₦airaland Forum

By Vincent Ujumadu, Awka

THE Anambra State Police command has arrested one Christopher Okadigbo (52) suspected to be responsible for the murder of his mother, Mrs. Rosaline Okadigbo, 82, a widow at Nando in Anambra East local government area for alleged ritual purposes.

Also in police net was Mr. Ameke Udolu, who was said to be a friend of Christopher and an alleged accomplice. It was gathered that the left eye and the heart of the late octogenarian were removed when her corpse was seen in her house at Nando. First son of the deceased, Chief Innocent Okadigbo said yesterday at Nando that his younger brother was responsible for the dastardly act, adding that the motive was to use his late mother for ritual.

He said that his late mother, who was hale and hearty, reported the suspicious move of his brother and Ameke Ndolu to him on May 1, 2018, only for the woman to be found dead the following day.

He said: “My mother told me on telephone on May 1, 2018 that my younger brother, Christopher came to her apartment with one Ameke Udolu and were moving round and making comments that were highly suspicious. “My mother added that she was afraid of staying alone in her house due to the kind of utterances she overheard the duo make while moving round her apartment.

“In the early hours of May 2, 2018, less than 24 hours after my mother’s apprehensive telephone report to me, I received another call from one Pius Aniefule that my mother was found dead in the pool of her blood. “Minutes after Aniefule’s call, my brother, Christopher, who stopped relating with me since 1999, also called to inform me of the incident, claiming that he traveled to Minna, Niger State from where people at home broke the news to him.”

Corroborating the allegation, Aniefule said he raised an alarm, which attracted people in the neighbourhood and later telephoned his first son, Innocent on the gruesome killing of his mother. He said: “As people rushed to the scene, we saw Ameke Udolu coming out of one of the rooms of late Mrs. Rosaline Okadigbo’s house and we overpowered and held him. “We collected his phone and uncovered some incriminating telephone communications between Udolu and Christopher, the second son of the deceased.

“When we got the phone, we forced him to make a call to Christopher and put on the speaker, which Christopher did not know. It was then that Christopher told Udolu to hurry down to Nteje junction if he had accomplished the job and wait for him there.” He said, due to the revelation from the phone conversation between the two, the irate crowd started to beat up Udolu.

He said that it was the intervention of the President-General of the community and the arrival of security operatives, who later arrested the two suspects, that saved them from being lynched. Chief Ignatius Aghadinuno, the President General of Nando community said that at the time he got to the home of the deceased, he saw the corpse of Rosaline and aggrieved villagers, as well as Udolu.

According to him, because of the massive beating Udolu received from the people, he pleaded with the people to stop and subsequently invited security operatives, who later arrested Udolu over the act. The President-General said that Christopher was later caught hiding in the home of a native doctor very close to the community before he was handed over to police.

He appealed to the police to do a thorough investigation on the matter and ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous crime were brought to book. Younger brother of the deceased, Chief Uyammadu Anaeliaku alleged that Christopher had previously been identified with fetish activities and appealed to the state government to assist the family by compelling him to exhume the charms he allegedly buried around their compound.

He said: “My late sister Rosaline gave birth to eleven children and as we speak, only two are alive. The rest died under questionable circumstances.” A source at the police headquarters in Awka said the state police command was already on top of the situation.

…revs up New Mile 12 Market, Agbowa Timberville Sawmill, others

The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said all hands are on deck to complete the largest rice mill in Sub-Saharan Africa currently ongoing in Imota Local Council Development Area of the State within the first quarter of 2019.

Apart from ensuring availability of rice in the market, the mill which is of 32 metric tons per hour production capacity, is projected to facilitate the creation of over 200,000 jobs across the agricultural value chain, while it will also bring about the cultivation of 32,000 hectares of farm land to produce rice paddy, equating to an estimated 130million Kg of processed rice per year (an equivalent of 2.6milion 50kg bags of rice).

Speaking during an extensive inspection tour of major projects in Ikorodu, Imota and Agbowa axis by members of the Lagos State Executive Council, the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode said the project would be completed by January 2019, while the initial production would commence by February of the year.



The Governor, who was represented by Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Adebowale Akinsanya, said the project was part of the grand policy of his administration to ensure food security, and as well give a quantum leap to economic integration of the Southwest region as the land to be cultivated and rice paddy for the mill would be supplied largely by farmers from the region.

Briefing journalists alongside other Exco members after being taken round the level of work done so far by Project Engineer, Gboyega Odunlami, Governor Ambode said it was gratifying to note that the project was progressing steadily and would be delivered on schedule.

