₦airaland Forum

Edo Party Members Are Doing The ‘Unthinkable’
LIST OF RESIGNED OFFICIALS FROM EDO GOVERNMENT
√ John Mayaki - Chief Press secretary
√ Kehinde Garrick Osemwingie - Secretary to Uhumwonde LGC
√ Taiwo Akerele - Chief of staff
√ Paul Ohonbamu - Commissioner
√ Maureen Osaro Ekhoragbon - Vice chairman Ovia North East
√ Omua Oni-Okpako - commissioner
√ Fulani Yakubu Ekpeyoung -SSA
√ Hon. Adeyanju Noah - SSA
√ Madam Cordelia M. Iyogun - SSA
√ James Osheku - SSA
√ Louis Osamuyi Osayande - SSA
√ Ernest Unuaghon imina - SSA
√ Goodluck A. Uyigue - SA
√ Hon. Razaq Rotimi - SA
√ Olajide Victor Oloruyomi - SA
√ Smart Bank - SA
√ Chris Oseiwe Oribhabor - SSA
√ Comr. Solomon Okoduwa - SSA
√ Kennedy Itepu - SSA
√ Sabbath Egbeyon - SSA
√ Osamwonyi Atu - EDSOGPADEC
√ Emmanuel Odigie - EDSOGPADEC
√ Rilwanu Oshiomhole - EDSOGPADEC
√ Okondoh Patrick Iyoha - OSM State director
√ Gabriel Oiboh - Chairman post primary education board
√ Bright Njor - SA
√ Kingsley Ekueme - SA
√ Joshua Akhabue - SA
√ Oladele Ayotope Josiah - SA
√ Boyi Magdalene - SA
Osarobo Osaro Anthony - SA
√ Aibangbee Chico - SA
√ Obayagbona Augustine - SA
√ Otaniyen Igbinosa - Orhiomwon supervisor
√ Martins Ozakpolor - Orhiomwon supervisor
√ Vincent Ehibor - Orhiomwon supervisor
√ Christopher Adesotu - Chairman board for vocational and technical education
√ Aghedo Oscar - Secretary Ovia North East
√ Emike Obazee - SA
√ Monday Ogiegor - MD EDSTMA
√ Prince Lucky Igbinedion - SSA
We are told many are staying back to resign at the last minute . It is programmed. They want to teach a lesson .

rummmy:
Enough of this nonsense. So we should die with her,.

megamind101:
ha ha ha I love that.wow It was fun reading how that slot died.

LaboPolitics:
You said you have 550 professors but mention less than 20 on your thread. Even the little-known koma tribe that live on rocks and in caves in Adamawa has more than that.

yoruba jibiti...

LaboPolitics:
You people just open your mouths and throw around statistical lies and data.

Where is it documented that Okun people are the most educated minority group, have you counted the number of professors of law in Urhobo and Itshekiri?

The Yoruba Nation posted an article praising the educational achievements of the Okun Yoruba people in the present Kogi State for producing more than 550 academic Professors. Below is the excerpt from the article published by the Yoruba Nation

“MEET OUR OKUN SUB-YORUBA NATION, THE MOST EDUCATED SUB-ETHNIC GROUP IN NIGERIA WITH OVER 550 PROFESSORS. WHILE THE TOWN OF OFFA IN KWARA STATE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE SINGLE TOWN WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PROFESSORS IN NIGERIA AND EKITI STATE ACCLAIMED AS THE MOST EDUCATED STATE IN THE COUNTRY, THE OKUN PEOPLE OF KOGI STATE ARE ARGUABLY THE MOST EDUCATED SUB-ETHNIC GROUP IN NIGERIA. THEY ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE A POPULATION OF ABOUT 800,000 PEOPLE”.

