Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has responded to the allegations levelled against him by former Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, that he was the mastermind of the attack on him during the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governorship rally for Eyitayo Jegede, Wednesday, in Akure.
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, said that his Principal does not intend to join issues with the former governor whom he said appears perpetually desirous of hugging the limelight, even when the occasion doesn’t desire such grandstanding.
“I believe that ex-governor Fayose and his handlers need to look far away from Oyo state in search of their enemies.
“Governor Makinde has no link whatsoever with the incident Fayose’s aide was talking about.
“We expect all right-thinking members of the PDP to join the Governor of Oyo State in the prosecution of the noble and democratic assignment he is executing on behalf of the PDP in Ondo State at this time, instead of seeking to distract him one way or the other.
“The governor will, however, not be distracted either on the task at hand, or on the well-intentioned desire to join other leaders to rebuild the PDP in the South-West geopolitical zone”, he stated.
Fayose was making his way to the podium at the campaign ground when a hoodlum, ostensibly acting on instruction, moved towards him and removed his cap.
The PDP former Governor, however, alleged that Gov. Makinde and former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Bode George, were the mastermind of the plot.
Not a few people were surprised, on Wednesday, that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, APC National Leader, was conspicuously absent from the final Governorship rally of the Party in Akure, Ondo.
Absent, as well, was Adams Oshiomhole, who was recently sacked as the National Chairman of the party. But Oshiomhole’s absence pales before Tinubu’s.
There are reasons.
Tinubu answers the National APC Leader. The state at stake is a South-west state, a zone where he wields his greatest political influence.
For his alleged political aspiration in 2023, many allege, he needs Ondo state.
In deed. Ondo state Governor, and the candidate of the APC, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, made this point during the flag-off of his campaign, recently.
At that flag-off, Tinubu was the star. He overshadowed everybody. The Governor gave him more attention than he did to anybody else.
He was the one who commissioned a project, and he was the one who, the Governor, accompanied by Traditional Rulers, went to pay a courtesy call to in Akure. It was during that courtesy call that Akeredolu said that the outcome of the Ondo election would decide how serious the Yoruba is in their aspiration in 2023.
Many people were surprised at the role Tinubu played at that flag-off, considering that he was not in support of the Governor in 2016.
During Akeredolu’s first shot at the Governorship seat in 2012, Tinubu backed him against Dr Olusegun Mimiko, his former ally. But he lost to Mimiko.
Adams Oshiomhole
In 2016, he ditched Akeredolu, and backed another candidate, Segun Abrams. But a combination, allegedly, of APC stalwarts, including some who were his boys, were too stormy for Tinubu. They swept Akeredolu into office. Tinubu lost.
In 2020, even though Abrams contested, Tinubu was more cautious. He said he had no favourite. He may have read the handwriting on the wall for, as soon as Akeredolu won, Abrams collapsed his structures with his, allegedly, on the orders of Tinubu.
So, why was Tinubu absent during the most important occasion, an occasion where both President Muhammadu Buhari, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, spoke to the mammoth party faithful from Abuja, and where a good number of APC Governors and Chieftains were present?
“Blame it on the Edo debacle”, a party chieftain, who pleaded anonymity, told the magazine. He said, “Given the backlash against the party after Tinubu’s unsolicited and unnecessary advisory to the Edo electorate, part of which caused the party the state, not many people wanted him in Ondo. He will be bad news. In Ondo he will not be a good poster boy. A victory in Edo would have accorded him a privileged position in Ondo. But after what happened, I think he spoke to himself, and calmed down.”
For Oshiomhole, he said: ” The mere sight of him will irritate many of us. It was his vindictiveness, and Tinubu’s inteferance that cost us Edo”.
In deed, in the days leading to the October 10 Ondo election, the APC took a different approach. The non-presence of both Tinubu and Oshiomhole at the final rally is one. The mega final rally which was held on Wednesday is another. None was held in Benin. Neither the President nor the Vice President was involved, as such, unlike in Ondo where both men were not only involved, but the President told the electorate to vote Akeredolu.
In Edo, that job was left for Tinubu and Oshiomhole. The party lost.
Few days after announcing an end to her seven-year old marriage to Austin Faani, Nollywood Actress, Chacha Eke Faani, has taken to her Instagram Page to announce she is suffering from Bipolar Disorder.
The mother of three, in Video, announced to her fans that she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
It would be recalled that Chacha’s first video sparked rumour that she might have ended her marriage due to domestic violence, but her recent revelation of Bipolar Disorder raises doubt about what actually went wrong.
Some fans raised a poser that she might have been forced by family to make such announcement in other to protect the interest of her immediate family.
In the video she shared on Instagram, the Ebonyi born actress, denied reports that her marriage suffered domestic violence. She claimed her husband has never lifted a finger on her, or even shouted at her.
