Category: Featured

Former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu says he has not received any letter from the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) seeking his asset declaration form.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Wednesday, media aide to the former governor, Tunde Rahman, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also not invited Tinubu for any questioning.

Rahman was reacting to a report that the EFCC had deepened its investigation into the APC leader, by writing a letter to the CCB, requesting copies of Tinubu’s asset declaration form.

He said he has no knowledge about such a letter, adding that any details about such a letter if it was indeed written, were with the CCB, and not with his principal.

“All the reports say that the EFCC wrote a letter to the CCB, seeking information about Asiwaju’s declaration form. Why don’t you contact the CCB if any such letter was written to us? I don’t know; I don’t have any reaction to that. Contact the CCB if the letter was written to them,” he said.

ODUDUWA NEWS reports that a copy of the letter had disclosed that the investigation into Tinubu began last year after the removal of erstwhile Chairman Ibrahim Magu.

The letter marked: CR/3000/EFCC/LS/Vol4/322, dated November 6, 2020, was signed by the then Lagos zonal head, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who is now the Chairman of the EFCC.

In the letter by the EFCC, the commission had said, “In view of the above, you are kindly requested to furnish the commission with the outstanding requested information of Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu.

“This request is made pursuant to Section 38(1) and (2) of the EFCC Act 2004.”

ODUDUWA NEWS has just gathered that the Ogun State Deputy Speaker, Hon. Dare Kadiri has on Thursday been impeached by nineteen members for alleged gross misconduct . They impeached Kadiri during a plenary held at the plenary session held in the Assembly Complex , Oke -Mosan , Abeokuta.

Kadiri’ s impeachment was pronounced by Speaker of the Assembly , Olakunle Oluomon , after the ad- hoc Committee he constituted to investigate allegations against him found him guilty .
It was gathered that the 19 lawmakers out of 26 members of the assembly supported the motion for his impeachment after the committee presented the report.
The Speaker therefore pronounced him impeached.
The impeached lawmaker represents Ijebu – North 11 constituency in Ijebu -North local government area where the All Progressives Congress is enmeshed in crisis .
The Secretary to the State Government ,Tokunbo Talabi, and two former deputy governors , Gbenga Kaka and Segun Adesegun, hail from the troubled constituency .

ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Oyo state chapter has postponed its local government primary election scheduled to hold today.

The election was postponed for 72 hours.

This was confirmed today in a statement released by the Publicity Secretary, Eng Akeem Olatunji

The reason for the postponement was not stated in the release.

Olatunji said the leadership of the party will meet stakeholders for further consultation.

The statement read: “Oyo State PDP LG Primary election postponed for 72 hours, PDP leadership to meet stakeholders for further consultation.”

Details later.

The allegation of imposition of candidates in the forthcoming Local Council election made against erstwhile Senator of Oyo North Senatorial District and the current Chairman of Advisory Council to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Senator Hosea Ayoola popularly known as ‘Alleluyah’ has been refuted and condemmed by a chieftain of the party, Chief Adedotun Fatai

The allegation was published by one online news media titled: “EXCLUSIVES: Alleluyah’s Proposed Selection of Candidates for Oyo LG Election May Explode PDP in Oke-Ogun”.

The news medium credited its source to some people loyal to the current PDP Chairman, Alh. Kunmi Mustapha.

In a statement made available to ODUDUWA NEWS today by one of the chieftains of PDP in Oke-Ogun, Chief Fatai Adedotun who was quoted as saying that he did not want to believe that the indictment emanated from the people loyal to the PDP chairman as quoted by the newsmedia but he deemed it imperative to clear the air on the malicious and fictitious allegation made against the reverred and consistent leader of the party in Oke-Ogun, Senator Hosea Alleluyah.

Chief Adedotun Fatai said, in as much as he believed that the source of the news media ascribing to the PDP chairman was a calculated attempt to mislead the public and to fan ember of discord between the two leaders of the party, it behooved on him to set the record straight for the sake of uninformed the report said to have misled.

“In the news report, Baba Alleluyah was alleged of conspiracy and shenanigan to fix the candidates for the subsequent Local Government election in Oke-Ogun at the expense of party primaries”.

“This we see as the cry and hypocrisy of those who are being disturbed by their conscience for the mischievous and tracherous role they played in the last 2019 gubernatorial election in Oyo State”, said Adedotun.

