Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 11th July 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 11/07/20
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E2%80%99s-refusal-pay BREAKING: Ondo Civil Servants Threaten To Embark On Strike Over State Government’s Refusal To Pay Accumulated Salary Arrears
Civil servants in Ondo State have threatened to embark on a strike action over the refusal of the state government to pay some of their emoluments.
The government workers made the threat in a letter written to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in Akure, the state capital.
The letter was signed by the union’s Chairman, Olubunmi Fabunmi, and Secretary, Olomiye Kehinde.
The workers under the Joint Public Service Negotiations Council are demanding that the state government pay their outstanding December 2016 and 2017 salary arrears.
They are also asking the government to pay their 2018 and 2019 leave bonuses including their salary deductions from February to June 2020.
In the letter obtained by SaharaReporters, the workers said they would abandon work starting from next week Wednesday if the state government failed to address their demands.
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*-survive-%E2%80%93united-nations Many Refugees In Africa Using Transactional S** To Survive –United Nations
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Two United Nations Organisations – the World Food Programme and United Nations High Commission for Refugees – in a joint statement said that many displaced persons across the continent were engaging in transactional s** to feed daily.
The two agencies said this in a humanitarian appeal on Thursday.
The WFP said it requires more than $600m to meet its commitment to refugee settlements in Congo DR, Ethiopia, Nigeria and other African countries for the next six months where food prices have jumped massively – 15 per cent in Congo DR for instance.
The UNHCR on the other hand said it needs $227m to catch up with its own obligations in Africa.
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“In some cases, refugees are resorting to begging, transactional s** or early or forced marriages to be able to afford food,” the report said.
“Globally, WFP needs more than $1.2bn to support refugees globally for the next six months, just over half is for operations in Africa.
“As part of the broader UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19, UNHCR requires $745m for life-saving interventions, of which $227m is for operations in Africa.”
The agencies said in their joint statement that the increase in food prices has forced many to start skipping meals or going out to beg.
In the Republic of Congo, the average price of a basic food basket has increased by 15 per cent, while in Rwanda, around refugee camps, food prices were already on average 27 per cent higher in April compared to a year earlier, and 40 per cent higher than in 2018.
Many refugees are resorting to negative coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals or reducing meal portions.
The agencies said they were already stretched and have started rationing out their resources between the needy and vulnerable populations they cater to.
According to the report, cuts in rations are expected for Nigerian refugees in the country, while across East Africa, congestion at borders linked to COVID-19 have created congestion, delaying vital aid and trade flow.
Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNHCR and its partner agencies, worked to build four settlements in cross river and Benue for refugees displaced by a secession conflict between the English and French speaking regions of Cameroon.
Head of RemaCare, one of the UNHCR’s Nigerian partners, Eric Shu, told SaharaReporters the pandemic had made it difficult to construct more shelters for displaced Southern Cameroonians.
“Currently, we have one new settlement in Benue and three in Ogoja (Cross river),” Shu said.
“When COVID-19 came up, we had to build emergency shelters. The challenge of getting cements and other building materials has forced us to put constructing permanent shelters on hold.”
Shu said the refugees are given cash based interventions per household, to help meet their feeding needs and leave them with some left over for petty trading.
Although he did not state the average amount given to each family, he added that the Cross River State Government, the UN agency and its partners had provided support for farming as well.
The little gains made by the UNHCR, the WFP and their partners are under threat from COVID-19 and might be entirely lost.
“While the situation continues to deteriorate for everyone, the disaster is magnified for refugees who have absolutely nothing to cushion their fall,” said WFP Executive Director, David Beasley.
“In the best of times, refugees live in cramped conditions, struggle to meet their basic needs and often have no option but to rely on outside assistance for their survival. Now more than ever, they need our lifesaving support,” he added.
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Jada Pinkett Smith Confirms Relationship With Musician, August Alsina, While Married To Will Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of actor, Will Smith, has admitted to dating musician, August Alsina, while she was still married to her husband
The 48-year-old sat down for a tell-all conversation on her Facebook show, Red Table Talk, and revealed she developed a friendship with August around four years ago.
She said around the same time, the married couple were going through a ‘difficult time’ and they had ‘basically’ broken up.
Jada explained that the couple met August through their son, Jaden, and said the singer, who would have been 23 at the time, was ‘really sick’ at the time.
“And it all started with him just needing some help, me wanting to help his health, his mental state.
“The outpouring for him from our family was initially about his health,” she said. “We found all those different resources to help pull him through and from there you and I were going through a very difficult time.”
Will, according to a report by Daily Mail UK, interjected sharply, saying, “I was done with you.”
Jada explained they decided to separate for a ‘period of time’.
“And then what did you do, Jada?” Will asked.
