Author: oduduwanews

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has provided a furnished two-bedroom apartment for members of a family of four who lost their first child, Jumoke Oyeleke, to a stray bullet during the Yoruba Nation rally held at Ojota, Lagos on Saturday, July 3, 2021.

Governor Sanwo-Olu also presented a cheque of N1million in addition to the furnished apartment to the deceased mother, Mrs. Ifeoluwa Oyeleke and her three children to make the family comfortable.

It would be recalled that Jumoke Oyeleke, a 25-year-old Shop Attendant, was allegedly killed on July 3, 2021 at Ojota area of Lagos during a Yoruba Nation Rally.

Four months after the ugly incident that claimed the life of Jumoke Oyeleke, Governor Sanwo-Olu in his kind gesture relocated the family from a shanty at 59A, Bayo Osinowo Street, Ogudu, Ojota area where Mrs. Oyeleke was living with his deceased daughter before the ugly incident to a two-bedroom apartment in Ikorodu area of Lagos.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Administration, Mrs. Titi Oshodi, while handing over keys to a two-bedroom flat accommodation at Irawo area in Ikorodu and N1 million cheque to the Oyelekes for them to experience a new lease of life, said the new apartment was to alleviate the family’s immediate need.

She said: “Since the time of the incident, we have been following up with her state and we have been to her initial place of abode. Immediately the incident happened, we started to follow up with her to find out how she was doing, especially economically and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in his compassionate nature has done this to ameliorate the family’s suffering as much as possible.

“It is not possible to bring back the dead, but the government is donating a two-bedroom apartment fully furnished to the family to make life easy, as much as possible, for those left behind. We believe this will help them ease into the next phase of life without stress.

“This was not planned but the government had to make quick arrangements in the interim. So this is a temporary arrangement for her to stay with her children, pursuing other actions going forward. The rent has been paid for three years in advance, and the kitchen is stocked with some foodstuff.

“The government will let us know when a proper and more formidable arrangement has been made for her but for now, what we have is because of the immediate need. The apartment is fitted with basic amenities to make life comfortable for the family. She would also get N1 million to start any business of her choice,” Mrs. Oshodi told journalists.

In her response, Mrs. Oyeleke, a domestic help, who engages in washing people’s clothes and sweeping compounds, thanked the Lagos State Government for the kind gesture, and prayed God to continually bless Governor Sanwo-Olu for remembering her.

The single mother of three children, who spoke in tears appealed to Governor Sanwo-Olu to assist her with permanent employment for her to be able to take adequate care of herself and the children.

She said: “Our former house was a rented apartment but we left because the house was sold to a developer and since I couldn’t afford another house, we moved to a shanty where we have been staying for about a year before Jumoke died. It was a church member who allowed us to stay in the shanty.

“I am a domestic hand. I help people wash clothes and clean their compound. My late daughter (Jumoke), who is my first child, was a sales girl. She was hit by a stray bullet while selling in her boss’ shop during the Yoruba Nation rally at Ojota.

”I thank the government for remembering me and my children. God will bless Governor Sanwo-Olu and what happened to me will not be his portion. God will grant his heart desires.

“I also want the government to help me find a profitable job so I can train my children properly. My children used to attend a private school but I enrolled them in a government school because I could no longer afford the fees of a private school.

“This new house is rented and I would not be able to afford the rent when the three years that was paid for expires, so I would love to be employed profitably. I will like to engage in buying and selling foodstuff with the N1 million I was given.”

Also speaking, Jumoke’s younger sister, Ayomide Adeeko, on behalf of the family thanked the Lagos State Government for the kind gesture and pleaded that her mother should be assisted to get a good job so she can train the remaining siblings properly.

“I thank the government for remembering us and doing us good. I pray God will bless governor Sanwo-Olu. I have finished secondary school and looking to attend a higher institution next year. I want the government to help my mother with a good job so she can train me and my two siblings well,” she pleaded.

The barring of Hijab in the government owned institution has been frowned against by the Muslim Community of Oyo State. The organization in made the disclosure known today at a conference held at the University of Ibadan where it threatened public schools with legal action should incase the prohibition of Hijab is not stopped.

Chairman of the organisation, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, made this disclosure while speaking at a programme organised by the community “Unity of Muslims in Oyo state: An inevitable option” held at the University of Ibadan Central Mosque on Sunday.

