₦airaland Forum

Thats gross, he shouldnt blame the lady for his own carelessness, he should go see his doctor, but I dont like ladies that lie to me hence I cut them off once i found out

Congrats to him. Nice 1

My brother they can never

[quote author=alj_harem link=topic=701350.msg8610770#msg8610770 date=1309293332]op

u are an ideeiot, so when did u become an expert in yoruba business

later u will shout trialsim[/quote]Shut up, have you seen anything tribalistic here. Are Yorubas not Nigerians why wont I be concerned if they are ignored by the government

Andre Uweh:
Flood washing away homes and damaging properties and even cutting peoples lives short is not new in Ibadan. The Ogunpa River in Ibadan has posed this problem for ages. Some natives in Ibadan believes that if certain sacrifices are not made in that River, the River will expand its banks and cause mayhem to locals. This may not be true but Ogunpa deserves an urgent attention from Ajumobi.

Exactly what am trying to say because they shouldnt wait till it kills a whole village before something is done. The mishap is really heartbreaking

I give my blessings

Sure, why not

I think first sex is not first love, so people might confuse that

^^^I really dont understand what you are going on about, 3 people just lost their lives(careless deaths) and you think its not enough to blame the bad governance

^^^I wonder where we are heading to if such trend continues

^^^My brother nobody is happy

^^^I wonder why such a man would be made a Monarch

bay77:
Who is Dino Maleye? Hasnt he gotten enough attention?

What are you even saying?

Eko Ile:
Fashola gets kudos for list of commissioners, advisers


http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/politics/10656-fashola-gets-kudos-for-list-of-commissioners-advisers.html


This is from Tinubu's Website so you and the Tribune or where ever you get that rubbish from might want to shove that bogus crap,

What were you expecting to get from Tinubu's website? That he is at logger-heads with Fashiola? Honestly, I wonder how most of you reason

^^^For the first time I agree with you(but pls no maps and graphs here), I think so too

^^^Bro wetin the guy do you nau? He collect your babe?

^^^This is what you get when you make a man your god and bow to him

Maybe GEJ should consider this

My uncle with Shell complained of the samething and it seems one particular tribe is known for this act. Why in your working place?

^^^Not really, its just heartbreaking anytime I see these wicked politicians subjecting the poor masses to hardship

This is sickening

What are these ACN governors doing to make life better for a common man

The last time they kidnapped Jimoh's mum and now this again

SUSPECTED kidnappers have abducted four contract workers of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) provider, comprising an engineer and three others, at Ore in Odigbo Council of Ondo State.

The victims, workers of a supporting telecom company, JMG Limited, were working at one of the base stations of the telecommunication company when they were seized by the abductors yesterday and taken to an unknown destination.

The abduction came barely two weeks after the kidnap of Mrs Mariam Oke, the mother of Chief Olusola Oke, the National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and barely 24 hours when the repentant militants in the Riverine areas of the state decried the spate of kidnapping and other criminal activities in their region.

Shortly after the kidnappers took away their captives, they seized the GSM lines of the victims through which they contacted the family members of their hostages.

A telephone text message received from one of victims stated that they were working at a base station in Ore when the armed kidnappers swooped on them and ordered them to enter a car.

He said after the initial resistance, they were taken into the car and driven to a place which he could still not ascertain.

One of the victims, Olawale Alamu Kehinde said he and other victims were being kept at one of the camps of the kidnappers. He said they allowed them to receive phone calls through which they contacted their families.

According to a brother of one of the victims, Mr Oladele Adesokan, the kidnappers demanded N25million ransom from each of the hostages.

However, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), Mr Adeniran Aremu said the matter had not been officially reported to the police.

He said the family members should have reported to the Police at Ore instead of trying to negotiate with the kidnappers.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52692:kidnappers-abduct-gsm-firms-workers-in-ondo&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

No fewer than three persons were carried away by flood in Old Ife Road area of Ibadan on Sunday.

Two of the victims were said to be female children while the third was described as a middle-aged woman. Their corpses were said to have floated yesterday morning on a stream near the Lagos-Ibadan expressway at Old Ife road.

The rain, which started at about 2:30p.m. lasted for about seven hours, during which seven vehicles including mini buses and cars were also submerged.

When Nigerian Tribune visited the area on Monday, eyewitnesses disclosed that the corpses had been taken to an unidentified morgue in the state capital.

The victims were said to have been caught by the flood in another location in the city and carried to Old Ife Road during the Sunday downpour.

When the corpses were sighted on Monday morning, Nigerian Tribune learnt that the area was thrown into pandemonium as people wailed, while some eyewitnesses made phone calls to family members who came to the scene to see the corpses.

