Stranglehold and Stronghold, Faith and Fate (i)

Sample 1: “According to Sani, the development simply connotes that President Muhammadu Buhari now has a stronghold on the party ahead of the presidential primary slated for later this year.” (2023: Buhari’s men have taken over…News Opera, 27 March, 2023)

Let’s pay attention to the noun stronghold which occurs in the following context: “President Muhammadu Buhari now has a stronghold on the party.” That word has been selected in confusion with stranglehold with which it has very strong spelling and pronunciation affinities. Both words contain the bound morpheme hold; and the one contains the bound morpheme strangle, while the other contains the morpheme strong, both of which have strong semantic, spelling and pronunciation ties. For some writers, like the one under review, the affinities are strong enough to regard the two words as one and the same. However, beyond the superficial connections noted, the words are mutually unrelated semantically and in usage.

A person’s or a nation’s stronghold is his/its fortress, a place in which he/it enjoys huge defence, protection, advantage, support. Please read the following sentences: 1) When the commander sensed imminent danger, he asked the troops to move back into their stronghold. 2) Historically, the Olumo rocks were the strongholds of the Egba warriors. 3) People who lived in mountainous regions were sensible enough to make the mountains their stronghold. 4) Money is the stronghold of many rich people. 5) God is the only reliable stronghold. 6) The elections were a charade as many politicians were said to have been defeated in their traditional strongholds. 7) The politician maintained an electoral lead in his political stronghold. 8) He lost the election even in an area he regarded as his stronghold. 9) President Muhammadu Buhari’s political strongholds remain the North East and the North West. 10) The Boko Haram insurgents have been dislodged from the area they had held as their strongholds for months. 11) That part of the city is the stronghold of violent criminals. 12) The farthest part of the forest is the stronghold of wild animals. 13) The football game is the economic stronghold of many Latin American countries. 14) Once the drug barons escape into their strongholds, it is not easy to get them arrested. 15) Education, under the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, soon became the hallmark, and indeed the stronghold of South West Nigeria. 16) The then Niger Delta militants were difficult to dislodge from their stronghold, the creeks. 17) The orisas (traditional deities) were the spiritual stronghold of the ancient Yoruba people.

Now we turn to the word stranglehold. When you have a stranglehold on a person or organization, you have such a grip on them that they are almost chocking, having little or no freedom. A stranglehold is an unhealthy, life-threatening control that a body or person has on an organization or another person. Now read the following sentences: 1) Neocolonialism is a system in which the Western nations have a stranglehold on their former colonies. 2) The Vice Chancellors should not be allowed to maintain a stranglehold on the trade unions on the various campus. 3) The Cooperative Society died because the MD had a stranglehold on it. 4) Pastors should be advised not to have a stranglehold on their congregation. 5) The mother-in-law ruined the family by maintaining a stranglehold on the couple. 6) Governors are regularly accused of maintaining a stranglehold on the Local Government Councils. 7) A sure way to frustrate a young man is for the parents to have a stranglehold on his family. 8) The Chief Accountant is complaining that the GM is having a stranglehold on the Accounts Departments. 9) The Ministers are said to be maintaining a stranglehold on the parastatals and agencies under their supervision. 10) It is wrong for the Chairman of Council to maintain a stranglehold on the university. 11) The young Manager lacks self-confidence because the MD always breathes down his neck and maintains a stranglehold on him and the entire organization. 12) The General Overseer maintains a stranglehold on the parishes. 13) The radio station was doing relatively well until its owner began to have a stranglehold on its affairs. 14) The business is minimally profitable because the matriarch of the family is breathing down the neck of the Manager and maintaining a stranglehold on him.

Sample 2: “However, Otunba Iyiola Omisore will be among the executives of the party that will determine the faith of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to emerge as a presidential candidate.” (How the emergence of Omisore as Secretary of APC…Opera News, 27 March, 2022)

I draw readers’ attention to the noun faith which occurs in the following context: “Iyiola Omisore …will determine the faith of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu…” Is it not strange to read that a person will determine another person’s faith? Either the writer or we the readers do not have a clear understanding of the word faith. This is certainly the problem of the writer and not of us the readers. Evidently, the writer cannot distinguish usefully between the words faith and fate.  The problem must have originated as a pronunciation difficulty. It becomes necessary for us, therefore, to discuss and illustrate the usage of each of those forms.

