Category: Politics

The People’s Democratic Party, PDP Caucus in the Oyo State House of Assembly has distanced itself from the purported G-13 list being circulated about saying the list is fake and it is not traceable to any of the lawmakers of the party.

Recall that some aspirants into the Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly in 2023 under the platform of the PDP in Oyo State reportedly threatened to resist any plan to impose candidates on them or present automatic tickets to some elected members.

They were allegedly reacting to a list of some 13 members of the Oyo state House of Assembly whom they claim have been given automatic tickets to contest under the platform of the PDP in 2023

Speaking through the Party Whip of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon Akintunde Olajide (AKT) (Lagelu) wondered where the so-called G-13 list actually emanated from.

Hon Akintunde who stated that as far as the Oyo Assembly PDP Caucus consisting of 26 members is concerned there is nothing like G-13 , adding that there was never a time any meeting of such was held amongst the lawmakers or with Governor Seyi Makinde.

According to him, all the PDP members in the House have been doing their best in terms of good representation and they will allow the party to decide their fate in 2023 through the laid down party and election guidelines.

” It is very funny how people cook up stories. There’s nothing like G-13 as far as we are concerned in the Oyo State House of Assembly Unfortunately, my name is in the said list and i keep wondering who initiated the list. I have never held any meeting with anybody under the platform of G-13 so who is behind such a list? For the PDP lawmakers in Oyo Assembly we are one indivisible entity. When the time comes every necessary step will be taking democratically. The PDP which is our party is supreme and every eligible member is free to vote and be voted for. They are free to contest for any political post they prefer.

“One of those things that helped us during the last general election was because everything was done in accordance with the constitution. There was nothing like imposition of candidates at that time. The choice of candidates was made by the party through party primaries. As the party working to win the Presidency come 2023, we will never deviate from the constitution and whatever the party decides will be the final. ” Hon Akintunde said

The Lagelu lawmaker stressed that members of the PDP caucus will not be a party to any action that is capable of causing crisis or disintegration in our political party ahead of the 2023 election.

” We want to approach the election with a solid and united front. For all of us in the Oyo State House of Assembly, we will continue to connect with our constituents and by extension the electorate in general through quality representation and oversight functions. And at the end of it all we shall again sing and dance to the song of victory like we did in 2019″ He added

The Oyo State Government has forwarded a bill to rename Ladoke Akintola University of Technology LAUTECH as Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho to Oyo State House of Assembly. The bill which was said to rename the ivory tower has its core objective of converting the institution to fully fledge conventional school as against the mandate of being run as technology school which was earlier established on.

The decision to rename the institution was reached today at the State Executive Council meeting.

The following were also approved by the Oyo State Executive Council today:

1. A bill to amend the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso Law to reflect the proposed change of the name of the institution to Ladoke Akintola University (LAU).
2. The bill will also amend its objectives so that the university can offer courses in arts and humanities as approved by the National Universities Commission.
3. Implementation of the Start Them Early Program in 6 additional schools drawn from the 14 federal constituencies.
4. The sum of $1,700,000 was approved for this project which is a collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Barely 48 hours after a former Osun Secretary to State Government, SSG and 2018 Action Democratic Party, ADP, Governorship candidate, Moshood Adeoti, obtained All Progressives Congress, APC governorship Nomination form, the
Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, has charged the people of the town to vote for incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.

The Iwo-born Adeoti had polled 49, 744 votes in the 2018 governorship election, winning just one Local Government.

Oluwo, who advised his subjects not to waste their resources and energy working against the re-election bid of the governor, said only those who are not interested in the growth and development of the town in particular and Osun State in general would want to run against Oyetola.

The Royal Father said by the special Grace of God and support of the people of Osun, Oyetola will be re-elected to consolidate on the achievements he has so far recorded.

This is even as he singled out Osun ex-deputy governor during the administration of Rauf Aregbesola, Otunba Titi Laoye-Ponnle, for commendation for openly identifying with and supporting Governor Oyetola’s second-term bid.

The traditional ruler spoke in his palace, on Monday when Oyetola and his team visited his palace in continuation of their strategic engagement tour.

The tour took the governor and his team to Iwo Federal Constituency comprising Iwo, Ayedire and Ola-Oluwa local governments, where members of the party all pledged their support for second term bid of the governor.

Addressing Oyetola, Oluwo said: “We (the Iwo Community) want to use this forthcoming Osun Governorship Election to pray to God. My father prayed by supporting the former Oluwo, Oba Tadese, and it worked for my emergence.

“Any Iwo Indigene that wants his or her prayer to be answered should stay where good fortunes are. Anyone who does not want prosperity can go otherwise by not joining the prayer.

“I have not seen a governor that prioritises the welfare of the traditional monarchs and that of the civil servants like Governor Oyetola.

“Oyetola has done well; we are seeing good roads. The civil servants that were begging around before have stopped because the era of half Salary is long gone. He is paying full salary; civil servants are very important. I am not slandering anybody. Let us follow the one who knows the way. I want to commend the former deputy governor, Otunba Titilaoye, for staying with the truth.

“Iwo community cannot betray Governor Oyetola. I assure you that you will win your second term bid; you will come back as Governor-elect of this state by God’s grace. Anybody who comes against you shall be put to shame.”

He pleaded with the Governor to help the community with some bad portions of township roads, just as he commended him for the ones being done.

Earlier, Governor Oyetola had informed Oluwo that the party under the leadership of Prince Gboyega Famodun had obtained a form for him to vie for the second term in office and he has come for the monarch’s prayer before going to consult with the members of the party.

