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Tag: Ibikunle Amosun

  • Family petitions Amosun over land grabbing

    Family petitions Amosun over land grabbing

    The family of Owuyo Elemuren has petitioned the Ogun State Government over an alleged forceful eviction from the land by Mr. Kamorudeen Lamina, popularly known as Sir K. Oluwo.

    In the petition addressed to the head of the Ogun State Special Task Force on Anti-Land Grabbing, Taiwo Adeoluwa, copied to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, the family is seeking the enforcement of the provisions of the anti-land grabbing law signed by the governor last year, by ensuring that Mr. Lamina, his agents and or representatives vacate the land forthwith.

    Public Relations Officer of the family, Lanre Anjolaiya in a press release said the Owuyo Elemuren family from time immemorial according to the Native Law and Customs are the owners of the large expanse of land at Igbosoro Elemuren village, Ogijo, Ogun State, The petitioners, Prince Nurudeen Adeyeri, Prince Kehinde Ojulari and Alhaji Segun Alogba, claimed that Mr. Lamina and his agents were spotted on the family land sometime in 2012, and claimed to have been assigned 60 acres of land from some unauthorized members of the family.

    He was alleged to have been invited to a meeting with the Executive Committee of the family. At the meeting, documents were shown to prove that those he purportedly got the land from had no stake or authority to assign family land.

    “They are the youth of the family, who had since 2006 been assigned two acres of land with an undertaken never to foment any trouble on family land. They have since sold the two acres assigned to them by the family.

    “Mr. Lamina reportedly confessed to the elders at the meeting that he was invited by the youth to provide security protection for them, and ensure that the elders are driven out of the land. As a compensation for the illegal security assignment, he was assigned 60 acres.

    “However, the Executive Committee members at the meeting were alarmed when Mr. Lamina showed the agreement purportedly signed by the youth with him. In the said agreement, Mr. Lamina claimed to have paid N30 million for the 60 acres.

    “He was unable to present Family Deed of Assignment or Conveyance and therefore told to vacate the family land. Rather than take heed, he moved into the land to forcefully take possession. This led elders of the family, including the Baale of the village, Baale Adegboyega Lawrence Adeyeri, to flee the village since 2012.

    “The family is poised to take full advantage of the new law against land grabbing in the state. As the Baale also prepares to return to his domain, the family prays government’s urgent intervention, keeping in mind the violent nature and antics of land grabbers; who in their desperate bids to grab other people’s land would unleash mayhem on the land and thereafter cause fictitious petitions to be written to the Police or government agencies,” the petitioners stated in the press release.

  • Entrepreneurship: Osinbajo hails YPNI 

    Entrepreneurship: Osinbajo hails YPNI 

    Nigeria’s Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has commended Young Progressive Nigerians Initiatives (YPNI) for its advocacy drive on Entrepreneurship, Skills Acquisition and Citizenship Education in the country.
    Osinbajo gave the commendation last Thursday in Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital  while receiving a copy of the book on Entrepreneurship and Citizenship Education authored by YPNI’s Chairman of BoT, Adekunle Osibogun at a two-day clinic on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) organized by the office of the Vice-President of Nigeria in collaboration with the Ogun State government.
    In his words, Osinbajo said “Service to humanity is the best work of life. Please continue to serve humanity. The more you take the indigents and under-privileged out of obscurity, the more favour and mercy you receive from God.
    “On behalf of the people and the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, i appreciate your efforts towards enhancing job creation in Nigeria. I salute your sense of patriotism towards nation building. I urge you not to relent.”
    The Acting President who was at YPNI’s exhibition stand at the clinic also advised the youths that were recently trained by the non-profit organization on Entrepreneurship, Citizenship and Skills Acquisitions to be focused, diligent and consistent, urging them to keep striving until they get to the top.
    With Osinbajo at the event was the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and some officials of the Federal and State Ministries of Industry Trade and Investment, Corporate Affairs Commission, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control, Standard Organization of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Raw Materials Research and Development Council and other MDAs whose operations affect activities of SMEs in the nation.
  • Homeowners’ charter: Ogun to give 1000 CofO to beneficiaries

    Homeowners’ charter: Ogun to give 1000 CofO to beneficiaries

    The Ogun State Government will be presenting 1000 Certificates of Occupancy and other title documents to another batch of beneficiaries under the Homeowners’ Charter Programme conceived by the administration of  Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

    The Director-General, Bureau of Lands and Survey, Mr. Biyi Ismail, in a statement,  said beneficiaries would collect their documents on June 22  at the Arcade Ground, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

    He urged all contacted beneficiaries to come with valid means of identification. They are to be at the venue by 8am for accreditation.

