On January 26th, 2026, Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa, buzzed with the announcement of a significant development: the launch of a book by and in honour of the Spartan academic in Philosophy and theorist of the Nigerian State, Akinyemi Onigbinde. This notable event served as a clarion call for a nation deeply ensnared in slumber. The volumes are reincarnations of Onigbinde’s finest interventions (columns and opinion pieces) published over time in leading Nigerian newspapers. The launch took place before a distinguished audience, including former Governors of Ogun and Ondo, the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate from the last election, Mr. Peter Obi, Oba Omoniyi Abolarin, the people’s Oba of Oke Ila Orangun, Chief Joju Fadairo, and many others.
Having known the author for many years, I can attest that he shuns brevity in his works. This assertion is backed by Professor Wole Soyinka’s jocular remark when Onigbinde presented him with his earlier tome, “Socrates Examined.” Soyinka quipped that books written by Onigbinde could kill if struck on someone’s head.
Onigbinde embodies philosophy in his blood, diction, appearance, and demeanor. Socrates, a man of profound wisdom, navigated our world burdened with philosophy, courageously speaking truth to power. Renowned for his intellectual richness rather than earthly luxuries, it is no surprise that Plato described him in his “Apology” as “a gadfly known to have triggered the tardy steed to motion.” Thus, if Socrates is a gadfly, Akinyemi Onigbinde, custodian of the two-volume book titled “The Stubborn Goat: A Citizen’s Engagement with Nigeria,” is surely the “meteor of the Nigerian firmament.”
The pages of “The Stubborn Goat: A Citizen’s Engagement with Nigeria” are filled with the aspirations and exertions of a philosopher and public intellectual who has maintained a decades-long vigil across the Nigerian landscape, advocating for change (not the change offered by the APC). For 70 years, he has been a patriotic participant in various state activities. His words paint him as a revolutionary demagogue who cares little about whose ox is gored while detesting tribalism. Given his philosophical training, it’s fair to say he wields a writer’s ‘poetic license’ to stubbornly illustrate vivid images and confront the “madness of power” with an equivalent madness in words. His forthright works are ideally suited for a historian driven by the desire to comprehend the depth of the insanity surrounding the State, its governance, and administration—requiring a surgical narrative from a skilled wordsmith and philosophical alchemist. I encourage my readers to acquire copies of these books too. With titles such as “Bus Conductors,” “Truck Drivers,” and “One Minute to Midnight,” the author meticulously elaborates on the pedigree and capabilities of those who have held various positions of responsibility since independence, issuing a stern warning. He is indeed the voice of one shouting in the wilderness.
The name “Stubborn Goat” stems from his loving but frustrated mother, Titilola Ayoka, who often wondered why her son, even at a tender age in Iwaya, Yaba, Lagos, would rather accept punishment than watch fellow kids suffer injustice. This trait persists in Prof. Onigbinde to this day. Within the compilation, the reader is confronted with the thoughts of a public intellectual who takes no political sides apart from that of truth as he perceives it.
Throughout my reading, I found that each article showcased Onigbinde’s authorial prowess, as he ardently sketches the message of freedom, echoing the sentiments of Jean-Paul Sartre, who stated:
“Whether he is an essayist, a pamphleteer, a satirist, or a novelist, whether he speaks only of individual passions or whether he attacks the social order, the writer as a freeman, addressing freemen, has only a single subject—freedom.”
The author elevates his discourse by honoring the citizens, the commoners, who, motivated by a quest for stability, surrendered what could be considered their “natural rights”—as evident in Hobbes’ ‘state of nature’—to a ‘Leviathan,’ now known as the State in social science. However, he critiques those who exploit their authority for selfish gains, thereby undermining the social contract. Instead of acting as trustees of this power for the populace, they have transformed into robbers, brazenly stifling freedom of thought and expression at the altar of their egos.
Reflecting on the grievous decline of the State from bad to worse, the author states:
“It is, however, sad and disheartening for a public commentator that issues that were subjects of interventions for some half a century have not changed in kind. The only noticeable change has been the degree of deterioration in every aspect of our socio-economic life as a country: from our university graduates being unemployed to being unemployable.”
“In 1983, we learned of the truth, albeit from the wrong sources, that ‘our hospitals are mere consulting clinics.’ Today, these same hospitals have transformed into a vast mortuary complex where the less privileged go to die.”
I commend the precision with which the author articulates his facts, particularly through rigorous research, as seen in his analysis of the number of days Buhari and Tinubu spent abroad, as well as the countries they visited for health reasons. He notes:
“Buhari spent 225 days on medical trips, visiting 40 countries, all to treat what the public learned from the grapevine was an infection in his ear. His successor in office, designated as the leader of a party that ruled the country for eight years after 16 years of destruction by the PDP, Bola Tinubu, spent 34 days outside the country for what was suggested to be a medical trip in 2023.”
He asserts: “Our leaders insisted on living a lie, hoping that the country is destined to survive, even in the face of numerous cracks that welcome the irritating presence of political lizards and wall geckos, while pythons and crocodiles are poised to seek residency alongside their fellow reptiles.”
“They send their children to Western schools and fly to Euro-American hospitals for medical care. Meanwhile, Chinese companies and individuals, often under the protection of security agencies, illegally mine the country’s gold, iron ore, and other mineral resources. Thus, it is hollow to invoke national pride or fear of resource exploitation only when foreign involvement might disrupt entrenched systems of corruption and impunity.”
I commend Professor Akinyemi Onigbinde for this remarkable work—part of his civic responsibilities to the State as a patriot, activist, and academic. Given his influence in the academic realm, it comes as no surprise that a work of such intellectual magnitude and significance has emerged from him. Should the leaders of the State choose to engage with this book, it holds the potential to transform and reform. The author is not a pessimist; he unequivocally expresses his belief in change.