“As time went on, I got into a different type of entanglement with August,” Jada explained.
The mother-of-two went on to say she wanted to respond to August’s claim that Will gave her ‘permission’ to have an affair.
“The only person that can give permission in that circumstance is myself.
“But what August was probably trying to communicate because I could see how he could see it as permission because we were separated amicably, and I think he wanted to make it clear he’s not a homewrecker because he’s not,” she added.
When Will asked Jada to clarify what she meant by ‘entanglement’, she responded, “It was a relationship, absolutely.”
Jada continued, “I was in a lot of pain, and I was very broken. In the process of that relationship I definitely realised that you can’t find happiness outside yourself.”
She explained the couple were going through a process of healing.
“I just wanted to feel good, It had been so long since I felt good… and it felt really good to just help heal somebody,” she said.
August told The Breakfast Club’s Angela Yee that he was in love with Jada and said, “I sat down with Will (Smith) and had a conversation due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership… he gave me his blessing.”
August said the two became very close and holidayed together with the family in Hawaii a year later and they even attended the 2017 BET Awards together.
He said, “I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life, and I truly and really, really deeply love and have a ton of love for her.
“I devoted myself to it, I gave my full self to it, so much so to the point that I can die right now and be okay with knowing that I truly gave myself to somebody.
“And I really loved a person, I experienced that and I know what that feels like, and some people never get that in this lifetime.
“I know that I am completely blessed and this conversation is difficult because it is so much that it would be hard for people to understand but, once it starts to affect me and my livelihood, I have to speak up about my truth.”
Jada has been married to Will since 1997, they are parents to Jaden and daughter, Willow, 19.
Will has a son, Trey, 27, from his marriage to Sheree Zampino, 53.
Jada had previously denied rumours that she and Will are in an open relationship and said they will never divorce.
Will has previously said that the couple no longer use the ‘married’ title but refer to each other as ‘life partners’.
“We don’t even say we’re married anymore,” he told BET in 2018.
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FBI Acted Illegally, Kidnapped Hushpuppi From Dubai, Says Lawyer
Gal Pissetzky, legal representative to Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas Olorunwa widely known as Hushpuppi, has claimed that his client was “kidnapped” from Dubai by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Hushpuppi is facing multimillion-dollar fraud and money laundering charges in Los Angeles.
The Chicago-based lawyer argued that the Dubai Police should have extradited Abbas to Nigeria as a citizen of the country and not to the US, adding that the UAE had no extradition treaty with the US.
He said on Friday, “In my opinion, the FBI and the government here acted illegally when they kidnapped him (Hushpuppi) from Dubai without any legal process to do so.
“There was no extradition, there were no legal steps taken, there were no court documents filed, it was simply a call to the FBI. He is not a citizen of the United States, the US had absolutely no authority to take him.
“If Dubai wanted to expel him, they should have expelled him back to Nigeria. I’ve never heard of anything like that. That is the real story here.”
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Hushpuppi, Woodberry Extradited To United States After Arrest In Dubai
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation had accused Hushpuppi of conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from frauds known as Business Email Compromise and other scams.
If convicted, he risks serving at least 20 years in prison in the United States.
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E2%80%93-rejoinder-oladimeji-alo Bola Tinubu, Ibrahim Magu, The Cabal And 2023 – A Rejoinder By Oladimeji Alo
I read this piece with keen interest, as it followed the tradition of some critics who closely watch developments in the Nigerian political scene and are quick to fit emerging events in pigeon holes they had previously created. There appears to me a grand theory or hypothesis that has been constructed and there is a tendency to fit emerging data into that construct, however tough that attempts becomes.
In presenting this rejoinder, I must state that I am not qualified to defend Bola Tinubu (BAT) or Ibrahim Magu. I also do not have sufficient knowledge of the operations of cabals to come to their defense. I must state also that I am not a fan of BAT nor his brand of politics. I have only seen him from a distance and in a crowd. I have no personal or professional acquaintance with him or Magu. I really don’t have to have such acquaintances to raise the issues I have chosen to raise in this piece.
Running through the piece by Remi, I identified seven key issues, allegations and claims worthy of interrogation, purely on their intellectual merit and value propositions. I will attempt to take up each of these issues in some order for ease of comprehension.
1. The essay appears to presume Magu guilty, in his current travail, even before his arraignment or trial before a court of competent jurisdiction.
I consider that declaration of guilt a little hasty and unfair. A man is presumed innocent until found guilty. Magu, like anyone else deserves that presumption of innocence.
