The Nation Newspaper

Category: News

  • ‘Aturu ‘ll be remembered for extraordinary things he did’

    ‘Aturu ‘ll be remembered for extraordinary things he did’

    As the shock of the death of legal luminary and rights activist, Bamidele Aturu, permeates the nooks and crannies of the country, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji,  said Aturu would be remembered for all the extraordinary things he did.

    Ikuforiji stated this when he paid a condolence visit to the home of the late lawyer at Agege yesterday.

    He said Aturu’s death is reverberating across the country because of “who he was, how he lived his short life and his accomplishments during that short sojourn on earth”.

    Describing the late Aturu as one of the rare gems that the country is blessed with, Ikuforiji said looking at the accolades the late rights activist received all over, “at the end of the day you will say he accomplished himself to a large extent.

    Signing on the condolence register, Ikuforiji said, “We just lost a gem, friend of the masses, a great patriot, rest in peace”.

  • States can sue Senate over council enlistment, says LASIEC chair

    States can sue Senate over council enlistment, says LASIEC chair

    Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), Justice Abdul-Fatai Adeyinka, said the state government could go to court to compel the Senate to list the new councils created, if the Senate fails to enlist them.

    Justice Adeyinka stated this while welcoming members of the Ogun State Independent Electoral commission (OGSIEC) who were on a visit to the LASIEC for an interactive meeting on the conduct of referendum for the creation of additional local governments.

    He reiterated the constitutionality of the state governments to create new local governments, stressing that the provision was affirmed by the Supreme Court ruling in a case between the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

    LASIEC Permanent Secretary, Yinka Jeje, emphasised the need to be apolitical in carrying out a referendum for the creation of additional councils, so as to make the exercise credible and acceptable to the generality of the people.

  • Buildmacex holds September

    Buildmacex holds September

    Buildmacex Nigeria, the popular exhibition fair for building materials and machinery, is set to take place at Eko Convention Centre in Lagos. The exhibition, scheduled to take place between September 9 and 11 between the hours of 10am and 18pm, will showcase the best of materials in building construction and machinery.

    Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Mr. Ayodeji Olugbade, the Managing Director of Meridyen International Fair Organization, stated that, Buildmacex, which is in its third edition, will provide an outstanding platform for the sales and promotion of products and services in the building construction and machinery sector of the Nigerian economy and the West African market at large.

    “Our last edition was held in Eko Hotel & Suites. It was a successful one with 84 exhibitors from various parts of the world,” he said.

     

  • Aregbesola provides 30 buses for public schools

    Aregbesola provides 30 buses for public schools

    A day after the landmark commissioning of 100 units of Handheld Ultrasound Scanners, four units of 3D Colour Doppler Scan machines and splashed N370 million welfare scheme on women empowerment, the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, added another feat in the chain of welfare programmes yesterday as he launched 30 new civilian buses for students of public schools in the state.

    Tagged “Omoluabi Scholar Bus”, the newly purchased civilian buses are meant to convey students from their respective homes to schools and back every school day.

    Aregbesola said if the government’s quest for enduring socio-economic progress is to be achieved, government’s commitment to education and the future of the children cannot be superficial.

    The governor said his administration embarked on this laudable programme because it’s dangerous to play politics with the education of children.

    He said that the realisation of the importance of education and development of human capacity building prompted his government to create the best possible environment for the development of the total person.

    He described the provision of buses for transporting the students as another proof of government’s focused attention to education.

    “The buses we are rolling out today for the use of our high school students are another solid proofs of the importance and undivided attention our government genuinely accords education.

    “With the O’Scholar Buses, the culture of punctuality will be further deepened in our students. They will be encouraged to get ready in time for the bus and in so doing get to school on time.

    “And while on the bus to or from school, or travelling to and from school events, they will have the time to further bond together, reflect on their work and exchange useful ideas.

    “One of the unique characteristics of our administration’s programmes is that they ensure the empowerment of the people. This explains why no single household in all of the state is without positive testimonies of the impacts of our programmes on them,” Aregbesola said.

    He added that the buses will provide comfort and ease for students and parents and create employment for those who will be driving the buses.

    In her remark, the Deputy Governor, who is also the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Grace Titi Laoye-Tomorri, noted that the provision of the buses is another demonstration of government’s commitment to providing quality and qualitative education for the children.

    She charged the students to make the best use of the buses and maximise the opportunities the buses afford them.

    The Managing Director of Sterling Bank PLC, represented by Mr. Ademola Adeyemi, Regional Business Executive, South-West (2), said the bank finds it profitable to partner government in providing the buses.

    Adeyemi noted that Sterling Bank will continue to partner  government in realising its noble programmes.

