The Nation Newspaper

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  • Inferior gas cylinders

    •A call for more vigilance to Standards Organisation of Nigeria

    The danger of cooking gas cylinder explosion has increased in the country with the importation of substandard cylinders. In August, cooking gas cylinder explosion in Warri almost killed a couple, but for the quick intervention of the police and fire fighters, and proximity of the explosion to the police station. And in China, the country’s CCTV also reported gas cylinder explosions in March and April in Xianyang City and in Wuxi, Jiangsu.

    We find the existence of substandard cooking gas cylinders very alarming. It is counterproductive that at a time that the population, especially in both urban and rural areas, is increasingly warming up to transition from cooking with wood to gas, the conditions for importing cooking gas cylinders seem to have become lax to the point that cylinders without brand name and batch number are now common in the country. The fear of cylinder explosion is capable of driving citizens back to the tradition of deforestation and its negative impact on the environment.

    It is embarrassing that the in-flow of substandard cylinders has reached a level that compels staff of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to go to markets in search of substandard gas cylinders. The danger posed by defective cooking gas cylinders is serious enough for SON and the Customs to stop such products at the ports of entry. SON’s vigilance would be more effective if its mobile laboratory at the ports had tested every batch of imported cylinders into the country. This is an assignment that could have been carried out in collaboration with other safety and security units that are always present at the ports.

    Further, marketers who are frustrating SON’s staff from looking for cylinders without batch numbers are not helping matters. Government at all times has the duty to ensure that  substandard products do not thrive in the country, even if after such products had gotten through the ports without detection. Such belated checks are better than leaving citizens and their property at the mercy of imported or even domestic products that could be dangerous to life and property of citizens. Retailers of such products ought to be sensitive to the well-being of their customers.

    Relatedly, government and other stakeholders should begin massive enlightenment on how to distinguish good from bad gas cylinders, and give retailers and users adequate information about the danger in holding on to products that are dangerous to individuals and the community. It is one thing for a country to find a dumping ground for substandard products from its factories, but it is expected that the citizens, especially those in the business of importing such defective products, will be mindful of quality and safety of such products, before marketing them to innocent buyers.

    Indeed, it is high time the local manufacturing by Techno Oil Ltd of Nigeria’s TechnoGas LPG cylinders at the 31st World LPG Forum in Houston, Texas is developed to include production of cooking gas cylinders that citizens can buy without fear of causing fire to its users. The SON needs to give as much attention to certifying the Nigerian brand as it does to imported brands from China and elsewhere.

    Nigeria, among other developing countries, cannot afford to lose the war on deforestation arising from reliance on wood and charcoal as fuel for cooking. The most effective way to win this war and protect citizens from avoidable harm is to ensure that cooking gas cylinders in the country meet global quality and safety standards.

  • Arts back to base

    The National Arts Theatre Iganmu Lagos used to be a site to behold. When it was constructed in 1976, it became a must-visit monument. It was the pride of Lagos when it served as the country’s capital city. With time, the magnificent edifice began to wear mournful looks due to politics of negligence which affected the entire creative industry. However, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports that the once-neglected edifice would soon bounce back to relevance as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injects N22 billion to revive the creative industry

    THE abandoned place of arts has roared back to life. thanks to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    There is a new lease of life of the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos and  a massive opportunity for creative artistes to ply their trade.

    The 43-year old edifice purpose built to host the second World Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC)  is to enjoy the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) injection of N22 billion seed capital.

    The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at Creative Summit in Lagos on Monday, said the intervention is to galvanise music and movie industry and support young entrepreneurs in the development of digital art content.

    Until now, the management of the 43-year-old edifice that hosted the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC 77), had been enmeshed in series of concession controversies following inability of government to sustain funding of the event venue, which was also allegedly earmarked for sale.

    Emefiele revealed that the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos will serve as initial pilot for the Creative Industries Park that will also cover other major cities in the country.

    “With the kind support of the Federal and Lagos governments, the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, is expected to serve as the initial pilot for the Creative Industries Park. Our plan is to develop a 40-acre Creative Industry Park around the National Theatre including giving the Theater itself tremendous face lift; thereby reopening the touring potential the National Theatre offered during the FESTAC 77 arts culture. Following the deployment of the pilot scheme in Lagos, we intend to set up similar parks in Kano, Port Harcourt or Enugu.”