2. That Magu’s appointment as Acting Chairman of EFCC was influenced (nominated) by BAT.
I wonder what is wrong in nominating someone into a public office, if the fellow nominating believes in the competence and integrity of the nominee. If truly, BAT nominated Magu for office five years ago, what moral obligation does he have to supervise the work of Magu to ensure that Magu walks the straight and narrow path on his desk? Even if Magu were BAT’s son, he, Magu, would have to carry his cross in office, once he is over 18 years old.
3. That the refusal of Saraki and the Senate he led to confirm Magu as EFCC Chairman had to do with Saraki’s grouse with BAT.
This, for me, is pure speculation. Magu was not confirmed on account of damaging report from DSS. But, in his own defense, Magu was able to prove that his ordeal with the senate was purely political and had nothing to do with his fitness for office. He showed two letters from DSS signed by the same officer on the same date, with glaring contradictions to prove that point. One of the reports cleared Magu, the other did not. Up till today, DSS is yet to explain that glaring inconsistency.
4. That Magu, like Osinbajo, Fowler and Oshiomhole, have been removed or humiliated in office in a grand design to stop BAT from contesting the presidency in 2023. Or, that Femi Falana failed in his bid to become AG of the Federation because he was backed by BAT.
While this conspiracy theory is plausible, it has to be rigorously scrutinized. In my view, the responsibility of anyone who recommends the other for any public office ends once the fellow so recommended is confirmed. Are we suggesting that if any of BAT’s nominees run foul of the law, such an individual should not be called into account, so as to avoid the action being seen as targeted at his sponsor. That to me would be counter-productive. Osibajo, Fowler, Oshiomhole or Magu would have to account for their actions and conduct in office in their own right as professionals and politicians. We should not link everything to a grand design to demystify BAT.
5. I will not comment on the allegation that Oshiomhole worked with Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu of INEC in the 2019 elections to favour any party as I have no information on that.
6. That BAT consistently betrayed the Yoruba people because his words were not heard in the crisis in Ketu, Ile-Ife, Akure and on RUGA.
If my memory serves me right, BAT issued statements on each and every one of those crises. What anyone could say was that his statements on each issue did not meet the expectations of those who wanted him to do more. My view is that every leader is free to choose his own approach to a crisis, based on his assessment of the appropriateness of time, space and strategy.
7. That BAT is not enthusiastic on the issue of Yoruba nation. Rather, all he wants is power for himself.
I believe that as popular as the call for restructuring of Nigeria is, as appealing as the concept of a Yoruba nation is, no one should consider anyone who do not share the enthusiasm currently building on that concept to be any less a Yoruba man. Yorubas are known to be highly educated, principled and liberal. Thus, it is inconceivable that all Yorubas would support the creation of a Yoruba nation with the same passion. We should leave room to accommodate some notable Yorubas who have their reservations on the project or those who claim that that project could not be a panacea of all the problems that plague us as an ethnic group.
Finally, I would plead that we recognize the achievements BAT recorded in the last 20 years, even when we disagree with his person or his politics. On one hand, we condemn those who claim they have a divine right to rule Nigeria for ever, on another, we demonize those from other regions who are working hard to position themselves for the job. The question is: what exactly do we want?
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From Crude Oil To COVID Oil By Gbenro Olajuyigbe
Gbenro Olajuyigbe
‘Governance is ruled by greed; and corruption has become its tool, our ‘leaders’, its prophets! -Gbenro Olajuyigbe in ‘Why Terror & Grief Grow’
Sixty years after independence and over 50 years after it struck oil on her land, Nigeria still wholesomely export crude oil while importing refined petrol from even countries that have no clues to how oil is explored and exploited.
With governments with legendary records of aversion to transparency and accountability, she continues to run on this high track of graft powered economic race to perdition. It is however not all sour taste! A professor at the helm of affairs at the National Raw Material Research and Development Agency recently broke the ‘good news’ of our breakthrough in developing a ‘Kilishi’ Making Technology by the research agency that had existed for almost four decades. This is a grand testimony to the grinding mill of corruption that has taken the nation to the threshing floor of the thrashing mill. Nigeria is not only about crude oil. There something worse than that. Its crude rulers have halted the journey of her destiny and turned her to a huge joke in the comity of nations. Most tragic is that many of her citizens are trapped by the hemorrhoid that they can no longer differentiate between a stimulated governance and real good governance. They are victims of bad governance induced prolonged stress disorder. The burden of trauma has taken thoughtfulness away. It has driven logic into mire of survival; and cast out courage from hitherto men and women of courage. Voice of reason has departed the rulers, voice of courage has died in the people; living the rulers with wide field to expand their penchant for greed and insatiable appetite for graft. Oil resources mismanage in the last fifty years is enough to bring Nigeria’s development to that of Britain or conservatively, the level of an average state in Europe. Bare theft, looting, misappropriation, embezzlement, stealing, among others are frequently encountered words in Nigeria’s daily lexicon. These are frequently used when you discuss Nigeria’s petro-economy, the military and the terror war in the North- East, the Banditry in the North- West and North -Central. They are ubiquitous on the streets of South West, South -South and South- East while Abuja remains the epicenter. Ask yourself what the Service Chiefs are still doing in the theatre of war with high turnover of casualties among civilians and the military?
