Nothing But Fact
Oyo governor Engr. Seyi Makinde has launched pilot scheme of Awa Bike today at Agodi Secretariat.
Gov Makinde said his administration is pleased to be collaborating with bike sharing and lifestyle start-up, Awa Bike to run a pilot scheme of their service at the State Secretariat, Agodi, for three months.
The bikes are available to be used by workers and visitors.
At early hours of Thursday, it was gathered that some groups of beggars numbering about 250 staged a peaceful protest against low patronage by members of the public owing to a recent rumour that some rich men usually ‘buy’ money from them for fetish purposes.
The report, according to the spokesperson for the destitute, Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, Serikin Hausawa of Hausawa Community, Oja’ba, Ibadan, had created deep hatred for his people.
“The reports that some wealthy people are buying money from beggars, including the physically-challenged people, for money rituals is not true. As a result of the claim that some ritualists do buy money from these beggars, there has been public resentment against these innocent people.
What we know is that traders, hawkers and commercial drivers do come to these beggars who are mainly blind and lame people, to change money (get smaller denominations). We need to clear our names so that people will not be punishing us for offences we don’t know anything about,” he said.
The Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abioudun has today inaugurated Southwestern Security Network codenamed Amotekun Corps in Abeokuta, the State Capital.
At the event which was held in Abeokuta, the state capital, the state Governor Dapo Abiodun also decorated Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka as Super Marshal of the corps.
The governor also commissioned scores of patrol vans and motorcycles to aid the operations of the Amotekun Corps.
Abiodun said the launch is imperative in order to stem the tides of security challenges being witnessed in the state in recent times.
He called for synergy of purpose among security operatives and warned criminals to stay off the state as the state will not be a place to hibernate.
Soyinka in his address urged the Amotekun corps to operate within the ambit of the law that establishes it.
The security outfit was established by the Ogun State Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps Law 2020 and was signed into law by Governor Abiodun on March 24, 2020.
ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that Bodija rice traders embarked on protest this afternoon to express their displeasure on sudden invasion of their shops and stores by men of Customs who were alleged to have carted away imported rice costing several millions of Naira.
The protesters stormed State Secretariat, Agodi carrying placards with various inscriptions.
Details later.
The Ogun State Government-owned Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, has become a degree-awarding institution.
According to the Polytechnic spokesperson, Yemi Abiola on Wednesday said that Abiodun granted approval for MAPOLY to commence the process of affiliation with Olabisi Onabanjo University for the purpose of running B.Tech programmes.
Abiola said “the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu conveyed the approval in a letter signed by the State Director, Primary and Higher Education, Dr. Olanloye Waheed, dated March 23, 2021.”
The letter, which was addressed to the Acting Rector, Dr. Adeoye Odedeji stated that the approval will be in tandem with the requirements approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Reacting, the Acting Rector had maintained that the programme will retain and sustain the hand-on policy of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) policy.
The acting rector explained that the B.Tech will be, mainly, for National Diploma graduates of programmes accredited by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in the Polytechnic.
“The reason is that we want to give maximum benefits to all our products and their counterparts from other institutions within the context of the programmes accredited in the Polytechnic”, he added.
Dr. Odedeji said, “as soon as all arrangements have been concluded with OOU and NUC, there is assurance that the programme will begin before the end of this year.”
Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu,SAN, today Thursday, April 1, 2021 begins a 15-day working vacation as first instalment of his 2021 Annual Leave.
In a letter transmitted to the State House of Assembly and addressed to the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Bamidele Oleyelogun, Governor Akeredolu said the leave will commence from Thursday, 1st to Friday, 23rd April, 2021, both days inclusive.
While Governor Akeredolu is away on vacation, the Deputy Governor, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa will perform the functions of the office of the Governor.
The Governor will resume for duties on Monday, April 26, 2021.
ODUDUWA NEWS has just gathered that members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors today Thursday morning commenced a nationwide strike despite Federal Government’s last-minute efforts to stop the action.
The resident doctors, however, assured Nigerians that their action was not meant to hurt them.
This was confirmed by ODUDUWA NEWS via the association’s Twitter handle this morning .
According to their message they said , “Nigerians must understand that we love them and the strike is not intended to hurt them but to challenge the Nigerian government @MBuhari @Fmohnigeria @LabourMinNG whose responsibilities amongst others is to care for her citizens and labour force to do the needful.”
The union’s President, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, also confirmed to Channels TV that the strike had commenced by 8am Thursday.
The strike is happening at a time when the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is in London for medical check-up.
The crisis between farmers and herdsmen has been attributed to the reason why some farmers abandoned their farmlands in Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa land.
The statement was credited to Iku Babayeye, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, on Wednesday, who expressed his displeasure on killings of farmers and wanton destruction of farmlands in Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa.
The monarch said from his record, over 70% of farmers have left their various communities where they farm due to the menace of killer herdsmen and other criminalities ravaging the State.
This is as he accused security agencies of frustrating the efforts of traditional rulers by releasing suspected criminals after they have been arrested and handed over to them.
According to the Nigerian Tribune, Adeyemi made these assertions when Governor Seyi Makinde met with traditional rulers across the 33 Local Government Areas of the state, at the House of Chiefs, State Secretariat, Ibadan, on the state of security in Oyo state.
For states to effectively address insecurity in their domains, he reiterated calls for state policing noting that the nation currently operated a unitary system where the federal government directed security affairs of states.
