Author: Lekan Adeyeye

THREE inmates have escaped from the Ijebu Ode Correctional Centre in Ijebu Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State. The inmates scaled the fence and bolted away in the early hours of Saturday. The spokesman of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Ogun State Command, Victor Oyeleke, confirmed the incident on Tuesday. The inmates are Hammed Adeboyejo convicted of armed robbery and murder, Fatai Taiwo Akande from Ijebu-Igbo also said to have been convicted for murder as well as Aliu Oguntona sentenced for sexual offences allegedly escaped from the centre. “Yes, it is confirmed. It happened early hours of Saturday morning around…

POPULAR Nigerian actor and movie director cum producer, Azeez Ololade Ijaduade has reportedly been shot by a trigger-happy policeman in Iperu, Ogun State. He is currently battling for his life at the Babcock University Teaching Hospital. This was according to a midnight Instagram story from Ijaduade’s colleague, Abiodun Adebanjo, with the handle @iamabiodunadebanjo, seen by our correspondent. It was captioned: “Please we need help in Iperu. My director, Azeez Ijaduade, @kingzeez1, was shot by a Nigeria Police personnel. “He is presently at Babcock University Teaching Hospital. “Anybody with the contacts of the Police IG or Commissioner should reach out.” More…

TWO women have been reportedly killed during a fire outbreak at the Ogbomoso residence of a former governor of Oyo State, the late Adebayo Alao-Akala. The fire which occurred around 7am on Monday was said to have razed one of the old buildings within the compound of the former governor. A resident of the area, who spoke to News Point Nigeria on the telephone, said the fire service station in Ogbomoso came to the rescue to put the fire out but not before it claimed two. The resident also said that one person was taken to the hospital for treatment…

A HIGH Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja has issued an order freezing the accounts of the Oyo State Government in 10 commercial banks in the country. The order was issued by Justice Anitte Ebong in a ruling on a garnishee proceeding initiated by ex-council chiefs in Oyo State, sacked on May 29, 2019, by Governor Seyi Makinde, and who in 2021 got a N4.9bn judgement against Makinde and other officials and agencies of the state. The garnishee proceeding is intended by the ex-council chiefs, led by Bashorun Majeed Ajuwon, to recover the balance of N3.5bn which is outstanding…

ONDO State Acting Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has frozen the accounts of the 18 local government areas and 33 local council development areas, LCDAs. Reports also state that the acting governor told the newly created LCDA not to open new accounts. A letter to the local councils reads: “Distinguished HOLGAs, Your Excellency the Acting Governor of Ondo State had directed that all spending/ expenditure from local government account should be suspended. No signing of cheques, no change of signatories, no withdrawal of any sort until further directive. “Please adhere strictly to instruction and be guided.” One of the caretaker chairman told…

NO fewer than three persons were feared dead in a bloody bank robbery on Wednesday in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State. The robbers, who attacked Wema Bank and Access Bank in different locations in the community, were said to have operated freely. They were also said to have used dynamite to pull down the entrance doors of the two banks. It was gathered that some of the robbers, armed with guns, moved freely using motorcycles and a black vehicle in broad daylight while the attack lasted. It was also gathered that the robbers dropped some dynamites around the town and shot aimlessly…

THE Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, on Wednesday, said he has received the letter from Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on transmitting power to the Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to become acting governor. He, however, said it takes a constitutional process in which he will instruct the Clerk of the House to convey his approval to the Secretary to the State Government. Oladiji added that he had informed the members of the House on the meeting with President Bola Tinubu and that they have approved the letter of the governor. According to the Speaker, there won’t be any…

ONDO State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, will commence his medical leave on Wednesday, as a follow-up to his medical treatment, his spokesman, Richard Olatunde, has said. In a statement on Tuesday, Olatunde said during Akeredolu’s absence, the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, will assume the responsibilities of the governor in acting capacity. Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), won his re-election as the state governor in October 2020 and was sworn in for a second term in office in February 2021. However, the governor’s second term, since January 2023, has not been…

THE Ondo State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Razak Obe, has alleged that the signature of the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, was forged. Obe stated this in a letter he wrote to the state deputy governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, calling the attention of the latter to the development. The letter was made available to our correspondent on Friday. In the letter, Obe noted that after his discovery, the forensic expert had confirmed that the governor’s signature was forged. The letter read, “I write to call your attention to a critical matter that has been confirmed; the signature…

THE Court of Appeal Abuja has affirmed the April 27 decision of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, ordering the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde to pay the outstanding balance of 3.4 billion naira from the 4.9 billion naira debt, arising from a May 7, 2021, judgment of the Supreme Court. The 4.9 billion naira debt arose from the judgment of the Supreme Court given against Makinde, the state’s Attorney General, Accountant General and four others in favour of Chairmen and Councillors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but sacked on May 29, 2019, by the…

