Osun Defender Online Version of March 05, 2021

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969 IBEDC Customers Unmetred After Payment Page 2

Changes In Forex Rate, Fraud, Distribution Policies Affect Us - Company No Excuse For The Emotional Havoc – Urban Alert

Vehicular gridlock at Oke-fia, Osogbo, due to ongoing Ola-Iya flyover project.

Wale Olokode, Osun CP

Police Arrest 7 Armed Robbery Suspects In Osogbo Page 5 Editorials Securing The Schools Food Security Threat And Opportunity Page 3 Concerns Over COVID-19 Vaccine Back Page

Abduction: Aregbesola Tasks NSCDC On School Security Page 2

Photo:

Oyetola: Emblem Of Redefined Leadership Page 7

FRIDAY, MARCH 05 - THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021

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News

969 IBEDC Customers Unmetred After Payment

By Solomon Odeniyi

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HE Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) is yet to issue prepaid metres to some 969 customers in the State of Osun, after six years of payment.

Some of the customers, who had approached a Non-Governmental Or-

ganisation, Urban Alert for help, said they had paid for the prepaid metres between 2015 and 2017.

Of the 969 complaints, Urban Alert said 765 evidences of payment have been verified and handed over to IBEDC. The group held a Town Hall Meeting with

stakeholders to resolve the prepaid metre injustice on Tuesday, where the IBEDC customers accused the company of deliberately refusing to give them the metres to continue cheating them through crazy bill.

One of the complainants, Mr. Abiodun Oguntola, a hunter, said he ob-

tained loan from one of the micro finance banks to pay for the prepaid metre.

Oguntola accused the IBEDC of subjecting him to avoidable financial burden and unnecessary emotional torture by not giving him the prepaid metre.

Similarly, the Public Complaints Commis-

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, decorating the new Commandant-General of NSCDC, ACG Ahmed Abubakar Audi, PhD, mni. on Monday.

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IGERIA’S Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has called on the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to immediately develop a robust scheme that would check the spate of abduction in schools.

Aregbesola said the scheme is needed across the nation to check the spate of abductions in schools and guarantee the safety of the pupils.

He stated this on Monday while decorating the CommandantGeneral of the NSCDC, Ahmed Abubakar Audi in Abuja.

According to the minister, the scheme should also ensure the protection of farmers and critical national assets, such as pipelines, electricity pylons, stations and cables, telecommunication masts, cables and installations.

Aregbesola said: “NSCDC should develop a robust scheme for school protection across the country in order to ensure the safety of children everywhere, especially within the school environs, from the incessant attacks by kidnappers and armed men.

“Children are a specially protected social category. They are innocent and at the same time vulnerable. They are as

sion’s Commissioner, State of Osun, Mr. Ganiyu Olatoye, lamented that his commission had received hundreds of complaints from the general public on the non-issuance of prepaid metres after payment.

Olatoye said there had been no or little positive outcome on the matter, charging the IBEDC to be responsible and responsive to its customers’ plights.

Speaking at the programme, the Regional Communications Officer of IBEDC, Osun Region, Kikelomo Owoeye listed changes in forex rate, distribution policies and fraud during payment as some of the associated reasons for the non-issuance of the metres.

In the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the group issued a four-week ultimatum to IBEDC to provide metres to the customers whose payments have been verified.

A copy of the communique obtained by OSUN DEFENDER yesterday reads in part: “The Town Hall meeting towards resolving the Electricity

Abduction: Aregbesola Tasks NSCDC On School Security

By Ismaeel Uthman vulnerable to external circumstances as to their own wiles.

“The NSCDC should continue to work in synergy with other security agencies with a view to immediately restore peace and security in the country, particularly within the school envi-

ronment.

“The corps should also develop a robust scheme that would not only check the menace in the schools, but also ensure the protection of critical national assets, such as pipelines, electricity pylons, stations and cables, telecommunication masts, cables and installations.

“Another scheme, like the Agro Rangers, should also be developed to cover full agriculture and offer protection to all categories of farmers.

Protecting crop farmers and pastoralists is a matter of national food security.”

Aregbesola stated that the new CommandantGeneral was mounting

Symbol’s Quote

“I laugh when they talk about me because they do not know I am from the street. I am a product of the popular forces; THE PEOPLE and I am part and parcel of them. I emanated from them and I am a product of their struggles”

the saddle at a very critical time, urging him to ensure that he deliver on the mandate of the NSCDC in line with the policy thrust of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore, assured that the ministry will continue to support the agencies under it to ensure that they deliver on their respective mandates, which are the provision of internal security and citizenship integrity.

In his response, the NSCDC CommandantGeneral, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, promised that the corps under his watch would, among others, improve on institutional wellness and also leverage on proactive intelligence gathering in its operations to curb the asymmetric war ongoing in the country.

He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for giving him the opportunity to serve and commended his administration for its avowed commitment to the safety of lives and property.

He pledged the NSCDC’s total commitment to the realization of its mandate.

Prepaid Metre injustice meted out to residents in the state.

“The event was attended by some of the complainants, the Speaker - Osun State House of Assembly, a member of the Senate Committee on Power, regional officials of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Civil Society Organizations and the Media.

“Many issues surrounding the non-issuance of prepaid metres to the masses who paid to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) between 2015 and 2017 were discussed.

“With 969 people that have been documented to be facing the problem of non-issuance of Prepaid Metres in Osun State, Urban Alert’s Program Officer – Mr. Ladeji Alabi expressed that after five years of making payment, the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) does not have any excuse for making the people pass through financial, mental and emotional havocs.

“At the end of the Town Hall meeting, documents containing 765 evidence of payment which have been verified by Urban Alert were handed over to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), with the plea that the 765 verified complainants should receive their metres within the next four weeks.

“The meeting ended with complainants in high hope that they would receive their metres in few weeks.

“The Public Complaints Commission’s commissioner in charge of Osun State, Barr. Ganiyu Olatoye lamented that his commission had received hundreds of prepaid metre complaints from the general public, and IBEDC was contacted many times with little or no positive outcomes.

“At the meeting, several questions were directed at the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on the reasons for their continual refusal to deliver prepaid metres to those who paid for them.

Miss Kikelomo Owoeye, the Regional Communication Officer of IBEDC listed changes in forex rate, distribution policies and fraud during payment as some of the associated reasons for the non-issuance of the metres.”

PEOPLE FIRST

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FRIDAY, MARCH 05 - THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021

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Securing The Schools

UDOS to Mr. President for restating his resolve to Structural issues have to be confronted. The country’s end the carnage sprouting up around the country. security apparatus is stretched and there are not enough To match words with deeds in a democracy is a boots on the ground. delicate balancing act. Nevertheless, it has to be done, for This is due to decades of defective planning or lack of it. the present situation comes with excruciating costs.

