Nigerian Embassy In Sweden Should Support Socio-Cultural Groups

October 12, 2025October 12, 2025 / Adeola / Leave a comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

I was left completely disappointed that the Nigerian Embassy in Sweden have now adopted a policy where financial support is not given to the various socio-cultural groups under her watch.

In a more specific case, the Yoruba Union in Uppsala, which I represent as a member, did not get a financial support for the 2025 Yoruba Day. The event held on the 28th of August 2025. The embassy had no form of representation at the event.

There are obvious reasons for my disappointment. As a writer and a social critic running one of the longest standing individual blogs on planet earth, I cannot let it pass. These are my personal views and they may not represent the views of the Yoruba community.

I must take a short trip back in time in order to come back to this argument.

Between 2010 and 2016 I was the president of the Yoruba Union in Stockholm. Among the best moments of those 6 years were the collaboration that we got from the Nigerian Embassy in Sweden under the leadership of former Ambassador Amobi.

The high points of the collaboration between the Nigerian embassy in Sweden and the Yoruba Union in Stockholm was the 2014 Yoruba Day celebration. It was the same year that the Swedish Museum brought the World Acclaimed Yoruba Art to Sweden and the Yoruba Union in Stockholm was on hand to present the cultural shows for the events.

To my knowledge, the Nigerian Embassy in Sweden through the efforts of Ambassador Amobi always supported all the ethnic nationalities that approach the embassy and his presence or that of a representative was priority number one. I remembered a meeting at his office where he introduced us (former executives of Yoruba Union Stockholm) to the then head of Mission knowing fully well, we need to be in good hands for the future after his tenure.

Personally, I will remember Amb. Amobi as a very professional career diplomat. Before him, I don’t remember any career diplomat in that office and after him, I don’t know what anyone has done to improve on the progress he made in building bridges and creating new relationships for Nigerians in Sweden.

When I went to the Nigerian embassy this summer (2025) without an appointment, I was hoping to be lucky, like it was in the days of Amobi who would assist anyone (even if he found them at the reception) without an appointment. Indeed, I thought I was lucky until the present head of mission walked past me in the reception. His personal assistant met me and gave me a letter that stated that the embassy cannot support the Yoruba Union in Uppsala.

I pointed to him that that was not the practise and he went to check the records. He told me that what I said was correct. He found evidence that the embassy in the past did support socio-cultural groups in Sweden (and probably in the Scandinavian if I can make a guess). With that piece of knowledge given to someone who worked close to the Ambassador, I felt some “victory” in educating him so that he could (if he dares) educate the rest of the staff that supporting socio-cultural groups should be a standard practise and not a policy that can be adopted or not.

I would like to be clear on the purpose of this article.

Ambassadors will come and go. Head of mission will come and go. The embassy must maintain a standard practice. For as long as Nigerian still exists, the embassy ought to support all activities emanating from the various socio-cultural groups still tied to the British-invented Nigeria.

Members of various socio-cultural groups have shown great courage. They give their time, money and energy to ensure that events and activities happen throughout the year. In addition, our families and friends from Sweden and around the world do what they can to support us in these various groups. The embassy cannot be seen as a failure in financial assistance. Even a token avails much. It’s a symbol of good gesture, approval and encouragement.

For the 2025 Yoruba Day in Sweden, I will like to thank the following:

Charles Adagbon, former president of the Nigerian Union in Sweden.

Lara Lekuti-Taiwo

Bamidele Akeredolu of Houston Texas. To my friends

Samuel Ayoola and Femi Ilesanmi.

Frida Säfvestad and Feyisara Aderounmu.

May Olodumare bless all givers. May they prosper beyond their dreams.

May the glory of Yoruba continue to shine around the world.

aderounmu@gmail.com

The Terror Attack In Örebro, Sweden

February 9, 2025February 9, 2025 / Adeola / Leave a comment

The Terror Attack In Örebro

Örebro Castle

adeola.blog

By Adeola Aderounmu

On Tuesday 4^th of February 2025, a Swedish terrorist named Richard Andersson killed 10 people in the city of Örebro in Sweden. The terrorist attack was the worst in the history of Sweden.

The act of terror was carried out at Risberga school in Örebro. The school is where (foreign) students or relatively new settlers in Sweden would go in order to learn Swedish language in their process of integrating into the Swedish society. In Sweden you need a good knowledge the language to make a head way in many aspects of the Swedish life.

A lot of concerned citizens have expressed anger, frustrations, and disappointment in how the Swedish government, the Swedish police and the Swedish media have reported the terrorist attack.

For instance, the terror attack, as at the time of writing the blog, has not been called a terror attack. The police, the government and the media have reported it as a mass shooting. They have refused to call Richard a terrorist. Rather they have painted another picture of him (you will not read that on my blog, sorry). I don’t glorify terrorist.