    Besides, Emefiele noted that the park would serve as a showcase through which individuals would display their talents and abilities, which will, in turn, expose them to domestic and external investors that can provide them with additional resources that will engender further production and expansion of their creative works.

    He stated at the summit that a critical aspect of the park would be devoted to supporting the growth of Nigeria’s fashion industry.

    “The textile, apparel and footwear sub-sectors remain the second largest contributors to Nigeria’s manufacturing (after food, beverage and tobacco) sector. Total output in fourth quarter of 2017 was estimated at $1.3 billion or 23.3 per cent of manufacturing GDP.

    “Sadly, at present, Nigeria spends over $2 billion on imported textiles, including machine-made cloths imported from Asia which copy popular Nigerian designs. This action has taken place despite the abundant talents in the fashion industry in Nigeria, some of whom are gaining prominence locally and internationally,” he said.

    He noted that the initiative will also help to support the growth of the cotton and textile industry by off-taking on the products being produced in textile mills in Kano, Kaduna and Lagos.

    “Over the next five years, the park will help in supporting 10,000 young Nigerians with improved design skills, while creating over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) industry.

    “The Shared Service Facility will also serve as a showroom to the world on quality fabrics being designed and produced in Nigeria,” he said.

    Emefiele said over 50,000 Nigerians would benefit from this ICT centre, which will create over 25,000 software engineers and 150,000 skilled and unskilled jobs. He added that it could result in potential GDP gains of close to $2 billion while curbing importation of IT solutions that can be produced in Nigeria.

    Reacting to CBN’s initiative, renowned playwright, director and former Deputy Editor The Guardian Newspaper Mr. Ben Tomoloju, described the move as a positive development, saying it was long overdue considering the critical role of arts and the theatre complex in the nation’s economy. He noted that the idea of establishing a creative industry park at the National Theatre was a most welcome development, adding that the theatre complex itself needs total renovation. He observed that the vast space around the theatre complex has been under-utilised over the years which have been a constant target of land speculators in high and low places.

    “One has always spoken about the duty of government to create an enabling environment for the creative industry to grow. In fact, in an interview with a national daily published during the week, I suggested that the intervention fund-once approved for implementation-would go a long way in redressing untoward investment situation that the arts sub-sector is going through.

    “This is a salutary initiative by the Federal Government which, at the long last, assuages my feeling of despair about Buhari and the cultural sector. In 2015, at the inception of this regime, I had projected in a newspaper comment that Buhari had an antecedent in the military era that was art and culture friendly.

    “I recalled his Bayo Oduneye-headed Review Panel on Film and Theatre. I also recall his appointment of Col. Tunde Akogun as the Federal Sole Administrator for Culture which transformed the sector positively. These were the achievements that led one to the conclusion that his administration, this time around, would also make a significant impact on the fortunes of artists and the entire culture producers,” he said.

    According to Tomoloju, the initiative is a good step in the right direction, even as he appealed to those who will be engaged in various stages of the implementation to be patriotic, honest and altruistic to allow the initiative add value as expected to the lives of artists and creative individuals and also in the best interest of the Nigerian tourism agenda.

    Former Director-General Centre for Black African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) Prof. Tunde Babawale said any amount invested in the creative industry is a worthwhile venture.

    “Any amount invested in the creative industry is a worthwhile venture. It will lead to employment creation and infrastructural development. The Nollywood industry is the biggest employer of labour outside the government. This would further enhance the sector’s capacity for empowerment. We must ensure that the various unions in the sector are involved in the management of disbursement,” he added.

