₦airaland Forum

Eko Ile: Is incompetence, laziness and neglect of legislated and constitutionally sanctioned responsibilities and obligation to protect life and property of all Nigerians also the part of the laws of the land?.


At least we know you as a leader wont give a damn about your people dying and suffering as long as any road in your state doesn't belong to your state. The oath you took to protect and look out for your people means nothing because you are incompetent and confused about your obligations to your own people..


Dude, is it by force to always sound like a primary school student?

badmarket: Punch of which date...

No fewer than 100 vehicles were vandalised and many injured when urchins, otherwise known as “Area boys” on reprisal invaded four streets in Akoka and Pedro in Somolu Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The hoodlums were said to have arrived the area through the Somolu Market pretending to be holding a candlelight procession for a man, identified simply as Old Skool.

The man was allegedly stabbed repeatedly by some youths during a rally organised by the Somolu LG Chairman, Mr. Gbolahan Bago-Stowe to mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Solanke Street.

Old Skool died on Easter Sunday, thus creating tension in the Akoka part of the LG.

Our correspondent learnt that more than 70 hoodlums stormed the streets between 10pm on Sunday and 1am on Monday, destroying vehicles parked on the streets and inflicting injuries on many residents.

A resident, Mr. Ernest Molokwu, said he was beaten up by the hoodlums while his commercial bus was vandalised.

He said, “I was at the balcony of my house when I saw the hoodlums. Knowing what they can do, I tried to drive my bus away from my street, but they caught up with me and beat me up. They also broke the windscreen of my bus. As it is now, I cannot work today(Monday).”

Our correspondents who visited the affected streets- Solanke, Ibukun Olu, Ojo Square/Ojo Street and Kajero- in Akoka saw many of the vandalised vehicles. Some residents said many whose vehicles were affected had taken them away from the streets.

On Solanke Street for instance, our correspondents counted 25 damaged vehicles, including one belonging to the Supervising Councilor for works, Somolu LG, Mr. Segun Adebiyi.

Another resident, Adekunle Ogunkoya, said, “On March 29, 2013, the Chairman of Somolu LG, Mr Bagostowe, along with some members of his cabinet, held a rally to mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

“The rally was also a part of an annual carnival known as Humani Street Day Carnival. This attracted many youths who marched through the streets.

Some of the youths, Rasaki Oseni (aka Elewure); Kunle Eyin Bouncing and Olumide Ogbor, who are members of a gang known as EFCC boys in company with their members from Somolu, marched down to Akoka which is the stronghold of another cult known as Alora boys

“At Akoka, the EFCC boys taunted the Alora boys. On getting to Solanke Street, the hoodlums clashed and Old Skool, who is a member of the EFCC boys, was stabbed. He was rushed to a hospital where he died two days after.”

Ogunkoya said after the incident, some of the hoodlums were arrested but were later released.

He said, “ At about 10pm on Sunday, some friends of Old Skool held a candlelight procession in his honour. But it was a decoy because after sometime, they dropped their candles and started vandalising the vehicles parked on the streets. They also beat up some of us.”

A vulcaniser on Ojo Square, who tried to protect his machine was stabbed but was later rushed to hospital.

A woman, who identified herself only as Bisi, said the hoodlums collected her two phones.

Bisi alleged that a community centre in the area which was built by the LG had become a hideout for criminals.

“We know them (suspects) but anytime we report them to the police, they are only arrested for a while and later released. That community centre on Ojo Street is a den of robbers,” she said.

The LG boss while addressing aggrieved residents, promised to make sure that the suspects were brought to book.

Bagostowe said, “The residents are not helping at all. They know these hoodlums and where they live. If these hoodlums are arrested, I promise to make sure that they are prosecuted. I will hold a meeting with OP MESA, the police and the Community Development Association to make sure that we put an end to this problem.

“As regards the community centre, I don’t believe it is a criminals’ hideout. There are many of such in various parts of the state. Ours was built for recreational purposes.”

As of 5pm on Monday, a resident, who declined to give his name, claimed that some of the urchins had started reappearing in the area and that he heard gunshots.

When contacted on the telephone, the spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the incident.

“While I cannot confirm the numbers of the vehicles that were vandalised, I can tell you that efforts are on to get the hoodlums,” Braide said.

Punch

shymexx: Take your sermon to Newcastle and Glasgow - and see if the yobs there won't lynch you...

N30 billion Lagos road extension project for commissioning next year

THE Lagos State Government, in conjunction with its technical partners- the World Bank and the French Development Agency, has said the ongoing Mile 12-Ikorodu town BRT extension project would gulp N30 billion, on completion in 2014.

Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) made this disclosure at a press briefing on the project in Lagos, over the weekend, explaining that the multi-million Naira project was designed to extend BRT service from Mile 12- Ikorodu, while also improving the Ikorodu road network infrastructure.

LAMATA’s Director of Public Transport, Olugbenga Dairo, an engineer, said that the Mile 12-Ikorodu BRT extension project was a new pilot scheme from other existing ones, designed as median running with bilateral bus station configuration and will be linked to pedestrian bridges on the route.

According to him, the project scheme would be concrete in nature and on completion, will extend BRT network from Ikorodu to CMS (about 36 kilo metres).

He explained that the change in the BRT corridors to concrete might not be unconnected with the present deplorable condition of the existing ones, adding that this one is in line with international standard.

Dairo explained that Ikorodu town is fast becoming a city as its population is growing on a daily basis, according to survey, adding that government has to embark on the new project to cater for rising demand for public transportation because the existing ones are “inadequate, unsafe and operate as informal sector.

Majority of the people in Ikorodu are low and middle class income earners, which use public transport. The existing transport infrastructure has deteriorated and become inadequate.”

Breakdown of the road project showed that there will be provision of traffic lanes (13.5 Kilometres) and walkways on either side of [size=13pt]the existing roadway;[/size] construction of BRT lanes; rehabilitation of existing roadway; construction of BRT stations.

Guardian

Nightshift: I just saw the news on Bloomberg Television. Once called 'Iron Lady', Margaret Thatcher was one of the racist hawks who saw nothing wrong about the then Apartheid government in South Africa. She even called Nelson Mandela a terrorist, and ANC a terrorist organization! She's joined her buddy Roland Reagan. Well, God decides when its time up....

cap28: You dont know anything about this woman that's why you said that - she destroyed the livelihood of working class people in this country and encouraged selfishness, individualism and greed - the only beneficiaries of her draconian economic policies were the rich and the banking elite - she completely decimated jobs in the northern part of England and i can tell you that the average british person will not mourn her departure.

EagleNest: If the allegations are correct, then GEJ is becoming ever increasingly desperate and deranged.
So Army, Navy, Police, etc are all for 'fancy'. It's the 'rougues' that takes care of national pipelines.
Incompetency and mediocrity is the hallmark of GEJ et'al. Somebody please help before we all plunge to the abyss.

The founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, has described as blatant lie claims that he had secured a contract to protect the nation’s oil pipelines.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on the phone at the weekend he said the rumour was the handiwork of some detractors, who had[b]become jittery because of the current move by him and other like-minds to resuscitate the Unity Party of Nigeria [UPN].[/b]

He explained that while it was true that his organization applied for such critical job as far back as October 2010, Fasehun emphatically declared that the authorities had neither responded to the application nor communicated to OPC in any form on the matter.

“My brother, I don’t know the source of the rumour. We applied for the contract in 2010, and we have not received any response to it as of today. I think the rumour is the handiwork of some detractors because I have resuscitated UPN. They want to blackmail me,” he stated.

Insisting that he would never succumb to such blackmail, the medical practitioner queried the source of the falsehood, which he said was being feasted on by the social media.

Fasehun said his group had more than six million people, adding there was no way the contract would not have gone a long a way in creating employment for at least 50,000 persons if the authorities had approved the OPC application.
Besides, he said as citizens of the country, the Yoruba had the right to get their own fair share of what other ethnic groups in the country were benefitting as citizens of Nigeria.

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/item/9133-pipelines-contract-for-opc-is-a-blatant-lie-fasehun

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

In a previous press statement, we had pointed out that a well organized campaign by the opposition designed to mislead the public, discredit the person and office of President Goodluck Jonathan, and cause disaffection within the polity appears to be well afoot. That there is an emerging pattern of disinformation and politics by trickery, orchestrated by Lai Mohammed and his ilk which is unsuitable to our democratic experience is now no longer in doubt.
We have been proven right, once more, with the deliberate disinformation engaged in today by the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Recall that last week, we were regaled with the publication of a fictitious “Presidential Directive” on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, APC and other matters which turned out to be a dubious bromide containing nothing more than “a mishmash of carefully arranged and concocted lies, presented to the public as evidence of a document emanating from the presidency.”

A press conference in Lagos, this Thanksgiving Sunday, addressed by Alhaji Lai Mohammed continued this pattern when he alleged that the Federal Government was deliberately promoting policies that will plunge the nation into crisis with the objective of scuttling the 2015 elections. He tried to exploit real challenges confronting the nation by instilling fear in the populace through the use of unrelated events; hoping to use such patterns and trends to build a conspiratorial case. Like all conspiracies, the case made fell quickly like a pack of cards when confronted with the facts.