Her words: “5 days ago i made a video saying that my marriage to Austin Faani is over. That video came with a lot of backlash, with people saying i suffered domestic violence. That’s not true, Austin has never raised his hands on me.
“I am here at First Delta American hospital here in Asaba, i have been diagnosed of bipolar disorder” She said.
Meanwhile, some of her fans refused to believe her. They believe that her husband or family members had forced her to say she has bipolar to cover up the truth.
The Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-administration in Delta State is facing a storm from the National Association of Delta State Students NADESTTU, over a compulsory N5000 Covid-19 levy imposed on students in the State.
The students have been directed, by their leadership, to boycott the payment of the N5000 Covid-19 levy imposed on them by the Government, saying it is outrageous and uncalled for.
In a statement by Godwin Saturday, NADESSTU’s National President, the students described the levy as a blatant extortion, ill conceived and an irresponsible from the State Government.
He said: “We have consulted with all the critical stakeholders and sister organizations on this issue, and we vehemently say no to this extortion.
“We want to inform the students that we are prepared to resist the wickedness by all legal means possible and modalities are already in top gear to ensure our students are saved from this extortion.”
“We are by this notice directing all returning students in respective Tertiary Institutions in Delta State not to pay the COVID-19 levy slammed on them by their institutions.
“The National Association of Delta State Students (NADESSTU) worldwide, we received the news of this development in rude shock and disappointment that the management of these institutions are this insensitive to the plight and situation of Nigerians and students.”
“Due to the long holiday, the house rents of most students have expired, many parents have lost their jobs, other are challenged with salary cut and the economy is biting on low income earners yet institutions still went ahead to slam the students with an unjustifiable Covid-19 levy at resumption.”
“We shall not be responsible for those who have paid when this struggle is eventually won and we will not clamour for any refund if any student flaunts this directive by going ahead with the payment.”
“We also want all SUG Presidents, NADESSTU Presidents and all union leaders and stake holders to take note of this and help drive this message home to their students,” the statement reads.
A-United Kingdom based Nigerian music-rapper, Olawale Hassan, Popularly known as Goldie 1, has been sentenced to 10 Years imprisonment for raping a woman in 2017.
By his irresponsible behaviour, Hassan has brought shame upon himself and his family, as well as hard-working Nigerians living in the United Kingdom.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, the 33-year-old, who lives at Falcon Avenue, Grays, Essex, attacked the victim in Southend in 2017, after claiming he was a music producer, Police officers said.
However, during his trial, he denied the three counts of Rape and one charge of assault by penetration.
Essex Police described him as “manipulative and calculated”.
Detective Constable Victoria De’ath, of the force, praised the woman, in her 20s, for her “courage” in reporting the attack.
It was gathered that Hassan targeted the woman while she was out with a friend in February 2017. She turned down his requests for her number and to accompany him to his hotel room before he promised to get her home safely after her friend left.
Instead, he parked his car on the seafront and locked its doors when she tried to flee, before attacking and raping her.
He later took her home after the incident, and the woman called the police to report the incident.
An explosion has rocked the Baruwa area of Ipaja, Lagos. Thursday, sending people scampering for safety, and many trapped in their houses, engulfed by the raging inferno triggered by the explosion.
The Lagos State Environmental management agency, LASEMA, is on ground to monitor, and arrest the situation.
According to an eye witness account, the explosion happened around 6.00am at a gas facility in the area. The number of casualties is yet to be ascertained, but many houses have been destroyed, and properties worth millions of Naira lost.
Baruwa lies along the Ipaja-Ayobo road, and is close to Gowon, Shagari, and Jakande Estates at Ipaja new town.
LASEMA officials on ground claim that, so far, about eight people were killed and about thirty houses burnt, including a primary school and some lockup shops.
But eye witness accounts claim twelve fatalities. Many of the injured, however, are being evacuated to hospitals.
Fire fighters are working to put off the fire.
Baruwa has been having problems with pipeline leaks which has made water from their borehole undrinkable because it lies along gas pipeline route.
In an incident which reminded one of the fate which befell former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Chief Bola Ige, Ayo Fayose, former Governor of Ekiti state, was assaulted, and his cap removed by alleged thugs in Akure, during the PDP final Governorship rally on Wednesday.
He was, also. pelted with sachets of pure water at the venue of the rally for PDP,s Mr Eyitayo Jegede, SAN.
Just before Ige, who was also a former Governor of Oyo State was murdered in his bedroom in Ibadan, his cap was removed in a similar manner at a function, allegedly by sympathisers of Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former Deputy Governor of Osun State, with whom he had a deep political misunderstanding.
Omisore and a couple of others were arrested and detained after Ige’s murder. But they were all discharged and acquitted. He was to become a Senator thereafter.
At the time of Ige’s killing. he was President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Minister. His wife, a Judge of the Court of Appeal, died of heartbreak after the acquittal of everybody arrested over her husband’s murder.