Egypt, for example, has 1.7 million police officers for half In the first place, we cannot continue allowing an at- of Nigeria’s population. Nigeria clearly does not have mosphere being created in which people are terrified 400,000 police officers. of sending their children to schools when we already With a myriad of flashpoints and the necessity of securing the schools, immediate, short and medium term strathave too many children out of school. egies backed up with ExecuFurthermore, the present situation is giving out an image detri- “This means that all the resource per- tive Orders must be deployed to beef up numbers. mental to the country’s prospects sons veered in security operations, Another structural encumon a broad front.

What is to be done? A starting including retired members of the se- brance is the over centralisation of the internal security appoint should be a forensic audit of the funds provided in the curity forces across the South-West paratus. Even in normal times, past, some of which preceded the must be incorporated into the region- this is problematic. In the context of the present crises, it is present administration, donated by foreign governments includ- al security coordinating framework” self-defeating.

This is the time for a reboot, as ing Britain and France towards necessity becomes the mother of problem solving inventhe Safe Schools initiative.

The next is to seek emergency appropriation for a com- tion. The elite in Nigeria have long been aware that the prehensive safe schools initiative starting with securing educational institutions their offspring attend overseas have internal security frameworks and complimentary the acknowledged trouble spots.

The policy must be nationwide as the criminals are rely- policing systems. It is high time we adapted these to our ing on elements of surprise in their nefarious activities, own pressing needs.

Although securing thousands of schools is a daunting meaning that nowhere is safe.

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task. Nevertheless, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

Overall, a clear strategic imperative must be developed now with the federal, state and local governments in coordinated partnership. We have very little time and this must be given the highest priority.

For the South-West, there is an immediate, looming danger. The fiends operate on a framework based on the efficacy of an element of surprise. The zone is therefore fresh territory. It becomes a strategic imperative for the South-West to urgently incorporate formal and informal security mechanisms such as Amotekun, vigilantes, hunters, community intelligence agencies as a pro-active defence shield coordinated across the region. This must be done immediately.

Such a regional defence shield incorporating the use of technology is a necessity to forestall attempts to recreate the Zamfara, Niger states scenarios in the South-West. A regional coordinating standing committee with a decentralised but interwoven command structure must be set up under the purview of the governors now. There is no other feasible alternative. This means that all the resource persons veered in security operations, including retired members of the security forces across the South-West must be incorporated into the regional security coordinating framework.

Food Security Threat And Opportunity

UCH ado has been made about a blockade of agricultural storage facilities, improved seedlings, mechanisation, training and reproduce from the Northern part of the country to the South. training. Under the oversight of very imaginative regional agriculture We have also read unverified reports about the diversion of ministers, starting with Chief Gabriel Akin - Deko, a significant adproduce to neighbouring countries in order to develop new markets vance was made. For example, by the mid-sixties, grandparent stock as opposed to sending produce to the Southern part of Nigeria. What- for cattle had already emerged in ranches in the region. It should have ever happens, as usual with Nigeria, never goes the mile after a few been sustained. skirmishes.

In the present circumstances, we have to review and update the There are, however, important issues involved, particularly for manual. There is frankly no alternative. The agriculture value chain the South-West zone. We should recall the Chinese ideogram for Cri- must be revamped for food security and developed to feed industrial sis - one side is danger, the other is opportunity. Whatever is playing production. The zone needs region-wide commodity exchanges and out should be turned into an opportunity for the zone to reevaluate its specialist lenders which can be induced using the present regional inagriculture initiatives and programmes and put food security on the tegration platforms. front burner.

The immediate past administration in the State of Osun for examIn doing so, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Far-sighted ple, through its widely-acknowledged O - REAP Programme, made governments in the Western Region in the nineteen fifties and sixties efforts to exploit the more than N10 billion daily food market in Lahad clear strategic imperatives about food security and were on their gos; and even offered farmers free train service to deliver their goods way towards achieving it. in Lagos. They also made efforts to provide 5 million plantain suckers A clear emphasis was the to farmers. This is similar with transition of the peasantry out yam, cassava and potatoes. of subsistence farming into the Efforts were also made to mechanised and industrial state. re-establish the Oloba Cattle To achieve this, the Cooperative Ranch.

Bank was established in 1953. In The anchor grower schemes addition, the region created the were promoted to provide agric Western Nigeria Marketing and produce for the O - Meal scheme, Commodity Boards to ensure price while vast arable land was prostability and elevate living standvided to an intended partnership ards, through minimum farm Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and with Lagos State on growing gate price guarantees, provision of his agrculture minister, Chief Gabriel Akin-deko had a blue food. Similar attempts were put print worth revisiting.

forth to set up a seed and farm supplies distribution framework in Osun to make life easy for farmers.

These efforts need to be reviewed to deliver the vision of abundant food and wealth to the South-West states.

A warning has been inadvertently fired. It’s wake up time on the food security front.

OSUN DEFENDER IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY OTHER NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE OR ANY PUBLICATION WHATSOEVER

FRIDAY, MARCH 05 - THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021

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News

Motorists Lament Extortion By Policemen In Osun

By Ismaeel Uthman

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PERATORS of commercial motorcycles known as okada riders have lamented alleged extortion by policemen on some roads in many parts of the State of Osun.

The operators, who spoke with OSUN DEFENDER in different interviews between Monday and yesterday, complained bitterly about their reported harassment by the policemen.

According to the commercial motorcyclists, policemen at checkpoints between Osogbo and Ikirun, Idominasi and Ilesa, Obaagun and Iree, Ilesa Garage and Owoeba, Inisa and Konta/ Ijabe, Erin-Ilobu junction, among other roads are notorious for the alleged malpractice.

Speaking with the medium, an okada rider, Mr. Akeem Tiamiyu, who claimed to have fallen victim of the extortion by policemen on OsogboIkirun road, called on the Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, to call his men to order, saying that they are giving the police bad image.

Tiamiyu said the policemen had at different occasions obtained money from him on the road, alleging that they sometimes threaten to seize motorcycles of their victims if the rider refused to cooperate with them.

He said: “I live in Ikirun and I am working as an okada man in Osogbo. I ply OsogboIkirun road everyday.

What the policemen on the road are doing to we the commercial motorcyclists is bad. They are extorting us; they will just be demanding money from us anyhow. They always collect between N50 and N100 from us.

If you are not bold, they are ready to be collecting the money each time you ride and meet them.

“We don’t know how we have wronged them and why they are targeting motorcycle riders on the road. On sighting you coming towards

them, the policemen will raise their guns or batons, forcing you to stop. They sometime seize the motorcycle keys until you part with N50 or N100.

You can go and investigate what I am telling you.”