  • Atiku’s lamentable lamentation (II)

    The Daily Times’ great satirist, Ndaeyo Uko, once told the story of two ‘mad’ men, one of whom found his moment of lucidity stalking what he believed was a ‘suicidal customer’ at a food vending shack around which the lunatic had hung daily for leftovers; and if memory serves right, the other lunatic found his lucid moment stalking Uko’s very own father who he perceived also as being on a trendy, ‘suicidal’ tie-wearing madness. But not remembering the details of Uko’s interesting stories, I have arrogated to myself the poetic license to serve you my embellished versions of that great writer’s originals. The mad one at the eatery, over time, must’ve taken a deranged notice of this particular customer who regularly came asking to be served a combination of ‘ogbono’, ‘egusi’ and ‘ewedu’ soups to go with his favourite swallow -should we say- ‘eba’? Except that on this particular day, the ‘mad man’, it appeared, must’ve had enough hearing this gastronomically ‘self-harming’ alimentary combination. He had resolved, this fateful day, to end this ‘madness’ once and for all! And so after this customer had been served, the ‘lunatic’ angrily walked to his table, snatched the bowl of ‘soup’, guzzled it in one mad gulp, took the malformed mound of ‘eba’, stashed it in his raggedy pocket, handed over the emptied plates to the dumbfounded customer, and now at the top of his voice warned: “Always eat one soup so that we know the one that kill you! I say eat one soup” he repeated as he walked away, “so that we know the one that kill you!!”

    Uko’s other ‘lunatic’ was no less forceful in his demand, nor any less authoritative in the expression of his momentary lucidity. This one too must’ve -for some time- taken a deranged notice of Uko’s presumably civil-servant father, as the man would appear every morning to go to work wearing either a one-piece suit or a well-starched, short-sleeved shirt, but always on a perfectly knotted tie. And so, on this fateful day, the ‘mad man’, apparently having had enough watching what he must’ve thought was a daily, self-strangulating ‘madness’, had walked straight up to Uko’s father, grabbed him firmly by the tie, and at the top of his voice, was now questioning the victim of his stranglehold: “when will you allow this neck rest!? I say when will you free this neck!!?” And although it may have taken the intervention of neighbours to pull this ‘lunatic’ off the jugular of Uko’s gasping father, yet the moral of stories like these cannot be lost on the discerning; and which is that: there is just a thin line between sanity and insanity; and that often both those who lay claim to sanity and those who are truly insane may cross the threshold without knowing that they have. Ndaeyo Uko had used these stories as some kind of comic relief to caricature the weekly display of intemperance by an Admiral, Augustus Aighomu, IBB’s number two man who had a habit of turning his weekly press conference with State House correspondents into some kind of mad house for the vilest language to reply the regime’s many critics. But such malady becomes even one of a terribly infinite proportion if it has to take a tap by the existentially mad, on the shoulders of the presumably ‘clearheaded’, to warn them they are hovering right on the threshold.

    And so I was wondering, what would a momentarily lucid ‘mad man’ with a keen mind on the ‘juridical’ –as against the culinary or the trendy- have said to a litigious Atiku Abubakar, especially given the Waziri’s cheaply opportunistic grounds of petition against Buhari’s victory? Because we have seen that each of the three grounds of Atiku’s petition was actually an obvious gamble reminiscent of the opportunistic casket-game in Shakespeare’s tragic-comic play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’. Permit me to digress a little. To fulfil her late father’s royal wish, wealthy heiress of Belmont, Princes Portia, dutifully consents to a game of caskets by which, in the wisdom of her father, she may escape ‘gold diggers’ and gain a suitable husband from among princely suitors who must choose the casket containing her picture by un-coding both the ornamental motifs of the ‘precious’ metals by which the three caskets are represented and the confusing inscriptions that they respectively bear, namely, the ‘gold’ casket: ‘Who chooseth me shall GAIN WHAT MANY MEN DESIRE’; the ‘silver’: ‘Who chooseth me shall GET AS MUCH AS HE DESERVES’ and the ‘lead’ ‘Who chooseth me must GIVE AND HAZARD ALL HE HATH’.

