Author: Lekan Adeyeye

AN All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant for the Ondo governorship election Paul Akintelure is dead. The spokesperson of the APC in Ondo State Alex Kalejaye confirmed the incident in a telephone conversation with Channels Television early Tuesday. While the cause of his death is still unknown, Akintelure’s demise came days after the medical doctor turned politician raised an alarm about threats to his life. “Initially, I hope these incidents would dissipate over time, yet regrettably, they have escalated to pose a serious threat to my life,” his spokesman Oladapo Akintelure said in a March 21 statement. “The threats against me…

THE Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has explained how a private company reportedly held on to N32bn paid into its account in 2003 for the supply of three million prepaid metres. According to a statement by the minister’s Special Adviser, Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, on Wednesday, the Federal Government had entered a tripartite agreement with Messrs Ziklagsis Network Limited and Unistar International in 2003 for the supply of three million meters to distribution companies in the country, within three years. The statement indicated that to kick start the project, a revolving metering loan of N32bn was released…

GOODS worth hundreds of millions of Naira were destroyed on Wednesday when an early morning fire razed some shops in the Nnamdi Azikiwe and Docemo section of the Idumota Market in Lagos State. The fire affected three buildings, including two two-storey structures and one three-storey building in the market popularly for clothes, bags and shoes. The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service and other emergency service providers have arrived at the scene and firefighting efforts have commenced. “The Fire stations at Ebute Elefun, Ilupeju and Alausa have deployed resources to mitigate the situation effectively as firefighting operations is ongoing,” said…

ABOUT one year and four months after taking over rein of the state, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has moved into the Okefia Government House, Osogbo, the official residence of the governor. Adeleke was sworn in on Sunday, November 27, 2022, and rather than moving into the Government House to live like his predecessors, he chose to return to his private house in Ede, a neigbouring town to Osogbo. Despite criticisms by the opposition All Progressives Congress, Adeleke remained in his private house and sometimes conducted the business of the state from there. He explained that the Government House was…

THE Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, is dead. He was aged 81. Oba Balogun spent two years on the throne of his forefathers, having been presented the Staff of Office by the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on March 11, 2022. Confirming his death in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, on Thursday, Makinde said Oba Balogun died Thursday evening at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. The governor described the late monarch as a towering figure akin to an Iroko tree. He wrote, “With total submission to the will of God, I announce…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, vowed that Nigeria would survive the current economic hardship even as he took full responsibility for the adverse outcomes of his policy reforms. “Nigeria will survive the current economic challenges. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I requested the job, and I am not complaining about it. I take full responsibility,” said Tinubu when he addressed Afenifere leaders at the residence of Pa Reuben Fasoranti in Akure, Ondo State. Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, stated this in a statement he signed on Wednesday titled, ‘President Tinubu:…

GOVERNOR Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has faulted the claims by Senate President Godswill Akpabio that states got an additional N30 billion each to address food scarcity. Akpabio had made the comment some days back but at the commissioning of a newly renovated Iseyin Central Mosque provided by an Iseyin-born legal icon Ahmed Raji (SAN), Makinde said Oyo State did not get such funds. “This is not the time to play politics, as we have real issues that deserve real solutions. But yesterday, I saw the video and read in the news where the Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, made…

THE Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) community was on Monday thrown into mourning after a lion at the school’s zoo killed a veterinary technologist Olabode Olawuyi. According to the school’s spokesman Abiodun Olarewaju, the victim who has been in charge of the Zoological garden for over a decade was attacked on Monday afternoon when he was feeding the nine-year-old male lion and its mates in their den. The other members of staff who were at the scene of the incident did everything within their power to rescue their boss but the wild cat had already caused severe fatalities, Olarewaju said. On…

PROTEST broke out in Oyo State on Monday, over high cost of living, food inflation and the current economic hardship in the country. Staged in the Mokola area of Ibadan, the state capital, placard-carrying youths in their droves chanted songs to drive home their points. Some of the placards have inscriptions such as ‘End food hike and inflation’, ‘The poor is starving’, ‘Tinubu, don’t forget your promises’, amongst others. Armed policemen were seen at the protest scene even as demonstrators held the peaceful rally against the economic hardship in the land occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy and the…

EIGHTEEN shops were destroyed on Tuesday night in a gas explosion at Iju Ishaga in Lagos. The incident was reported at 10:04 pm and was caused by the off-loading of six numbers of 75-50(kg) gas cylinders from a stationed mini truck to a gas shop that accidentally resulted in explosions from one of the compromised head caps of a cylinder accompanied by Fire. This was confirmed by the Director of Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, who also said ”there is no traces of casualty nor injury as the operations moved towards a conclusion.” She also revealed that…

