Author: oduduwanews

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#EndSARS: Lagos White Paper Reveals ‘Alleged Lekki Massacre’ To Be Concocted Lie, Blackmail

The Lagos government says the testimony of John Obafunwa, a pathologist who appeared before the judicial panel on police brutality, shows that there was no massacre at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

In June, Obafunwa appeared before the panel to say three, out of 99 bodies examined after the #EndSARS protests were from the Lekki axis of the state.

The pathologist also explained that only one out of the three bodies recovered from Lekki died of gunshot injury.

Commenting on Obafunwa’s testimony in its 309-page report, the panel said it “also finds that most of the 96 corpses for which autopsies were conducted by Professor Obafunwa remain unidentified but they were labelled with EndSARS, apparently lending credence to the case of the EndSARS protesters that the shootings by security agencies resulted in mass deaths within the state”.

In the report, the panel said nine persons were killed at the Lekki tollgate by soldiers in what could be described in the context of a massacre.

But in the white paper, the Lagos government said the finding of the panel that nine persons died is “irreconcilable” with the testimony of Obafunwa.

“The finding of the JPI at page 288 paragraph M is that “The evidence of the pathologist Prof Obafiania that only 3 of the bodies that they conducted post mortem examination on were from Lekki and only one had gunshot injury and this was not debunked. We deem it credible as the contrary was not presented before the panel,” the white paper reads.

”The JPI’s finding of nine (9) deaths is therefore irreconcilable with the evidence of Prof. Obafunwa that only one (1) person died of gunshot wounds at 7:43pm at LTG on 21st October 2020.

“Having held that there was no evidence before it to the contrary of what Prof Obafunwa said. The question is where did the JPI then get its finding of nine (9) deaths? (see table at pages 297-298).

“This finding of nine (9) deaths at LTG on 20th October 2020 is even more baffling because apart from listing out their names in tabular form at pages 297-298, the JPI offered no explanation regarding the circumstances of their death. The names simply sprang up at pages 297-298 of the report without any justification.

“On the basis of the above fundamental inconsistencies in the findings of the JPI regarding the nine (9) deaths at LTG and particularly because the findings are clearly and manifestly not supported by evidence before the JPI as attested to by the JPI itself.

“When it said there was no contrary evidence to that of Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died at LTG of gunshot wounds on 21 October 2020. The state government is therefore unable to accept the finding that nine (9) people died of gunshot wounds at LTG on 20th October 2020.

“It also follows that the irresistible conclusion to be drawn from the JPI’s acceptance of Prof Obafunwa’s testimony that only one (1) person died of gunshot wounds, at LTG on 21 October 2020 is that there was no massacre, LTG, contextual or otherwise.”

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Mom and I Wept When OAU Kicked Me Out In My Final Year – Man Who Started Again And Made First Class in FUTA

A First Class graduate of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Timilehin Abayomi has narrated how he was advised to withdraw in his final year at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 2008.

Timilehin said he insisted on going back to university and got admitted into the Federal University of Technology, Akure in 2015 and now he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Quantity Surveying with First Class Honours.

He shared photos from his graduation with the caption, “My mother and I held ourselves in late 2014, weeping uncontrollably after learning that I had failed in OAU after being accepted to the citadel in 2008. My studentship was withdrawn in my final semester, 5 years later, for reasons I completely accept responsibility for.

“Fast forward to yesterday, I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Quantity Surveying with First Class Honours from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, and placed in the top 5% of the university’s graduating class.”

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EndSARS: Falz, Mr Macaroni Reject Sanwo-Olu’s Invite For Peace Walk

Popular comedian, Mr Macaroni and singer, Falz have reacted to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s invitation for ‘A Walk for Peace.’

On Tuesday 30th November, Governor Sanwo called on notable celebrities such as Falz, Mr Macaroni, Seun Kuti and so on to join him for a peace walk while insisting that the state requires true healing following the #EndSARS protest that occurred last year.

Governor Sanwo-Olu who disclosed that he would be leading the walk also made a clarion call for the youths, members of the diplomatic corps, civil society groups, students and the media to join him.

Reacting to this, Mr Macaroni taking to his Twitter handle publicly declined the invitation as he wrote:

“I humbly decline the Invitation of Mr Governor. The Government themselves set up a panel. The panel has made recommendations. I believe that genuine peacemaking will begin by first implementing the recommendations of the panel. Then we can begin to trust the government.

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Lagos Govt Releases White Paper On #EndSARS Report, Accepts 11 Out Of 32 Recommendations

The Lagos State Government has released the White Paper on the #EndSARS Panel of Inquiry report.

