Author: oduduwanews

Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko has warned those exhibiting lawlessness and committing crimes with impunity, that laws of Nigeria will be enforced on them whenever they are caught, no matter the position they hold in the society.

The police commissioner talked tough on Friday during an emergency stakeholders’ meeting summoned in the wake of recent crises in the state.

Among those at the stakeholders’ meeting were state heads of Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Customs Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and Nigeria Immigration Service.

Others at the meeting were the Senior Special Adviser on Security, CP Fatai Owoseni (retd), traditional, community and ethnic leaders, local government chairmen, farmers, Miyetti Allah and youth organization leaders.

It will be recalled that the latest crisis was an attack on operatives of Mapo police station on Thursday by suspected hoodlums, who allegedly forcefully took back two suspects arrested by the police in connection with the killing a woman on Monday.

Onadeko, who decried the way criminals had taken laws into their hands, disclosed that the impromptu meeting was called because of what had been happening in the state.

According to her, “we need to brainstorm and seek a solution to how we can make Oyo State to be peaceful so that we shun the violence we have been witnessing for the past two, three weeks.

“I’ve come to tell all of us that we need peace in our communities and the state. If there is no peace, we can’t have economic growth or any development.

“Crime has no ethnic boundary or colour. We have good and bad people in all ethnicities.

“What we should do is to come in together and fish out all these criminal elements among us. Let us, partner, together with the police and other security agencies.

“We are in the time of community policing now, let us all come together and work as one entity.

“We should not think of where someone comes from regarding his criminal activities.

“I want to challenge us to sit down, talk and agree with one voice to fight those committing crime and criminality in the society, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, or colour.”

Onadeko said that all the security agencies in Oyo State were working hand in hand, in synergy, and cooperating to make the state safer for all.

“Anyone caught committing all these crimes and criminality, no matter who you are, no matter how high, low or middle-placed you are, we will enforce the laws of the land.

“We will do a thorough investigation, and anybody found wanting will be prosecuted. This will make the carnage and destructions to stop,” she asserted.

The police commissioner however assured that no law enforcement agencies would be after anyone, provided such a person is a law-abiding citizen and doing their legal duties.

“We are only after those people that are committing a crime.

I plead with everyone to let us join hands together and practise community policing.

“In the police force, we promise visibility policing. In every nook and cranny of the state, we will make sure that policemen and women are there, and we will respond promptly to any distress call,” she said.

She also enjoined the people to always give Intelligence-based information, so that the police would be able to nip crimes in the bud.

CP Owoseni, in his remarks, said that the stakeholders’ security meeting had been long overdue.

He described it as a good initiative, adding that it had demonstrated that the new leadership of the police and the other security heads had found it essential.

“They are passing a message that the people sitting back there in the community are actually the government and law enforcement and security agents, not only those wearing the uniform,” Owoseni stated.

He noted that since EndSARS protests, things had been as if there was no government or police again.

“The security challenges we have now, the EndSARS protests have made it to be like there is no government in the country or state again. We should change our mindsets,” the Senior Special Adviser on Security added.

In his contribution, the Serikin Sasa, Alhaji Katsina Maiyasin blamed the Fulani leaders for the incessant kidnapping and armed robbery allegedly being committed by the indigenes.

According to Serikin Sasa, any leader harbouring criminals and not reporting them would be causing Nigeria and himself injuries, upon the ones already being nursed.

“Any Fulani man, whether you are a Seriki, and you say that you don’t know any criminal among your people in your community, then you are a liar.

“I’m challenging them. They should come together and help the state so that we can all live in peace. Where they are now, they don’t have rest of mind. They are being hunted because they are afraid to tell the (security) leaders the truth about those giving problems.

“If they say they don’t know the kidnappers, how do they know how to bail the suspects arrested for kidnapping? When a kidnapper abducts someone, it is the Fulani heads within the area that would go and pay the ransom and bring the victim back home.

“How do they know the person? Who do they speak with? How do they go to the kidnappers? And they are saying they don’t know them (kidnappers)? They are liars; they know them.

“Why don’t they tell the police that this is where the kidnappers are residing? If someone calls himself ‘charge and bail’, then he is a thief.

“There is no Fulani man that will stand with me and say that he doesn’t know the kidnappers or armed robbers within the Fulani.

“The Fulani also kidnap themselves and their heads will be the ones to go and pay the ransom. If you don’t know someone or have anything to do with him, how do you have the boldness to go and meet and discuss with him, and then pay?” the Serikin Sasa queried.

He called on the Fulani to come out and help the people of the state and themselves so that all could live in peace in the state and in Nigeria.