Also, some vehicles trapped in the flood were drawn out by operators of the auto technician workshop located near the stream.

One of the technicians, Alhaji Sulaiman Babatunde, said:"we have pulled out over six vehicles from the river today and three bodies have been recovered.They included two female children and an averagely grown up woman.They were all floating on the stream.

“I want to appeal to the state government to do something about the newly built filling station that is hindering the easy passage of water. The government should also expand the river and stop people from throwing refuse inside the river," he said.

Another shop owner in the area, Mrs Aminat Salawu, lamented the loss she incurred as a result of the flood.

Oba Adebukola Alli, the Alowa of Ilowa in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State, standing trial before an Osogbo Magistrate court for allegedly Desecrating a 23-year-old member of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who served in his domain, has been placed on house arrest.

The presiding Magistrate, Adewumi Makanjuola also ordered that Oba Alowa’s travelling documents should be submitted to the court with immediate effect.

The traditional ruler, who came to court in his green Rav4 Toyota car was accompanied by his wife, pastor and driver. Instead of standing in the dock, the monarch claimed that he had no stamina to stand because of the state of his health. He then laid on a bench inside the court.

In order to convince the magistrate of his health condition, Oba Adebukola displayed a sphygnometer (device for checking blood pressure) which was attached to his left arm. To verify the monarch’s claim, the magistrate stood up and advanced toward Oba Adebukola where he was.

The wife of the monarch kept weeping profusely as the magistrate cross examined her in the court. The woman told the magistrate that the traditional ruler has developed high blood pressure and that he was gasping for breath when he was removed from hospital on the order of the court.

Counsel to the accused monarch, Victor Okpara, presented another medical report signed by one Doctor A.A. Adeyanju from Gold Cross Medical Clinic, a private hospital  in Ibadan, capital of Oyo state, where the monarch has been receiving medical treatment shortly after he was discharged from University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan on 10 June.

No fewer than 176 councillors from 16 local government councils of Ekiti State have approached a Federal High Court, Abuja, praying it to nullify and set aside the appointment and subsequent inauguration of caretaker executives by Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The plaintiffs, through their counsel, Chief R.A Lawal, SAN, urged the court to determine whether having regard to the combined provisions of section 1 (1) and Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution, the Ekiti state government can appoint caretaker committees in place of democratically elected officials.

But the state government, through the Attorney General, Mr. Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) asked the Court to dismiss the suit for lacking in merit and constituting an abuse of court process.

In a preliminary objection against the suit, Akinlaja said a High Court in Ekiti State has decided the same issues canvassed by the plaintiffs.

The Plaintiffs are asking the court to determine whether the Accountant General of the Federation either by himself, agents, privies or howsoever, has the powers to allocate funds to LocalGovernment councils whose executives are not known to law, not being democratically elected.

Should the answers to the questions be in the negative, the Plaintiffs claimed they are entitled to a declaration that under and by virtue of the provision of section 7 of the constitution, the action of the state government dissolving the 16 Local Government Council in Ekiti state amounted to an act of illegality and therefore null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

SIX Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) key members were yesterday discharged and acquitted by an Osun State High Court for conspiracy, attempted murder and arson levelled against them.

Those who were let off the hook by the court were a former Senator representing Osun-Central, Bayo Salami; Fatai Oyedele Diekola; Osun State Deputy Speaker, Adegboye Akintunde; Olaide Ajibola, Dada Lawrence Dele and Sunday Laoye, the elder brother of the deputy governor.

They were alleged to have conspired to commit arson and attempted to kill one Fatai Adeleke, Adeleke Odunola, and Raheem Olakunlehin, all leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during April 15, 2007, in Osogbo.

The accused were also alleged to have conspired with others now at large to burn a bus belonging to the PDP and a Mercedes Benz car 230 with registration number Osun 670 GNN, valued N1.1 million, property of Olakunlehin.

They were also on trial for allegedly setting ablaze a building at 5, Wasinmi Street, Igbonna, valued at N20 million, property of Adeleke, another house at Oke-Ayepe, a shopping complex at Odi-Olowo, a petrol station at Oke-Baale, all property of Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, the national vice chairman of PDP (South-West) valued at over N35 million.

The prosecution also alleged that the accused set ablaze and burnt four cars including a Mercedes Benz 300 V-Boot valued at N900,000, an 18-seater Toyota bus worth N850,000.00 and a motorcycle valued at N60,000, all belonging to one Alhaji Adeleke Oduola.

But the defence counsel, led by Wale Afolabi, urged the court to dismiss the case, claiming that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused to warrant their being called upon to make defence.

