Nigeria’s Minister of Darkness, ah I mean Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adekola Adelabu has never been short of being in peculiar messes. The ex-banker but eternally arrogant politician is always moving from one mess to the other, living true to his grandfather’s popular nickname, Penkelemesi, which is actually a Yorubanised form of peculiar mess.
Always in the news for the wrong reasons, Adelabu, who desperately wants to become Oyo State governor, was in the news on Monday, for showing off his affluence unreasonably at a time that millions of Nigerians are wallowing in penury. This was despite the fact that he has continued to make a mess of the task of reviving the power sector, a lofty task that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu committed into his hands in 2023.
Controversial news medium, Sahara Reporters, had on Monday, accused Adelabu of flaunting a corruption-powered extravagant lifestyle following a video of the Minister showing his Ibadan home to a notable Fuji musician and some admirers. While Adelabu’s media spinner has since demanded a retraction from Sahara Reporters, noting that the palatial building was completed before he became Minister, it did not change the fact that Adelabu loves to get himself enmeshed in peculiar messes, some of which would have been avoided but for his arrogant disposition. For instance, why did Adelabu have to show off his mansion, which his lackeys have dubbed Government House? Was that show-off an extension of the campaign for the Ibadan North House of Representatives by-election? Well, it was typical of Adelabu, who likes to tell whoever cares to listen that he bagged a First Class at the university.
Whether or not Adelabu completed the expansive building in office as Minister or not is immaterial; at least his rejoinder could not disprove the claim that there is pervasive darkness in the country and that his failure as Minister of Power speaks louder than his garrulous self. A man known more for his arrogance and garrulity than for any meaningful achievement in office either as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria or as a Minister, Adelabu had been in an earlier mess when he disrespectfully told APC women wing members to shut up, accusing them of being mendicants and beggarly lots.
At the flag-off of the APC’s campaign for the Ibadan North Federal Constituency by-election coming up on Saturday, 16 August, 2025, Adelabu had unceremoniously shouted at the women: “E je ka gboran; e jo e jo. Eyin obinrin yi, se e wa toro owo ni…” It was such an unthinkable thing to say to the party members, most of whom stayed committed, loyal and faithful to the APC when Adelabu prostituted to the Accord Party to fester his desperation to become governor of Oyo State. It was even more humiliating that such harsh words could be used for women by a Minister in the cabinet of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose loyal and loving wife, Oluremi has been a bulwark, spreading the gospel of Renewed Hoped through her Renewed Hope Initiative. Minister Adelabu chose to dash the hopes of women at the Ibadan rally by calling them beggars; he chose to dash the hopes of millions of Nigerians languishing in penury with the ill-advised show-off of the building that his praise-singers have named ‘The Government House.’ What arrogance! What nonsensical arrogance!
Way before the faux-pas at Bodija Market, Adelabu has always strutted into peculiar messes, with his unbridled arrogance always pushing him to speak before he thinks. As Minister of Power, the Minister goofed on many occasions, insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians. On one of such occasions, he lampooned Nigerians for wasting electricity, citing that as justification for hiking electricity tariff. On another occasion, he said his Ministry would expend a whooping N8 billion to sensitise Nigerians on electricity bill payment and against vandalism of electricity installations.
Yes, the Ibadan women could have come to beg for money because it was one of the few times that they had the opportunity to see the Minister, who does not represent their interests and who cares less about the common people. Why won’t they choose a rally as the place to beg Adelabu for pittances when they know he remains largely inaccessible on other occasions?
If, indeed, the APC women had attended the rally to beg for money, they would have been right to ganusi, because Adelabu has what belongs to them. But, of course, Adelabu like Peter Obi, no dey give shishi…Everyone in our party knows that the Minister is like an Araldite; stingy, miserly and saucy too. He has been a Minister for close to two years but there has been nothing to show for his influential office; at least, APC members are not feeling it and neither are residents of the state.
A former Minister of State for the FCT, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, was a minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan and residents of the state felt and saw what it meant to be a minister. From giving tractors and other farm implements to organising a series of empowerments, Akinjide pulled her weight. We have also seen federal lawmakers such as Sarafa Alli, Remi Oseni, Akeem Adeyemi Skime, Anthony Adepoju Ibarapa Kan and Abass Adigun Agboworin bring different kinds of benefits to the state and its people. Who Adelabu help? It is on record that Agboworin, the PDP House of Representatives Member representing Ibadan North-East/Ibadan South-East even facilitated an Air Force School, which has been located in Ajia, wetin Brother Bayo Onigberaga don bring to Oyo? So, yes; our women came to the campaign to beg…but it was not money they came to beg; they came to beg Adelabu to be responsible and to stop disgracing Asiwaju Tinubu.
And, yes, Adelabu was right to call the APC women beggars, because that is what the government he serves in has turned all Nigerians to. In fact, at this time, all Nigerians have become beggars courtesy of the government populated by individuals like Adelabu, who are affluent and arrogant amid our general poverty and he has the right to rub it in our faces. How won’t people be poor and beggarly? This government met a litre of petroleum at N240 and took it to around N840 per litre today; the same government hiked electricity tariff and ensured the a litre of gas now sells above N1,000.
So, if Adelabu, in his usual arrogant style, labels all Nigerians beggars with only him being able to expend billions on houses and hotels, he is damn right! This was a Minister whose ministry claimed it would orientate Nigerians about timely payment of electricity bills and against vandalism of electricity installations with a whooping N8 billion. Was Sahara Reporters justified to make the claim, which Adelabu’s media has faulted? That question needs no answer but we know that Adelabu, unlike Nigerians, is not poor and we know that his Ministry has access to billions, though we have not seen the results, as electricity remains erratic.
Orimoogunje writes from Agbofieti, Ibadan
