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Tag: Nigeria News

  • Confessions of an alleged serial killer

    • ’How I murdered seven women’
    • Says I enjoy killing when the urge comes on me
    • ’I killed my first victim in a Lagos hotel’

    It was confession time on Friday for the man believed to have been responsible for the serial killing of young women in Port Harcourt over the last few months.

    Thirty-nine year old Gracious David West told reporters in the Rivers State capital that he had also killed in Lagos and Imo States.

    He put the number of his victims at seven.

    He was arrested on Thursday by the police while en route Uyo from c.

    His arrest came hours after protests by women groups in Port Harcourt calling for the security agencies to fish out the brains behind the mysterious killings of women in hotels.

    West, who hails from Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, claimed that he  killed five women in Port Harcourt and  one each  in Ikeja and Owerri.

    His modus operandi was to take his victims to a hotel, confiscate their ATM cards and thereafter kill them.

    He would then proceed to the nearest ATM and clear the accounts of his victims.

    His first killing was in Lagos.

    “I started the killing in Lagos, that was where I got money because the first girl had N85,000 in her account,” West said.

    “After that, I went to Port Harcourt, then Owerri. I returned to Port Harcourt. The last girl I killed I met her at the club.”

    Read Also: #ProtectPHGirls trends as Nigerians react to ‘serial killer’ in PH

    West said he was on his way to Akwa-Ibom when he was arrested by operatives of the special anti-robbery squad, Bori in Rivers.

    ”When the urge comes, I move into a hotel, invite a girl after and after eating and making love, I will bring out a kitchen knife and threaten her not to shout,” West said.

    He added: “I don’t know what comes over me to kill. After I have killed, I feel remorse and cry for killing, but after that, the irresistible urge to kill comes over me again. I kill alone.

    ”I was a member of the Degbam Cult group, I have since repented. I am not killing for any cult group. I just kill. I don’t know what comes over me to kill.

    ”The first woman I killed in one of the hotels in Ikeja had about N85,000 in her account. Before I strangled them after love making, I used the knife to cut the hotel bedding into a semblance of a twine which I used to bind their hands and feet, and also used the knife to threaten them.

    “The kitchen knife was sold to me by an aboki. I would threaten that if they raised the alarm, I would kill them with the knife.

    “Out fear, they kept quiet while I raised the volume of the television set in the hotel room to prevent any noise from my room. I never killed with the knife.”

    West also revealed that before he killed his female victims, he insisted on knowing their account balance and ATM pin number.

    “After strangulating them, I would steal their ATM cards, empty their accounts from any nearby ATM machine and move on.

    “It was not all the girls I slept with that I killed. I only killed whenever the irresistible urge to kill overwhelmed me.

    “l don’t have a house. My mother died through poisoning from her mate and I am homeless. I sleep in hotels.”

    He said that the phones he stole from his victims were sold to a customer in Waterlines Junction, off Port Harcourt/Aba Expressway and another buyer around MTN office by Oil Mill Market in Port Harcourt.

    West claimed to be an  ex-militant  rehabilitated by the Omega Power Ministry (OPM) which also got  a job for him at the Federal University of Science and Technology, FUTO, Owerri, through the Church.

    He ditched the job after stealing students’ property.

    Police Commissioner, Mustapha Dandaura who paraded the suspect  does not believe that West was acting alone.

    “The suspect is definitely not alone in these killings, though he had made useful confessions, but the command will go beyond his confessions to ensure that a conclusive end is achieved that serves the interest of justice ,” he said.

    Dandaura said his insistence that hotels in the state should install Closed Circuit Television Cameras, CCTVs, was beginning to yield positive results.

    He vowed that the Police, under his Command would fight crimes headlong in the state, adding that with joint operations with the army and other security agencies, the killings in Ogoniland was dropping, while “I have stabilized East-West road, the Elele-Owerri road.”

  • ‘I masterminded the killing of my gang’s leader’

    A notorious kidnapper, Nwobodo Uchechukwu, has revealed that he masterminded the beheading of the leader of his gang, Christian Nkemjika a.k.a School Boy, because he was very greedy.

    Uchechukwu was arrested alongside other members of his gang- Tony Rafael; Nnaji Romanus; Nwobodo Uche and Uchechukwu Ibekwe, by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    The suspects were arrested from their hideouts in Rivers and Imo States.

    They were said to have kidnapped the Chief Accountant of Plantgeria Limited, an oil firm based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Dr. S.M.C Maduagwu in February 2018 and collected N20 million ransom.