https://www.nairaland.com/5968656/most-educated-sub-ethnic-group-nigeria

The Yoruba Nation should be commended for showcasing the educational accomplishment of their kith and kin in Okunland. Also, is important to commend the wisdom of more than 90 percent of those who commented positively on the noble educable educational accomplishments of the Okun people by parading more than 550 academic Professors with a population less than 1,000,000. Indeed the names of some Professors from Okunland are still missing from the list.
It is disheartening to read that in the attempt of a few Yoruba people, maybe 10 percent of the people who commented on the post, to downsize the towering educational accomplishment of the Okun people, they asked what has the education of the Yoruba people done for South West and why are the Fulani people ruling them despite their high education? These questions are borne out of ignorance or a tactical means to take the wind out of the sails of the main thrust of the article because they have nothing to do with those academic scholars who had distinguished themselves in their chosen careers. Those accomplished scholars are not politicians; these questioned should be directed to the politicians involved in governance. While those people are pretending to downsize the importance of education, do they love to experience the endemic Almajeri culture in the North? Would they have preferred South West to be grossly uneducated like the larger segment of the population of North West/East today? Those people who made those comments demonstrated severe ingratitude for trivializing the laudable manpower development vision that Awolowo laboured tirelessly at his peril to ensure South West becomes a bastion of intellectualism.
It is important to educate a few of our people that tried to downgrade the educational accomplishments of the Okun Yoruba people that if the Okun people have obtained 30% of the massive opportunities that the Yoruba people in South West enjoyed in Nigeria from the 1960s to now, they would have produced more than 1,000 to 1,500 academic professors. To whom more is given much is required. Awolowo gave MORE to the Yoruba people in South West region than what Okun Yoruba people got from being in the North Central, therefore, MUCH is required of the Yoruba people in South West than their kith and kin in Okunland in the production of academic professors. It is imperative to state in an unmistakable term for history and posterity that Awolowo did not intentionally promote the welfare of the Yoruba people in South West region more than his people in Okunland; he fought ruthlessly politically in the 1950s to ensure he included them in the Western region. Unfortunately for him, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello frustrated his many strident calls and struggle to merge Yoruba in the entire North Central (Kogi and Kwara States) to the Western region. But, while Zik/NCNC joined forces with Ahmadu Bello/NPC to truncate the merger of the Yoruba region in the North Central with the Western region, the British colonial administrators cleverly slashed a huge chunk of the northern part of the Eastern region and merged it with the eastern side of Northcentral.
Let me explain to some Yoruba people in South West who are ignorant of the enervating conditions under which the Okun people in the Middle Belt operated before independence and up to the current dispensation in Nigeria below.
First, Awolowo gave the Western region Free Education in the 1950s. This revolutionary educational policy decision catapulted the human capital development of the region substantially to a phenomenal height never experienced in entire Africa. However, the children of the people of Okunland in the 1950s didn't enjoy Free Education under the Northern People's Congress in the Middle Belt as their kith and kin did under Action Group. They paid for the education of their children. Yet, in all the elections held during the First Republic, they massively voted for Obafemi Awolowo because they knew that Awo/Action Group loved them and struggled to incorporate them under a monolithic Western region. In the 1950s, the NPC subtly and tactically persecuted the Okun Yoruba people for supporting the Action Group by denying them development infrastructure. Thus, the Yoruba people in South West had a superlative giant head-start in term of educational advantage in the 1950s over the Okun people in the Middle Belt. Although a few of the Okun Yoruba people living in the Western region in the 1950s might have benefited marginally from Awolowo's Free Education Programme.
