– Senator Remi Tinubu’s Visit Revealed Rot in Osun Govt House
– As Rancour Persists, Citizens Wonder Who’s Boss Between Gov Adeleke, Wives
Nobody envies Ademola Adeleke, Executive Governor of Osun State. Not at this moment. Not ever perhaps. Those who did have learned a hard lesson, that the office which elevated Adeleke with its perks can also reduce him by its horror.
The chubby governor who hitherto aroused the envy of peers and associates at his ascent to the Number One office in Osun State House recently suffered a plummet in reckoning by the antics of his two wives, Titilola and Ngozi.
Love and matrimony in the State House, Adeleke, would find, assert a dark morality when rivalry saunters in.
Adeleke must grapple with the task of taming his two wives, Titilola and Ngozi as recently established by their desperate theatrics and disregard for him and his office as the Executive Governor of Osun State.
Although Adeleke had managed to keep up appearances that all was well and smooth sailing between his two wives, the latter’s show of shame during the recent visit of Nigeria’s First Lady and wife of President Bola Tinubu, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to Osun State revealed that their home was in disarray.
No sooner did the First Lady schedule a visit to Osogbo, Osun’s capital, than Adeleke’s two wives engaged in a fierce contest to host Senator Tinubu, with each wife claiming to be the chief hostess and the official First Lady of Osun.
Not long after a press statement signed by the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, which announced Tinubu’s impending visit was released to the public, two different fliers were published by Titilola and Ngozi Adeleke, both wives of the governor welcoming wife of the president to the state.
In the separate fliers which went viral on the internet, each woman referred to herself as the First Lady of Osun State, raising concerns about who would receive Senator Tinubu between them.
There is no gainsaying Titilola and Ngozi sparked controversy on social media with their posters welcoming Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, to the state. These distinct posters were created on Tuesday to welcome Mrs Tinubu during her scheduled visit to Osogbo.
Mrs Tinubu was expected to grace Tuesday’s turning of the SOD ceremony for the Alternative High School for Girls to be launched at Oke D. O Ilesha, Osogbo
The posters displayed images of the two women extending a warm welcome to Senator Tinubu as each woman claimed the title of Osun’s First Lady.
The incident generated a buzz in social space as netizens condemned their antics, and berated them for engaging in a shameful contest for reckoning.
On Monday, the governor’s wives endorsed themselves as the First Lady of Osun State in the two posters. Titilola’s poster featured her picture alongside the First Lady (Senator Tinubu) and her husband, Governor Adeleke, in the middle. The poster affixed to what appears to be a utility pole bore the message, “Official turning of the SOD ceremony of the Alternative High School For Girls at Oke D.O, Ilesha Road, Osogbo, Osun State—commissioned today, 23rd April 2024 by Her Excellency Senator Oluremi Tinubu (CON OON), The First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In her poster, Ngozi featured a picture of Senator Tinubu alongside the text, “Welcome to the state of living spring. Experience the beauty of Osun State’s landscape.”
Since Governor Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) assumed office as the sixth civilian governor of Osun State on November 27, 2022, he has been in a quandary of sorts to choose his official First Lady.
As the posters kept circulating on social media, the question arose, “Who is the First Lady?” as netizens acknowledged that traditionally, only one lady would represent the office of the governor’s wife. However, the current situation in Osun State deviated from the norm.
Eventually, Governor Adeleke disowned the flier circulated by his second wife, Ngozi, welcoming Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu to the state.
Adeleke described the flier purportedly circulated by Ngozi as fake. He also said there was no conflict over who among his two wives would host the First Lady, who is on a visit to Osun today, Tuesday, April 23, during which she would turn the sod of the Alternative High School for Girls at Oke D.O, Ilesha Road, Osogbo.
Providing clarification on the matter, the spokesperson for the state governor, Olawale Rasheed, in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Monday, said Titilola Adeleke is the First Lady and would receive Tinubu during the visit.
He said the flier circulating purportedly from the Office of Ngozi Adeleke, was fake adding that the person behind it had been arrested.
He also said Ngozi did not authorise the flier, as the material was manufactured and shared by elements who wanted to sow discord and create an atmosphere of confusion.
The statement read, “The attention of Mr Governor has been drawn to fake news in circulation about conflict over who among the Governor’s two wives is to host the First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu on her official visit to the State tomorrow.
“For clarification, Chief (Mrs) Titilola Adeleke, the First Lady of Osun State, is officially hosting the First Lady of the Republic tomorrow in line with the directive of Mr Governor. There is no confusion on this official position.
“The state government under Governor Ademola Adeleke is set to receive the First Lady and her team in Osun State.”
The recent incident established, without doubt, the degree of degeneration and disregard for Adeleke’s matrimonial leadership and constituted authority as State Governor by his two wives.
There is no gainsaying both women threw caution to the wind and descended to their vainer natures as they jostled to best each other to the title of First Lady of Osun State. In their wild dash for reckoning, they committed their wiles and influence to stifling each other and so doing, besmirched the peace, authority and quiet of their home and the State House.
To forestall a recurrence of such disgraceful conduct by his two wives, Governor Adeleke must surely improve his approach to polygyny. Right now, he doesn’t seem to get a hang of it.
The most fortunate instance in polygyny is when the co-wives unite to entrench the peace and stability of their union with their husband even as they reciprocally keep each other in check; in this kind of arrangement, weaker and gentle natures are generally also allowed air and light, within the ambit of fairness, justice and decorum.
Governor Adeleke may take a cue from much younger men in his domain who are successfully managing between two and four wives without the latter’s recourse to desperate theatrics and shamelessness, like the type displayed by his wives in anticipation of Senator Tinubu’s visit to Osun.
Better still, he may also seek guidance from much younger Senegalese President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44, who has so far managed to keep his two wives, Marie Khone and Absa, in check before he took the oath of office as Senegalese President and afterwards.
Neither of Faye’s wives has made a frantic lunge to appropriate the title of First Lady of Senegal as they both answer to the title without tarnishing their home and the Senegalese State House.
Faye has surely gotten a better hang of polygyny than Adeleke. Polygyny is a traditional and religious practice firmly anchored in the culture of Senegal where the overwhelming majority is Muslim.
Faye’s first wife, Marie Khone, who until now had never been in the spotlight, comes from the same village as 44-year-old Faye. They married 15 years ago and have four children. Faye married his second wife Absa just over a year ago.
And his home management style has been described by top Senegalese sociologist, Djiby Diakhate, as the ultimate recognition of the tradition of polygamy at the top of the state, with a situation that will reflect Senegalese reality.
Will Adeleke learn to manage his home and his wives’ excesses or would he eventually succumb to their wild antics and watch them subject his masculinity and the gubernatorial seat of Osun to further ridicule?
