State of the Nation, News, Politics, Entertainment, Fashion, Sports, Education, Medicine, Law, Inspirational, Personal, Business, Advertisement and Gossips
Ogun: Abiodun dissolves NURTW, other unions, constitutes 2019 Hajj
Committee
Ogun State
Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has dissolved the National Union of Road Transport
Workers (NURTW) and other transport unions in the state.
This was contained
in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin.
It named a 13-man
committee to coordinate the activities of road transport trade unions.
The committee
chaired by Barrister Sunday Olufemi Adeniyi, has Hon. Kunle Adeyemi, Hon.
Afolabi Afuape, Mr. Aremu Babatunde, Hon. Olaitan Asekun, Mr Jokotade Taofeek
Kashimawo and Hon. Kunle Mudashiru as members.
Others are Hon.
Sule Abbas, Hon Razaq Adetokunbo (Legelege), Mr Lekan Oguntayo. Hon Yaya Fadipe
and Hon. Kayode Fabiyi; Engr. Tunji Akinosi is to serve as the Secretary.
“The mandate of the
Road Transport Associations’ Interim committee is basically to review the
operations of the unions and make recommendations on how the unions could be
better organised to support the developmental agenda of the state.
“The interim
Committee is expected to educate and create awareness amongst the stakeholders
in the sector on the need to ensure peaceful conduct at all times and avoid any
activities that could undermine peace, security and safety of life and property
in the state.
“The other terms of
reference for the transport committee are to institute disciplinary
procedures/actions against any conduct or behaviour that could undermine public
peace and harness the revenue potential of the road transport for enhanced
internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and identification and addressing of any
issue(s) that may improve the overall performance of the transport sector in
the State,” it added.
Also on Monday, the
Governor constituted an ad-hoc Committee to coordinate the 2019 Hajj Operations
for Muslim faithful performing this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in
the absence of a substantive Muslim Welfare Board.
The committee
chaired by Imam Mufutau Majekodunmi, has Alhaji Abdul Gafar Orunsolu, Imam
Rufai Sile, Alhaji Misbau Salako, Alhaji Tijani Hassan Ishola as members.
Others are Alhaji
Tunde Oladunjoye, Dr (Mrs) Raheemat Oloyede Hon. Kamaru Oduntan and Alhaja
Bisola Aliu.
Governor Abiodun
also appointed Alhaji Abdul Yekin Arimyau Parakoyi as the Amirul Hajj for this
year’s pilgrimage
Ogun: Gov. Abiodun reverses Amosun’s policy on MAPOLY
The Ogun State
Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has ordered that the current status of Moshood Abiola
Polytechnic, Abeokuta, MAPOLY, be reverted.
This was as the
governor set up a committee to look into operational modalities of Moshood
Abiola University of Science and Technology, Abeokuta and Ogun State
Polytechnic, Ipokia.
Governor Ibikunle
Amosun had in 2017 introduced a policy that replaced MAPOLY with Ogun Poly,
Ipokia; and created MAUSTECH.
A statement by
Abiodun’s Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, disclosed that MAPOLY had been
in comatose since the Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology and
Ogun State Polytechnic were created.
He said, “As a
responsible government, we cannot fold our arms and allow the situation to
continue.
“We cherish human
capital development. This committee is therefore set up to holistically review
the status, viability and sustainability of these newly established
institutions.
“The review
committee is expected to recommend operational modalities for these
institutions after interfacing with stakeholders in the education sector.
“The committee
headed by a former Vice Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education,
Prof. Segun Awonusi, has the following terms of reference:
“Ascertain the
current operational status of Moshood Abiola University of Science and
Technology, Abeokuta and Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia; identify issues and
challenges related to the establishment and operations of the two institutions;
determine the viability and sustainability of the institutions on a long-term
basis; and identify any other issue(s) related to the objectives of the
assignment; and make recommendations for the consideration of the government.”
