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Tag: Ojudu

  • Jonathan’s conference poisonous, says Ojudu

    Jonathan’s conference poisonous, says Ojudu

    The senator representing Ekiti Central at the National Assembly, Babafemi Ojudu, has said the National Conference being put together by the Goodluck Jonathan administration is dishonest and deceitful.

    The senator said the Jonathan administration was just borrowing from “our recent history when government after government gathered people in the name of National Conference or political summit so as to divert the attention of the people from the political challenges faced by government”.

    He said this had been the practice since 1985.

    In a statement in Ado-Ekiti, Ojudu said he had always been a strong advocate of a Sovereign National Conference, instead of the National Conference, since 1990.

    That was when Alao Aka-Bashorun attempted to organise a Sovereign National Conference in Lagos, but the attempt was aborted by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

    He recalled that as the Organising Secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), he left his job as an editor for three months to join the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference because of his belief in the need for Nigerians to talk and negotiate their togetherness.

    He argued that President Jonathan was using the proposed National Conference to divert attention from the economic burden his administration was placing on Nigerians and the noise arising from the implosion of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

  • We’ve abandoned the masses for too long, says Ojudu

    •Senator mourns Agagu, Falae, Okusanya, others

     

    Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central District) has commiserated with the families of last Thursday’s plane crash victims.

    A plane conveying the remains of former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Agagu and about 20 people crashed in Lagos shortly after take off.

    In a statement in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, Ojudu described the late Agagu as a brother and nimble-minded fellow.

    He said although death was inevitable for everyone, he found it difficult to accept that Agagu was dead.

    Ojudu said although he disagreed with the late Agagu on some occasions, he marvelled at his “intelligence, depth of reasoning and ability to take in so much at a time, even when one thinks he is not paying attention”.

    He condoled with the Falae family, saying: “The death of Deji Falae is a depreciation in Nigeria’s torch of hope, as he represented the best the country had to offer. At a time as this, one can only draw strength from God, believing, though difficult, that he has a reason for everything.”

    Ojudu sympathised with the family of the owner of MIC Caskets, Mr. Tunji Okusanya, who died with his son, Tunji (Junior), in the crash.

    He said the late Okusanya’s friends and associates would miss his large heart.

    Ojudu said it was time leaders started paying attention to the welfare of Nigerians, who “had been neglected for too long”.

    He said: “We must realise that we breathe the same air, use the same roads and airspace. The same things that affect the masses also affect us, hence the need for a coordinated and conscientious policy to make the welfare of the masses the fulcrum of all government programmes.

    “We, members of the ruling class have to come down from our high horse by realising that we do not have a separate airspace or roads. Thus, we must make them good for everyone, so that we and our children can have peace.

    “Even when we send our children to school abroad, they will one day return home and, God forbid, the nemesis of our actions and inactions might end up catching up with them.”

    Ojudu said any member of the ruling class, who believes he is invincible or untouchable, was foolish and might end up being the next victim of the decadence in the land.

     

  • Ojudu sponsors N10m free health mission

    Over 30,000 residents will benefit from the free health mission in Ekiti Central Senatorial District, which began yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

    The mission, sponsored by the member representing the district in the Senate, Mr. Babafemi Ojudu, will gulp N10 million.

    Ojudu spoke with reporters yesterday during the inauguration of the mission at the palace of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe.

    He said the mission, which would last two weeks, will move round the five local governments in the district.

    Ojudu said drugs and other disposables were donated for the programme through the efforts of the mission team, led by Dr. Rasheed Abassi from the United States (US).

    He said the programme was “non-discriminatory and non-partisan” adding that “it is for everybody in the constituency.”

    Ojudu said: “The mission is to complement the efforts of the Governor Kayode Fayemi administration, which has held a minimum of five free health missions to improve public health.”

    He said the mission would focus on diabetes, high blood pressure, typhoid, pneumonia, malaria and other diseases that often cause untimely death.

    The lawmaker urged residents to pay more attention to their health and patronise state-owned health facilities, adding that “they now have all it takes to provide quality healthcare”.

    He said: “I often receive calls from home that one man slumped and died; one woman slept and never woke up.

    “Health is wealth and should be given prime attention. This mission will complement Fayemi’s free health initiatives and his efforts to improve the health sector.

    “He has renovated a number of hospitals and equipped them.”

    Ojudu said although drugs meant for the mission were impounded at the airport by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NAFDAC), efforts were on to facilitate their release.

    He did not give any reason for the seizure.

    Ojudu said: “I have talked to some officials and they are looking into it. I have reported the matter to the agency’s DG and I am hopeful that the drugs would be released today (yesterday).

    Explaining that the mission was not his constituency project, the senator said: “Constituency projects are nominated yearly by federal lawmakers as priority needs of their constituents and are included in the budget.

    “The money for such projects are released directly to the ministries, which monitor the execution and pay the contractors.

    “Lawmakers do not have any say in who takes the money or get any of it.”

    Abassi said the team has consultants and specialists in various health specialities.

    One of the beneficiaries, Chief Michael Omotolani, hailed the senator on the initiative, saying “this is how you prove that you understand what leadership is about”.

     

  • Ojudu: we must unite against retrogressive forces

    Ojudu: we must unite against retrogressive forces

    Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central) has called on the people of Ekiti State to unite against the retrogressive forces trying to undermine the progress of the state.

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain, who was at the meeting of ‘Ekiti Parapo’, Lagos, said the state must rise above parochial interest to attain a greater hieght.

    Ojudu decried the mainstream politics, saying that it has retarded the progress of the state.

    He said: “Those who represent us at the federal level do so at their own interests. Going through some of the federal projects listed in the name of Ekiti State, I discovered there were serious breaches perpetrated by these people. This I had to challenge in order to ensure Ekiti got what it deserved”.

    Ojudu said politics and governance should not be left in the hands of neophytes, adding that only men of experience and ideas are fit to rule.

    The senator also enjoined the youths to initiate and communicate the right political values.

    He said: “The youths should embrace farming. Of course, I will not buy Okada for anybody because, apart from the risk involved, it is counterproductive.”

    “There is no job anywhere to give to any young man; they should embrace farming, like it is done in advanced countries where young men make a fortune. Why should we walk the streets in search of jobs that are non-existent?”

    Ojudu spoke on the plans to transform Ekiti by the senators from the state. This, according to him, is hinged on their agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which agreed to give counterpart funding.

    He said: “We, the senators, agreed to do something that would take the youth off the streets and in view of our programme, we approached the UNDP which bought into the ideas and gave us support.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ojudu mourns Sheila Solarin

    Senator Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central District) has described the late Mrs. Sheila Solarin, wife of the late Dr. Tai Solarin, as “one of the people who took the Nigerian education system out of the doldrums”.

    In a statement yesterday, Ojudu said: “The late Sheila and her husband established Mayflower as the first secular school in Nigeria at a time when there was so much religious discrimination, thus giving every child access to quality education.

    “If not for Mayflower, many eminent Nigerians would not have been educated, owing to the religious discrimination in most schools at the time.

    “The late Sheila and her husband did not ask the pupils their tribe or religion. Everyone was welcome. They built the school with their sweat, including the furniture, which were later made from the trees the late Sheila planted.

    “Though a Briton, the late Sheila served Nigeria and Nigerians as though she ‘were one of us’. She and her husband were the voice of the downtrodden.

    Ojudu commiserated with the Solarin family, the Ogun State Government, Mayflower alumni and the staff and pupils of the school. He urged them to take consolation in the fact that the late Mrs. Solarin lives on in the hearts of all the kids she groomed into responsible adults.