    But like Ndaeyo Uko’s ‘souper’ who loved his ‘ogbono’, ‘egusi’ and ‘ewedu’ all in one bowl, Atiku had acted true to his covetous and gluttonous patrician character. He wanted all three precious metals: gold, silver and lead; and he wanted all three soups: ‘ogbono’, ‘egusi’ and ‘ewedu’. The claim that Atiku won the election was merely a ploy to shroud his opportunistic reliance on two seemingly low-hanging fruits: his contrived ‘server result sheet’ which –for its non-justiciability- was dead on arrival, and the non-issue of Buhari’s ‘qualification’ which –conscionably- was weak. Thus all that Atiku had succeeded in doing at the tribunal was to prove himself a jack of three dubious trades –‘cert’, ‘server’ and ‘substantial non-compliance’; and in the end he had turned out a grouchy ‘master of none’! Atiku had proved himself both of two proverbial opportunistic soldiers: a ‘soldier of fortune’ and a ‘sunshine soldier’. He had also proved himself both of two proverbial seekers of idle fortune: a ‘treasure hunter’ and a ‘gold digger’. He had hoped to reap where he did not sow. And without proving any of the three grounds, Atiku still believes that he has been denied justice. Meaning that either all five justices knew no law at all, or that they have elected –against the grain of law- to pervert justice. In truth, it is Atiku who had angled desperately to pervert and to benefit from the perversion of justice: his calumnious campaign for the removal of judges on the tribunal he did not trust, his desperate attempts to force judges to descend to the gallery, his frequent appeal to a partisan court of public opinion, his curious request to meet the tribunal judges in camera and his public denunciation of ‘law and fact’ in favour of what he termed ‘the pulse’ of the nation, all revealed a litigant who knew that he had no case. All of Atiku’s juristic ‘armour’, his ‘sword’ and his ‘shield’ rested on one ridiculously presumptive proof, that he won the election because it was ‘obvious’ that ‘Nigerians wanted Buhari to lose’.

    And that is Atiku for you. He is Nigeria’s only politician you’ll know who seems always, to exude this preeminent entitlement to be paid back –economically and politically- for some great favour you’d think he must’ve done to Nigeria in time past; very rare favours such as should equate, metaphorically, say, to giving a dying person the ‘kiss of life’ or cardio-vascular pulmonary (mouth-to-mouth) resuscitation; or maybe some great deed of derring-do such as equates, say, with being Nigeria’s Dedan Kimathi who led the country’s version of Kenya’s Mau-Mau revolution to secure our independence. Atiku is about the only politician you’ll know who approaches the politics of ruling this country with this toga of subtle -even if haughty- claim to a ‘right of first refusal’. And it is probably the reason he always demands his political desert in a combination of three uncompromising soups. Its either an all ‘ogbono’, ‘egusi’ and ‘ewedu’ bowl, or a gruelling court fight to the last ounce of energy! It is either his ‘gold, silver and lead’ all at once or no ‘casket game’ at all! Because to Atiku alone belongs not only the right to the ‘gold casket’ wherein to ‘GAIN WHAT MANY MEN DESIRE’ and the right to the ‘silver casket’ wherein to ‘GET AS MUCH AS HE DESERVES’, to him also belongs the right to the basest of them all, the ‘lead casket’, because Atiku is the only Nigerian politician you’ll also know who is ready to ‘GIVE AND HAZARD ALL HE HATH’ in order that he ‘GAINs WHAT MANY MEN DESIRE’ and that of it, he ‘GETs AS MUCH AS HE DESERVES’.

    Concluded

  • NDLEA charges two cousins with drug trafficking

    Two cousins, Jude Edward Okeke and Ifeanyi Okeke, who were allegedly caught in possession of hard drugs, were on Wednesday brought before a Federal High Court in Lagos.

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arraigned the defendants before Justice Saliu Saidiu on a two-count charge of unlawful possession of the substances.

    Prosecution counsel Mr Abu Ibrahim alleged that the duo committed the offence on or about September 6, 2019, at their residence, No. 45, Vincent Ogumba Street, Startimes Estate, Off Ago Palace Way, Okota Lagos.

    He said the defendants, without lawful authority, knowingly possessed 24.9 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, a psychotropic substance under International Control and 16.9 kilogrammes of ephedrine, a prohibited precursor chemical.

    The court heard that the substances were prohibited and criminalised under Section 19 of the NDLEA Act.
    The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    Ibrahim prayed the court to remand both men in prison custody pending commencement of trial.
    But defence counsel Mr E.U. Nnolu opposed him.

    Read Also: Man ‘sells’ marijuana at NDLEA office

    “My lord, we have a bail application which has been served on the prosecution. We pray your lordship to allow us move the application,” he said.