    Uchechukwu, 38, disclosed that School Boy collected more than the amount he collected as ransom on a kidnap victim he kidnapped on behalf of the gang.

    He stated that School Boy deceitfully declared a sum of N10 million instead of N20 million ransom he was paid by family members of the victim.

    He said: “I am a full time farmer, but I went into kidnapping when my wife fell sick and was down with stroke. Her doctor demanded the sum of N200, 000 deposit (for her treatment) and I approached School-Boy my gang leader; he gave me the sum of N100, 000 to give to the doctor. He told me about the accountant I was to closely watch or monitor and I did as he instructed for about one month till the day he was ready to kidnap the man. I trailed the man (victim) from the time he left his office and when he got to Oil Mill junction, Schoolboy and other members of the gang who were decked in polce abd army uniform abducted the man and took him away in their Toyota Hilux van.

    Read Also: Three suspected kidnappers shot dead in Kogi

    ‘’The man was taken to my farm where he was kept and negotiation for his ransom was concluded.  I wasn’t in the farm with them, but after the kidnapping, School-Boy gave me the balance of N100,000 to give to my wife’s doctor. Two weeks later School Boy informed me that N10  million had been paid as ransom for the release of the accountant release and that the man had been freed.

    ‘’At that time, I didn’t doubt him and all of us that took part in the operation to the home of a native doctor known as Romanus Nnaji and he started sharing the money. He handed me the sum of N1.5million to give to Ibekwe and Stanley, the informants that brought the job and he also gave me N500, 000 as my own share.

    ‘’Few months after that operation, I got a call that my brother had been arrested by the police over the kidnapping of the accountant and that the actual amount paid for the man’s freedom was N20million. I felt bad that School-Boy cheated every one of us by declaring N10 million as the only ransom that was paid and he kept the other N10million to himself and shared the one he declared with us.

    ‘’I said nothing at that time because the police were looking for me and I ran to a church in Akwa Ibom for prayers to ask God for forgiveness and told the people at the church about the police that were looking for me. But while I was at the church, the policemen trailed me  down to the church and luckily for me I was in the church’s toilet when I saw the police van and I fled into the bush.

    ‘’I trekked in that bush to Ndoni area of Rivers State. When I got back, I called School Boy and told him that the police were looking for me and I could not continue to run and I assured him that I will surrender myself but he threatened to kill me.

    ‘’I then ran to Imo State and I stayed there for three weeks and the police came again to look for me but I escaped. While I was running away to hide for the tide to pass, I called School-Boy to give me part of the N10million he refused to declare to the gang so that I could run out of the country, but he refused, and I felt the best thing I should do at the moment was to set him up and have him killed.

    ‘’I contacted some members of De-Gbam confraternity who had been looking for him and I gave out his location to them and they attacked and beheaded him. After they succeeded in the killing of School-Boy, I approached a lawyer in Owerri Imo  State where I was hiding with my pregnant wife to seek a legal advice on what I could do since the police were hunting for me everywhere. I was there when the nurse at the hospital where my wife had gone to deliver her baby told me on the telephone that policemen had trailed my wife to her hospital and I ran away again. I was later arrested in June 2019 by the operatives in Orlu Imo State,’’ he added.

  • NCS disagrees with Okah on medical treatment 

    The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) has expressed shock over the claim by Charles Okah that he is dying slowly in prison due to lack of access to medical treatment.

    NCS described the claim as false, adding that he is receiving proper medical attention.

    Okah, who is currently confined to the Maiduguri correctional facility was jailed for life with his co-defendant, Obi Nwabueze, for masterminding the bomb blasts which occurred in Abuja on October 1, 2010 and earlier in Warri, Delta State, on March 15 of the same year in a court presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole.

    The two convicts were said to have conspired with Henry Okah who was the leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND).

    Henry was jailed by a South African court in 2013 for similar offences and sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment.

    The conviction is currently before the Court of Appeal.

    Okah’s claim was contained in a September 3, 2019 letter to the Controller General of the NCS, Ja’afaru Ahmed, by his counsel, C.A Mishael.

    He pleaded to be transferred to either Abuja or Lagos for better care. He also said he had been living with a kidney in the last 37 years and his condition was deteriorating in prison.

    The NCS Public Relations Officer (PRO), Francis Enobore, who spoke with our correspondent on the development, said Okah is receiving best medical attention in Maiduguri.

