A source within the Palace has reacted to the news making the rounds indicating that a new Alaafin of Oyo has emerged.
The Source, who is also one of the kingmakers, has dispelled what he described as “a widely spread rumour” by one of the contestants to the throne, Prince Lukman Adelodu Gbadegesin, parading himself as the Alaafin-elect.
A source speaking under the condition of anonymity, the source said the process for the selection of a new Alaafin is still ongoing and the report of the consensus candidate has not been presented to the governor for final ratification.
He disclosed that Prince Gbadegesin has been over-ambitious using the media to achieve his personal ambition.
The source further noted that Governor Seyi Makinde just forwarded to the Oyomesi to expedite action on the selection process, and he said, the outcome of the process would be made known soon. Ki
He said: “He is only too ambitious. He is using the media to make himself popular. No new Alaafin has emerged. The selection process is still on and we must follow due process as instructed by the governor.”
“I am saying this without any equivocation that the public about disregard the news widely spread around by him.” No one has selected him as the Alaafin-elect.” “You know, he did his birthday yesterday and he’s trying to use the media to help himself and find favour.”
“According to Oyo tradition and the Alaafin Chieftain Declaration, the law governing the process of succession, the Baba Iyaji would present the list of the princes to the Oyo Mesi whose head, the Bashorun, would then convene a decision after some screening.” “The decision meeting, to be witnessed by government officials, would feature a consensus or voting where there is a plurality of choices,” he declared.
The Magistrate Court sitting in Ifo, Ogun State has adjourned the hearing of assault case between controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola popularly known as Portable and one his associates, Manny Money till May 29th, next month.
Portable who appeared today before the Magistrate Court was arraigned on 6-count charge bothering on assault of law enforcement agencies and evading of lawful arrest.
Recall, Portable had been in the news in the past few weeks when he assaulted the Police officers sent to effect his arrest having evaded several invitations sent to him.
He was later arrested by Ogun Police and charged for assault and obstruction of justice early this month after the disagreement and dispute between him and the Ogun State police officers.
ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that some policemen mobilized themselves today at Moniya Axis with their armored tank to search for the suspected ‘Yahoo Boys’ that waylaid one of their colleagues during their “stop and search” operation.
A Police officer died after he was hit by a bullet during the fight that ensued between them and the suspected internet fraudsters.
Recall, ODUDUWA NEWS had earlier reported how people of Moniya axis were thrown into palpable fear as a result of the death of a Police Officer who died while the Police officers were engaging the suspected “Yahoo Boys”.
According to an eyewitness who spoke under condition of anonymity to ODUDUWA NEWS today, he said, “the Police who were armed to the teeth mobilized themselves today with their armored tank and started shooting sporadically. They were said to be on a revenge mission because one of their colleagues that died yesterday during the clash that occurred between them and “Yahoo Boys”.
In a viral video that also surfaced online today, Police were seeing shooting sporadically while residents were scampering for safety.
The National Judicial Council has released a list of 257 judges who will hear petitions arising from the 2023 Nigerian general elections.
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and the State Election Petition Tribunals are expected to resume full operations in May, after the Workers’ Day holiday.
All winners of the elections have received certificates of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and hundreds of petitions have already been filed to challenge the results of the presidential, National Assembly, governorship, and state assembly elections.
Below is the full list of the judges approved by the NJC under the leadership of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola.
Abia: Justices C.O. Onyeabo, O. Zik-Ikeorha, C.H. Ahuchaogu, A.O. Chijioke, K.C.J. Okereke, L.T.C. Eruba, B. Anya, N. Philomena, A.O. Phoeba, C.K. Nwankwo.
The Labour Party, LP, has raised the alarm alleging that the self-acclaimed chairman of the party, Lamidi Apapa, has approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, asking it to dismiss all the cases filed by the party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, against the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, LP urged the tribunal to disregard the “antics” by Apapa, saying they are out to destroy the party and satisfy their alleged paymasters.