The kindly Tolerance of Service Chiefs by the President in times of palpable despair and hopelessness does not add value to decision process. ‘Your best is not good enough’ supposedly presidential warning is a statement for a worker on 6-month probation. It is not good enough for Armed Trojans whose incompetence has turned houses of joy to houses of mourning in the last 5 years! Every misfortune has become template for corruption in the hands of our rulers. We bashed Goodluck’s government for his Goat and Yam theory of corruption. Today, the evil continue to expand under a government that continues to wear the cloths on integrity on skeleton of graft. Something is telling me now that Goodluck is somewhere, patiently laughing at Integrity, a new Specie of Goat that eats Yam, roasted with humanitarian peeper and COVID oil! What is now left, if the NDDC’s Interim Management Committee members appointed to halt corruption and who do not fall in the category of vulnerable persons could say they spent 1.5 billion Naira on themselves because of COVID? Do you now blame ordinary Nigerians that say “No COVID, na just to chop money?”
Gbenro Olajuyigbe
Little wonder it was said that COVID started as a disease in China, it became epidemic when it got to Europe. When it got United States, it became Pandemic. The moment it reached Nigeria, it became business. Suddenly, they have shifted from Crude Oil to COVID Oil! The price of crude oil has fallen in global market but the stock of COVID keeps on rising grievingly and dastardly! Harvest is high from the viral death but that is hardly their concerns. Their bull eye target is what is in it for them. The jungle has matured and their trap has caught one of their own specie. A hunter has been hunted down, wounded and licking his wounds. The darkest hour in the life of any government is when its Angel is discovered to be the first born of Satan. Those who were drumming for him to dance naked have disappeared into thin air. Now that there’s rumble in the jungle, where are the dirty Jim NGOs, grandstanding as Anti- corruption banner raisers, using the mangled man as canon folder for their own iniquities? Magu might not have gotten much right as EFCC Chairman, his professorial thesis of ‘Corruption as the COVID’ is particular relevant in the season of thoughtless National Response that has heightened more risk than it was set up to reduce. What type of shitty National Response is this? Last week you asked students in Examination Classes to resume. This week you declared that Unity Schools will not be part of resumption. So, other Nigerian school kids not in Unity Schools should walk into their graves?
It is a harmful easy response strategy for a Minister of Education to contemplate closing school as long as COVID lasts in a disaster whose ultimate solution depends on learning, research and development. What the National Response Team should do in respect of education and school activities is to; Map Vulnerability of children in school, identify enablers and inhibiters of safety with the contexts of COVID’s characteristics and characterization of child’s group behavioral pattern. Then after, plan for vulnerability and risk reduction, respond to emerging threats within protection model that addresses issues of prevention, environment building and plan for remedial actions. We must come up with adaptive strategy that responds to child’s vulnerability in the contexts of COVID. Front teach and front load students with lesson notes through WhatsApp or other simple but appropriate technology or media aids. Plan revision, reduce school time and shorten length of stay for examination period. Also, stagger and alternate classes during examination period. We must never place our fate in the hands of the virulent virus. Most miserable and most hopeless people I know are those who think they are helpless in any situation. Those who throw their hands on their heads seeking salvation from the same people who dumped them into nadir of shithole they found themselves. Something tells me that Nigerians have taken ownership of such dangerous fate. COVID can’t change anything in land of people who won’t change their indolence. Nigerians have the duty of salvaging their country. Wake up, with more efforts, we shall conquer. The kingdom of holy Rogues and pious criminals sustained by pillar of fraudulent integrity is collapsing. Where are the Masons, the Bricklayers and the Irredeemable Abobakus? Hope beckons!
Gbenro Olajuyigbe is the Executive Director of Emergency & Risk Alert Initiative
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BREAKING: Nigeria Immigration Service Prevents 58 Doctors From Boarding Aircraft To United Kingdom Over Lack Of Visa
The Nigeria Immigration Service has stopped 58 doctors, who attempted travelling to the United Kingdom on an aircraft with registration number ENT 550.
Sunday James, NIS Public Relations Officer, in a statement on Friday said 56 of the doctors had no visa for entry into the United Kingdom.
“The 58 medical doctors were refused departure in line with Section 31 subsection 2a and b, on powers conferred on the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service by the Immigration Act 2015, to prohibit departure of any person under the conditions stated in the Act.
