President Muhammadu Buhari has received a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and former Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja

The duo, who recently defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), were accompanied on Monday by the APC Caretaker Chairperson, Mai Mala-Buni, who is also the governor of Yobe State.

Others in the entourage were Governors of Jigawa State, Mohammed Badaru and Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu.
Otunba Daniel was governor of Ogun State from 2003 to 2011 while Mr Bankole was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria (2007–2011), both on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

While Otunba Daniel was campaign manager for the PDP presidential candidate and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, in 2019, Mr Bankole contested that year’s governorship election in Ogun State on the ticket of the Action Democratic Party (ADP).

The government of the State of Osun wishes to commiserate with the management and staff of Unique F.M., Ilesha, and indeed the entire body of media professionals in the state over the passage of Mr Sunday Alakinde, one of the popular radio presenters in the state.

This is particularly a painful loss to the State of Osun, which today mourns not just one of its sons but also one of its finest professionals in the media industry.

Alakinde was an erudite journalist, a brilliant presenter, and a dexterous user of the Yoruba language. He made a huge impression through the daily yoruba newspaper review programme, “Ojutole Ojutoko”, one that cannot be forgotten in a hurry.

The government expresses its condolences to the family of the deceased, to the entirety of the media family in Osun state and in Nigeria as a whole, and to the management and staff of Unique F.M. and prays that God grants Mr Alakinde’s family and friends the fortitude to bear the loss.

Signed:
Funke Egbemode
Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation,
State of Osun

The Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board, state of Osun, Hon. Ajibola Famurewa, has canvassed the need to tap from the many inherent potentials of the Nigerian youths to enhance National Development.

Hon Famurewa made this known during a lecture entitled “Rejigging Universal Basic Education for the Development of Youths’ Entreprenurial Skills “delivered at the Second Annual Akeem Kareem Lecture Series held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The Osun SUBEB Boss noted that education is a veritable tool for national development and social integration, which if fully tapped from the root will impact entrepreneurial skills in children.

The former federal law maker however, enjoined the youths in particular to engage themselves in entrepreneurial skills acquisition as opposed to a craze of searching for a white-collar job which he noted are now very difficult to get in Nigeria.

He also enjoined all stakeholders in the country to map out strategies through the creation of an enabling environment to instill in the teaming youths the mulch needed entrepreneurial skills for both personal and national developments.

As the Osun Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality, human rights violations and related extra-judicial killings continues to look into the grievances of citizens on abuse by men of the police force, a petitioner has narrated how police officers killed his brother and failed to release his corpse to the family after four years.

Teslim Olakunle Ibitoye, a resident of Erin-Osun area of the State, who spoke during the sitting of the panel on Friday, added the officers whose bullets killed his brother were also responsible for the injury he sustained in his spinal cord.

Ibitoye, who described the incident as an offspring of some overzealous officers’ chase of suspected criminals, claimed that the killing of his brother, who he described as the breadwinner of the family, has left a strain on the family’s wellbeing.

“The event that led to our petition before this honourable panel happened on the 25th of April 2017. We were at our cousin’s place on a visit when suddenly I heard a gun shot. The last thing I remembered was that I stood up at the sound of the first gun shot.

“We were taken in a bus and driven to Osogbo. My brother was lying dead on the ground and I also was lying on my back because I couldn’t sit by myself again. I remember that when the Commissioner of Police at the time, CP Adeoye, came around, my cousin, Nureni Ibitoye, and the other suspects that were apprehended, kept repeating that myself and my brother had not done any wrong.

“On the basis of their testimonies, the Commissioner of Police ordered that I be taken to the Police Clinic for treatment. I was sneaked out of the Clinic on April 28 at about 2:00am and taken to Abuja. After some examinations in Abuja, one oga Abba Kyari ordered that I be taken to the hospital for treatment.

“I was taken to the General Hospital at Gwagalada, where I was admitted and discharged on August 1. From there, I was taken to the Police Cell again for two weeks. I was eventually released on August 15, and I have been trying to treat myself since then.

“It is unfortunate but that attack has ruined a lot of things around my family. My mother is still in shock, finding it hard to believe her son got shot.

“Other members of the family are still trying to recover from the trauma because my brother’s body has been withheld for four years despite the fact that all investigations show that he has not committed any crime. The killing of the breadwinner of the family has turned everything upside-down in the family.

