Minimum wage: Governors in last-minute rush to meet Dec 31 deadline

Barely three days to the deadline given by the Nigeria Labour Congress to states to conclude negotiations on the implementation of the N30,000 new National Minimum Wage, some state governors have started a last-minute rush to meet the cut-off date of the labour union.

With 2020 Budget, Better Days ahead – Gov Abiodun

The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has assured the people of the state that his administration would take governance to another level next year once the budget is passed by the House of Assembly.
He said that some achievements were recorded with this year’s budget.

2019 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: BISHOP AKIN ATERE PREACH PEACE, LOVE, FORGIVENESS AND REDEMPTION

The Bishop of Awori Anglican Diocese, The Rt. Revd. Dr. Akin Atere, has charged Nigerians to live in Peace and Love with each other so that the country can be great.

MONARCH CONGRATULATES CHRISTIANS AS THEY CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

The Traditional ruler of Ayetoro Ibudo of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government of Ogun State, Oba Adewunmi Adeniji has congratulates Nigerians, especially Christians as they commemorate the Birth of Jesus Christ.

2019 CHRISTMAS ROYAL MESSAGE: LET US EMULATE ALL THE VIRTUES OF JESUS CHRIST - OBA OGUNGBAYI

The Onitetiku of Owode-Ota, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Goverment of Ogun State, Oba Wasiu Akanni Ogungbayi has charged Christians and the whole world to emulate all the virtues of Jesus Christ.

Missing Child Reportedly found buried under Church Altar in Akure; Mob sets Church on Fire

Baby Gold had been missing since November 10, 2019 when Mrs Modupe Kolawole dressed up Eniola Gold in gorgeous flowing ‘Agbada’ with cap in Yoruba traditional culture and dropped him dropped at the creche section of the Church.

However, at the end of the church service, the one-year old boy could not be found.

The church, located at the Oshinle Quarters of Akure, was founded by Prophet Babatunde Alfa. He is from Odopetu area of Akure.

Most people in Akure and beyond have been pointing accusing fingers on the cleric for the mysterious manner the little boy who is the son of one of his church members disappeared.

News from Akure confirms that there is pandemonium at Sotitobire Church because the missing child Gold was found dead in the Church.

A twitter user @CallMelbro, who is a journalist, confirmed this in the following tweets

Supreme Court Victory Of Dapo Abiodun: “When God Says Yes, No Man Can Say No”- Ogun APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has described the Supreme Court verdict that affirmed the victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun as a validation of the popular saying that “when God  says yes, no man can say no”.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday and signed by the Publicity Secretary of APC Caretaker Committee, Tunde Oladunjoye, the party said the verdict of “the Supreme Court, which was in concurrence with the earlier judgements of the Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and that of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan, was a reaffirmation that Prince Dapo Abiodun is God’s project”

“To us as a party, despite the harassment, violence and boasts of men, God spoke on March 9, 2019, the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court,  has spoken today, therefore the  needless distraction arising from day-dreaming litigations and court-shopping syndrome has been finally and permanently buried; and our Governor can now squarely face the business of governance in the execution of mandate freely given to him by the good people of Ogun State.”

“We had maintained right from the onset that Prince Dapo Abiodun’s clear victory at the election was a divine mandate and a true reflection of the choice of the good people of Ogun State. The Chairman of the Election Petition Tribunal, in a unanimous judgment described the Petition of our opponent and his mushroom party as “destined to fail”; the Court of Appeal in a unanimous said it “lacked merit”; and the Supreme Court concurred with the judgement of the lower courts.

We congratulate Prince Dapo Abiodun, the entire members of our party at all levels, we thank our leaders at the nationa level and we urge all genuine lovers of development in our dear Ogun State to join hands with the  Omoluwabi Governor in taking the State to greater heights”

Dapo Abiodun Hails Supreme Court Judgement, Dedicates Victory To Ogun People

Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has hailed the Supreme Court verdict upholding his election in the March 9 gubernatorial election in the State.

