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Tag: Groups

  • Groups back CBN on naira stability

    Coalition of Civil Society Groups yesterday threw their weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) new policies towards stabilising the nation’s currency.

    They said the development aimed at boosting the economy, would also promote local production ?of commodities mostly imported into the country.

    President of the CSOGs, Comrade Etuk Bassey, who spoke on behalf of the coalition during a briefing yesterday in Abuja lauded the policies including the restriction of cash deposit of dollars.

    He decried the huge importation which according to him has gradually degraded the nation’s economy.

    Bassey said: “Given the fact that our major source of foreign exchange earnings has reduced drastically, we must commend efforts by the CBN to conserve our foreign reserves by preventing excessive imports of items like rice, eggs, private jets, and toothpicks, which are either luxurious or can be produced in Nigeria.

    “By this action, the CBN is indirectly creating a huge opportunity for Nigerians to begin to look inward to produce these items here at home, thereby creating jobs for our teeming youths.

    By allowing the importation of items like rice from Thailand, eggs from South Africa, beef from Zambia, furniture from Italy and textiles from china, we are simply importing poverty into Nigeria and exporting jobs to these countries.

    ”And this is the reason every well-meaning Nigerian should support the efforts of the CBN, particularly in this difficult time of low oil prices”.

    1The groups emphasised that the restriction of cash deposits of dollars is a constructive step by the CBN towards stability of the Naira.

    “The recent restriction on cash deposits of dollars is another positive step that must be commended. Notwithstanding the presence of our local currency, some individuals and business still prefer to demand dollars as a means of payment for businesses done here in Nigeria.

    “The recent admission by many banks of huge volumes of dollars in cash in their vaults also raises questions on how these funds were obtained by bank customers. These huge cash deposits of dollars reinforce a recent international? report that ranks Nigeria high on movement of illicit funds.

    “We therefore call on the CBN, along with relevant agencies, to trace the source of these huge cash deposits, in order to ensure that we do not have cases of money laundering or terrorism financing in our banking system,” Bassey added.

    However, ?the coalition noted temporary discomforts the CBN policies and initiatives might cause but urged the people to bear sacrifices that are for the ultimate good of the nation.

     

  • Groups partner to track Edo projects

    A transparency advocacy group, BudgIT Nigeria, has partnered Omidyar Network to track capital projects listed in this year’s budget of the Edo State Government.

    The group said it would use its “Tracka project” to ensure transparency in the state’s projects.

    The partnership, according to BudgIT’s Lead Partner, Oluseun Onigbinde, will focus on 24 communities, where the capital projects are located.

    He said the partnership would have community tracking teams.

    The company’s lead partner said “Tracka” would work with stakeholders in the community and civil society organisations (CSOs) as partners.

    BudgIT is working with Kaduna and Edo state governments to ensure transparency in their projects.

    Onigbinde, in a statement in Abuja, said “Tracka” would enable the residents to own and track capital projects in their communities.

    He said: “Considering the challenge of transparency in the country, the most effective method to reach the masses is through the implementation of capital projects. Lots of funds are allocated as capital expenditure; yet, some projects are left undone. The plan is to follow up with the communities/beneficiaries and facilitators of the project.

    “The project will ensure feedback to citizens, using social media and also contact parliamentary, executive bodies and key institutions to close the feedback loop and aggregate feedback and build actionable intelligence for and from the institutions.

    “As Nigerians, it is important that we ensure transparency and accountability regarding the use of funds.”

  • Groups trade words as Bayelsa PDP’s crisis worsens

    •Party groups blame acting chairman •Defectors will come back to PDP, says forum

    The crisis in Bayelsa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has worsened, following the defection of its Chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (retd), and many others to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Inokoba led about 2,000 PDP members to the APC on Saturday at a mega rally at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    But a scathing statement on Inokoba and the defectors, credited to PDP’s Acting Chairman Serena Dokubo, was said to have pitted PDP members against the acting chairman.

    Dokubo said Inokoba was suspended on alleged corruption and anti-party activity.

    The acting party chairman described the defectors as spent forces without electoral value.

    But a group in the state’s PDP, Bayelsa Great House (BGH), condemned the statement ascribed to Dokubo.

    It accused him of instigating and deepening the party’s crisis.