“If a Fulani is arrested during robbery operation or kidnapping, people would be saying that all the Fulani are kidnappers or armed robbers.

“But they are very few among us; only that they are being helped by their leaders. These are the challenges we are facing now in Nigeria,” he added.

The Ijede General Hospital, on Thursday, recorded a successful and historic birth of a set of triplets since the establishment of the hospital almost four decades ago.

Speaking on the feat, the Medical Director/CEO, General Hospital, Ijede, Dr. Olufunmilayo Bankole expressed profound joy over the landmark achievement, attributing the development to investment in qualitative healthcare delivery by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led administration.

In her words, “The Lagos State Government has done a lot in putting up infrastructures, providing state-of-the-art equipment and recruiting professionals, who have been highly trained in their respective fields, as evident in our success story”.

Dr. Bankole congratulated the parents of the triplets and assured the mother of adequate post-natal care as well as more qualitative healthcare for the babies.

The consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist, General Hospital, Ijede, Dr. Babatope Oni, who led the delivery team, said the mother, Mrs. Balikis Arobieke delivered a male and two female babies at 12.20, 12.21 and 12.22 pm through a caesarian section, weighing 2.2kg, 2.7kg and 2.3kg respectively.

Dr. Oni said the team, which also included Dr. Omolola James (Surgeon), Dr. Rafiat Obani (Anaesthetics) and CNO Harriet Kelani (Nurse), was full of gratitude to God and the State Government for its commitment towards improving quality healthcare delivery in the State.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested two brothers, six others for internet fraud.

The agency said its operatives arrested six of the culprits at their hideout in Ayegbami area of the ancient town following a tip-off while the two brothers were arrested in their home.

It stated further that cyber fraudsters were arrested following a surveillance and intelligence gathered about their dealings.

ODUDUWA NEWS has just gathered that a ghastly motor accident which occured on Thursday claimed the life of a lecturer of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, Kola Oladunjoye, and three others.

It was gathered that they were returning to Ibadan from Oke-Ogun Polytechnic when they had an accident.

The incident occurred at a lagoon near Moniya community in Ibadan, the state capital.

ODUDUWA NEWS learnt that Oladunjoye, was the immediate past Head of Department of Architecture in the institution.

Further learnt that, Oladunjoye and three others were coming from Saki town and almost in Ibadan when they had the accident.

” It is a very sad day for The Polytechnic, Ibadan and its staff. The man was the immediate former head of the department of Architecture. He was a very vibrant and committed individual. It is very painful,” one of poly staff said.

Oladunjoye and the trio were said to have went to Oke Ogun polytechnic, Saki for an official assignment.

A source said that apart from Oladunjoye, the three other occupants of the vehicle driven by Oladunjoye were TETFUND officials, though the identities have not been ascertained as at the time of filing this report on Friday.

“They are Tetfund officials who were on official assignment at The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki. The team also included a staff of The Polytechnic Ibadan.”

“We are yet to identify the others who may probably not be our staff. So sad but who are we to question God.

“It is very disheartening that poly Ibadan lost another gem, yesterday in a fatal motor accident along Saki road in person of Architect Oladunjoye of Architecture Department. May his soul Rest In Peace.”

However, Public Relations Officer of the Polytechnic Ibadan, Alhaji Soladoye Adewole confirmed the death of the immediate past HOD of Architecture, Mr. Kola Oladunjoye to westerndailynews reporter on Friday.

The Oyo State Government has disclosed that the National Monthly environmental Sanitation exercise would hold on Saturday, 30th January, 2021.

According to a statement signed by the State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Dr. Abdulateef Idowu Oyeleke, the sanitation exercise will hold between the hours of 6:00am and 9:00am and there shall be total restriction of both vehicular and human movement except for those on essential duties.

The statement further directed all the Chairmen of Local Government and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to ensure compliance in their respective domains, as it is expected that citizens utilize the period to clean their surroundings.

Dr. Oyeleke directed all Directors of Environmental Health Services in the 33 Local Governments and 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) within the State to monitor the exercise as a matter of duty.

The statement therefore enjoined shop owners, market men and women, security operatives, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria( RTEAN), Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria(TOOAN), Association of Commercial Motorcycle Riders of Nigeria ( ACCOMORAN), and the general public to comply with this directive.

ODUDUWA NEWS has just gathered that the Lagos State Government has ordered reduction of the tuition fee for students of Lagos State University (LASU). Details later.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, restated the need for everyone to come together and address environmental issues through multifarious approaches of human intervention and sustained advocacy.

The Governor, speaking through the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, at the commissioning of the repaired embankment failures located within the premises of the Leadership Training Centre, Apapa, added that the newly repaired infrastructure will effectively address the problem of erosion which had posed a serious threat to lives and property in the area.

