Author: oduduwanews

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa has told the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state that it cannot rely on its attacks on the governor to legitimize its wobbling campaign for the 2023 election.

Adisa, who made the declaration in a statement made available to newsmen added that recent baseless attacks on the governor by the spokesperson of the APC in Oyo State, Olawale Sadare, were nothing but attention- seeking moves aimed at gaining undeserved relevance for an obviously failed campaign to unseat the incumbent Oyo Governor in 2023.

The statement read in part: “I’ve read the statement credited to the spokesperson of the APC in Oyo State, calling on Governor Makinde to resign over what he called the “notebook contract scandal,” wherein he also made a rehearse of some subjects that were already well addressed by my office and other government officials in recent times.

“You cannot talk about scandal where there is none. We have earlier explained that the government did not give out the exercise books at the rate of N2,100 as claimed in the false alarm by the APC.

“We have equally stated that the said exercise books were awarded at amounts lesser than the prevailing market price at the time, thus saving the government some funds. “But it appears the APC is bent on listening only to the fabricated lies and falsehood.

“While we can allow them wander in that wilderness of lies, we say boldly that the governor has nothing to hide as far as the issues raised by the APC are concerned.

“Governor Makinde threatened to resign from office based on his conviction that the exercise books contracts were awarded at prices that placed the State at advantage.

“Nothing has changed about that. He stands by that because that facts are there for everyone to see. The fact is that none of the contracts was awarded at more than N200 each. So where lies the charge that the governor should resign for awarding the contract at N2,100 each? “Who has conducted an investigation to prove the governor wrong?

“Again on the mass transit buses, the Chairman of Pacesetter Transport Service, had clarified that the buses are up and running and that they are already visible at the Bus Terminals in Ojoo and Challenge in Ibadan. Which other evidence does anyone need to ascertain that the Pacesetter buses are already operational?

“But the APC, desperate to situate its moribund campaign is clutching at all manners of falsehood just to be seen as playing the role of an opposition.

“Even though the time for politicking and campaigns are here, political actors are not allowed to throw away decency and decorum even in their bid to market dead horses like the Oyo APC.”

Toyin Abraham’s ex-lover, Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, has regained his freedom after spending roughly three years and six months in prison.

He was incarcerated on February 10, 2017, after obtaining money by false pretence from no fewer than 40 bureaus de change operators in different parts of Lagos from 2015 to 2017. Egbegbe, who was the boss of Ebony Production, allegedly swindled the BDC operators out of money by claiming that he had naira to change into foreign currencies and vice versa.

He had been arraigned by the police for a series of fraud involving N39,098,100, $90,000 and £12,550. Egbegbe and one Oyekan Ayomide were first arraigned on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts bordering on advance fee fraud.

The charge sheet was subsequently amended twice, with the counts eventually increased to 40 and three other defendants – Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo – added. The prosecuting counsel for the police, Innocent Anyigor, said Egbegbe and the other defendants acted contrary to Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and were liable to be punished under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

But now the Federal High Court, Ikoyi after reviewing his case has found Egbegbe; guilty of just one of the 44 Counts charges against him. Egbegbe was set free yesterday 11th October 2022. Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo declared that 43 of the 44 Count charges were crumbled because of a lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.

She also decried that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to produce evidence, to be backed with witnesses on Counts 4, 19 and 21. Lamenting that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects, Justice Oguntoyinbo also ruled that all the money recovered from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state has asked Governor Seyi Makinde to resign from office immediately in fulfilment of the promise he made in April this year when the news of allegations of fraud surrounding the awards of contract for the production of exercise books meant for the use of public school pupils in the state was broken by a private organisation.

According to a statement signed and made available to ODUDUWA NEWS by the Publicity Secretary of APC, Olawale Sadare as read in part:

“Dataphyte, an Abuja-based media research and data analytics organisation, had in late March accused the government of Engr. Seyi Makinde of violating its procurement law in the award of contract worth N998million in favour of companies linked to him and his cronies.