While lauding South-West states for coming together to form Amotekun, he maintained that without state policing, states will continue to be puppets under the federal government.
Noting that the current system was such that Commissioners of Police were responsible to the Inspector General of Police and not the state governors, he stressed the need for the operation of true federal structure in the country.
Oba Adeyemi said: “We the traditional rulers are stakeholders. In our community and villages, those being killed are our wives and children. Our daughters and women are those being raped. They are killing our people. We cannot relocate to Ibadan in search of protection.
“All the suspected criminals that we arrested through our own local intelligence in the forests, we handed them over to the police. They were arrested for kidnapping, rituals, and so on. But we usually see them on the third day, walking around the street.
“70 per cent of our farmers in Ibarapa and Oke Ogun have abandoned their farmlands. People are no more farming. “Since 2018, we the traditional rulers have not been sleeping with our two eyes closed since they started the Jihad. They have been kidnapping kings too.
“When they kidnapped the Baba-Aso of Igbole, we the traditional rulers were the ones that contributed money for ransom and paid before the monarch, his wife and child were freed. We have secured the release of many victims. We have our own vigilante in the forests. We buy 10 bags of garri, 10 bags of semovita and so on for the vigilante in the forests. We would not declare our operation modality until after the arrest of the suspects and we hand them over to the police. I will leave the original copy of my address with the governor. He can investigate police formations, especially at the anti-kidnapping unit in Ibadan. None of those arrested and handed over to the police had been jailed.
“Governor Makinde is taking the right step, but the Constitution that we are operating in Nigeria is defective. The governor is doing what he can and he can do whatever you want him to do. But when it comes to the area of security, there is nothing the state government can do, if the Federal Government does not do it. The state governor cannot direct the Commissioner of Police to do something, if the Federal Government does not approve of it, the CP will not honour the governor. We should not deceive ourselves.”
The Governor of Osun, Adegboyega Oyetola, on Wednesday sworn-in two Permanent Secretaries as part of efforts to scale up the strength of the civil service for greater efficiency and productivity.
He said the administration was committed to bringing back the past glory of the civil service.
This is even as the Governor charged the new permanent secretaries to be more dedicated and see their appointments as a clarion call to the service of the State and humanity.
The new appointees are Messrs Taiwo Adeniran Agunlejika and Amos Oludiran Fashesin, mni.
Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony held at the Exco Lounge, Governor’s Office, Abere, Osogbo, Oyetola said their elevation was an affirmation to the fact that the administration was committed to the welfare and well-being of the citizens particularly the state bureaucrats.
Oyetola who described the appointment as a necessity to stimulate the civil service for better service delivery, noted that the government deemed it worthwhile inspite of the lean resources of the state.
“It is my hope that this appointment would, apart from stiring renewed commitment from all our civil servants, knowing that it pays to be diligent and committed to building a legacy of service worthy of commendation, also rekindle the hope in many others desirous of reaching the peak of their career that this government is committed to bringing back the past glory of the Osun Civil Service.
“Just as I had promised you during the electioneering, ours is an Administration that is genuinely committed to improving the condition of service for you our teeming bureaucrats and ensuring that you receive the right motivation to deliver on your duties.
“It is for this reason we have, despite our lean resources, put you first – in the payment of salaries and other emoluments. We have also prioritised the payment of the backlogs of gratuities owed our retirees.
“This is also in addition to the recent implementation of the minimum wage -which made us one of the first States in the country to do so. We are doing all of these because we know how invaluable you are in creating wealth and delivering dividends of democracy to our people,” the Governor added.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Head of Service, Dr. Festus Oyebade Olowogboyega lauded Governor Oyetola for taking the welfare of the workers as priority since assumption of office.
He said the appointments had justified the love, passion and commitment of Governor Oyetola to civil servants in the state.
Olowogboyega who described the appointments as timely and prompt, said the elevation would go a long way to inspire, encourage and rekindle the hope of other bureaucrats particularly top echelons of the civil service in the state.
Responding on behalf of his colleague, the newly sworn-in Permanent Secretary, Mr. Taiwo Adeniran Agunlejika pledged to continue to discharge their duties with topmost dedication, commitment and loyalty.
He said: “The news of our appointments came to me as a surprise. I was surprised because I didn’t think of it. But I thank God and Mr Governor for considering us worthy. He has made us to thank and praise God from our innermost heart,” Agunlejika added.
The occasion was attended by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Benedict Alabi, Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Charles Akinola, Head of Service, Dr. Festus Oyebade Olowogboyega, members of the State Executive Council, Permanent Secretaries and top government functionaries among others.
The United States Government has said that information on the number of fatalities recorded during the #ENDSARS protests in Lekki Tollgate last year, is not available.
According to the US Department of State’s 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, “Accurate information on fatalities resulting from the shooting was not available at year’s end”.
The communique noted that on October 20, 2020, members of the security forces enforced curfew by firing shots into the air to disperse protesters, who had gathered at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos to protest abusive practices by the Nigerian Police Force’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Amnesty International had reported that 10 persons died during the event, but the government disputed Amnesty’s report, and no other organization was able to verify the claim.
The government reported two deaths connected to the event.
In its statement, the US government said one body from the toll gate showed signs of blunt force trauma while a second body from another location in Lagos State had bullet wounds. The government acknowledged that soldiers armed with live ammunition were present at the Lekki Toll Gate,
At year’s end, the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution continued to hear testimony and investigate the shooting at Lekki Toll Gate.
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