According to him, “there is no evidence to prove an essential element of the alleged offence. Evidence adduced has been so discredited as a result of cross-examination and unreliable that no reasonable court can safely convict on it”.

In his ruling, Justice R. A. Siyanbola upheld the no-case submission by the defence counsel and discharged and acquitted the accused.

Following the marginalisation of the South-West geo-political zone from the levels of political power in the country, some leaders of the zone are pushing for the appointment of the next chairman of National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) from the zone.

The tenure of incumbent board of the commission was due to lapse in October.

It was learnt that the authorities had already flagged off a search for the likely nominees into the 12 member board and the chairman of the commission.

National Assembly Service Commission is the body empowered to regulate issues of recruitment, promotions and remunerations of National Assembly staff.

The National Assembly Service Commission Act 2000, which replaced the National Assembly Commission Act Cap 236, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990, provides that the board shall comprise of 12 members, two from each of the six geopolitical zones in the country.

The South-West currently has one commissioner in the NASC, following the death of the second commissioner, Mr Enoch Ayoyemi Olaniyan, an indigene of Osun State, last year.

It was gathered that those canvassing the appointment of a South-West candidate as chairman of the commission said the incumbent commissioner from the zone, Dr Adekola Oluremi Bolarinwa, was experienced in the running of the commission.

The commissioner, according to them, is a Sociologist and Public Administration expert, with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.

“It is not just a question of zoning. There is the issue of competence as well. Elder Bolarinwa has gathered enough experience in the last five years that he has served as a commissioner in the NASC.

“His appointment will be a matter of placing square pegs in square holes. It will, therefore, serve two purposes, correcting the political imbalance and placing the right candidate in position,” a source in the vanguard of the agitation said.

The source added that his appointment would also amount to a befitting compensation for the South-West, which was marginalised in the sharing of National Assembly positions.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday at Ota, Ogun State, hinted Nigerians on what to come, stating that his administration would take hard economic decisions

in the overall interest of the country. He, therefore, asked Nigerians to understand and bear with the government, as the decisions would not please some people at the initial stage.

He spoke at the inauguration of May & Baker’s World Health Organisation-standard pharmacentre, his first official engagement after the inauguration of his new administration. Commending May & Baker for embarking on the N4 billion project to address Africa’s disease burden, President Jonathan assured the company that the investment would not be a waste. “We’ll continue to protect local companies as we must produce a good percentage of what we need,” he added.

President Jonathan said there would not be waivers for companies that are importing products into the country, but “we’ll consider those that are manufacturing goods locally.”

While stating that Nigeria could no longer continue to be a dumping ground, he maintained that he was putting up a strong economic team in his much-awaited cabinet.

President Jonathan also said that industry-focused incentives and waivers would soon be unfolded in support of local firms.

He said the government was prepared to roll out policies, including waivers, that would ensure that local manufacturers that were in critical areas of need had an edge over foreign firms on importation of products.

The president said the government needed to protect local firms, despite globalisation, for Nigeria to really emerge a strong economy by 2020.

According to him, waivers and government patronage are two of the best mechanisms to support and protect indigenous manufacturing firms.

“The Federal Government will protect local industries, although no country is an island.

“However, at the same time, for us to claim leadership in Africa, we must be able to produce a certain percentage of what we need locally.”

Jonathan said that the new focus underscored government’s efforts at revamping the power sector and other infrastructure.

The president said that the government would soon be taking strong and harsh measures which might be painful at the beginning.

“Such measures may be tough and painful. These measures, which are definitely necessary, may appear painful to the ordinary people, but they are needed if we are to grow the economy,” he said.

He, however, promised that such decisions and policies would not be taken without consultation with the private sector.

Jonathan said the plant had the capacity to produce over 4.5 billion tablets and 37.5 million bottles of liquid preparation annually.

“Till date, the company has committed over N4 billion to the project, with a substantial part of it coming from bank financing and shareholders’ fund,” he said, adding that the project was the first of its kind in West and Central Africa.

According to him, it would also help conserve the country’s foreign exchange.

“Both local and international medicine procuring companies currently buying from Western and Asian suppliers will now begin to look towards the pharmacentre for their medicines,” he said.

The president said Nigerian and foreign brand owners could also take advantage of the facility in manufacturing their pharmaceutical products.

He said the brand owners could avail themselves of third party manufacturing, loan license production and other forms of partnership and collaboration with the company.

Leutenant-General T. Y. Danjuma, chairman of the company, said the N4 billion plant was the decision of the management decision to support the Vision 20:2020.