  • ‘Embrace new NYSC agriculture initiative’, Amosun urges corps members

    ‘Embrace new NYSC agriculture initiative’, Amosun urges corps members

    Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of  Ogun  has called on NYSC  members to embrace the new agriculture  initiative of the scheme  as a way of boosting food production in the  country.

    Amosun made the call  at the close of the   NYSC 2017 Batch A, Stream I, Orientation Course on Monday at the corps’  Permanent Orientation Camp in Sagamu.

    It will be recalled that the NYSC Director-General, Brig-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure,  had on May 29 said that the scheme would begin mobilising corps members to farms under its agricultural development programme.

    The governor, who was represented by Mr Afolabi Afuape, the state Commissioner for Youths and Sports, said the scheme would also aid the agro-allied production value-chain needed to revive the economy.

    Amosun, who  lauded  the NYSC management for the idea,  further said it would  stem the tide of rejection of some corps members by employers and expand service integration.

    He  called on employers to help contribute to national development by absorbing corps members and engaging them in useful activities in line with the development programmes of the state.

    “Any nation that aspires to survive should at least grow what it consumes.

    “As an administration, we have seen the potentials of agriculture toward  improving our economy if properly harnessed.

    “This is why for us, at the inception of our administration, we came up with a “5-Cardinal Programme” in which increased agricultural production that will lead to industrialisation is one of our focal points,” Amosun said.

    The governor urged the youths to continue to maintain the peace and unity of the nation in the spirit of the June 12 commemoration and in line with the founding objectives of the NYSC scheme.

    “The success and development we crave as a nation can only be achieved in unity. To remain one and continue to live in peace with one another is sacrosanct,” Amosun said.

    The NYSC Coordinator in the state, Mrs Gladys Mbachi , commended the corps members for the discipline displayed during the course of the orientation exercise.

    Mbachi also urged them to maintain the standards at their places of primary assignments.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that  2,471 corps members, who registered for the orientation exercise, were  posted  to their places of primary assignments.

    They were made up  of 1,048 males and 1,423 females.

  • Amosun, Abike Dabiri set to become in-laws?

    Amosun, Abike Dabiri set to become in-laws?

    There is a saying that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. But what happens when two elephants unite?

    That is the question on everyone’s lip over the news of the impending union between the families of two political heavyweights in the South West. As the families of the governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and former member of the House of Representatives and now presidential assistant on foreign relations and diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, are set to join their son and daughter’s hands in marriage, not a few people are wondering what this would mean for the existing power dynamics.

    Dabiri-Erewa’s son, Oladipo, and Amosun’s daughter, Ayomide will tie the nuptial knot at a traditional wedding slated for Saturday July 8, 2017 in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. Although the romance between the two children of powerful political families has so far been flying under the radar, the social searchlight will now be beamed on them with the news of their impending wedding making the rounds.

    With the prestige enjoyed by Amosun and Abike Dabiri in political and social circles, the event is sure to be well attended by the crème of high society. The formal solemnization of holy matrimony is however touted as a destination wedding that will likely take place in the USA.

  • ‘Reasons they attacked me at Adeleke’s funeral’

    ‘Reasons they attacked me at Adeleke’s funeral’

    An aide to Governor Rauf Aregbesola who was attacked at the burial of late Senator Isiaka Adeleke on Monday, Hon Idiat Babalola, on Wednesday said her attackers picked on her simply over unfounded rumours that she wants to be Deputy Governor after the current tenure of the governor.

    Babalola, who was attacked shortly after arriving the venue of the burial, said she sensed trouble when some of the hoodlums started to make utterances which suggested that her rumoured deputy governorship ambition was to checkmate the governorship ambition of the late Senator, who had openly declared his intention to succeed Governor Aregbesola.