“The key take away from here is that the construction of the rice mill and the industrial park among other complementing facilities are going on as planned. The administrative building, the restaurant, fire station, power station and other facilities needed to support the park and the rice mill are all ongoing concurrently.

“The mill is part of the food security strategy of this administration as well as Southwest integration efforts. It will be the largest rice mill not just in Nigeria but in Sub Saharan Africa.

“Already, we have commitment from the contractors working on the project that it would be delivered by January 2019 and the rice mill that would be the food engine of the Southwest will be in production by February,” the Governor said.

At the Imota Regional Food Stuff Market where the present Mile 12 Market and other markets within the axis would be relocated, the Governor said the first phase of the project which would accommodate about 1500 shops was already at 75 per cent completion stage, while the second phase, among other facilities such as concretized roads, fire stations, drainages, sewage system, power stations, sewage treatment, 1000 capacity Car Park, over 100 capacity Trailer Park, bus layby, among others would all be delivered before the end of the year.



The Governor said adequate provisions have been made in the new market to avoid the challenges which the present Mile 12 Market and other markets in the area constituted to the environment, saying at least 70 meters of buffer zone had been created between the proposed Ikorodu-Itoikin-Epe road expansion project and the market to prevent interface.

“We have seen what is going on as to our commitment to make this place a regional market. The first phase is 75 per cent completed. The major challenge has been accomplished though we still have some things to sort out but we are over the hurdle.

“What remains is to keep going, speed up and with the commitment of this government, we should be able to complete this project by September and hopefully by the end of the year, all the different markets in Mile 12 will be able to move here and it will be a one shop centre for everybody,” he said.

While inspecting the 2.7kilometre Agbowa-Timberville Road under construction and the Agbowa Timberville Sawmill where the present day Okobaba Sawmill in Ebute Metta would be relocated, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr Rotimi Ogunleye said the project was at the final completion stage with few outstanding facilities.

“The main project of the Agbowa Timberville Sawmill is about 250 shops out of which over 200 have been completed and the project is sitting on 150 hectares. The various infrastructure – the road networks, the shops, sheds and all that have been put in place.

“The two outstanding areas for us to move the traders from Okobaba to this place are the short road that leads to the Timberville from Agbowa which is swampy in some areas and we have to do decompile and then the second outstanding area is the boom area which is the place where the timber merchant will anchor their logs.

“We have spoken with the traders and they are very much ready to come here. Apart from the shops, we have the halls for them to do their meetings; we have conveniences, cafeteria, 24/7 power supply, among others so that they can do their business in a more conducive and friendly environment, and then we can have the opportunity of regenerating the present Okobaba which is within the city,” he said.

Also, while conducting members of the State Executive Council round the Odo Onosa/Ayandelu Housing Scheme, Commissioner for Housing, Mr Gbolahan Lawal said the project had already been incorporated into the rent-to-own housing policy of the present administration where people would just pay five per cent of the total amount and spread the rest over ten years.

He said the scheme is one of the 17 estates spread across the State with a total of 5008 units, and that interested residents need not know any government official to apply for the scheme.

Responding on behalf of the community, Oba of Odo Ayandelu Kingdom in Ikosi-Ejirin, Oba Ganiu Aderibigbe recalled how he approached the Governor during a town hall meeting held at Ajelogo on the need to revisit the project, saying the work done so far was a practical example of the fact that the Governor was a listening Governor, adding that the project would boost economic activities in the axis.

“To us, we see this project as our own company in the sense that it would create a lot of jobs for our people. I also want to commend the Governor for not increasing the price. When the project commenced under the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola, cement was sold for N2,600 and the price of the house remain the same till date which means Governor Ambode has cushioned the gap in between,” the monarch said.

prof1999:
hear me sir. if you can just think straight you will discover that the spiritual controls the physical . those praying the prayers are not jobless they know what they are doing.

Softhands:
That's why a thorough counseling before marriage is very important... These days once two people fall in love...next thing is IV... next two years, wahala start, they begin to look for pastor to solve problems...

kapelvej:
Good article, but no solution. Resolving a crisis is not just the choice of one of the partners, both parties must be ready to sheath the sword. What about if all one of the party wants is divorce, can you force him or her to remain in the marriage ?

By Vincent Ujumadu

AN Anambra State High Court handling the case of the killings at St Philip’s Catholic Church, Ozubulu in August last year during early morning service was told yesterday that those behind the mayhem in which 13 people were gunned down, had issued death threats to some persons living in Brazil and South Africa.

