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Osun slipping into chaos amidst political killings

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Osun State

Unless all the relevant security agencies, traditional rulers and other critical stakeholders in Osun State re-strategize and redouble their efforts to curb the gathering storm and douse the lingering political tension in the State, the State may slip into total chaos of unimaginable proportion.
focusmagazinesoline.com recalled that since the conclusion and announcement of the results of the July governorship election in the State, that gave victory to Mr. Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), various signals from emanating have been quite omnious.
The brewing political tension, focusmagazinesoline.com checks revealed are direct fall out of several political desperate calculations.
As at last count, two party members were shot dead in Ede following a scrambling that followed a Ward’s meeting of the PDP. Unfortunately, the two fallen members belonged to the rival APC. In Oshogbo, a transport Union member was mowed down with his seven-year-old daughter, while in Apomu, another transport Union was also gruesomely mowed down last week.
The State Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Prince Adegboyega Famodun revealed in a statement before the latest orgies of violent killings in the State that “sequel to the conduct of the recent governorship election in the State, an incontrovertible intelligence report has shown that the leadership of a bellicose and belligerent tendency under the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), self-styled The Osun Progressives (TOP), has fine-tuned, funded and concluded a skilfully orchestrated sinister plan to promote a large-scale violent disturbances in the political firmament of the State”.
The Chairman continued “It was learnt that a leader of TOP from the West Senatorial District of the state has been saddled with the responsibility of mobilizing the members of the group across the state and some members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with a view to sponsoring series of protests against the state leadership of the APC under the chairmanship of Famodun, across the states and at the APC Headquarters in Abuja”.
focusmagazinesoline.com investigations revealed that no less than five prominent citizens of the State have been gruesomely mowed down since the conclusion of the gubernatorial election. There was also a violent attack on the convoy of the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Kafayat Oyetola, in Ede, past week. The attack on the convoy of the First Lady was still reverberating when the news of another killing in Apomu town hit the news waves last weekend. All these killings and attacks, sources in the State told focusmagazinesoline.com are politically motivated.
The State’s Police Command confirmed the attack on the First Lady and announced the arrests of five suspects in connection with the attack.
The Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO),Yemisi Opalola said in a statement “the incident occurred when a truck driver, Omolola Opeyemi, blocked the road and refused to give way for the incoming convoy”
Security operatives attached to Mrs Oyetola reportedly sustained varying degrees of injuries and vehicles damaged.
An eyewitness said a truck suddenly blocked the road and as security operatives tried to intervene, some thugs started hauling stones and other dangerous weapons at the convoy. However, no life was lost.
But then came the gruesome murder of another Party Chieftain at Apomu in Isokan Local Government Council Area of the state last week. An incident the State Chairman of the All-Progressive Congress (APC), Famodun decried as
“Unbelievable that unsavoury events have now become ubiquitous in the state since the past one month”.

Osun govt alerts residents of kidnappers using Okada, Keke Marwa


Famodun who was apparently, disturbed by the spate of killings, stated that the killing of the 48-year-old APC chieftain, Kazeem Alli popularly known as Kekere Pasuma, from Ward 6, Apomu, who participated actively during the last governorship election, “was wicked, callous and highly condemnable”.
focusmagazinesoline.com gathered that some gunmen allegedly sponsored by some stalwarts of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday killed the APC chieftain.
Information also has it that the deceased who was the Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers NURTW in the local government has been receiving a series of death threats since the conclusion of the governorship election.
According to one of his wives, Mrs Jemila Alli, the incident happened at about 8:30pm at Oke-Alfa, around RCM Missionary House in Apomu when her husband was coming back home from work.
Disturbed by the spate of killings and violent rocking the State, Prince Famodun tasked the security agencies in the state to investigate the crime with a view to bringing the culprits to book. “All lovers of peace should resist any attempt by some disgruntled politicians to turn the state into a den of killers all in the name of politics.
“The APC state chairman wondered what would happen ahead if a minimum of about seven persons could be sent to the great beyond within one month”, Famodun hinted.

Reacting to the killings, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) blamed it on the internal crisis currently rocking the APC. The party therefore, cautioned against dragging the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) into the party’s internal crisis.

The Osun PDP which asserted that it has no relationship with the APC or its emerging internal implosion made this known in a statement signed by Akindele Adekunle, its Caretaker Transition Committee chairman in Osogbo.
The Osun PDP which maintained that it had no allies within the APC and had no hand in the alleged planned local and national demonstration noted that it found it preposterous for the Osun APC chairman to blame it for its leadership conflict.
According to the statement, “We find it preposterous for the APC Chairman to be blaming PDP for its leadership conflict. We have no allies within APC and we have no hand in the alleged planned local and national demonstrations. We are a party in opposition for the past 12 years now voted into office by the good people of Osun state”, the party Chairman noted in a statement issued on Tuesday.

focusmagazinesoline.com (C2022)

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A Great Nigeria is Possible, Bola Tinubu Assures Nigerians

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Bola Tinubu

ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT BOLA TINUBU AT THE 2023 CABINET RETREAT FOR MINISTERS, PRESIDENTIAL AIDES, PERMANENT SECRETARIES AND TOP GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONARIES AT THE STATE HOUSE CONFERENCE CENTRE, ABUJA ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2023

It is a great morning in Nigeria and I am humbled and happy to stand before you on this retreat, with forward-looking determination to embark on a very strong, bold endeavour to rebuild our country’s economy and our people’s hope renewed.
2. Thank you very much for your attendance. With strong determination, we are brought together the best brains, the best hands to navigate the future of this country.