In a statement in Abeokuta, the Governor described the verdict as not only a victory for the people, but for democracy, the judiciary and an attestation to the awesomeness of God.

The Governor said the outcome justifies popular belief that there was no reason for the election matter to have gone to the Supreme Court in the first instance.

Governor Abiodun congratulates the good people of Ogun State, the All Progressives Congress and indeed all other parties that have shown support and solidarity for his administration, despite fielding candidates in the same election.

Following the earlier judgement of the 2019 Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal verdict which dismissed in entirety the claims of Mr. Adekunle Akinlade and the Allied People Movement’s petition, the Apex Court, the statement notes was apt in dismissing the appeal for lacking merit.

Prince Abiodun wishes to thank the team of erudite lawyers for their diligence and masterfully display of knowledge of the law that ensured that he won in all the matters against him and his party. He appreciates the party chieftains at the National, State, Local Government and Ward levels whose support never wavered throughout the period. He assured the people of the State that their exemplary goodwill and demonstration of love during the period of litigation is reciprocated with more projects that will give meaning to his avowed stand on delivering the dividends of democracy to them without discrimination.
Governor Abiodun hails the Judiciary for the lucid pronouncements on the matter, which he believes have deepened our jurisprudence and further enthroned democracy ethos and affirmed the supremacy of the people’s choice as a cardinal principle in democracy.

The statement added that Prince Abiodun has justified the confidence reposed in him by executing projects and programmes that validate his Building Our Future Together Agenda and that has ushered in a new era of progressive and inclusive growth for the State.

With the ruling of the Supreme Court, which has finally laid to rest all concerns about the Governor and the propriety of his election, we once again extend our hands of fellowship to the APM and indeed all other parties to join hands with Prince Abiodun to move Ogun State to the next level of development.

Democracy is about people and the voice of the people is definitely the voice of God. Now that the court issues have been conclusively dealt with, the Dapo Abiodun-led APC government will continue to focus on activities that will lift majority of our people out of poverty, develop public infrastructure and our human capita needs, as well as and make life more meaningful for citizens, visitors and residents of the State.

For us, the total victory at the courts is not only a victory for the people but and attestation to the awesomeness of God who has made it all possible.

This verdict will further challenge Governor Abiodun to consolidate gains made so far in the state and inspire him to do more for the people whose mandate he holds dear and will not take for granted.

Supreme Court Throws Out Akinlade’s Case, Says Dapo Abiodun Validly Elected Ogun Governor!

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the case filed against the 2019 election of Dapo Abiodun as the governor of Ogun State.

The court said on Wednesday that the applicant, Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), failed to prove his allegation against the governor.

The court in a judgement read by Justice Dattijo Mohammed said the applicants did not prove their allegation of non-compliance to the electoral laws.

“There is a failure to establish the substance of the alleged non compliance,” the court ruled.

Mr Akinlade had approached the apex court to challenge the decision of the court of appeal which had dismissed his petition against Mr Abiodun’s election on November 11.

Mr Abiodun is a member of the All Progressives Congress.

Supreme Court Affirms Seyi Makinde As Oyo Governor!

The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the election of Seyi Makinde as governor of Oyo State.

In a unanimous judgment, the Apex Court found merit in the appeal filed by Mr Makinde that the majority judgment of the Appeal Court was a miscarriage of justice.

The court, therefore, affirmed the majority judgment of the trial tribunal which upheld the election of Makinde as the duly elected governor of Oyo State.

The judgment applies to the remaining three appeals emanating from the election.

Process Of Selecting Gov Dapo Abiodun’s Commissioners’ List Is Commendable, Why The Complaints – APC Chieftain, Hon Waliu Taiwo

An All Progressive Congress chieftain in Ogun state, Hon Waliu Olayiwola Taiwo has lashed out at some few politicians complaining of marginalization over the commissioners list submitted by the governor of the state, Prince Dapo Abiodun to the Stae House of Assembly few days ago.