He commended the Federal Government, through the Ecological Fund Office (EFO), for its prompt response and leadership, which played a key role not only in ensuring the successful completion of the project but also averting the calamities that would have resulted from negligence and inaction on her part, stressing that “As a State, we are appreciative of this very important intervention from the Federal Government which would impact not only the training centre but also the environs”.

Earlier in his address, a member of Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change, Senator Olalekan Mustapha, said the project is one of the 16th ecological interventions approved by President Muhammadu Buhari which was subsequently awarded by Federal Executive Council in March 2019.

While noting that the project is expected to address the devastating effect of erosion and flood menace in the School Community, he implored the community to take ownership of the project by preventing indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drainage channels, noting that it is the responsibility of the community to maintain the project and ensure its sustainability.

Oyo State Police Command on Thursday said some hoodlums attacked some Policemen who arrested two suspects.

Police said the hoodlums after attacking the policemen in Ibadan also freed the two suspects who had been arrested.

Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko in a statement made available to newsmen through the Public Relations Officer of the Command, Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi narrated that one suspected hoodlum, identified as Packaging, led some thugs numbering about thirty (30) to attack and mob the Police team while forcefully taking the two miscreants away.

Onadeko used the medium to appeal to parents and guardians in the two areas to warn their wards to desist from acts capable of causing the breakdown of law and order.

She added that massive deployment of Police personnel and that of Sister Security Agencies have been put in place to forestall further crises.

“The Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command wishes to inform the general public on the incident that occurred earlier today 28th January, 2021 at about 1145hrs at Odo-Osun Area of Mapo where Police personnel from Mapo Divisional Police Headquarters were deployed to effect the arrest of two notorious miscreants who have been deeply involved in the crisis rocking Shogoye/Akobi areas of Mapo lately.

“It can be recalled that armed thugs from Shogoye/Akobi Areas have been unleashing mayhem, causing grievous hurts and death of innocent citizens in the two areas. On the 25th of January, 2021 at about 0600hrs, an elderly woman in a white Celestial church cap known as Modupe Daramola ‘f’ aged 60 years of a Celestial church in Akobi area was hit with pellets from a locally made gun fired by one of the hoodlums during the clashes and gave up the ghost, while some other ones sustained varying degrees of injuries.

“Sequel to the arrest of the two notorious miscreants who were handcuffed, one A.K.A Packaging led some thugs numbering about thirty (30) to attack and mobbed the Police team while forcefully took the two miscreants from them.

“In a bid for the Police personnel to escape from being lynched, a shot was fired to the air while the Police personnel managed to escape.

“At about 1220hrs, one Akeem ‘m’ in the company of some angry miscreants invaded the Police Station to report that his younger brother was shot and the miscreants attempted to attack Mapo Police Station, while some cars at the junction leading to the street of the Station were damaged.

“The mob was thereafter repelled by Police personnel who were strategically positioned to prevent the Station from being attacked. Not too long, at about 1350hrs, the corpse of one Badmus Rasheed ‘m’ 20 years was brought to the Police Station amidst the angry mob that was earlier repealed from attacking the Station.

Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on Thursday, inaugurated the state Steering Committee on COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Programme (State CARES), an initiative targeted at mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state.

The governor, while inaugurating members of the nine-man steering committee at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, said that the programme was meant for post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted Governor Makinde as explaining that the programme will focus on three major areas, including expanding access to livelihood support, food security services and grants for the poor and vulnerable households and firms in the state.

He said: “We are here to inaugurate the CARES programme for Oyo State. The programme is aimed at mitigating the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So, it is about post-COVID-19 economic recovery and we are looking at three major areas. We want to increase access to basic services such as health care. We want to take care of the poor and the vulnerable households within the state and we also want to strengthen the food supply chain for the poor households, because we know that once we are able to tackle hunger, people are able to think correctly.”

The governor also maintained that his administration had begun to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state since last year, as it has provided palliatives to the poor and vulnerable households as well as farmers in all the nooks and crannies of the state.

He added that the state was able to distribute farm inputs to farmers to increase food production and ensure food security post-COVID-19.

“We also want to support the MSMEs to navigate this difficult time. We already started taking this action since last year with the distribution of palliatives to the poor and vulnerable households. We also distributed farm inputs to farmers in the state to increase food production.

“We came up with the N1 billion MSME fund to provide credit at a single-digit interest rate to MSMEs in the state and while I was comparing a note with the focal point for that, the Director-General of the Oyo State Investment Promotion Agency (OYSIPA), he told me that about N500 million had been disbursed already and that they still have other applications. So, we have been doing most of these things.