3. We are not looking backwards; we can’t compare and give excuses. This is our country we have to build it; we have to renew the foundation. We have to give hope to the populace, to Nigerians in doubt whether democracy and economic growth will be the pathway to their prosperity.

4. I’m here to assure you and walk with you the best brains we can put together in civil service, the brain that we can put together in our democratic parliament and have been chosen for us by the public.

5. It is a good thing that the chairman of our party is here but the President is the president of all, whether affiliated with some political parties, regardless of religious, ethnic or otherwise, we are one.

6. A great Nigeria is possible, and a greater Nigeria will come under your commitment, guidance, and resolute determination to give the country a direction.

7. I’m with you. And please be assured that this great country is one family in one house, geographically located, partitioned, and living in different rooms. But we are all one family.

8. And we are here to make allegiance and give direction to that one family, making sure that relationships can only be stronger if we give hope to our people. We can only achieve our mission with boldness and strong determination with collaboration.

9. As I’ve stated before, no one succeeds alone. You the civil service, you must not see a minister as he or she will come and go and you will be there. You must make a positive team for the good of this country.

10. Yes! I admit and accept the asset and liability of my predecessor. It’s part of the definition in my professional background.

11. But you are in this ship. You will make good of it but not wreck it. You are a member of a great family; don’t see that minister as opportunistic. See, he or she as a partner that we must take the ship forward. Navigate it through turbulence and clear weather.

12. We are lucky we have a nation; the challenges are all over the world. You can see the chaos all around you. But be focused, like a man driving in the tunnel, don’t see the sky, don’t look up, face your direction. Be committed to the value and principle of results that will affect you, your neighbour, and the entire nation.

13. We’ve spent the last six months reviewing and evaluating ourselves, we’ve come a long way, but we set the agenda. Healthcare is a priority. Education of our people is a must. There is no other weapon against poverty than education. You have the opportunity to change things.

14. Recently, three days ago, we received the Chancellor of the Republic of Germany and his delegation of investors. One of their key complaints and the question is whether they can bring their capital, repatriate their dividend, or, if not satisfied, take their capital away. The Minister of Trade and Investment was called upon by me to explain further, that those obstacles are gone, never to come back again. We are open for business.

15. That is why we established the Result Delivery Unit. At the end of this retreat, you’re going to sign a bond of understanding between you, the ministers, the permanent secretaries, and myself.

16. If you are performing, nothing to fear; if you miss the objective, we’ll review; if there is no performance, you leave us. No one is an island, and the buck stops on my desk.

17. I assure you, you have a free hand. You must be intellectually inquisitive to ask how, why, when, and why it must be immediate. You have the responsibility to serve the people.

18. I’ve taken a young lady very dynamic, Hadiza Balla Usman, to head that delivery unit. If you have any complaints about her, see me. If you’re ready to work with her, stay there. Delivery, yes! we must achieve it for the sake of millions of people.

19. Yes, we are talking about the population of this country. What do you do with it? Make it an asset or a liability? Focus on its progress and come up with bold endeavours. We are great talents around the world, the biggest intellectually sound country in Horn of Africa.

20. Yes, we have challenges in the Sahel, we have challenges of climate change, south and north of Nigeria is battered, with ocean surge, we have desert encroachment in the north, but we are still blessed with arable lands. We can do it; we can build our country.

21. It’s not about theorizing. It’s about practical determination and focused evaluation. Yes, it is our country. We have no other one. Let’s be proud that we are Nigerians. We can do it, we can show leadership, we can fight to make democracy a lasting reference for the rest of Africa.

22. Don’t be afraid to make decisions, but don’t be antagonistic of your supervisor. If they are wrong, debate it. I stand before you and I’ve claimed on several occasions and I’m saying today again as the president, I can make mistakes, point it to me I would resolve that conflict, that error, perfection is only that of God Almighty. But you are there to help me succeed. Success I must achieve by all means necessary.

23. We have great minds, great intellectuals, great intellects, and all that we need.

24. When we were discussing this retreat, I said other than members of diplomatic corps to give us goodwill and inspiration, don’t invite any foreigner to give me a lecture about governance. I’ve been through it, and I believe in Nigeria.

25. It started from the day I was sworn in, and that bold endeavour is only achieved through courage, determination, and focused leadership.

26. We are going through the reform, painfully, and we still have other challenges. Don’t be a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress.

27. Let us look forward. Let us be determined that corruption will go, progress will be achieved, better wages for our workers, and living wages.

28. We will transform the economy to work for millions of our citizens. We must take 50 million people out of poverty. We must build healthcare that works for all. Look around. Don’t be wicked. Look at the standard of education, look at the classrooms, and look at the roads. We can only spend the money, we will find it, we can not spend the people.

