Category: News

ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that Oloye Teslim Kolawole Folarin, A Senator currently representing Oyo Central senatorial district has just lost his WIFE, Barr (Chief) Angela Nwaka Folarin.

May her gentle soul rest in peace and may God console TKF and his entire family.

Details later.

No fewer than 10 policemen were injured while attempting to arrest members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers at Diamond Hotel, Alakia Isebo, Ibadan, Oyo State.

It was gathered that Lamidi Mukaila popularly called ‘Auxiliary’, who is chairman of the NURTW in the state, is the owner of the hotel.

According to a source, Mukaila had ordered his men to shoot at any officer, who tries to make an arrest in his hotel.

The officers, who are currently admitted at a hospital, had visited the hotel to make an arrest but due to Mukaila’s orders, the men immediately attacked the officers, overpowered them and seized their guns.

Meanwhile, according to Sahara reporters, a source in the camp of the NURTW revealed that the AK-47 rifles the road workers seized from the police were currently with one of the auxiliary boys simply identified as Adebowale Abiodun at Akure Park, Ibadan.

The source said, “There is one beer parlour close to the auxiliary’s hotel. The police were informed that there were armed robbers were being harboured at the spot. So, the police were on the trail of the robbers when the auxiliary boys sighted the officers and opened fire on them. They stabbed the officers like bush meat.”

He added that Auxillary had been fingered in many killings and violence in the state in recent times.

SaharaReporters also gathered three soldiers of the Nigerian Army were mobilised to guard the hotel.

In 2014, Auxiliary was arrested for gun-running and some violent crimes in the Alakia Isebo area.

During his days as NURTW chairman, the suspect was alleged to have been involved in political crises and killings in Ibadan.

He was paraded at the Lagos Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, by the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko in 2014.

He was further sentenced to six years imprisonment along with Saidi Kareem, Abu Kareem and Kazeem Kayode by Justice Eni Esan of the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan.

His release was facilitated by the current governor of the state, Seyi Makinde, in the build up to the 2019 general elections.

A second prosecution witness, Peter Odewo-Oritse, an operations manager at KenBen Nig. Ltd., a company in Warri, Delta State owned by the father of late Sylvester Oromoni, has testified at the coroner’s inquest investigating the controversial death of the Dowen College student.

While answering questions from the lawyer to the Lagos State Government, Seun Akande, the witness testified that the deceased had an enlarged liver but was not immediately taken to a hospital, according to Channels Television.Magistrate Mikail Kadiri sitting at the Epe Magistrate Court, Lagos, also heard that upon arrival in Warri, Delta State, the Oromoni family doctor, Aghoho Owhojede, attended to the boy who was treated for malaria.

Based on the doctor’s instructions, a scan and an x-ray were later conducted on the boy, which results revealed among other things that the boy had a liver enlargement.The witness said the Oromoni parents initially arranged with Dr Owhojede to take their son to the Delta State Teaching Hospital, Oghara for treatment but added that he was eventually taken to one Vicar Hospital on Nov. 30th where he was said to have later died.

The witness also testified that the boy and his mother had first gone to church for prayers before the medical tests were carried out.At the last sitting of the court on Jan. 21st, the first witness, Clifford Tejire had told the coroner how he went to Dowen College on Nov. 23rd to pick the late Sylvester from school. He added that though the boy was in great pains, and his condition worsened, he was not instructed by the parents to take him to the hospital.Oromoni, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, was later taken by road to Warri in Delta State where he eventually died on Nov 30th.

Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council, Lagos Chapter has filed an application seeking to be joined in the inquest. The coroner says the application will be considered at the next sitting of the court on Friday, Jan. the 28th.

A Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, today, ordered the remand of Alhaji Azeez Adekunle Lawal, a.k.a. Kunle Poly, and two others, in the facility of the Nigeria Police Zonal Monitoring Unit, Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan-Lagos, for 30 days, over last Thursday’s Idumota mayhem.

Others ordered to be remanded alongside Kunle Poly, are: Prince Idowu Onikoyi Johnson and Agboola Akeem Kosoko.
Chief Magistrate Linda Balogun, made the remand order of the three National Union of Road Transport Workers, after their application for remand was moved by Barrister Morufu Animashaun.