During the second wave of Awolowo's Unity Party of Nigeria's Free Education from 1979 to 1983 when the Yoruba people in South West enjoyed additional free educational opportunities, the Okun people in Kwara State paid for the education of their children under the NPN administration of Adamu Atta between 1979 and 1983. Also, the NPN government did not provide any noteworthy infrastructural development in the area. Undoubtedly, the Okun people massively supported the UPN in all elections held in the region during the Second Republic. They would have benefited from the Free Education Programme under the UPN government of Dr Cornelius Adebayo, but Buhari-Idiagbon struck in December 1983. Although the children of some Okun people living in South West during the epoch would have benefited marginally from the UPN's Free Education.
It is imperative to underscore the fact that the majority of the Okun people are Christians. Given this realisation, the North often marginalised them in terms of political appointments and socioeconomic development. Almost all the Ahmadu Bello University's Colleges of Agriculture or Colleges of Administration in the North established by the NPC or the subsequent governments led by the Northerners have attained full university statuses. Only the College of Agriculture in Kabba is yet to be transformed into a full university in the North today. The “SINS” of the Okun people which accounted for why the Northern leaders did not transform the College of Agriculture in Kabba to a full-fledged university are that they are majorly Christians and they are devoted supporters of the political vision of the Yoruba people in Nigeria. These were part of the underlying reasons why James Falake was technically precluded from inheriting the electoral fortunes of the APC after the death of Abubakar Audu in 2015.
Thus, the Okun people suffered marginalisation for supporting the political organization, agenda and vision of the Western region during the First Republic and the Second Republic. Secondly, they suffered and are still suffering marginalisation for being predominantly Christians. Even if the Yoruba people in South West are suffering marginalisation in Nigeria today, their marginalisation is still a third-degree marginalisation compared to the first-degree marginalisation of the Okun people in North Central.
Below is the list of higher institutions in Kogi State:
1. Salem University Lokoja.
2. Federal University Lokoja.
3. School of Mines Osara.
4. Kogi State University Ayingba.
5. Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja.
6. Federal College of Education Okene.
7. Federal Polytechnic Idah.
8. Kogi State College or Education Ankpa
9. Kogi State College of Education (Technical) Kabba.
10. Kogi State University of Science and Technology has been proposed for Osara this week by Gov Yahaya Bello.
While South West is inundated with universities, polytechnics, colleges of education from the 1960s up to now, Okunland has a single college of education established in 2010. The nearness of educational institutions to the people is one of the critical criteria for accessing good education. In the 1960s, University of lbadan, Obafemi Awolowo University and University of Lagos were established in the Western region where the Yoruba people within the region would hardly travel more than 200 kilometres to access university education. However, the Okun people travelled more than 450 kilometres to the Western region or the Northern region or the Eastern region to access higher education in the 1960s. Even, they had to travel over 450 kilometres to the University College Ibadan from 1948 to 1959 to access university education, whereas their kith and kin in the Western region did not need to travel so far. If there were universities in Ilorin and Lokoja in the 1960s, the Okun people would have produced more than 1,500 Professors by now. Many of those who took careers in the education sector and other sectors in the area who wanted to acquire university degrees and postgraduate degrees could not abandon their jobs to pursue studies in far-flung cities.
Finally, if some people from South West who do not appreciate the dint of hardwork of their Okun Yoruba people in achieving this arduous academic accomplishment by producing more than 550 Professors despite all the daunting vicissitudes that buffeted them in the Middle Belt, they must be suffering from monumental ignorance about the unpleasant circumstances under which they laboured to produce those scholars with intimidating academic credentials. They should close their faces in shame because if the Okun people had got the opportunities that the 2 waves of Obafemi Awolowo's Free Education Programmes in the 1950s and between 1979 and 1983 afforded the people in South West, the Okun people would have produced more than 1,500 Professors in Nigeria. Awolowo gave his utmost best to the Yoruba people in South West, whereas the Okun people did not receive commensurate opportunities in North Central. Siblings must tell themselves some hard truths occasionally so that they can appreciate the value of themselves.

