The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Osogbo

  • Fashola re-states FG’s commitment to stabilise issues in power sector

    Fashola re-states FG’s commitment to stabilise issues in power sector

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola,  has said that the  Federal Government is committed to formulating policies to address the liquidity issues in the power  sector.

    Fashola gave the government position in a communiqué issued at the end of power sector operators meeting in Osogbo on Monday.

    He said one of such government policies was the Power Sector Payment Assurance Guarantee, designed to ensure the payment of services rendered by the electricity generating companies in the country.

    According to him, the policy will ultimately bring about stability of liquidity in the sector.

    Fashola said it was important that all stakeholders remained committed to their various roles of supplying and distributing power to ensure effectiveness of the sector.

    The minister said the purpose of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) was to ensure that citizens had access to safe and reliable power.

    Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun also acknowledged the gradual improvement of electricity supply, especially in the state.

    He said that the importance of the Power Sector Recovery Plan was critical to ensuring accountability for losses, improvement of customer service, customer accessibility, safety, and performance in the sector.

    Aregbesola urged electricity customers to play their role in the success of the industry through the timely payment of bills.

    He said it was important to end  vandalism of power assets, and the constant assault  on electricity workers

  • Undergraduate remanded over alleged murder

    Undergraduate remanded over alleged murder

    A 34-year-old student of Osun State University, Osogbo, Akanbi David was on Tuesday remanded in Ilesa Prison by an Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ Court over alleged murder of his colleague, Amodu Kazeem.

    The accused is facing a two count-charge of murder and conspiracy.

    The Chief Magistrate, Mr Olusola Aluko, said he ordered the remand of the accused due to the magnitude of the offence against him.

    The accused’s plea was not taken by the court.

    The magistrate, however, adjourned the case until May 5 for mentioned.

    Earlier, the Prosecutor, ASP Mireti Wilson, told the court that the accused committed the offense on Jan.16 at about 5.00p.m., at Oke-Baale, Osogbo.

    Willson said that the accused conspired with one person now at large to murder Kazeem by stabbing him with a knife on his chest.

    He also said the accused had a disagreement with the deceased over a business deal which led to the incident and the subsequent death of Kazeem.

    “Both the accused and the deceased are students of Osun State University, they had a fight on an issue which led to the death of one of them,’’ he said.

    According to the prosecutor, the offence contravenes Sections 324 and 319(1) of the criminal code cap 34 vol.11 laws of Osun, 2003.

  • Osogbo City marathon for launch

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola will today unveil the maiden edition of the Osogbo City Half Marathon being organised by the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC).
    A statement yesterday by Wale Idowu and Muideen Adeleke, the Chairman and Secretary of the organising committee, said the ceremony will hold at the House of Assembly in Osogbo by 10am.
    It said the half marathon to hold on April 15 will promote healthy living and sportsmanship.
    The statement added that the marathon would help to rekindle the spirit of walk-to-live (a month trekking exercise of the state government).

  • Osun: Students protest alleged extortion by Peace Corps members

    Students of Technical College, Osogbo, on Wednesday embarked on a protest over alleged extortion by members of the Peace Corps of Nigeria deployed in the school as security personnel.

    The protest, which almost degenerated into a crisis, started when a Peace Corps member detained a student identified as Bakare Hammed for coming late to the school.

    The Peace Corps member was said to have dispossessed the student of N6,000.

    It was learnt that after the money was collected from Hammed, he mobilised other students to confront the Peace Corps member, which resulted in a clash between the students and the Peace Corps members.

    Hammed, who spoke with newsmen, complained of incessant extortion of students by members of the Peace Corps in the process of punishing  students  for lateness.

    “They are fond of extorting us for coming late to school; I have explained to them times without number that my house is far from the school and this is responsible for my lateness.

    “I reside at Container area around Oke-baale. When I came late again today, the peace corps official detained me and collected a sum of N6,000 from me;  the money is meant for part payment of my NABTEB exams.

    “I later mobilised my friends to get my money back from him and this resulted into a clash before members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria came to arrest us,” he said.

    The Head of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria in Osun, Mr. Mukaila Oyedokun, said members of the group came to the scene to douse the tension between members of the Peace Corps and students of the school.

    Also reacting, the Commandant of the Peace Corps in the state, Mr. Ayinde Kayode, debunked the allegation of extortion by his men, saying members of the group were not involved in the incident.

    The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Folashade Odoro, said the police had been able to put the situation under control.

     

  • Osun students clash over girlfriend, three injured

    Osun students clash over girlfriend, three injured

    There was pandemonium in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on Wednesday as students of the Technical College and Osogbo High School engaged in a violent clash.