OGUN State Government has announced a N50m reward for anybody who could provide information leading to the arrest of the killers of Mr Taiwo Oyekanmi, the former Director of Finance and Administration attached to Governor Dapo Abiodun’s office, Oke-Mosan Abeokuta. 51-year-old Oyekanmi was killed last Wednesday, November 29 by gunmen at the Kuto Flyover Bridge in Abeokuta. The bounty was announced in a statement on Friday by the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi in Abeokuta, the state capital. It read, “The Ogun State Government has announced a reward of fifty (50) million naira for anyone with information that…

MINISTER of Power, Bayo Adelabu, has announced his intention to return to the All Progressives Congress. The minister, prelude to the 2023 governorship elections in Oyo State dumped the APC to contest on the platform of the Accord Party. However, in a letter dated December 6, and addressed to the state chairman and leaders of the party in Oyo State, Adelabu stated that he will officially announce his return at a ceremony to be held at the APC Secretariat in Oke Ado on December 15, 2023. The letter read in part, “I hereby write to notify the State Executive and…

A SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria, Kayode Ajulo, has alleged that some commissioners in the administration of the ailing Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, are forging his signature. Akeredolu has been recuperating in his residence in Ibadan, Oyo State, since he returned from a medical trip in Germany where he spent about three months. Ajulo, who is the Principal Partner of Kayode Ajulo & Co. Castle of Law, claimed that the deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, cannot take over from the governor since power had not been transferred to him constitutionally. He said this enabled the cabals to hijack the state governance.…

SUSPECTED armed robbers have reportedly attacked students of the Gateway Polytechnic (ICT), Sapaade, Ogun State, killing one and shooting nine others. The fresh attack is coming barely a week after students protested the alleged robbery and rape of female students of the polytechnic by the hoodlums. It was gathered that students residing at the off-campus hotels located at Ode, Ipara and Isara, all adjoining communities to Sapaade, the host of the institution were mostly affected by the incident. Following the students’ protest last week on Tuesday, the management shut down the institution for three days to restore sanity to the…

AFTER months of bickering between the executive and legislative arms in Ondo State, the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, presided over a State Executive Council meeting in Akure, the state capital, on Thursday. The excos’ meeting occurred after months of political wrangling between the deputy governor and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s loyalists. The crisis was occasioned by the absence of the governor, who has been out of the state for months due to ill health. Last Friday, President Bola Tinubu summoned the warring factions to a meeting in Abuja where it was agreed that the deputy governor should continue to perform his…

THE Ondo State House of Assembly and its Speaker has withdrawn its appeal filed before the Court of Appeal, Abuja, against the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which stopped the planned impeachment of the Ondo State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. The Ondo State House of Assembly and its Speaker had challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, Abuja to handle the matter and appealed against the court’s ruling halting the planned impeachment of the deputy governor. At Thursday’s proceedings, counsel for the Speaker and the Assembly, Remi Olatobura, told the three-member panel of Justices of the appellate…

ARMED robbers on Wednesday opened fire on director finance and chief accountant of the Ogun State Government, Taiwo Oyekanmi, and carted away with the government’s funds in a bullion van in Abeokuta, the state capital. Our correspondent gathered that Oyekanmi had picked up an undisclosed amount of money from a branch of Fidelity bank in Abeokuta, and was heading back to the office when he was waylaid by the gunmen. Sources said the hooded gunmen, about five of them, intercepted the home-made bullion van while ascending the overhead bridge at Kuto and opened fire on the accountant. It was further…

THE Ondo State House of Assembly is set to hold a plenary session today to discuss the state’s political situation. It was reliably gathered that the lawmakers would discuss the issue of the executive arm of the government of the state as the lawmakers may declare the deputy governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as acting governor, following the inability of the governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, to resume office, due to ill-health. The governor is still recuperating at his private residence in Ibadan, Oyo State capital. A source, however, noted that some of the lawmakers might not be at today’s sitting as…

FORMER President, Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted verdicts of the Nigerians judges on the electoral disputes, saying three to five judges should not overturn decisions made by millions of voters during an election. Obasanjo described the powers vested in the hands of a few judges as “totally unacceptable.” The former President spoke in wake of the ongoing judgements of the Court of Appeal on the electoral disputes arising from 2023 elections in Nigeria. Only last week, three governors were sacked in separate judgements delivered by the judges of the Court of Appeal. The affected governors are, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State,…

OGUN State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has described the death of former military governor of Ondo State (Ondo and Ekiti), Major General Ekundayo Babakayode Opaleye (rtd), as a great loss to the state and Nigeria. Maj. Gen. Opaleye reportedly died on Saturday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital of heart attack. He was military governor from August 1986 to 1987, during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. He took over from late Admiral Mike Akhigbe before handing over to Commodore Bode George. Opaleye, until his death, was the Balogun of Erunmu, Owu, Abeokuta. Prince Abiodun said late Maj. Gen. Opaleye’s…