It is a fact that President Goodluck Jonathan has presided over major elections since his assumption of office – the 2011 general elections, the 2012 state gubernatorial elections in Edo, Kogi, Adamawa, Sokoto, Cross River and Bayelsa as well as other elections in different parts of the country; which were all adjudged by local and international observers as free, fair and peaceful. Indeed, President Jonathan’s commitment to electoral reforms which is founded on the ‘one man-one vote’ ethos underscores the administration’s belief and commitment to an emerging political culture that is inclusive, participatory and transparent. When juxtaposed against Lai Mohammed’s allegations, it would appear to any discerning citizen that Alhaji Mohammed is engaged in disinformation, the likes of which we heard ahead of the elections referenced above, thus suggesting a well worn tactic.

The integrity of elections is without doubt one of the major achievements of this administration. It remains a legacy issue for President Jonathan. Lai Mohammed’s allegations of tenure elongation, instigation of violence, likely emergency rule, and a sinister plan that will make free and fair elections impossible in 2015 are entirely hollow and a figment of his imagination.

More specifically and to buttress his conspiratorial claim, the ACN spokesman alleged that the Federal Government has awarded an oil pipeline protection contract to serve as a smokescreen to fund activities that would create chaos in the South-West. Fact is, no such contract was ever awarded by this administration.

The more alarming aspect of the disingenuous press conference was the deliberate attempt to exploit religious and ethnic differences amongst citizens to create a state of siege and fear ahead of the 2015 elections. This was clear in the use of the national Boko Haram crisis and the ‘terror-baiting’ of the populace. Is the ACN hatching a plot of electoral violence through auto-suggestion?

While it is legitimate to seek political power, the ACN has an obligation to be responsible with facts and remain truthful with the evidence at all times; and to engage the government of the day constructively on issues of national importance; and not negatively. Consistently stitching together a tissue of lies, extracted from a fantastic imagination, with the intention to scare and mislead the public belongs to the realm of jungle politics we are all happy to be rid of.

We urge the public to pay careful attention to the tactics of those who believe that by crying wolf where none exists, they can create doubt about the efforts of the Jonathan administration. These allegations are blatantly false and grossly misleading.

Reuben Abati

Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the President

April 07, 2013

Source

Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman in Kwara Farouk Akanbi, has said that Federal Government’s decision to streamline JAMB and NECO will lead to massive job loss in the country.

Akanbi, who made this known in an interview on Friday, he said the decision had both positive and negative implications.

According to him, one of the most negative implications is the thousands of jobs that may be lost as a result of the cancellation of the two examination bodies.

``If JAMB and NECO is scrapped, what will be the fate of the workers of these organisations that are in all the 36 states of the country?” he queried.

Akanbi said government should not rush to streamline the examination bodies without first considering the fate of the workers.

The NLC chairman also said that a lot of things should be put in place before government entrust the responsibility of conducting examinations solely on WAEC.

Akanbi, who is also NUT Chairman in the state, noted that WAEC did not belong to Nigeria alone as it was a body jointly owned by some West African countries.

He noted that it was a good move for Federal Government to streamline the number of agencies in the country.

The NLC chairman, however, said such move should start from the Presidency and National Assembly, as the two bodies took the lion share of the nation’s budget recurrent expenditure.

``We should not just scrap JAMB and NECO. We should request National Assembly to maintain fiscal discipline,” Akanbi said.

He said that reducing the cost of governance should not be done in isolation, but across board.

According to him, Nigerian workers must not be made to suffer government’s decision to reduce cost in governance.

Daily Times

omonnakoda: How far naa .Any news

scobaba: What difference does it make? Ok, @ least he does not have to stand in front of the classroom to teach or write books to be learnt from.

I schooled in UNN between 2001 n 2005, read Accountancy.

I did not learn much as an Accountant.

I advise every graduate from dat school to try professional exams and further studies elsewhere.

What I learnt in 3months in study centres preparing fr ICAN exams surpassed what I learnt in 4yrs in UNN.

UNN people, make una no vex, na my mind I speak.

GboyegaD: What is ASUU and the academic community saying about this? What legacy does a certificate fraudulent person be willing to offer? Is this the change that NUC came to my university to tell us about Nigeria? I don't know when we will ever get things right in Nigeria and I expect to read comments from some psycophants praising Jonathan for this act of idiocy.

Delafruita: in essence,a certificate forger should be placed in charge of an instituition that gives out certificates.

Killing: Police quiz Ekiti ACN chairman


Ekiti State Police Command on Tuesday quizzed the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria in Ekiti State, Chief Jide Awe, over the killing of one Mr. Ayo Jeje at Erijiyan Ekiti on Saturday night.