    He enjoined all the stakeholders to make judicious use of the scholar buses to benefit  all.

    One of the beneficiaries, a student of St. Mark Anglican School, Osogbo, Miss Olatunji Oluwakemi, commended the governor for making education one of his administration’s top priorities.

    Oluwakemi said Aregbesola’s government has made a lot of impact such as  the provision of Opon Imo, free school feeding, free uniforms, building of ultra-modern schools as well as construction of roads.

    She implored the people of the state to vote wisely by returning Aregbesola to continue his laudable programmes in the state.

  • 2015: Stop dropping Jonathan’s, Mu’azu’s names, Ogun PDP tells Bankole

    2015: Stop dropping Jonathan’s, Mu’azu’s names, Ogun PDP tells Bankole

    Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the Forum of Local Government Chairmen in the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned aspirants and their backers against name-dropping.

    The forum spoke against the backdrop of the outbursts of Chief Alani Bankole, the father of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, who stormed a recent meeting of the forum where he boasted that President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman of our great party, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, asked his son to join the governorship race, adding that they had promised to give him an automatic ticket.

    In a statement issued yesterday and signed by the Chairman of the PDP in the Abeokuta South Local Government Area and Chairman of the forum, Hon. Kehinde Sofenwa, the group said, “The elder Bankole’s conduct is unbecoming of an elder and a democrat. We urge him and his son to follow the due process and not seek to usurp constituted authority.”

    The statement reads in part: “We recall that some months ago, they were going about to say that the President and the National Chairman had assured them that the authentic and legally constituted state exco of our party would be dissolved. But till date, nothing of such has happened. Rather, the party, under the leadership of our able Chairman, Engr. Adebayo Dayo, is waxing stronger.

    “Much as we shudder to think if it is the younger Bankole that is in the race or the father, we wish to state without mincing words that all these are unfounded. They have no basis in fact and in reality.

    “If anything, his comments showed clearly that he has not been in touch with the party in the state. Otherwise, he would have known that the party has been restructured from the ward, local government and state levels, such that its structures are in the firm control of the respective leaders and elders.

    “The days when one powerful man sits in the comfort of his bedroom to determine what happens elsewhere are gone for good. That was what was ably demonstrated with the primary election in Ekiti State.

    “On the purported assurances they claimed to have got from the President and National Chairman, our simple reaction is that we are not deceived. We do not need anyone to tell us that our amiable President and the cool-headed National Chairman are sticklers for due process and respecters of the rule of law.

    “They have shown time and again that they would never lend themselves to lawlessness and illegalities. Having seen the gains of a free and transparent primary, as exemplified in the Ekiti election, they cannot afford to reverse the gains. We wager that a thousand Bankoles cannot change that.

    “We advise the Bankoles to come down from their high horses of living in the past and face the reality on ground. This is even more so that his four years’ reign as Speaker had no positive bearing on the lives of the people of Ogun State. If they are intent on salvaging whatever is left of their political careers, they should join hands with other leaders, elders and members of the party and work for it. They should know that when they literally decided to play Nero while Rome burnt, some people stayed back and worked to keep the party together. The question is: if everybody had abandoned the party like they did, would there be a platform that they now seek to impose themselves on?

    “We recall with nostalgia his membership of the infamous cabal which frustrated the then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan from assuming office as the substantive President. We also recall that upon his losing his re-election bid (he could not win one local government area  which makes up his Abeokuta South Federal Constituency), he colluded with the opposition to deny the South West the Speakership of the House of Representatives that was zoned to it.

    At press time, Chief Bankole could not be reached for comment.

  • Ajimobi in Oyo, promises to complete road dualization October

    Ajimobi in Oyo, promises to complete road dualization October

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has assured that the Iseyin-Owode-Palace Road currently being dualized will be completed by October, even as he promised to construct a befitting palace for the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III.

    The governor gave the assurance while addressing the people of the state at the arcade of the Alaafin  in Oyo town yesterday.

    Governor Ajimobi had earlier joined Oba Adeyemi, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, members of the State Executive Council and other dignitaries to observe the Jumat Service at the Ansar-Ud-Deen Central Mosque in the town where he admonished  the worshippers to continue to support  and pray for the success of his administration.

    He told the mammoth crowd who had thronged the palace to welcome him to the ancient town that work on the dualization of the Oyo township road was a bit delayed due to variations in the projects and some other logistics.

    Although he said the road project was initially billed to be completed by August, he, however, assured that it would be completed latest by October.

    The governor also disclosed that the contract for the radio station being proposed for  Oyo town named Atiba FM would be formally awarded next week, adding that government had concluded negotiations with some Chinese partners that would handle the project.

