OSUN APPEALS RAPE CASE AGAINST MONARCH

Osun State Government has appealed the judgment of High court which acquitted the traditional ruler, Alowa of Ilowa Ijesha, Oba Adebukola Alli who was charged for allegedly raping a female member of the National youth Service Corps (NYSC), Miss Helen Okpara.

The monarch was alleged to have raped the ex corps member at his private house in Osogbo, the state capital. The case which suffered long adjournment was eventually dismissed by Justice Jide Falola on the ground that the case was not proved.
However, Osun state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state, Hon. Wale Afolabi in a statement issued by the information officer of the Ministry, Mr Bello Opeyemi said the ministry has filed
an appeal against the judgment at the Court of Appeal, Akure, Ondo state

OSUN EX COMMISSIONER DECLARES GOVERNORSHIP AMBITION UNDER LABOUR PARTY

The former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General in Osun state
during the last administration, Barrister Niyi Owolade has formally
declared his intention to contest for governorship election in the
state next year on the platform of the Labour Party (LP).

AREGBESOLA SEEKS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY APPROVAL TO CREATE 27 NEW LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS

Osun state Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola

Osun state Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola has sought the approval of the state House of Assembly to create 27 new Local Government Areas in the state.

The Governor who presented an executive bill for the creation of the
new Local Government Areas to be called Local Council Development Areas before the house said the decision to create the new councils was to ensure development of all the nooks and crannies of the state.

He said the state government had earlier set up a committee headed by former Speaker of the house, Professor Mojeed Alabi on the creation of the new councils in line with sections seven and eight of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). While urging the house to give positive consideration to the bill, the
Governor noted that the new councils would operate a parliamentary system of government in order to avoid financial constraints.

AFENIFERE WARNS AGAINST ELECTION RIGGING IN OSUN, EKITI

Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), has warned against manipulation of the 2014 governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti States, saying it would fight to safeguard the nation’s democracy.

The National Chairman of the group, Mr Olawale Oshun, who gave the warning while addressing journalists in Osogbo, the state capital, said ARG would not relent in protecting the interest of all the Yoruba speaking states.
He said the group would resist any form of impediment to the growth and sustenance of democracy in the country.
The group, he said, is monitoring and assessing the performance of the governors in the South-West states. According to ARG, the nation’s return to democracy in 1999 had restored the Southwest region to the path of people-oriented developmental governance, noting that the coming together of Southerners and Northerners in the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a political platform was a good development.
Olawale also said a committee set up by ARG to access the performance of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has submitted its reports in which the current administration in Osun State was discovered to have performed well.
 “What we saw is evidence of development. We can feel development and development is about the people. We visited some of the projects being executed by the current administration in the state and we observed that many of these projects are meant for the future generation,” he said.

SENATOR SCOLDS JONATHAN OVER DELAY IN PRESENTATION OF 2014 BUDGET

The Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District, Professor Sola Adeyeye, has described the delay in the presentation of the 2014 budget as presidential inefficiency just as he described President Goodluck Jonathan for lacking vision to lead the country.
While disbursing over 50 million naira to 3,500 people drawn from the ten local government areas in his senatorial district, Adeyeye lamented that the level of poverty in the country is so worrisome and blamed the President Jonathan led administration for not addressing the problem of poverty in the country.
According to him, the level of poverty in the land is too terrible and this compelled him to disburse money to people in his constituency to alleviate their suffering. He frowned that President Jonathan has been given various excuses for not presenting the 2014 budget and posited that is inefficient.
His words “the entirety of Nigeria is a conglomeration of poor people. I felt I must give something to my people. Instead of buying bags of rice and chicken for them, I feel that I should give them a token so that they can do whatever they want with the money. There are 35,000 beneficiaries and each of them got 15,000.
“Initially, my intention was to make it a micro-credit scheme but the banking law and procedures delayed the programme. I’m happy that the people are happy with this gesture. I will still put the micro-credit scheme in place. As long as I’m alive, I will do everything within my power to serve my people well”, he added.
He said Nigeria  has experienced endless decay and stagnation from the Peoples Democratic Party led federalgovernemt. Adeyeye bemoaned “Everyone has seen that what we have at the top in this country is leadership without vision. People aresaying enough is enough”.
He continued “The president is making one excuse or the other for not presenting the 2014 budget. For me, it is an exercise in presidential  inefficiency. That’s one of the decay we are talking about in this country”.
On the face-off between FG and the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, Adeyeye who is also the Chairman of Senate committee on Education said he usually weeps anytime he sees what is happening to Nigeria’s education sector. “I went through public schools in this country, and it served me well but unfortunately we are not serving the next generation well. We will soon solve ASUU problem. I believe that
the end is in sight”

