Born Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, the name Pelé was borne out of a childhood joke a preteen friend cracked on the street of Três Corações, São Paulo.
Author: Tunde Odesola
There were no trees, no greenery in sight from my skyview as Lagos spread out like a ghetto cast in concrete, iron, rubble and filth.
Macbeth murdered sleep and he slept no more; Nigerian leaders murder sleep, yet they snore even more because hell lives here.
In his time, Pope John Paul II was the global ambassador of Christ. When he spoke, the world listened.
Ohanaemere, the unlettered Anambra indigene, more famous for his comic displays than his cleric claims, also calls himself ‘The Liquid Metal’, which is another name for mercury.
Life’s the pendulum in the Grandfather Clock, swinging left and right, like the balls of the bull, ępón máàlu, ever dangling, never falling.
I stepped out to smoke. When I stepped back into the house, it was as if I carried faeces with me into the house
So, I hissed when Fuji singer, Wasiu Ayinde, called on President Tinubu in a viral video, telling him that Nigerians are shuffering
For a long period, I racked my brain; searching and researching, constructing and deconstructing, writing and unwriting,
For ’Wande, life is a marathon of battles requiring the armours of endurance, courage and determination.
When he was about six years old, his three-year-old sister had strayed into a room he warned her not to go into.
Therefore, I beseech you, brethren, to keep these words in your hearts, inscribe them in stones and scribble them on scrolls.
For 70 minutes, Argentina was in control, and France was in a coma with their talisman, Kylian Mbappe, locked in the cooler.
How the cottony clouds could defy gravitational force and hold the almighty sun from falling remained a mystery to Ádámò.
The tale of the scorpion is in its tail. Here’s the tale of Erelu Bede, a woman who lived in the time of Orunmila, the Yoruba deity of wisdom and divination. The Araba of Osogbo, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, told me this tale in detail. The tale grew popular and became a collection in the series of Ifa teachings called Ogundabede. In this article, I intend to use the tale of Ogundabede aka ‘Ikunmú àgbà’ as a metaphor that weaves the power of language and culture into a tapestry, like a hairdresser using the ilari cutting comb to part the customer’s hair into three per time before weaving each three it into strands of knee-length box braids. ‘Ikunmú àgbà’ is the mucus in the nose of the elderly, difficult for the young to point out.
There’s no god-like mother, orisa bi iya kosi. A praying mother for that matter. Eyes shut wide in her bowed head, brow sweats as bosom heaves up and down while tongue speaks in supplication for her offspring to grow in wisdom, blossom in understanding, blow in success, live in health and enjoy the good life. The prayer of a mother.
This is the citation of Èsù, the Yoruba god of protection, benevolence, chief enforcer and messenger between heaven and earth: Èsù Láàlú, ògiri òkò, onílé kángun kàgun ọ̀nà ọ̀run, jọ̀wọ́ má yọjú s’ọ́rọ̀mi. Èsù Lároóyè, afi àdá olójúméjì tọrọ epo lọ́wọ́ ẹní lépo! Èsù má se mí, ọmọ ẹlòmíì ni o se.
It’s evening yet on Creation Day in Odò ọbà, the Land of the prized Parrots, where the Lion complained about not having a crown to proclaim his kingship, and his creator gave him a golden mane. Later, he complained about his teeth and he got powerful jaws. He looked at his paws and bewailed, he got razors for claws.
Before anything else, let’s do with some laughter because this is a sobering journey into time – a journey gathering hailstones, lightning and thunder – tools to be unleashed in the cases of royal injustice and intolerance in Iwo and Ilorin.
A good old friend of mine resident in Chicago, Yomi Abioye, aka Macito, texted me after reading the first part of this article. The Ifon-born indigene of Osun said, “You ought to have ended this write-up this week and focus your next article on the bunch of buccaneers in our legislature that has become a symbol of corruption. Can you imagine how they are publicly sharing taxpayers’ money among themselves?”