The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Alimosho

  • Tinubu, Aregbesola, Ambode for Alimosho symposium

    The inaugural edition of Enilolobo Abdullahi Ayinde Symposium will be held tomorrow at De Santos Hotel, 7 Shasha Road, Akowonjo Roundabout by 1pm.

    A statement by the organizers said the theme of the discuss is –“*ALIMOSHO:

    Where Effective Political Strategy and Democratic Management

    meet with Emulative Political Tolerance and Peaceful Co-existence – A Political Case Study”*.

    Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni  Rauf Aregbesola is expected to deliver the keynote address.

    The Commissioner for Home Affairs,  Dr. Abdul Hakeem Abdul Lateef,

    and a member of Lagos House of Assembly , Hon. Adebisi  Yusuff, are expected to speak on the theme of the symposium.

    Expected dignitaries include the National Leader of All Progressives’ Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode; Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola; Minister of Information, Chief Lai Mohammed and Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, among others.

  • Residents excited as work begins on Alimosho roads

    Residents excited as work begins on Alimosho roads

    WORK has begun on three roads on Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State barely two weeks after Governor Akinwunmi Ambode promised to rehabilitate them.

    Work is going on simultaneously on the roads which include the 2.9 kilometer Church -Giwa road, 1.9 kilometer Command-Ajasa road and 2 kilometer Fagbemi roads and the bridge that will link up the major road.

    When visited yesterday, the residents were excited, praising the governor for fulfilling his promise.

    A youth leader, Mr Idowu Apena, thanked the governor for the gesture, saying the community will support working on the road.

    A trader, Mr Oladimeji Akande, whose shop was affected by the road, described the project as a welcome development.

    He said when the governor promised to do the road, they did not believe him, but later development proved otherwise.

    Akande said: “It (when surveyors came to measure the road) was then it dawned on us that this governor keeps his word and is serious about rehabilitating the road.  Although some of us lost our shops on the road, the project received the support of everyone that lives here, because we know the hardship we have been going through all these years.

    “I have lived in this area for 12 years and my shop was affected but I am happy because I know the development that the road will bring when completed.”

    A commercial bus driver, Mr. Idris Alarape, said the potholes on the road damaged vehicles, adding that the project will help reduce the long hours spent in traffic and expenses incurred on vehicle repairs.

    Lagos State Public Works Corporation General Manager Ayotunde  Sodeinde, who was at the site, said the job would be completed in six months.

    Sodeinde said the Ambode administration has encouraged the agency to rehabilitate roads rather than patch and maintain them since it has the equipment and engineers to do the job.

    “If we continue to just patch roads alone that mean we are undermining the integrity of the engineers in the agency,” he said.

  • Alimosho, Mushin top HIV table in Lagos

    Alimosho, Mushin top HIV table in Lagos

    Alimosho, Mushin, Ifako-Ijaiye and Mosan-Okunola are councils with highest prevalence of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Lagos, the Aids Prevention Initiative Nigeria (APIN) said yesterday.

    APIN urged the people to know their individual and family statuses, in order to control the spread of the disease.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Prosper Okonkwo, at the first day of the series of programmes tagged: Scaling Up HIV Care and Treatment in Lagos State yesterday, said the meeting’s objective was to scale up services and interact with stakeholders to seeks ways of curtailing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

    Okonkwo said APIN was looking for a way to provide a testing arena for patients.

    A representative of the United States Centres for Disease Control, Dr Dennis Onotu, said the aforementioned local governments have been selected to intensify treatment and prevention.

    Onotu, who added that the initiative hopes to treat up to 10,000 PLWHA, said that the programme’s goal was to mitigate HIV and ensure that 90 per cent of those tested get treatment so that the virus is not multiplied.

    The event featured free counselling and testing and the distribution of contraceptives.

     

     

  • Massive turnout, irregularities and protests rock Alimosho

    There was a large turnout of voters yesterday in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    Soldiers were stationed at strategic points including Iyana Ipaja roundabout, Alagutan Junction and Moshalashi area of the council area.

    The soldiers mounted barricades and frisked motorists including journalists and observers who were monitoring the election.

    Anxious voters waited for many hours for the arrival of electoral officers in parts of the council area.

    As at 9 am officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were nowhere to be found in places like Iyana Ipaja; Akowonjo; Orelope and Egbeda.

