Author: oduduwanews

The Junior Chamber International JCI Nigeria on Thursday 12th August, 2021 held International Youth Day programme in Ibadan. The event coupled with awarding of ten outstanding young persons was held to celebrate talented and creative young persons who have carved a niche for themselves in their chosen careers.

According to Kemi Irinoye, the Chairperson of the JCI Nigeria TOYP/IYD team, the JCI Nigeria TOYP award, a domestication of the global JCI TOYP is an annual award that recognizes youth within the ages of 18 and 40 in Nigeria who have distinguished themselves in advancing the cause of human and global development.

The 2021 edition of the TOYP Award process commenced in January 2020 with nominations of over 1000 industrious young Nigerians received.

The themes of the event were discussed by the duo of the Minister for Youths and Sports, Mr. Sunday Dare and a foremost Communications and Public Relations Expert, Mrs. Titilope Oguntuga.

Mrs. Oguntuga while speaking on the theme titled – Transformation Food System: Youth Innovation For Human And Planetary Change highlighted the need for Nigerian Government to embark on aggressive and sustainable agricultural policies to achieve food security that would be far-reaching for overall economic development.

Oguntuga advocated for value chain in agricultural produce while decrying the poor state of agricultural sector which has paved way for importation of some agricultural outputs that should have been grown locally.

In his words from the panel session, the Oyo State Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Oyewo Oyewole spoke on Youth Inclusion in The Socio-Economic Development of a Nation. The Attorney-General said, the present leaders must apologize to Nigerian youths for depriving them some of the things they enjoyed while growing up.

“My generation must apologize to the youths because some of the things i enjoyed during my University days could no longer be seen again.

“Little wonder you find most of our youths looking for visa to Canada, some go through desert and other dangerous routes to search for greener pasture,” said Prof. Oyewo.

Ikhille Helen, one of the Organizing Committee Members while speaking to the correspondent of ODUDUWA NEWS said, the significance of the International Youth Day was to celebrate youths globally and to award some creative young minds to motivate the entire teeming youthful population. JCI Nigeria President, JCI (Amb.) Abiola Olorunisola while addressing the press also highlighted the role the organization and its members are taking to ensure youth development in Nigeria.

The ten outstanding young persons awarded at the event included Shola Akinlade, Co-founder and CEO of Paystack; Maryam Akpaokagi, a popular Commedian known as Taooma; Olalekan Sipass, Co-founder, Project Ozone; Asisat Oshoala, Footballer, Barcelona FC/Super Falconets; Gideon Olanrewaju, Founder Areai; Hamzat Bala Lawal, Anti-Corruption Activist, Olivia Onyeamobi, Founder, Pad Up Creations; Dr. Alexander Ezenagu, Assistant Professor, College of Law, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar among others.

It is with deep pain, a sense of loss and shame on our collective nationhood that I write to condemn the calamitous killing of at least thirty (30) Nigerians in Jos, Plateau state by a militia group. At least 30 Nigerian Muslims who were traveling back south from a Muslim New Year programme in Bauchi state were dragged off their bus, stabbed and hacked to death. It is also reported that several others sustained varying degrees of harm and are receiving critical care as I write.

There can simply be no motive or reasoning that justifies this senseless killings, and having to die in such a gruesome manner owing to one’s religion as has been determined by widespread report is truly tragic and ominous. In fact, escalating internecine and inter-religious conflicts which have caused the loss of lives and properties nation-wide threaten the very unity and sovereignty of this country, and the time for decisive action is now.

It is unacceptable that this crisis keeps defying security solutions thrown at it so much so that we question the availability of the political will and capacity to deal with it heads-on. Are we simply not doing enough or are the solutions treating just the symptoms and ignoring the cause. How much more lives would have to be lost for concerted effort to be made to forestall future occurrences? Indeed, what is the value of Nigerian live today?

I want to commiserate with the surviving families of today’s victims and pray God’s fortitude over them. It is indeed a dark day in our nation’s history.

I also must charge our political leaders and security chiefs to do more in safeguarding the lives of Nigerians. This is more death too many, and it has the potential to spiral into something so massive as to decimate the very foundation of our nationhood. Enough is enough. It is time for decisive action.

Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq., is a Legal Practitioner and the Principal Partner at LAW CORRIDOR PARTNERS, Abuja.

The Nigerian Police Force, Plateau State Division has released a statement on how Muslim travellers who were going to Ikare, Ondo State from Islamic procession in Bauchi were killed at Rukuba, Plateau State.

This was contained in a statement released by the Police Force Headquarters in Jos as read in part:

“On 14/08/2021 at about 0928hrs, the Plateau State Police Command received a distress call that a group of attackers suspected to be Irigwe youths and their sympathisers along Rukuba Road of Jos North LGA attacked a convoy of five buses with Muslim faithful who were coming back from the Annual Zikr prayer in Bauchi State and are heading to Ikare in Ondo State.