According to the government, 11 out of the 32 recommendations made by the panel, have been accepted, six others were accepted but with modifications, while one was rejected.

The document also says 14 of the recommendations fall outside the powers of the state and will consequently be forwarded to the Federal Government for consideration.

A leaked version of the report had indicted the Nigerian Army and the Lagos State Government in the killing of unarmed protesters and a subsequent cover-up of the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.

But after the panel submitted its findings to Governor Sanwo-Olu, he set up a four-member committee led by the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), giving them two weeks to raise the White Paper on the reports submitted by the panel.

At a press briefing earlier today, the Governor said the leakage was “regrettable”.

“While I commend the panel for undertaking its task to the best of its abilities, it is however regrettable that the panel’s work and the leakage of an unauthorized version of the report have generated much tension. Sadly, a deep wound has been reopened,” he added.

The governor, however, assured Lagosians that his administration remains committed to justice and truth.

Speaking further, he announced that he had initiated a peace walk as part of efforts to ensure harmony in the state.

“To quicken recovery and engender a better understanding, I will lead ‘A Walk for Peace’ in December to herald the healing of the land.

“I have extended an open invitation to the youths, members of the diplomatic corps, civil society groups, students and the media, as well as other stakeholders to join me in this peace walk,” Sanwo-Olu said.

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Oyo Govt Suspends Female Student Who Invaded Ibadan High School With Hoodlums

Oyo State Government has suspended a female student of Jericho High School, Ibadan, vowing to take further action on the matter in due course.

The Honourable Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barrister Rahman Abiodun Abdu-Raheem stated this today, after a meeting with key education stakeholders in Ibadan today.

Expressing the displeasure of Oyo State government over the incident, which led to her suspension, Abdu-Raheem disclosed that the student in company of her mother, recently invaded the school with hefty thugs and miscreants assaulting a male student, teachers and other   parents during an ongoing PTA meeting.

The mayhem was said to be ignited by the girl’s mother and other accomplices, thereby causing tension in the school.

Barr. Abdu-Raheem noted that the state government is taking further action, to serve as a deterrent to other unguided parents and wards.

He appealed for caution, emphasizing that the present government has zero tolerance for impunity, while charging students, parents and all stakeholders to take advantage of Governor Seyi Makinde’s free qualitative education programmes.

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Ex-Convict, Oluwatobi, Bags Fresh 28Years For Internet Scam

Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin on Monday, November 29, 2021 convicted a 29-year-old ex-convict, Joshua Ajayi Oluwatobi for impersonating the Dean Student Affairs, University of Ilorin and others to defraud unsuspecting students seeking to pay school fees and hostel accommodation.

The Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC, had on Tuesday, November 23, 2021 arraigned Oluwatobi on a four-count charge bordering on fraud, attempt to defraud and impersonation, to which he pleaded guilty.

Oluwatobi, had sometime in June 2020 been convicted by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara State High Court for similar offence.

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EndSARS panels legal, set up by FG through NEC, Adegboruwa replies Keyamo

A member of the Lagos panel constituted to probe the Lekki shootings of October 20, 2020, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), has said that the EndSARS panels set up by state governments across the country are legal and can probe the brutality and extrajudicial killings committed by members of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army.

The senior advocate said the judicial panels were set up at the behest of the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council, and so, cannot be termed illegal because the findings of some of the panels aren’t in favour of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), on Sunday, had dismissed the EndSARS panel set up by the Lagos State Government and the report it presented to the state government recently.

Keyamo had said the panel was illegal because it was out of the jurisdiction of the panel to investigate the activities of Federal Government institutions and officials such as the Police and the Army.

But in a statement on Monday titled, ‘The Legality Of #EndSARS Panels’, Adegboruwa said, “The Federal Government has recently muted the idea that all the Judicial Panels of Inquiry set up by the various States across the Federation, especially that of Lagos State, are illegal.

“It has never been part of our legal system in Nigeria, for a plaintiff who approached the court in the first instance, to turn around to challenge the legality or jurisdiction of the court.

“The EndSARS Panels were set up at the behest of the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council. In the case of the Lagos Panel, the federal government, through the Nigerian Army, voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the Panel, the federal government called witnesses, it tendered documents and it made very lengthy presentations.

“A party cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. Thus, a party who initiated a process and willingly and actively participated in that process, cannot turn around, after judgment, to plead illegality or absence of jurisdiction, simply because the outcome is unfavourable. We must strengthen our institutions to make them work.