    INEC officials arrived Polling Unit 059, Ward E, Egbeda in front of the family house of Lagos Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire at about 10.15 am, while accreditation of voters was marred by poor performance of the card readers.

    Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire was accredited at 2.10pm while she cast her vote at 3.02 pm.

    Lagos West Senatorial District candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Solomon Olamilekan Adeola was accredited at about 10.15 am alongside his wife, Temitope, at Polling Unit A30, Ward C, Idimu.

    Adeola later returned to the polling centre with his wife and they cast their votes at 2.44 pm and 2.50 pm respectively.

    Protests however trailed the exercise in some parts of Alimosho, as angry voters condemned their disenfranchisement by INEC officials and the police.

    There accreditation exercise was abruptly terminated at Polling Units 039; 040; 045 and 046 in Mosan Okunola Local Development Area of Alimosho when policemen moved INEC officials away for undisclosed reasons.

    The development triggered a protest which lasted for hours as frustrated voters condemned the conduct of the minions of law.

    There was a mild drama as one of the voters at Unit 040, Mrs Oroja Giwa embarked on a “one-man” protest in the neighbourhood calling on policemen on patrol to either allow her to vote or be ready for a showdown.

    She said: “We have been at the polling unit since 6 am waiting for the arrival of electoral officers but they did not show up until 11 am. We were berating them (INEC officials) for their late arrival and breakdown of card readers when some policemen arrived and took the electoral officers away without any explanation. It is absolutely clear that the motive behind the stoppage of the exercise is to prevent us from voting for a candidate of our choice.”

    It was the same scenario at a polling centre in Igando where INEC officials were said to have been evacuated by policemen after voters allegedly confronted them for their late arrival.

    Akinyemi, an APC agent at the Igando unit described the development as worrisome.

    “The INEC officials came by 12 noon and started accreditation by 1pm. By 3pm, they said they wanted to end accreditation. They said the card reader was programmed to terminate

    by that time. As I am talking to you, not more than 300 voters were accredited out of over 6,000. We are in the dark about what is really happening. Neither the police nor INEC officials addressed us,” he said.

    Voters also protested the absence of electoral officers at a polling centre on Isiba Oluwo Crescent in Orelope. No INEC official was there as at 2pm when our correspondent visited the centre.

    In parts of Agbado/Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of Alimosho, voting was still ongoing as at 6pm.

    Some party agents were making efforts to get a generator to provide light as voting entered nightfall in Unit 001 near National Dog Centre of Nigeria Army in Ipaja, as soldiers erected a barricade to ensure law and order during the exercise.

    An APC chieftain at the unit, Princess Uzamat Akinbile explained that electoral officers did not turn up at the centre until about 11 am. She added that accreditation at the centre was slow because the card readers were not working well.

    At Polling Unit 052, Baba Egbe area of Meiran, voting was still on at 5.40 pm. Electoral officials were said to have arrived at the centre at about 11. 20 am while voting commenced at 4.15 pm.

    A community leader in the area, Chief Lekan Olaniran, who was still waiting to cast his vote as at 5.30 pm blamed the situation on shoddy arrangement by INEC.

    There was a confrontation between voters and electoral officers at Units 042 and 043, Ward 11, Meiran following shortage of ballot papers.

    Voting was stopped at the two centres for about one hour until a senior police officer intervened before the exercise was continued.

    Although the presiding officer at Unit 043 refused to speak with our correspondent, it was however gathered that only 200 ballot papers were allegedly brought to the centre as against registered voters numbering about 700.

    Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire said the exercise was relatively encouraging with the large turnout of voters adding that INEC should address hitches recorded particularly the issue of malfunctioning card readers and late arrival of electoral officers among others.

    In his remarks, shortly after casting his vote, Hon Adeola said: “It will be too early for me to outrightly praise INEC for the conduct of the exercise. Although, it did not take me and my wife more than one minute to finish accreditation and a few minutes to cast our votes, but there have been hitches in some parts of Lagos and other places in the country. We have heard about how some people did not exercise their civic duty because the card readers did not work while electoral officials were absent in some centres.”

  • Youth programme in Alimosho

    A group, Peculiar Youth International Initiative, in conjunction with Alimosho Local Government, is organising a teenage grooming programme, titled: “Life as a Teenager”.

    It is scheduled to take place at the local government secretariat hall tomorrow by 10am.