Igbesa and Ejila communities in Ado-Odo/Ota
Local Government Areas of Ogun State have called on President Muhammadu Buhari
and the Ogun governor, Ibikunle Amosun, to save them from the Chinese
encroaching on their land.
The community leaders and landowners told the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) during a visit to their communities that over 485
hectares of farmland had so far been destroyed by the Chinese.
The leaders said that all efforts to caution
the Chinese investors not to exceed the area marked for the Ogun-Guangdong Free
Trade Zone had failed.
Mr Solomon Ajose, the Chairman, Land Owners
Committee of Igbesaland, told NAN that they had no issues with the Chinese
investors until 2017 when they began to seek for more parcels of land.
Ajose said that when the community leaders
approached the Chinese on their actions, they threatened to deal with them,
while referring to the 1977 acquisition.
“This issue started in 2017, when one of us,
Alhaji Kabiru Ajayi, together with Manager of Ogun-Guangdong, Daniel Sheu, came
to say that government had acquired our land and we told them that our land was
not acquired.
“They were making reference to 1977
Acquisition and we told them that the 1977 acquisition did not extend to
Igbesa, it ended at Opic in Agbara area that they should not use that.
“These people are still laying claim to that
1977 acquisition and Igbesa is not mentioned in the gazette. Truly, Ogun State
Government came here through a former Deputy Governor, Alhaji Badru who
negotiated with the community.
“What they community gave them was 250
hectares for the establishment of Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and that record
is currently in Bureau of Lands.”
He also revealed that: “They went further to
a community called Ejila comprising of 12 villages, in that area one of the
sons called Commissioner Akinremi, negotiated with the community who gave them
400 hectares.
“Those were the parcels of land given to the
Ogun State Government and that was what they now gave to Ogun-Guangdong for the
establishment of their company.
“But in 2018, some persons from the community
in connivance with the management of the Ogun-Guangdong, came in with
bulldozers and cleared all our cash crops, food crops and any other thing that
brings in income.
“The communities of Ejila and Igbesa are
majorly farmers, we live on farming, we train our children through school from
proceeds of farming, and our parents were farmers.
“Our only hope of survival has been cut off,
dashed; we are in a bad situation in Igbesa here. Money is not coming in and
you are not ready to go into robbery and other crimes,” Ajose said.
He said that though the community was not
against the government of Ogun State acquiring lands for public ventures, but
that it should be done the right way and that the communities should be
shareholders in such business ventures.
According to him, “The 1,210 hectares the
Chinese are encroaching into was not given to them. So far, no deliberations,
consultations or compensation has been paid to the real land owners and we are
not requesting for their compensation.
“Let them remain in the one given to them.
Whereas, the land given to Ogun-Guangdong is still lying fallow at Ejila but
they are here to take what we use for farming.
“Leave our 485 hectares of land for farming
to us. We appeal to President Buhari and Ogun government to caution these
Chinese people because they are using policemen to harass us,’’ he said.
Mr Adebayo Akinola, a Food Technologist, who
had 21 acres of land and 10 acres of cassava plantation already destroyed by
the Chinese, said that it was worth over N10 million.
Expressing his displeasure, Akinola told NAN
that the Chinese approached him with a token of less than N50,000 but he
declined only to be told that there was bulldozers on the land, destroying his
cassava.
“We procured 21 acres sometime in 1990 in
order to have an extension of a school where I am the administrator. In 2011,
the family that sold the land to us started bringing up issues when the Chinese
came and they wanted land.
“We went to court and the judgment was in our
favour, that the land belonged to us. Then in 2016, the Chinese approached us
that they wanted to buy the land for hotels and create a roads from their
factory to the main road, we declined that we do not want to sell.
“Only for us to hear in 2018 that they said
they are the owners of the land. Currently, they have pulled down the fence. I
had 10 acres of land where I planted cassava worth about N15 million. Now the
land has been cleared.
“We have court judgment on this land. I am
still trying to get over the loss because we have put in so much and this is a
threat to food sufficiency in the country. It is a threat to climate change
too, how can you clear all the forest in this area.”