    BGH’s Chairman Ebinimi Owei and Secretary Victor Woyinkuro said Inokoba took the right decision by leaving “confused persons, liars, greedy and desperate politicians in the PDP under the Restoration Government for the APC”.

    They urged Dokubo to explain when and in which court of competent jurisdiction Inokoba was judged and found guilty of being a questionable character.

    Owei, for instance, accused Dokubo of being envious of the “sterling qualities of Inokoba”.

    The BGH’s chairman described the defected PDP chairman as “a seasoned administrator and one of the finest the PDP has produced so far”.

    He advised Dokubo not to drag his age through the mud because of cheap politics.

    Owei accused Dokubo of doubling as an acting chairman of PDP and an employee of the Judiciary Commission.

    The BGH chief reminded the party chairman that Governor Seriake Dickson, during a PDP meeting at the Government House on July 30 attended by Acting National Chairman Uche Secondus; National Secretary Dr. Abila acknowledged that Inokoba did not steal the party’s money.

    He said: “We implore Serena Dokubo to face reality because PDP Bayelsa is sinking every moment he engages in lies, deceit and other cheap political propaganda. Sam Inokoba’s qualities cannot be bought or destroyed by anyone.”

    On the description of the defectors as yesterday’s men, Owei reminded Dokubo that politics was a game of numbers, adding that the PDP was finished under his watch.

    He said: “We, therefore, state that Governor Dickson should hold Serena Dokubo and Fynman Wilson responsible, if he fails the governorship election, which is very clear. The PDP is never an Ijaw party.

    “It was Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who empowered Isaac Adaka Boro, our foremost activist; in 1996, (the late Head of State), Gen. Sani Abacha gave us a state called Bayelsa and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua gave us amnesty, the peace we are enjoying today.”

    Also, another group, the PDP Unity Group (PUG), said the defectors would return to the PDP.

    At a separate media briefing in Yenagoa, PUG’s Coordinator Mrs. Marie Ebikake noted that the defectors would return the moment the ideals the group was pursuing were achieved.

    She hoped that the souls and spirits of the defectors, despite their reasons for dumping the PDP, were still with the party.

    Mrs Ebikake said the shouting of the PDP slogan, instead of the APC’s by Inokoba at the APC mega rally last Saturday, was an indication that the souls and spirits of those who left the party were still with the PDP.

    She said: “Whereas the defectors have a right to their actions and some of their claims against the PDP may be true, the PUG is relentless on a mission to right the wrongs within the party, and there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

    “The group was instrumental to the last-minute change of heart of some members who would have defected last Saturday and we will continue to constructively engage other intending defectors.

    “There are strong indications that some of those who crossed are ready to return to the party the moment the ideals being pursued by the group are achieved.”

  • Groups want Edo election tribunal disbanded

    Groups want Edo election tribunal disbanded

    Two non-governmental organisations, the National Justice Forum and Transparency Initiative  and Campaign for Good Governance Network, have petitioned the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Zanaib Bulkachuwa, over a ruling  delivered by the Edo State National and State Asembly election Petition Tribunal last month, accusing it of judicial recklessness.

    They urged the PCA to use her good offices to intervene and disband the Election Tribunal to halt the reckless use of judicial powers.

    The pressure groups drew the attention of the PCA to three rulings delivered by the Tribunal which sat in Edo State in Petition Nos. EPT/EDS/NSHA/REP/01/2015, between Oladele Bankole Balogun & Another – vs. Hon.  Peter  Ohiozojeh Akpatason & two others;  EPT/EDS/NSHA/HA/04/2015, between Hon. Lawrence   Osabokhien N Ogievaand another Vs Hon. Aisoweren Patrick and two others and in suit EPT/EDS/NSHA/HA/08/2015 between Sylvanus Eragha Vs Yakubu Gowon which were dismissed based on technicalities following an application by the respondents.

    They cited two of the  petitions were struck out and dismissed because the solicitors/lawyers did not sign properly even though the petitioners signed the petition as demanded by the tribunal.

    In its petition signed by the Convener, Daniel Oshokpekhae and Secretary, Igharevba Sunday, the Campaign for Good Governance Network claimed that the rulings delivered by the tribunal showed that the interpretation giving to paragraph 4(3) (b) of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) in the first two rulings was based on the case of Dino Melaye & Another  vs. Tajudeenand Others  (2011) LPELP-19744(CA) and other cases cited.