    The students, who went on a rampage and threw people of Okefia, the area where the two schools are located into panic allegedly used matchets and other dangerous weapons to attack one another.

    No fewer than three students were allegedly injured on the instance.

    It was gathered that two male students of the two schools were fighting over another female student of Osogbo Grammar School.

    The investigation further revealed that the cultists in the two schools were eventually dragged into the matter and therefore turning it into a violent clash.

    However, his rival was said to have replied him to go and look for a girlfriend among his peers at the Technical College and stop trespassing.

    The reply said to have infuriated the boy from Technical College, who allegedly mobilised members of his cult group to unleash terror on his rival and students of Osogbo High School but they were reportedly resisted.

    The police and a local vigilance group later came to disperse them.

  • Osogbo: Traders protest non-completion of market

    Traders at the Orisunbare International Market in Osogbo on Wednesday, staged peaceful protest to demand for the completion of the final phase of the market.

    The traders converged at the market as early as 7 a.m. with various placards one of which read, “We want to meet peacefully with Aregbesola.’’

    They said that having audience with the governor was to notify him of their demands.

    The traders pleaded with the governor to deliver on the promise he made to them to complete the last section of the market in 2016.

    Some of the traders, who spoke with journalists, said they appreciated the governor’s intervention in other sectors of the economy of the state but called on him to shift focus on the market as well.

    The traders also pleaded with the state government to review security charges which they increased from N700 to N 2,500 for securing the stores.

    Addressing the traders on behalf of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Gbenga Akano, promised that the state government would address all their demands but appealed to them to be patient with the government.

     

  • 127 sacked policemen cry out to IGP for reinstatement

    127 sacked policemen cry out to IGP for reinstatement

    About 127 sacked policemen have cried out to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, for their reinstatement.

    The police men from Zone 11 Command of the Nigeria Police Force, comprising Oyo, Osun and Ondo States were disengaged in 2007.

    They also demanded full remuneration of their allowances as well as the payment of their gratuities.

    At a press conference in Osogbo, the Osun State Capital, the spokesperson for the group, Mr Ibrahim Shaibu, described their disengagement as unlawful.

    According to him, the claim of over-age given for their disengagement by the police was not correct, adding that they were within the lawful age of service when they were retrenched.

    He said: “We were not over-aged as at the time we were retired. They gave us certificates of retirement which confirmed the action.”

    Shaibu, who claimed that several complaints to the Force Headquarters, Abuja have been unsuccessful, disclosed that 16 out of the 144 officers from Osun have been recalled without recourse to them.

    PoliceOne of the letters addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 11, and the Osun State Commissioner of Police, by Cpl Bolorunduro Oni, dated 4/10/2015, a copy obtained by our correspondent in Osogbo, the officer appealed to the relevant authorities to urgently heed their agitation.

    Other members of the group told newsmen that they have been confirmed dead by the current Inspector General of Police when he was invited by federal lawmakers.

    “On January 19, 2017, at the House of Representatives, Abuja the Inspector General told the lawmakers that we were dead but when we made efforts to reach him on the matter he said that was what he met from his predecessors,” one of them explained. 

    The retirees stated further that some of them had c9mmited suicide by hanging himself when he could not endure hunger.

    Mr Shaibu also said since their disengagement letters were issued, they have not been paid their gratuities as their pension fund administrators are yet to be notified.

    He said: “We want our gratuities paid, we want to be back in service. We do not want to turn street beggars, we want to take care of our children. IG please, help us.”

  • SON confisticates 1,000 bags of underweighed rice in Osogbo

    SON confisticates 1,000 bags of underweighed rice in Osogbo

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in Osun says it confiscated more than 1,000 underweighed bags of rice in Osogbo markets on Monday.

    Mr Sunday Badewole, the SON State Coordinator, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo on Tuesday.

    Badewole said the agency made the confiscation during the enforcement operation where more than 1,000 bags of 5kg, 10kg and 25kg of bags of rice were confiscated.

    He said many of the rice sellers had reduced the quantity of rice from the kilogrammes that were indicated on the bags, to make more money.

    Badewole said the observation carried out by the enforcement team of the agency in the markets during the raid revealed that rice sellers would remove some measures from the bags of rice and seal it back for sale.

    He said the quantities removed would thereafter be repackaged in another bag, sealed and sold to buyers.

    Badewole said the rice sellers confessed that they used to buy empty rice bags from Lagos to repackage the quantities that was stolen from the original bags.

    “Based on the information from our operations directorate headquarters that under weighed bags of rice were in circulation, we went to the market with our scale.