In urging the court to remand the three, Barrister Animashaun, told the court that the application is pursuant to section 264(1), (2), (3), (4) and (6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, 2021 (as amended); Section 4 and 10 of the Police Act, 2020, and sections 6(c), 35(1)(C)(5) and (7)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 199 (as amended). Animashaun told the court that the application sought for, is to enable the police conclude investigation of a case OF threat to life and property, violence, cultism, mayhem, conduct likely to jeopardize the peace of the State.

Showering of encomium filled the air as the people of Oyo Town and Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State could not hide their feeling and sense of relief as the reconstruction of neglected Odoogun Bridge commenced.

They equally commended Governor Seyi Makinde for taking up the initiative of reconstructing the Oyo-Iseyin federal road after decades of abandonment.

This is as the 72years old Odo-Ogun bridge that residents and motorists claimed has caused the death of hundreds of people is undergoing extension and reconstruction.

While talking with newsmen at the site of the bridge extension, some of the people of Odo Ogun village, which is a stone throw to the river said they heaved a sigh of relief as the extension work has started late last year, because they were sure that the carnage they used to witness before the intervention of the Oyo State government on the road and particularly the bridge, would be no more.

Parts of the what the Oke-Ogun people described as commendable in the urbanization projects of the Seyi Makinde-led administration is the Saki Township Road that the governor will commission on Thursday at Saki West Local Government.

The Honorable representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju State Constituency at the State’s House of Assembly, Hon. Dele Adeola in an interview at the site inspection where there was the presence of the Chairman, Iseyin Local Government, Honourable Mufutau Abilawon and the National President of Iseyin Development Union (I.D.U), Alhaji Bayo Raji, said it is clear to everyone that Governor Makinde was out to make life easy, especially for the people in the hinterlands, as farmers and traders in the Oke-Ogun region can now connect the cities through various linking roads that have been constructed or reconstructed by the present administration.

“It will be recalled that the bridge was constructed 73 years ago during colonial era and its neglection had claimed more than 100 lives in the past”.

“It is therefore imperative to commend the governor for his unrelenting efforts at boosting the economy of Oke-Ogun through infrastructural development”.

“We can see that Governor Makinde has promised to stand by the people of Oyo State and make them enjoy governance and he is delivering as promised, the Oyo-Iseyin road is another episode in this line”.

“We have toiled day and night to attract the attention of the federal government to the deplorable state of the road for over twenty years to no avail, we appreciate our Governor.”

In his own words, the Chairman, Iseyin Local Government, Hon. Mufutau Abilawon echoed others in praising Governor Seyi Makinde for the reconstruction of the Oyo-Iseyin road project, hammering on the Odo-Ogun bridge that is undergoing reconstruction and expansion.

He fingered the federal government as neglecting the road, which he said has resulted in the deaths of his people, saying the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo even used the road to campaign during the run up to the 2019 elections and nothing was done till Governor Makinde took up the responsibility of reconstructing the road after getting the go-ahead from the Minister for Works, Raji Fasola.

He told newsmen about his experience as a student of the then St. Andrews College of Education, Oyo in the 80s and he was going back to Iseyin among other students for holiday, but on getting to the bridge, there was an overflow of the river and they had to go back to Oyo and spend two days before the water level subsided under the bridge.

The National Chairman, Iseyin Development Union (I.D.U), Alhaji Bayo Raji pointed out that the construction of Iseyin-Oyo road and the 72year old Odo-Ogun bridge is a major relief for the people of Oke-Ogun.

He said the bridge’s side culverts were last repaired by the then Military Governor Ike Nwosu in 1996 and nothing has been done afterwards despite reports of deaths of travelers in their hundreds.

“The construction of Oyo Iseyin road is a major relief to all the people of Iseyin and Oke-Ogun generally, that is the road that leads straight to Oyo and by extension to Osogbo, Ogbomoso for now among other areas.

“That bridge is seventy two years or more by now, in fact, there have been cracking and chipping of the sides while the iron shoulders have been removed by accidents, since the last intervention by the Nwosu administration, nothing has been done till now that Governor Makinde has taken he shine off the owner of the road which is the Federal government, we sincerely thank the governor for this gesture like we appreciated him on Moniya-Iseyin, LAUTECH College of Agricultural Science and Renewable Natural Resources as well as the Ogbomoso-Fatope-Iseyin road that will be flagged off soon.”