We begin with the word fate. The word fate is about destiny, inescapable situations, circumstances, experience forced on a person by a mystical power or inexplicable forces. Now read the following sentences: 1) The fate of the entire nation depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the political elite. 2) The pregnant woman’s nutritional and emotional habits will affect in a critical way the fate of the unborn baby. 3) It is unfortunately true that the fate of intelligent men is often decided by much less intelligent citizens. 4) The wrong impression is often created that students’ fate is decided by the examiners when in reality students decide their own fate by either preparing or not preparing hard for their exams. 5) The Niger Delta militants claim that the fate of the Nigerian nation depends on their oil wells. 6) People in the North Eastern Nigeria have been condemned to a brutal fate in the last six years or so, no thanks to the mindless insurgents. 7) The judge adjourned briefly before making a pronouncement on the fate of the suspects. 8) The fate of the weaker animals is decided by the mood and appetite of the lion. 9) The fate of the company depends on the outcome of the experiment being carried out by its consultants. 10) Should wives leave their fate entirely in the hands of their husbands?

Like the nouns fate and faith, the adjectives fateful and faithful are frequently confused by many Nigerian users. An event or activity or decision is said to be fateful if it is important in a bad or terrible way. Again, read the following sentences: 1) The fateful election took place on June 12, 1993. 2) It is paradoxical that the terrorist organization was inaugurated on the fateful day of our independence. 3) Saul of Tarsus had scarcely started the fateful journey when God struck him down and gave him instructions as to his destiny and future career. 4) Rehoboam’s fateful decision to pay attention to the counsel of the young men and reject that of the ‘old men’ spelt doom for the unity of Israel as a nation. 5) Disgruntled, the army officer took the fateful decision to overthrow the democratically elected government. 6) It was that fateful shot that led to the end of our outing in the competition. 7) It was at that fateful meeting that the decision to sack him was taken. 8) That fateful journey led to the death of over twenty people. 9) On that fateful day, the wedding ceremony was proceeding normally when, suddenly, a spark occurred which resulted in a huge fire outbreak.  10) The fateful demonstration started as a peaceful protest but later became uncontrollable, resulting in the killing of five students by the police.

Faith is about strong or total belief or confidence in God, a god, a person, system, organization or thing. Please read the following sentences: 1) Abraham is called the father of faith because he trusted God for a long time without having any physical thing to show for it. 2) No one can live a sustained Christian life without strong faith in God. 3)  Peter the apostle began to sink when his faith in Christ wavered. 4) A person’s faith in God increases or reduces according to the stuff he feeds his mind and heart with. 5) Spiritual power and strength grow in proportion to a person’s faith. 6) Can people who have faith in God experience adversity? 7) The Christian and Islamic faiths have the same origin. 8) When faith in God combines with sound intellectual resources the result is usually more impactful than physical might. 9) The citizens soon lost faith in the clueless government. 10) When members lose faith in their leaders, it is difficult to persuade them otherwise. 11) The union leaders insist that the representatives of the government have not been acting in good faith. 12) This quarrel could have ended a long time ago if both parties had been acting in good faith. 13) Having lost faith in the marriage, the lady has applied for divorce. 14) The Boko Haram insurgents obviously have no faith in Western education. 15) The civil war would not have broken out if the leaders had not acted in bad faith.

The word faithful is the adjective form of faith. Now read the following sentences: 1) Marriage partners are expected to be faithful to each other. 2) Faithful implementation of the provisions of the MOU is critical to the harmonious existence of the two parties. 3) This nation will be great if all of us take a decision to be faithful and loyal to it. 4) The three men were sacked because they were found to be unfaithful to the organization. 4) Would you regard that person as faithful who sells the secrets of his organization to its competitor? 5) Only faithful members of our association will be considered for assistance in their times of financial crisis. 6) The lawyer has not been faithful, and we have, in consequence, decided to dispense with his service. 7) Having noted your faithful and selfless service to this community for the past one decade, we have decided to honour you with a chieftaincy title. 8) The death of Bingo pained me so much because it has been an extremely faithful dog. 9) In spite of her irrational tendencies, her husband has remained faithful to her. 10) I am unwilling to part with this ‘faithful’ old car.

At any rate, the word fate should replace faith in the context under review.

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