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  • Abiodun blames Amosun for failure of Ogun Trust Fund

    Governor Dapo Abiodun on Tuesday disclosed that the Security Trust Fund initiated and launched by his predecessor; Ibikunle Amosun, failed and blamed the then Governor for its failure.

    Amosun launched the Trust Fund during the early life of his first tenure as Governor but the initial enthusiasm that trailed the initiative soon fizzled out after it was inaugurated and was rarely heard of in his second term of four years.

    But Abiodun who spoke at a “thank you meeting” with members of his All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to appreciate them for their support, especially during his pre – election court cases and the Election Petition Tribunal, said Amosun’s Trust Fund initiative failed because of the way it was managed.

    The Governor who did not elaborate on how the style of running the fund led to its failure, added that he decided to send a bill for an amendment of the law establishing the Trust Fund to avoid a repeat of the fate that befell it under the last administration.

    According to him, the previous security trust fund was beset by “governance issues.”

    He explained that the new amended Security Trust Fund has at its management level, a “wholesome team of people whose job is to ensure that they liaise with” the law enforcement agencies, look at their needs, provide the funding and manage it.

    Read Also: Ogun Govt. to introduce toll-free phone lines for alert, feedback

    Abiodun stressesed that the team would enjoy autonomy and be independent in carrying out their responsibility in a manner devoid of a situation where the Governor would turn them into errand boys.

    He said: “We are determined to make this state a safe state for ourselves, the citizens, our visitors, residents and investors. We will not tolerate lawless under any guise. We will not tolerate indiscipline, we will not tolerate cultism.

    “If we indeed want to attract investors to Ogun state, if indeed the Ogun state citizens have entrusted me with their mandate as the chief security officer of this state, I must ensure that people can go about their legitimate businesses, sleep in their homes without having to worry about crime or criminals. So we began to take the issue of security very seriously and very important.

    “We cannot invite people to come and invest in this state when it is one day of kidnappings, the other of armed robbery. So we decided that we are going amend the law that set up our security trust fund so that it has appropriate governance and why do we do that, we realised the fact that the previous security trust fund failed, it failed because of governance issues and we thought we needed to look at that.

    “We have amended it, through the State House of Assembly, we sent the law to them, they approved it, we reconstituted that trust fund to ensure it has the right combination of people, to make sure that the trust fund has people of integrity that can add value to the fund.

    “We looked at what other funds were coin in other parts of the country. So we now have the chairman, the executive secretary, we have people on the board who come from the private sector. We chose the chairman from the organised private sector, who is no other person than Mr. Bolaji Balogun who is the chairman of larfage.

    “We chose the executive secretary Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje who has been the executive secretary of the Lagos state security trust fund for seven years. We have our banker friends, we decided that we are going to have an executive director each from a bank, this assures inclusiveness and they are buying into it.

    “We now decided to have our royal fathers and also our father’s in both sides of the religion. We put a retired AIG, who sits on the board of INTERPOL.

    “We have a wholesome team of people whose job is to ensure that they liaise with our law enforcement agencies, look at their needs, they provide the funding and they manage the funding. On our part as a State, we will also provide our counterpart funding.

    “In the mean time, we have also appointed auditors because it is not a case of me, the governor calling on the members of the trust fund to go and buy this and go and buy that.

    “The governance is instituted in it so that they are independent, they are autonomous, they take decisions accordingly, they fuel the vehicles and equipment, they maintain them so this is sustainable.

    ” We felt that this is very important if we indeed must fight crime, if we indeed must ensure that people continue to live, reside and work in Ogun state, if indeed we want to invite people to Ogun state and we want Ogun state to be that investment number one choice destination in this country.”

  • RTEAN expels National President, suspends Secretary-General

    The leadership crisis rocking the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) has taken a new dimension, with the expulsion of the National President, Mr Osakpanwan Eriyo, by the National Executive Council (NEC).

    The RTEAN NEC, which took the decision at an emergency meeting in Lagos on Tuesday, also announced the suspension of the union’s Secretary- General, Mr Ibrahim Yusuf.

    It consequently announced the appointment of Alh. Mohammed Musa, the Deputy National President (Administration) and Mr Henry Ejiofor, the Deputy Secretary-General, as replacements for the duo, in acting capacity.