Mr Segun Olaoye, a fisherman and resident of Odo-Ogun village prayed for the present administration in Oyo State for the reconstruction of Oyo-Iseyin road and especially the expansion and reconstruction of the Odo-Ogun bridge, which he said will stop what he called needless deaths of motorists and their passengers.

Olaoye recalled a particular day over eighty lives perished in the river as their vehicles were swept into the river when the river overflowed the bridge and over 40 corpses were recovered while others were swept away.

He appreciated the administration for putting a stop to waste of lives by reconstructing the road and the bridge.

“There is a particular day I will never forget, as a fisherman, I was down the Ogunbado river and I started seeing shoes and slippers flowing up the river, I knew something had happened, I quickly rowed my canoe to the river bank where I met many people crying and wailing.

“They said over eighty people have been swept away as their vehicles reached the bridges and upended by the powerful river flood, we were able to recover forty corpses while the rest were swept away.

“If the present government in the State could start its reconstruction and expansion, we should all appreciate them, at least the unnecessary deaths will be no more.”

The Project Manager of KOPEK Construction Company Ltd., Engr. Ayman Zakhour said the 34.85kilometer Oyo-Iseyin road will be delivered according to the Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME) specification, which is 60mm thickness for the road asphalt while the extended Odo-Ogunbado bridge is 12meters (end to end) with carriageway of 8meters.

He added that the bridge will be completed by early March before heavy rains will start and ten kilometers of the road would have been tarred by early February.

Engr. Ayman called on the road users to be assured of good quality of work on the road and the bridge, as required by their client, which is Oyo State government.

Meanwhile, the 9.70kilometers Oke-Ogun Poly- Saki Township road will be commissioned on Thursday by Governor Seyi Makinde in his efforts to achieve the urbanization policy of his administration.

The road was re-awarded after the contractor that was handling it before failed to meet most of the contractual agreements signed with the last administration of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

The National Economic Council NEC has recommended that petroleum pump price be increased to N302 as against the current pump price of N165.

This was a decision made known today after the council meeting.

Recall that some government officials had been affirming their stance on removal of fuel subsidy since last year hanging their affirmation on the fact that the subisdy payment is a bottleneck on the revenue of the government.

Meanwhile, Nigerians have taken to social media to condemn the latest development. Many people are calling out APC government, saying such decision could be catastrophic and an attempt to compound more on the hardship currently facing by Nigerians.

Details later.

The Lagos State Government has signed an agreement for the collection of Informal Transport Sector Levy to harmonise dues collected by government from commercial motorists at parks and garages across the State.

The government signed the agreement with the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, and others on Tuesday.

The levy will see each commercial driver in the state pay a consolidated levy of N800 to be shared among government agencies and local governments.

The agencies to share the N800 collected are LAWMA, LIRS, LASEPA, Ministry of Transportation, Local Governments, among others.

With the levy, the LGs will not collect levy from commercial drivers anymore as their shares have been inculcated in the N800 levy per day for a commercial driver.

All commercial bus drivers will now be issued tax cards by the Lagos Internal Revenue Service, LIRS, annually for paying the N800 daily and roughly around N24,000 monthly.

At the signing of the agreement at the Bagauda Kaltho 6Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, explained that the fees covered monies for not just the local government alone, but also that of clearing waste from the motor parks paid to LAWMA, and pollution dues which was collected by LASEPA.

According to Olowo personal income taxes of the drivers would also be deducted from the levy.

“The consolidated transport levy will include the personal income tax of the drivers, include cost of taking care of parks, include money for Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA; LG money and others,” he said.

Olowo said the need to harmonise the transport collection levy process became paramount as other associations have template for collecting their dues.

He said from findings, a commercial bus driver pay as much as N3,000 as levy on daily basis to the various unions and government agencies, saying that has now been pegged at N800 per driver.

“We want to reduce the fees payable. The levy will consolidate all levies; we want to build a reliable data base to know those who are doing businesses in our state. Bus drivers will get tax card. We want to bring about collaborative effort. It is imperative for Lagosians to know this is a remarkable achievement. An average danfo driver pay N3,000 daily. Once they pay from the point of entry, that is all. It is N800 charge per day.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Monday, ordered prisons officers to shoot dead anybody who attempts to attack any correctional centre in the country.

The minister gave this order while inspecting the facility at the Agodi Custodial Centre, Ibadan.

He said the officer must make it impossible for anyone to penetrate the facility because it is a red zone.