LongLife4all:
So you all were keeping silence?

Mr Ayo Olowonihi was a level 17 officer at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Commandant (Director) of the commission’s academy in 2015 when Ibrahim Magu was appointed Acting Chairman of EFCC. After putting in almost 15 years in the service of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), he had elected to retire voluntarily, and later joined the EFCC.

Following the exit of Ibrahim Larmode, Olowonihi was one of those in the commission who were eminently qualified to replace him. He ostensibly lobbied for the top job. Magu, then Director of Operations under Lamorde, also lobbied for the job through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). As luck would have it, Magu was chosen to replace Larmode.

Little did Olowonihi know that his ambition to replace Lamorde did not go down well with Magu. For daring to nurse the ambition to become EFCC chairman, Olowonihi must be taught a lesson.

After trying unsuccessfully to get an operative of the commission to lie against him, checking through his records to try to find anything that could be used against him, and finding nothing, and after inquiring from his former employer, NDLEA, if he did any wrong that could be used to nail him and also finding nothing, Magu caused a phony query to be issued to Olowonihi.

In the query dated December 22, 2015, Olowonihi was accused of sponsoring negative publications against the EFCC in an online medium. He did not only deny the allegations but said he was the first person to draw the attention of Larmode to the publications since he was the chairman when the said reports were published. Olowonihi said his emails and bank accounts were investigated, but nothing incriminating or linking him to the publications was found. Yet, he was arrested, detained, and forced to make statements under caution. Not satisfied, Magu caused a suspension letter to be issued to him to enable the commission investigate the allegations against him, citing a defective EFCC Staff Regulations Handbook 2007.

The suspension letter was dated December 29, 2015. Since that day, the commission had stopped his salaries and he had been subjected to untold hardship. While the suspension lasted, entreaties were made to Magu to recall him, but Magu could not be bothered.

Then two years after, on November 15, 2017, Magu caused a letter of reinstatement to be issued to him, but attached some onerous conditions. They included forfeiture of his salaries for the two years he was on suspension, writing a letter of apology to Magu, swearing to an oath of secrecy, downgrading to level 16 from level 17, writing an undertaking to be of good conduct, and deployment to work in Magu’s office.

The conditions were not only onerous, they were also humiliating. Olowonihi rejected them and issued a notice to commence a court action against the commission, an option he said he didn’t want to take in the interest of the commission.

In its judgement, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Abuja reversed his demotion. Justice Musa Kado, who delivered the judgement, ordered Olowonihi to be reinstated as Detective Commandant, Grade Level 17, after he set aside a letter of reinstatement, which had downgraded him to Grade Level 16, for being illegal, null and void.

Olowonihi had asked the court to declare his demotion as well as the processes that led to it as illegal, unlawful, null and void. The claimant, in a 62-paragraph oath deposed in support of the suit, said he was not given fair hearing before disciplinary action was taken against him.

Among the issues raised for determination before the court were whether the EFCC Staff Regulations Handbook 2007 used for the discipline of the claimant was validly made, having not been approved by the commission.

Kado decided all three issues raised for determination in favour of the claimant. He held that the fact that the EFCC Regulation Handbook, which guides the appointment and disciplinary procedures of employees, had not been approved by the commission rendered it invalid. “Failure of the defendant’s counsel to produce approval by the commission means it is either not in existence or it will not be in the favour of the defendant,” he said.

Kado further noted that while the absence of signature on the document might not necessarily make it invalid, there was no commencement date to show when it actually came into force. He held that the approval of the draft by the chairman did not amount to approval by the commission, which had been empowered by law to do so.

The judge accordingly held that the purported regulation handbook used for the suspension and subsequent demotion was not valid and as such null and void.

The court having declared as invalid EFCC’s handbook for lacking approval of the commission, agreed with the submission of the counsel to the claimant, Professor Joash Amupitan (SAN), that the defendant did not comply with the Public Service Rules, the applicable regulation on disciplinary matters affecting the claimant, who was a Director on GL 17. He said section 9 (2b) of the Act establishing the EFCC provided that until there was a regulation in place guiding the appointment, discipline and dismissal of employees of the commission, the civil service rule shall continue to be in force.

Kado held that while the chairman of the commission or the secretary had the right to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the claimant, it was the commission that had the power to sanction after due consultation with the Federal Civil Service Commission.

Similarly, on the issue of fair hearing, the judge agreed with the claimant that the fact that he was not given the opportunity to defend himself before the ad hoc committee set up to investigate him and two others rendered the whole exercise a nullity.