“On April 3, Gov. Makinde faulted the reports as he denied any wrongdoing while he also threatened to resign from office as the Executive Governor of the state if found culpable after investigation. Meanwhile, the state government went ahead few days later to undertake similar award of contract worth N694million to cronies with a view to producing and supplying another batch of exercise books.

“Piqued by the development, Oyo APC has taken up Gov. Makinde who the opposition party has described as the most corrupt governor in the history of the state. APC Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, said that “Dataphyte only discovered one out of several cases of fund misappropriation under the 41 month-old government of the PDP in the state.

“What the governor did on April 3 was to diverse the attention of the whole world away from the sleaze. He vowed to resign from office if found wanting when he knew no investigation would be done immediately. This was the same man who had earlier dragged the EFCC to court for carrying out a lawful investigation of a case of fraud under his watch as the governor of Oyo state and with that step, he feels he has obtained the full liberty to be reckless with the state treasury.

“Gov. Makinde neither debunked the allegation by Dataphyte that he paid N2,100 for each exercise book to be produced nor denied the discovery that the beneficiaries of the fraudulent contracts were companies linked to him and his cronies including an Ibadan-based private radio station proprietor who is also a promoter of the PDP and Gov. Seyi Makinde. The same was the case when he claimed to have paid a whopping N9.6billion for 106 units of mass transit buses in 2020. It was later discovered that the cost of each bus was inflated by over 100 per cent while questions were also raised on the actual number of buses supplied and why it took the few ones presented about 20 months to start work on the road.

“Similarly, tongues have wagging lately on how the present administration has prioritized grabbing of pieces of land belonging to the state government as recorded in the case of BCOS Staff Quarters which was seized and sold to a crony of the governor at a giveaway price of N15m per plot only for the proxy to start selling it out at the right market value of N60m per plot. Out of a total of 116 plots, investigation revealed that 100 went to the governor while the remaining 16 were shared among his friends and lackeys.

“The same Gov. Makinde removed over N20b from the treasury as contact sum for four bus terminals only to deliver two just like what he did to the N5.2b he earmarked for orchestrated renovation of 10 stadia across the state but managed to deliver only Lekan Salami stadium at Adamasingba, Ibadan. While the good people of the state await the appropriate authorities to beam their searchlight on Gov. Makinde and his cronies, we use this medium to call on the governor to make good his promise and throw in the towel since it has been established that he was guilty of fund misappropriations in numerous cases.” Sadare stated.

Residents of Toluwalase along Idi- Ori in Abeokuta-North Local Government Area of Ogun State, on Tuesday, staged a protest over the alleged invasion of their community by kidnappers.

The protest comes after the abduction of one of them last Friday.

The residents lamented that they live in fear in the community as kidnappers now break into their homes to abduct them.

The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘Our lives are at risk at Abeokuta Idi-Ori close to Coker Farm, Ogun State,’ ‘Idi-Ori in Ogun State is no more safe from kidnapping gang,’ ‘We have lost a lot of souls at Idi-Ori to kidnappers’ and ‘Federal Government, Our lives are at risk in Ogun State.’

The Federal Government on Tuesday officially granted the Lagos State Government approval to build the Lekki International Airport.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika officially handed the approval document to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the ongoing Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit 2022.

Sirika had commended the decision and vision of the Lagos State Government to build another airport.

He said the quickest way to connect Lagos to the rest of the world was by infrastructure and civil aviation.

The Lekki International Airport is expected to be both passenger and cargo airport.

The Lekki-Epe International Airport is an airport development project east of Lagos, Nigeria. The master plan has been completed and a 3500 hectare site for the airport has been secured. The airport is designed to handle five million passengers p/a with scope for future expansion.

The Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Leka n Balogun has denied the alleged conferment of chieftaincy title on the Park Management Boss, Mukaila Lamidi popularly known as Auxiliary.