“While we all await the White Paper from the Lagos State Government, it is important for government to build trust in the people in all its dealings and utterances.”

The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel on November 15, 2021, submitted its report to the Lagos State Government, noting that at least nine persons were confirmed dead at the Lekki toll plaza when soldiers stormed the tollgate to disperse EndSARS protesters on October 20, 2020.

The 309-page leaked report stated, “The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags and while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a massacre in context.”

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who received the report, said he had constituted a Committee to bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council.

United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on a two-day official visit to Nigeria recently, had said that the submission of the report by the Lagos panel was an important step towards accountability for killings and rights abuses allegedly committed by soldiers and policemen.

Blinken had met with the Nigerian President at Aso Rock in Abuja, and Buhari had said the Federal Government was waiting on Lagos State and other state governments to come up with their conclusions.

But Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed subsequently said, “It is simply incredible that a judicial panel set up to investigate an incident has submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance.

“Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could have just compiled social media tales by the moonlight on the incident and submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time. That report is nothing but the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a vociferous lynch mob.”EndSARS panels legal, set up by FG through NEC, Adegboruwa replies Keyamo

A member of the Lagos panel constituted to probe the Lekki shootings of October 20, 2020, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), has said that the EndSARS panels set up by state governments across the country are legal and can probe the brutality and extrajudicial killings committed by members of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army.

The senior advocate said the judicial panels were set up at the behest of the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council, and so, cannot be termed illegal because the findings of some of the panels aren’t in favour of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), on Sunday, had dismissed the EndSARS panel set up by the Lagos State Government and the report it presented to the state government recently.

Keyamo had said the panel was illegal because it was out of the jurisdiction of the panel to investigate the activities of Federal Government institutions and officials such as the Police and the Army.

But in a statement on Monday titled, ‘The Legality Of #EndSARS Panels’, Adegboruwa said, “The Federal Government has recently muted the idea that all the Judicial Panels of Inquiry set up by the various States across the Federation, especially that of Lagos State, are illegal.

“It has never been part of our legal system in Nigeria, for a plaintiff who approached the court in the first instance, to turn around to challenge the legality or jurisdiction of the court.

“The EndSARS Panels were set up at the behest of the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council. In the case of the Lagos Panel, the federal government, through the Nigerian Army, voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the Panel, the federal government called witnesses, it tendered documents and it made very lengthy presentations.

“A party cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. Thus, a party who initiated a process and willingly and actively participated in that process, cannot turn around, after judgment, to plead illegality or absence of jurisdiction, simply because the outcome is unfavourable. We must strengthen our institutions to make them work.

“While we all await the White Paper from the Lagos State Government, it is important for government to build trust in the people in all its dealings and utterances.”

The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel on November 15, 2021, submitted its report to the Lagos State Government, noting that at least nine persons were confirmed dead at the Lekki toll plaza when soldiers stormed the tollgate to disperse EndSARS protesters on October 20, 2020.

The 309-page leaked report stated, “The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags and while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a massacre in context.”

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who received the report, said he had constituted a Committee to bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council.

United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on a two-day official visit to Nigeria recently, had said that the submission of the report by the Lagos panel was an important step towards accountability for killings and rights abuses allegedly committed by soldiers and policemen.

Blinken had met with the Nigerian President at Aso Rock in Abuja, and Buhari had said the Federal Government was waiting on Lagos State and other state governments to come up with their conclusions.

But Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed subsequently said, “It is simply incredible that a judicial panel set up to investigate an incident has submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance.

“Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could have just compiled social media tales by the moonlight on the incident and submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time. That report is nothing but the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a vociferous lynch mob.”

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I’m Being Hunted For Demanding Justice – Brother Of Slain OAU Master’s Student

Olugbade Adegoke, the immediate elder brother of the slain Master’s student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Timothy, has raised the alarm that he’s being hunted for demanding justice for the death of his sibling.

It was earlier reported that the student died in controversial circumstances when he lodged at Hiltons Hotels and Resorts, Ile-Ife, to sit for an examination.

He was subsequently buried by the hotel management in a shallow grave without the knowledge of his family or the police.

The owner of the hotel, Dr Ramon Adedoyin, and five others have been arrested for complicity in the case while his son, Raheem, who is the Managing Director of the hotel, is at large after a suspect confessed that he supervised the hurried burial of the deceased student.

An autopsy result into the cause of the death of the student is still being expected as of press time even as the case has been transferred to Abuja.

