The crisis rocking the Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a new twist as the party Chairman in the state, Gboyega Famodun, has accused supporters of the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, of working against the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola.
Aregbesola’s faction had planned to embark on a protest in Osun and Abuja over the alleged poor leadership of Oyetola.
Reacting, the State Chairman of APC, in a statement on Tuesday, condemned the protest against the state leadership of the party and the administration of Governor Oyetola.
Famodun said the protesters lack the moral right to effect any solution on the challenges within the party, stating that it is on record that they worked massively and collectively against Oyetola in the just concluded Osun State Governorship election.
According to him, the protesters should take their agitation for restructuring of APC to Adeleke’s house since they worked for him.
He said: “When I heard that the supporters of the immediate past governor of our state, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, were protesting, I thought my memory was playing me falsely as they cannot insulate themselves from whatever might be the current plight of the APC in Osun State.
“Assuming but not conceding that there are challenges within the party, protesters should be told that they lack moral right to either suggest or effect any likely solution as it is on record that they massively and collectively worked against Oyetola.
“If I may ask, at what point did it occur to you that the political party that you had abandoned for about three years which you have been working against needs restructuring.”
The management of Kaduna State University (KASU) has resumed academic activities as it commenced second-semester exams for students.
Naija News understands that the institution had suspended its activities after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on strike action.
However, after five months of inactivity as ASUU and the federal government could not reach a good end, the school management asked students to resume for the 2020/2021 academic session.
Naija News learnt that the resumption is for the continuation of the second-semester examination for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Confirming the development while speaking to Channels Television, the acting Vice Chancellor of Kaduna State University, Prof. Abdullahi Ashafa said the school does not have any industrial dispute with the local branch of ASUU, hence there is no need to continue keeping the student at home.
The varsity Don warned that there will be severe consequences for students and lecturers who fail to resume classes as directed by the university management.
ASUU Extends Strike By Another Four Weeks
The strike embarked upon by ASUU has been extended by another four weeks.
The development was confirmed on Monday in a statement by the ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke on behalf of the union.
Naija News reports the decision to extend the strike was reached at the end of the union’s National Executive Council meeting held at its national secretariat in Abuja on Sunday and concluded in the early hours of Monday.
ASUU explained that the time extension is to allow the federal government enough time to meet their demands.
The statement signed by Osodeke reads in part: “following extensive deliberations and taking cognisance of Government’s past failures to abide by its own timelines in addressing issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MOA), NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for four weeks to give Government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.
“The role-over strike action is with effect from 12.01a.m. on Monday, 1st August, 2022.”
Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has backed the six weeks ultimatum given to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), by some federal lawmakers to find a solution to terrorism or be impeached.
Soyinka spoke on Tuesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, during an interactive session organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Abeokuta Club.
The session, which had a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana; the Registrar of the Joint Administration and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede; a lawyer, Gbenga Adeoye; a businessman, Ogo-Oluwa Bankole; and the spokesman of the Electricity Distribution Companies, Sunday Oduntan, as panellists, had as its theme “Good governance or mis-governance: The contract called democracy.”
The PUNCH reports that senators and members of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party had last week handed down the ultimatum over lingering insecurity in the country.
Soyinka, who was the session’s moderator, noted that the President should be impeached because he had breached the contract of democracy.
He said, “Democracy indicates a contract, that is why the candidate puts on a manifesto. On the basis of that manifesto, the candidate is either accepted or rejected.
Soyinka Backs Lawmakers On Buhari‘s Impeachment
“Very often, the grounds for breach of contract, I think we all agree, is mis-governance and one of the ways of breaking this kind of contract we know even before the duration of a contract is known as impeachment.
“The reason we will go by some legislators to impeach the President who is the head of government. In fact, one cleric has gone even further. He believes that the impeachment should take place not in the legislative home but in the bush with the kidnappers and he appealed to the kidnappers to quicken the process by impeaching the President and take him away and some of his aides and one or two governors.”
Soyinka, however, threw the question to the gathering whether the President should be impeached or not and majority of the people who comprised members of the club and other dignitaries raised their hands that Buhari be impeached.
He also faulted a situation where Buhari, who he said had performed abysmally to the point that lawmakers are considering impeachment, will decide who succeeds him at the end of his tenure.
He added, “In any democracy, any president, prime minister or whatever is entitled to one vote. We are not saying we should disenfranchise somebody because they are on top of governance.
“They had their right to campaign for any candidate they like but there is nothing in any constitution that I know of, in any democratic constitution, which says that the head of government should appoint his or her successor.
“I am not aware of it and this is a head of governance who is generally agreed, I believe, as having failed, having misgoverned to the point that impeachment is being considered.
“I hear the governors go to this individual, go to this failure and say to him ‘please give us your successor.’