“There is a violation of natural justice,” the court held, adding, “The claimant’s appointment is statutory and can only be tampered with strict public service rule.”

He subsequently held that the letter of reinstatement downgrading the claimant to GL 16 was “nullified and set aside” and ordered the EFCC to reinstate the defendant back to his position as Detective Commandant Grade Level 17.

Kado, however, stated that the court could not order the defendant to restore the claimant as Commandant of the EFCC Academy, as the defendant had the right to deploy its personnel to any position it deemed appropriate.

Curiously, the court refused to grant the prayers of the claimant on the payment of all his salaries and allowances within the period of the suspension on the grounds that the claimant failed to prove that he was entitled to such relief.

Born in Kabba, Kogi State, Olowonihi attended the University of Jos and Lagos State University, where he obtained B.Sc. Economics (Second Class Upper Division) and Masters in Public Administration (MPA), respectively. He obtained a Post Graduate Certificate in Corruption Studies from the University of Hong Kong, Certificate on Better Governance: Managing Corruption from the Singapore Civil Service College, Certificate in Mastering Competitive Strategy and Blue Ocean Strategy from the Lagos Business School. He is also a graduate of the Policy, Strategy and Leadership (Pre-SEC) Course of the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos.

Olowonihi joined the NDLEA at its inception in 1990 and attended the first Senior Officer’s Basic Course – ANS Course 1/90. He has attended numerous professional courses and management seminars in Nigeria, Germany, Côte D’Ivoire, Senegal, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Turkey, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Switzerland.

Olowonihi has acquired diverse experiences spanning 30 years in law enforcement, investigations, anti-corruption and good governance, personnel management, training and manpower development, etc.

While in the NDLEA, Olowonihi held appointments such as Acting Director, General and Assets Investigation, NDLEA Headquarters; Acting Director, Training Research and Development; Commandant, NDLEA Academy, Jos; Zonal Commander, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; Director, Abuja Liaison Services; and Commander, Kogi State Command, among others.

In February 2001, Olowonihi returned to the agency’s academy as commandant. The high point of his second tenure was the upgrading of the academy to a regional academy for drug control in West Africa. After a successful second tenure, he served briefly at the agency’s headquarters as Coordinator of the National Drug Control Strategy.

He transferred his services to the EFCC in May 2005, and served as the pioneer Deputy Director/ Head of Training at the academy. He also served as Head of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUM).

Ca2chuf:
it's not opening

Jacknn:
Please share the link

Paramilitary:
Goodevening brother. Please can you assist me to submit my CV, I heard they're accepting CV now for replacement. Thanks and God bless

25tolife:
omo okun,kabiseri? Omo ife ko re me!

Faber:
They have more than 550 professors ...but only one billionaire...out of over 100 dollar billionaires in Nnewi, Anambra State, will feed, employ and pay them handsomely...


Your education is trash if e no improve ur standard of living and that of your future generations

mamaafrik:
gimme proof pls

mamaafrik:
Ekiti and Imo state are the best in Academics pursuit in Naija

papabiz:
Usa and Canada number available.
Premium VPN available for sell

BakedCake:
God bless the Hausa boy If he needs cement he can break the rest too

This happen in
OKEBUKUN BUNU LAND
This Alawusha man
Come too remove the head of OMOBULEJO(Gods of
the village) which our fore fore father work on for the
village benefit.
If u no OKEBUKUN well u will understand what am
talking about.
Pray for OKEBUKUN BUNU because the old father's will
work on it for them to see the solution
(I greet all my people in okun oo)
And all
AIYEETAN'S FAMILY