LEADER of The Progressives group in the last session of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, has raised the alarm over threats to his life following his role in what led to former Speaker Dimeji Bankole’s current travails over alleged financial misdemeanour.

Melaye, former member of the Green Chamber from Kogi State, blew the whistle on Bankole’s alleged financial impropriety, which subsequently led to his current prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Melaye, alongside 10 others, was suspended from the House for his hard stance against the leadership style of the former Speaker.

The 11 were later reinstated by the courts shortly before the expiration of the sixth Assembly.

The non-payment of Melaye’s entitlements and that of his other suspended colleagues led to the call by the agitated legislator, who exposed the now celebrated N10 billion bank loan Bankole procured without due process.

Hinging his move on the determination to ensure that the image of the House was not soiled over the alleged sundry financial impropriety of the former speaker, Melaye petitioned the EFCC, thus necessitating the eventual arrest and detention of the former number four citizen.

But, Melaye told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that he had been receiving threat messages since the beginning of Bankole’s trial.

He added that on many occasions, he had been threatened with abduction, outright assassination or acid bath, saying that he was forced to cry out this time after he discovered that those who had been threatening him traced him to Ghana and back to Nigeria at the weekend.

His words: “I have been getting these threat messages before I went to Ghana; but I was surprised that upon returning to Nigeria, I got another message detailing all my movements while in Ghana and my location at the time of receiving the message. They reiterated their mission and asked me to be ready for them anytime soon.

“If I had treated these threats as a non-issue before now, the accuracy at which those after me got my movement in Ghana and in Nigeria calls for concern, especially when one takes into consideration the state of insecurity in the country.”

Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has insisted that the trial of the former Speaker must be carried out to logical conclusion, saying that there is enough evidence before the court to show that he (Bankole) actually breached the provisions of Section 311 of the Penal Code Act Cap. 532, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990.

In a statement signed by the President-General and Secretary of the congress, Comrades Peter Esele and John Kolawole respectively, the TUC said Bankole was quoted as citing the provisions of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act and the National Assembly Service Commission Act, in which he claimed that no court has the jurisdiction to try him for anything he did while exercising his powers as the speaker of House.

The congress maintained that Bankole and his co-travellers committed a felony to wit: theft as being alleged by the EFCC, and must be punished according to the laws of the land. It said it was wrong for the former speaker to have fraudulently obtained a N38 billion loan without following due process.

Esele said: “On the alleged offence of criminal breach of trust and theft slammed on him, Bankole averred that, as contemplated or defined in the Penal Code, he cannot be said to have committed any crime by obtaining a loan to augment allowances and running costs of members of the House of Representatives in violation of the extant Revised Financial Regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, 2009.

“The questions on our lips are: Does Bankole have the right to obtain a secret loan on behalf of the House when the said House is not his private company, and even when the Clark of the House vehemently opposed to such move and advised accordingly?

“Is this gentleman trying to tell us that even if he had sold the rest of us into slavery while in power, no one could query his action? Does this man think that being a speaker means becoming God? Is he saying that once one becomes speaker, he is above the law of the land?”

THERE is a serious disagreement between the Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola and his predecessor in office, Senator Bola Tinubu, over the list of nominees for commissioners and special advisers in the state, a source has said.

The source told the Nigerian Tribune that the list, which had since been forwarded to the state House of Assembly, could be rejected if Fashola eventually refused to bow to Tinubu’s control.

According to the source, Tinubu had disagreed with Fashola on the portfolio of some of the nominees, which Fashola would not like to change as directed by his predecessor.

The source spoke on the nominee for the position of Chief of Staff, adding that while Fashola had favoured a Lagos indigene, Tinubu had preferred a non-indigene.

The position had been occupied by Lagos indigenes in the last 12 years and it was so to serve as financial buffer for Lagos indigenes who always requested for financial assistance from the governor.

“Till last weekend, Tinubu was not happy with Fashola for sending the list to the state House of Assembly without concluding with him. The instruction from Tinubu now is that the lawmakers should reject the list, pending his approval,” the source said.

The source said Tinubu also contested the nomination of one Mrs Olukemi Pinhero, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to become the next Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state.

It was gathered that Fashola nominated the woman but it did not go down well with Tinubu, who also had a nominee for the position.

Besides the two positions, the Nigerian Tribune learnt that the position of the Secretary to the State Government was also in contention.

Meanwhile, fresh facts have emerged contradicting the rumoured rejection of the cabinet list by the leadership of the state House of Assembly, as it was set to commence screening this week.

Also, some leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state are reported to have met behind closed doors, on Monday and warned against moves by any politician to tinker with the list presented by the governor.