    Read Also: ‘NCS Act 2019: Bold step towards international standards’

    Enobore said: “There are teaching hospitals all over the country. It is not only Lagos or Abuja that we have teaching hospitals.

    “We have qualified medical doctors all over the country that can take care of inmates. Any sickness that our facilities cannot handle, we take it to the nearest government hospital and that is what we have been doing.

    “We have not lost any inmates on account of poor medical attention. Yes, it is possible for an inmate to be given treatment and the person may not recover from it which, of course, is not peculiar to a prison environment.

    “People in the society also fall sick; they make use of medical facilities and sometimes they are not able to pull through. They do not die because of poor medical attention. The health of every inmate is very important to the Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) because we do not pray to lose anyone or have any of our inmates undergoing poor health. It does not even pay us because, if the inmate in not feeding well, the officer in-charge and his men will be disturbed.

    “So what I am trying to tell you is that wherever our inmates are kept, we have a standby medical team assigned to take care of them. Should everybody in Maiduguru be transferred to Lagos or Abuja before he gets medical attention?”

  • Lancelot Imasuen’s ‘WEDE’ shines at Frankfurt

    WEDE, a feature length film by Lancelot Imasuen, that focuses on female genital mutilation was the star at the recently concluded Nollywood Film Festival Germany (NFFG) which held in Frankfurt, Germany on August 30 and August 31, 2019.

    The annual event organized by Ehizoya Golden Entertainment e.V, kick started with the premiere of ‘WEDE’.

    Set in the 1980s, ‘Wede’, an adaptation of Professor Julia Okoh’s novel, ‘Edewede’, exposes the negative effects of female genital mutilation which is still very much prevalent among rural dwellers in the Midwestern part of Nigeria. In the story, a fearless and determined young lady led other women to a revolt that saw an age long tradition abolished. They fought courageously and tirelessly to put an end to barbaric tradition, something most men have had the luxury of taking for granted.

    Some stars in the movie include Oge Okoye, Rita Edochie, Nosa Obaseki, Francis Onwochei, Eunice Omoregie and Isio Joseph.

    In his opening speech before the screening, the event director and the innovator of the festival, Mr. Isaac Izoya, said ‘Wede’ was selected because of the originality that depicts the message of a culture that must be exterminated.

    Nollywood, he said, is a cultural exchange learning tool within Germany and Nigeria alike that must be promoted.

    The screening took place at Cinema Film forum Höchst, Emmerich-Josef-Strasse in Frankfurt am Main and some of those who watched it shared their experiences.

    “This is my first time ever watching Nollywood film and I must confess that I’ve a great lesson of how best to approach issues related to traditional matters in Africa,” said Niels Bartels, an African News Analyst.

    “It’s a nice and must-watch movie,” said Sarah Agbebaku, a student in Dusseldorf.

    “I cried at the cinema and it’s a tradition that must be abolished. I advise women to resist it by all means possible.”

    Sadly, Lancelot Imasuen, director of ‘WEDE’ was absent due to the sudden death of his father just few days to the event.

    The chairman of Nigerian community in Hessen State, Engr. Iyamu, praised the turn out to watch WEDE.

  • Minister, NFF agree to rejig football

    The Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare on Friday met with members of the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in a bid to give new direction to football in the country.

    The meeting which was at the instance of the minister was attended by 15 board members of NFF led by its President, Amaju Pinnick.

    In a communique signed by the Minister and NFF President, the meeting was aimed at ensuring smooth administration of football in the country, as well as charts a new and dynamic focus for the game.

    Read Also: Veteran Journalist Sunday Dare is new sports minister

    Basically, the communique stated that efforts would also be geared towards re-positioning the domestic league, youth development as well as ensuring early preparation for participation in tournaments and championships.

    Also efforts would be made to develop  sporting facilities particularly football pitches and other infrastructure across the country.

    Improving the positive perception of football administration and ensuring the NFF Bill with the National assembly is transmitted for assent by the president speedily were among the issues raised at the parley.

    Efficient management of resources and deepening private investment in sports development are other issues expected to be worked on.

  • Ogun govt pledges good governance

    The Ogun State Deputy Governor, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, has said the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led government is committed to good governance which can only be achieved, if the right process is in place for effective implementation.

    Engr. Salako-Oyedele stated this during a courtesy call to her by the Conference of Auditors-General for Local Governments of Federation,  South-West Zone,  led by its chairman, Mr. Francis Adaramola, at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

    She said the present administration’s focus was to improve the quality of the civil service in the state.