    Expected at the event is a motivational speaker, Comrade Awa Bamiji, who is the executive president, Bola Ige Centre for Justice and national coordinator.

  • ‘We’re banishing want in Alimosho’

    ‘We’re banishing want in Alimosho’

    The boys – and some women – were said to have stormed the neighbourhood in four buses, with posters bearing various inscriptions, urging their host, Olanrewaju Arestus Kuye, a businessman-turned politician, to aspire to represent their Alimosho Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly.

    The scene was adjacent to the Ilupeju home of former Governor Lateef Jakande. With songs, the Alimosho residents extolled Kuye’s virtues to high heavens as a trusted leader, insisting that he must run in 2015 because “he has proven to us that he has the stomach for the feelings of the have-nots, even without occupying any public office.”

    “We have, at various levels of governance in the country, been unlucky to have unwilling candidates who later became rulers. Through his Larry Empowerment Forum, this man (Kuye) has where taught many of our people various vocational skills and has greatly supported market women. He gave loans to many people who wanted to start up small-scale businesses to earn a living.

    “Many of our children have benefitted from his sponsorship on the General Certificate of Education (GCE) and the University Matriculation Examination (UME). Many indigent students are in various institutions through his magnanimity and provided jobs for some graduates who had for 15 years after graduation, languished in hopelessness. He is the kind of person that we want in public offices,” Mrs Catherine Alabi told The Nation.

    But why would Kuye, 44, who has made fortunes for himself through Larry Homes, his business outfit that is doing well in the engineering and construction industries both in the United Kingdom (UK) and Nigeria plunge into the murky waters of politics?

    He explained his passion to this reporter: “Life has taught me to be my brother’s keeper. To me, life is like fighting for the have-nots because this life is ephemeral and the less-privileged are always in want. Right from my youth and later as student of The Poly­technic, Ibadan, where I studied Civ­il Engineering; Yaba College of Technol­ogy, where I obtained my Higher National Diploma in Civil/Structural Engineering and the University of East London, where I Civil Engi­neering, graduating with a First-Class (Honours) degree, I have remained addicted to being concerned with the welfare of the under-privileged.

    “Besides the inspiration I got from welfarist like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, MKO Abiola, Baba Lateef Jakande, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Babatunde Fashola among others, my mother has always been a politician. I want to emulate her and the disposition of my grandfather who was the Oba of Igbese in Ikorodu. I have been a politician since I was a student in the days of June 12.

    “I know things can be better in Ali­mosho than what is on ground now. With my knowledge and capability, I will improve their lot by the grace of God. I want my people to have three square meals everyday and the only way I can do that is for their voice to be heard in the House of Assembly. And it is going to be through me so that the govern­ment will know what is going on. With my experience of how governance is run abroad in people’s interest, I’m sure I’m here to bring novelty into legislature if elected.”

  • Not in God’s name

    In the last three decades, there has been a systematic upsurge in the number of places of worship that have kept on mushrooming in every nook and cranny of the country. Today, religion has virtually moved from the spiritual realm to become a major factor for economic development for many Nigerians. Nowadays, regardless of family background, many Nigerian men and women have abandoned the search for gainful employment for the warm embrace of what could be termed ‘economic spirituality’. What this means is that many people now see religion as a means to an end or as the quickest way to make money and live in opulence. Indeed, the whole thing has become a big industry on its own.

    As it is, all that is needed to start a church is for an individual to look for a one-bedroom apartment, a small shop somewhere or make do with a makeshift shed either with raffia palm or a disused container. Gradually, what begins with a congregation of less than five people, mostly the husband, wife and children, often grows to become a big place of worship that will require a land upon which a church will be built. From there, the thing keeps on expanding. And if the finances of the newly established church are properly managed, the congregation could stay together for long. If, on the other hand, there is any sign of smartness anywhere, particularly in the area of finance, then there is the likelihood of a faction breaking off to form a new church elsewhere. This has become a major factor responsible for the multiplicity of worship places now dotting the entire landscape of the country.

    The increase in churches has given rise to a new set of nouveaux riche who are also managers and chief executives of these churches. They go by various names and titles such as primate, supreme shepherd, general overseer, founding bishop and many more. As soon as there is a boom in their congregations, these individuals who are driven by the lure of money and power, will then transform themselves gradually into the overlords of the business empires, which by now have become a very large conglomerate. What is then used to bamboozle their followers is the claim that they are anointed by the Holy Spirit, or that they have received divine call to embark on their ministries. And of course, a few ‘miracles’ here and there take place to convince the congregation that, indeed, the spirit of God is dwelling in the heart of the big boss.