“Many of us in this country, including governors, including chairmen of local governments, what comprehension they have of this process called democracy because what these governors are telling us is that after a failure has occupied a seat of government for eight years, that failure should give us another failure for another eight years.”
Soyinka urged the governors to stop desecrating democracy by enthroning a dynasty of failure.
Falana, in his remarks, corroborated Soyinka’s submission on the need to stop the abuse of democratic process.
He decried the imposition of leaders on Nigerians.
Oloyede, in his submission, urged Nigerians not to focus on the faults of the Federal Government but concentrate on the state governments’ involvement in the failure.
WeForGood, IHS Nigeria Boost Youth Enterprises with $250,000 Grant
From left: Yejide Aina, CEO, The Illuminator Academy; Oluwatoyin Aralepo, Director, Corporate Excellence & Programme Mgt, IHS Nigeria Ltd; Cima Sholotan, Director, Sustainability and Corporate Communications, IHS Nigeria Ltd; Martin Abraham, Asst Director, Training & Development, IHS Nigeria Ltd; Temitayo Ade-Peters, CEO, WeForGood International; Ireayo Oladunjoye, Head Startups, LSETF and Sandra Iheanacho, Human Resources Consultant at the UN World Youth Skills Day Conference themed “Promoting Eco-Focused Solutions, Africa’s Pathway To Sustainable Growth” held in Lagos at the weekend
ALagos based non-governmental organisation, WeForGood International, through the support of organisations such as IHS Nigeria, has disbursed N104 million to viable eco-friendly sustainable enterprises owned by young African entrepreneurs between 18 and 35 years.
This was disclosed last weekend in Lagos by the Chief Executive Officer of WeForGood, Ms. Temitayo Ade-Peters, during the 2022 Sustainable Solutions Africa Project Conference to mark the United Nations’ World Youth Skills Day with the theme “Promoting Eco-Focused Solutions Africa’s Pathway to Sustainable Growth.”
Ade-Peters said: “In the past three years, through our fellowship programme, we have directly supported close to 60 African startups with training and coaching and facilitated over $250,000 to promote sustainable solutions on the continent.
“We’ve reached about 1,400 youths and entrepreneurs exploring skills for impact to further scale their reach. The start-ups we support run for-profit and not-for-profit businesses addressing one or more areas of the SDGs.”
She said that the conference was focused on innovative solutions that addressed SDG-focused environmental challenges and to provide strategies that would help youths to harness and maximise their skills and talents in response to the increasing call for climate actions, adding that “every young person here will leave this conference well inspired to embrace and explore opportunities to build a sustainable Africa.”
She said that enterprises that qualified for funding from the organisation must be economically viable and have eco-solutions projects that would enhance environmental sustainability.
She also said that “through the support of IHS Nigeria, we have opportunity for young people to get up to N3 million to support their individual projects” that could be used to create sustainable solutions to solve Africa’s problems.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), HE, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, in her special remark during the conference said that the participation of youth in the advocacy for a real shift is essential in order to combat climate change.
Orelepe-Adefulire said: “Government, private sector and civil society must all look towards young people, as we aim to strengthen both formal and informal education on climate change and viable lifestyles. In addition, sustainable production and consumption patterns must be promoted and supported by the youth as environmental champions in their local communities.”
She added that “we are partnering with UNDP to launch six SDG Innovation Hubs across the country which will prioritise the engagement of young people as catalysts for innovative technical, technological and business solutions to help us accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.”
A panelist during the conference, who is also a Human Resources Consultant, Mrs. Sandra Iheanacho, said that education is very essential to produce young Nigerian entrepreneurs that would become job creators.
Iheanacho said: “To take care of tomorrow we have to prepare by taking care of the education of our youths that are capable to create jobs.”
The Chief Executive Officer of The Illuminator’s Academy, Ms. Yejide Aina, who was among the panelists during the conference, said that Nigerian youths need quality educational curriculum that would equip them with innovative and entrepreneurial capacity to create economic opportunities in the country’s economy.
Another panelist who is the Head, Startups, Lagos Innovates LSETF, Ms. Ireayo Oladunjoye, tasked young entrepreneurs to acquire skills that would imbue them with leadership skills to influence their environment.
The Director, Corporate Excellence and Programme Management at IHS Nigeria, Ms. Oluwatoyin Aralepo, advised the young entrepreneurs to base their entrepreneurial development on three leadership ladders of personal vision, higher standard and influence.
Aralepo said: “Leadership has to be strategic and patient to be able to carry all members of the team along to achieve the group’s objectives.”
Apart from the intellectual discussions that gave participants a rich time of learning and networking opportunities, the conference, anchored by the delectable Woli Arole, also featured other side attractions such as entertainment, quizzes and raffle draws with amazing gifts such as laptops, home gadgets among others won by attendees.