There had been an outrage over the alleged extortion of commercial motorists by policemen at a checkpoint on the

Ojutu Bridge, Ilobu.

Policemen at the checkpoint had reportedly been extorting the motorists by collecting N50 and N100 from each of the commercial motorcyclists and mini-bus (korope) drivers respectively.

After several complaints from members of the public, the Ilobu Divisional Police Officer, CSP

Seyi Williams changed the policemen at the checkpoint and urged motorists to report anybody demanding money from them to him.

However, the commercial motorcyclists told OSUN DEFENDER that though the extortion rate had been reduced, it was yet to be totally eradicated as the new set of policemen has also

been demanding money from them.

One of the motorcyclists, Idowu Aremu said the difference between the former policemen and the present at the checkpoint is the way they extort the road users.

Aremu said: “The former policemen on duty at the checkpoint were extorting us with

The Celebrator, who doubles as Secretary, NUJ Osun Council, Com. Bukola Elufadejin (in white cap), during his Golden Jubilee celebration and presentation of his book titled “Now That You Are Married”, flanked by the Chief Launcher, Hon. Rufus Adunmo, S.A. to Ekiti State Governor on Road, Works and Infrastructure (left), Prophet Babatunde Adegbola, Chief Host and Chairman of the occasion, Comrade Wasiu Ajadosu, Osun NUJ Chairman (right), held at NUJ, Press Centre , Osogbo.

impunity and harassment, but the people on duty now are polite in asking money from us.

They will nicely ask you to give them something, unlike the previous ones that would make demand as if you owed them money.”

OSUN DEFENDER observed that the policemen on Osogbo-Ikirun, Idominasi-Ilesa, Obaagun-Iree, Ilesa GarageOwoeba, Inisa-Konta/ Ijabe roads have more concentration on motorcycles than cars plying the roads.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Police in the State of Osun, Mrs. Yemisi Opalola, said the matter would be investigated, promising that any erring police officer would be made to face the wrath of law.

Opalola, however, urged the motorists to report misconducts of any policeman to the nearest police station or the PPRO’s office at the Police Headquarters, Osogbo.

Osun Assembly Amends LG Admin. Law For Caretaker Appointments

By Odunola Akinbode

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HE State of Osun House of Assembly has amended Local Government Administration Law, 2016.

The assembly, on Wednesday amended Section 2(a) of the law to address the proposed appointments of Caretaker Management Committee in each of the Local Governments, Local Council Development Areas and Area Offices with the number of persons to be appointed.

Also, the amendment led to deletion of Section 2(b) of the law, which had stipulated that the Governor could not appoint more than five persons as members of the Caretaker Management Committee and to be headed

by Executive Secretary.

But the passage of the State of Osun Local Government Administration Amendment No. 7 bill, 2021 into law by

the assembly has now empowered the Governor to appoint more than five persons as members of respective caretaker committees and each to be headed by a Chair-

man.

The amended Section 2(a) (i-iii) of the passed bill reads: “Where a Local Government Council, Local Council Development Area or Area Council is

dissolved and no election has been conducted to reconstitute the council or it has become impracticable to immediately conduct election to fill the vacancies thereby

Court Remands 70-Yr-Old, Others For ‘Damaging Ex- LAUTECH VC’s Property’

By Solomon Odeniyi

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magistrate’s court sitting in Osogbo, State of Osun, has remanded three men in Ilesa Correctional Centre for allegedly damaging 10 corner pieces on a parcel of land owned by a former Vice-Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).

Prof. Benjamin Adeleke.

The suspects are: Mustapha Oyebode (65), Tajudeen Babatunde (70) and Kadejo Abdulkabir Temitope (35).

According to the charge sheet read in court yesterday, the trio assaulted Adeleke’s younger brother, Oyeyemi Taiwo and carted away his properties.

The accused persons are said to be from Oyero Lagada family of Osogbo,

which has been contesting the ownership of the said land with Adeleke, in spite of two different court rulings dismissing their claims.

In a two separate judgments obtained by OSUN DEFENDER, Justice A.O Oyebiyi-led court dismissed the suits filed by the trio on behalf of their family against Adeleke on July 1, 2020 and September 24, 2020.

But the trio did not cease from challenging Adeleke’s ownership of the land.

Yesterday, they were arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on conspiracy, willful and malicious damage and assault.

They were alleged of assaulting Taiwo, who was having a poultry farm on the land by beating him up with blows and sticks.

Tawio’s phones valued at N50, 000 were maliciously damaged by the accused persons, according to the charge sheet.

The charge sheet stated that the suspects committed the offence on February 27, 2021 at Agunbelewo Area, Osogbo.

But the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges, just as their counsel, Nurudeen Kareem pleaded with the court to admit them to bail.

But the Magistrate, Mr. Adeyeba Adekanmi turned down the oral bail application, directing the defence counsel to make a formal bail application.

He ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison, just as he adjourned the matter till March 12, 2021 for mention.

created, the Governor shall appoint a Caretaker Management Committee to run the affairs of the council for a period not exceeding six months.

“The Local Government Caretaker Management Committee shall comprise the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Scribe to the Local Government and a member from each of the wards in the Local Government Area or Local Council Development Area. In case of an Area Council, an Administrator shall be appointed.

“The appointments shall be subjected to the confirmation of the House of Assembly”.

It would be recalled that the tenure of the elected officials of local governments in the state expired February 5, 2021 and Chairmen had since handed over the administration of local governments to the most senior career officers of councils.

FRIDAY, MARCH 05 - THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021

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Crime

Police Arrest 7 Armed Robbery Suspects In Task Force Operatives Remanded For Beating Motorcyclist Blind Sight Over N100 Change Osogbo

By Yusuf Oketola

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O fewer than seven armed robbery suspects terrorizing Osogbo, capital of the State of Osun, have been arrested by the Police.

The suspects are: Sola Adewusi, Moshood Yusuf, Taye Fala, Dauda Azeez, Abdullahi Adesokan, Olalekan Ayoola and Tunde Adeniyi.

According to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olawale Olokode, the suspects allegedly armed themselves with guns and cutlasses to rob a resident of Ilesa Garage, Osogbo, on February 7, 2021.

Olokode, while parading the suspects on Monday at the Police Headquarters, said the suspects burgled their victim’s apartment and carted away properties valued at N3, 650,000 Items carted away, according to Olokode, included an unregistered Toyota Camry car valued at N2, 800,000.

He said the suspects were later arrested by operatives of the Prompt Response Unit of the Po-

lice in Oyo, Lagos and Ogun states.

The Commissioner of Police said the suspects confessed that their major operations were carried out within Osogbo metropolis.

According to the Police boss, Sola Adewusi confessed to have robbed twice in Osogbo with his gang and was shared N70,000 and N32,000 respectively for the two robbery expeditions.