“Their political gimmick of raising dust and crying wolf where there is none is already in public domain and people should not take them serious as they have failed again in their ochestrated plan to soil the name of the leader of the party, Senator Hosea Agboola Alleluyah.

“Our stand remains a level playing ground for those who allow the rule of the game to prevail not those who have clandestine mission to ambush the party for their selfish interest.

“We must however state categorically to the propagandists, that Alleluyah has always remained a consistent, loyal and resilient leader and would not allow anybody to hijack the party for selfish interest.

“We would always respect the supremacy of the party constitution and everybody has been given level playing ground to play in accordance with laid down procedures as enshrined in the party constitution”.

He however plead to those who have issues with the proposed primary election to go through appropriate channel as laid down by the party rather than raising fallacious and unsubstantiated allegation to the media in an attempt to discredit the whole electioneering process.

The Governor of Ekiti State has led a delegation of the Nigeria Governors Forum to Zamfara State where he met the Governor, critical stakeholders and the released students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Jangebe.

The governor commended security agencies for their effort and argued for greater synergy among security institutions and intensified technological tracking of criminal entrepreneurs.

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ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that the fire incident that occurred at Sabo Market in Oyo town, Oyo State has claimed goods worth millions of naira.

Sabo Market, which is the biggest farmers’ market in Oyo town was razed by fire, which started around 10 pm on Tuesday, destroyed some shops and property.

Firefighters from The Oyo State fire service were called immediately when the fire started, but some shops and property have been destroyed before their arrival.

The Chief Fire Officer in Oyo State, Mr Moshood Adewuyi confirmed the incident on Wednesday morning.

Adewumi, who said eight shops were gutted by the fire attributed the cause of the fire incident to a new dumpsite site.

“Yes. Yes. It is true. We were called around 30 minutes past 11 pm We went to the scene of the incident. You know our office is very close to Sabo.

“About eight shops were affected. And what were discovered in those shops were Cocoa, cashew nuts and some baskets. Those are the major things.

“So, it was only eight shops that were affected. Let us now go to the main cause, the people there, having known that they have property worth millions of naira, they also have a dumpsite site, they burnt it and left.

They set it ablaze but did not wait to monitor it. These are some of the mistakes that our people make.

“I believe that there should be a distance between your shop and the dumpsite; they set the dumpsite ablaze and went home. It was the fire from the dumpsite that spread to those shops,” he disclosed.

ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that the farmers and traders in Kano are lamenting as farm produce, which can’t be sent to the South due to the ongoing strike by sellers of cows and foodstuff, are now being sold at the North at ridiculously low prices.

In a video shared by Daily Trust, the farmers and marketers at the Gun-Dutse onion market, Dawakin Kudu Local government Area of Kano State, are seen lamenting the effect of the ongoing strike by the sellers of cows and foodstuff.

It had been reported that trucks bringing foodstuff to the Southern part of Nigeria were turned back at Kara Jebba, the last village between Niger state and Kwara state, to prevent them from bringing food to the South.

This strike is connected to an ultimatum given by the national leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to the Federal Government, which demanded compensation for the losses suffered by Northern traders in the recent mayhem at Shasha market in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The strike led to an increase in the price of food commodities in the South, but the prices are plummeting in the north.

It was reported that the farmers said before the protest, they usually transport a minimum of 20 trucks to the southern part of the country daily, but the strike has affected them badly.

The largest bag of onion, sold at N35,000 few weeks ago and as high as N70,000 during the onion scarcity last year, is now being sold for N7,000.

HAJJ 2021: LAGOS COMMISSIONER ADVISES INTENDING PILGRIMS ON COVID-19 VACCINE

The Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofiu Olanrewaju Elegushi, has advised Intending Pilgrims for the Y2021 Hajj exercise to endeavour to take the COVID-19 Vaccine whenever it arrives in the country.

Prince Elegushi gave the advice, on Tuesday, during a special meeting with the league of Ulamahs of the Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board at the Shamsi Adisa Thomas (SAT) Mosque, Old Secretariat, Ikeja.

The Commissioner urged the Intending Pilgrims, Ulamahs and other stakeholders in the Hajj operations to prevent being influenced against taking the vaccine whenever the Federal Government commences its dispensation in Nigeria, adding that only holders of the vaccine certificate would be allowed entry into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia when the Hajj exercise begins.

