The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ONDO

  • 13 injured in Ondo accident

    Thirteen pedestrians were injured at the weekend in an accident in Oka- Akoko, Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

    An eye witness said the incident involved three trucks belonging to a manufacturing company.

    The trucks, it was learnt, were going to Abuja from Lagos. A resident, who identified himself as Gidado, said the victims were taken to a government hospital in the town.

    Gidado said road accidents have become a daily occurrence in the town.

    The victims were said to be indigenes, who were returning home.

  • Ondo students honour governor

    Ondo State students, under the aegis of the National Association of Ondo Students (NAOSS), in Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ogun State, have marked their day with presentation of awards to exceptional indigenes of the state.

    The event with the theme: Integrity: The hallmark of good leadership was attended by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Olusegun Mimiko on Youth Affairs, Hon. Olumuyiwa Asagunla, Chairman, Okitipupa Local Government, Hon. Niyi Pirisola, and Mr Ayodele Olufemi, a broadcaster with Akure-based Adaba FM.

    The NAOSS president, Tosin Olanrewaju, hailed members of the association for their support for his programmes. “We have gone a long way in the association. I want to use this medium to thank all members of the association for being there always,” he said.

    He said the responsibility of moving the association forward is not only that of the leader but all members. He urged members to participate more in the programmes of the association.

    The chairman of the occasion and its Staff Adviser, Dr Bayo Ayorinde, urged the students on cooperation, advising them not to represent the association well.

    “Participating in union activities such as this is worthwhile but I want us to do it in good spirit to promote the good image and integrity for which Ondo people are known,” he said.

    The event featured a beauty pageant, where Mr and Miss NAOSS were crowned. Tunde Aworetan and Anuoluwapo Ikuomola emerged winners of the pageant.

    The students also honoured the governor with an award of Distinguished Icon of Excellence.

  • Ondo students support Synagogue pastor

    The National Association of Ondo State Students (NAOSS) has urged the founder of Synagogue Church of all Nations (SOCAN), Pastor Temitope Joshua not to allow the building collapse incident that claimed 115 lives discourage him from serving God.

    The student group also flayed Nigerians for mocking the man of God on the social media and other platforms instead of sympathising with him.

    In a statement signed by the union’s national President, Akinfolayan Awodola, the students, asked Prophet Joshua not to be distracted by the comments from people bent on running him down.

    The statement reads in part: “It is very unfortunate that many Nigerians have castigated the man of God because of the incident. Many have called him different names on the social media.

    “We as students sympathise with the man of God and we admonish him not to allow the incident weigh him down. The impact of Prophet T.B. Joshua in the world at large cannot be underestimated.  He is a special giver who has continued to bless this generation. The man of God through our assessment and public acceptance has touched directly or indirectly millions of lives. One of his kind gestures is the recent employment of 10 university graduates from Ondo State.”

    The students’ body also urged the federal government to probe the helicopter that purportedly hovered round the church before the building collapsed.

  • Leaders for Ondo JCC

    The Ondo State chapter of Joint Campus Committee (JCC), an arm of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has elected leaders.

    The election took place during the convention held at Ondo State Co-operative College in Akure on Wednesday. The exercise, which was supposed to be held on Sunday at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), was shifted to Wednesday because of the fracas among contenders.

    Before the election, chairman of the electoral committee, Comrade Daniju Olusola, urged all delegates to be peaceful and orderly. He promised that the committee would be fair to all candidates. All the nine Students’ Union presidents in institutions in the state voted for all candidates.

    After the poll, Odunayo Kowe, a student of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), was returned as president-elect, while Samson Falegan, FUTA student, became the vice president-elect.

    Others are Toluwalaje Akindusoye, General Secretary, Omotolani Williams, Assistant General Secretary, Emmanuel Baale, Treasurer and Sunday Oladapo, Public Relations Officer.

    Samson said the new leadership would promote the welfare of students across institutions in the state, inviting opponents to work with the new administration.

    Akinomotomiwa Ayepada, Students’ Union president of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO), moved a motion for the postponement of election of Director of Gender and the senate because of candidates’ absence.

    Students at the convention urged the new executive members to protect the interest of students rather than being use by politicians to satisfy their purpose of winning elections.

  • Ondo Teachers for ICT skill

    The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASSUS) Ondo State chapter, has organised a training for its members in Information Communication Technology (ICT).

    Its Chairman, Mr Dayo Adebiyi who spoke in Akure, the state capital at this year’s World Teachers Day last week, said teachers should sieze the opportunity to learn to use the computer in their own interest.