It would be recalled that no sooner had the commissioners nominees list been made public than a group under the aegis of Osoba Political Family issued a press statement condemning and rejecting the nominees list.

In a press statement jointly signed by Ayo Martins, Chief Olalekan Kelani and 22 others, it was alleged that the governor has used his earlier promise to run an all inclusive government as a deliberate ploy to ease out members of the Chief Olusegun Osoba’s political bloc from the current administration..

The statement alleged that,”The governor, after his victory at the poll, promised to run an all-inclusive government that will represent the interest of blocs that worked for his victory and other groups interested in contributing positively in running the affairs of the state.
“However, to our dismay, the words of the governor were reduced to stillborn on the face of the list of commissioners-nominee and other appointments made by the governor so far.

“We have observed that the slang ‘all-inclusive,’ is a ploy to specifically ease out the Osoba Political Family from the administration of Dapo Abiodun and which was sold to the governor by some power mongers and unscrupulous elements who participated actively in the misrule of the state in the past and are now surrounding the governor like hyenas, ready to pounce on anyone who does not belong to their camp or pay homage.”

But in a recent press interview, Hon Waliu Taiwo, took a swipe at the authors of the press statement while describing the allegations against the governor as myopic, unfounded and self serving.

“I recall vividly that Gov Dapo Abiodun held a meeting with the APC State caucus meeting with Chief Olusegun Osoba among other top leaders sometimes ago where it was agreed that leaders in all the federal constituencies in the state should put their heads together and generate names of three potential commissioner nominees and five names for local government caretaker committee members. The governor made it clear that it is among the names submitted by the leaders that he would choose one name. He never spoke about a bloc or group in the party. Throughout the whole period when names were being generated, governor Abiodun did not visit any of the federal constituencies or sent emissary to influence any name. He made it an affair of leaders of each constituency to give him names. So, tell me where the governor has gone wrong. Should he impose you on your leaders if you did not make the list of three from your federal constituency? Politicians should stop using subtle blackmail and primordial sentiments for political advantage. This group has refused to state in clear terms which federal constituency was conceded to the Osoba group at the stakeholders meeting, or how many slot they were given across the state. They are just crying wolf where there is non.

“For example, in my own federal constituency of of Ado-Odo/Ota, when we, the leaders wanted to have our meeting to choose the nominees, we notified all the who is who of APC to come make their inputs. Interestingly, one of the interested nominees, Hon Tunji Akinosi was supposed to travel to America, on the day of our meeting before it was postponed to a later date. It will interest you that Akinosi cancelled the trip and made sure he lobbied all the leaders for his name to be among the three Commissioner-nominees. The meeting was eventually held at the residence of Her Excellency, Alhaja Noimot Salako-Oyedele under the chairmanship of Senator Akin Odunsi, who is the second in command of the Osoba political group in Ogun State.

“I must also emphasize here that we, the leaders had already zoned the commissioners nominees to Ado-Odo/Igbesa because of the peculiar nature of our federal constituency which is made up of two state constituencies, that is Ota state constituency and Ado/Igesa constituency. We did the zoning for fairness and equity because the governor has been magnanimous to choose his deputy governor from Ota, therefore the commissioner must come from Ado/Igesa constituency.

“So, we sent three names, all from Ado/Igbesa to the governor to choose one from. It is the prerogative of the governor to choose among the three. Nobody could beat his chest that this person or that person will be picked by the governor because they all qualified. At the end of the day, governor Abiodun chose Tunji Akinosi and sent his name with others to the House of Assembly for confirmation. Why i brought this up is because if Akinosi had not lobbied for his name to be among the three and depended solely on his closeness to the governor, i can assure you that he would not make the commissioners list today.

While admonishing the aggrieved APC members to join hands with the young but progressive administration Gov Abiodun, Hon Waliu Taiwo advised that politicians should play the game by the rules of politics and not expect to be served appointments on a platter of gold in the comfort of their rooms.