This was contained in a statement made available to ODUDUWA NEWS by the Personal Assistant on Media, Oladele Ogunlola to Olubadan as read in part:

“The attention of Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Sen. Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II has been drawn to a satanic claim that he conferred a chieftaincy title on Mr. Lamidi Mukaila, popularly known as Auxiliary.

“In the much publicized claim, Mukaila, who is the Chairman of Oyo State Park Management System (PMS) was said to have been conferred with Are Ajagunla of Yorubaland at a ceremony allegedly held at the ancient Mapo Hall, an hinterland of Ibadan metropolis.

“the claim, aside its being described as character assassination, he said “it is malicious and ridiculous and one cannot but wonder how somebody could come up with such a lie from the pit of hell”.

The statement disclosed that the news of the said installation was heard in the palace just like any other person on the supposed day it was to be held, asking that how would Olubadan be tagged with such a questionable act and something he had no knowledge of?

“Though, there are some claims that the PMS Chairman had some form of attachments to the Aliwo ruling house where Olubadan hails from, there’s nothing common between him and the palace to warrant anything of such.

“Aside, peradventure, Oba Balogun sighted the PMS boss on the television in the last one year, that’s the only reason he won’t be able to claim not to have seen him in the last one year. Would somebody become a chief under him without having interacted in the last one year or even more” he queried?

“He asked the members of public to discountenance the claim and regard it as a wicked rumour aimed at tarnishing his reputation and may be for quacks parading themselves as journalists nowadays to gain tracking for their mushroom platforms”.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday, conferred national honours to 437 persons in Abuja.

Buhari conferred the national honours on Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja II, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola, former Chief of Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Ibrahim Muhammed, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, Femi Gbajabiamila, Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and others.

After spending weeks at home on suspension, the Oyo state House of Assembly will today reinstate the executive chairman of the Ido local government, Hon. Sheriff Adeojo, and the chairperson of the Olorunsogo local government, Mrs. Oluwakemi Juliana.

After the council lawmakers announced Hon. Ade-suspension Ojo’s on August 9th, the Oyo lawmakers confirmed the Ido chairman’s indefinite suspension.

Adebowale Adedeji, the chief whip of the house, and Hon. Omotosho Rafiu, the deputy leader of the house from ward 3, both made the motion to suspend Adeojo. In all 10 wards that made up the Local Government Area, Adeojo was charged with a lack of accountability and bad infrastructure.

Hon. Juliana, the chairperson of Olorunsogo local government, and her vice Hon. Badmus Mutiu was asked to step aside from their seats on August 11, during a plenary session of the Oyo Assembly lawmakers. Rt. Hon. Debo Ogundoyin made the pronouncement after receiving letters of allegation from the Olorunsogo Local government Executive members and Traditional rulers.

The allegation against Juliana by the traditional rulers and the council excos members includes a Lack of respect for the Traditional Council, No payment of benefit for the past 13 months, No accessibility of the chairperson to the citizens, and unaccountability.

The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, has said that his party would defeat both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 presidential poll.

While addressing a mammoth crowd at the inauguration of the Kano State NNPP campaign office on Sunday, Kwankwaso said, “This crowd signifies the need and urge for new leadership, not only in the state but the country at large. The biggest surprise will come when our party, the NNPP wins the 2023 presidential election, God willing.”

Kwankwaso said by 2023, all students would smile and be back in school.

He said, “Those of you supposed to be in primary school will have access to free education, the university students will be back to school, while outstanding secondary students stand the opportunity for scholarship in both Nigeria and foreign universities.”

Party supporters, candidates, businessmen and celebrities defied the scorching heat as they waited for Kwankwaso, chanting his name; a situation that caused major roads in Kano city to stand still.

“I wish to use this opportunity to introduce to you our candidates for the various elective positions in Kano before I come back during campaigns. We have the most qualified candidates for both executive and legislative positions,” he said.