Yusuf Moshood, owned up to have shared sum of N3,000 with the gang as bonus for assisting them to conceal their weapons after operations, while Taye Fala said he earned N125, 000 from three separate robbery operations in Osogbo and Iwo axis, according to Olokode.

Also, Dauda Azeez was said to have earned N100, 000 from two robbery operations in Iwo and Osogbo, while Abdullahi Adesokan also confessed to have partaken in a single robbery trip with the gang in Osogbo and earned N20, 000.

Olokode stated: “Olalekan Ayoola confessed not to have partaken in any robbery trip with the gang but only assisted

them to transfer funds untraceably from victims’ bank accounts and that he is fully aware of their robbery operations.

“Tunde Adeniyi confessed to be an apprentice; learning how to

hack into accounts and transfer funds without traces from Ayoola.”

The Commissioner of Police said investigations were ongoing and the suspects will be charged to court thereafter.

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HREE task force operatives of a commercial motorcycle operators’ union have been remanded in Ilesa Correctional Centre for allegedly beating a

Legion Officers Arraigned For Attempted Murder Of 2 Persons

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HREE officers of the Nigerian Legion have been arraigned before an Osogbo magistrate’s court for allegedly attempting to kill two persons by unlawfully subjecting them to serious punishments.

The officers, Mathew Oyebade (49), Sunday Daramola (44) and Olalekan Adeoye (49) were accused of attempting to kill Saheed Animasahun and Godwin Peter by beating and forcing them to eat raw cashew nuts, which they know is poisonous to the body.

According to the charge sheet made available to OSUN DEFENDER yesterday, the accused persons tied Aminasahun and Godwin to the point of sustaining injuries on their necks

and hands.

The alleged offence contravened Sections 516, 320, 355 and 249(d) of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Vol. II, Laws of Osun State, 2002.

But the accused persons entered a not-guilty plea to the four-count charge of conspiracy, attempted murder, assault and breach of peace.

Defence counsel, Okobe Nagite, prayed the court to admit the defendants to bail on liberal term, explaining that Adeoye was a boss to the complainants and was not at the scene of the incident.

Nagite assured the court that reliable sureties would stand for the accused persons, even as Police prosecutor, Inspector Elisha Olusegun opposed the bail

application.

Olusegun said the health condition of the victims was critical and if anything contrary happened to them, the charge would change.

He submitted that the accused persons might likely jump bail if granted.

But Nagite said the defendants were presumed innocent until contrary is proven in a court of law, stating that there were no medical reports stating the health conditions of the two victims.

However, Magistrate Adijat Oloyade admitted the accused persons to bail in sum of N500, 000 with a surety each.

Oloyade adjourned the case till April 5, 2021 for definite hearing.

commercial motorcycle operator, Rasaki Morufu till he lost his sight over N100 ticket change (balance).

The accused persons, Rasheed Adigun (35), Oyetunji Akintoye (32) and Taiwo Adedeji (31) were said to have attacked Morufu’s eye and caused him permanent blindness on February 22, 2021, at Ebenezer Area, MDS, Osogbo.

According to Police prosecutor, Inspector Adeoye Kayode told the court that the victim was a motorcyclist who was going about his daily business before he met the accused persons who claimed to be task force.

Adeoye added that Morufu gave them N500 for ticket while he requested for his N100 change (balance), but they refused to give him.

The victim, according to the Police prosecutor was subjected to serious beating, which led to his permanent blindness.

According to the charge sheet obtained

by OSUN DEFENDER yesterday, the offence Continued on page 7

News

NUT Condemns Students’ Attacks On Teachers In Osun

By Solomon Odeniyi

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HE Nigeria Union of Teachers in the State of Osun has condemned the spate of attacks on its members by students of public schools in the state.

OSUN DEFENDER had on February 6 this year reported how a 19-year-old student of Oduduwa College, IleIfe and some of his colleagues gang-beat their Principal to coma in the school premises.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the medium, the Chairman of NUT in Osun, Mr. Wakeel Amudah said though the attack was not new, efforts have however, been put in place in collaboration with the State Government to curb the scourge in schools across the state.

Amudah said: “This thing didn’t just start, it has been happening several times. I remember a case in a school in Ede where one of the mistresses was beaten mercilessly. We ensured it was taken to court and it is still there.

“Immediately we heard of this recent one,

the NUT swung into action and the state has also taken the issue up. We appreciate the government’s prompt response anytime a case like this happens. They have demonstrated that they want to rid our schools of indiscipline. We have been trying to counsel the students on the need to shun illicit behaviour of attacking their teachers.

“We want to appeal to parents not shield their children when they are involved in this kind of thing. Some even join their children too to attack their teachers, it is not good. They should not also leave the training of their children to the teachers.

“The society also has a role to play to curb this scourge. Parents and the society should ensure

that teachers are respected like it was. During our time, we saw our teachers as our lord. The societal value that has dropped, that is the reason a student would attack his/her teachers.

Teachers are still going to classes without fear and are not planning to boycott classes. They have even added counselling services to their duties to instill discipline in the students.”

Sales Rep Remanded For Defrauding Company Of Over N1m

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31-year-old man, Tomiwa Ajiboye has been remanded in Ilesa Correctional Centre by a magistrate’s court, sitting in Osogbo, the capital of the State of Osun for allegedly defrauding his employer of a cash sum of N1, 009,000.

Ajiboye, a sales representative of Plantation Food, Makers of Premier Custard Powder, was arraigned before the court on a two-count charge of stealing and fraud.

According to the charge sheet obtained

by OSUN DEFENDER on Wednesday, Ajiboye stole the sum, being the proceed he realised from

the sales of custard.

The accused person, according to the charge sheet, committed the offence between the month of November and December 2020 at No. 18, Fadlulahi Area, Osogbo.

But, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge, just as his counsel, Yusuf Akintola prayed the court to admit the accused person to bail on liberal terms.

Akintola claimed that the defendants will provide reliable and credible surety and ready to stand his trial to the end.

But, the bail application was opposed by the prosecutor, Inspector

Kayode Adeoye on the ground that fraud cases whereby employee will defraud a company and get away with it was rampant in the society.

Adeoye stated that the parents of the accused person purposely handed him over to the Police when he committed the crime, adding that his sister also refused to stand for him as a surety.

However, Magistrate Modupe Awodele ordered that the defendant be remanded in Ilesa Correctional Centre.

Awodele therefore adjourned the case till March 15, 2021 for ruling on bail.

Contractor Bags 7-Month Jail Term For Posing As Asst. Comm. Of Police

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79-year-old man, Charles Okoye, has been sentenced to seven months imprisonment for parading himself as an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

Okoye, an Abujabased contractor, had on February 24, 2021 been arraigned in court and remanded at Ilesa Correctional Centre on his arraignment day on February 24, 2021.