    Explaining further, Babalola, who served in the last cabinet as Special Adviser to the Governor on Federal Matters, said her attackers could not have been acting over anything against Governor Aregbesola but simply on the local politics of Ede, where she also hails from just as the late Senator Adeleke.

    “I am a proud daughter of Ede and Uncle Isiaka has been a mentor and we never had any disagreement till the news of his death was broken to me while in Lagos on Sunday morning. I was heartbroken and immediately cut all my other engagements and came down to Ede from Lagos.

    “We worked together with Uncle for the re-election of Governor Aregbesola in 2014 and for his own election to the Senate in 2015.

    “Those who masterminded the attacks on me are people with poor understanding of the relationship between us and who act based on their own political permutations only,” Babalola said.

    She explained that she was at the burial in company with her father, Chief SOB Babalola, a prominent industrialist who is also a friend to the later father of now late Senator Adeleke.

    Babalola

    “Not long after we sat down for the prayers, I sensed some hoodlums saying some things like I wanting to be deputy governor while Uncle (Senator Adeleke) has declared his ambition to be governor from the same Ede.

    I heard them talking about the new caretaker committee members being more of my loyalists than those of Senator Adeleke. And before we knew it, they grew more daring and unruly and brought down the canopy on the dignitaries present. It was the most unruly and irresponsible act I have seen in our land in history,” Babalola said

    She said it was unfortunate that the unruly behaviours of the miscreants robbed a prominent son of Ede, the state burial that he deserved and which state government planned for him.

    “That cannot be the best way to honour the memory of Uncle Adeleke. Senator Adeleke was a man of his people; a lover of peace and a political associate of Governor Aregbesola. Senator Adeleke could not have countenanced such misconduct in his lifetime,” she added.

    She said there is no reason for the people of Ede, in spite of their political differences, to have any misgiving against Aregbesola saying that the city has benefitted immensely under the Aregbesola administration. She said with Ede being a beneficiary of the some of the best schools, roads, industrialisation, youth employment and others, the city owes the administration appreciation.

     Babalola expressed appreciation to Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, whom she said dropped the honour of being a governor to practically engage the hoodlums not to carry out their more dastardly plots.

  • Ogun sympathises with Cross River over dead football fans

    Ogun sympathises with Cross River over dead football fans

    Ogun state Government has sympathised with Cross River Government and families of over 30 football fans who were electrocuted at a veiwing centre while watching the Europa Match between Machester United and Anderlet in Calabar.

    The Commissioner for Youth and Sport, Afolabi Afuape, said on Sunday in a statement Abeokuta that Gov Ibikunle Amosun expressed shock over the report of the death of the football lovers.

    “Amosun prayed that God grants Cross River Government and the families of the victims the strength to bear the irreparable loss and wished those injured a quick recovery.’’

    According to the statement, sports, particularly the round leather game has been a major factor that is holding the unity of Nigerians together irrespective of their political, religious and cultural beliefs.

    The statement said that Amosun warned that issues surrounding loss of lives should not be politicised.

     

  • African Drums Festival commences in Abeokuta

    The African Drums Festival commenced in Abeokuta, Ogun, on Thursday with more than 20 cultural troupes from about 13 countries from the continent in attendance.

    The festival, which is an expanded form of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Drums Festival held in Abeokuta in 2016, also drew participants from Haiti and observers from Dallas in the United States.

    The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in his remarks described the festival as “a development worthy of emulation by other states.’’

    He noted that such festival would further invigorate the strides of the government in tourism investment and development.

    “The Muhammadu Buhari -led administration is determined to pursue with relentless vigour the diversification of our present mono reliance on an oil economy to massive investment in non-oil sectors   like agriculture, solid minerals and tourism.” he said.

    Mohammed, who was represented by the Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr Tar Ukor, noted that such festivals would promote pan-African unity and increased inter – African economic trade as well as enhanced local value chain benefits.

    “This festival will also promote inter-African leisure travel and the renaissance of our African cultural milestones in contributing toward  civilisation.

    “It will engender cultural reawakening in Africa on shared values and fraternal solidarity within the region,’’ he said.

    Gov. Ibikunle Amosun said the festival was a platform to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the people of Ogun and to also stamp Nigeria on the world map.

    He gave an assurance that the state would continue to explore different aspects of the Nigerian culture with a view to promoting and preserving them.