He said: “We are pleading to Buhari to
retrieve our land from these Chinese people. We have not approached government
because we bought the land from a family and the families have said that they
have contacted the government.
“But government has yet to give them any
positive answer. When we reported the case to the Igbesa Police Division, they
said that we should not fight because the case was beyond them,’’ Akinola said.
He said that his farm workers were now out of
jobs and that he was confused as to how to care for them.
Mrs Gbonke Dalamu, a graduate of the Obafemi
Awolowo University, explained that she was jobless before family members
contributed money for her to set up a block company in the area.
Dalamu said: “Some years ago, my family
members contributed money for me because there was no job after I graduated to
start a small business, so my husband and I came here to sell cement and mould
blocks.
“In February 2018, the Chinese people came
here and said that they wanted to see my husband after the meeting, they told
my husband that they have something to give him for him to forfeit the land and
my husband said no, that he cannot sell his rights or Nigeria to China.
“So, they requested to have another
discussion and my husband told them to come to his house in Lagos then my
husband called the other land owners he could reach to be present at the
meeting also.
“There was one Mr Kabiru that represented the
Chinese and he was angry with my husband that he wanted to see only my husband,
why did he call others and my husband said whatever you have to say you should
say it in front of everyone.
“Kabiru left without saying anything. Only
for my husband to get threat messages from one Mr Daniel, who we believe is the
head of the Guangdong firm here.
“In the text, he said, since you have refused
to cooperate, it is in your eyes that we will demolish everything in your land.
Only for us to get a call that the Chinese had started to fence the whole area
and they destroyed all we had on the land,’’ she said.
Another land owner identified as Brother
Seun, who had a poultry farm in the affected area, only came after being called
to see bulldozers demolishing his fence and gate as Correspondents of NAN went
round the area.
A retired Headmistress, Mrs Kudirat Awoleye,
told NAN correspondents that her coconut, Kolanuts, palm-trees and cocoa
plantations which she inherited from her parents had been destroyed.
Awoleye said that when she tried to stop
them, she was whisked away by policemen and efforts were made by the community
leaders to release her.
“For now, I do not have anything to leave for
my children any more. I have nothing, I am only retired, what can I do apart
from farming,’’ she said.
When NAN visited the community which had a
bad access road with repairs going on in some areas, it was calm with no major
economic activities noticed.
Also, it was observed that in the Ejila area,
the Chinese investors had dug a motte to cut off residents from their lands and
properties, but the owners of the land had filled a part of the motte to enable
residents to access their villages.
When NAN also visited the Ogun-Guangdong Free
Trade Zone office, the Chinese investors refused its correspondents entry into
their premises.
A Police officer at the premises, called one
Mr Sebastian, was said to be acting for Mr Daniel Sheu, the company’s manager
who was said to be out of town.
Sebastian asked him to see him and when the
inspector returned, he said Sebastian requested that NAN should write a letter
which would be considered before they would grant a permission.
Police nab three cultists recover female pants, charms, weapons in Ogun
Men of the Ogun state police command have
arrested three suspected cult members identified as Olagboye Abidemi, 32;
Olasemojo Michael, 28; and Wasiu Waheed, 23, who were caught with a female pant
allegedly tied with charms in the Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun
State.
According to the police, the men who are
members of the Eiye confraternity, were arrested on Friday May 10th at
their initiation hideout in the Agbowa area of Ogijo.
Confirming their arrest, the spokesperson of
the state police command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said.
“The DPO Ogijo division, CSP Muhammed Baba,
while leading his men on Operation Puff Adder on a routine patrol, got
information about the hideout of the cultists where they usually initiate new
members. The place was stormed and three members of the group were
arrested. Recovered from them were one jackknife, one bloodstained silver
knife, female underwear tied with charms and other assorted charms.”
2019 Election: I Will Hand Over To A Woman - Gov. Amosun
The Ogun State governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun has declared that his
successor would be a woman and ‘a whiz kid’.