He was convicted after pleading guilty to a two-count charge of impersonation and breach of peace, as he had no legal counsel.

Earlier, Police prosecutor, Inspector Kayode Adeoye, had told the court that the defendant

Olokode

claimed to have come from Abuja.

Adeoye, while presenting fact of the case to court said Okoye had committed same offence in Ogun State, where he was given free accommodation based on his claim as an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

The prosecutor said when Okoye got to Osogbo, he went to Dugbe Police Station, where he approached the DPO and claimed to be an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

Adeoye said: “When he also got to Dugbe Police Station, he approached the DPO with the same police rank. The DPO stood up to salute him being his superior. He requested for an accommodation and on going to get the accommodation for him, an officer from the station requested for his identity card which failed to produce. That was how he was arrested and detained at the station.

The Magistrate, Mr. Ishola Omisade convicted Okoye and sentenced him to seven months imprisonment at the Ilesa Correctional Centre.

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6

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Religion

HE concept of leadership in Islam is seen from the perspective of responsibility and sacrifice. Every man who has a family however small its size is the leader of the family. He has responsibilities towards the family and has sacrifices to make for the comfort of other memBy bers of the family. Councillors as heads of wards, chairmen as heads of Councils, Governors and Imaam Presidents, school heads as Headteachers, PrinOluwatoyin cipals, Provosts, Rectors and Vice-Chancellors Yusuf and Imams all have responsibilities towards their subjects and followers to cater for their needs and make personal sacrifices towards achieving the ends.

Prophet Muhammad, Allah be pleased with his soul, is reported to have said: “All of you are shepherds and each of you would be called to account about his flock is treated”.

This hadeeth places a huge responsibility on individuals coming out to seek votes to become leader in whatever capacity.

The hadeeth seeks to draw altruism from anybody wanting to lead. The hadeeth seeks comfort for the led at the expense of on the masses, how much less those in whose custody public fund is? One can imagine the malediction of Allah on leaders the leaders.

A Muslim leader who has read this hadeeth or heard about who pauperise their people and enrich their own family memit should be wary of taking up leadership positions, if the in- bers and associates.

Whenever anybody brought a gift to the Prophet, he would tention is to amass wealth, make himself, his family and associates comfortable and leave the people on whose shoulder he ask about that man or that widow who came so-so time to seek assistance, and the gift would be given to them. Muhammad rides to power to lick the dregs and settle for the crumbs.

The Day of Reckoning would be quite of discomfiture for believed any gift to him belonged to the public since he was the unbelievers, those who refused to use the Holy Books as holding the position in trust for people.

The second Khaleefah, Umar, exemplified the true meanguides. The Holy Prophet lent a voice when He said seven categories of people who be sheltered in the shade of Allah’s ing of “Minister”, somebody who is to minister to people’s umbrella on the Day of Judgment. First of the group are Just problems. Umar would be touring the city of Madeenah at a Leaders: leaders whose administration is devoid of nepotism, time he needed comfort most, to find out about the problems favouritism and sectionalism as well as tribalism. Leaders his people were facing with a view to catering to their needs. who see everyone of their subjects and followers as deserving Umar had Ministers/Commissioners but he would not leave of equitable treatment. Leaders who walk the talk of achiev- everything to them. He would not just take briefs from them. ing equity between the rich and the poor as Allah explain in Umar interacted directly with the people. He operated an Quran 16:71: “Allah favours some people in wealth over oth- open court.

But today what do we see? People working to minister to ers. But He would want that those favoured in material wealth to spend on the jetsam so that society is full of equity. But those the needs of leaders. From the public fund, leaders and members of their immediate family enjoy comfort while the pubwho have been favoured deny the favour of Allaah.”

In Quran 2:177, Allah explains that what virtue and piety lic strive to seek minimum comfort from the little they earn. are beyond performing regular prayers. Allah adds that virtue Masses are not even saying leaders should make any sacrifice includes spending the best of one’s property on the poor, the for them. Leaders can fly a kilometre journey but they make roads motorable for the led. Leaders can go to Johns Hopkins needy, the less privileged.

Now if Allah enjoins the rich to spend part of their wealth for mosquito bite, equip hospitals for our fatal fever. Leaders

JUMAT SERMON

Leadership Is Sacrifice

can send their children to Oxford Cambridge Harvard at the expense of public fund, they should make public schools attractive, less expensive for children of the masses. Leaders can build super mansions, but let the little we earn build modest houses for us.

Leaders should be proactive about the welfare of the led. The ministry of Agriculture during the rein of Yusuf as minister of Agriculture in Egypt remains an all round supper as explained in Quran chapter 12. The focus of the Ministry was to ensure food sufficiency for the people not even for Pharaoh or the Minister.

A leader leads from the front as epitomised by Prophet Muhammad during his defensive wars particularly Uhud where he was reported to have died before the truth was known that he sustained injuries. Muhammad didn’t sit in the comfort of his house among his wives. What comfort did his house offer in the first instance? Rather, he was at the battle ground.

Prophet Muhammad was an Imam, Chief Judge, Finance Minister, Minister of Budget Planning, Attorney General. He did not fail in any capacity. He laid a solid foundation for the growth of the Arabia. No wonder one of the architects of the United Arab Emirate, Muhammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum attributed the growth of the Emirate since 1971 to the leadership model of Prophet Muhammad as enshrined in the Quran.

And on the part of the people, as we talk of our rights we talk of our duties towards the government. We should pay our taxes regularly, guard public property, keep clear of destroying public utilities whatever the level of our frustration. We should listen to our leaders and respect them as long as they serve us within the limits of the resources we too generate to the public treasury.

We should change our mentality and reasoning towards the government. We should be able to identify saboteurs amongst us and counsel them. If we believe Presidents, Governors etc should not convert public property to their personal use, we too as Directors; Permanent Secretaries, General Managers, etc should stay clear of stealing public goods. Our society will only change when we all change as Allah says in the Quraan, “Allaah will not change the situation of a people unless they change their own mentality.”

Oluwatoyin Yusuf Imaam, OSBC Muslim Community.

Issues/Policy

Political Parties In The Present Firmament

By Kanmi Ademiluyi

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HE revalidation of existing members, as well as registration of new ones, in the country’s dominant All Progressives Congress (APC) has brought the issue of structure, nomenclature, even the raison d’être of political parties to the fore in national discourse. Interwoven of course is befuddlement at the perennial crisscrossing, carpet-bagging across party formations locally referred to as “decamping.”

Decamping reflects the food-is-ready mores of a rentier political economy, based on consumption as opposed to production.