    It said the tribunal gave the ruling without considering the peculiar nature of election petition and the uniqueness of each case and facts.

    The group alleged that the tribunal gave the rulings, following a general application by a “certain SAN” in Benin who was alleged to be working closely with the members of the election tribunal panel led by Honourable Justice A. R. Ozoemena, S. A. Adeoye and E. O. Abua, who were earlier disbanded in Taraba State Tribunal.

    The group said the tribunal ignored the case of IBRAHIM VS. SHERRIFF (2004) 14 NWLR (PT 892) 43 which the counsel in the two petitions cited that once a petition is validly signed by any of the parties or their solicitors, it means the petition was validly signed and endorsed.

    In the theird petition EPT/EDS/NSHA/HA/08/2015 between Sylvanus Eriagha vs. Yakubu Gowon, it noted that the tribunal struck out the petition based on the paragraph 85 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010, that the APC (All Progressives Congress) did not give the 21 days notice to INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) before their congress was done, producing the first respondent, Hon. Yakubu Gowon without calling evidence for a declaratory relief in an election petition as required by law.

    “The rulings delivered by the tribunal on the 18th, 22nd and 26th day of June 2015 is based on technicalities at the preliminary session.

    We are aware that it is only the Edo State Election Tribunal that is striking out and dismissing election petitions at pre-hearing session all over the country without due regard to the cost of appealing a preliminary application, the time required to complete the hearing of the petition, the cost of pursuing appeals in piecemeal and the mood of the electorates ought to be taken into consideration.

    “The attitude of the court to technicalities was reinstated by the Supreme Court in the case of Senator Iyiola Omisore & Anor. Vs. Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola & 2 ors (2015) SC 204/2015 where per SC Nweze:

    “Now, it is no longer in doubt that this court, and indeed, all courts, have made a clean sweep of ‘the picture of the law and its technical rules triumphant,’ Aliu Bello & Ors vs. A. G. Oyo State (1986) 5 NWLR (pt. 45) 528, 886. Let me explain. By its current mood, it is safe to assert that this court has, firmly and irreversibly, spurned the old practice where the temple of justice was converted into a forensic abattoir where legal practitioners, employing such tools of their trade like ‘the whirligig of technicalities,’ daily butchered substantive issues in courts in their ‘fencing game in which parties engaged themselves in an exercise of outsmarting each other’, Afolabi v. Adekunle (1983) 2 SCNLR 141, 150. Those days are gone: gone for good!”

    “This approach, an a robust and wholesome one at that, is to permit litigants, more particularly, parties in election-related matters, to ventilate their grievances without any hindrances by technical arguments that have the tendency of clogging the wheel of electoral justice in the election tribunals and courts entertaining appeals from them, Egolum v. Obasanjo (1999) 7 NWLR (pt. 611) 355; Nwobodo v. Onoh (1984) 1 SCNLR 1”

    In the petition, the group claimed that the Supreme Court had advised judges who are privileged to preside over election tribunals to ensure that substantial justice is accorded to all parties.

    “It is cardinal duty of the courts to ensure, at all times, that substantial justice is accorded to all parties to the disputes before them, Adewunmi v. Attorney-General Ekiti State (2002) 2 NWLR (pt. 751) 474, 507; Afolabi v. Adekunbe (1983) 2 SCNLR 141; Shokunbi v. Mosaku (1969) 1 NMLR 54; Vulcan Gases v. G. F. Industries A. G. (supra) 653”, the group said.

    In its petition signed by its counsel, S. O.  Oyatomi and copied to the Secretary,

    National/State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, the National Justice Forum and Transparency Initiative said the  pace at which the election tribunal in Benin  presided over by the trio of Hon. Justice A. R. Ozoemena,  S. E. ADEOYE, and  E. Abua  struck  out petitions at the pre-hearing  session  without  recourse to substantial  justice smacks of  high level of judicial recklessness and abuse.

    The group reminded the PCA that the three man tribunal was disbanded in Taraba State recently following several accusations adding that same attitude is being displayed in the Election Petition Tribunal in Benin City, Edo State.