    Obtaining the judge’s permission, Nnolu applied that the defendants be granted bail “in the most liberal terms.”
    He added: “The first defendant, Jude Edward Okeke, is not in a good state of health.”

    In a bench ruling, Justice Saidiu upheld his prayer.

    The judge admitted each defendant to bail in the sum of N10 million with two sureties.

    One of the sureties must be a property owner within Lagos while the order must be a civil servant not below grade level 14 in the service of the Federal Government or the Lagos State Government, among other conditions.

    “The defendants are hereby remanded in prison custody till they perfect their bail terms,” the judge added.
    The case continues on November 4.

  • 2020 Budget: Buhari to chair extra-ordinary FEC Saturday

    Towards presenting the 2020 budget proposals to the National Assembly next week, President Muhammadu Buhari will on Saturday preside over an extraordinary Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

    This was disclosed by a top government official on Wednesday.

    The new efforts are towards returning the Federal Government budget cycle from May-June to January-December.

    The FEC meeting on Saturday is expected to cross the ‘t’s and dot the ‘I’s in final preparation for the submission to the two chambers of the National Assembly.

    Read Also; Buhari presides over FEC meeting in Aso Rock

    The presentation was meant to have taken place in the third week of September, but was stalled by President Buhari’s participation at the 74th United Nations General Assembly.

    Buhari had also on Wednesday proceeded to South Africa on state visit to honor the invitation of South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, towards discussing welfare of Nigerians, and finding common grounds for building harmonious relations with their hosts.

  • Xenophobia: Oyo receives 32 returnees, gives N30,000 each

    Oyo state government on Wednesday received 32 indigenes of the state who were part of the nationals recently returned back to the country following series of xenophobic attack on foreigners in South African.

    The figure includes 30 adults and two minors.

    This is as the returnees were given N30,000 monetary gift by the state government with a promise of conducting a profiling on them to ascertain their areas of need.

    The returnees who were led by the Director of Media, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Mr Abdulrahman Balogun were received by the State Deputy Governor, Mr Rauf Olaniyan, at the state government secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

    While receiving the Oyo state born indigenes, Mr Olaniyan reiterated the states commitment to ensure that the returnees find their footings on time by carrying out a proper and comprehensive profiling to confirm their particular areas of needs and ensure how to attend to them.

    Announcing the monetary gift of N30,000 to each of the state’s returnee, the deputy governor advised them to be creative by identifying and tapping into the various investment and job opportunities in the state.

    He also pointed to the various funding opportunities by the Bank of Industry (BOI), urging them to come up with business proposals to further their areas of specialization.

    In their separate remarks, some of the returnees including, Olakojo Sotunde, Okeleye Oluwaseun, Lawal Bolatito said they are looking up to the government for startup capital and jobs, narrating their ordeals that led them to decide to return to the country unprepared.

    Read Also; Xenophobia: Six Nigerian students cancel trip for robotics competition in South Africa

    Olakojo said, “I would like the government to assist us in any way they can. We need jobs. I am a graduate of History and International Relations from LASU. Back in South Africa, I had a registered business and was doing well until all of a sudden xenophobia started.

    “I have two cars at the car lot that I wanted to sell because I had the intention to come back home no matter what. I came home two times last year but when I came, there was really nothing, so I had to go back.

    “I was contemplating on staying back in South Africa or coming back to Nigeria. Lo and behold, xenophobia started last month and the whole story changed. I will like the government to assist us in any way they

    can. There are some of us that need jobs. Some other people are business owners. If you can get us jobs, can set us up in businesses, we will be glad.”

    Similarly, Okeleye said, “It was ups and downs for me in South Africa. I studied Agriculture and sought a country that was practised mechanized farming hence the reason I went to South Africa. We need help. I now have to start again from scratch. The federal government should interview us per person and know what we want.

    “In South Africa, I see people attacked. Most of their drivers have guns. They see Nigerians as intelligent, smart and they envy us; they feel we bully then. Nigerians are everywhere in South Africa, especially in the medical sector. They suffer an inferiority complex.”

    Earlier in his remarks, the Director of Media, NIDCOM, Mr Abdulrahman Balogun cautioned Nigerians keen on leaving the country that the land abroad may not be greener as envisaged.