Fayose, who had, of recent, been at loggerheads with some leaders of the PDP in the South west, had to be hurriedly hurled back into his car as some suspected thugs surged forward to physically assault him.
Dignitaries, including Chiefs Oyewole Fasawe, and Bode George, already seated at the podium, were watching as the ex-governor’s cap was removed by an attacker.
One of the attackers, who laced his body with various charms and amulets, had to be bundled out of the campaign area as he unsuccessfully tried to beat up Fayose.
After about 15 minutes, when tension died down, he was again invited by the master of ceremony to come and address the rally.
One of the suspected Thugs that Attacked Fayose
Reacting to the incident, a spokesman for the ex governor, Lere Okayinka, accused the Governor of Oyo state, Mr Seyi Makinde, and Chief Bode George as the masterminds of assault against his boss at PDP rally.
The former governor said despite the shameful act, he will not stop saying the truth concerning the running of the party in the Southwest zone and those who have failed to produce any result in Lagos State since 1999 will be made to retire.
He said he would make a formal report of the incident to the security agencies and the party’s relevant authorities, noting that it was not something to be handled with levity
“That’s how late Chief Bola Ige’s cap was removed in Ile Ife, Osun State then, and we all know what happened later.
“So this one will not be ignored and treated as one of those things.
“The masterminds had it all planned and they followed it up by celebrating what they saw as the success of their plot. They even capped it up by circulating the video.
“So it was not an accident, it was planned. But those who planned it only succeeded in advertising their political myopism because popularity of the brand Ayo Fayose, Osokomole cannot be rubbished by such childish act.
“That they must have seen in the reaction of the people at the rally and I am sure they know that they can’t get such loud ovation even if they spend all the money in this world.
“As for me, I am unperturbed and I must say it clearly that those new comers to the PDP and their old allies, who won’t mind soiling the image of the party to achieve their aims will not be allowed to succeed,” he said.
Fayose, had, a few days ago called on the PDP, Lagos State, to retire Chief Bode George from politics if they wanted the progress of the Party in the State.
Governor Aminu Tambuwa of Sokoto state led 13 of his colleagues to the grand finale of the Governorship çampaign of the People’s Democratic Party’s, (PDP) candidate in Saturday’s election in Ondo state.
The last campaign rally, which was held at Ondo town, was, also, attended by former Governors Ayo Fayose and Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Ekiti and Osun states, as well as Chief Olabode George, a party chieftain from Lagos. And so did Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State.
It was the first time Bode George and Fayose would meet in public after he advised Lagosians to retire the former naval officer from politics. Some Lagosians had blasted Fayose for being disrespectful and gave him an ultimatum to apologise to George.
Fayose, however, at the rally, appealed to those he called ‘elders of PDP’ to forgive those who might have offended them and forge unity to ensure the victory of the party’s candidate in Saturday’s election.
Kwankwaso called on the people of the state to vote for Jegede if they want to be liberated from high school fees, taxes, and other vices that characterized the APC government at the federal and state levels.
Elated Jegede renewed his promise not to run a government made up of his family members, as well as reduce tuition fees in government owned institutions.
Incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has been accused by a number of people of involving his family members in state affairs, an allegation he has vehemently denied, asking for proof, and threatening to sue those promoting the allegation.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday highlighted reasons why Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state should be elected for second term during Saturday’s election.
Describing Akeredolu, as a good ambassador for the All Progressives Congress (APC), the President, in a virtual message to the grand finale of the APC Governorship rally in Akure appealed to voters to give him second chance.
The rally was attended by APC governors and other political office holders across the geopolitical zones of the country.
According to him, Akeredolu has taken the sunshine state to a new level and a path of prosperity.
”I have no doubt that our candidate is a good brand for the APC to market. I am particularly delighted by his ingenious approach to governance.
”His performance within the limits of available resources is endearing, just as he has taken the State to an enviable level and on the path of prosperity.
”Having had the privilege of commissioning some of his projects, which I consider enduring legacies, I join you here today to declare that Governor Akeredolu deserves to be re-elected to consolidate the good work he commenced in his first term.
”I am not just proud of his achievements. I am confident he will enjoy the mandate of the good people of Ondo State for the second term.”
The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who also spoke via social media, highlighted the achievements of Governor Akeredolu, from the Ore interchange bridge, christened “Redemption bridge”, to the Oke-Alabojuto road, and the various roads that have been constructed across the three senatorial districts of the state.
The Chairman of the Caretaker Committee. and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, Governor Mai Bala Buni, said the APC has performed well in the state and deserved to be re-elected.
Governor Akeredolu thanked the people for the huge turnout for the rally and assured the people of the state that his administration will continue to do more for the progress and development of the state.
The Ondo Governorship election is billed for October 10, 2020.
Akeredolu’s main challengers are PDP’s Eyitola Jegede, SAN. and ZLP’s Agboola Ajayi.