The nomenclature of political parties should matter, indeed should be a game-changer. In Nigeria, the retreat of the military into the barracks after overstaying their welcome led to the emergence of what in reality are special purpose vehicles still juggling to transit into political parties. The country has al-

ways paid a high price for not getting it right on the party formation front.

For example, the country continues to be debilitated by not having been led into independence by a natural national party of government.

This would have helped to forge the foundations of a national ethos hinged on a development anchor. The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) sadly came somewhere along the line in the late forties and early fifties very close to achieving this, sadly internal dissension and lack of focus made the prospect tantalisingly and regrettably brief. Nigeria went into flag independence without a national dominant party as a rallying point; unlike India with the Congress Party, Malaysia’s UNMO, South Africa’s ANC and so forth with debilitating consequences which continues to torment.

Subsequently, the “traditions and the mores of the generations

preceding continues to weigh like a nightmare on the souls of the living“. Clearly, the Federal Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, had the nightmare scenario from historical experiences past when he expressed reservations about conversions on the road to Damascus. Fair enough to accept the repentant errant, he intoned, however, handing over the pulpit to Johnny-comelately is a dicey proposition that could have unpleasant consequences.

Of course what has become the modern political party since its evolution from caucuses, cabals and conspirators is a broad tent a free association under the law.

The crucial point is that the structure of the political party in the course of its evolution became anchored on democratic centralism requiring the subordination of the cabals, caucuses and so forth into the Lexus of the party’s ideology and overall guiding philosophy.

Fashola

Aregbesola

“Fair enough to accept the repentant errant, he intoned, however, handing over the pulpit to Johnnycome-lately is a dicey proposition that could have unpleasant consequences” If a voice like that of a committed lifelong progressive, the Federal Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, issued a forewarning about the influx of floatsam, jetsam and the real intentions of those feigning Damascus conversions, he had a compelling reason to do so. He is certainly not the only person bothered that arrivistes are positioned on using the APC as a vehicle to achieving personal ambitions and for whom an ideological

orientation could be a bugbear.

The high expectations had always been that the APC warts and all will transform into a natural party of government based on an unambiguous progressive social democratic position echoing the Action Group, Borno Youth Movement, Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union, the SDP and so on. The accommodation of the uninitiated without a structured reorientation

will certainly derail this.

The opportunity will alas be lost!

Aregbesola’s foreboding is clearly based on the feeling that he has an obligation to help to build an enduring party structure to advance and solidify the basis of progressive ideology in the country.

Here, he is obviously haunted by the oftenquoted observation of Frantz Fanon that, “out of relative obscurity, every generation has a mission to fulfil or betray”. People like Aregbesola, Fashola, et al, have a responsibility to forewarn about the consequences of repudiation of progressive positions. History will be unforgiving if they fail to do so.

PEOPLE FIRST

Sports

FRIDAY, MARCH 05 - THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021

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Ooni’s Ojaja II FC Win 2021 Ogunjobi Cup

By Solomon Odeniyi

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JAJA FC, a football club owned by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II have won the 2021 Taiwo Ogunjobi Under-17 Me-

morial Cup. The team defeated Success FC, Ilesa at the final played on Sunday by two goals to one to win the laurel.

Also, Ojaja FC won almost all individual awards in the competition, with Kolawole

Opeyemi emerging the Most Valuable Player and Highest Goal Scorer; while Idowu Joshua won the Best Goalkeeper award.

16 clubs across the South-West region participated in the tourney held at Ilesa, State of

Osun.

Congratulating the team in a statement by his Director of Media and Public Affairs, Comrade Moses Olafare, Oba Ogunwusi described the tournament as a clear message that the good old days of grassroots sporting activities are gradually returning for the betterment of the

country.

He said: “The Ooni accepts the victory wholeheartedly and he has concluded plans to host his boys; the winning team and their officials very soon to wine and dine like they normally do.

“Baba’s involvement in grassroots sports particularly football, is a

Super Eagles To Play In Lagos 20 Years After

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HE Centre of Excellence will host a competitive men’s senior football match for the first time in 20 years on March 30.

The Super Eagles will take on Lesotho in their final 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifier at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

The last competitive

Opinion

Oyetola: Emblem Of Redefined Leadership

By Adebayo Adedeji

“

OYETOLA, who clinched the Overall Best Governor of the Year, distinguished himself as a quintessential administrator, an astute manager of men and resources, a silent achiever, an iconic leader with a large heart for the people and service and a trailblazer who believes that a leader is as good as his last accomplishment.”

The above was culled from the BusinessDay newspaper of February 26, reporting the Publication’s Competitiveness and Good Governance Award for the Year 2020. According to the organisers of the award, Oyetola was adjudged the Best Governor for 2020 based on the on-the-spot assessments, interactions with the locals and the analysis on socio-economic parameters obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) by an award committee of eminent Nigerians.

The award, to the organisers, is a clear testimony to the tangible transformation Governor Oyetola has brought to bear in health, education and security sectors in Osun State since his inauguration November 27, 2018. A laudation of this kind is no longer new. It has become part of Oyetola’s worldview. He is highly rated by genuine good governance assessors.

Everyone is pleased with him as he steadies on to redefine leadership in the state and leave an enduring legacy for the coming generation. From the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Samson Ayokunle, to Corps Marshal and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, and generality of Osun workers, the commendation daily pours in, unceasingly.

Ayokunle had said: “Governor Adegboyega Oyetola is an epitome of good governance whose style . . . has changed the negative narratives of the state”, while Oyeyemi had also lauded Oyetola’s administration for transforming the state through massive infrastructural development.”

The story is the same for the Association Of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, which some days ago honoured the governor as the Most Benevolent Governor in Nigeria for the 2020. The National Vice President of the association, Comrade Olubunmi Fajobi (mni), praised the Oyetola administration “… for showing robust empathy and sincere commitment to the welfare of the workers in the state since inauguration.”

The pensioners, on their own, have never hidden

their admiration for Oyetola. They, at every opportunity, appreciate him for his dedication to their welfare. Records have it that since assumption of office, Oyetola has released over N30bn to settle pension and gratuity obligations. The Governor’s success in many sectors is mercurial.

Just last week, I was caught in a melee involving gangs of hoodlums and cultists in Osogbo. I saw citizens scampering for safety at the presence of gunwielding louts. Perspiration engulfed me. However, I regained my confidence when I reached out to one of the ace lieutenants in the current administration, the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Engr. Lekan Badmus, who assured me the governor was already aware of the disturbances and had ordered the security agents to take charge. No sooner had I ended the conversation with the commissioner than I heard the blaring of police siren.

In the twinkling of an eye, the peace violators were demobilised and peace was restored to the affected areas.