    He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was scheduled to meet with South African authorities on the issue of Xenophobia, and that at least another 400 Nigerians in South Africa had expressed interest in returning to the country.

    Balogun said, “As of last night, over 400 Nigerians have indicated their interest to return home. The President is concerned on the issue and would embark on eye to eye diplomacy by leading a delegation with seven governors, five ministers, special advisers to meet with his South Africa counterpart. We hope things will be normal with the meeting.

    “If after the discussion, South Africa is ready to make some concession, those Nigerians may decide to stay back.

    “The commission usually tells those who travel out to be a good representative of the country. As we are having this batch, we have similar issues in Asia, Saudi Arabia in which we have a sizeable number of people from this state.

    “I am currently working on one calling for our attention. We usually counsel our young people that there is nothing green in those places people are going to. You are better off here. With little assistance,

    you can do well rather than go somewhere and be killed, attacked and cannot move or do business freely. The younger ones should come together for us to nurture the nation. We have better opportunities

    here in Nigeria.

    “We have partnered with some other agencies to assist them, re-orientate, re-integrate them, and do some form of empowerment to fully integrate them into the system. And we have profiled them

    according to their states and have been reaching out to states. Of 17 states, Oyo state is first to do formal re-integration for its citizen.”

  • LG primaries: APC aspirants protest, reject alleged imposition

    The crisis rocking the All Progressive Congress(APC) in Ekiti on Wednesday deepened as some of its aggrieved local government chairmanship aspirants protested against alleged imposition of candidate.

    The protesters led by Mrs. Tosin Aluko and Tajudeen Gidado, who are chairmanship aspirants in the council for the December 7, 2019 elections in the state besieged the Secretariat at about 9.30 am to express their grievances.

    The party had earlier last week Saturday suspended primaries in Ado, Ikole and Ekiti East local governments over alleged security threat and rumour that some members were planning to disrupt the process in a violent manner.

    It was gathered that the Deputy Governor and leader of the party in Ado Ekiti council, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi and 35 others had picked Mrs Omotunde Fajuyi against the wishes of the two other aspirants.

    The two aspirants faulted and rejected the consensus process that produced Mrs Fajuyi as the candidate, saying such was a flagrant violation of party’s constitution, which stipulated that there must be indirect primary when consensus option fails.

    They said the decision doesn’t reflect the interest and free will of the party members, saying the principle of internal democracy should not be inhibited but rather strengthened.

    But the APC State Publicity Secretary, Hon Ade Ajayi, said the party was not interested in imposition of candidates.

    Ajayi also exonerated Governor Kayode Fayemi of complicity in the crises that dogged the primaries, warning that nobody should bring the governor into the controversial issue.

    “Some group of people came to protest here today and said they rejected the consensus option in Ado Ekiti. They were led by Mrs Tosin Aluko and Mr. Tajudeen Gidado.

    “They came with placards carrying inscription that they rejected imposition, that they wanted primaries. We have never contemplated imposition as a party.

    Read Also; APC loses Chief Security Officer

    “The party will look into their protest vis- a vis the letter signed by the Deputy Governor and 35 leaders . You know that the Deputy Governor is the leader of the party in Ado Ekiti and you know what it means for him to have signed for consensus. The state exco will meet on the issue and take a position.

    “We are not ready to impose anybody and nobody must bring the name of Governor Kayode Fayemi into this matter”.

    Ajayi said the party has set up intervention and reconciliation committees to interface with the aggrieved aspirants on how to resolve the crises trailing the conduct of the primaries in the three councils.

    He said the party took a proactive measures by postponing the primaries on Saturday in the three councils upon realising that some hoodlums wanted to hijack the process to allegedly burn down some marked houses .

    On efforts being made to pacify the aggrieved candidates, the APC spokesman said : “We are getting representations from various communities, because we recognise the right of every individual to contest in our party without being deprived.

    “We have invited leaders from Ikole, Ekiti East and Ado Ekiti , so all the issues are being attended to and it will be resolved amicably”, he assured.

  • Obaseki sacks SAs, SSAs

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has sacked all Special Assistants and Senior Special Assistants.