Simongm:
By Ralph Omololu Agbana

The effects of the novel coronavirus has known no boundaries globally, be it the rich and the poor, religious, tribal or political divides. And this is what is playing out among opposing political lineages in Kogi State. On Wednesday, the Pan- Okun Relief Response To COVID-19 Initiative was launched to tackle the social and health challenges posed by the dreaded virus to the Yoruba speaking people of the state, also known as the Okun People bringing together all shades of political divides under one umbrella. The mission is to save lives through raising funds for the purpose of buying drugs and essential materials for distribution to the vulnerable in the area. A sourse in the secretariat said the initiative is tinkering with the possibility of moving beyond distribution of food commodities to identify health care facilities available in the area which may be equipped with test kits and ventilators to support government efforts. Dubbed “Covid-19 Pandemic Okun People Relief Response Initiative”, with the Elders Advisory Council as the apex body, the coalition will bring together under the steering committee and sub- committees political bigwigs who have not been on the same page either through belonging to opposing parties or are presently in court over disputes arising from the conduct of the 2019 general elections. Advertisement Advertisement In words and deeds, political interests and differences have been pushed to the background and instead focus shifted to the sanctity of human life. However, emphasis is on the greater unity of the people occasioned by the collective fight against COVID-19, a common enemy to the human race. The conveners of the COVID-19 Relief Response Initiative, having decided to put on hold their different political affiliates are Senator Smart Adeyemi, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, Hon Leke Abejide and Hon Tajudeen Yusuf​ members of House of Representatives representing Yagba and Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituencies respectively. Adeyemi belongs to the ruling All Progressives Congres (APC), while Abejide is of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Yusuf is elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Interestingly, Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Adeyemi, opponents in the Kogi West senatorial election rerun held in November, 2019 are both on the steering committee. This is​ Irrespective of the fact that Melaye is at the national assembly election petition tribunals challenging the authenticity of the result of that election. Likewise, Chief Samuel Bamidele Aro, running mate to Engr Musa Wada, the PDP governorship candidate in the November 16, 2019 poll will serve in the steering committee together with APC chieftain in the state, the speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt Hon Matthew Kolawole, who is a strong ally of Governor Yahaya Bello. Advertisement Advertisement This is at time when Wada/Aro and Bello/Onoja (PDP/APC) are in the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and various other courts on a plethora of cases arising from the disputed governorship election. The Elders Advisory Council chaired by former Minister of Industries and Chairman, Nigerian Manufacturers Association (NMA), Chief Kola Jamodu has as members Military Governor of Old Oyo State, General David Jemibewon (rtd), former Minister of Health, Prof Eyitayo Lambo, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), former acting governor of Kogi State, Chief Clarence Olafemi, two past presidents of the umbrella Okun Development Association (Association), Chief Emmanuel Otitoju and Ambassador Paul Fadumiyo among others. An 18-member steering committee has been inaugurated by Jamodu. Various sub-committees to include contact/network, fund raising and materials collection, procurement, relief materials distribution and funds/materials audit committees were also to be inaugurated at the time of writing this report. The steering committee headed by Prince Olusola Akanmode, former Deputy Chief of Staff in the Presidency, has on its membership former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Yomi Awoniyi, Adeyemi, Melaye, Abejide, Yusuf, Speaker Mathew Kolawole, Sam Aro, Hon Sunday Karimi, former member, House of representatives for Yagba Federal Constituency and Public Policy Analyst and international consultant, Dr Ronke Bello and National President (ODA), Mr Femi Mokikan, among others. Other eminent personalities in the committee are highbrow Lagos-based management consultant, Chief Funsho Owoyemi And Director-general, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr Babatunde Irukera, among others. Federal, state and local government political office holders, elected or appointed, past and currently serving, all have roles to play in the various sub-committees, irrespective of political persuasion or party lineages. Indeed all Okun sons and daughters, in the corporate world, private businesses and public service, in the academia, home and Diaspora were called up in the “Committee of the Whole” irrespective of creed. Advertisement Advertisement The steering committee is expected to drive the process to raise funds for the purpose of buying drugs and essential commodities to be distributed to the people of the area thereby