“Unfortunately, twenty-two (22) persons were killed and Fourteen injured in the attack.

“Upon receipt of the report, a team of Police personnel, the military and other sister agencies were immediately mobilised to the scene where twenty one (21) victims were rescued and six suspects arrested.

“The Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, CP Edward Egbuka along with the GOC 3-Division, Major General Ibrahim Ali, also visited the scene and ordered for a discreet investigation to fish out other perpetrators of this barbaric act at large.

Normalcy has returned to the area.

“The Cp warned that those that perpetrated this dastardly act & others that incited it, will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“The Command urges the public to remain calm and to furnish the Police with useful information that will aid the investigation.

The incident happened at Rukuba Road that leads to the 3Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army, Jos.

Story had it that the travellers ran into Miango mourners, who were taking their corpses from the Plateau Specialist Hospital, yesterday, around 9:00 am for mass burial in their village, Miango.

As the mourners, dressed in black, were going to their village for the burial, they ran into five buses.

It was gathered that the mourners stopped the buses and were told by the travellers that they were coming from Islamic prayer in Bauchi and going to Ikare, Ondo State. They said they were taking Rukuba Road as a shortcut.

The youths descended on them and killed 20 of them instantly, while they burnt some buses. When journalists visited the hospitals, some people washing the corpses at the mortuary asked journalists to count the dead bodies.

A source said 40 people were missing. The Muslim clerics at the hospital said to avoid further escalation of the crisis, they would bury the dead in Bukuru area.

Meanwhile, Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has assured the state indigenes that their kith and kin in Plateau State are safe, despite the carnage leading to the death of several persons in the state.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Richard Olatunde, in a statement made available to journalists in Akure, yesterday, said the governor urged Ondo State indigenes to be calm, as the situation was under control.

Akeredolu was said to have got the assurance after the unfortunate killing in Plateau, where some people believed to be indigenes of Ondo State were attacked. 

Olatunde explained: “The Governor says from the report he received from his brother Governor in Plateau, the incident was a case of mistaken identity. 

“The victims, according to preliminary reports, took a route where crisis between Muslims and Northern Christians had ensued for some time, and that they may have been possibly mistaken for aggressors. Accordingly, either of the two feuding groups in the area could be responsible in this regard.”

Governor Akeredolu sued for calm among people of the state, urging that nobody should take the law into their hands. He particularly urged the people to refrain from any hasty colouration of the unfortunate incident. 

“I have spoken with my brother Governor in Plateau, and he has assured me that the situation is under control. I want to plead with our people to remain calm. From the report I gathered, it is clear some were killed while many others who are injured have been taken to the hospital for medical attention…” 

Efforts of the Lagos State Police Command to rid the State of criminal elements through constant proactive and visibility policing yielded yet another result recently when an armed robbery suspect was arrested with two locally-made pistols and five live cartridges concealed in a bag.

The male suspect, Sunday Akpa, 24, was arrested in Iba area of the State by eagle -eyed anti- crime patrol team of the Iba Police Division at about 1730hrs of 13th August, 2021.

The suspect who belongs to a notorious dare-devil armed robbery gang suspected to be responsible for the spate of traffic robbery and sundry criminal activities
in Festac, Mike 2, Ojo, Alaba, and Iba areas of the State, was travelling in a commercial bus apparently to join other members of the gang for an operation when he was apprehended.

Sensing that the game was up, the suspect on seeing the combat readiness of the police team which had stopped the vehicle for a routine check, jumped down and took to his heels. He was however arrested by the policemen after a hot chase while the two arms and the ammunition were recovered from him.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has directed that the suspect should be transferred to the Command’s Special Squad for indept investigation with a view to arresting other members of the gang.

While commending the policemen for their commitment to duty, the Commissioner of Police vows to maintain the onslaught on all criminals and other hoodlums still planning to ply their evil trade in the State.

Wife to the General Overseer and President of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Faith Oyedepo has flayed feminist groups in a fresh social media post.

The woman of God in her post said any woman or women’s organization which attempts to question the position of the man in the family should be regarded as being under the influence of demons.

Oyedepo’s wife said this in a post on her verified Facebook page.

The renowned pastor’s wife said women should be in subjection to their husbands in everything.

Her post read: “Any woman or women’s organization that attempts to question the position of the man in the family should be regarded as being under a demonic influence.

“God expects that just as the Church is subject to Christ in everything, even so, women should be in subjection to their husbands in everything.”

Her statement is coming after her husband stated that feminism leads to frustration and devastation.

Oyedepo explained that any woman whose vision is feminist revolution should not attempt to get married because it won’t work.

A group within the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Oyo Must Be Great (OMBG) has taken a swipe on the Chairman of the Pacesetter Transport Service (PTS), Mr. Dare Adeleke, over the unfortunate squandering and illegal selling of government valuable properties as scrap and termed as obsolete and unserviceable.