    The NEC said that the expulsion Eriyo and Yusuf followed allegations of fraudulent activities against them and the alleged creation of chaos in some state executive councils of the union.

    Addressing newsmen after the emergency meeting, Alhaji Adamu Jalaludeen, the First Assistant National Secretary-General of the union, urged the government and the general public to stop recognising the duo as RTEAN officials.

    Read Also: NURTW crisis: MC Oluomo, predecessor settle rift

    Jalaludeen alleged that Eriyo, having been suspended and dismissed in 2017 for anti-union activities in Benin, enthroned himself through a coup in September 2018 as the de facto president, in connivance with Yusuf.

    “Within the past one year since the unconstitutional take over, our association has witnessed a drastic decadence and erosion of the values which it had stood for,” he said.

    According to him, legal steps will be taken to ensure that the expelled national president and secretary-general are not seen close to the association’s secretariat.

    Jalaludeen alleged that the expelled members had an expansionist agenda of annexing and personalising various state chapters and enthroning their appendages and surrogates to perpetuate their corrupt practices.

    He said that the agenda had seen a disruption in the union’s activities in Kaduna, Ogun, Niger and, more recently, in Lagos State.

    Jalaludeen also alleged that the duo had been involved in ticket racketeering, funds diversion and sidetracking of the NEC in decision-making, saying that no NEC meeting was conveyed before the dissolution of the Lagos chapter of the association’s executive committee .

    He said that the Lagos executive committee had unanimously resolved to support the second term bid of the state chairman, and that the position was duly communicated to Eriyo, who, he said, approved same.

    NAN reports that the expelled national president had, in a statement on Sunday, announced the dissolution of the executive committee of the Lagos State chapter, citing expiration of their tenure on Sept. 13 as reason.

    Eriyo announced the inauguration of a caretaker committee, headed by Alh. Suleiman Onigbanjo, to manage the affairs of the branch, pending the emergence of a new executive committee.

    The state executive members, however, at a news conference on Monday in Lagos, described the dissolution as illegal, null and void, saying that their tenure would lapse on Oct. 31.

    They said that the resolution for the continuity of their executive committee had been passed at the chapel, zonal and state executive levels, adding that it had since been forwarded to the national body.

    They said that the branch had also paid its dues to the tune of N60 million to the national body, alleging that Eriyo’s move was to create crisis in the union which had hitherto been peaceful.

    NAN reports that the emergency NEC meeting was attended by 28 national executive members of the union, drawn from 17 states of the union.

    Reacting to the development on the telephone, Eriyo dismissed his expulsion, saying that it could not stand, as Lagos State was not the National Secretariat to make such a pronouncement. (NAN)

  • Lagos to establish more accident centres, emergency institute

    The Lagos State Government has commenced plans to establish two more Accident and Emergency Centres (Trauma) at Abule Egba and Lekki-Ajah axis of the state to improve response time to victims.

    This was disclosed by the Director General Lagos State Emergency Management Agency Alausa (LASEMA) Dr. Femi Oke-Osayintolu at the stakeholder meeting on Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) on Monday.

    Osayintolu said the state also plan to establish a training institute at Igando for emergency workers, volunteers, mothers and designated officials across the 57 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.

    “A mobile app has been created with necessary features to enable callers select the exact emergency situation they are reporting and by so doing, reduce emergency hotlines call time.”

    Read Also: Lagos DNA forensic centre gets global recognition

    Osayintolu said the app would be test run by all relevant agencies and simulations done with it before it would be unveiled to the public.

    He reiterated the need for a holistic view on the causes, prevention and response to RTAs.

    He said: “We have put a lot of things in place. We have decentralized the operations of LASEMA. We have put in the monitoring and evaluation unit so that we will have best practices in LASEMA and all other key stakeholders.

    “We are working on establishing an emergency institute that will be located at Igando. The institute will train all the key stakeholders on how to manage, respond, plan and prepare for emergency in Lagos State.

    “We are also going to build the capacity of all our 57 LGAs and we are going to ensure that disaster management is everyone’s business. All these will happen very soon.

    “We are currently testing some emprical equipment and want to be sure they work well before rolling them out to the public.”

    In his presentation, Dr. Adeolu Arogundade who represented the Trauma centre said the unit had attended to over 22,000 patients since its inception in 2009, adding that the figure comprised 72 percent males and 28 percent females.

