Author: Lekan Adeyeye

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…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has cancelled the controversial deduction of 40 per cent of Internally Generated Revenues from federal universities across the country. The President who was represented by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, spoke on Friday at the 75th Founder’s Day ceremony of the University of Ibadan and described the policy implementation as “ill-timed”. He also maintained that it was not the best time for such a policy since our universities are struggling. In his speech as a Visitor to the university, Tinubu pledged his commitment to the reform of the nation’s education sector as the bedrock for national…

THE Federal Government has declared a state of emergency in Nigeria’s health sector. This is being highlighted as stakeholders across the sector converge in Ekiti State for the 64th National Council on Health where salient issues around the health sector are up for discussion. The opening ceremony on Thursday was an avenue to set the tone around the theme which focuses on building resilience and an inclusive healthcare system for a healthy Nigeria. The Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare Dr Muhammed Ali Pate said the nation’s health facilities are in bad shape, adding that there is a need…

FOUR stowaways trying to illegally leave the country on board a container vessel (TEME EXPRESS) enroute to Dubai have been arrested. The Navy disclosed the arrest in a statement on Wednesday, saying the stowaways were nabbed on Monday by the NNS BEECROFT team during a patrol at the Lagos anchorage. According to the ship’s commander Kolawole Oguntuga, the stowaways were found inside the rudder compartment of the vessel with bags of snacks and satchet water. Oguntuga said that the maritime domain awareness facility, the Falcon Eye Alignment, played a critical role in providing information that led to their arrest. “Tactical…

THE Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, says of the three arms of government, legislators are the most misunderstood and attacked by Nigerians. According to him, Nigerians blame lawmakers for everything, including things not directly under their control. The Senate President, represented by the senator representing Ogun Central, Shuaib Salisu, said this on Sunday at the 100th birthday colloquium of a Second Republic lawmaker, Senator Kunle Oyero, organised by the Abeokuta Grammar School Old Boys Association in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Akpabio said, “The one arm of government that people don’t really understand and is always a subject of ridicule and attack is…

AFRICA’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, and Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM), a premier export credit agency in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have announced a partnership aimed at strengthening business growth and enhancing economic cooperation between their economies. To this end, both institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on November 9, 2023, to foster economic cooperation and trade relations between the two entities. The MoU was signed on the side-lines of the Saudi and Arab African Summits in Saudi Arabia. The partnership between UBA Group and Saudi EXIM Bank outlines the guiding principles for developing…

A FORMER National President of the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and the Iyalode of Yorubaland, Chief Alaba Lawson, is dead. Her demise was communicated today in a statement issued in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital by the Executive Secretary of the Ogun Chambers of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture, Maku Abdul Rahaman. Until her death, she was also the Iyalode of Egbaland as well as the Chairman of the Ogun State-owned Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta. She was an astute politician, an entrepreneur of note and academician. She was born on January 18,1951 in…

THE Ondo State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has tendered an unreserved apology to the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, over the embarrassment that the ongoing political crisis must have caused in the state. Aiyedatiwa, who said the crisis was being caused or fueled by some political contenders in the state, reiterated that he remained loyal to the governor and his administration. The deputy governor stated this while speaking with journalists in his office in Akure, the state capital. He said, “I am deeply saddened by the embarrassment and discomfort that Mr. Governor has faced due to the barrage of negative news…