Present at the event included Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Edo and Delta states, Alhaji Daud Akinola; Executive Secretary, Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN), Professor Muslih Yahya; Chief Imam, University of Ibadan, Professor Abdulrahman Oloyede; and representatives of various Muslim organisations in the state.

Recall that some public primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions have been barring female Muslim students from wearing Hijab.

The latest incident of the Hijab crisis was the one that occurred at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, where a female Muslim student was reportedly humiliated in public.

The community has however said that it will no longer tolerate the incidents of ‘harassment’ of female Muslim students by public schools.

The Chairman of the organisation, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, who spoke on behalf of the organisation, said that the organisation will go back to court to seek legal action for the enforcement of the usage of Hijab for Muslim women.

He said, “With this persecution of our children in the so-called Christian schools where they even remove Hijab from their head we are no more comfortable with the situation.

“What section 32:2 of the constitution says “is that a Muslim is entitled not only to freedom of religion but freedom to manifest his religion” The use of the Hijab is a manifestation of Islam.

“No state Muslim communities have lost the case of the use of Hijab because the constitution is clear about it.

“When my friend Christopher Alao Akala was the Governor, some Muslim teachers started using Niqab in Kishi and they were dismissed, they went to court.

“The Christian judge not only adjudicated that the teachers have right to put on their Niqab as their religious right, but she also said their three years backlog of salaries should be paid.

“We would Insha Allah go back to court because we want Hijab for all women in Oyo State”.

Nollywood actor, James Olanrewaju, also known as Baba Ijesha, has denied his confessional statement in the child defilement case brought against him by the Lagos State government.

Olanrewaju told Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos Special Sexual Offences Court, Ikeja, during his trial-within-trial that he signed the statement under duress.

He said he was beaten with a stick, forced to sit on the floor and to sign the statement.

He told the court that everything in the statement was dictated to the police by the complainant, Ms Damilola Adekola a.k.a Princess.

Led in evidence by his counsel, Mr. Dada Awosika (SAN) during a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of his statement, he said: “My cloth was torn; I was forced to sit on the ground. My body was shaking. They showed me the statement; I did not volunteer the statement. I was just asked to sign it. Princess dictated everything to them.”

He further told the court that when Inspector Oname Abigail arrived Princess’ house on April 19, the day he was arrested, the complainant hid some boys who were beating him inside a room before allowing him to come inside.

Baba Ijesha said that when he was led outside, some boys again came and beat him until he was rescued by some police officers who took him on a bike to Sabo Divisional Police Headquarters and locked him up in a cell after they had removed the handcuffs on his hand.

When he was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel, Yusuf Sule, Baba Ijesha insisted he did not volunteer the statement, insisting that the content was dictated to the police by the complainant.

He also denied knowledge of the current residence of the complainant, saying he knew only her former residence.

The defendant, however, owned up to the names of his father, mother, primary and secondary schools attended, his age, dropping out of the University of Lagos, Akoka, when he could no longer cope with a course he was studying.

He failed to respond when confronted by the prosecution that the IPO could not have known his details if he did not volunteer any information to her.

Earlier, Inspector Abigail, under examination by Awosika, said the defendant freely volunteered his statement and that it was made without duress.

Abigail told the court that she read cautionary words to Baba Ijesha and that he told her he understood English and everything she read to him.

“The defendant was shaking when I was about to take his statement. I offered him a chair to sit in to relax him but he said he preferred sitting on the floor to enable him to stretch out his legs.

“I calmed him down and told him he has to write his statement. I asked him questions in English and he responded to all of them in English. He requested that I should help him to write his statement as he could not write because he was shaking,” Abigail said.

She further testified that “when we finished, I read the statement to him and he told me he understood everything after which he signed the statement.”

She said after taking the statement of both the complainant and defendant, she took both of them back to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO).

Earlier when the matter was called, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), also a counsel to the defendant, had objected to the admissibility of the confessional statement of Baba Ijesha.

Ogala told the court that he objected to the statement being admitted as evidence against the defendant on the grounds that it was not freely given.

The council told the court that the defendant was sitting on the floor, adding that the IPO failed to sign or disclose that she recorded it contrary to provisions of the Evidence Act.

He had therefore requested for a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the document.

It could be recalled that Baba Ijesha is facing a six-count charge bordering on allegations of indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by penetration brought against him by the state government.

He pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge.