Oduduwa News

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun, has warned handlers and followers of egungun against any form of violence or criminal activities ahead of this year’s egungun festival starting next month.

The monarch said this year’s festival must be held devoid of the usual hooliganism which led to the loss of lives in the past.

Oba Balogun said this on Monday during the visit of heads of egungun cults (Alaagbaas) under the umbrella of Ojesowapo at his Alarere residence.

The monarch urged the Alaagbaas to help sanitise the festival towards making the purpose of the celebration including praying against evil occurrences and general entertainment of the residents to be fulfilled.

He stressed that the Palace would not tolerate the breakdown of law and order under the guise of egungun festival.

Olubadan promised to give the group all the necessary support and assistance required of the Palace for the successful hosting of the festival whenever the time comes, but, insisted that everything must be done within the ambit of the law.

The head of the group, who is the Alaagbaa of Agugu, Ojebiyi Adepoju, told Olubadan that the purpose of the visit was to pay homage and sensitize the Palace on the annual festival starting next month.

He disclosed that efforts were being put in place to ensure that the festival is held without the attendant rancour, noting that, “we are conscious of the unpalatable image the festival had acquired in the past and we are ready to change it.

Adepoju said, “The visit to the Palace is to inform Kabiyesi of our efforts in that direction and to solicit the Palace’s support because we need the cooperation and assistance of the security agencies to achieve our goal.

“We are fully prepared for a successful and hitch-free festival. We are ready to do away with the past ugly incidents associated with the festival and we are very happy with the promise of assurances received from our Kabiyesi.”

The former Chairman of Atisbo Local Government of Oyo State, Owolabi Akanbi known as Akogun is dead. The news of his death was made known today via a post made available by one of his siblings, Owolabi Nafiu as read in part:

“I Owolabi Nafiu Adeseun wish to announce the death of my beloved brother Alhaji Abdulwasiu Owolabi Akanbi Adewole. He died at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital at 9:15pm on yesterday after his Lexus Jeep had an accident at Igbeti along Shaki Ilorin Road on his way to Alhikimah University where he has been doing his postgraduate diploma in International Relations. We ask Almighty Allah to forgive him and bless his soul. His remains will be committed to mother earth by 4 p.m today at his residence in Irawo Owode.

“When I was reading the text ,water rolled out from my eyes, it is very disheartening but we have nothing to do about.. God is the giver of soul and he is the one that would take it back.

“I have nothing to say than may Almighty Allah forgive his sins and count him among the blessed people in the hereafter…

“It is a great lost to irawo, atisbo, oke-ogun and oyo state at large”.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has accused the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the Managing Director (MD) of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC),Fidet Okhiria, of negligence in the attack on a train plying the Abuja-Kaduna route.

The legal practitioner referenced reports of attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna route, and accused the corporation and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, of not taking enough measures to forestall the latest incident.

He is also calling for their prosecution, according to a statement he issued on Monday.“Although both Messrs Amaechi and Okhiria knew that the Abuja-Kaduna train was not safe they kept on giving passengers a false sense of security.He said contrary to claims by the NRC that there is no fraud in the sales of train tickets, a ticket racketeering syndicate was arrested in 2019.

Since then, he said the NRC has not been able to crackdown other syndicates operating in the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan train stations.

“Since both of them knew that the tragedy that befell the nation last week was waiting to happen and did not adopt measures to prevent it, the President should direct the Inspector-General of Police to investigate and prosecute them for criminal negligence.

“Meanwhile, both of them should not be allowed to continue to risk the lives of train passengers in the country.”According to him, the corporation is legally bound to bear the cost of treatment for those injured during the incident.

“It is indisputable that the loss of lives, personal injury and abduction of passengers by the terrorists was caused ‘by want of reasonable care, diligence or skill on the part of the Corporation or its servants’,” he maintained.

“In other words, top officials of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Ministry of Transportation are liable for the criminal negligence that caused the bomb attack.”

The Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution says it will not charge the chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Lagos Island Branch B, Azeez Adekunle Lawal, aka Kunle Poly, and another with murder.

This was revealed on Monday at the resumed hearing presided by Chief Magistrate Linda Balogun sitting in Yaba.

The Chief Magistrate’s Court also granted Kunle Poly and his co-defendant, Adekanbi Wahab, bail in the sum of one million Naira.

Chief Magistrate Balogun said that the State government, through the Office of the DPP advised that a prima facie case had not been established against the defendants.

They will now be tried for being an accessory after the fact to murder while Mr Wahab will face trial for alleged membership of an unlawful society.

Before transferring the case to the high court, She added that the DPP advised that three other defendants, whose names were mentioned in the advice though they were charged separately, should be discharged.

Following an application by counsel to both defendants, Adeshina Ogunlana, who told the court that the defendants had been in custody for 78 days, the chief magistrate granted each of them one million Naira bail.

The defendants were also ordered to produce two sureties each, one of whom must be a traditional ruler or religious leader, resident within the court’s jurisdiction.

She held that a self-employed person would not stand as the surety, adding that any civil servant wishing to stand as the surety must get a letter from the Head of Service of Lagos State.

Further hearing is fixed for May 11 for a report on the filing of the case at a high court.

The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, murder, and membership in an unlawful society.

They were remanded for an initial period of 30 days on Jan. 27 and another 30 days on Feb. 28.

The court earlier remanded the defendants at the Police Zonal Monitoring Unit, Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, and subsequently, at the Nigeria Custodial Centre in Ikoyi.