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OPINION: 2023: “When Will The South Have Political Sense?” |The Source

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The Source
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Ahmed Shehu Yerima -2023 Presidency

By Ahmed Shehu Yerima

You must understand  something. All Southern politicians are driven by untold degree of selfishness. While in office, they are all aspiring for the next office. The strategy to get on the ladder is to sacrifice their people, their towns and villages and their region.

They do everything possible to please the Hausa-Fulani Northerners in order to be favoured. We can go back a little to pull out some examples.

(1) Gov. Peter Odili wanted to run for presidency, he was at home with Northern Emirs and Northern Opinion leaders. At the end, he failed.

(2) Gen Obasanjo held up  development programs in the South, and promoted infrastructure development in the North in order to get the 3rd term agenda through. At the end, he failed.

(3) James Ibori wanted to be  Vice President to President Yar’dua, in place of Jonathan. Delta State Liaison office in Abuja, became an ATM for all the Northern PDP members. At the end, not only did he fail, he was sent to prison.

(4) Jonathan Goodluck postponed South South development for his anticipated second tenure and put in all resources to the rehabilitation of the Almajiris. Built Abuja- Kaduna Rail line when Lagos Ibadan Express Way was impassable, East West Road was a mere historical concept; built and completed Federal Universities in Katsina, Jigawa etc, but did foundation ground breaking for the the Federal University in Bayelsa. At the end, he was sent out of the Villa by the Northern INEC Chairman he appointed.

(5) Under Jonathan, the then Minister for Aviation, Stella Odua, funded in full, the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Kano, Sokoto, Katsina Airports but Port Harcourt Airport operated from a Tarpaulin. Enugu (airport) completely shot down. At the end, AMCON took over all her assets and(she is)currently facing EFCC.

 

(6) Our brother Ibe Kachukwu was the Chairman of NNPC BOT & Petroleum Minister at the same time. He promoted the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline. He rehabilitated the Petroleum institute in Kaduna when the Petroleum Institute in Warri was not captured in the budget. He was humiliated out of office.

(7) Obono-Obla was appointed the Chairman of Government Asset Recovery Committee. His target was only all past office holders from the South South and South East. At the end  he was “framed” and arrested.

(8) The immediate past MD of NDDC and Akwa Ibom State APC Governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere gave out emergency jobs (contracts) only to Southern Contractors fronting for Northerners. NDDC became an ATM for “the Villa Boys”. Where is he now?

(9) Rotimi Amaechi is lobbying to be the next Vice President, in 2023. His first action is to sell the South and became a saboteur. No wonder, why, as the Transport Minister, he found it very necessary to build the Lagos-Ibadan- Abuja-Kaduna-Kano-Katsina Rail line, Calabar – Maiduguri Rail line, Transport University in Katsina.

The Great Eastern Railway line from Port Harcourt via Aba, Onitsha to Enugu to Okene in his books, is not feasible.

The Minister is completing the biggest rail and road line into Niger Republic and towards the border of Niger Republic and other countries while the roads in the South are impassable.

What Niger Republic has benefited in this Administration is bigger that all that South-south and South-east combined. Who are the MDs of Nigerian Ports Authority and NIMASA?

(10) The current Petroleum Minister, Chief Timipre Sylva, has initiated the construction of the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipe line to facilitate the building of a Gas Power Station in Abuja and Kaduna and “to turn Kano into an Industrial Head Quarters”. The man is from Bayelsa State where there is over 90% unemployment and no electricity light from National Grid.

11)” Ahmed Tinubu, for his desire to rule Nigeria practically sold the South, and with his bullion vans put Buhari to power. History will tell of him soon like others.

12) The number of appointments of people from Niger Republic in Buhari Administration is bigger than all South combined and all the National Assembly members are aware, but keep quiet because of future ambition and to avoid probe.

Yerima a former Senator, and two-time Governor of Zamfara State, was the first Governor, under the President Obasanjo Govt, to introduce, and implement the Shariah Law. The Source  does not necessarily agree with the opinion he expressed here.

APC Says Jonathan Has Been Working For President Buhari’s Administration |The Source

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Akinwale Kasali
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Buhari and Jonathan working secretly with APC

By Akinwale Kasali

The All Progressives Congress, APC, is bent on colliding with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It is bent on destabilizing the Party with its many claims and allegations.