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, urged states to focus on other aspects of the Nigerian culture with a view to propagating them.

    The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, noted that drums occupy an important place in   Yoruba culture.

    “Drums are used to wake Yoruba monarchs early in the morning reminding them of their oaths to adjudicate among their subjects without fear or favour.

    “Drums are important tools that accompany monarchs and warriors to the warfront and act as source from which they draw encouragement and courage as well as indicate to them when to withdraw or advance into battle.

    “Drums are also used to announce the deaths of some important personalities in Yorubaland,” he said.

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said rhythms from drums “are enchanting.’’

    He described as erroneous the belief that culture involves some demonic and satanic practices.

    Soyinka, who commended the Ogun government for the initiative, noted that many great things in Nigeria began from Ogun.

     

  • Ogun to partner World Bank, ADB on 500km road projects

    Ogun to partner World Bank, ADB on 500km road projects

    The Ogun government, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank (ADB), has concluded arrangement to construct 500 kilometres of rural roads to enhance social -economic activities in the state.

    Gov.  Ibikunle Amosun disclosed this on Thursday at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the Oba’s complex, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta.

    According to the governor, the construction will be carried out under the third phase of the Ogun Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP).

    Amosun explained that the roads would cut across all the 20 local government councils and the newly created 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state.

    He noted that the project would enhance agricultural development by easing movement of agricultural produce across the state.

    Amosun stated that the project would be handled by local contractors in the affected areas so as to empower artisans and other sub-contractors in the state.

    The World Bank consultant for RAMP, Dr Emmanuel Adeyemo, said the roads involved were carefully selected based on certain “universal criteria” set by the donor agencies.

    “The criteria for selecting the roads include linkage to either a local market, hospital or school or the combination of the three.

    “In addition, such roads must link a state or a federal road,” he said.

    Adeyemo, who commended the state government for its cooperation, said the project would be executed in phases and in tune with international standard.

    In his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Rural Development, Mr. Wale Ogunyomade, said effective monitoring mechanism had been put in place to ensure quality job by contractors.

    He further said that the government would ensure effective maintenance of the roads through collaboration with stakeholders in the affected communities.

    The meeting was attended by traditional rulers, local chiefs, leaders of community development associations, local government officials and representatives of various Non Governmental Organisations.

     

  • Amosun tasks journalists on ethical practice

    Amosun tasks journalists on ethical practice

    Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State has charged journalists to be above board to maintain the sanctity and integrity of the profession.
    He also enjoined journalists to embark on a thorough investigation of any news item before it is published.
    Governor Amosun gave the admonition in a keynote address delivered on Tuesday at the opening of a two-day summit organised by the Oyo State Chapter of the Nigerian Union Journalists (NUJ).
    The Ogun State helmsman, who was represented on the occasion by his Special Adviser on Information & Strategy, Mr Rotimi Durojaiye, noted that journalists must understand that image is very important in all that they do.
    According to him, “A good image engenders trust and wide acceptability. Journalists, therefore, as members of the fourth estate if the realm should uphold a reputable image that will give greater acceptability to the profession.”
    Governor Amosun equally stressed that journalists must eschew sensationalism in their reportage, but serve as an unbiased outlet for the realisation of the rights and freedom of expression of the citizenry.
    Speaking further on the issue of integrity, Governor Amosun regretted that the issue of ‘the highest bidder gets the good side of the news’ has painted the journalism profession in a bad light before the populace.
    His words: “This phrase is actually doing more harm than good to the profession.”
    Governor Amosun charged journalists to cultivate the norm of fair and objective reportage in discharging their roles.
    “With the power inherent in the profession to shape the opinion of people, you must use it well in order to promote your profession such that it is endeared to the citizenry,” he added.
    He also urged journalists to act as a two-way channel between the public and the policy makers, by letting the policymakers feel the pulse of the public and what the public expects of them.
    He pointed out that journalists should always be on their guard against forces that seek to take advantage of the formidable power of the profession for their self-aggrandizement or personal enrichment.
    “It has even become more important that the profession divests itself of partisanship, ensure unbiased reportage and inculcate investigative journalism if it desires to continue to remain relevant “, he added.
    Governor Amosun lauded the Oyo State NUJ for organising the lecture, pointing out that journalists are the image-builders of the government and trustees for the public and their media.