“The chartered flight approved for landing in Nigeria was to carry 42 medical doctors for a training program but they were 58 with only two having visa for entry into UK, a situation that calls for refusal of departure.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service as the agency saddled with control of entry and departure from Nigeria of persons will not allow individuals or groups of well-educated Nigerians who should know the procedures for travelling out of their country and the requirements, which include having a valid visa for entry into a destination country to leave.
“This is to avoid refusal of entry and repatriation back to Nigeria amidst COVID-19 pandemic and spreading of same as well as flouting the Federal Government’s directive on restriction of international flights unless for essential reason as approved by government.
“There is no official communication to the Service from the Ministry of Health in Nigeria or any known medical body notifying the NIS of the travel of this number of medical doctors. The aircraft has departed for London without the medical doctors.
“The Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, is taking this opportunity to advise Nigerians to always adhere to travel protocols and ensure they have valid passports with valid visa to the country they intended travelling to before going to any airport, seaport or land border control to avoid refusal to depart.”
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July 10 OAU Cult Invasion, A Cry for Justice By Adeola Soetan
Suffice to begin by stating the facts that put Prof Omole and members of his administration’s inner caucus on the spot in the whole cruel murderous saga with this clincher as the first shocker: The Black Axe cultist murderers gained easy access to, and exit from an hitherto well secured campus in the night through the university gates after their bloody mission, and throughout the hour the attack lasted, surprisingly all communications and security gadgets on campus, including walkie – talkies in all the halls of residence, campus gates and the central security unit were all Dead. Unbelievable! But the ridiculous reason the security personnel (mostly outsourced by the VC) gave was that all the gadgets were being charged that early morning. Charged at the same time? Wow! What an episodic Wale Wonder coincidence. What a frightening fairy tale!
But to put a lie to this, a former campus Chief Intelligence Officer employed by Wale Omole (but no more in the service of the university before the cult incident), Mr. P.A. Baiyewu (CW 27), while testifying before the Judicial Commission on oath, declared that there was no way all security and communications gadgets could be charged at the same time, that even if they were being charged, radio messages would still be received because of the sophistication of the gadgets procured during Omole’s regime to beef up security on campus.
But alas, on the day of the gruesome murder when the communications gadgets were needed most, all the gadgets were not working because they were all ‘being charged at the same time’ or ‘broken down’, hence information could not be relayed from anywhere to anywhere including Awolowo and Fajuyi Halls where the assassination took place. GSM was yet to be introduced to Nigeria.
This was the exact statement of Mr Baiyewu (CW27): “Walkie – Talkie is never dead. Even if you are charging, you will still receive…….It would still function……it is abnormal for the entire university communication network to break down at the same time”
The Principal Assistant Registrar in the office of the V.C., Mr. SL Adefemi, when giving his oral evidence stated that the university, during Wale Omole’s tenure claimed to have been maintaining at least five different categories of security outfits within the campus to wit: (a) “Mobile Police Force” (b) Regular Police” (c) Mufti Police” (d) “Talent Spotted Operatives” (that is, student informants mainly drawn from members of the Campus Peace Corp, (e) “Internal Security Special Branch” (that is, a special Intelligence Unit
within the campus (f) “Extra Security Force” (that is, native hunters). The question to ask here is why the militarization of the campus and what the University needed the number of security outfits for? But still, all Omole’s campus militia were nowhere to be found when the murderous gangsters invaded the school.
* Without March 7, there may not be July 10, 1999.
On the 7th of March, nine members of Black Axe cult were arrested by the students’ union in a boy’s quarter of the residence of a university staff on campus. Many dangerous items and uniforms were found in their possession which included submachine guns, AK 47, an axe, ammunition, dagger and local firearms. They confessed to their crime and the student leaders handed them over directly to the police for prosecution (after informing the university authority) because of lack of faith in the Omole’s administration for of its kid’s glove treatment of cult issues on campus.
The accused were later charged to the Ile – Ife Magistrate Court on the 23rd of March, 1999. But curiously, in what could be described as the fastest criminal trial ever, the Magistrate found that the accused had no case to answer and discharged them but ordered that the sub-machine guns, AK 47 and other ammunition seized from them be transferred to the Police armourer and the remaining exhibits be destroyed. A subversion and perversion of course of justice! The students’ union was not informed by the police, the university was not involved (as revealed to the panel by Omole’s successor, Prof. Makanjuola Rogers) and only the Investigating Police Officer gave evidence.
