akpabio to eliminate her.
We are not in this write-up claiming the lady senator did or did not defame the two. Our position is this: Why should the Federal Government go to court on behalf of the two? Why should the government cry more than the bereaved? Why should they want to become more Catholic than Pope Leo XIV, who in less than a month of his enthronement has chosen to visit Iran, the biggest challenger to Catholicism or Christianity as a whole?
This is why I went home to borrow the two Yoruba statements I quoted earlier in the opening paragraph of this piece:
“Ó sọ sì mí l’ẹ́nu, ó tún bú iyọ̀ sí. Ísò kò ṣe é pọ̀n l’à, iyọ̀ kò ṣe é tu dànù.”
When a hard guy farts into your mouth and a good guy pushes table salt there simultaneously, you can’t swallow the fart but will also loathe spewing out the salt because salt is good to taste. That scene becomes a moment of dilemma. It is very similar to the frustration that comes to us when we get onto a crossroads, which Yorubas call:
“Ìkọ̀ríìtà mẹ́rin.”
Yorubas will sigh and say:
“Ọ̀rọ̀ pé sìn jẹ ò!”
What does—or what should—a frustrated man do?
“Ọ̀rọ̀ tí pé ẹ̀sìn jẹ fún.”This is the dilemma and frustration the accusation of Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan puts Nigerians in. In the interest of fair play, the Federal Government should please enter a plea of nolle prosequi in this matter henceforth and soonest.
Yahaya Bello is accused of financial crimes by the EFCC, whose chairman has sworn on camera he would resign if… Yet the presidency sent him a congratulatory 50th birthday wish recently. Does it mean “his sins have been forgiven”?We live in a country that always lacks the courage to challenge falsehood and stand firmly by the truth. It is always important to respect men but we must equally honour truth every time of the day. This explains why young Nigerians are getting confused about the Federal Government’s special interest in this case. They feel if Senate President Akpabio and former Governor Yahaya Bello really felt “one kind” by the lady senator’s insult, they could go to court themselves and pursue the matter. That would be okay and there would be no qualms.
Now, let us ask this question: Will the Federal Government sue the Senate President on behalf of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan just because of the allegation that the man from Akwa Ibom is doing “sme-sme” to her?
This matter is one that young Nigerians can’t understand.
“Them never see am before.”
“Ọ̀rọ̀ yìí sọ sí won l’ẹ́nu, ò sì tún pé sìn jẹ ò.”Federal government pls don’t do the magic Fela Anikulapo Kuti accused of.Please, please, not the law but the moral component of law.
Smolette Adetoyese Shittu-Alamu writes from Lajomo Estate, Osogbo
28/6/25.