Interested participants can register to apply for the next cohort of the Sustainable Solutions Africa Fellowship Program for free by visiting this link https://bit.ly/SSAfricaFellowship2022 and more information is available on WeForGood’s website: www.weforgood.org.
AFRIMA 2022: Entry Submissions End In 3 Days…Who Will Lead Africa’s Groove?
IT’S three days till the closing of the entry submission portal for the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) 2022. Entry submission deadline remains Friday, August 5, 2022. If you are an entertainer, or you are acting on behalf of one, don’t lose out on a chance to #WINITALL by submitting your song/video.
LIRS Set To Launch Whistle-Blower Initiative August 5
The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) is set to launch its Whistle-Blower initiative, a state-wide project, introduced to provide a platform for employees, stakeholders and the general public to report any observed violation, misconduct, or unethical behaviour across the state on Friday, August 5, 2022.
In a public notice signed by the LIRS Executive Chairman, Ayodele Subair, the Whistle-Blower initiative is a public policy of the State Government to encourage reporting of illegal actions or financial crimes, through the appropriate channel, with a view to correcting the violations or non-compliance.
According to the LIRS boss, “In line with the LIRS core values of integrity and accountability and our commitment to uphold the highest standards of openness, probity and accountability in our dealings with stakeholders, the platform is anonymous and confidential and it is independently managed by Deloitte, a globally accredited company.”
“The objective of the Whistle-Blower initiative is to guarantee transparency, accountability, and confidentiality to all taxpayers and stakeholders in general.
“The policy is designed to protect whistle-blowers from victimization and to encourage them to freely report without fear,” Subair submitted.
The launch of the Whistle-Blower initiative is scheduled to take place at the Protea Select Hotel, Assibifi Road, Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos.
Osun State Police Command on Tuesday said the corpse of a 65-year-old woman, declared missing in Ilesa, was found on her farm with one of her eyes plucked.
SP Yemisi Opalola, Osun Police Spokesperson in a statement, explained that the daughter of the deceased reported the discovery of her mother’s corpse to the police.
She said, “At about 1.00 p.m on Monday, One Dare Oluyemi of Odundun Area Ilesa reported that her mother, Oluyemi Tunmise, 65, who the family had been searching for since Saturday, had been found dead.
“She said her mother was found dead with one of her eyes removed by yet-to-be-identified assailants on her farm at Fadahunsi Area of Ilesa, at about 11.30 a.m on Monday.”
Opalola said the police had visited the scene of the crime and had taken photographs.
She said the complainant that reported the incident and the other children of the deceased, however, refused the police to take the body of their mother to the mortuary or carry out further investigation.
She said they threatened to unleash violence and that they wished to bury the corpse.
The United States army has successfully conducted a counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan leading to the killing of the emir of al-Qa’ida: Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The US President, Joe Biden, announced this in a national address.
Biden claimed that al-Zawahiri served as deputy and number 2 to Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attack on US soil that took the lives of over 2,000 people in one-day.
He said that US intelligence showed that the target planned the attack against US alongside Bin Laden.
Writing on his Facebook page on Tuesday morning, Biden vowed that no matter how long it takes, the US will continue to ensure that justice is served against all enemies of the state.
He wrote,” On Saturday, at my direction, the United States successfully conducted an airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed the emir of al-Qa’ida: Ayman al-Zawahiri.
“Justice has been delivered.
“The United States continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the American people against those who seek to do us harm.
“No matter how long it takes.
No matter where you try to hide.
We will find you.
“I made a promise to the American people that we’d continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, on Monday met with some governors elected on the platform of the ruling party.
Tinubu met with the governors at his residence in Lagos to strategise ahead 2023 general election.
The vice presidential candidate of the ruling party, Kassim Shettima was also in attendance during the meeting.
The Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Jigawa State Governor, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje were among the APC governors in attendance at the meeting.
At the time of filing this report, the details of the meeting were not disclosed.
The APC presidential candidate is hoping to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari at the end of his Tenure in 2023.
Tinubu would be contesting against the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, the flagbearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso and other candidates in 2023.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has made a fresh appointment.
Naija News reports Atiku appointed Ms. Lynne Bassey as Special Assistant on Gender Issues and Women Advancement.
The appointment is in furtherance of his commitment to women and youths empowerment, his media adviser, Paul Ibe told our newsroom via a mailed statement on Monday.
The statement noted that “Ms. Bassey is an alumnus of both University of Calabar where she is currently pursuing a Doctorate degree in Development Sociology and the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Business School.
“Her appointment as Special Assistant will make the fifth to be announced by the PDP presidential candidate in the past few weeks.”
It added that “Ms. Bassey’s appointment is in keeping with the promise by Atiku Abubakar to reserve a good percentage of his appointment, if elected President, for women and youths.”