The university under Prof. Omole claimed that they had suspended immediately the cultists that were apprehended and confessed to the crime, through a circular pasted on notice boards. But it was later discovered that it was only a deception as none of the cultists purportedly suspended was served any suspension letter. The suspension was never communicated to the affected cultists in line with the administrative procedure until July 8 when the university hurriedly sent them letters of suspension after students protested their presence on campus for engaging in academic activities. Curiously, the deadly cult attack was carried out on July 10, two days after.
The deception of suspension was much confirmed in the memorandum submitted by the Registrar, Mrs. Iluyomade (CW5). The dates on the letters of suspension (Ref. Nos,RO.62/Vol.X11/266-271 was July 8. When the Registrar was asked by students union’s counsel on her role during the March 7 arrest of the armed cultists, the Registrar said that she told Mr. Femi Idowu, Omole’s ‘Al- Mustapha’ and Idowu assured her ‘no problem’. Imagine a Registrar reporting to an unknown entity who Omole brought from nowhere to be part of his campus militia.
Prof. Wale Omole (CW 30) in his presentation at the Commission (exhibit 28) gave credence to the fact that those cultists that were arrested on March 7 were truly cultists with a dastardly mission on the campus. These were exact words of Omole, the man who was so much at home with campus cultists and who knew so much about Black Axe guys’ presence on campus yet he did nothing: “However in March, 1999…the Black Axe was said to have an initiation ceremony that attracted members from other campuses. Prior to the ceremony, some of the Ake boys had a brush with some students and this was reported to the Students’ Union…who organized the arrest of the cultists in the staff quarters. The arrested cultists were top shots of the Black Axe and this must have been considered a disgrace for Black Axe Organisation particularly at Ife and nationally, since other branches witnessed the humiliation’
(Page 2, paragraph 3 – 4 of Omole’s memorandum) and further (the last two paragraphs of page 15) ‘The Ake had planned an initiation ceremony for a weekend in early March 99. A larger number of the Ake members from other campuses had arrived OAU for the ceremony and were enjoying themselves running around campus prior to the main night activity when a minor traffic squabble developed between some Ake boys and some student drivers on campus’ The big question is why couldn’t Omole take prompt action when he knew all this then and before the cultists reprisal attack on July 10?
This was the leadership disposition of ‘Chancellor of Vices’, Omole, whose image and bloody record one Seye Olumide wanted to launder. Too bad.
From his memorandum and verbal presentation during cross examination, it showed that Omole knew so much about campus cultism, cultists and their modus operandi, programmes, what could provoke them, what they liked and disliked that one would wonder if he had his professorship on cultism.
Please note this did not prevent the pathological and unscrupulous liar of a professor from asserting few days after the murder (when he had absconded from the campus and unseen throughout the mourning and burial period) in his interview with the Tribune published under the banner “Only God will judge if I am guilty” on pages 10 and 23 in the edition dated 31st July, 1999 (exhibit 45) “What the students do is that if you are not in their camp or you are opposed to them, they will arrest you and say that you are a secret cult member. You may not be and that’s what they did in this instance. In March, they arrested nine students, accused them of being secret cult members…”
Discerning minds can read through Omole’s professorial lies to the Tribune newspaper which ran contrary to his later confession and presentation before the Commission in his submitted memorandum in which he acknowledged that the nine Ake boys (in his words) arrested on March 7 with guns were indeed cultists (exhibit 28): “The Ake had planned an initiation ceremony for a weekend in early March 1999…. A larger number of the Ake members from other campuses had arrived OAU for the ceremony” “Ake is …the strongest cult on campus with a lot of financial resources and sophisticated weapons” – Omole (exhibit 28, page 15, paragraph 4) Since Omole knew this much before the July 10 attack, why did he then deny to Tribune that July 10 attackers arrested and who confessed to his sponsorship were cultists?
Prof. Omole’s denial that he didn’t know any cultists on campus including Efosa Idahosa, Kato and others that were arrested after the July 10 attack fell flat before the Commission when the former campus Chief Intelligence Officer, Baiyewu (CW 27), told the shocked panel that Omole knew them because they (security unit) were using some of the cult boys as informants and some of them including Kato (one of the prime suspects accused for the July 10 cult attack) were reporting directly to the Vice Chancellor. Baiyewu’s words during cross examination by the students’ counsel: “Bello Kato or Dare Devil, the boy whose name appears was a known terror…He was arrested by my unit subjected to serious interrogations. He confessed being a cultist. My unit then recorded all that he said. He mentioned Idahosa, Tope Olojede and co. he took me to where they usually hold meetings” – (CW27)
“I arrested Kato, he confessed he was having two pistols. The VC instructed that Kato be handed over to the normal security outfit. He was taken to S.I.I.B. Osogbo. He came back thereafter… Kato came to my office again and said that he had been mandated by the V.C. to come to him direct for any information” – Omole’s former Chief Intelligence Officer. (CW27)
The main pivot on which one Seye Olamide’s failed image laundry gambit for his ‘herder’ was that one of the main suspected cultists involved in the July 10 attack, Efosa Idahosa, recanted with a court affidavit that Omole sponsored them. Efosa had earlier confessed before the students, police, press and the whole nation with statements written voluntarily after his arrest by students that Omole was their sponsor. He was standing trial for murder and detained at Ilesa prison. How Omole clandestinely got an ‘Oluwole’ affidavit from Idahosa, a detained suspect / cultist revealed the rogue nature of a professor. On the day and the date on the affidavit purportedly sworn to by Idahosa to recant his earlier confessional statement, there was no fact / record from Ilesa prison authority that Idahosa was allowed out of the prison to go to court. It means some crooks working in alliance with the suspect must have procured a ‘black market’ affidavit for him in absentia to sign or signed for him.
