Atiku’s Aide Defends Calling Tinubu ‘Bola’, Cites Rarara Musician Who Called Him ‘Omo Ologo’

Olusola Sanni, Strategic Media Associate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has defended his principal’s decision to address President Bola Tinubu by his first name, saying Atiku will not be the first to do so.

Sanni stated this during an interview on Channels Television, when asked by anchor Kelly why Atiku refuses to refer to President Tinubu as President Tinubu and instead calls him by his name, a development that has drawn reactions from Femi Fani-Kayode and Sunday Dare.

” Atiku will not be the first to refer to him as Bola… there is a musician in some part of Northern Nigeria who created an album for him and called him Omo Ologo… Omo Ologo means ‘a boy’; the musician called him ‘a boy,'” Sanni said.

He argued that President Tinubu has no problem being called Bola and has accepted informal monikers, including City Boy Movement and Star Boy, which also refer to him as a boy.

“His campaign structure is under the name of what you call City Boy movement. That is also calling him a boy. At the outset of his administration, they call him Star Boy, and he had no problem with being called a boy. So anybody who acts to be called a boy should not have difficulty in being called by his first name,” Sanni said.

He added that even those who sing the anthem of “standing on a mandate” call him Bola, and that his best friend Babachir Lawal calls him Bola on television without his media handlers issuing press statements.

Sanni said the objection to Atiku calling him Bola is because of accountability.

“When, when it is on frivolities, he loves being called Bola. But… anytime the question comes to accountability, Bola Tinubu is always not available. He deflects the question,” he said.

“We will not shy away from calling him Bola because we will not shy away from putting him on the spot on issues of accountability. We will not allow him to go away with his bad government,” he added.

The anchor, Kelly, however corrected Sanni on the meaning of Omo Ologo, saying it does not mean boy.

“Well, Mr. Sanni, direct references to names can be a non-issue, and accountability is important. But just to point out that Omologo does not mean boy; your interpretation is incomplete. Omologo means a child of glory, if my Yoruba is accurate,” Kelly said.

Sanni responded, “There is a child there.”

The interview also featured a clip of Atiku Abubakar speaking at a podium, where he said: “You have borrowed the idea but missed the lesson… Bola, you are like a dull student who copied his classmates’ answer, and you have dined it so blindly, that the classmate’s name is at the top of his exam paper and then demanded marks for original thinking. You copied my production subsidy proposal.”