“I am grateful for this Panel set up by the government, because my expectations are graduay being fulfilled. The Panel has just initiated the process for the release of my brother’s corpse. This is a positive development for us.

“That aside, I want to be treated. As I speak, I still have a bullet in my T4 (spinal cord) that I have been carrying around for four years. If there’s anywhere, I can be taken to get a proper treatment and for the bullet in my T4 to be removed, I will be most pleased.

“The effect on my health has been severe. Breathing for me has required extra efforts, and even despite the support, I don’t have the strength to stand.

“For the extent of the damage done to my family and to me, I am appealing for an order of adequate compensation to the tune of Fifty Million Naira Only (N 50,000,000)”, Ibitoye stated.

As torrential rains began to wreak havoc in various parts of the State, the Special Adviser to the Governor and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Osun State Signage, Hoarding and Advertisement Agency (O’Signage), Mrs Dupe Ajayi Gbadebo, has indicated the preparedness of the Agency to commence the enforcement of the signage law in the State.

Addressing newsmen in Osogbo, Mrs Ajayi- Gbadebo said that demand notices have been served to signage owners while removal notices have also been placed on illegal and wrongly placed signposts and billboards across the State.

She said removal notices placed on signages was intended to instil sanity, compel registration and make defaulters to settle approved bills to the coffers of the State Government.

She therefore called on individuals and corporate bodies with such notices to come to the Signage office to fulfill their obligations and get clearance.

The O’signage boss urged those who want to make payments to the Agency to do so directly to the Government account in various banks, saying that the Agency does not allow its staffers to collect cash payments.

According to Mrs Ajayi-Gbadebo, the State Government is most concerned about safety of lives, adding that vision blights do occur as a result of competitive location of several bill boards along roadsides and often results in accidents and loss of lives.

She pointed out that rainstorms are capable of forcefully removing not well erected billboards and signposts which can pose serious dangers to lives and property of innocent people.

The O’signage chief executive disclosed that the three core objectives that inform the activities of signage Agency are to standardize erection of boards and signage in an orderly manner; create environmental aesthetics; encourage and enhance commercial activities.

She explained further that activities of the Agency is devoid of political colouration.

Mrs Ajayi-Gbadebo said whether political or religious and any other type of poster or signage, the owners must register with Government properly and the Agency would guide them on the right way and appropriate places to paste posters or erect billboards.

She said the State could no longer tolerate the manner major streets have been defaced with posters, other signage as well as billboards and appealed to whoever wants to use public space for advertisement to come to the Agency for registration.

She added that any individual, religious organization, political party, company or business owner who attempts to use public space for advertisement without the authorization of the Signage Agency would not only forfeit such billboards but will also be arrested and prosecuted.

The O’Signage Boss warned that pasting of posters indiscriminately would no longer be allowed in any part of the State and that only those who register appropriately would be able to make use of the public space for advertisement purposes.

Soliciting the support of the citizens to the activities of the agency, Mrs Ajayi-Gbadebo disclosed that the Agency allows reasonable payment arrangements of annual dues, as well as the need to patronize professional advertisers.

The signage dues, according to her, is determined by sizes or location as well as the level of industrial concerns involved with the signage.

The Osun State Government said it has received doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the Federal Government.

The Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs Funke Egbemode, disclosed this on Tuesday, following the receipt of the vaccines by a State government delegation at the Akure Airport.

Egbemode said the state government received the vaccines at about 7:11pm on Tuesday, adding that the government is prepared to both preserve and administer the vaccines, having trained about 300 health workers for the Vaccination exercise and installed storage facilities (cold chain) across the 332 wards in the State.

She assured residents of the State that the government would soon commence the vaccination in line with the scheduled guidelines laid down by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

She also advised citizens to shun the misinformation making the rounds about the vaccines, adding that the vaccines have been scientifically tested and certified fit for human use by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Egbemode added that in spite of the administration of the vaccines, citizens should continue to observe all Covid-19 protocols laid down by the government.

The Medical Team that received the doses of vaccine on behalf of Osun government include: Commissioner for Health, Dr Rafiu Isamotu; Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Siji Olamiju; and the Chairman, Osun Primary Health Care Development Board, Mr. Leke Ogunsola.

