On Thursday, 29 May, President Bola Tinubu came out to observe the ritual rites of presidential office. He began his speech by addressing us as “fellow compatriots”. It is a tautology that he chewed ad nauseam in the speech. Language experts have faulted the syntax of “fellow” and “compatriots” cohabiting in the same line. They say the latter embeds the former. Not to worry. Such unnecessary and needless repetition into redundancy is what we get in the bargain in the action of our leaders. Africa and indeed, the Third World in general, suffers the affliction of leaders and tautologos. It is an epidemic of leaders who act like the sexually infirm. For this species of infirm male, when queried on why they cannot insert into the right hole, they boast of possessing the capability to make multiple insertion of threads into the barely visible hole of the needle, even in the dark. Were Tinubu to be tautologous in delivery of democratic dividends, it would have been more desirable than repetition of needless words.
Tinubu’s third anniversary, Ogun deity and voodoo vote numbers, By Festus Adedayo