The group explained that; it is very unusual and unheard of that a government appointee like Mr. Dare Adeleke would be taken such a decision on government properties that is just some years old at the expense of taxpayers money without following due process and transparency of the process to the general public.

The group coordinator and convener, Hon. Ishola Akeem Adetoyese in his press statement on behalf of the group explained that, “The quantification of the sold buses as obsolete and unserviceable by Mr. Dare Adeleke is a slap on the present government face as that kind of decision can be likened to that of a prodigal son who has no second thought on the rationality and value for property before acted ingloriously and wastefully.

“If not that something hidden is there, why will the Pacesetter Transport Services (PTS) be quantifying buses of that status and that is in good condition as against the lies we are been fed as a scraping property?, and without allow the Gov. Seyi Makinde himself to be aware of the process. Is he hidding something from his principal or what is the real reason behind the unimaginable quantification and illegal selling?”

“This is not about politics of APC-PDP, but about our collective properties that are been squandered away by someone that doesn’t have any taste for value of good things.

“It is even sad to be hearing the PTS Chairman saying the present government has increased both in value and income of the fortunes of the PTS when he has already begun the process of selling off the fortunes of the state under the guise of ‘obsolete and unserviceable’.”

“All the accounts of how the PTS is running is just a ploy that the Chairman is aiming to use in cajoling His Excellency, Engr. Seyi Makinde from surmounting him for questioning on why he is selling off those buses that are still serviceable and useful for the commuting of Oyo state indigenes illegally?”

Mr Dare Adeleke should provide the details of due process of everything for general public and provide answers to these questions such as; when did the board approve the sale of those buses? How many companies bided for the sale of buses? Was the state government aware of the sale of those buses? Why did the buyers have to come on Sundays? If due process was followed what could have warranted the petition from the members of the staff of organization? The group asked.

“By now, Gov. Seyi Makinde should have instructed the anti graft agencies to squeeze Mr. Dare Adeleke for that misappropriation and an obvious double dealing in the sales of government properties without following due process.”

“Even, the personality or company that is illegally buying and procuring those 22 buses as obsolete and unserviceable property need to be arrested for duping the state under false quantification and assessment.”

“It will be good for His Excellency, Gov. Seyi Makinde to help the present government in saving for themselves some honors by asking Mr. Dare Adeleke to step down from office so as not to frustrate the eventual investigation and for questioning and prosecution and if at the end of the day he’s not found guilty, he should be reinstated back.

“The group also advised Mr Dare Adeleke to stop mentioning APC whenever he’s having misfortunes in the government because APC as a serious party is too busy for the character like Mr Dare Adeleke or is it the APC that said he should not follow due process or is it APC that wrote petition against him? The group asked.

The Lagos State judicial panel on restitution for victims of SARS related abuses and other matters sitting in Lagos today Friday 13th August 2021 sat over 8 petitions on the day’s causelist.

In one of the petitions of the day of Kufre Jackson vs the Nigeria police force, the petitioner said he was shot by the police on the 12th October 2020 in front of the Office of Public Defender (OPD) on Funsho Williams Way, National Stadium Surulere and is demanding compensation for the gun shot injury and trauma suffered.

The petitioner tendered photographs of himself in the hospital and video footage of the incident as captured on a Channels TV recording which he tendered in a flash drive and was admitted and marked as exhibit by the panel.

Under cross examination by the respondent, the petitioner admitted being one of the EndSARS protesters and said they wanted to pass into the streets beside the OPD office Surulere but were stopped by the police and all of a sudden he heard gun shot and while he was running away just like other protesters, he was hit and fell down. He said he was helped by other protesters who rushed him to Randle hospital Surulere, from where he was referred to National Orthopedic Hospital (NOI) Igbobi Somolu for treatment.

When asked if he was aware that there was anti kidnapping unit office of the Nigeria police force behind the (OPD) office, the petitioner admitted knowing so.

On where was the destination of the protesters by trying to access the street where the anti kidnapping unit office of the Nigeria police force was located, the petitioner said they just wanted to pass through.

The counsel then put it to the petitioner, if he was aware that the anti kidnapping unit office was attacked, police and exhibit vehicles burnt and arrested kidnappers set free, the petitioner said he was aware.

The respondent put it to the petitioner that he was one of the EndSARS protesters who attacked and vandalized the anti kidnapping unit office of the Nigeria police force, but he denied.

When he was asked if he knew who shot him, the petitioner said he didn’t know because he was shot in the left knee while running for dear life like other protesters.

The counsel for both parties closed their cases and the panel adjourned the matter to 31st of August 2021 for adoption of final written address.

A final year student of the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Department of Adult Education identified as Oshokoya Deborah Ayomikun allegedly committed suicide over fears of not performing well in her final exams.

Ayomikun allegedly took her own life after taking a poisonous substance suspected to be snipper, because of a possible extra year due to carryover in one of her final year courses.

TASUED SUG President, Comr Rabiu Sodiq, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday, August 11, advised students against taking such drastic action no matter the challenges life throws their ways.