The leaders, who were irked by alleged desperation by some people to change the list, advised a former commissioner in the state (name withheld) to desist from mounting pressure on the national leader of the parrty, Senator Tinubu, to change the choice of a nominee.

A member of the House, who pleaded anonymity, said the responsibility of the legislature was not to reject names of nominees from the executive based on primordial sentiment, but to screen and approve or reject them on their merit.

After a meeting held at an undisclosed venue in Lagos, on Monday, one of the party leaders said it was their view that any attempt by anyone or group of persons to move against the list presented by the governor was a direct confrontation against the party leadership.

A key figure in the Senate has cried out that lawmakers at the upper chamber are being offered bribes to reject some of Jonathan’s candidates.

He did not mention the nominees who were the targets of the lobbyists but he said they were ex-ministers renominated by the president.

A second term senator and Vice Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Smart Adeyemi, on Monday alleged that some “political opponents and multi-nationals and their agents” were offering “millions of Naira” to lawmakers at the upper chamber to reject some of the President’s nominees.

The list of the nominees is expected to be read on the floor of the Senate by the Senate President, Senator David Mark, on Tuesday (today).

Adeyemi who spoke to journalists in Abuja said, “We have been under intense pressure by lobbyists and political hired mercenaries to stop some nominees from being cleared or to disqualify some nominees by asking questions to embarrass them and stop them.

“They have given many of us sleepless nights with offer of millions of Naira so as to discredit some nominees.

“We have been told that some people should not be allowed to pass through the screening simply because they effected or carried out reforms that will empower Nigeria rather than foreign interest.

“In this crusade are some multi-national companies and their agents who feel that some re-nominated ministers, who were part and parcel of the reform programme and agenda aimed at empowering Nigerians as regards local content in the process of industrialization, should be stopped in order to kill such reforms.”

The Senator, however, said members of the upper legislative chamber were prepared to stand against such move, promising that the screening of the nominees would follow the normal pattern.

He said, “Once they scale through security screening which normally would have taken care of their moral and integrity, ours is to ask questions on their state of intelligence and plans to midwife the transformation programme of the President.

“We have also noticed that there are political opponents and those whose business interests are being threatened by the reforms are involved in this crusade so as to settle business scores.”

He added that the interaction he already had with his colleagues showed that most of the senators also shared the President’s view on transformation programmes and had vowed not to allow themselves to be used against the President.

“Those who are prepared to spend millions to disqualify some nominees or the transformation agenda of the President should invest their money in charity work and leave the Senate alone,” he added.

He asked those who have anything against any of the ministerial nominees to send their petitions to the existing committees on public petitions in both the Senate and House of Representatives, where he said such grievances would be looked into before the screening.

Adeyemi’s revelation is the latest addition to the President’s ‘headache’ in his desire to form the team that will drive his transformation agenda.

THE PUNCH investigations at the weekend had revealed that Jonathan was also battling with the pressure on him by his predecessors in office.

Checks by our correspondents revealed that virtually all ex-Heads of State in the country, with the exception of the 2011 presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), were rooting for their anointed candidates to make the new federal cabinet.

“I don’t envy the president at the moment. The pressure is too much; nearly everybody wants his man in the cabinet. Ex-Heads of State, traditional rulers, party chieftains and other influential Nigerians want one person or the other to be in the cabinet. That is what has caused the delay,” a source at the presidency had told one our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

Curiously, the President’s avowed desire to consult broadly inadvertently led to the current situation.

It was gathered that the President’s desire to ensure the representation of diverse interests was one of the reasons that had delayed the submission of the ministerial list to the Senate.

It has also made it impossible for the President to prune his cabinet in line with the recommendation of the Presidential Advisory Council led by Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd).

A Villa source revealed that Jonathan gave former heads of state and ex-presidents opportunity to come up with a name each, which were included in the list. Buhari did not submit any name.

The Presidency source stated, “The President has right from the outset decided to ensure wide consultations. He has consulted with former heads of state, royal fathers, Peoples Democratic Party chieftains as well as opposition parties.

“While this decision has been a blessing in some instances, it has been a curse in others. Most of the names submitted by some royal fathers and ex-leaders cannot move the country forward.”

The source recalled that the President, shortly after he was declared winner of the presidential poll, had said that the ministerial list would be sent to the Senate two weeks after the May 29 inauguration.

“Today (Sunday) is June 26, there are conflicting signals about the list. There have been additions and subtractions to the list. This is what has caused the delay,” he added.

The President had indeed cried out about the difficulty he had in pruning the cabinet giving the constitutional prescription that each state must produce a minister.

Section 147 (3) of the constitution states: “The President shall appoint at least one minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state.”