A witness from Johannesburg, South Africa, Mr. Chukwuemeka Obi, who testified yesterday alleged that the suspected killers had threatened to kill his father in Ozubulu, attack four families in Ozubulu; kill his younger brother living in Brazil and himself living in South Africa.

Led in evidence by his lawyer, Mr. Jay Jay Ezeuko, SAN, Obi said: “They are demanding one million dollars from us or they will wipe out all of us. We have also been receiving strange phone calls from these people. St. Philip Catholic Church, Umuezekwe Ofufe, Amakwa Ozubulu, attacked by gunmen, yesterday.

“They accused me of betrayal because on one occasion, I travelled with Bishop (Aloysius Ikegwuonu) from South Africa to Nigeria and rode in his (Bishop’s) car from Lagos to Ozubulu.”

He alleged that one of the suspects, Chinedu Akpunonu, standing trial in the case, was working with two persons he called Gozila and Afam, who are in jail in South African prison to terrorize the people of Ozubulu at home and abroad. Another witness from South Africa, Mr. Emeka Nzelu told the court that another suspect standing trial in the case, Onyebuchi Mbanefo called him on phone and threatened to deal with “Bishop” for abandoning him at a point in need.

Nzelu said: “Mbanefo told me that he would now join forces with Akpunonu to deal with Bishop for failing to assist him to foot his bill for bullet wound surgery, despite the fact that it was because of Bishop that he sustained the wound. He refused to accept all appeals I made to him to forgive Bishop.”

Asked during cross examination by the defence counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, whether he reported such threat to the police in South Africa or Nigeria, Nzelu answered in the negative, saying that he rather reported the matter to the chairman of Ozubulu Development Union in South Africa. Meanwhile, the presiding judge, Justice F.I. Aniukwu had refused bail application for the four suspects standing trial in the August 6 killings.

The Judge in his ruling said the risk of releasing the suspects outweighed their freedom, adding that the suspects did not prove exceptional circumstance to warrant their bail. The suspects in their application for bail stated that they were innocent of what they were charged with, stressing that before the law they remained innocent and were entitled to bail.

They also stated that they had health conditions that the prison health facilities could not handle. The judge who agreed that ill health was a ground to grant suspects bail in criminal matters, said in his thinking since the prosecution was handling the matter expeditiously, it was better to keep the suspects intact to face their trial than taking the risk of granting them bail where they might abandon the case or jump bail.

He said that besides, he was not persuaded by their applications that there were any exceptional circumstance about their ill health. The Judge, however, asked the prison authorities to ensure that the suspects were given proper medical treatment.

The counsel to the applicants, Mr Festus Keyamo has said he would file an interlocutory appeal on the ruling. The matter was adjourned to May 16th and 25th; June 8th and 22nd; and July 6 for continuation of trial.

daveP:
A Lil unimpressed for a city as large as Ibadan. na Ibadan o? no be lag or Kaduna o!!!

daveP:
the pace of the work..... don't jump in front of a hungry tiger please. At this pace, Ibadan peeps should just forget seeing finality in the next 4years....

Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has advocated for the overhaul of the country's educational policy, saying the nation should adopt a lingua-franca among its indigenous language.

The governor disclosed this on Monday at the 4th inaugural lecture of the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, titled: “Transforming Nigerian Educational System: Looking Back and Looking Forward."

He said the current educational policy operated in the country is obsolete, emphasizing that it could not meet up with the present education demands and realities.

"In my view, it is out of time; in the twenty-first century so much has changed in education, but there is a need to sit down and get experts in the subjects to look at what is happening in the educational policies of countries around the world: what is changing.

"Professionals are dying and new ones are coming up. Our curriculum and policies on education are all grounded in the twentieth century, we are in the 21st, there is a need for a holistic review of that," El-Rufai said.

He also said that "the situation in Kaduna is perhaps better than some states in the north because we are the best in terms of education in the north, but some states in the South too have the same issues; maybe not as bad as in the north. In a way, Kaduna is the foster child of the entire country."

The governor, who is the guest lecturer, leveraged the topic on the educational and economic development of the people, referring to the holistic reforms put in place by his administration in Kaduna State.

He explained that several incentives like tax holiday, free housing schemes, regular training are given to teachers as the core of education.
Though he mentioned that the legislation to eradicate early girl-child marriage in the Kaduna State Assembly suffered setback due to perceived religious condemnation, he said his administration dared such constituted authorities and passed it to law in February this year.

El-rufai also disclosed that he established school management board for communal participation in the sector, saying there are series of concerns over the use of English Language as the official means of communication in the nation.