Olugbade who spoke to the BBC said, “I am also being trailed; they want to harm me. I have slept in about eight hotels between Ife and Osogbo in the last few days. I am being hunted by these people but God has been my protector. See Also Police Inspector-General Of Police Transfers Late OAU Student, Hilton Hotel Owner’s Case To Abuja 0 Comments 2 Days Ago

“During the autopsy last week Monday at LAUTECH Hospital, these people also came for me that I had to hide. What do they stand to gain? I know they want to end the case abruptly but I know that God is behind the just.”

He urged the Nigeria Police Force to declare Adedoyin’s son, Raheem, wanted for, “supervising the hasty and clandestine burial” of Timothy.

Olugbade also thanked the Osun State Police Command, for not compromising in the matter so far and urged the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to ensure justice is served even as the case has been transferred to the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team in Abuja. See Also CRIME It’s Baffling Police Haven’t Declared Prime Suspect, Raheem Adedoyin Wanted For Dumping OAU Student’s Corpse In Bush—Family 0 Comments 4 Days Ago

Olugbade demanded that true justice be served on the “killers” of his brother.

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Festus Keyamo says Lagos Judicial Panel on Lekki shooting was illegal


Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has described the Lagos judicial panel of inquiry into police brutality and the October 20, 2020 shooting of unarmed protesters at the Lekki tollgate, as an illegality.

He adds that the panel had no powers to investigate the military or police.

Asked during a ChannelsTV programme about what he makes of Information Minister Lai Mohammed’s dismissal of the report of a Lagos panel whose set-up had the blessings of the federal government, Keyamo said:

“I will not answer this question as a sitting minister. I will answer this question as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – a member of the Inner Bar, and so I am entitled to my opinion.

“This is not the federal government’s position. From me, that panel was an illegal panel. It was totally illegal.

“All lawyers who are listening to me should go back and read the Tribunals of Enquiry Act of Lagos State. It says that the governor will have the powers to inquire into the conduct of any person – underline any person – and chieftaincy matters and any other matter that will promote the good of the public.

“However, ‘any person’ there was defined in Section 21 to mean public officers of the state. It is defined to mean somebody within the public service of Lagos State or of the local government as the case may be.

“Then, the phrase was used at the end of Section 1 that says ‘any matter’…that they can inquire into any matter. People now think that to inquire into any matter, it means that you can just be at large.

“However, if you look at Section 21 again, it says that it has to be within the legislative competence of Lagos State. In other words, it is only people over whom the Lagos State has control that they can inquire into their conduct. If you don’t have control over me, you cannot inquire into my conduct.

“Policemen, the Armed Forces, military; they are not under or officers of Lagos State, they are officers of the federal government.

“By virtue of the Constitution, it is only the federal government that can control the conduct of policemen and the military. Lagos State cannot be in control; they cannot legislate too, regarding police and military matters; they are on the Exclusive Legislative List.”

Judicial panels of inquiry were set up across the states at the behest of the federal government, in the wake of the October 2020 protests against police brutality.

On November 15, 2021, the panel submitted its report to Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and described what transpired on the night of October 20, 2020 as a “massacre in context.”

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JAMB Set To Withdraw, Sanction Students With Illegal Admission

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Sunday said it was going to withdraw and sanction students caught with illegal admissions starting for 2021/2022 academic sessions.

The board’s Director of Public Relations, Dr Fabian Benjamin, disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday.

ODUDUWA NEWS gathered from PUNCH that no fewer than 706,189 illegal admissions were uncovered in 114 universities, 137 polytechnics, 80 colleges of education and 37 other institution.

Benjamin however told our correspondent that the board decided to forgive students with the illegal admissions on the grounds that they were victims. He said, “We forgave them because we believed they were the victims. We wrote the minister, he accepted that the admissions be regularised and they were forgiven, knowing that it was not their fault. “But now, we have adequately informed the public about CAPs, so no one has any excuse.

Even if your school gives you admission, make sure that you check your name on CAPs. “Anyone caught during this 2021/2022 academic session will have his or her admissions withdrawn and such a person will be sanctioned. We believe that everyone is now well informed and there will be no such thing as being victims.”
Meanwhile, analysis of a document from the board has revealed that a total of 307,310 illegal admissions were regularised between 2014 and 2016.

According to the document, a total of 282,007 admissions were approved as of July 15, 2015, however the document explained that the number increased to 537,935.
It also stated that for the 2015 academic session, 567,382 admissions were disclosed as of July 22, 2016 but the board said the figure for that year also increased to 574,912.

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