    The Deputy  Governor, who received the delegation in company with the state Head of Service on behalf of the Governor, Prince  Dapo Abiodun, noted that the present government was concerned about improving infrastructure and creating an enabling environment , adding that effective legislation would go a long way in improving the lot of the auditors-general.

    In his remarks, the chairman, South-West Zone, Mr. Francis Adaramola, called on the government to put in place the audit law which would ensure the independence of the Office of the Accountant-General for effective performance.

    Read Also: Governor Abiodun’s ‘Oko Owo Dapo’

    Meanwhile, Engr. Salako-Oyedele has restated the present administration’s commitment to broaden the scope of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across public secondary schools in the state in order to achieve qualitative education that parents desire for their wards.

    Engr. Salako-Oyedele, who made this known while receiving the executive members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT),Ogun State wing, who paid her a courtesy visit in Abeokuta, said plans were underway to introduce quality assurance in secondary schools, as the governor would appoint consultants to look into ways of upgrading the schools into the 21st century status.

    Earlier, the chairman of union, Comrade Titilope Adebanjo, thanked the government for the approval of the 2016 and 2017 promotions, prompt payment of teacher’s salaries and capacity building of teachers.

  • Bauchi governor, NLTP and imperfect identity

    Before it is over, the controversy over whether to execute a Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) programme for herdsmen or serve it in the somewhat more inoculated version of National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) will have cost jobs, denuded political influence and prestige, and stoked pain, anger and suspicion all over the country.

    RUGA, which is hated in some parts of the country for its provocative and culturally flagrant acronym, was to be anchored by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in ways that stupefied many. NLTP on the other hand, though still viewed with extreme suspicion, emanated from the National Economic Council (NEC). Who first conceived it? It is not clearly stated. For now, flowing from the acrimonious debate over the relevance and security implications of RUGA, the more inclusive NLTP appears to be on the ascendancy, with a hefty budget of about N179bn proposed for its execution over a 10-year period.

    Neither NLTP nor RUGA is devoid of controversy, and may not even be the best scientific approach to solving the so-called herdsmen-farmers clashes. Both programmes came out of many decades of slovenly approach to tackling climate problems and desertification, which pushed herdsmen contentiously farther afield in search of grazing lands, and the increasing conurbation and population explosion that have constricted grazing lands. Unable to find the antidote to a fast-growing and menacing problem, the federal government simply watched, sometimes with futile gestures, as herdsmen and farmers locked horns. Now the problem has reached epidemic levels, and is demanding for a solution whether the government likes it or not.

    But rather than look at the problem carefully and cautiously and weigh every suggested solution against the backdrop of the country’s cultural sensitivities and political complexities, the government has made a fairly conventional assessment of the causes of the problem, stunted the need to seek more modern and efficacious solutions, and is now attempting to impose a solution whose future ramifications are unpredictable. RUGA was the more insensitive of the two solutions, but there is also no proof that even the NLTP has met with anything more than cautious and reluctant acceptance from so-called willing states. Indeed, there is no proof that governors, who are members of the NEC, have all confidently signed on to the sanitised variant of the two programmes, especially with the ongoing subterranean and contentious attempt to settle Fulani herdsmen in some unwilling parts of the country.

    To further muddy the waters, the declaration by the Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed that the Fulani of West Africa have a transcendental identity, and must willy-nilly partake of the NLTP, has stoked controversy and imbued the programme with a suspicious hegemonic quality. The NEC is proposing an initial N100bn budget, fully funded by Nigerian taxpayers. According to Mr Mohammed, however, it would be pointless to attempt to exclude Fulani herdsmen from neighbouring West African countries, because you couldn’t tell the difference: they are all one and the same. They migrate seamlessly and share the same nationality. The governor was, in other words, declaring that the Fulani everywhere see themselves as Fulani first and foremost rather than through the lens of the countries of their birth. This is hugely controversial, ignorant and provocative.

    According the governor:  “I think there is a lot of mistrust and misconception as regards the Fulani man. The Fulani man is a global or African person. He moves from the Gambia to Senegal and his nationality is Fulani. As a person I may have my relations in Cameroon but they are also Fulani. I am a Fulani man from my maternal side. We will just have to take this as our own heritage, something that is African. So, we cannot just close our borders and say the Fulani man is just a Nigerian. In most cases, the crisis is precipitated by those outside Nigeria. When there is a reprisal, it is not the Fulani man within Nigeria that causes it. It is that culture of getting revenge which is embedded in the traditional Fulani man that attracts reprisal…We are already accommodating them. Do you delineate and really know who is not a Nigerian Fulani man? They are all Nigerians because their identity, their citizenship is Nigerian even though they have relatives from all be a $30bn [£22.8bn] company in terms of revenue,” said Dangote.