When the students’ union counsel, Olumide Fusika (SAN) asked Omole during cross examination on who handed over the affidavit to him, and where did he get it. The professor’s answer was too crooked to believe that someone who could indulge in such clandestine alliance ever presided over the affairs of prestigious Great Ife, a citadel of sound intellectualism for learning and culture.
Omole claimed the affidavit was posted to him from an anonymous and he received it at the university’s guest house in Lagos. On the question of how did his ‘anonymous’ know he would be at the university’s guest house at the exact time he received the alleged posted parcel, our shameless professor said his ‘anonymous’ knew that he was always at the guest house anytime he was in Lagos. What a coincidence and what a professorial defence!
How Omole got a contrived affidavit from Efosa Idahosa who was then detained at Ilesha prison (on the date on the affidavit) for charges of murder and conspiracy for the July 10 attack since Efosa’s lawyer, Mr.Atirene Wilson, said he didn’t serve Omole, was a frightening example in banditry and criminality.
First, in an answer to the question from a member of the Commission, Efosa’s lawyer said: “I gave one to the Commissioner for Oaths, one to the Tribunal, one for myself and the remaining three to Arthur Idahosa”. When Mr. Ali (SAN), a member of the Commission of Enquiry, asked further on why a copy of the receipt issued by the Osun State High Court, Ilesa, came to also be in Omole’s memo attached as appendix (XXXVIA) since both were not in contact with each other. Atirene Wilson replied: “I would be surprised if a copy of the original receipt is found in Omole’s memorandum”
However, before Atirene Wilson eventually came to testify before the Tribunal following a Warrant of Arrest issued on him, Omole had testified on how he came about the document. Under cross examination by the counsel for the students union, Mr. Olumide – Fusika (SAN), Prof. Omole claimed that he got the affidavit from an ANONYMOUS SOURCE. His words: “In Lagos, at the guest house of the university….I got it on the 19th. It came from Osogbo, anonymously. It was addressed to me” Questioned further on how did the ‘anonymous’ know he would be at the guest house waiting to receive it and how he himself knew a parcel would be sent to him at the University Guest House considering that he had by that time been removed from office and would not ordinarily be assumed to be in the guest house by an anonymous person. Omole’s response was un – professorial lacking expected rationality, he said: “People know that I stay at the Guest House when I am in Lagos” (even after being removed from office? waoh!)
Femi Idowu, same Omole’s right hand man, was also named by Efosa Idahosa in his statement to the students, as the contact person who facilitated the sum of N350, 000 from the authority on 8th of July, given to Kato – Kazeem Bello for the July 10 attack.
Kazeem Bello confirmed this in his initial statement when he was arrested separately in Lagos. Again, when the Bursar was asked by the students’ counsel, Olumide – Fusoka (SAN) about funds disbursed on days preceding July 10, she acknowledged that a sum of N350, 000 was collected by Femi Idowu on July 8 for security needs among several other payments. Throughout the period the tribunal sat, Femi Idowu never showed up to deny or confirm this since he mysteriously disappeared from campus after the cult attack
When the Chief Security Officer, Mr. PO Odewumi (CW 17) was asked the details of security men at Awo Hall, Fajuyi Hall, Central Security Post, University main gate, just to know what happened to them and their communication gadget, the best (CW 17), could do, was to refer the Tribunal to Mr. Femi Idowu, the television journalist turned powerful ‘underground security consultant’ engaged by Prof. Wale Omole ostensibly as Corporate Services Officer
Lastly, we all know by this account and verifiable witnesses and evidences that Great Ife campus under Omole was a very fertile ground for cultism ever before July 10 Cult Attack that led to the cold blooded of 5 students including George Iwilade, aka AFRIKA.
May their blood continue to haunt their killers and sponsors as their souls are still crying for justice.