    It expressed fear that  the Panel may have been compromised pointing out that the tribunal had struck out two petitions   without recourse to the court of Appeal authority on the interpretation of  Paragraph 4(3)(b) of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act 2010 thereby  setting  bad  precedent  all  over  the country with the elevation of  technical justice as against substantial justice.

    “We hope our Noble Lord will use your good offices to intervene in the circumstance and halt the reckless use of judicial power to create   problems   for all the litigants in the Election Tribunal, Edo state because the era of technicality has gone and must not be enthroned by a disbanded Tribunal from Taraba State,” it stated.

  • Appoint credible Nigerians, groups urges Buhari

    Appoint credible Nigerians, groups urges Buhari

    Water projects in Nigeria have recorded low achievement going by the current pilot study of water infrastructure in the country, which is due to non-professional heading the water ministry in the country, therefore there is a need for President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a professional as the Minister of Water Resources.

    Those were the words of the National President of Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners, (AWDROP), Mr Michael Ale while having a chat with journalist in Ibadan, Oyo State capital entitled” The Nigeria We want”

    According to him, in the history of the Ministry of Water Resources, no president has ever appointed a professional to head the ministry and this has brought retroggression ?to the ministry.

    In order to address the varing challenges confronting the water sector, Ale urged President Buhari to appoint a water expert or geologist as a minister of water resources.

    The AWDROP national president further warned the president against merging the Ministry of Water Resources with any other ministry, as he has been planning to reduce the ministries to 19.

    “We heard that President Buhari is intending to downsize the Ministries to 19, we are not against downsizing but Ministry of Water Resources should be independent and shout not be attached with any ministry. If attached to any other ministry it will bring about degeneration in the water sector.

    “Water has been giving little or no priority by past administration but that must stop now for the sector to be productive.” he said

    On the challenges confronting their profession, Ale stated that? about two years ago, precisely 2013, the uncontrolled, unabated  invasion of many of the Asian drillers numbering up to 300 Indian rigs into the country has not only sent it’s members out of job, but has caused environmental hazard for the public.

    “Illegal drilling by Asian invaders is really killing our business and they have also commonised our profession. They are not professionals but are merely a welder when they came into this country. As a result of their presence, many of our members are out of job.

    “But people are patronising them because they are cheaper without knowing the danger associated with the borehole they are drilling for them. We are looking at an integrated approach to solve water challenges in the country but we cannot do it alone without the support of the government” Ale noted

    He said that government needs to formulate a law to regulate the management of water issues, adding that there has been a bill to that effect but the lawmakers has been putting it under the carpet without passing it into law.

    “Each States can have its own water drilling regulation laws without waiting for the federal government. Its the responsibility of the state assembly lawmakers and the governor to ensure this. If this is done, economic activities will improve in such state, there will be improved internal generated revenue, jobs will be created and it will santify the environment for healthy living” Ale said

    The AWDROP boss further appealed to the government to assist it’s members financially by subsidising drilling equipment for them, noting that this will in turn reduce the cost of borehole drilling for the public.

    Ale said: “We are also government stakeholders because if we stop borehole drilling, it will put government at a great task to provide water for its citizens, but all we are appealing for is the regulation of this sector.”

  • Akwa 2015: Groups back Emmanuel for governorship

    Akwa 2015: Groups back Emmanuel for governorship

    No fewer than 150 groups are backing the Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, for the governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    They explained that Emmanuel should succeed Governor Godswill Akpabio because he has a good track record.

    The groups include Notable among the groups who have thrown their weight behind the yet to be declared ambition include Itai Afe Annang, Ati Annang, Afigh Iwaad Ekid and youth groups.

    The people of Ekid nation have also unfolded plans to organise host a rally to drum support for the SSG.

    The Chairman of the Central Planning Committee and the Chairman of Eket Local Government Council, Hon. Aniekan Akpan, who spoke after a meeting at the Eket Township Stadium, said Emmanuel is favoured by zoning.

    The meeting was attended by political leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, union leaders, women and youths.

    Also, the Ibibio Elders’ Forum has unfolded plans to campaign for Emmanuel, ahead of primaries. The forum said his candidature will foster unity and harmony in Ibibioland.