    “But it is very unfortunate that many of these small bags of rice have been reduced by the sellers to make more gain,’’ he said.

    Badewole said all the shops where the underweighed rice were found had been sealed and put on hold.

    He, however, said the confiscated bags of rice would not be destroyed but rather rectification and would be carried out by the sellers under the supervision of SON’s enforcement unit.

    “Since the intention is not to further destroy the economic strength, the option we will probably put forward is rectification and fine.

    “That is, we will ensure that all the bags of rice that were underweighed are filled up to the normal kilogrammes under our supervision, before they are put up for sale, because that is what the standard says,’’ he said.

    Badewole said any rice sellers that refused to carryout rectification would forfeit all the underweighed rice to SON.

    He noted that the exercise was a continuous one, and warned rice sellers against shortchanging people.

    “I want to warn rice sellers to always ensure that their bags contain the right quantity of the produce.

    “They should stop deceiving people and allow people to have value for their money,’’ he said.

    Badewole, who noted that the raids would soon be carried to all the supermarkets in the state, said the organisation would not relent in its efforts at sanitising the system. 

  • Protests in Osogbo as police shoot 2 UNIOSUN students

    Protests in Osogbo as police shoot 2 UNIOSUN students

    Two students of the Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Osogbo, were on Saturday shot by a police patrol team while playing football off campus at a pitch in Oke Baale area of the state capital. The students, Kazeem Adesola and Ibrahim Ajao, were critically injured. Police bullets reportedly hit one in the stomarch and the other one in the mouth.
    The police men alleged to have come from the Zone 11 of the Nigerian Police Force controlling Osun, Oyo and Ondo states, were said be in mufti and accused some of the students of involving in internet fraud otherwise known as yahoo-yahoo. A student, who witnessed the incident, said the policemen were in the habit of harassing and extorting residents of the area.
    He added that an attempt by the students to resist the harassment led to the shooting. Preferring anonymity, he said: “We were playing football when they came. They always come like that to arrest students here. They would say that we are involved in yahoo-yahoo and they would seize our laptops and phones. They would collect money on the pretext of bail.
    “But we resisted them on this last one. Within a twinkle of an eye, the policemen started shooting. When the policemen started shooting, we ran away but the bullet hit two of us and they were rushed to the hospital. The bullet hit one near the stomach and the bullet hit the second one in the mouth.
    The situation later led to protest by the students of the university, marching from Oke- Baale to Olaiya junction. The protest that lasted several hours caused trafick gridlock around Oke Baale, Oja-Oba and other major roads leading to Gbongan road.
    Meanwhile, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Fimihan Adeoye, said that the policemen have been arrested and detained. The police boss, who told journalists that he had ordered an investigation into the matter, cautioned the students of the institution not to take laws into their hands.
    Speaking on the incident, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Labode Popoola, said the students were exposed to danger because they live off campus. He disclosed that plans are underway to build hostels for students on campus in order to monitor their activities and keep them safe.

  • Suspected cultists kill man, 22, in Osogbo

    A 22-year old man, Muyideen Olabode Ibidun, was shot dead on Saturday evening by members of a suspected cult group in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

    An Ordinary Diploma graduate of the State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, Muyideen, who is popularly called by friends “Don Richiies”, “Agenda” and “Killer Boi”, was said to have been killed by six suspected cultists, who reportedly rode on two motorcyles.

    They accosted him at Ga Fulani around Sadiat in Osogbo at 6pm, where he had gone in company of his friend, simply called Skinny, to inspect a car he wanted to buy the following day.

    According to an eyewitness, Muyideen was planning a party for friends and family members yesterday to celebrate the car he wanted to buy.

    Muyideen, whose father is an iron/steel merchant and mother a nurse, last year travelled to Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia and Malaysia for two weeks to “launch” his new international passport with which he plans to travel to the United States next year.

    His remains were yesterday buried at the back of Nawarudeen Mosque at Sabo amid tears and wailing.

    A boy simply called “Omo Emi” was killed by suspected cultists at old Garage in Osogbo.

    The suspects were said to have broken the victim’s head with concrete interlocking blocks.

    The police used tear gas to disperse some boys protesting the spate of killings among rival cult groups in Osogbo at Oja Oba area as they attempted to draw the attention of the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, to the development.

    There were also protests yesterday at Egbatedo Street and Sabo, where aggrieved boys erected bonfires.

    Police spokesperson Ms. Folasade Odoro said the police had begun investigations into the killing.

    She added that a suspect, Gbolahan Yusuf, has been arrested.