“The programme is not just a grant or giving money to us, it is a programme for results. So, we have to spend the money first and the World Bank will have to confirm that we have spent the money on those things that we said we are going to spend the money on.

“With this, we can even do more apart from what we have been doing on our own to help our economy recover from the effect of COVID-19 and the economic meltdown occasioned by the drop in oil prices, which have been affecting the federal allocation coming to the state.”

Speaking earlier, the state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinola Ojo, stated that the CARES Programme is a World Bank-assisted programme for results, with the sum of $750 million already earmarked by the Bank to support the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

“This P for R, which is the programme for results, initiative is aimed at mitigating the devastating effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the livelihood of the poor, vulnerable households amongst us as well as to help cushion the effects of this pandemic on the economic activities of the respective states.

“The objective of the programme is to basically expand access to livelihood support, food security services, grants for the poor, vulnerable households and organisations,” the commissioner said.

He added that the objective of the programme will be measured using free-result indicators, including the number of beneficiaries targeted, who have access to basic social services, the number of farmers supported to increase food production and a number of vulnerable and viable firms supported by the programmes.

Akinola further stated that the programme similarly outlines a two-year financial support to the state to fulfill programme development objectives in three key areas such as cash transfers and livelihood support to poor and vulnerable households, increasing food security and safe functioning of food supply chain for the poor households and facilitating the recovery of Medium and Small Scale Enterprises.

Members of the steering committee include the Commissioner for Finance, who is the chairman of the committee; Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Alhaja Faosat Sanni; Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Ojemuyiwa Ojekunle; Commissioner for Trade, Industries and Cooperatives, Hon. Adebisi Adeniyi.

Others include: Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Lateef Oyeleke; Director-General, OYSADA/Executive Adviser on Agribusiness, Dr. Debo Akande; Director-General, OYSIPA, Hon. Segun Ogunwuyi; Executive Assistant on Intervention Fund, Aderonke Adebayo and the chairman, Community and Social Development Agency, Hon. Babatunde Eesuola.

St David’s Primary School, Kudeti, Ibadan was, for several hours, home to hundreds of prominent personalities and residents, on Thursday, as
Hon. Ibrahim Iyiola commissions 2 blocks of 16 classrooms.

Pressmen gathered that the renovation of the classrooms, which was sponsored by Hon. Ibrahim, is part of his efforts to create an enabling learning environment for students in Ibadan South East/North East federal constituency.

Speaking at the event, Hon. Ibrahim, who is an alumnus of the school, explained that the project is the latest in the endless list of projects he has embarked on since the launch of the Ibrahim Iyiola Foundation in 2017.

He said: “In 2017 when Ibraheem Iyiola Foundation was inaugurated, we launched a Five point agenda which would be the main focal points and objectives of our determined effort to be a part of the struggle to make a visible impact in our community, our city and state.

“Since the inauguration, we have made tremendous strides. We have vigorously and with bull-dog tenacity of purpose pursued the objectives of human empowerment,
Small and medium scale business; financial assistance on education and provided healthcare support to residents of our community.

“In the area of human empowerment, we have helped/assisted not less than Fifteen (15)
persons in acquiring skills in different vocational businesses and supported not less than 50 widows in our community to sustain their livelihood. In the area of education, we have given out scholarships and education support assistance to indigent students of our community.

“For the small and medium scale business grant, we have supported
over 500 small and medium scale businesses in our community. In the area of Health care, which is very sensitive and considering what we are experiencing in the whole world, we have been able to support our community with the renovation of Omiyale
primary health care center and continuously providing sufficient medical supplies for the benefit of our people.

“Most importantly, for the Covid19 pandemic, we have also provided Covid-19 relief materials to the resident of our community and we pray that God almighty will take control worldwide.”

Earlier in her opening speech, the acting head mistress of the school, Mrs. Ayodeyi commended Hon. Ibrahim for giving back to the school.

She noted that his contributions has increased enrollment rate and attendance in the school.

“For years now, academic activities has slowed down due to the poor condition of our classrooms. Thank God for the intervention of our old student — Hon. Iyiola Ibrahim — who came to our rescue,” she noted.

Similarly, the adminstrative officer of the Universal Basic Education, Ibadan South-East, Mrs. Sanda M.O. was full of praises.

“I will like to appreciate the good gesture of Mr. Ibrahim Iyioka who deemed it fit to recognize the problems of our primary schools.”

She noted that his financial and physical commitment to the success of the project is laudable adding that it is a clarion call to everyone to always go back to their old schools to make contributions to ensure the learning environment is conducive.