    According to him, the union would be ready to help members acquire computers and the needed training so as to remain relevant in the profession.

    Adebiyi maintained that education without computer literacy would soon become obsolete both professionally and personally.

    This, he said, has to do with skills required to source for information online.

    Adebiyi said arrangements have been concluded to assist members who are yet to acquire their own computer laptop or tablets to apply for the third batch of the system.

    “We have concluded fresh arrangement for supplies of cheaper tablets for interested members to benefit from.”

    Adebiyi said the theme of the  celebration -”invest in teachers” explained how teaching is witnessing unprecedented changes.

    He said the world has suddenly become a global village where nation states are all grappling with realities of defining their status and strength along both technology and scientific development in an emerging scientific global village competition.

    According to him, the vehicle through which the global race is being prosecuted is ICT which leading nations like China, America, Britain,Japan, Russia, Germany, France, have become active and relevant participants.

    Adebiyi said the socio-political and economic potentials and advancement of any country, are being gauged, measured and assessed by the high level of her techno-scientific development and the quality of her human capital development, which Nigeria lacks at the moment.

    He regretted that over the years, government institutions in most under developed nations including Nigeria, have failed to carry out their statutory roles to drive both policies and reform programmes to help develop the economy.

     

     

     

  • Ondo APC vows to resist Mimiko

    Ondo APC vows to resist Mimiko

    Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC) at the weekend urged the state’s progressive-minded people to embrace the party for a positive change, vowing to resist any intimidation by Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

    Its Chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, in an interview with reporters on the defection of Mimiko to the People’s Democratic Party(PDP), said he had directed wards and local government executives to open membership registers for new members in the 203 wards.

    Besides, the former secretary to the state government(SSG) vowed that the party would resist attempts by the governor to scuttle and decimate the genuine yearnings of  the citizenry to realise their individual and collective aspiration on the APC’s broad-based platform.

    He condemned the alleged threat by Mimiko to declare vacant, the seats of elected members of the House of Assembly, who are set to join the APC vacant.

    Kekemeke said: “It is our position that just as the governor and his acolytes in the Assembly exercised their right of freedom of political association by defecting to the PDP, other legislators, who intend to join APC, also have the right to do so without limitation and intimidation.

    “We concede to the governor the right to freedom of the political association and he is therefore entitled to roam freely in the political environment. However, the people should not allow themselves to be fooled again.

    “There is nothing surprising about Mimiko’s defection, since it has become his trade mark in his political life. But what is surprising now is the equal zeal with which the governor is attempting to deceive the citizenry once again.”

    The party chairman noted that the move was an attempt to re-create himself in the PDP.

    He said: “We symphatise with the PDP in Ondo State which has expressed disenchantment with the political virus that has been foisted on it by its national leadership.

    “It has even come to our knowledge that Mimiko has put in place mechanism to entice, intimidate and subdue the citizenry in the LP and PDP, who have expressed their willingness to work with APC. But we will resist every attempt to intimidate the people,” Kekemeke said.

  • Ondo PDP crisis grows over Mimiko

    Ondo PDP crisis grows over Mimiko

    •Governor/NWC deal rejected

    ONDO State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the manner the defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko was handled by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).

    It noted that the process was executed without respect for the state Chairman, Mr. Ebenezer Alabi and members of the State Working Committee (SWC).

    The party’s Publicity Director, Ayo Fadaka, in a statement yesterday, said the action was calculated to treat the members of the party as inconsequential.

    “We therefore declare that this is grossly unfair and so reject outright, all negotiations purportedly entered on our behalf without our direct input and blessings.

    “We state in the most unequivocal manner that we repose absolute confidence in the executives of the party at every level in the state and will take serious exceptions to any action taken directly or indirectly to harm or dismantle them,” the statement reads.

    It added: “We welcome Mimiko and his followers to the party in their individual capacities. We also respect the Constitution of the PDP, particularly the recognition that it confers on any governor who is a member.

    “However, we remain mindful of the fact that he is joining as a governor. We say this because PDP is a big party with established structures that must not be treated anyhow.

    “We also understand that Governor Mimiko’s publicly stated goal of defecting into our party is to enable him contribute effectively to the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan. We must say this is appreciable, but as citizens of Ondo State, we do know that Governor Mimiko carries a lot of baggage and liabilities that precludes him from discharging such responsibility.”

    The party said the governor has descended from the charismatic height he operated from in 2009, when he came into office, to a level of scorn, alleging that his administration has mismanaged the state’s finances and commonwealth.

    “Most disappointing of all is the now emerging trend of the inability of government to pay workers’ salaries as at when due and even owing two months salaries now.