    Despite most of the cases being life threatening, Arogundade said the unit has had over 98 per cent success rate, adding that the modalities were mainly from hemorrhagic shock and head injury.

    According to him, RTAs amounted to 55 percent of the cases, assaults 12 percent, accidental fall 8.8 percent, gunshot injuries 0.1 percent and other emergencies 20 percent.

    He said the centre is experiencing inadequacies such as power supply, referral systems, skilled manpower and funding.

  • Housewife remanded in prison for allegedly pouring hot water on 10-month-old baby

    A Chief Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Zaria, Kaduna State, has remanded a housewife, Mrs Nnennaya Edmond in prison for allegedly pouring hot water on a nursing mother and her 10-month-old baby.

    The woman is standing trial on a two-count charge of criminal offence and causing of grievous injuries on one Gloria Cyril and her 10-month-old baby, Bright Cyril.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that both the accused and the complainant are living in the same house at ECWA Church area of Wusasa, Zaria, Kaduna State.

    The Chief Magistrate, Mr Abubakar Aliyu-Lamido, ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody and adjourned the case to Oct. 15, for the complainant to present witnesses.

    Read Also: Court sentences ex-convict to 6 months in prison for stealing car battery

    Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Mannir Nasir, had told the court that on Sep. 10, at about 1:00am, one Mary Ijeoma, reported the case to Danmaaji Police Division.

    He said that Ijeoma had the accused the defendant of pouring hot water on her daughter, Gloria and her 10-month-old grandson, Bright.

    The Prosecutor added that the complainant had narrated that the action caused grievous injuries on the nursing mother and baby who were rushed to St Luke’s Hospital, Wusasa for treatment.

    He said that the offence was contrary to sections 223 and 216 of the Penal Code Law 2017.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The prosecutor, then asked the court for a short adjounment to enable him present witnesses.

    (NAN)

  • Makinde’s victory God-ordained, says Bishop Wale Oke

    Bishop Wale Oke, the President and founder, Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, says the victory of Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is a further testimony of God’s ordination of his election.

    Oke, in a congratulatory message made available to the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) on Tuesday in Ibadan, said Makinde’s victory was a true reflection of the peoples’ wish in the state.

    NAN recalls that the three-member tribunal led by Justice Muhammed Sirajo had on Monday dismissed the petition filed by Chief Adebayo Adelabu, his All Progressives Congress opponent in the election, for lack of merit.

    Read Also: Makinde: my victory triumph of truth over falsehood 

    Oke urged the governor to use every day of his administration in serving the people of the state and God.

    “I congratulate the governor on the victory. This should serve as the needed tonic and impetus through which the state and its people could further be lifted to lofty heights by Makinde and his team.

    “This passage and phase are not just by mere coincidence. God has so appointed you, Gov. Makinde, to fulfill His purpose of bringing succor to the state and its people at this point in time.

    “The by-product of this should be enduring. It’s a special grace. You have started well and we pray you berth successfully,” he said.

    Oke called for continuos prayers and support for the Makinde-led administration in the state, urging the people to always be law-abiding so as to ensure development of the state as envisioned by its founding fathers.(NAN)

  • Just in: Humiliations, attacks have been my lot in APC, says Abe

    The representative of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District in the 7th and 8th Senate, Magnus Abe, has lamented that miseries, humiliations and attacks have been his lot in the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he said he and others put their lives on the line to birth in Rivers State

    He also disclosed that he was facing oppression at the hands of the friend (name not disclosed), for whose sake he wept on the floor of the Senate, but apparently referring to Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, a former Rivers governor, who is the leader of APC in the state and South-south zone, during his first ministerial screening.

    The senator, in a statement on his Facebook wall, said: “I have chosen not to be bitter towards anyone and not to teach bitterness to anyone. I know that if I teach people that Mr. A is the source of every failure and poverty, I will absolve myself and those I teach of all responsibility for whatever challenges and the difficulties that they are going through, then I can be a super leader, because I have provided a convenient scapegoat and I can absolve myself from scrutiny responsibility.

    “Whether it is the South African leaders telling their people that it is the fault of foreign nationals that they are poor or white people in the United States saying Mexicans and immigrants are coming to steal their country, the end result is always the same: bitterness, violence, misery, failure and more poverty.