"Of course, associated to that is the quest of language, should we still be teaching from primary to university in English Language? What can we learn from other countries that teach in their own indigenous languages up to university level?

"They teach from primary to tertiary institutions in their own languages and they have gone to space. China is competing with America and will soon overtake America as the largest economy in the world.

"This national policy should look at issues like this and come out with policy on education that will prepare young people of Nigeria for the 21st century because right now the education we are giving them may not be fit for purpose for 21st century to compete globally," El-Rufai added.

The Ondo State governor and Visitor to the university, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, lauded his Kaduna State counterpart for his audacious revolution in the education sector.

Akeredolu, who also called for curricular reforms and a common indigenous language for all the ethnic groups in the country, described education as the bedrock of socio-economic development.

Contrary to widespread clamour for political restructuring, he said, "Restructuring must start from the education sector; if we get it right here, other things will follow.”

Similarly, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Friday Okonofua, identified education as the driver of development all over the world.
Okonofua, who said exemplary Nigerians were invited to impart positively on the student populace, stressed that the lecture series, which started in 2016, were organized to identify the current challenges bedeviling the country.

By Ameh Comrade Godwin

Former Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has revealed how a former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu and his counterparts ‘wrongly’ advised former President Goodluck Jonathan to announce the withdrawal of fuel subsidy on January 1, 2012.

The announcement caused bloody protests across the country, which forced government to backtrack on the price increase.


In a new book, “Fighting corruption is dangerous: The story behind the headlines”, Okonjo-Iweala recalled how the move was “ill timed and wrong.”

She wrote, “There were some debates within the Economic Management Team as to whether fuel subsidies should be phased out in stages or in one fell swoop. The consensus was that experience in Nigeria had shown that even a small partial phase-out would draw the same large protests as a complete phase-out, so the feeling of the team was, ‘why die in stages?’ Perhaps, it was better to do all at once. There was overwhelming agreement that such an action would require a period of communication and education of the public, to build a larger consensus on the matter. To this end, an important televised public debate was organised in Lagos. The feedback from participants was that the public felt better educated about the benefits and drawbacks of the subsidy. It was clear that the audience felt that there was a lot of fraud in the system.

“The debate took place in early December 2011 and it was agreed that the remaining public debates would take place after the Christmas and the New Year holidays.

“There was a tentative understanding that January to March 2012 would be used for further debates and communication with the public with a tentative implementation of the subsidy phase-out in April 2102.


“On the morning of December 31, I received a shocking call from my friend and colleague, Professor Sylvester Monye, special adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring, telling me he had just heard something strange and was calling to check if I was aware of it. He had run into a senior official from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who told him that the president was going to announce the phase-out of the fuel subsidy on January 1. I was taken aback. It made no sense in the light of the agreement we had reached to educate the public further before implementation.

“I tried all day December 31 and stayed up all night trying to get the president but I was told by ‘Control’ that he was unable to speak on the phone, even though he was always exceedingly generous in taking my calls.

“One of the most interesting questions in my mind was who had advised the president to make the premature announcement on January 1 about phasing out the subsidy? I wanted to know because I had become the scapegoat for the action.

“It was not until a meeting of the NEC, weeks later, when the issue was under discussion, that Babangida Aliyu, former governor of Niger State and then chair of the Northern Governors’ Forum, bravely acknowledged that it was the governors who had urged the president not to delay any longer but to announce the subsidy phase-out at the beginning of the year. The mystery was solved, but, I found it incredible that none of the governors came to the rescue when the policy roiled the nation and that they were content to let others take the blame.”

As part of the continued drive of the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to train one million Lagos residents to code through the CodeLagos initiative, the State Government has scaled up its coding centres from 193 schools last year to 275 for the new term including 10 public centres.

This is just as the Government announced the opening of the registration portal for the 3rd batch of the Out-of-School programme for interested members of the public from Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh in a statement on Wednesday said the present administration was committed to the vision of the CodeLagos programme geared towards making Lagos State the technology frontier in Africa by empowering people with skills needed to create and take advantage of the opportunities a tech-driven economy proffers.

He said, “We are excited to announce that the programme is expanding. We have scaled up the numbers of our coding centres, from 193 schools last year to 275 this term; and we have plans to keep scaling up. Out of the 275 schools, 130 of those are Government schools while 145 are private schools. We have already trained over 250 facilitators to deliver the Coding Framework to students in these schools. As a State, we are doing this so that more students can benefit from this free training.