    “This we consider a baggage and liability that will do great harm to the electoral prospects of President Jonathan than any good,” it stated.

    The party also observed that the governor was conscious that his party could no longer win any election.

    “We also want to bring to public domain the fact that before Mimiko’s defection to our party, principal and prominent members of his Labour Party (LP) had already abandoned him and his party and are already members of our party, prominent among them is Senator Boluwaji Kunlere.

    “Therefore, we declare again that our party, the PDP, was already set on a winning course before this desire of Mimiko to cross into our party again.

    “The generality of our members want it place on record that they demand proper respect from the leaders of the party in Abuja and that they equally conduct their research on the viability of people before admitting them to the party,” the statement added.

    But the Senator representing Ondo North Senatorial District, Ajayi Boroffice, said Mimiko’s return to PDP would assist the All Progressives Party (APC) to win more elective posts.

    He spoke at a rally entitled, ‘The Broom Revolution,’ organised by the youth wing of APC as part of efforts to drum up support for the party and welcome over 250 defectors to the party.

    Boroffice said the development was a blessing to APC since the LP had turned into a rudderless ship without direction.

    He added that the crisis in the PDP over leadership shift has started bringing more members into APC.

    The senator noted that the LP would be dissolved, explaining that from what he gathered from sources, the party would soon submit its certificate and flag to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the disappointment it suffered from the governor.

    He said: “The LP in Ondo State has become a rudderless ship that is going on a wide sea without direction. The implication is that the people will have to leave a sinking boat that is LP for the only alternative, which is APC. Therefore, the development is a blessing to APC in the state. Only that right now, majority of people are civil servants, a reason many of them are yet to declare that they have deserted Mimiko’s administration”.

    Boroffice added that in 2015 general elections, the APC will be the political party to beat.

    The senator assured that the partywould win at the the Federal level as well as in 26 states.

  • Truck kills couple, four others in Ondo

    All was gloomy at the weekend in Oka-Akoko, Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State where  a newly married couple and four other persons were  killed by a truck.

    The truck, it was gathered, ran into the residence of the couple located close to Oka hills.

    The couple, who were said to be sleeping in their bedroom when the incident happened, died instantly.

    A resident of the area, who identified himself as Gidado, said the accident occurred when most of the residents were still sleeping.

    It was gathered that the truck, which was travelling to Abuja, belongs to a manufacturing company.

    Besides the couple, four other persons were also killed by the truck.

    Gidado said the victims were returning from a prayer.

    Accidents are frequent on the road, which is plied by trucks.

    Most of the trucks belong to manufacturing companies.

    Some of the trucks are often parked dangerously on the road, a situation which affects a traffic flow and result in accidents.

    It was gathered that the remains of the couple, whose names could not be ascertained, as well as the other victims, had been deposited  at a government hospital.

    No official of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) has commented on the acccident.

  • Group deplores passage of land bill in Ondo

    A group, Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) in Ondo State has frowned at the quick passage of land bill by the state House of Assembly earlier in the year.

    Speaking at the inauguration of its new executive committee, its new chairman, Mr. Samuel Adekola, said the bill was ratified without recourse to the positions of stakeholders during the public hearing organised by the House Committee on Lands and Housing.

    He noted that such sensitive bill should have been accorded a thorough debate with opinions of relevant stakeholders giving adequate consideration rather than appearing as a decree in a democratic dispensation.

  • Vendor drags Ondo council to court

    An Ondo based  newspaper vendor Akeem Abeeb has dragged the management of Ondo West Local Government Area of the state to the Public Complaints Commission (PCC)over alleged non- payment of fund for the supply of newspapers to the council secretariat.

    The vendor accused the council management of withholding the money totaling N150, 000 for the newspapers and magazines supplied to the council between the months of October and December 2013.

    Abeeb said all efforts to retrieve his money proved abortive.

    According to a letter of protest sent to the Caretaker Chairman of the Local Government Council, Abiola Makinde dated June, 20,2014 by Mr O. B Ogunjobi, on behalf of the Commissioner in the Commission “I am directed to inform you that a complaint has been received by this commission from one Mr Akeem Abeeb, of 29,Barrack’s Road Ondo, on the above subject matter.

    “The man alleged that the council under your leadership refused to pay him the sum of N150,000 (for newspapers)  supplied for the months of October-December, 2013,and efforts to get

    his money proved futile.

    “In view of the above and pursuant to Public Complaints Commission Act Cap 37 section 5:7c Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2014, you are kindly requested to comment on the issue not later than thirty days from receipt of this letter”.