In reporting the number of victims, the Swedish government, the police, and the Swedish media have reported that 11 people died in the terror attack, a number that included the terrorist. The correct report should have read that 10 people have been killed by a terrorist who also died in the line of his terrorist action. The Swedish police and Swedish media and the Swedish government have shown great disrespect to the victims (and the families of the victims) of the terror attack in Örebro. I have been blogging for about 2 decades, the handling of the terror attack in Örebro is the worst form of miscommunication and dishonesty I have encountered by any government, media, or police reporting terror attacks.

The police and the government of Sweden have failed the general population. They have failed the entire world. By not declaring the event of 4 of February an act of terrorism, the government failed to live up to its responsibility to protect lives and property.

The police, the government and the media heaped a lot of dishonour on the dead when they said that the motive was not known (even till today the 9th of February 2025) and that the killing may not have an ideological linkage.

It is common sense that a terror attack that is carried out at a school has an ideology linked to education. But I have read many times that common sense is actually not common. The motive was as clear as daylight. The terrorist targeted a school that immigrants would attend to learn or improve their Swedish language skills. His motive was to decimate the immigrant population in Örebro. He killed 10 people.

The terrorist act is a tragedy on one part. The actions, speeches and the reactions of the Swedish government, the Swedish police and the Swedish media constitute a greater collective tragedy. I don’t think there is any immigrant in Sweden today who trust the Swedish government, the Swedish Police and the Swedish media after the Örebro terror attack.

An opportunity, albeit an unfortunate one, to galvanize the country has been misused. It has been wasted. It has been used to divide the country more than ever. What a wasted opportunity! Lives were unnecessarily wasted by a terrorist and the government and the police made a mess of the sad situation. The media was caged in!

The people who have lost their loved ones, sisters, brothers, sons, wives, girlfriends, husbands, daughters, uncles, aunts and friends would have expected a more compassionate act of truth and actual presentations of events rather than all the cover-ups that the government and the Swedish media are displaying.

My sincere condolences to all the people who are affected by this act of terror. I have you in my thoughts now. I will have you in my thoughts every time I stop at Örebro, every time I visit Örebro and every time I drive by. You will be in my thoughts every time Örebro appears in my mind and in my conversations.

May the soul of the ten people killed by the terrorist rest in peace.

Sweden’s Failure At Transportation

December 10, 2023 / Adeola / Leave a comment

Sweden’s Failure At Transportation

By Adeola Aderounmu

Sweden is always trying to save the rest of the world from all unpleasant situations. There are so many adventures that Sweden have undertaken since time immemorial. I remember a damaged pipeline off the American coast or where was again, Gulf of Mexico? Sweden was the country that succeeded in stopping the leakage and ending a potential environmental disaster.

Sweden is everywhere. She goes to Africa doing all kinds of missions. She invades the Middle East and scoop souls to save or revive. Sweden builds abroad, with very fine architectures. She exports music, Spotify, Abba, Aviciii (RIP) and so many good things of life. No doubt she brings home the rewards of plundering.

But if you live in Stockholm especially along what we call the surface train lines (pendeltåget), Sweden would have at some point made your life hell on earth. There is a dilemma on this surface train line that I have witnessed for almost 2 decades. If a problem can persist for that long, and of there is no solution in sight, the most appropriate explanation is corruption. There must be some form of massive corruption that has made it impossible for Sweden and Stockholm to end “a simple” problem she would have solved if the problem was in another country.

In the winter every year and sometimes with temperatures as low as minus 21, the Stockholm surface train could suddenly be out of service throwing many passengers into confusion. The pain is indescribable. The frustration, the anxiety and the uncertainties that occur every winter in Stockholm with respect to the failed surface train schedules should be studied. It may be a life shortener.

Let us be clear about a great nation that Sweden is. She has the longest underground tunnel network in the world. It has been described as the longest work of art made by man. That is very commendable. The fact is the network continues to grow because more interconnections have been proposed and some are near completions. The underground blue line has been extended and will reach a new length in the nearest future. The problems with the Swedish underground trains are not severe. They are no unusual and do not take time to clear.

It is even slightly mysterious that the underground network (that is under the earth) works better and more effective the surface network that is over the earth. Could it be that more focus is placed on something that is under the earth than something that is above it? Are they trying to tell us that the surface train is more exposed to drastic changes in weather? You must wonder why Sweden can take care of the underground train network better than the surface train network.

Nevertheless, with all the knowledge, experience and technical abilities in Sweden, the surface train network remains a disturbing shame to the country. This winter 2023 December, a lot of train travel times have been cancelled. Some trains have run on shorter wagons. There have been complains about the maintenance of the tracks. That really is shocking: that the tracks are not well maintained. What is serious accidents occur? The blaming game would start. Who does not know that prevention is better than cure?

The consequences of these annual anomalies may in fact constitute serious aspects of mental health imbalance for affected people. We must see beyond the frustrations on their faces. Failed train networks do more than causing lateness to work. People also often get late to getting their wards from schools. They miss other friends and family engagements or activities. What about the financial or economic loss to the county? Individuals lose time and money. The country loses time and money. When shorter wagons run, the crowd at the stations build up. In this cold weather, that is a means to increase the spread of communicable diseases. A substantial part of the residents fear for terror attacks too. The crowd that builds up when trains stop working or are delayed are potential spots for attacks.

