‘I won’t be everywhere’ as chichidodo, maggots-loving bird
THE ancient wisdom of our forefathers we grew up to meet is that, no one delegates the very personal task of emptying one’s bowel to their closest acquaintance. Not even your child. «A kì í fi iṣé ìgbònsè rán ọmọ ẹni”…
This piece is an opinion column by Festus Adedayo, built around the chichidodo — a bird from Ghanaian folklore (popularised in Ayi Kwei Armah's novel "The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born") said to detest excrement yet feed exclusively on the maggots that breed in it, a figure long used in West African commentary to symbolise hypocrisy: publicly condemning corruption or filth while privately depending on and profiting from it. Adedayo opens with a Yoruba proverb on the deeply personal, non-delegable nature of certain tasks — "a kì í fi iṣẹ́ ìgbọ̀nsẹ̀ ránṣẹ́ ọmọ ẹni" (one does not send one's own child to do the work of defecating for them) — to frame a broader argument about leadership, accountability and the limits of delegation.
The column runs simultaneously in Tribune Online and Premium Times, both reproducing Adedayo's identical opening lines, reflecting the common practice of syndicated opinion pieces appearing across multiple Nigerian outlets. Since this is a reflective commentary rather than a breaking news event, there are no new facts, figures or incidents being reported; the interest lies in how the writer deploys the chichidodo and the proverb as allegory, and the specific contemporary target of the critique — likely tied to governance or public office — is only revealed deeper in the full text.