On the heels of APC’s claims that there will be a mass defection of PDP stalwarts to the APC, the party is now alleging that former President Goodluck  Jonathan has been working secretly for the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

This  claim is coming days after the APC paid a courtesy visit to the former President on his 63rd birthday, raising fears within the PDP family.

However, Statements by APC Spokesman, Yekini Nabena, while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today has further raised a lot of speculations, as the politics of 2023 unfolds.

Nabena openly made the statement that the former President has been working from the APC, with the PDP spokesman, Diran Odeyemi, right beside him in the studio.

But in a tit for tat situation, Adeyemi hit back, claiming that a number of APC Governors are set to defect to the PDP. Both parties traded words against each other thereafter.

Nabena: “Goodluck Jonathan has been working for this government, he has been going to all African countries. If he is not a progressive person, he won’t have been working for this Government. So the PDP should also know that”.

The former President  lost to President Buhari in the 2015 general elections, but he has since taken up several diplomatic assignments across the continent, and is well regarded in the international community.

Recently, the ex-President led talks that helped to de-escalate the crisis in Mali, with Nabena stressing that Jonathan’s work is evidence of the APC’s progressive streak.

However, Odeyemi disagreed, reiterating that the APC is set to witness a couple of top defections to the PDP.

“Many APC Governors are talking to us,” Mr Odeyemi said. “Perhaps Nigerians have not seen the end of these activities. More Governors from APC are coming to join us. And I’m saying it with all emphasis.

“The question we have to ask ourselves is, what has been the achievements of APC now, that will now warrant people to join them, if not for selfish reasons? Nigeria knows which party to vote for in 2023 and that’s what we rely on.”

Not a few people have dismissed Nabena’s claim on Jonathan with a wave of the hand.

They say what Nabena sees as Jonathan  working for the Buhari Government are sub – Continental, Continental and International assignment Jonathan has embarked on.

As a matter of protocol, he must brief his home Government before and after such assignments. It’s standard.

A PDP chieftain who pleaded anonymity added: “Buhari and Jonathan belong to an exclusive club of Presidents of Nigeria. They are very few. Count them. They operate at a different level. Buhari and Jonathan are not enemies. As a sitting President, if Buhari sends Jonathan on a Continental or International assignment, Jonathan will go.”

The PDP chieftain is correct. In the USA, even though President Bill Clinton defeated President  George Bush senior, and confined him to a one – term President, when George Bush Jnr. became the President, he always sent Clinton on assignments, once sending him and his own father, President George Bush Snr. to Haiti on a national assignment.

However, after the former President Olusegun Obasanjo experience, the PDP may have a reason to worry.

In the run-up to the 2015 Presidential election, Obasanjo who was a two-term President under the PDP banner, shockingly abandoned the PDP and its cadidate, Jonathan,  and worked openly for the APC and its candidate, Buhari.

In 2019, when he realised he had made a mistake, he made a u-turn, and backed PDP’s former Vice President Abubarkar Atiku. It didn’t work.

And for the first time, Obasanjo was demystified – by Buhari.

Bloody Weekend In Ekiti; Policeman, Cleric Killed, Expatriate Kidnapped |The Source

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Ayodele Oni
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Kidnappers
Kidnappers

By Ayodele Oni

A gale of violence swept through Ekiti state at the weekend. Gunmen abducted a Chinese and, one other person, along new Ado-Iyin road, while a policeman was killed.

Also, the dead body of a Cleric was discovered along Igbara odo/ Ikere road in his car.

The Chinese  is a staff of a company handling the dual carriage road in the state.

Police spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, who confirmed the incident explained that it occurred around 4.30pm on Friday.

“It is confirmed that a kidnapping incident occurred today at about 4:30pm along New Iyin road .

“During the incident, one civilian, and an expatriate, were kidnapped, one was shot, and injured, while one policeman was shot dead.

“Our operatives are already combing the bush for possible apprehension of the perpetrators.

The deceased Pastor, who was in-‘charge of Solution Baptist Church, Reverend Oladimeji Gbolagade was allegedly murdered by gunmen.

His  body was found in his personal car in the early hours of Tthursday.

The President of Ekiti Baptist Church, Reverend Adeyinka Aribasoye, explained that the deceased had traveled to see his mother at Ipetu Ijesa, Osun State, and was returning from the journey when the incident occurred.

“The incident is synonymous to a kidnapping case that went wrong, perhaps he refused to stop for the abductors thus making them to open fire on him.”

According to him, his family members were already expecting him, but when it was getting too late, they began to make series of contacts before they found out that he had been killed on the road.