“We are by this statement informing all arms of the Judiciary, including the tribunals and courts to ignore the ignoble antics of these compromised suspended members of the party. We are also calling on the police, DSS and EFCC to arrest these enemies of democracy.
All candidates, who could not sit the UTME on Tuesday, 25th April, 2023, on account of technical challenges, have been rescheduled.
This announcement was made in a statement made available after the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board( JAMB) management meeting at the close of today’s examination, which incidentally is the first day of the 2023 UTME.
Following the announcement, candidates, who for technical reasons could not take the examination, are to print a new examination notification early tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 26th April, 2023, to know their new scheduled sessions.
It is to be noted that about 100 centres out of the 708 centres participating in the 2023 UTME exercise across the country, experienced technical challenges that prevented their allotted candidates from successfully taking their examination.
According to the statement, the Board reiterated its determination to deploy world-class assessment in line with global best practices to deliver quality assessment and regretted any inconveniences experienced by candidates and their parents. The statement further restated that the series of challenges encountered were on account of some novel features deployed by the Board to safeguard the sanctity of the examination by checkmating all incidences of examination misconduct being perpetrated and perpetuated by vested interests.
The Board, therefore, reiterated the commitment of its technical team working round the clock to ensure that tomorrow’s exercise is devoid of any hitches.
Meanwhile, the Board assures Nigerians that no candidate would be denied the right of taking his/her examination because in case of any challenges experienced, such a candidate would be rescheduled to take the examination in the next available date and space.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned the speaker, Ondo State House Of Assembly, Bamidele Oleyeloogun before the state High Court in Akure , over alleged fraud .
The arraignment on Tuesday marked the begining of the official trial of the head of the state legislature .
Also arraigned before the court, were the lawmaker representing Akoko South-West Constituency 2, Felemu Bankole and a civil servant Segun Oyadeyi Bankole
The Speaker alongside others was docked on two-count charged involving fraud.
They however pleaded not guilty of the allegations level against them.
During the trial, the counsel to the EFCC, Kingsley Kudus asked the court to remand the defendants at the Olokuta Correctional Facility, even though they had pleaded not guilty, the defendants were still in the hands of the court while the trial continues.
Reacting, counsel to the defendants, Femi Emodamore who told the court that he was fully prepared for the commencement and continuation of the trial, asked the court to strike out EFCC’s prayer for remand saying the administrative bail application on the defendants were still active.
He explained that the second defendant (Oleyelogun) was having health challenge that needed urgent medical attention.
Emodamore also asked the court to caution the nominal complainant( the former deputy speaker, Iroju Ogundeji) in the case for allegedly sending messages to the speaker in an attempt to annoy him.
According to him, if Ogundeji did not desist from such action, he would be prosecuted as his actions towards the speaker is against the law.
In his rulling, Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye asked the defendants to be enjoying their administrative bail till the next hearing as he adjourned the case till May 18 for proper hearing of the trial.
Oyo State Government has sought the support and collaboration of the Energy Commission of Nigeria in a bid to improve on power generation and supply in the state.
The Director Genreal, Oyo state Liaison Office in Abuja and Lagos, Hon. Wale Ajani who spoke on behalf of the state government at a courtesy visit to the commission in Abuja on April 11 disclosed that the visit was key and strategic to the Governor Seyi Makinde’s Omituntun 2.0 agenda.
The Director Genreal of the Energy Commission, Eli Jidere Bala, who personally received Ajani commended Makinde for assigning such strategic role to a young, vibrant and energetic individual with passion for the development of the state assuring that with a good working relationship with oyo state being one of the most populous states, the energy commission would make a budgetary allocation for sustainable energy for the state in the next year’s budget of the Commission.
Speaking with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, during his brief Salah holiday, Ajani who maintained that the federal commission must as a matter of necessity, partner with Oyo state in the area of Energy and power especially alternative energy and stressed that the state governor has laid the foundation for Oyo as a producing state with high prospects in manufacturing and industrialization.