AFENIFERE VOWS TO RESIST IMPEDIMENT TO SUSTENANCE OF DEMOCRACY

The Yoruba socio-political group under the aegis of Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, has vowed that it would not relent in safeguarding people-oriented developmental governance in the Yorubaland and also pledged to resist any form of impediment to the growth and sustenance
of democracy in the country.

Addressing a press conference in Osogbo on the efforts of ARG inmonitoring the performance of governors in the South-West states, the
National Chairman of the group, Mr. Olawale Oshun said the group is poised to protect the interest of Yorubas people of South-West and all Yoruba speaking state including, Kwara, Kogi, Edo and Itsekiri in Delta State. ARG said the nation’s return to democracy in 1999 restored the Southwest region to path of people oriented developmental governance and noted that the coming together of Southerners and Northerners in All Progressives Congress (APC) as a political platform was a good development.

‘How we improved our revenue in Osun’ - Osun Commissioner for finance, Dr. Samuel Adewale Bolorunduro

Dr. Samuel Adewale Bolorunduro is the Osun State Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning and Budget. In this interview with GBENGA ADERANTI, he explains the guiding principles of the government of the state under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, among other issues Excerpts:

TRADITIONAL WORSHIPPERS FAULT CAN OVER ATTACK ON AREGBESOLA’S EDUCATION POLICY

Traditional Religious Worshippers in Osun State have warned the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) against attack on the merger and reclassification policy of the government of Osun State.

The worshippers at a press conference addressed yesterday by their President, Chief Idowu Awopetu in Osogbo noted that CAN should be cautioned to desist from action that could derail the laudable programme of government aimed at transforming education to a greater height in the State.Awopetu said it was wrong for CAN to claim ownership of any public school in the State since it is a matter of public knowledge that since the takeover of ownership of schools by the government in1975, government also took over the responsibility of staffing, administration and provision of infrastructure in the schools.
His words: “We challenge the leadership of CAN to give evidence of contribution of even a kobo for the upkeep of these schools. It is shameless that these elements in the CAN leadership are coming forward to lay claim to the schools that have been left to rot by all before
Governor Aregbesola decided to fulfill his promise of providing qualitative education to all the children of Osun, irrespective of creed or religion”.
“In this regard, we have observed tremendous investment of Aregbesola’s Government in educational infrastructure. Our public schools are now attractive for learning and more students are leaving private schools to be part of the revolution that is taking place in our public schools. Gone is the era where our public schools are not fit for animal husbandry”. He said.
Chief Awopetu expressed shock and dismay that CAN asserted that the reclassification exercise is capable of triggering terrorism in the state saying that the leadership of CAN ought to be mindful of their language especially when such utterances can fan the ember of discord in the state.
He urged security agencies in the state to invite the leadership of CAN with a view to investigating this claim: “In view of the grave implications of the alarmist claim of the CAN Chairman for the immediate security of lives and property in the State, we hereby call
on security operatives to, as a matter of urgency, invite leadership of CAN with a view to investigating this claim and if found to be untrue should henceforth warn them to stop spreading lies that can put this state in turmoil.”
The President insisted that religious tolerance is the hallmark of the Yoruba people saying: “there is hardly any home in Yoruba land, State of Osun inclusive, where you will not find adherents of all the three dominant religion. This, notwithstanding, has not created a wedge between us as a people rather we co-exist peacefully with mutual respect for one another”.
The traditionalists called on citizens of the State to prevail on CAN leadership to maintain peace adding that the state has enjoyed tremendous peace in the last three years of administration of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.