Our correspondent gathered that Awe, who is a traditional chieftaincy title holder in Erijiyan, was invited to the state Police Headquarters along Iyin Road, where he was quizzed by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, and other officers.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Victor Babayemi, confirmed the ACN chairman’s invitation to our correspondent on the telephone.

He said Awe was not arrested but invited to assist the police in getting to the root of the matter.

He said, “Mr. Jide Awe was invited for a fact finding in respect of the killing at Erijiyan Ekiti last weekend. After speaking with the management team led by the commissioner of police, he was allowed to go. He was not arrested but invited so that he could assist the police to get to the root of the matter.”

Jeje, a former member of the ruling party was said to be among those planning to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday but some hoodlums allegedly stormed the town and shooting sporadically. The 37-year-old was shot dead while one Mrs. Juliana Adewumi and Gbenga Adewumi were said to have been shot and injured by the hoodlums.

Chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, at a press conference described the reaction of Awe that the killing carried out at Erijiyan was done by a faction of the PDP as rather unfortunate.

Ogundipe said Jeje was a close political associate of the ACN chairman while alleging that the ACN’s sponsored thugs carried out the killing.

He said, “The killing in Erijiyan, the hometown of Chief Jide Awe, was a murder, scripted and executed by the Action Congress of Nigeria. Available evidence shows that (name withheld) and sizeable number of ACN leaders in the community plotted and masterminded the crisis that led to the killing of the late politician because of perceived popularity in the community.”


Punch

eGuerrilla: I read an interesting article on how technology has moved everyone from a default offline mode to an online mode - sad. Gone are the days you'd drop in on an absent friend unannounced, only to find you have to make do with a handwritten note.

doctokwus: that in a GEJ presidency dat gives national award 2persons alredy given such,[size=13pt]that duplicates presidential pardons,[/size] dat pardons a child gay molester,renames a university without going thru d statutory consultative process,u cannot completely rule out d possibilty,evn though remote,dat such an unpresidential document cud emanate from its offices.

1 shortblackboy: my friend so u don't know that several people implicated in d subsidy scam are facing trial as well as those involved in d pension scam. U don't follow local news or u just prefer to believe the worst abt d government

chaircover: I have access to my MP that I voted in and if I am not happy with the service of any company that I visit I report to the trading standards and it is looked into. I can buy things from a shop, take it home, change my mind and return the item to the shop for a full refund.My bins are emptied every week and my close is swept every week too. The bushes and the grass is cut too from time to time. There are street lights outside my house which come on every evening and go off in the morning. There is a big park within a 2 minute walk from my house with benches and children's outside play swings etc

There is also accountability. A month ago my husband was stopped by the police and accused him of letting my daughter ride in the car without a seat belt. She did have a seatbelt on BTW but he accused her of putting it on after she saw him. Basically he called her a lair. My husband was livid and made a formal complaint to the police commission. They sent 2 senior police officers out to our home within days to come and sort things out. They listened to what happened and They apologized on behalf of the police force, but we said it was my daughter they upset and she was at school at the time. They came back the very next day and apologized to her personally and took her to their car to show her the gadgets (you know kids and gadgets)

When I am paying my bills, I am not just paying for gas and electric, I am paying for peace of mind and a sane lifestyle.

berem: eheee! So Lagos state has local government chairmen? I no know o! They seem insignificant though. The state government does virtually all the development in Lagos. Ladipo Market saga is a perfect example. The local governments are good at collecting revenue but will never do any meaningful development.

naijababe: Just last night, it was reported that Scottish & Southern Electric was fined £10M simply for overcharging their customers. [size=13pt]Yes, there are bills to pay in the UK but personally, I have no complaints because I at least see what I pay for.[/size]

Our Yansh: 1. Tinubu is‎​ a smart chap. He understands the game of politics and plays it very well.

2. He's a visionary leader. His interest lies in building for tomorrow and not just for the day.

3. He's a Good manager of men and materials. That's evident from the way he managed Lagos finance (even without Federal allocation) as well as the calibre of people he has helped become Governors of the SW region.

4. He loves his people, chasing the killer-party from the SW is‎​ the best thing anyone could have done for SWesterners at the time..

Etc etc...

apham: iam waiting to see uncle jona standing in a molue!

basty: Idiot, Oloshi omo Ibo.
Can your Apeja (fisherman) Odechukwu Jonaoshi Badluck Stay in Railway in Lagos or Kano, Walahi talahi, Area Boys and Boko Haram go yamutu him. Awon Omo Ole. Igara Olosha

DANILSA: pls what is the big deal with what he did?
The security condition in africa makes it difficult to practice such, i don't see any big deal in what he did.