The Governor’s declaration apparently shocked members of his cabinet who
were with him at a World Press conference to herald the 3rd African Drum
Festival at MITROS Suites and residences, Ibara GRA, Abeokuta.
Amosun, who was fielding questions from newsmen on the sustainability of
the Drum Festival after his tenure ends next year, assured that his choice of
replacement would be “a whiz kid, who will surpass him in all ramifications.”
“Let me say this. A woman is going to be next governor of Ogun State. She
is a whiz kid that will key into what we have been doing in the last eight
years,” he said.
He assured that with what his administration had achieved, the ruling All
Progressives Congress, APC, would win the 2019 elections.
Before now, there has been speculations that the governor had settled for
the choice of a Canadian-based Mrs. Titi Odunfa Adeoye as the party’s candidate
in Ogun state come 2019.
He was quoted to have said at a recent fora, that “my candidate will not
be politician, not even in APC.” The disclosure on Tuesday, may have further
put to rest all permutations and calculations even in the ruling APC in the
state.
Senator Lekan, Hon. Remi, Others Dump PDP For APC In Ogun
A former Senator for Ogun East Senatorial District, Lekan Mustapha has
dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC).
Similarly, a former Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly,
Hon. Remi Hassan, left the opposition PDP for the ruling APC
The politicians, on Thursday in Abeokuta, also led thousands of PDP
members from the Ogun East Senatorial District of the state into APC.
The stalwarts said they were motivated by the developmental strides of
the Governor Ibikunle Amosun led government, which they added, will definitely
speak for him in the 2019 polls.
According to Hassan, “politics is about choice of who you relate with,
stating that despite being seen as an antagonist of Amosun, he has never
questioned his performance.”
He enjoined the governor not to relent till his last days in office,
assuring the APC of his support.
On his part Mustapha said “when you have gold, you don’t go about looking
for silver. We have gold in the person of Amosun, so there is no need messing
around with silver.”
Receiving the decampees, Amosun said there will be no discrimination
among old and new members.
“All members, are now one big family, with the mission to work for the
good of the common people,” he said.
I Killed My Master, Wife For Failing To Settle Me, A Man Who Butchered His Brother, Wife Confesses
An apprentice, Okwudili Okoro has confessed to the Ogun State Police
Command why he murdered his master, Azubuike Okoro and his wife, Jacinta.
He killed the couple when they were having their meal.
The young apprentice and his accomplice broke into the home of the couple
and hacked them to death on Saturday.
They pulled out two cutlasses hidden underneath their wears and hacked
the victims to death.
Okwudili said he killed his master who happens to be his brother and the
wife because the man refused to settle him after completing his three years
apprenticeship.
Okwudili was arrested after one Joseph Nwagu reported the matter at the
Sango Police Station.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a
statement, said the suspect claimed he killed his master for not settling him
after serving for three years.
Oyeyemi said, “Upon his report, the DPO Sango Division, SP Nasirudeen
Oyedele, led detectives to the scene where the suspect was arrested but his
accomplice escaped.
“On interrogation, the Ebonyi State born suspect claimed to have served
his deceased elder brother for good three years, and when it was time for him
to be settled, his brother kept on posting him from time to time.
“He stated that when he realized that his brother is not ready to settle
him, he contracted one Kenneth who is now on the run and they both bought two
cutlasses, sharpened it to the edges and headed to his deceased elder brother’s
house in Ijako.
“On getting there, they met the deceased eating with his wife and before
he can utter a word, they descended heavily on them with the sharp cutlasses
and hacked them to death.
“The two corpses have been taken to the general hospital Otta mortuary
for post mortem examination.
“The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has directed that the suspect
be transferred to the Homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.”
The Ogun State governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun has declared that his
successor would be a woman and ‘a whiz kid’.
An apprentice, Okwudili Okoro has confessed to the Ogun State Police
Command why he murdered his master, Azubuike Okoro and his wife, Jacinta.