MANDELA: CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD PASSES ON

He was very old and very frail, was in and out of hospital for many months, was unable to speak and was out of the public view in recent years. Yet, the death last night of Nelson Rolilahla Mandela must have registered a maximum 10 on the political equivalent of the Richter scale.

Throughout the years when we were growing up, Nelson Mandela was referred to by Nigerian as well as foreign newspapers as “the world’s most famous political prisoner.” In our intellectual discussion circles during the 1980s, we often said that release from Robben Island and later Pollsmoor Prisons could be dangerous for Nelson Mandela because no one could possibly live up to that legendary image if he were out in the open. How wrong we were. Within a few years of his release, Mandela graduated from being a famous anti-apartheid prisoner to becoming the conscience of the world.

ABDUCTED OSUN INDUSTRIALIST, YINKA OBA, REGAINS FREEDOM

Relief has  come the way of relatives of an Osun based industrialist, Mrs. Yinka Obaleye known as Yinka Oba as her abductors finally released her after spending  about two weeks in their den.
Obaleye was abducted while returning home from her company on November 19, 2013 by yet to-be identified gang of armed men. Her driver, Alhaji Tajudeen was shot dead on the spot while trying  to shield the woman from the kidnappers and had since been buried according to Islamic
rites.
The industrialist according to sources was recovered at Akoko in Ondo state where she was abandoned along with her car in a nearby bush in the town.
Osun State Police Commissioner, Mrs. Dorothy Gimba through the Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, confirmed the freedom of the industrialist. She explained that the industrialist was abandoned at
the spot in the wee hours of today.
According to the PPRO, the woman walked her way to a nearby police station where she reported herself before the Ondo Police Command which contacted its counterpart in Osun on the development.
As at the time she was released to the Osun Police Command, it was gathered that the victim was very weak to narrate her ordeal in the hands of her abductors to the security operatives.
She was immediately rushed to an undisclosed hospital in Ilesa, Osun State for medical attention. As at the time she was abducted, the victim had malaria and was said to be a diabetic patient.
The Assitant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 11, David
Olufemi Omojola, had on Thursday hinted that the state command had increased the level of policing in Osun to curb kidnapping and other criminal activities.

Aregbesola being welcome Gbangbadekun by the people of Ilesha 2

Governor Rauf Aregbesola in a motorcade being welcome by the people of Ilesha today for the Gbangbadekun Townhall meeting. Thursday 5th December 2013.

Aregbesola being welcome Gbangbadekun by the people of Ilesha

Governor Rauf Aregbesola in a motorcade being welcome by the people of Ilesha today for the Gbangbadekun Townhall meeting. Thursday 5th December 2013.

DEFECTION: TUKUR BEGS PDP SENATORS

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday met with Senate President David Mark and other Senators of the party at the National Assembly complex where he reportedly pleaded with them not to defect to the All Progressives Congress, Daily Trust can reveal.

IGP DEPLOYS CRACK TEAM TO FISH OUT KIDNAPPERS OF OSUN INDUSTRIALIST

Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar

The Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar has deployed crack team of detectives from the Force Headquarters, Abuja to fish out the suspected abductors of an industrialist and founder of Yinka Oba Foam, Chief Mrs. Yinka Obaleye and free her from her hostage.

PARENTS THREATEN MASS PROTEST OVER ASUU STRIKE

Parents of university students in the country have threatened to embark on a two million people mass protest to the Aso Rock in Abuja if the federal government and Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) fail to reconcile and end the ASUU strike quickly.
The chairman of the National Association of Parents Teachers Association, South West chapter, Pastor Julius Olaribigbe while addressing a press conference in Osogbo declared that parents will also embark on hunger strike if the ASUU strike continues.
He lamented that majority on university undergraduate in Nigeria university are not very brilliant event when the universities were not closed and wondered what will happen to the students not that they are idle. He said the protest against the federal government will be massive.

ARMY COMMENCES EXERCISE ‘BLACK TIGER,’ ADVICE AGAINST PUBLIC PANIC

Nigerian Army

The Nigerian army has said its head quarters garrison will commence a field training exercise “Black tiger,” in the area of Sabon Wuse along Abuja-Jere Kaduna expressway from Monday 9th to Thursday 12th December 2013.