    The group described the SSG as a competent professional and astute administrator with a wealth of experience spanning decades in the private sector.

    Emmanuel was applauded for assisting many Ibibio youths to secure employment in many sectors of the country.

    It said: “Emmanuel is the only Ibibio on the board of the African Finance Corporation and the highest ranking Akwa Ibom son in the  financial world.  Akwa Ibom should not go to war with a mere recruit when they have a ‘General’ like Udom Emmanuel.”

    Former Minister of Lands and Housing Chief Nduese Essien said, if Emmanuel becomes the governor, he will work for the best interest of the state and continue with the uncommon transformation of the state.”

    The Chairman of the forum, Dr Okon Uko, decried the  falsehood, propaganda, blackmail and the pull-him-down syndrome in Ibibioland.

    He described the SSG as the most competent and credible aspirant in the race.

    Uko added: “He will attract foreign investment to the state and implement policies that will lead to the industrialisation of the state.”

  • Asari Dokubo’s groups warn Boko Haram

    The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and the Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Front (NDPSF), Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, has warned Boko Haram insurgents to desist from opposing President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid.

    He spoke yesterday at a news briefing in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

    The groups urged politicians in the North not to use Boko Haram and other acts of terrorism to distract and frustrate the Jonathan administration.

    They absolved Asari-Dokubo of complicity in the Kaduna bomb blast and told Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to stop linking their leader to the incident.

    The Akwa Ibom Zonal Leader of the NDPVF and NDPSF, Mr. Jones Ufot, said freedom fighters in the Niger Delta would support and defend the political and economic interest of the area, which, according to him, had been threatened by the North.

    He enjoined northerners to reciprocate the support the Niger Delta gave their presidential candidates by backing President Jonathan for a second term.

    His words: “We assure our brother, Mr. President, of our readiness to defend our own. We are speaking the minds of our brothers and sisters in Akwa Ibom and our compatriot in the Niger Delta, who voted for him and are eager to do so again.”

  • Ekiti 2014: Groups vow to resist rigging

    Pan-Yoruba groups across the Southwest, last Saturday, vowed to resist any attempt to rig the forthcoming governorship election slated for June 21 in the state, adding that it would be a major test of the dignity of the Yoruba people.

    The groups, under the auspices of Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC), comprising self-determination and Pan-Yoruba groups from nine Yoruba-speaking states, including parts of Edo and Delta states, said the adoption of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate last Saturday signals the form that the election would take.

    “We urge authorities to realise that the rigging of elections in 1964 and 1983 led to violent uprising. The rigging of 1983 led to a military coup, while the 1964 rigging eventually led to civil war. The crisis began in the Southwest and took 30 months of bloody conflict to resolve. Nigerian political leaders appear to have learnt nothing from history,” the groups said at the conclusion of a two-day conference at Ado Ekiti.

    The groups adopted the incumbent, Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the sole candidate of the groups in the election, describing Fayemi as the Pan-Yoruba candidate because of the progressive bent of his administration.

    Leaders of other ethnic groups drawn from Ekiti and other parts of the Southwest especially Hausa-Fulani, Tiv, Igbo and Ebira communities were also at the event. The groups also set up what it called Pan-Yoruba Campaign Movement for the election of Dr Fayemi on June 21.

    The groups expressed worries that the PDP in the state is beating its chests that they have the support of the president to ‘turn Ekiti state into ashes in the name of power,” saying that such arrogant posture will only burn out the patience of the people of Ekiti state and the entire Yoruba nation.

    The groups suspect the current registration of voters in Ekiti state, saying: “It gives us a lot of concern and suggests that INEC has shown a prelude to massive election rigging in Ekiti state. We call on INEC to conduct a free and fair election and resist attempts to turn Ekiti state into an axis of turbulence.”

    “We warn politicians that have not learnt anything from history. The Yoruba people must not be taken for granted. The Ekiti election is a Yoruba affair; it is also a local and international affair. We do not want the current democratic experience to fall. But we warn that any attempt to rig the forthcoming election in Ekiti may lead to mass resistance and the eventual torpedo of the emerging electoral culture.

