Good morning,
One of Nigeria’s greatest, Olu Jacobs, has died. He was 84. The Lion of Lufodo trained at RADA, returned home in the 1980s, and became the regal voice of Nollywood’s formative years. He mentored generations through the Lufodo Academy. His family announced the passing on Wednesday. The industry has lost a standard, not just an actor. There is no replacement for that voice.
Meanwhile, two governors gave us a study in priorities. In Ilorin, Niger State Governor Umar Bago attended the turbaning of Kwara’s governor as Sardauna, broadcast live on national television. Back in Borgu, four villages remain deserted after terrorists dragged worshippers from mosques during Jummah prayers on 21 August. The LGA chairman says about 60 were taken. Residents say 500. The terrorists themselves released a video claiming 500 captives. It is now September. The captives remain in the forest. In Akure, Governor Aiyedatiwa has given forest criminals 14 days to leave or face “their Waterloo”. Fourteen days. For armed men who plant IEDs on the roads security operatives cannot use. A deadline is not an operation. Ondo’s forests will not be cleared by a press statement.
The roads themselves remain among the deadliest places in the country. A tanker fleeing Vehicle Inspection Officers hit a passenger bus at Iponri, Alaka, sending commuters leaping from the doors to survive. This is not enforcement. It is endangerment with a badge. A day later, five people were rescued from a multiple-vehicle crash at Otedola Bridge. No deaths. On that bridge, that counts as mercy. And the buses Lagosians queue for are disappearing while officials celebrate rail lines that serve a fraction of the daily commute. A former aide turned ambassador even claimed Uber left because everyone now takes the train. The people waiting in the sun at Oshodi know better.
Away from the traffic, the state is counting citizens. President Tinubu has ordered NIMC to hit 95 per cent NIN coverage by December, from a population of over 220 million, with rural enrolment centres still scarce. INEC is meanwhile using the NIN to audit and clean the voter register for 2027, riding on the same database. The logic is sound. The risk is exclusion. Millions of Nigerians have no NIN, and a voter roll that is clean only because the poor are absent is not integrity. It is arithmetic dressed as reform.
A lion dies. A governor celebrates while his people sit in a forest. Criminals are given two weeks. Commuters leap from buses. The state counts the living and risks erasing the vulnerable. These are not separate stories. They are the same story: a country where grief, spectacle and absence sit side by side, and where the bill always lands on the person waiting at the bus stop. The question is whether we will build a country that sees all of its citizens, or simply the ones with the right documents.
Warmly,
Lolade