29. No crime in borrowing. Thank you, World Bank, for being a lending friend. But let your achievement be homegrown. The determination that Nigeria can do it is here.

30. If it had not started six months ago, we are here to switch off the light, make you included, and make all Nigerians included. Our path for tomorrow is charted for our children and grandchildren. Don’t be selfish about it.

31. Poverty is not a shameful thing. It’s only unacceptable. And we have to banish it because it’s unacceptable. Let’s work on other identifiable areas.

32. Because a memo is submitted to you doesn’t mean that is the end of that matter. Think through it. Be inquisitive. Ask how, when, why.

33. I’m ready to enjoy the retreat going forward. We are not retreating from progress. We are just to talk to one another and chart a path for progress and prosperity of this nation. I’m honoured to declare this brainstorming session open. Thank you.

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Anxiety in Ondo, As Group Launches Operation Ja Ara E Gba To Rescue Aketi

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Rotimi Akeredolu

Akure, Ondo State capital will witnessed a huge movement of operation ‘Ja Ara E Gba’, by a group intent to rescued the ailing Governor of the State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Aketi from ‘a cabal holding him down, thus preventing him from seeking proper medical attention’.

The group had finalised all plans to storm Akure tomorrow, (Friday, 27 October, 2023) with the operation ‘Ja Ara E Gba’, either using the State Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press centre, or another auditorium that can contained a huge crowd expected from all the eighteen local government areas of the State.

The theme of the movement is “Ja Ara E Gba”
According to a close source to the group, ‘a group of friends have locked Aketi down. He needed to be rescued from the grips of this cabal, he stated.

The group called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Dr Umar Granduje, the national chairman of the All progressives Congress (APC) to use their good offices to help ‘us get him out of claws of these cabals, so that he can go for proper treatment’.
The group appreciated the national chairman for his reconciliatory efforts between the State House of assembly and the Deputy Governor that has put the impeachment threat in the cooler.

They also urged the Ondo State people not to give up on the ailing governor. They pleaded that they should continue praying for him.

A close source to the organisers of the movement told www.focusmagazineonline.com that ‘there is no denying the fact that Aketi is ill, sick and cannot perform his statutory duties as the Executive Governor of Ondo State’.

According to the source, who pleaded anonymity, ‘the Aketi we know cannot stay for a week without talking. They should free this man and let him go for treatment’, he said.

He explained that this is not a protest really. We shall gathered at the Press Centre, use our materials, read out our prepared press statement. We shall come with all these placards.
While insisting that the governor, Aketi is sick. And that he is helpless, he believed that some people have hijacked him. The president should intervene and get this man to go for treatment.

The source revealed that while some of his friends were saying he might need some twelve months to complete his treatment and all that, but we believe they should let him go, even if for only eight months.

Therefore, he told www.focusmagazineonline.com that as from tomorrow, it is now operation Ja ara e gba that will rule Ondo state.

‘We shall all come wearing the vest and face cap with the inscription, Ja ara e gba’, he said.

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Drambi Vandi, Killer Cop of Lagos Lawyer on Christmas Day, to Die Hanging

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For Drambi Vandi, the trigger happy police officer who shot and killed a Lagos lawyer, Bolanle Raheem on Christmas day 2022, the long hand of justice ran its full circle early Monday, (09 October) as Justice Ibironke Harrison, sitting in Lagos Division of the Lagos State High Court, pronounced a death sentence on him. He is to die by hanging.

Vandi, since suspended from duty in wake of the reckless shooting and killing of the young mother if two, by the Police authorities, has been facing a one-count charge of murder at the Lagos State High Court since January 2023.

The judge, Ibironke Harrison on Monday found the disgraced police officer guilty of murder and thus sentenced him accordingly.
“The court found the defendant guilty on one count of murder. You will be hanged by the neck till you are dead,” Harrison said.
On 25 December 2022, Mrs Raheem was said to be coming from the Church with other members of her family when they encountered the police check-point under the Ajah roundabout, in Lekki axis of the Lagos State.

Vandi allegedly fired a blinded shot into the car conveying the deceased which hit her and resulted in the death of Mrs Raheem, who was said to be carrying a five months pregnancy at the time.
The police officer was attached to the Ajiwe police division in the Ajah area of the state.
The news shocked the whole nation and instantly, both the police authorities and the Lagos State government swung into action. While the Lagos State Police Command immediately suspended him from its service, the State swiftly filed a murder charge against him at the State High Court.

The Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) had presented a one-count charge of murder of the young lady against the defendant and subsequently arraigned him.
The court opened the trial in the case in January, with the deceased’s husband, sister, police armourer, pathologist and seven others testifying against the defendant.
The prosecution also tendered 27 exhibits to supports its case.
The defendant, Vandi did not called any witness. He was the only witness who testified in his own defence.
In his testimony before the court, Vandi told the judge that the bullet presented in court which was said to have killed Mrs Raheem did not come from the rifle he carried on the day of the incident.

He also claimed that he had never seen the bullet until it was tendered in court.

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