complimenting efforts of the Federal and Kogi State Governments to contain the spread of the dreaded virus in the state and the country as a whole, as well as cushion the effects of the stay-at-home order subsisting in the state. Jamodu while inaugurating the steering committee last week Wednesday via a statement he personally signed assured that the council was apolitical and would cease to exist once the objectives of the intervention have been achieved. He however emphasised that the combined humanitarian efforts should continue to serve as the symbol of Okun’s unity. He said, “Before I proceed, I consider it most appropriate to acknowledge and extol the thoughtfulness of Honourable Leke Abejide, Honorable T. J. Yusuf and Distinguished Senator Smart Adeyemi, who conceived of this timely and compelling project. I also commend those who lent support by painstakingly developing an operational manual for its smooth take off and effective implementation. “It is widely acknowledged that Coronavirus, otherwise known as Covid-19, is one of the worst pandemic that has afflicted the human race. Its ravaging effects have been felt in both rich and poor nations and its associated suffering and deaths are indiscriminate llong political, religious, geographical, ethnic or status lines. Coronavirus has radically affected not only the lives but the livelihood of our people. We are all familiar with its horrendous fall-outs like lockdown, collapse of businesses, disruption of commercial activities and their inevitable impact on the ability of our people to earn their living. That is why coronavirus and addressing its deleterious effects has become the moral equivalent of WAR. And because any of us or any of our relations is a potential victim, and we cannot tell “for whom the bell tolls” next, it has also become a matter of enlightened self-interest for everyone of us to be involved not half-heartedly, but wholeheartedly. Advertisement Advertisement “Fortunately, long before the rest of the world was forced to accept that “we are all in this together”, we as Okun people have been our brothers’ keepers. In fact, empathy, compassion and humaneness have always been among our core values. I am, therefore, confident that the present initiative designed to mitigate the disastrous effects of Covid-19 through material intervention and effective awareness campaign will be warmly embraced by all our people”. He added, “This exercise is significant not only for its expected utilitarian outcomes but as a symbol of our unity. It should therefore serve to close rather than expand our fault lines. In this regard, we should constantly bear in mind that the vulnerable and the needy amongst us are not bothered by our differences neither do they derive benefits from those differences. It is suggested that in order to jump-start this project, some Seed Money is required. We will therefore reach out immediately to our elected and appointed office holders, members of the Advisory Council and other Committee and Sub Committee members to make initial contributions to the Seed Money. In this exercise, time is of the essence. I therefore expect the Steering Committee to hit the ground running by coming up with a “Programme of Action” and timelines. “For the avoidance of doubt, both the Elders’ Council and other Committees are ad-hoc, whose functions and activities are tied wholly to the pandemic and the need to support our people during this excruciating period. The activities of the Elders’ Council and all committees will, therefore, cease once the objective of this intervention is achieved. I know that none of my colleagues on the Elders’ Advisory Council will want to get involved unless the objectives are laudable, the processes are transparent and the outcomes are impactful. I therefore implore all those involved to bear these in mind and strive to deliver results we can all be proud of”. Advertisement Advertisement In his remarks, Chairman of the newly inaugurated Steering Committee of Covid-19 Okun Relief Response Project, Prince Olusola Akanmode, said, “To the best of my knowledge, no member of the Steering Committee or the proposed Sub-Committees lobbied for their positions. We should therefore have no difficulty in demonstrating the courage of our convictions in everything we do. Any of us who has never been criticized, misunderstood or misrepresented has probably never attempted to do anything significant. Where however, our attention is drawn to any omission or commission in the course of the performance of our roles we should acknowledge same with gratitude and grace. In all that we do, let us be guided by one of the favourite credos of Chief S B Awoniyi (of blessed memory) that “there is no limit to the amount of good we can do if we do not care who takes the credit”. A variant of this credo which is also most appropriate to our present situation says that “The world is divided into those who do the work and those who seek to take the credit. Try, if you can, to be in the first group where there is very little competition.” A top politician in the opposition told The Guardian in confidence that but for coronavirus, it was inconceivable that some individuals would have reasons to hobnob so soon considering the unprecedented violence and animosity witnessed before, during and after the last election held in the state.