    I remember in those days, in the early 80s when I used to live in Idimu in Alimosho Local government Area of Lagos State. At that time, what baffled me was that on my street alone, Powerline Street, I could count at least about 13 places of worship belonging to different denominations of the Christian faith. Some were worshipping in uncompleted buildings, in one-room apartments, shops, open spaces and all that. They equally had their different modes of worship, which included, in most cases, nocturnal prayers and rituals particularly beginning at midnight to the wee hours of the morning with the accompanied noise making which more or less contributed greatly to their nuisance values. The last time I was there a few months ago, I noticed a great reduction in the churches. It is either some of them have relocated or they simply close shop for ‘lack of patronage’.

    We have watched helplessly as the focus of the religious merchants have shifted from spiritual intercession to save humanity from perdition and doom, to a clandestine scramble for obscene wealth and other inanities of life. By virtue of their headship of various churches and the unrestricted access to the common till of their congregation, our men of God now fall over themselves to take vantage positions where they could get closer to politicians and the elite class. They sustain their sartorial taste for luxury and questionable wealth by preaching the gospel of prosperity rather than that of salvation. Under this deceit, they tell anyone they put under their spell that God never created anybody to be poor, and that people could be rich and possess everything they want if only they could be closer to God by sowing seeds in the house of the Lord. This is why when it comes to “offering time” in the church, the pastors implore everybody present to deep his or her hand deeper into the pocket and bring out something tangible by saying: “The measure you give is the measure you get in return”. In actual fact, what this translates into is giving more passionately from their meagre earnings to sustain the ministry and indeed the pastor’s weird standard of living.

    The situation has degenerated so badly that our supposed men of God now compete favourably with armed robbers, kidnappers, oil thieves, rapists, fraudsters and those engaged in other despicable vices to wreak havoc on the society. In this way, they have turned a place of sanctuary to a place where evil is being meted out to unsuspecting people and the society at large. The other day, I was quite perplexed when this screaming headline went into town: “Armed Gunmen Beat Up, Kidnap Pastor and His Six Children in Lagos”. In view of what has been going on in the country in recent times, I quickly beckoned to the vendor to bring a copy of the paper. It was dark as I left home very early that morning in order to keep up an appointment.

    I had to put on the inner light of the car to read the story. What I saw scared and infuriated me at the same time. According to the story, a 27-man gang had abducted a pastor, Godson Akubuiro, and six of his children from their residence in Ikorodu area of Lagos. Akubuiro is said to be the founder of Mountain of Breakthrough Church in the area. The incident was said to have occurred about 1.30am. It was later learnt that the Akubiros were arrested by operatives of the Department of State Security Service, SSS, in Lokoja, Kogi state. At the time they were arrested, Rita, the wife of the pastor, was said to be away in South Africa. On her return to the country, she tried to whip up sentiments that her husband and children were innocent and all that.

    A few days later, the SSS in Kogi announced the arrest of a syndicate, including Akubuiro and his six children, for allegedly printing and circulation of fake naira notes. Mike Fubara, the Director, who presented the suspects to journalists, said the syndicate included 15 others. Fubara said items recovered from the suspects include equipment and materials used in printing fake currencies. Other items recovered were a large quantity of printed fake notes, cut-to-size blank currency notes and N1.3 million fake naira notes. At the conference, Akubuiro, who was looking sober and downcast, said he did not use the money for himself but in supporting the less privileged and the needy in his congregation. He pleaded for leniency, saying men of God were often tempted like King David in the Bible, who as a man after God’s heart, fell many times but was still pardoned by God.

    The Akubuiro clan has become the latest in the lengthy list of men of God who are actually worshiping mammon rather than worshiping God, which they so profess. I am sure there are many other Akubuiros still walking free, pretending to be holier than thou. From the way they are going, the Akubuiros might as well enter the Guinness World Record as one family in which all members of the same family – father, mother and children – have constituted a dynasty of criminals. This is, indeed, a tragedy for this country and more so, for Christendom, which calls for a very high degree of religious spirituality. It is quite unfortunate.