On the airlifting and safety of Pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia, the Commissioner informed the gathering of the plans by the State Government towards ensuring that a reputable airline is engaged for airlifting of pilgrims within two to three days of operations, stressing that the old system when travellers stayed in the airport for weeks before being airlifted is gone for good.

While emphasising that any airline that defaults on the airlifting agreement would be penalised accordingly, he lamented the inability of the intending pilgrims to embark on Hajj in Y2020 due to the global pandemic but expressed his appreciation to all the affected persons for trusting the State government with their Hajj fares.

Elegushi, who stated that Hajj was like a pillar that holds the entire universe together, promised the stakeholders that a befitting accommodation would be provided for pilgrims both in Mecca and Madinah as well as Muna. He, however, solicited the Ulamahs’ support for the State government in its quest to give the pilgrims the best of Hajj experience and medical treatment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

On his part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Islamic Matters, Alh. Ahmed Abdullahi Jebe, called for a harmonious and cordial relationship between the Ulamahs and schedule officers in their dealings with the intending pilgrims at the various Local Government Areas of the State.

He said their cooperation would further help in achieving much-needed success during the Hajj operations.

The Executive Secretary, Lagos State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Mr. Rahman Ishola; Chairman, SAT Mosque, Ikeja, Mr. Murtala Bamgboshe and Chairman of Ulamahs, Alh. Muhsin Ajagbemokeferi were among the participants at the meeting.

Oyo State government has perfected plans to post lawyers from the State Ministry of Justice to the Oyo State Police Command to afford the police timely legal advice and ensure speedy judicial process.

This was made known on Monday, when the State Police Commissioner, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko paid a courtesy visit to Oyo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Oyelowo Oyewo (SAN) at the Board room of the Ministry.

The Attorney General in his opening remark welcomed the Commissioner of Police, said outside the herdsmen and related issues, Oyo State was relatively a peaceful State compared to some other States in the country and highlighted some of the areas that the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde has introduced reforms in the judicial sector.

Oyewo said among the areas of judicial reforms were the investigation and prosecution of crimes, which he said have some noticeable gaps as a result of the processes and procedures used or the personnel that are being used in the process who have no proper judicial background to deliver.

He explained that some proposals would be made available to the police hierarchy in the State from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to deal with the shortcomings, while a department would be created to bridge the gap between the police and the office of the DPP, while some legal officers would be stationed at the State Police Command to effect smooth judicial system among the police, the State prosecutors and the correctional authority.

“Some lawyers will be stationed in the State police command which will help in giving legal advice as well as legal intervention when necessary and also fast forward some of the delays they are having in some cases, this process will make the judicial process smooth and fast, for the benefit of the offender, the prosecutor, the police and the correctional institution,” he said.

The commissioner of Justice also talked about the unjust treatment of offenders and said a committee has been set up, which is made up of the judiciary, the police and the correctional unit of the Ministry, that will put an end to unjust detention which has been creating problems for the the correctional service, the police and the Ministry, adding that the system in the offing would make Oyo State score another first in the area of justice delivery.

On the security architecture of the State, Prof. Oyelowo stated that the State’s Security Agency, also known as Amotekun is the key aspect of the complimentary input introduced by the present administration to combat insecurity in Oyo State, lamenting the fact that the police have not participated in the training of the officers of Amotekun for effective rural policing.

He said police is an institution with a long history of policing with well-trained personnel to pass on skills in policing to the Amotekun corps and urged for collaboration between Amotekun and the Police to make the State’s security architecture more effective.

In her response, the Commissioner of Police, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko said the visit was to seek for the cooperation and synergy of Oyo State Ministry of Justice and the Police Command to carry out their duties effectively and to instill speedy administration of Justice in the State.

She said the police force is the chief internal security operator in Oyo State and are ready to work with everybody including the Amotekun and Vigilante to achieve the same goal of making Oyo State Safe.

Ngozi explained that the three groups should know individual boundary and jurisdiction which required cooperation for success and that rivalry between the police and Amotekun was unhealthy and would not augur well for everyone.

“There is no issue between Amotekun and Police, Amotekun is helping the police to discharge its duties, rivalry between Amotekun and the Police is unhealthy, but I want to advise the Amotekun corps to hand over suspects to appropriate quarter which is the police, we also urge the people of Oyo State to live together in peace and love irrespective of where they come from,” she solicited.