The security situation in the South West, especially, in Ekiti and Ondo States has been deteriorating, with a perplexed people asking what has become of the regional security outfit, Ametokun.

How Gunmen Dared Akeredolu |The Source

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The Source
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Kidnappers
Kidnappers

By Ayodele Oni

Within a space of 24 hours, gunmen have dared the  Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu.They have called his bluff, as if calling him out for a duel, and asking  him: What can you do?

Akeredolu, SAN, is the Chairman of the South West Governor’s Forum. As the Chairman, he is seen as the boss of the Region’s Security outfit, Amotekun,  which set-up he defended to the hilt,  and launched with pomp and pageantry. And he was the first to launch it in his state. After the launch, most people heaved a sigh of relief, thinking there would be an improvement in the security situation in the state.

But nothing has changed. Ondo remains under the siege of kidnappers. And fear reigns. In the past 24 hours, gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have struck an arrow in the heart of the state.

Barely few hours after a first class Monarch was killed by suspected kidnappers, gunmen have kidnapped the wife of Mr Olugbenga Ale,  Akeredolu’s Chief of Staff.

Gov. Akeredolu under attack of kidnappers
Governor Akeredolu

Information has it that she was kidnapped at Owena area along Akure/ Ondo highway Ondo State  Thursday night.

There is a permanent road block in the area manned by soldiers 24 hours.

Mrs Ale was  reported to be returning from Lagos when the incident happened.

Ondo State Police Command, has been silent on the incident, apparently not to further highten the fear already created by the monarch’s death.

Shell Vs Ogoni:Supreme Court Slams Shell; Gives Ogoni N17bn |The Source

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Akinwale Kasali
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By Akinwale Kasali

Wild  jubilation engulfed  the Ogoni Community in Rivers State Friday afternoon as the Supreme Court  dismissed an application by  oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company, requesting a revisit of a January 11, 2019 judgment ordering it to pay N17bn to some Ogoni communities in affected by an oil spill from the company in 1970.

A five-man panel led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour unanimously dismissed the company’s application for a review of the judgment after upholding the preliminary objection filed by the communities’ legal team.

Justice Centus Nweze prepared Friday’s lead ruling but it was read by another Justice of the apex court, Justice Chukwudumebi Oseji.

The Apex court had in the case which lasted about 31 years from when it started at the High Court, issued the N17bn order in favour of Ejama-Ebubu in Tai Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, represented by Chief Isaac Agbara and nine others.

The communities’ lead lawyer, Lucius Igwe, said on Friday that the judgment sum with the accrued interests for the 32 years period stood at about N182bn.

At the September 22, 2020, hearing leading to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Nwosu had urged the apex court not to only dismiss the application, but to also make an order against all the senior lawyers in Shell’s legal team as a “deterrent” for the filing of the judgment review application which he alleged was aimed at ridiculing the integrity and finality of the decisions of the apex court.

Shell’s legal team led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) had big shots in the legal profession including Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), and Wale Akoni (SAN).

Shocking: Airforce Runway Cannot Carry Super Tucano Fighter Jets, Says American Suppliers |The Source

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Uche Mbah
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By Uche Mbah

Nigeria may lose the $493 million the Government deposited to buy Super Tucano jets from the United States of America, USA. The American suppliers, allegedly, say the runway at the Airforce’s  Kainji Airstrip, is defective.

The Senate committee on Airforce, Tuesday, made this shocking situation known during the ongoing Budget  defence

Recall that the sum of $463 million had been deposited by the Federal Government in 2018 for the purchase of Tuscano fighter Jets to fight the Boko Haram terrorist group. However, the American Government had insisted  they would supply the Aircraft in 2020.  2019 was an election year in Nigeria, and analysts believe America was waiting the election out.

But the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Air Force, Senator Michael Nnachi (Ebonyi South), while presenting the budget report of the Air Force to the Senate Committee on Appropriation, said that if the fighter jets  were not bought, the deposit  could be lost. According to him, when the Americans who came to inspect the runway at Kainji said the runway cannot carry the jet.

According to him, additional N9billion is needed to take care of the runway, or else Nigeria will lose the deposit and the Aircraft.

“It is very serious issue, they are running around, they have gone to the Finance Minister, they have gone to CBN, they have gone to the Senate President. The money needed is not part of the main budget”, he said.

“Nigeria has already paid $493 million for the aircraft and the officials of the American company who came to Nigeria last week said that the Kainji runway is not capable of carrying the fighter jets. They said that Nigeria will forfeit the Aircraft if the situation of the runway persists.”