Ajani noted that, with the magnitude of physical infrastructural development already in place and still ongoing, Oyo state has strategically positioned itself to compete favorably with other neighboring states with high level of manufacturing activities and industrialization such as Lagos and Ogun state.
Ajani explained that Makinde has already commenced the implementation of what he called green energy and sustainable power generation to meet the demands of consumers; both domestic and industrial consumption adding that such federal commission partnering with Oyo state would accelerate the process of achieving the desired goal in the sector.
While stressing the readiness of the state to fully key into the energy programmes of the federal Commission, he emphasized that such strategic collaboration would culminate into attaining the sustainable power generation and supply that would in turn reduce the pressure on national grid.
Ajani however, disclosed that he solicited for an annual consideration of oyo state in all the programmes of the energy commission and other job opportunities the commission may be providing Nigerians in order to also adequately capture oyo state indigenes in the Commission’s recruitment exercises.
“The essence of my visit to the Commission was to explore all available avenues and opportunities to attract the Commission’s presence to the state because power generation and supply have been two important items on Governor Seyi Makinde’s agenda and you could all see that the importance attached to these two items gave birth to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.
“So, as we begin to prepare ahead for Omituntun 2.0 under the Accelerated Development Agenda, we must begin to seriously consolidate on the gains of Omituntun 1.0 under the Governor’s Sustainable Development Agenda so that the future does not catch us off guard, we are ready for it.
“We already have the buy-in and assurances of the Energy Commission through the DG, my very good brother, who has expressed readiness of the commission to also collaborate with Oyo state in all possible ways. Very soon you will see more come out of that very important meeting but for now, let’s keep working.” Ajani said.
Ajani told journalists that the Energy Commission DG, Eli Jidere Bala, has assured that whatever any Government wants to achieve required energy and with Governor Makinde being an energy person, the commission would do everything possible to support the State.
According to Ajani, the Director-General also affirmed that the energy commission had been a friend of oyo state as the commission had been doing alot in the state such as mini grids, constituency projects of most of the National Assembly members from oyo state in Lagelu, iyana offa etc.
He however, admonished Hon. Wale Ajani to synergize more with the National Assembly members from oyo state to harness more sustainable energy projects in their subsequent constituency projects in order to benefit more from the Commission.
Ajani also disclosed that the DG, Energy Commission Director-General afterwards, summoned the Procurement Director and Director of Budget Monitoring and Evaluation to give every needed support to Oyo state in any ongoing and subsequent sustainable energy projects of the Commission.
The Oyo State Government would like to draw the attention of the general public to the actions the authorities will be taking to resolve the technical and sundry difficulties the Light-Up Oyo Project has been facing in recent times, which has hindered the project from running optimally.
In the spirit of accountability and transparency, the authorities would like to put on record that there is a dispute between the Oyo State Government and the Contractor about how much work has been done and how the infrastructure is being operated.
The government is not satisfied with the infrastructure provided and its specifications. These have been the main cause of the operation and maintenance challenges the project is facing.
Therefore, the Oyo State Government is presently auditing the entire infrastructure to determine the level and quality of work done. The audit process will be completed in about six weeks, after which the general public will be updated regarding any decisions reached and the way forward for the project.
You will recall that in September 2019, the Oyo State Government embarked on the Light Up Oyo Project. The logic behind this project was two-fold. First, to grow the Oyo State economy. As Governor Seyi Makinde stated, Oyo State cannot compete with cities that run a 24-hour economy if economic activities are shut down by 7 pm. Second, to tackle insecurity. Crime thrives in darkness. And so, when major parts of towns and cities are lit up, criminals will not have anywhere to hide.
Oyo State residents are urged to remain assured that the government is doing all in its power to ensure that the entire 240 km of the Light Up Oyo project is delivered in the shortest possible time for the benefit of the residents of the state. This will ensure that the good people of Oyo State get maximum value for the money spent on this project.