    Wao! Dangote is renowned for doing good business. Our sports administrators must sit up and embrace the reality that sports increases the GDP of countries that understand the dynamics of the industry. Spain’s economy, a growing one like Nigeria’s, relies greatly on the volume of cash generated from the sports sector.

    FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia are not all about football. They have basketball clubs, volleyball clubs, athletics clubs etc, which are professionally run. But football serves as the fountain where others seek succour, considering its followership as the king of sports.

    La Liga’s contribution in Spain’s national economy is no less than any other top-run industry in the country. The two elite division football leagues in Spain generate 185,000 jobs, €4.1 billion ($4.66 bn) in taxes and a turnover equal to 1.37% of the national GDP. This is one sport – football. Others are also run as businesses. Sample: Vuelta a España, a race around Spain and one of cycling’s biggest events.

    Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues spent a record £5billion on players this summer despite Premier League clubs, usually the continent’s most active shoppers, slightly reining in their spending, Deloitte has revealed.

    Honourable minister sir, sponsorship isn’t donation but value exchange based on inventories of benefits accruing to the firm(s) or individual. Indeed, sponsorship without television as a key element amounts to winking in the dark. Our sports is more of having a half empty glass than a half filled one, largely because those who administered it in the past lacked the political will, which Dare is exhibiting with his reposition of issues in so short a time.

    Indeed, there was no funding of sports here because most of the ministers were interested in fighting NFF chiefs and other federations’ helmsmen than creating a financial sponsorship model driven by the principles of Public Private Partnership (PPP).  Dare needs to find out what happened to all the Sports Lottery Fund and some others like the fund-raisers before the last two World Cup tournaments for the Super Eagles.

    The country seriously needs a Sustenance fund for our athletes which should be tied to big firms and/or rich individuals so that we can chart these sports ambassadors’ growth in the events. Besides, we need to re-introduce the fund-raisers we did at least one year before attending major competitions. President Buhari could commence it with a dinner where the big players in business are told what they stand to gain supporting sports. Such incentives as tax rebates would propel them to support sports for as long as they can be assured that the cash isn’t misapplied. The fund raisers will then be taken round the country for all the states to contribute their quota. However, a deliberate attempt should be made to let everyone know how much was realised and how the cash was spent. The minister could use the visits through the states to dialogue with the governors on his vision for sports.

    It is instructive for the minister to meet with sports friendly firms who have left the industry to find out what informed their exits. That way, past mistakes are corrected so that others can be encouraged to participate.

  • Unease in soldiers’ camp in Katsina

    Not a few eyebrows were raised when the governor of Katsina State, Rt Hon. Aminu Masari, recently took the decision to go into the hideouts of the bandits that had held the state by the jugular for years and engage them in dialogue.

    While some people felt that the move amounted to a great risk on his considering how ruthless the bandits had become, others believed that it was administratively unethical that such anti-social elements would be engaged in a dialogue rather than the fire-for-fire approach.

    It would seem, however, that Masari’s decision has turned out a wise one, going by the revelations that have emerged from it.

    The bandits did not only respond positively to Masari’s olive branch by their decisions to drop their arms and cooperate with the state government in its developmental efforts, some of them were also said to have dropped useful hints to the effect that many of the soldiers and policemen deployed to check the activities of the bandits had been compromised.

    Some of the security agents were said to have entered into agreements with the bandits to look the other way while they carried on with their nefarious activities or even provide them with arms and ammunition while the bandits pay back in cash or rustled cattle.

    Since two leaders of the repentant bandits reportedly opened the Pandora box, security agencies have been working on clues to uncover the soldiers and policemen fueling banditry in the state. Sentry gathered that many of the errant soldiers and policemen are already cringing, with some of them desperately seeking to be transferred away from the state.

  • Unidentified woman steals two-month-old baby in Ekiti

    A yet-to-be-identified woman has reportedly stolen a two-month-old baby boy from his mother in Ado Ekiti

    The incident occurred on Friday around 1PM at the State Secretariat in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state capital.