“As we speak, Coding classes for the 2nd Batch of the CodeLagos Out-of-School programme are ongoing, with over 500 students learning in four different centres namely Herbert Macaulay Library, Yaba; Isolo Public Library, Isolo, Ilupeju Public Library, Ilupeju and the Onikan Youth centre, Onikan, Lagos Island. “For the next cycle, we have added six new centres to widen the reach of the programme and accommodate more lagosians who want to learn to code. The new centres include; Ikeja Secretariat Library, Ikeja GRA.; Ipaja Public Library, Akowonjo; and Meiran Public Library, Meiran. Other centres are the e-Read Africa Learning Centre, Surulere and the Methodist Primary School, Ikorodu.”

Bank-Olemoh said residents within these locations and environs can now have access to free coding classes, while urging interested candidates to register by visiting the CodeLagos website at www.codelagos.org.

According to him, the programme which will run for six weeks will expose the trainees to courses in Java and Python programming languages as well as HTML and CSS for Web development. In a related development, Bank-Olemoh said that coding classes commenced in primary and secondary schools on Monday April 23, adding that the in-school programme holds in both Government and Private schools in the Six Educational Districts in the State. The CodeLagos Out-of-School programme is open to Lagos residents who are 16 years and older, and not enrolled in any primary and secondary school in the State.

Dr Muhammad Sani-Bello, a leading member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, says Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai’s blunders is making it easier for the PDP to return to power 2019. Sani-Bello said in an interview with Newsmen in Kaduna that the APC-administration in the state had sidelined the people and failed in giving them hope.

“Before 2015, nobody envisaged that over 40, 000 civil servants will be relieved of their jobs; we never knew that 350 district heads will lose their jobs or that chiefdoms will be cancelled. “From history, the governor is not a pro-people and people agent, because he is elite by all standards. “When he had the opportunity to serve as Director- General Bureau of Public Enterprises, common assets belonging to people were sold to individuals. “When SIECOM was demonstrating the new acquired machine meant for LG election across the 255 wards of the state, our party, the PDP had the highest vote during the demonstration exercise.

“That is to tell you that if there is going to be free and fair election today, the PDP will emerge victorious.” The PDP governorship aspirant claimed that the state government had also failed in its core responsibility of providing security to the people. “The state now lack the peaceful and harmonious coexistence that it used to enjoy, we didn’t have the state of kidnapping that we are witnessing today in Kaduna.

“It is common for people to be escorted to their homes and then kidnapped without any hindrance and they have to pay ransom and nobody has been apprehended so far. “We know that some people will still want to be criminals and commit crime, but government will definitely have to do the needful and intervene to get the culprits and prosecute them,” he said.

Sani-Bello, who holds the traditional title of Mainan Zazzau, also faulted the manner in which the government sacked about 22,000 primary school teachers, insisting that the law governing their appointments was not followed. According to him, there is a subsisting injunction secured by the teachers union from the Industrial Arbitration Court asking government not to go ahead with the exercise. “Because of the government’s non adherence to the rule of law, it told the world that the court and the union were late and went ahead to sack the teachers. “The remaining ones are all living in fear, they don’t know whether they would be sacked today or tomorrow,” Sani-Bello said.

He stressed that the 11, 000 teachers recruited by the government to replace the sacked ones lack experience in the teaching profession to make meaningful impact. “For these reasons, we concluded that we need to buckle up, revive the PDP and serve the people again.’’ San-Bello, a former commissioner in the state said no administration would succeed if it failed to ensure fair representation of all segments of the society and run its affairs in a transparent manner.

“For any government to be successful, it has to be fully representative in nature, such that, every community irrespective of its religious affiliations is carried along and represented in governance. “For example, the district heads in this government have been sacked, so that is the issue of representation, if you are following the trend many communities believe that they are not represented.

“Previously every LGA was represented in the executive council of the state but it is not so today.’’ He assure that the next PDP administration in the state would do things “differently.’’ “We will entrench good governance and operate within the ambit of the rule of law,’’ he added.

0monnak0da:
THousands are benefitting??

How do you know this? Do you work for the government or Ambode?

When you make statments like that you lose credibility.

Are you a paid hack? .

I will note you down as such.


The reality in Lagos is such monies are available if you are an APC member or linked to the personalities in government. What is required in Lagos is genuine investment in education and s skill acqusition that leads to employment

0monnak0da:
What have they done in the area of Human development ,how many jobs have they created , let us cease these obsession with projects?

What have they done about security??

Kidnapping has fallen on Lagos
Badoo has fallen on Lagos
Filth has fallen on Lagos
Land Use Tax has fallen on Lagos