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Jubril Barau, in his own contribution, said that the committee will look inward to provide funds to address the challenges in the 2021 budget.

The questions perplexed Nigerians are asking are: If the FG and the Airforce Leadership did not know the capacity of the high profile jet, and why nothing has been done about the runway og the Airstrip.

Breaking: Senator Ndume’s Passport Seized, Gets Bail |The Source

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Bayo Bernard
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By Fola James

A federal high court in Abuja has granted Senator Ali Ndume bail. The senator representing Borno North was last week remanded in Kuje prison after he failed to present in cour,t Abdulrasheed Maina, a former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team who stood surety for.

Maina is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFFC but has since jumped bail and all effort to make him appear in court, to stand trial has remained futile.

Justice Okon Abang granted Ndume bail after hearing his application on the issue. He, however, directed the lawmaker to deposit his international passport with the court.

On Monday, a federal high court ordered Ndume to be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Center, following his inability to produce Maina, whom he stood surety for.

Maina is answering to a 12-count money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him and a firm, Common Input Properties & Investment Limited.

EFCC accused former pension boss of laundering funds to the tune of about N2billion, part of which he used to acquire landed properties in Abuja.

Maina spent over seven months on remand at the Kuje Correctional Center before the court released him on bail on July 24, after Senator Ndume agreed to stand surety for him.  He had since September 29, refused to appear before the court for continuation of his trial.

Media Ignoring Violence In the North, Laments Sultan Of Sokoto |The Source

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Uche Mbah
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By Uche Mbah

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, has  lamented the brazen way Bandits, believed in some quarters to be Fulani herdsmen, have overrun the cities of the North, complaining that it is largely ignored by the Southern dominated Press.

The Sultan’s allegation against the Media is surprising, given that for seven years and counting, the insecurity in.the North has been on the front-burner of media attention.

Recent reports, however, indicate that bandits have been going from house to house abducting people brazenly in broad daylight with security agencies seemingly helpless. The bandits have also formed the habit of taxing farmers before they allow them to harvest their products.

Critics of  Security Agencies  have, unfairly,  accused them of being responsive to the security challenges in the South but appear non nonchalant towards the northern crisis. A criticism which has been dismissed as nonsense, given that all Security Heads in the country are from the North.

But the Sultan has lamented that bandits go around in the villages brazenly brandishing AK 47 assault rifles, unchecked by any security agents.

The Sultan raised the alarm in Abuja Thursday at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC).

“Security situation in northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation. It is regrettable that no strong media platform could report this story to the world.

“A few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there alongside the governor to commiserate with the affected community.

“Unfortunately, you didn’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the north. We have accepted the fact that the north doesn’t have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.

“People think north is safe, but that assumption is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country. Because bandits go around in the villages, households, and markets with their AK-47. They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts I know because I am at the centre of it.

“I am not only a traditional ruler, but I am also a religious leader. So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the north in this regard because I am fully aware of the security challenges there. We have to sincerely and seriously find solutions to the problem, otherwise, we will find ourselves soon, in a situation where we would lose sleep because of insecurity.

“As religious leaders, we must promote peace, love, unity, and tolerance among our followers. We will discuss all these issues at the close door session of the meeting and possibly come out with strong suggestions for government,” the Sultan of added.

Also speaking at the occasion, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr. Samson Ayokunle Olasupo, concentrated on the  government’s defence of the recent hike in the price of electricity tariff and fuel while suing for caution while profiling the recent #endsars protests.

“That’s not what we sent them to do for us. The decision, evidently, has added to our pains, and they should reverse it as quickly as possible,” he said.

“As a man of God, I never saw the EndSARS protest coming. Maybe I am far from God. It came to us all unaware. Initially, I thought that the protest was organized by bad boys in society, but when I began to see and read stories of Police brutality, I was surprised and supported their actions.

“But attributing the actions of the angry youths to a particular religion or ethnic group is insincere and unsafe. No religious group was exempted from the effect of the protest. The action was a spontaneous action that cannot be attributed to any religion or ethnic group.”

But the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, defended the Security  agencies and asked citizens to help combat crime.

“Today, despite all efforts, including the deployment of enormous resources, our country still faces a measure of insecurity which is impacting negatively on our economy, social life, education of the children and young persons, investment, and remains a threat to lives and livelihood,” he said.