Added excerpts from A Cry for Justice, a publication by the Students Union, OAU that documented in full the proceedings at the Federal Government Commission of Enquiry that investigated the cult murderous incident.
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Adeola Soetan
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Suspected Drunk Policeman Kills Businessman In Ibadan
A policeman in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday afternoon allegedly shot dead a 32-year-old businessman, Yemi Ajayi, at the Iwo Road interchange.
The officer attached to Area Command Police, Agodi, said to be on patrol had a fracas with late Ajayi, who was on his way to work with his cousin, Kayode Atanda.
In the process, he pulled the trigger of his service pistol on the defenceless man.
“I was here when the incident happened. He was about to open the car door when the drunken police officer shot him.
“All the three police officers were drunk. I think government needs to put end to this unreasonable killing,” an eyewitness said.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Olugbenga Fadeyi, confirmed the incident.
Fadeyi said the Police Command had begun investigation into the matter.
He said, “A team from the Area Command Police, Agodi, who were on routine patrol at Iwo road interchange on July 10 at about 12:15pm stopped a Toyota Camry car which was alleged to have refused to stop.
“In the process, one of the policemen fired a shot which hit one Adeyemi in the stomach and he was rushed to police hospital, Agodi, for treatment but was later confirmed dead by the medical personnel.
“Investigation has commenced into the incident.”
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E2%80%99t-demonstrate-against-buhari%E2%80%99s Why Activists Who Protested 2012 Fuel Subsidy Removal Can’t Demonstrate Against Buhari’s Government –Monday Ubani
A former Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Monday Ubani, has said that most of the activists that powered the fuel subsidy removal protest in 2012 were now hobnobbing with the present administration.
Ubani said this in an interview with SaharaReporters while commenting on the increase in fuel prices by the Petroleum Product Price regulatory agency.
According to him, Nigerians were also more fearful of being detained than they were in 2012, hence the silence that has greeted the increase in price.
The PPPRA said on July 1 that the price of petrol for July would be between N140.80 and N143.80.
Ubani while reacting to the development, said, “Many of activists who fought in 2012 are in bed with this present government; they may not be forceful enough to take any position considered inimical to the interest of the elites in power.
“Nobody wants to be thrown into detention. This is a government where the DSS feel empowered to say they cannot obey any court in the East.”
Following the decline in petroleum prices, the Nigerian Government through the PPPRA decided it was time to take out fuel subsidies, a move it made in May 2016 and later reversed.
The PPPRA announced in March 2020 that it would announce a new price band every month, which it has consistently done since April.
The agency was able to take this decision because the landing cost of the product had dropped below the subsidised price of N145.
Back in February 2016, a former Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, said government earned N2.6bn from recovery.
He said the landing cost of the product was N13.81 per litre less than the retail pump price of N86.50.
This implies that the landing cost had gone as low as N71.59.
Ahmed said an account was opened to stash the over-recovered funds.
He said, “As of February 3, 2016, the estimate in that account (because we are verifying based on what was imported) is a small amount of about N2.6bn.
“But this is just the beginning because some of them are just arriving in December. That is why the subsidy over recovery is low.”
The price of a barrel of Brent crude at this time was $32.18.
By May 2016, a barrel of petroleum had increased to $46.74, forcing the landing cost to go above N86.50.
The Nigerian Government, however, decided that it would remove the subsidies.
As the price of oil increased, the President is reported to have told the NNPC to keep paying the subsidies.
The Federal Government on its part stopped budgeting for subsidies, leaving the country’s oil company to deduct it from their revenue earnings.
The control of the petrol pump price by the dollar-denominated oil, which Nigeria is an exporter of, is more painful to Ubani than the subsidies.
He said, “For you to come into power and promise that every year you will be building refineries, yet the only one that is standing now is the one been built by a private person, is demonic.”
Between 2014 and 2018, three of the country’s refineries lost N1.6trn.
This is according to the corporation’s audit report, which was released in June.
In 2017, pioneer director, Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals, Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Prof Godwin Igwebueze, said the cheapest modular refinery costs $100m if all the components were imported and assembled in Nigeria
Experts believe that if the Nigerian Government had transitioned from its 20th century constructed refineries to modular refining plants, the N1.6tRn wasted by three sub-optimal performing refineries could have been spent on constructing 52 modular ones with a daily production of 1,000 barrels, which would translate to 52,000 barrels a day and 18.98m barrels annually.
Prof Igwebueze, however, noted that the IPS had a model refining plant which he constructed for $2m.
The professor said that he was able to draw down the price by fabricating most of the components.
If the model design constructed by him was replicated at that same cost, the N1.6trn would have built 2,623 modular plants that could refine 2.6m barrels of oil daily.
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