In the health sector, as it is in education sector which gulps the bulk of the state budget, Oyetola’s stride is inspiring. To prove, the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at Osun State University, Osogbo has been rated as one of the best in the Sub-Saharan Africa. The multi-million naira laboratory has capacity to conduct masContinued from page 5 sive testing for COVID- contravened Sections 516 19, Lassa Fever, Ebola and 336 of the Criminal and other infectious dis- Code, Cap 34, Vol. II, eases. The laboratory Laws of Osun State, 2002, was in September last even as the defendants year activated for inclu- pleaded not guilty. sion in the Nigeria CenDefence counsel, Ketre for Disease Control’s hinde Adepoju, applied (NCDC) Molecular Lab for the bail of the accused Network. If nothing at persons, stating that they all counts for the state were presumed innocent governor, this laboratory until contrary is proven alone should; because the in a court of law. facility will increase the However, the bail aptesting capacity for infec- plication was opposed tious diseases ravaging by the prosecutor on the us in the country. ground that there was no Read full article on iota of remorsefulness on www.osundefender. the part of the accused persons and that they com

game Nigeria played in Lagos was a 1-0 Nations Cup qualifying win over Zambia in January 2001.

Ten years later, there was a 2-1 friendly win over Sierra Leone at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

According to Nigeria’s Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Mr. Sunday Dare, who is keen to refurbish the dilapidated National Stadium in Lagos, the stadium could become a home for the team.

Dare said: “This city is excited to host the country’s first competitive fixture in 20 years in a place where the team rarely loses,” Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Sola Aiyepeku, told BBC Sport Africa.

“Everything is geared towards making Lagos the home base again, because there’s a presence that this place has and demand that the fans have towards the opposition that puts them in fear.

“We want the Nigeria-fear-factor that this city has to return and put that in the hearts and souls of teams that come here.”

product of his belief in the fact that countless untapped potentials lie in our local communities.

All we need to do is to invest massively in competitions like this and we shall soon have super stars like Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwakwo and Odion Ighalo, among others springing up.

“The Ooni equally commends the organizers of the Taiwo Ogunjobi Memorial Cup for a job well done to preserve the sweet memories of the late sports icon, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, including dignitaries like the Assistant Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Coach Shiji Lagunju, who presented the cup to the winning Ojaja II FC among other wellmeaning football stakeholders.” Olafare said.

CHANGE OF NAME AKINLEYE CHRISTIANAH MODUPE That AKINLEYE M O D U P E O L U WA CHRISTIANAH and AKINLEYE MODUPE CHRISTANAH are the same person but now wish to be known and addressed as AKINLEYE CHRISTIANAH MODUPE. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

ABADEOBAYE OLAOLUWASEGUN SAMUEL That I was formerly known and addressed as OKIKIJESU OLAOLUWASEGUN SAMUEL with former date of Birth, 25 - 12 - 1992 now wish to be known and addressed as ABADEOBAYE OLAOLUWASEGUN SAMUEL. With correct date of Birth, 23 - 12 - 1992. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

OYEGBEMI BAYO ZAKARIAH That I was formerly known and addressed as

OYEGBEMI ADEBAYO AJANI now wish to be known

and

addressed

as OYEGBEMI ZAKARIAH.

BAYO

All former documents remain valid.

Union Bank General public should take note.

Task Force Operatives Remanded For Beating...

OLADIPUPO RAPHAEL OLAYEMI

did not show any sign of sympathy.

The prosecutor stressed that the victim had spent over N155, 000 on his sight since the incident occurred, but could not see yet.

He submitted that the accused persons will jump bail if they were granted.

In his ruling, the magistrate, Mrs. Modupe Awodele ordered that the defendants be remanded in Ilesa Correctional Centre.

The case was however adjourned till March 8, 2021 for ruling on bail.

That AYUBA KEHINDE ROFIAT and AFOLABI ROFIAT KEHINDE are the same person but now wish to be known and addressed as IREWOLE ROFIAT KEHINDE. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

That I was formerly known and addressed as OLADIPUPO DARE OLAYEMI with former date of Birth, 10 - 07 - 1994 now wish to be known and addressed as OLADIPUPO RAPHAEL OLAYEMI.WithcorrectdateofBirth, 10 - 07 - 2001. All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

IREWOLE ROFIAT KEHINDE

ISSN : 0794 - 8050

FRIDAY, MARCH 05 - THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021 VOL. 16 NO 08

Motorists Lament Extortion

By Police In Osun Page 4

www.osundefender.com, email: osundefenderbank@gmail.com

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ETWEEN February 1918 and April 1920, there was a flu pandemic known as Spanish flu which ravaged the world by affecting 500 million people, which was about one-third of the world population and which killed 50 millions. It was one of the deadliest viruses in human history, caused by the H1N1 Influenza A Virus. Interestingly, there was nothing Spanish about the virus. It was tagged the name simply because Spain was neutral when the virus broke out during the First World War (1WW) and unlike belligerent countries which were suppressing the reports of the virus to forestall mass panic that could affect the psyche of their military, Spain did report it as it was and till date, there is no conclusive research to locate with certainty the origin of the flu.

In November 2019, Coronavirus infection was discovered in Wuhan, an emerging business hub in China, but the original source of viral transmission to humans remains unclear as there are claims by researchers that it could have been introduced by visitors to the Huanan Seafood Market as some of the earliest known infected people were workers in that market. Thus, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

The Coronavirus, tagged COVID-19 has ravaged the world, killing 2,542,827 people as at 28th February, 2021. Before the advent of COVID-19, there had been outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002 at Guagdong in China, caused by SARS-CoV. In 2009, there was Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-Cov), caused

by H5N1 influenza A. The interesting fact, however, is that human efforts in research, science and technology have yielded good fruits in inventing vaccines to the deadly virus. The technology with which the vaccine is based is mRNA which Moderna, a small biotechnology company that has never brought a drug to the market had been working on for years and Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant has partnered with a small German biotechnology company - BioNTech for its mRNA research. The challenge of the vaccine is the cold chain storage. For instance, while the Moderna vaccine could be kept in normal freezer temperature like the ones we use at home for a month, Pfizer’s vaccine must be kept in specialised freezer at 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

Before delving into challenges this pose to most African countries and Nigeria in particular with poor, irregular electricity supply, it is important to allay some fears allegedly raised in some quarters on use of the vaccine to extinct Africans and black people from the planet by changing our DNA to make us “genetically modified organism” as we have become more of liability to the world than benefits and that the vaccine will “hook us all up to an artificial intelligence interface.” The aforesaid concern is informed by a footage credited to Bill Gates and Carrie Madej, well circulated on social media, urging Africans to refuse COVID-19 vaccine from Europe and America. This concern informs reported cases in the United Kingdom where many Blacks and Asians have refused to be administered COVID-19 vaccine.

Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has, however, debunked the claim. It said mRNA in the COVID-19 vaccine “is not able to alter or modify person’s genetic makeup (DNA)” and it “does not affect or interact with our DNA in any way.” Scientifically, no vaccine could genetically modify human DNA, as genetic modification would involve deliberate insertion of foreign DNA into the nucleus of a human cell and “vaccines have

Concerns Over COVID-19 Vaccine no capacity to do that.” “Nigeria’s first 3.94 million the continent experiencVaccines are designed ing surge in cases and to “provoke an immune doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford deaths especially with response to training our vaccine manufactured by the Se- variant type. Again, bodies to recognise and rum Institute of India (SII) with for the fact that there fight the virus.” There- COVAX facility has arrived not- have not been qualfore, assuming that Bill withstanding our preoccupation ity public healthcare Gates and co were not on ground in the first quoted out of context, with crisis associated with ban- instance, most African their assertion is base- ditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram, countries’ hospitals are less and should be dis- arrest of peacefully-protesting overwhelmed. To corcarded. rect its being sidelined citizens, among others” As at now, there are for long, World Health over 23 companies in the United States alone Organisation (WHO) is leading a global initiworking on Coronavirus vaccines and here is ative with Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the the list of some of them: Amgen & Adaptive Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness InnovaBiotechnologies; Altimmune; BioNTech& tions (CEPI) to start shipping about 90 million Pfizer; CytoDyn; Gilead Sciences; Glaxo- COVID-19 vaccine doses to the continent.

SmithKline; Heat Biologics; Inovio Phar- This arrangement will however be based on maceuticals; Johnson & Johnson; Novavax; the production capacity of the manufacturers among others. It is instructive to state that 1.3 and readiness of the recipient countries. This billion African people are endangered as they is independent of 320,000 doses already alhave been left behind in the rollout deals of located to four African countries - South Afthe vaccines with majority of the countries in rica, Tunisia, Rwanda and Cabo Verde. This

STRIKER

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vaccine requires storage facility of minus 70 degrees Celsius, which is a serious challenge to meet by most African countries. China has also offered vaccines to 19 African countries to help fight the pandemic and as at 14th February, 2021, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea have received theirs. As at 24th February, Ghana has also received 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford and Pfizer-BioNTechvaccines from COVAX facility.

Nigeria’s first 3.94 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) with COVAX facility has arrived notwithstanding our preoccupation with crisis associated with banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram, arrest of peacefully-protesting citizens, among others. While suspicion raised on the vaccine has been dispelled, it is unsafe, risky and irresponsible of any government to administer vaccine on its citizens without confirmation of its suitability from its regulatory bodies like NAFDAC especially in a world of cutthroat competition for survival.

Our situation is not completely miserable, anyway. On the 25th February, 2021, the Arole Oduduwa and Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, unveiled series of traditional medicines made from local herbs and approved by NAFDAC. One of the drugs is Verozil, anti-COVID-19 Herbal Immune Boosting drug that has the capacity to fight any disease including COVID-19 and its variants. This feat was made possible by Ojaja Global Outreach, in collaboration with Yem-Kem International Group.

This affirms Nigeria’s great potentials to be an actor to reckon with innovation, science and technology. What is lacking is leadership with zeal and commitment to nationbuilding by the overwhelming majority of our ruling elite.

Striker is not the opinion of the Columnist featured above

The National Interest

OR several decades, the “national interest” has been one of the most abused ideals used as cover for promoting sinister clique interests and the perpetration of legion of unpatriotic acts, at least in Nigeria.

Then military President, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, in the name of overriding national interest, proclaimed in 1986 that “there is no alternative to Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)” and went on, against national outcries and opposition, to implement it. Of course, it was a huge lie that there would be anything, much else an economic policy, to which there is no alternative. Indeed, the policy turned out to be a big nail into Nigeria’s economy coffin, from which it is still awaiting resurrection till date! Such are the maltreatments to which the nebulous national interest is subjected, time and again.

Nigeria had not articulated some uplifting and energising ‘Nigerian Dream’ at birth or along the way; but it certainly has “national interest,” at least, to stay the course of its ship as it sails turbulent national and international waters. If it has ended up copying the American political and governance system, it should be implied that it somehow aims to achieve certain spectacular objectives that the political and governance system achieved and is still achieving for America. The American Dream is clear, both from the rallying call of the Statue of Liberty captured in the words of Emma Lazarus’s 1883 sonnet “The New Colossus” and the final words of the American

anthem: a “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Although the first stanza of the Nigerian anthem contains only an appeal to its citizens, the second and final stanza, which is an appeal to God, closed with what is a glimpse of the kind of nation we desire: “a nation where peace and justice shall reign.” This is apt, as justice indeed is the mother of peace, and it can be taken that the two constitute the objects of our basic national interest; justice especially, since it is the harbinger of peace, which is a primal condition for development and prosperity.

How then can the desire to enthrone justice - equity - be the reason for smothering policies and actions, repeatedly fostered on the country under the guise of promoting and defending overriding “national interest?” What is the concept of Justice embraced by our ruling elites, if we have moved on for over 60 years to arrive at a station where some AK47-wielding herders will invade your cassava farm with several dozen cows to eat the plants up and all you must do is look on and keep shut unless you want to be slaughtered like a goat?

The trigger issues for the present tippingpoint insecurity we are experiencing today is the convergence of herders-farmers crises and terror, both mismanaged for decades on account of clear abandonment of sense, modernity, technology and “national interest” Justice; for all manners of sectional interests

by the ruling elites across board. If it is not partisan political jobbing, it is ethnic deal; if it is not religious zeal, it is outright private pocket; whereas ordinary Nigerians across all tribes and religions not only do not have any problems of peaceful coexistence amongst themselves but are united in poverty and hardship, divided only as pushed by the inordinate interests of their bigoted elites who authored the poverty and hardship in the first instance.

If over sixty years of appeals to the elites will not make them change their ways and embrace the “national interest” clearly stated at least in our national anthem and canvassed through innumerable newspaper features, editorials, lectures, conferences and the like, perhaps, it is time to redirect the homilies to the people themselves. Incessantly manipulated and always miscued by prejudiced elites as they are, in a nation capable of producing a Nobel Laureate and a World Trade Organisation CEO, we should be able to aggregate citizens sensible enough, sufficient enough in number, patriotic enough, responsible and dutiful enough to change the present paradigm.

The “National Interest” is “a nation where peace and justice shall reign,” which is an adequate Nigerian Dream to start with. Building it is a collective duty that can no longer be left with a non-compliant and unchanging generations of elites. It appears that at no time is the opening cry of our national anthem more relevant than now: “Arise, O Compatriots, Nigeria’s Call Obey...”

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