A PETROLEUM products dealer based in Akure, Ondo State capital, Sesan Adelabu, reportedly macheted his wife, Bolu Adelabu, to death in their residence at Alagbaka GRA area of the city on Friday. After killing his wife, Adelabu a top dealer in the state, popularly known as Emirate, the name of his retail outlet, was said to have committed suicide by drinking a poisonous substance, suspected to be an insecticide. The officer of the Special Protection Unit from the A Division Station in Akure, attached to his residence on Friday evening received a distress call from the deceased’s son who said…

A GROUP of youths have taken to the streets of Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to protest against economic hardship and insecurity in Nigeria. The protesters displayed placards with several inscriptions, chanting solidarity songs to express their grievances, and demands for improved living standards for Nigerians. They converged on the Old Garage area of the city blocking major roads before marching through to Freedom Park, Orisunmibare, Ola-Iya, Alekunwodo, and then the Oke-Fia areas of the state capital. Armed policemen were on the ground to ensure law and order and to prevent the protest from being hijacked by hoodlums to cause…

THE governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, has appeared before an Ogun State High Court sitting in Abeokuta, over an allegation of vote buying during the March 18 governorship exercise. He was charged on a seven-count charge bordering on vote buying and other offences, with case number AB/10c/2023 (FRN Vs Adebutu &Ors, before the Presiding Judge, Justice Abiodun Akinremi. He has, however, pleaded not guilty to all charges proffered against him. Adebutu was accused of criminal inducement during the poll by security agents alongside other members of his party. The PDP candidate was…

THE pupils and teachers of the Apostolic Faith Montessori School in Emure Ekiti kidnapped on January 29 have regained their freedom. It was gathered that the schoolchildren were released in the earlier hours of Sunday. However, the driver, who was also among the abductees, was killed and burnt by the assailants. Efforts to reach the police spokesman in Ekiti State, Abutu Sunday, were not successful, but sources in the community confirmed their release to News Point Nigeria on Sunday. A senior police officer also confirmed the release of the victims to this newspaper. He was however silent on whether any…

FOLLOWING the dastard killing of two traditional rulers in Ekiti State, the Nigeria Police Force have deployed helicopter and armoured personnel carriers to the South-West state. This was as President Bola Tinubu ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to ensure that all the perpetrators are apprehended and caused to face the full wrath of the law. The two monarchs — the Onimojo of Imojo-Ekiti, Oba Olatunde Olusola; and the Elesun of Esun-Ekiti, Oba David Ogunsola — were killed when they were returning from a meeting in Irele-Ekiti on Monday. In a statement on Thursday, the Force spokesman,…

ONE thousand five hundred staff at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC) stormed the hospital on Thursday in protest against their sack by the management of the hospital. The employees were on Wednesday asked to desist from coming to work. The enraged workers lamented that they were laid off after working for months without pay. The management of the teaching hospital employed the workers in 2022. However, the Federal Government that the management and some workers were involved in job racketeering, leading to their sack. Angered by the development, the affected workers besieged the hospital’s main gate on…

ABDUCTORS of school children in Ekiti have reportedly contacted the family of their victims, demanding N30 million as ransom to release the five pupils and other victims. The kidnappers had in the evening of Monday waylaid a school bus and abducted everybody on board, including five pupils of The Apostolic Nursery and Primary School, Emure-Ekiti, three teachers, the driver and his conductor. A source close to the family disclosed that the kidnappers had reached out to the family on Tuesday evening, asking for N30 million in exchange for the freedom of their victims. In a related development, the joint operation…

THE Ogun State Police Command has dismissed three officers over alleged armed robbery and extortion. The Commissioner of Police in the state, Abiodun Alamutu disclosed this on Tuesday while parading suspects at the state headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta. The police officers were paraded alongside 27 other suspected kidnappers, armed robbers and cultists. Alamutu told newsmen that the three police officers and a civilian were arrested following a report by one Kashimao Emmanuel, a student at Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode. The suspects are Inspector Taiwo Kolawole, Inspector John Ogbe and Cpl Idowu Sunday, all attached to the…

THE Ekiti State Government has confirmed the abduction of students, teachers, and a driver in the Emure-Ekiti area of the state but vowed to ensure the victims are rescued.  Gunmen had abducted six pupils and three teachers of a private school and their bus driver while they were returning from Eporo-Ekiti on Monday night. But hours after the incident, the Ekiti State Government called on residents of the state not to despair as security has been stepped up to rescue them. “The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has urged the citizens of the state not to despair over Monday’s…

TWO traditional rulers in Ekiti State have been killed by kidnappers who abducted them along Oke-ako road in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State. One monarch luckily escaped from the scene of the killing. This newspaper gathered that while the Elesun of Esun-Ekiti, Oba David Babatunde Ogunsakin, and the Onimojo of Imojo-Ekiti, Oba Olatunde Samuel Olushola, were ambushed and killed by the gunmen on Monday, the Alara of Ara-Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, escaped from the scene. According to a source, the monarchs were returning from a security meeting at Irele-Ekiti when they were attacked by the kidnappers. When contacted,…