    He promised that the radio station, when it eventually comes on stream, would have the latest broadcasting equipment that would make it a reference point in broadcasting in Nigeria.

    Governor Ajimobi also promised that the popular Atiba Hall, rehabilitated by the immediate past administration, but which is currently in a state of disrepair, would be rehabilitated and made befitting, while rehabilitation work had already reached an advanced state at the Durbar Stadium.

    He said the two waterworks in Oyo town were currently being expanded, adding that when completed, they would be working at 95 per cent capacity and that the whole of the town would have regular water supply.

  • Six killed in Osun bank robbery 

    Six persons were killed on Thursday evening by a gang of armed robbers in an attack on   Wema Bank in Modakeke, the headquarters of the Ife East Area Office in Osun State.

    Investigation revealed that a cleaner of the bank located at the Iraye area of the town who was among those killed by the robbers was said to have been mistaken for a policeman because of the black dress he was wearing.

    The robbers numbering five were said to have escaped from the robbery scene before the policemen and soldiers in the Swift Action Squad (SAS), who responded to a distress from the bank, arrived.

    The robbers were also said to have killed five other passers-by with dynamite which they threw at them as they were being pursued.

    An eyewitness, who preferred not to be named, said the robbers exchanged gun fire with the police while they charted an escape route out of the town.

    According to him, the robbers abandoned their vehicle and escaped with the  gun wounds into the bush near  Modakeke High School.

    The Public Relations Officer for the Osun State Police Command, Mrs. Folashade Odoro, confirmed that six persons were killed by the robbers.

    Odoro, who disclosed that no arrest had been made as at the time of filing this report,  said the policemen were combing the bush in order to apprehend the hoodlums.

  • Iloro Grammar School old students meet

    Old students of Iloro Grammar School, Agege, Lagos State will today converge on the school premises for their monthly meeting.

    The spokesman of the association, Mr Tijani Rasheed, in a statement said: “The meeting is in  continuation of our resolve to assist in the development of our alma mater.

    The meeting will start by 12pm.”

     

  • Ikeja gets regent

    Following the passing  on of Oba Rauf Adeniyi Matemi Amore, the Olu of Ikejaland in Lagos State, the Council of Ikeja Traditional Chiefs yesterday announced the appointment of Prince Adekunle Isiaka Apena as Regent.

    The announcement was contained in the minutes of the meeting by the council to ratify the appointment of the new Regent.

    The Minutes was signed by the Chairman of the council, High Chief Lateef Yussuf Apena, and Secretary of the council, High Chief O. Titi-Thomas.

    Prince Apena, who is a lawyer, was selected after the council had completed the required traditional rites for the late Oba Amore.

    The Minutes read in part: “Deliberations exhausted on the next line of action and way forward by the surviving traditional chiefs present and welcomed nomination from amongst the royal chieftaincy family within and outside the council to enhance a suitable candidature for the stool and a quicker and smoother transition.

    “Having deliberated on modalities and qualifications of those intending and considerable nominees from the Amore Royal House to the coveted stool of the Regent as previously agreed upon that such position be zoned and preserved for the deceased  royal family as decreed traditionally in 1998.

    “The Council of Ikeja Traditional Chiefs deliberated and resolved that: Prince (Barrister) Adekunle Isiaka Apena be the Regent to the vacant stool of Ikejaland and with immediate effect from yesterday (July 18) and without any hindrance whatsoever and from any quatres.”

  • Security challenges has overwhelmed our security – Senator

    The Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Nenadi Esther Usman has said that the current security challenge in the country has over powered the strength of the nation’s security.

    Speaking at a stakeholders meeting organised to find a lasting solution to the constant attacks by Fulani herdsmen on communities in southern Kaduna, Senator Usman said that lack effective vigilante services in the area has been responsible for the heavy casualty suffered by the people during such attacks.

    She called for community policing in the area as well as collaborate with security agents to curtail such attacks which has claimed several lives in the last four years.

    Senator Usman lamented the incessant, unprovoked attacks, which claimed the lives of hundreds of defenseless innocent people of the area, including property worth millions of naira destroyed.

    While appealing to the people to pursue peace building as well as community policing to curtail the attacks, she stressed that the growing rate of insurgency in the country has dwarfed the strength of security personnel, making it very necessary for a “collective responsibility” of all citizens to provide security and not government alone.

    She appealed to security agencies operating in the area to double efforts at protecting the lives and property of people of the area.
    Responding, the Agwam Bajju, Mallam Nuhu Bature and the Emir of Jema’a, Mohammadu Isa Mahammadu commended the effort of the Senator in finding lasting solutions to security challenges in the area.