Aregbesola said any attack on any correctional centre is an attack on the state and such must never be allowed again.

The minister said any attempt to attack correctional centres should be a suicide attempt and perpetrators must not be allowed to live to tell the story.

He said, “The most important thing is the security impregnability of this facility. Make this facility impregnable.

“It is a red zone, dangerous zone. Whoever attempts to breach the security here is already dead. He must not live to tell the story. Other people will tell his or her story.

“Any effort to breach our facility is not acceptable. Don’t shoot to injure, shoot to kill. Don’t shoot to disable, shoot to kill.

“This is a total embodiment of the state to guarantee the security of the people.

“We will do our best regarding your welfare to ensure effective service. I must commend your work for not recording any case of COVID-19 in your facility.

“But most importantly, you must be effective in preventing the penetration of this facility. You must have the capacity to repel viciously any attempt to penetrate this facility.”

Aregbesola at a recent Ministerial Press Briefing at the Aso Villa, 4,860 inmates of the Nigerian correctional centres have escaped from those facilities between 2020 and 2021 alone following successful jailbreaks in Benin, Owerri, and Oyo, among others.

Also, only 954 of that number have been rearrested. That was before the recent jailbreak at the Jos Medium Security Custodial Centre, which resulted in 9 fatalities and escape of 252 inmates. The 252 on the loose are apart from the 10 rearrested.

Hundreds of commuters who planned to go from Ibadan to Lagos state are presently fearful of being abducted, according to reports.

A source said that there have been multiple incidences of motorists being kidnaped along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

According to reports, the main region where the kidnappers have been abducting motorists on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is near Abule Onigaari.

Abule Onigaari is one of the places located on the border between Oyo and Ogun states.

It was learned that gunmen suspected of being kidnappers killed a commercial driver named Oluwatosin Aruwajoye over the weekend.

According to the report, the kidnappers seized five people on Saturday, January 8th, while another person, Ibrahim Tiamiyu, was wounded in the thigh.

The driver’s body was later placed at the Adeoyo State Hospital mortuary on Ring Road in Ibadan.

The eight-seater ash-colored Toyota Sienna bus, with registration number MUS 493 HH, was on its way to Lagos from Ibadan when the kidnappers struck.

The kidnappers were claimed to have emerged from the woods and began firing at the bus.

According to our source, the matter was reported to the Toll Gate Police Division.

It was also discovered that an actress, Bimpe Akintunde, and her daughter had fled from the same area after being kidnaped.

The kidnappers attempted to kidnap other individuals on Sunday (yesterday) at the same place.

Our source learned that the kidnappers, numbering around ten, were firing at approaching vehicles from Ibadan on Sunday in an effort to abduct passengers.

The Lagos State Government has announced that Marine Bridge will partially close from tomorrow, Monday 17th January to Saturday, 2nd April, 2022 for Emergency repair works on the infrastructure.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Transportation, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde stated that the partial closure was to allow the Federal Government carry out routine maintenance works on the bridge infrastructure.

He further explained that the temporary closure of the bridge is in two sections, Apapa Outbound, which will be repaired between 17th January and 9th March, 2022, and the Apapa Inbound section of the bridge scheduled between10th March and 2nd April, 2022.

Highlighting the alternative routes, the Transport Commissioner stated that traffic outbound Apapa will be diverted to give way for contraflow of traffic between RRS point and Total Bridge, adding that Motorists using lighter vehicles will be diverted to Marine Beach by Mobil filling station to connect Ijora Bridge or make use of service lane by Leventis to connect Naval Dockyard to link Total Under bridge to further their journeys.

For the inbound Apapa Motorists during the second phase of the rehabilitation works, Oladeinde explained that traffic inbound Apapa will be diverted to allow contraflow of traffic between Total Bridge and RRS point.

He also added that Motorists using lighter vehicles will be allowed to descend towards Total Under Bridge and make use of Fire Service road to connect Marine Beach by Mobil filling station, while those heading towards Apapa will make a detour and connect Area B through NAGAFF using Mobil filling station service lane.

The Commissioner also assured that palliative repair works have been carried out on all the aforementioned alternative routes to ameliorate the effect of Traffic and deployment of Lagos State Traffic Management personnel (LASTMA) to manage the diversion plan.

The statement implored Motorists to be patient as the measures taken are aimed at providing quality and safe road infrastructure for everyone.