    “In my world, bitterness towards anyone is a sign of failure. It means you admit that the other person has the power to make your life. No one has that power over my life.

    Read Also: ‘Abe must be expelled from APC’

    “Rather than tell my supporters of all the miseries, humiliations and attacks that have been my lot in the APC, the party that we put our lives on the line to birth in Rivers State, rather than tell them about the oppression I am facing at the hands of the friend for whose sake I wept on the floor of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I tell them that their life is their responsibility and that no man can alter their destinies. It is our responsibility to identify what we want, where we need to be and how we can get there. I tell them to come and let us move mountains, if need be.

    “We will enjoy our journey, as challenging as it may be and we will not just travel hopefully, but we will get there. I do not know your destination, but I know that the ultimate objective of bitterness is violence. No amount of violence can help you, if you do not know where you are going.”

    Abe, a former Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), when Amaechi was governor, also recalled how a friend sent him a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson, stating that life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.

    He said: “No matter what anyone else may have done, we must start any honest and meaningful evaluation with ourselves. What did I do, what have I done and most importantly, what can I do better?

    “Examining yourself honestly is not an automatic admission of failure; it is rather an opportunity to improve. Money is important, but leaders should not be judged only by how much money they can give.”

    He also stated that he believe that inspiring people and motivating them to reach within themselves and not to focus on anyone else would give them the will to examine themselves and their leadership in the areas in which action or inaction could be reviewed and improved.

    He noted that such model of leadership was difficult, tasking and could not provide leaders with docile followers, who would do whatever the leaders asked them to do, but would provide them with committed associates, who would understand exactly what was at stake.

    Abe said: “They (the followers) cannot blame you (the leader) or blame anyone else, because they understand exactly where they are going, why it is important to go there and they know it is their responsibility to get there.

    “Leadership which emphasises individual responsibility is tedious and painful, but ultimately it stands a chance of achieving what bitterness and scapegoating others will never achieve.

    “It can actually help move the society in the direction of unity, peace, progress and prosperity. We must all realise our fallibility and the fact that no matter how good we may be, we can be better and no matter how well we have done, we can still do better.”

  • Concerned LASU professors back dismissal of 3 ASUU officials

    Some concerned professors at the  Lagos State University (LASU) has said that the recent dismissal of three executive of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was not a case of victimisation.

    At a news briefing on Tuesday in Lagos, the concerned LASU professors described the dismissal as normal or routine process which should not be blown out of proportion.

    Prof. Martins Anetekhai, Chairman, LASU Policy Advisory and Conflict Resolution Committee, said that dismissal of staff was a normal process the institution undergo regularly to sanitise the system.

    “The pronunciation of dismissal does not make it the end, they are free to appeal to the governing council or go to court.

    “I made a lot of efforts by visiting them to resolve the issues and that they should know that a union leader is not above the law.

    Read Also: We were framed up, dismissed ASUU-LASU members say

    “This dismissal is an in-house issue and we are trying to make sure everything works out perfectly,” he said.

    Anetekhai, however, advised ASUU-LASU executives to sit up, saying that it was unfortunate that things degenerated to such level.

    “Our current administration is a very rare breed of truth and sacrifice, so I appeal to media organisations to always support positivity about LASU,” he said.

    Also speaking, Dean of Management Sciences, Prof. Babatunde Yusuf, said that the university’s rules and condition of service clearly stipulate dismissal as the punishment for unlawful possession of documents.

    Yusuf said that other staff also benefitted from the allegation of backdated promotion raised against the Vice -Chancellor.

    “The union leaders are not meant for people who wish to be permanent in the position because we have about 800 academic staff who are also members of the union.

    “ASUU is not grounded in LASU which means others members can take the leadership role and staff should know that LASU comes first before ASUU,” he said.

    Also, Prof. Sola Fosudo said that nobody was victimised, explaining that anyone found guilty of any misconduct would be dismissed.

    “The decision of the dismissal was reached by more than a body , as it started with investigative panel, joint committee of heads and council before the governing council made its final decision.

    “My promotion was also backdated to 2015, likewise some of the staff promotions too,” he said.

    Mr Oladele Olawale, President, LASU Students’ Union, said that the university law was binding on both students and staff of the institution.

    “A community where there is no law, there is no offense, but when there is a law and an offense is committed, then the law must take its course.