    A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the woman tricked  the baby’s mother, Funmilayo Sunday to follow her to the State Secretariat under the guise to help collect some relief materials being given by government to flood victims.

    “On getting there, she sent the mother to help her to procure recharge card but ran away with the baby before the arrival of the woman, a source said.

    Read Also: Son fakes own kidnap to defraud dad of N500,000

    Narrating her ordeal, Funmilayo who was drenched in tears explained  that the abductor whom she suspected to be from the Eastern part of the country, had been patronizing her consistently at the Oja-Oba market, where she sells soup ingredients.

    She said the woman informed her on Wednesday that she would take her to the State Secretariat where her husband works and that the husband would facilitate the relief materials for her.

    The woman, who preferred to be anonymous, explained that the woman came to her shop with a list of possible beneficiaries and included her name making her to believe that she was being favoured.

    According to her, “the woman who had become a regular customer had this morning invited me to the Secretariat and pretended to be waiting for someone, having entered one or two offices under the pretence of making some arrangements.

    “She later took my baby and set from me and asked me to go and buy recharge cards and before I came back, she had fled with my baby,” she stated.

    The poor woman, who claimed she had lost a child recently before the delivery of the stolen boy, said the suspect  collected her phone to prevent her from  contacting the police

  • Oyetola inaugurates governing boards for Osun health insurance agency, primary healthcare

    The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, on Friday, inaugurated the Governing Boards of Osun Health Insurance Agency and Osun Primary Healthcare Board.

    He said the boards were inaugurated as part of the administration’s commitment to ensure quality, qualitative, affordable and accessible healthcare delivery to the people of the state.

    The governor also charged members of the newly inaugurated boards to discharge their duties with a high sense of responsibility, probity, selflessness, commitment and diligence.

    Inaugurating the boards in his office, Oyetola noted that the constitution and the inauguration of the boards marked the effective take-off of the health programme of the administration.

    Members of the  board of Osun Health Insurance Agency, include: Hon. Adeoye Andrew Adelakun (Chairman); Executive Secretary, Osun Health Insurance Scheme, Dr. Niyi Ogini; Director Health Planning and Statistics, Ministry of Health, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode; Director Medical Services, Dr. Ayobami Oni; Coordinating Director Ministry of Economic Planning, Budget and Development, Mr Akinola Adekunle Layiwola and Director Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Abolude Ganiyat Titilola.

    Read Also: We are adopting Edo-HIP to revamp Edo healthcare sector – Obaseki

    Others are: Director, Local Government and Inspectorate Service, Mr. Olusola Adedokun; Director P.S.O, Mr. Najeem Akintola; Director Medical Laboratory Services, Mrs Gbonjubola Akinola; State Coordinator, NHIS, Mr. Ahmed Yahaya, Osun NLC Chairman, Comrade Jacob Adekomi; Mr Titus Olufemi Aiyedun; Dr Olatunji Olabisi Odebunmi and Comrade S.O Faniran.

    For the Primary Healthcare Board, the members are: Executive Secretary, OPHCDB, Dr. Oluwole Fabiyi; Assistant Medical Laboratory Scientist, Mrs. Biyi Adesina; Mr. Kayode Adetola who represents Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria; Mr. Olusola Kolawole Adedokun from Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; Dr. Oladeji Gbadamosi from Ministry of Health; Mr. Olusegun Alao Adebayo Akeem Oladepo who represents Alternative Medicine Practitioners; Comrade S. O. Faniran from National Association of Nurses and Midwives; Mr. Olaniyi Olatunji from National Association of Community Health Practitioners; Mr. Muraina Mutiu Olayinka from Health Information Managers Association of Nigeria; and Mr. Gbenga Oyebode from Medical Health Workers Union of Nigeria;

    The governor, who reiterated his administration’s determination to ensure equitable health service delivery, expressed confidence that the inauguration of the boards would contribute in no measure to advance the health sector in the state.

    He said the boards would serve as a driven force towards the actualisation of the government’s goal at taking quality healthcare to the people’s doorsteps.

    In their separate remarks, the Chairman Osun Health Insurance Agency, Hon. Adeoye Andrew Adelakun and the Executive Secretary, Osun Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Oluwole Fabiyi, commended the governor for reposing confidence in them to serve the state.

    Those who witnessed the inauguration are: Speaker Osun House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Owoeye; Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Charles Akinola; Head of Service, Dr. Festus Oyebade; State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prince Gboyega Famodun; State Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Jacob Adekomi, and members of the state Steering Committee among others.