    Governor Obaseki had appointed 192 Special Assistants representing each ward in the state and 54 Senior Special Assistants comprising three persons from each local government areas

    Obaseki later appointed 18 Special Assistants (females) on Gender.

    In a letter signed by Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Osarodion Ogie, the sacking of the SAs and SSAs was with immediate effect.

    Ogie said the sacking was in line with efforts to reorganise governance structure to enhance efficient service delivery to Edo people.

    Read Also; Don’t sell Azura power plant, ex-aide tells Obaseki

    He said the sacked appointees should hand over government properties in their possession.

    The letter said fresh appointments would be announced within 30 days.

  • Stop linking APC candidate, Agip to terrorism, lawmaker tells Dickson

    A member of the House of Representatives, Isreal Sunny-Goli, has told Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, to stop accusing the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and the candidate All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief David Lyon, of funding terrorism.

    Dickson earlier accused NAOC of outsourcing terrorism in Bayelsa through pipeline security and surveillance contracts and named Lyon as one of the company’s contractors.

    The governor said that the oil firm was giving out surveillance contracts to outlaws in the oil-producing communities created and sustained by them.

    But Sunny- Goli, who represents Nembe/ Brass Federal Constituency, described governor’s allegations as hogwash saying the governor was afraid of Lyon’s popularity.

    He exonerated the oil multinational of the allegation saying the firm had nothing to do with the growing popularity and acceptability of the APC candidate in Bayelsa.

    He said the governor was in shock following his realisation that the APC and Lyon were more popular than the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Senator Douye Diri.

    The lawmaker explained that it was widely known that Agip as an oil firm never mixed politics with its business of oil exploration since it commenced activities in Nigeria.

    He appealed to Dickson to stop blaming his political woes and the rejection of his party and its candidate on innocent oil firms and individuals.

    Sunny-Goli said the governor should rather concentrate on using his remaining months in office to improve the living conditions of Bayelsans

    He said: “First and foremost, Governor Dickson is in a confused state. He is confused in the sense that he is spreading lies.

    “Agip is not a party to the growing popularity of APC in Bayelsa State; Agip is not a party to our acceptability in this state as the only alternative to the PDP in Bayelsa.

    Read Also; I waited for 15 years after wedlock to give birth – Dickson’s wife

    “I want to ask Dickson some questions was it Agip that told him for the past seven and half years not to pay workers full salaries? Was it Agip that told him not to utilise the Paris Fund to pay gratuities and pensions to retirees? Was it Agip that told Dickson not to complete the construction of the 7km road Isaac Boro Express road?

    “He should go to Rivers State and see the roads his colleague Governor Nyesom Wike is constructing. The truth of the matter is that Dickson is a drowning man. Bayelsans have rejected him and the PDP completely because of the mismanagement of the affairs of the state.

    “So he is trying to come out to feed Bayelsans with lies. It has become obvious to Bayelsans that Dickson has been lying for the past seven years and there is no way to remedy it again so all he is trying to do is blame his woes on innocent firms and individuals but this cannot save him.

    “Agip is innocent of all the allegations levelled against it. The allegations are baseless and vague. There are issues of governance for him to tackle he should come home and tackle them instead of going around to deceive Nigerians.”

  • Court remands 2 friends for unlawful possession of Cannabis

    A Federal High Court in Osun on Wednesday ordered that two friends be remanded in a correctional facility for allegedly being in possession of Cannabis Sativa.

    Justice Peter Lifu, ordered that Akanni Kenny and Abidoye Obafemi, be remanded in a Nigerian Correctional Service centre in Ile Ife, due to the magnitude of the alleged offense committed.

    He overruled the bail application filed by defence counsel, Mr O.N. Benson.

    Justice Lifu adjourned the matter until Oct. 30.

    Earlier, the NDLEA Counsel, Mr O.F Azugo, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on Aug. 24 ,at Ipetu-Ijesa town ,Osun.

    Read Also: Senate to ensure prosecution of airport drug cartels

    Azugo alleged that the defendants were apprehended by the command when transporting the illicit drugs.

    He said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 19 and 20 (1)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap 30, laws of the Federation ,2004.

    They pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    (NAN)