    “We are only talking about the dismissal, but no one is talking about the promotion,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that LASU Governing Council had at its 122nd meeting on Thursday promoted 31 academic staff, 346 non-academic staff .

    The Council also approved the dismissal of eight academic staff and three non-academic staff over issues bothering on absconment  from duty, certificate falsification, theft of confidential document, sale of marks, among others.

    (NAN)

  • Xenophobia: Clark cautions Nigeria against harsh reaction

    South-South national leader and Convener of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has advised the federal government to handle the relationship with the South African government with mature diplomacy.

    Chief Clark was responding to the visit of the South African Special Envoy sent by President Cyril Ramaphosa to convey his country’s apologies to the Nigerian government and people over the recent xenophobic attacks, during which many Nigerian residents of South Africa were said to have lost some lives and property worth millions of dollars.

    The elder statesman, who noted that the South African government had taken the first right step by sending its representatives with an apology message, however noted that while to ask for further show of commitment from South Africa in the form of compensation for losses incurred during the attacks, would not be wrong, such should not be done alone by Nigeria.

    According to him, the relationship with South Africa and the response to the harsh treatments meted to Nigerians in the country should be treated with guided diplomacy, recalling that there are still many Nigerian citizens still resident in the country, adding that Nigeria should rather work to make the South African government show faith to its promise to eradicate xenophobia and discrimination in the country.

    “The South African government did the right thing by sending the special envoy, it is the right step to take, but more than that, other issues of further steps should be discussed when President Buhari goes to have the meeting with President Ramaphosa of South Africa in October.

    “About the issue of compensation, I think Nigeria should not make such demand alone since we are not the only affected country. Besides that, the South African government has said it was compulsory for all companies registered in the country to get insured and think this a caveat the take seriously.

    READ ALSO: Xenophobia: APC Chieftain lauds Air Peace, Abike Dabiri-Erewa

    “However, since this xenophobia attacks affected many African countries, I think Nigeria should provide the leadership for other African countries whose citizens suffered losses to these attacks, approach the African Union, the United Nations and even the International Court at The Hague to seek redress and table the matter of compensation.

    “All these said, I believe we as a nation need to handle this matter diplomatically, considering how many of our people are not willing to return home yet: I think just about 500, out of thousands have returned, so there’s need for caution. I think we should make the South African government do much more to prevent these attacks from happening. I remember that in 2011, the South African government gave a commitment to ensure that xenophobic attacks, discrimination and racism would be made to end. I think this is a more diplomatic and mature way of dealing with this issue for now,” he advised.

  • Police intercept Marijuana laden van, arrest car ‘snatchers’

    The police in Lagos Tuesday intercepted a van carrying 20 bags of substances suspected to be Marijuana.

    The van was intercepted at about 2am on Monday along Lekki-Epe Expressway by operatives attached to Area J command.

    It was gathered that the operatives arrested the driver identified as Usman Adeyemi, 27, a resident of 16, Itafaji Street, Lagos Island.

    Two suspected car snatchers Gidion Amuzie, 25, and Godspower Imafidion, 25 were also arrested by policemen attached to Ilemba Hausa Division in Ojo.

    According to the police, the suspects were arrested around 11:30pm on September 11 and a black Honda Accord car they hid at Jemilugba Street, Ilogbo was recovered from them.

    READ ALSO: Kano Police intercept 303 cartons of Tramadol worth N2bn 

    Spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) the suspects specialised in snatching vehicles from the owners, adding that they also stole some from where they were parked.

    “They confessed that they stole the Honda Accord vehicle at a car wash in Satellite Town. Investigation is ongoing and the suspects will be charged to court,” he said.

  • Alausa gets Baale-elect

    The Odewale ruling house of Alausa in Ikeja local government has announced Alhaji Muftau Beedmos as the Baale-elect of Alausa town.

    Alhaji Muftau Beedmos was announced the baale-elect after a crucial meeting for the selection of a new baale by the Odewale ruling house.

    Read Also: New Olowo, Ogunoye installed

    In a statement forwarded to the Ministry of local Government and community affairs, the Odewale ruling house agreed unanimously to the selection of Alhaji Muftau Beedmos as the rightful person to occupy the baaleship stool which has long been vacant and unoccupied.

    The ruling house however stressed that it would keep the public abreast of the development and other formal rites.