    “In the past, we did not see anything to defend, but now the Ekiti people and the greater Yoruba family have seen what is worth defending in Ekiti State”, the groups stated in the communiqué, which was signed by 55 groups and was proclaimed on behalf of the groups by Mr Popoola Ajayi and Mrs Adenike Ojo.

    Several leaders of the groups who spoke at the two-day meeting said the Ekiti election is crucial to the survival of the progressive movement and its transformation agenda in the South West states. The gathering was attended by about a thousand delegates drawn from the south west states. National leader of the TIV community, Mr. Yaro Gowon said he was in Ekiti to join forces with Pan-Yoruba groups to ensure victory for Dr Fayemi at the poll.

    It stated “We have an historical duty to defend the gains of the past three and half years. In 1965, our people rose up against attempts to impose alien values on us. The recalcitrant posture of the Federal Government eventually led to the civil war that engulfed the country. In 1983, our people laid down their lives in defense of the gains of democracy under the Unity Party of Nigeria, (UPN) led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.”

    The groups added: “Today we have seen the transformation of the government in Ekiti state. We have seen gains in the area of education, health and the drive for over all human development. We are here to defend the radical tradition of the people of Ekiti state and the revolution that has made Ekiti state the destiny of local and international interests.”

  • Govt, groups to meet with teachers

    Edo State government has accepted the recommendations of civil society organisations (CSOs) for a tripartite meeting with teachers’ unions and civil society groups on the teachers’ competency test.

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole told representatives of civil society groups, who presented a report that “if you insist that we have not sufficiently engaged the teachers, I am ready to work harder and accept your offer.

    “I am happy that you are willing to be present and am going to invite them for a meeting. I will never get tired.

    “I still believe that it cannot possibly be in Edo’s long term interest to have the future of the children compromised.”

    The governor debunked claims that the government was planning to sack 3,000 civil servants.

    He said: “We don’t have plans to sack 3,000 civil servants. It is true we have done verification in the health sector, civil service and others, which puts a lie to the claims by teachers that they are being targeted.

    “We discovered some civil servants who are using their children’s certificates or their relatives’ certificate. However, we have not sacked anybody.

    “If anything, we have directed the Civil Service Commission to employ more people. In any event, we don’t have a record of taking unilateral decisions on matters affecting workers.”

    On teachers, Oshiomhole said: “we have not sacked any teacher. But we have stopped the pay of some teachers who had issues after the verification exercise. We have not issued any sack letter or termination letter because we want to handle the issues in the education sector holistically and not piecemeal.”

    He said the government would train and re-train teachers.

    “But even for us to design the appropriate re-training programme for teachers, you must access their competence level to get the kind of training they require. You can’t prescribe without knowing the problem,” he said.

    The governor said government would review the case of teachers, whose names were deleted from the payroll.

    He said: “If every other person wants to joke with education, I will not joke with it. I owe the Edo people quality, basic education, which is why we have abolished charges in our primary and secondary schools.

    “I don’t want to stay here for eight years and by the next examinations, Edo pass rate would have dropped.”

    Oshiomhole, who slated the tripartite meeting for next Wednesday, said a Town Hall meeting on education will hold next Tuesday.

  • Council partners groups for peace

    Residents of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State have been called upon to maintain peace in their domain. The call was jointly made yesterday by the council’s chief, Dr Oloruntoba Oke and the co-chairmen of an inter-faith forum, Rev Joseph Oladele (for the Christian community) and Alhaji Azeez Lasisi (Muslim community).

    They spoke at this year’s Christian and Muslim communities’ forum which took place at the African Church Primary School, Ifako-Ijaiye. The 2013 special prayer session was for peace to reign in the area in particular and the state and nation at large.

    Oke said the need for peaceful co-existence among both faiths was of paramount importance to his administration as the only way to ensure real progress in the area in particular and the nation.

    Lasisi said the forum was meant to put Ifako-Ijaiye local government area on the path of righteousness, adding that residents were already reaping the fruits of peaceful coexistence with the various development projects in the area.

    Oladele stated that the merger of Christian and Muslim communities in the area is a blessing to all, adding that the rapid progress in the local government was made possible by the active support received from Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of the state, who had always listened to the Ifako-Ijaiye people.

    The forum condemned the brutality in the Northern part of the country and the abductions in the south, calling on others to learn peaceful co-existence from Ifako-Ijaiye.