Late Vendor’s Widow Asks Speaker To Ignore Family |The Source

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The Source
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Femi Gbajabiamila Meets Vendors

Josephine, wife of late Ifeanyi Okereke, the ill-fated Abuja Vendor, shot dead on Thursday, last week by a Security aide attached to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is ready for a battle with her late husband’s family over what many people describe as the family’s greediness and outrageous demand of the Speaker.

Abdullahi Hassan, the Security officer had, inexplicably, fired  shots in the air to disperse a group of young men, allegedly, blocking the Speaker’s convoy, after the Speaker had stopped to exchange banters with the Vendors at the gate of the National Assembly.

The bullets hit  one of the Vendors, Mr Okereke, and killed him.

A clearly distraught Speaker, stood Hassan down from his convoy,  handed him over to the DSS for investigation, paid a condolence visit to the family, said he would take over the welfare of the family, be responsible for everything about the children he left behind until they turn 21 years, (the last was nine days old when his father was killed), and set-up a Trust Fund for his children.

Gbajabiamila also met with the FCT Associations of Newspapers Distributors and Vendors and condoled with them on the tragic death of their colleague.

Many people were impressed, and applauded.

But not his family, as represented by his father, Okorie Okereke, and younger brother, Destiny Okereke.

In what seems like an opportunity to make money, blood money, the duo instructed Mike Ozhekome, SAN,  to demand from the Speaker, a “modest N500m”, to cushion the “trauma and pain of the sudden death of their bread winner.”   They gave the Speaker a seven-day ultimatum, or they would proceed to Court, without any other reference to him. They, also, made other demands from the Speaker. To see to the prosecution of the Security officer, and the safety of FCT Vendors.

Great expectations. But there is a snag.

Father and son neither consulted the Widow, Josephine, nor told her what they were upto. She read it in the newspapers. And hit the roof.

On Thursday, she addressed a Press Conference, and dissociated herself from the greedy meal. She told the Speaker she had no inkling of what her in-laws were demanding for. And asked Gbajabiamila to continue with the promises he made to the family – including taking care of their welfare, and being responsible for them until they are 21.

Many have applauded the Widow’s action, and asked the Speaker to protect her and her children from her father-in-law and brother-in-law.

Why Suspected Kidnappers Shot Dead Ondo First Class Monarch |The Source

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Ayodele Oni
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Olufon of Ifon

By Ayodele Oni

A first class monarch in Ondo state, the Oluifon of Ifon, Oba Adegoke Adeusi in Ose Local  Government Area, was shot dead Thursday evening by suspected kidnappers.

He was killed around Elegbaka settlement, one of the communities under his domain, while returning from Akure to Ifon after a Council of Obas meeting.

The State Government has confirmed the incident by  gunmen in a statement issued by the  Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, describing it as unfortunate .

The Government noted that the incident has, again, confirmed that the country is, indeed, in a serious security crisis beyond the ordinary.

This magazine gathered that the Oba was returning to his domain from a meeting in Akure. But he ran into the kidnappers. To protect the Oba from the hoodlums, the driver tried to make a daring escape with the Oba. But it backfired. The kidnappers sprayed tne Oba’s vehicle with bullets. They fatally hit the Royal Father.

The questions a shocked people are asking are: Where were the Security details of the Oba. Being a First Class Traditional Ruler, he was entitled to some form of security. And where were the much celebrated Amotekun, the South-west security outfit launched with flourish?

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has visited Ifon in company of the Chief  of Staff ,  Olugbenga Ale; Head of Service, Dare Aragbaiye; Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Dotun Owanikin and his Information counterpart, Donald Ojogo to condole with the affected community.

The Government’s statement reads “With a heavy heart, the Ondo State  Government hereby confirms the unfortunate incident around Elegbeka, Owo-Ifon road in Ondo State to be true. Truly, Ondo has lost a great one-a deep cut, too sad.

“This is a heinous crime, an incident which has, again, confirmed that we are indeed, in a serious security crisis beyond the ordinary.

“All lives matter; but this is one too heavy and unbearable. It’s a sad day in Ondo State. Clearly, we are in a serious security crisis that requires extraordinary means.”

The Governor assured that Government will do whatever it takes to unravel these criminals calling on security agents to unravel those behind the crime.

“On our part as a Government, we shall give whatever it takes to unravel this; these criminals who have wrought this sad day on our State shall not go unpunished.”
The Oba’s subjects are traumatised, and describe his murder in his domain as an abomination.

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