The honourable member representing Kajola State Constituency, Hon. Mustapha Akeem has urged the Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde to put in more efforts towards boosting and improving the state’s Internally Generated Revenue. This, he said can be achieved by creating more employment opportunities and enabling the environment for businesses to thrive.

Hon. Akeem Mustapha, who is the Chairman of the Committee on Public Account Committee (PAC) in the Oyo State House of Assembly, gave the admonition while presenting the report of a capacity building organized by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) for the state Houses of Assemblies’ Public Account Committees (PACs) in Nigeria at the plenary on Tuesday.

The KAS workshop was held at Ibom Icon Hotel, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State between 22 and 25 September, 2021.

The lawmaker representing Kajola state constituency, said that in order to improve the operational efficiency of the Public Account Committee (PAC) of the state House of Assembly, the Auditor-General must submit the audited report of the state as stipulated in the Section 125(5) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

Hon. Mustapha also appealed to the Oyo State Auditor-General to comply with Section 37 of the Oyo State Audit Commission Law, 2021, which mandates the Auditor-General’s reports be made available for the Committee for consideration in order to strengthen its operations.

“The House should charge its various Committees to engage in oversight functions on a regular basis so as to monitor the implementation and performance of MDAs before the budget defence takes place.

“Work towards organizing on yearly basis a retreat with the executive arm of government before the compilation of each year’s budget to address conflicting areas and harmonize them before presentation.

“Put more efforts towards training and retraining of the legislators, committee clerks on a regular basis in order to improve and broaden their knowledge on legislative practices and procedures,” the report stated.

The Ekiti State Police Command on Monday arraigned 98 suspected political thugs before an Ekiti State Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting at Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

The fully armed to the teeth suspected political thugs numbering about 100 were nabbed by men of the Nigerian Military at Ita Awure, Efon Junction around 3am last Wednesday in Ekiti State.

The suspected hoodlums were on their way to distrupt the PDP Governorship primaries held in Ekiti State last Wednesday.

Deadly weapons ranging from cutlasses, knives, dane guns, bullets and charms were found in their seized vehicles with identity cards showing their membership of Oyo State Park Management System.

They were charged with four counts bordering on threatening violence, unlawful procession and unlawful possession of firearms.

. “The offences contravene sections 516, 80, 88 and Section 4 and are punishable under Section 27(b of the Firearms Act Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.”

A frontline aspirant in the just- concluded governorship primary of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) in Ekiti State Engr Segun Oni has accused the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu and ex-Governor Ayodele Fayose of sell out.

Oni alleged that Ayu and Fayose have sold out the party’s candidacy to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by foisting a ‘political weakling’ as party’s candidate primarily to make the forthcoming June 18 governorship poll easy ride for APC.

In a statement by Director General of his campaign organisation, Hon. Yemi Arokodare, on Sunday, Oni noted the outcome of the party’s primaries in the State was orchestrated by Fayose to sell the party to the ruling APC.

He noted that the emergence of Fayose’s protege, Otunba Bisi Kolawole, was part of surreptitious plans to thwart the bid of majority of PDP members in Ekiti to form the next government.

Oni said that it is an open secret in Ekiti political circle that the PDP governorship ticket was handed over to Kolawole is a duplicate copy of the APC ticket, adding “Ekiti is already a giveaway to the APC”.

The Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said that residents of the state will miss his government if he is denied second term as the governor in the forthcoming 2023 gubernatorial elections.

Sanwo-Olu stated this on Sunrise Daily, a programme of Channels Television, on Thursday.

The Governor also said his administration was making strides to meet the expectations of the citizens and will finish strong at the end of his first term.

“I think we are doing a very good job, I dare say so. I think the citizens know what it is they will be missing if they don’t let us continue to wrap up all the things we are doing” he said.

Responding to question concerning a possible second term bid, Sanwo-Olu said he is consulting the stakeholders on the future of the state.

“I will ask; I will consult. Citizens, how do you see it? These are some of the things; that’s how you get it down. Try and finish very strong. You will know when it is time for us to do all the politicking”

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared support for the former Lagos Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his presidential ambition in 2023.

This was contained in a statement made available via the Governor’s Facebook account as read in part:

“I led my cabinet members and other political leaders in Lagos today to the launch of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Movement where I declared that the All Progressives Congress National Leader is the best man to lead Nigeria from 2023.

“Asiwaju Tinubu’s qualification rests on his demonstrated capacity in deploying a mix of genius and statecraft to nurture a city on the brink to a flourishing economy. It must be clearly said that the progress in Lagos remains a visible experiment initiated by the APC National Leader.

“Our country is the most populous black nation in the world and the responsibility that comes with that is enormous. If our country must be great, we have the responsibility to choose the leadership that will bring about true transformation across every facet of our national life.

“ABAT is a movement that is committed to mobilise grassroot support towards making Asiwaju Tinubu the next President of Nigeria.

“Our work is to tell the naysayers and those who are still in doubt that we are ready to work for the realisation of this ambition, because Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the Number One sellable candidate.

“We will preach this gospel with diligence, dedication and a high sense of commitment because Asiwaju is an unfolding success story our nation deserves at this time”.

The deposed Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adepoju is dead

Prince Dapo Adepoju, spokesman for the Adesina Royal Family of the Osupa Ruling House, confirmed that the late monarch passed on in the early hours of Thursday after a brief illness.

The statement said: “Oba Oluwadare Adepoju has passed on to the eternal glory this morning, January 27, 2022 during a brief illness.

“He passed on in a private hospital in Abuja early hour of today.