The Osun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu, has insisted that the COVID-19 vaccines that is being distributed by the Federal Government is not a birth control measure by the government.

This followed rumours making the rounds that the government was planning to use the COVID-19 vaccine as a

a ploy to make Nigerians sterile in order to control the population.

Isamotu also maintained that notwithstanding the availability of the COVID-19 vaccines in the state, testing and isolation of infected persons will be intensified in Osun as the non-pharmaceutical safety measures remain the most proven strategy in reducing community transmission.

Isamotu, while featuring on Frank Talk on Rave FM, on Monday, called on citizens of Osun not to allow the rumours provoke fear in them, adding that the vaccines have no side effects that can adversely affect the human body.

He revealed that although no particular date has been set for the commencement of vaccination in Osun, the national distribution of the vaccines commences on Monday, and that the training of health workers will precede the administration of the vaccines in the state.

The Commissioner disclosed that the vaccines will be administered in two jabs, the second coming after about three months interval from the first.

Also cementing on the management of the vaccination in the State, the Executive Secretary of the State Primary Health Care Development Board, Dr. Oluwole Fabiyi, said Osun was prepared to receive the vaccines, as cold chains for storing them have been established in the state

He revealed that Osun has 332 solar freezers, which means each Ward has a storage facility.

Fabiyi added that since about 40,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses will be coming to the state, the vaccination will be done in four phases.

“The first phase will be for frontline and health workers. The second phase will be for the elderly and those that are morbidly ill and the last phase for those that are 15 years and above.

“For now, research has not shown that it can be administered on children. So, it is for people who are 15 years and above”, Fabiyi stated.

The Osun State Police have secured the release of seven abductees kidnapped along Ibokun/Osogbo Road.

The commuters were kidnapped on Tuesday by an armed group, according to a statement by the Osun Police Spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola.

“The victims were released due to the pressure mounted on the abductors by the Police and other security agencies.

“The victims will soon be reunited with their families.

“The Commissioner of Police appeals to the good citizens of the State to collaborate with Police to get rid of all criminal elements from the State, while assuring the members of the public and commuters of their safety as security measures have been put in place to forestall future occurrence”, the statement read in part.

Osun, on Thursday, recorded 45 new Covid-19 infections, according to the daily report of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The new tally brings the State’s total number of confirmed cases to 2,371 out of which 1,804 cases have been successfully managed.

Meanwhile, 634 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria on Thursday from 22 States.

Lagos topped the day’s log with 259 confirmed cases, and followed by Osun with 45 cases.

Others include: Edo(38), Ogun (35), FCT (33), Anambra (26), Imo (24), Ondo (24), Akwa Ibom (20), Plateau (20), Abia (19), Kaduna (19), Ebonyi (17), Borno (10), Rivers (10), Kano (9), Delta (8), Kebbi (7), Nasarawa (4) Oyo (3), Enugu (2) and Ekiti (2).

Till date, 154476 cases have been confirmed, 131699 cases have been discharged and 1891 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

.… charges security operatives to enforce compliance, order

For the umpteenth time, the State Government of Osun on Sunday reiterated its new directives aimed at curbing the spread of the Coronavirus are still in force.

Specifically, the Government said there will be no countdown to New Year ceremonies and cross over nights under whatever guise by religious bodies during the New Year eve.

These are contained in a statement issued on behalf of the Osun Government by the Secretary to State Government, (SSG), Prince Wole Oyebamiji.

According to the statement, Government has directed the security operatives in the State to enforce the directives without exception.

The Government further said, ” The ban on youth carnivals still subsists. Also, all social clubs, hotels, departmental stores, supermarkets, event centers and allied centres are to henceforth operate at half of their capacities and observe Covid-19 protocols.

“Wearing of face Masks at public places is equally compulsory. 

“We want to appeal to all residents and citizens to cut down on social gatherings, including weddings, naming ceremonies and funeral ceremonies so as to reduce the spate of exposure and contact with possible carriers visiting the State during the Yuletide period.

“Also, all towns and cities are to put on hold the annual days through physical attendance and change such to the virtual version. “We assure all citizens and residents that Government is insisting on all these measures in their collective interest. Therefore, let’s all join hands with Government to keep Osun safe.”