My suggestion to the Swedish Transport Corporation (Stockholm Local Traffic) is that they need to sit down and look at themselves in the faces and in the mirror. They need to get this system working by taking a holistic approach to problem solving in this sector.

The tracks must be fixed and maintained as scheduled. Ten years over the schedule time is a clear indication of being irresponsible and taking our lives for granted. There will be winter every year. So why is every winter characterized by the same problems with the trains? I do not think there are newer problems with the trains than they were 10 years ago. Winter will come, there will be snow, it will be cold. Is there anything that the Stockholm Local Traffic does not know about winter? Winter should no longer be an excuse for poor train services. This is Sweden!

What is this thing about shortage of employees? Take measures to make the job of a train driver attractive and get more people employed. There are so many unemployed people in Stockholm, so we should not be having shortage of employees at all. No, we should not.

There is the story of failure of signal. I don’t think anybody knows what that means. It has become an acronym for “out of service” if you ask me. Can you please explain “signal fel” to us so we can proffer a solution?

The bottom line is that the Stockholm Local traffic lacks pre-emptiveness and the corporation is behaving like it is doing us a favour. We are paying for this extremely poor delivery of services which is why I maintain that the underlying cause of these problems is massive corruption within the Stockholm Local Traffic.

The corruption must be addressed in order to improve services. In my end of the train line, we have a 30-minute interval to deal with. If a train is cancelled, that is minimum of one hour waiting time. The interval must be improved going forward.

I understand that politics too have a role to play in all these poor service deliveries. Talk to the concerned politicians about your needs and bring the citizens on your side to improve train services. Stop further increase in the prices of train tickets because the quality of service delivery have declined in the last 2 decades.

Don’t forget: update your tracks to prevent accidents or derailing.

One can be proud of Sweden in many ways, but in the Stockholm transport system, shame is what I feel. Fear is what I breathe when expecting visitors and never knowing if they will arrive or travel back in peace.

Sweden is everywhere. But I don’t see Sweden in the Stockholm Local Traffic.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Disrespecting Magdalena Andersson, Former Swedish PM

November 25, 2023 / Adeola / 2 Comments

The stand of women should not be demarcated by their political parties or political views. Men are a common evil that women have to face or confront in solidarity.

Disrespecting Magdalena Andersson, Former Swedish PM

By Adeola Aderounmu, Sweden.

In the spate of 1 week or so, both the prime minister of Sweden-Ulf Kristersson and the head of the Swedish Democrats-Jimmie Åkerson have verbally attacked the former female Prime Minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson.

Magdalena Andersson, former (& first female) Swedish PM.

These attacks are vicious and malicious.

In 2023 when one would think that women have come a long way in Sweden and made giant strides in all facets of lives. Sadly, in the field of politics, the story about women persecution leaves a lot more to desire for the role of women in modern Swedish politics.

One of the most prominent politicians that got my attention when I came to Sweden was Anna Lindh. She was the Foreign Minister and a prospective candidate to become the prime minister on the platform of the Social Democrats before she was stabbed right in the center of Stockholm. She died of her wounds a few hours later. She was campaigning for YES vote to “Euro” in place of the Swedish “Crowns”.

There is a Mona Sahlin who was prosecuted and shoved out of politics. Every tiny error she made was put under the microscope. She retired to a private life.

Earlier in the week, the Swedish prime minister coined a new phrase to describe Magdalena Andersson. He described the political party headed by M. Andersson as being “terror-romantic”. Before the week ended, Jimmie Åkersson also accused M. Andersson of promoting Islamism in Sweden and said that the only way she could get support to win elections was to promote Islamism or terrorism. The vicious attacks on Magdalena therefore seem to be calculated and deliberate.

The tactics used by men to cage women is through direct intimidation. They also degrade the statuses of women in many spheres of life. Politics seems to be the most pronounced area of attack.

I remember several years ago an article I wrote about how women can stand up for each other, for one another. The humiliation of Magdalena Andersson is not a Magdalena Andersson’s personal problem. The women in the Moderate party of the Swedish Prime Minister, the women in the Swedish Democrats party of Jimmie Åkersson have as much responsibility as Magdalena Andersson and all the women in Sweden generally to stand up against the vicious attack on women.

The stand of women should not be demarcated by their political parties. Men are a common evil that women have to face in solidarity.

Swedish PM, Ulf Kristersson.

Jimmie Åkersson, SD

Both Ulf Christensson and Jimmie Åkersson could have made their points in other ways. Their use of language in debates and speeches surely need to improve. The Prime Minister need to develop more social skills and he need to work on his communication problems. In recent days, his mistakes, body language and choice of words have been a cause of concern.

aderounmu@gmail.com