MANY BATTLES OF AJURI NGALARE
MANY BATTLES OF AJURI NGALAREA crowd of at least 10 aides trickled into the office of President Bola Tinubu to congratulate him over his victory at the Supreme Court, on October 26, 2023. As they danced and cheered, the president who was seated calmly watched in silence. When it was time to speak, Nigeria’s number one citizen said, “Ajuri, your job is secure.”The presidential spokesperson bowed, smiled sheepishly as he dropped a document in front of his principal. Tinubu perused it briefly, signed, then went on to acknowledge the remarks of the crowd in front of himBut on Saturday, Chief Ajuri Ngelale announced that he was quitting the job alongside the ones he secured after July 31, 2023, when he was named Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity. Tinubu had also appointed Ngelale Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen.Femi Adesina, Ngelale’s predecessor as official spokesperson of the President, spent eight full years in office. Reuben Abati, who occupied that position before Adesina spent four years in office, hence some persons were surprised over why Ngelale stepped aside in a little over a year.In his announcement, Ngelale predicated his indefinite leave of absence on “medical matters presently affecting my immediate, nuclear family”.Given what Abati wrote shortly after the ocean of change swept Jonathan out of power, one could easily conclude that Ngelale was in the thick of his own battle.In a piece entitled, ‘The Spiritual Side of Aso Rock,’ Abati narrated some mysterious happenings in the seat of power.“I have heard people insist that there is some form of witchcraft at work in the country’s seat of government. I am ordinarily not a superstitious person, but working in the Villa, I eventually became convinced that there must be something supernatural about power and closeness to it. I’ll start with a personal testimony.”“I was given an apartment to live in inside the Villa. It was furnished and equipped. But when my son, Michael arrived, one of my brothers came with a pastor who was supposed to stay in the apartment. But the man refused claiming that the Villa was full of evil spirits and that there would soon be a fire accident in the apartment. He complained about too much human sacrifice around the Villa and advised that my family must never sleep overnight inside the Villa.“I thought the man was talking nonsense and he wanted the luxury of a hotel accommodation. But he turned out to be right. The day I hosted family friends in that apartment and they slept overnight, there was indeed a fire accident. The guests escaped and they were so thankful.“Not long after, the President’s physician living two compounds away had a fire accident in his home. He and his children could have died. He escaped with bruises. Around the Villa while I was there, someone always died or their relations died.“I can confirm that every principal officer suffered one tragedy or the other; it was as if you needed to sacrifice something to remain on duty inside that environment. Even some of the women became merchants of dildo because they had suffered a special kind of death in their homes (I am sorry to reveal this) and many of the men complained about something that had died below their waists too. The ones who did not have such misfortune had one ailment or the other that they had to nurse. From cancer to brain and prostate surgery and whatever, the Villa was a hospital full of agonizing patients.”Abati’s narrative makes it easy to assume that a similar fate has befallen Ngelale. However, this piece focuses on some of the controversies that dogged Ngelale at Nigeria’s seat of power.In…
Dons Eze