“Let me also say it here that politicians believe they are the alpha and omega of any electoral success, while forgetting that there are people who support with huge amount of money while others give spiritual support that cant be quantified. So, a governor that wants to succeed must accommodate all these interests. This is where lobbying becomes important. Lobbying is a veritable tool in getting what you want in politics globally. Even our dear president Mohammadu Buhari lobbies to get things done in this country. I am certain Gov Dapo Abiodun is not against any group in the state and i make bold to say that Chief Osoba could not have endorsed the statement by the group because chief Osoba is a good father with many children scattered across the state.. All APC members in Ogun state are members of baba Osoba’s family and we accept wholeheartedly, with joy the Commissioners nominees list sent to the House of Assembly by governor Dapo Abiodun. We are happy with him and pledge unalloyed loyalty to his government and the APC. However, there are other appointments yet to be made and im confident governor Abiodun will give appointments to those with genuine complaints.”. Hon Waliu Taiwo declared.

I MISS THE OTHER ROOM - AISHA BUHARI

The wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari, has said that she does not have the opportunity to sleep side by side with her husband in order to have pillow talk.

Police comb forest, arrest nine suspected handbag snatchers, ‘one-chance’ syndicate

Nine robbery suspects who specialise in one chance robbery and handbag snatching have been arrested by the Anambra State Police command.

CRISIS LOOMS IN OGUN STATE BETWEEN OLOTA & ALAKE

The Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo,  and the Olota of Ota, Prof. Abdulkabir Obalanlege, are set to clash over a disputed land in Iju-Atan in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun  State.

Following threats by both sides, anxiety has gripped residents of the disputed area which comprises six communities – Ajegunle, Onigbongbo, Ketu Oluyomi, Atan, Kooko and Iju.

Speaking on behalf of the Egba, the  Alatan of Atan, Oba  Olatunji Oluyomi, who was installed by the Alake, accused the Olota of  Ota and two other monarchs of claiming ownership of a swathe of land that was not under their prescribed authority.

Oba Oluyomi said the Olota in company with the Onilogbo of Ilogbo, Oba Samuel Ojugbele, and one other had allegedly taken possession of  what he described as “Egba land” in the disputed area.

Oba Oluyomi further accused the Olota-in-Council of continuous trespassing despite several court judgments restraining them from the land.

The monarch explained that the Gbalefa, the common name used to describe the communities, was a portion of Egbaland, claiming that only the Alake, the paramount ruler of Egbaland, had prescribed authority on the land based on the history of the community.

He said, “The Olota and his subjects are using land grabbers to take over some of our land. We are trying to check them and this has made us write a series of letters to the government and police to notify them about the invaders.

“We have five judgments that declared that the Olota does not have any power on Gbalefa, but it is as if the Olota, Onilogbo and Oniko are just taking the law into their own hands.

“Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland remains the prescribed authority of Gbalefa peninsula and its environs based on the historical antecedents of Gbalefa peninsula.

“Both the Ota and Gbalefa districts are under the control of Alake of Egbaland, but both are quite different from each other despite that they are both under the same Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government.”

He added, “On the prescribed authority, the Alake of Egbaland has successfully installed about 25 Baales and seven chiefs in Gbalefa peninsula without any hindrance.”

When contacted, the Olota of Ota  insisted that there was nothing like Gbalefa land, describing it as  a “fraud.”

He warned the Alake-in-council to desist from the attempt to take over the land that does not belong to it.

He added that the historical fact did not support the Egba claim.

He said, “I must explain that my subjects will not quarrel over any land that does not belong to them so; if they are allegedly quarrelling with anybody over a piece of land, it means the land belongs to them.

The monarch added, “The security agencies are aware of the development and I want them to caution those causing confusion.”

He challenged the Alake-in-council to produce the judgment that ordered it to take over the Ota land.

He said the matter had been appealed and won, urging the security agencies to stop the Egba people from taking over the Ota land to avoid crisis.

Culled from Punchonline