Osun Defender Online Version Of March 23, 2018

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VOL. 013. NO.11

ISSN: 0794-8050

N100

Osun 2018:

Zoning I nterests May Tear Parties Apart

COMMUNITY

Orolu LG To Empow er 400 Yout hs Under First Phase Of PAP PAGE 7

Stop Discouraging Youths From Politics, Don Tasks Religious Bodies PAGE 3

Osun Assembly Urges Ministry To Review Agreement On Freedom Park

PAGE 2

NEWS

NEWS

Muslims Challenged To Venture Into Media Ownership PAGE 3

NEWS

PAGE 3

2

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Osun 2018:

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

Zoning I nterests May Tear Parties Apart

By Mariam Bello A head of pol itical parties’ primaries in preparation for the September 22 governorship election in the State of O sun, the idea of zoning or not zoning the seat to a particular senatorial zone might tear the major political parties apart if not properly managed, as gladiators have divided over the matter across political lines.

In the A ll Progressives Co ng ress (A PC), w hile so m e g ro up s and big w igs, includ ing the fo rm er Go v erno r o f Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlo la have sto o d in favour of zoning the seat to O sun West o n the ground that the zone has no t had its fair share of the seat, so m e o ther gladiators and aspirants, as w ell as youth groups w ithin the p arty hav e insisted that zo ning the seat to a particular district would spell doom for the p arty and the state at large.

A lso in the Peo p les Demo cratic Party (PDP), the idea of zoning to Osun West might have hit the ro ck, fo llo w ing the insistence o f the former d eputy Go vernor o f the state, Iy io la O miso re, fro m Ile-Ife, Osun East Senato rial d istrict to co ntest fo r the m o st p restigio us seat in the state.

This is in ad d ition to the factional crisis rocking the opposition parties in the state, more so the Ifebo rn p o litician has the hears o f the N atio nal Secretariat o f the party.

C o ntrary to the position of Oyinlola and some other gladiators in the A PC , o ne o f the party’s aspirant, Barrister Kunle A d eg o ke fro m Osogbo in Osun Central has insisted that there is no fairness o r equity in zoning, saying there was never a time it was agreed o n in the annals o f the state and if at all, it was so agreed , it w as no t based o n Senato rial Districts.

He w as quoted to have said that no governor has ever been cho sen based on zoning in Osun before, saying, if it is part of the system, why not use the federal constituency basis by w hich O so gbo and Iw o Fed eral co nstituencies beco m e most pro minent among the “ cheated” .

He said the issue o f zoning was just a dummy being sold by a sectio n of the ruling elite to favour a perso nality o r o ne o f them, while the masses who will never derive any benefit fro m the scheming, wo uld parrot the id ea slavishly forgetting that they were nev er meant to benefit fro m the class scheming being foisted on them.

A cco rd ing to him , it was a strategy to narrow the p o litical space to

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favo ur a weak candidate w hose cred entials cum political and intellectual cap acity canno t withstand a fair contest to p ro d uce the best, say ing the current situation of Osun, do not need just a g o verno r based on zoning, but the best material fo r the job. “ A s far as I am co ncerned , let the best emerge even if he is from the same ward with the current g o v erno r. N o governor by zoning can p ay w o rkers’ salaries, put fo o d o n o ur table, improve our educational stand ard , health status etc. based on his place of origin” .

A lso , a y o uth w ing w ithin the A PC, Osun Pro g ressiv e Yo uths A lliance (O PYA ), has called on the leadership of the party in the state to jettiso n the id ea o f zoning the governorship slot to a particular zone, say ing all co ntestants must be given the equal right to contest.

In a press statement by the Coo rd inating Head o f OPYA , C o mrad e A d ebo y e A d ebay o in O so gbo recently , speaking on behalf of the gro up said , the idea o f zoning w o uld no t give room fo r a robust contest that w o uld allo w sup erio r id eas and capacity to strive for the g ro w th and development of the party and the state. “ Z o ning o f po litical positio ns is the id ea o f laz y m ind s w ho are afraid of robust contests, such an idea will retard the soaring profile of our p arty and the gro w th and development being witnessed at the moment in the state. “ Ev ery interested ind ivid ual sho uld be allo wed to put whatever id eas they have fo r the growth of the State on the table and allow the party to decide her flag bearer acco rd ing to the laid down rules of the party’s co nstitutio n. Z o ning sho uld be o utrig htly jettisoned as it is alien to our party co nstitution” , he no ted.

A ccording to him, all the senato rial districts of the state can bo ast o f great minds who are full o f renew ed id eas, particularly w ithin the A PC and none should be sacrificed on the altar of zoning, noting that the progress o f the state is paramount and anyo ne

w ith better w o rkable id eas and p lanning sho uld be allo w ed to lead. “ Z o ning w ill breed animo sity , zo ning w ill deprive o ur State o f the best in terms of capacity fo r g ro w th and development, zoning will d ep riv e o ur p arty o f funds, more funds will be generated for the party if the co ntest is thro w n o p en and z o ning w ill breed unfairness and inequalities, hence it should be jettisoned” , he said.

A lso , a go vernorship asp irant o f the PDP extraction, Prof. A deo lu Duro toye, has cautioned that limiting the choice of candidates in the election to a particular po litical zone might be counter-

productive.

Duro to ye, w ho is the Provost, College of Social and Manag em ent Sciences, A fe Babalo la Univ ersity (A BUA D), said what Osun need s to fast track its d ev elo p m ent is a cand idate who can raise the stake of transformation in a calm or rocky atmosphere.

The aspirant enjoined stakeholders in Osun to avoid the inherent pitfall that zoning has created fo r p o litical p arties, especially at the national level, adding that picking cand id ates through the z o ning p ractice has ro bbed the co untry o f co m p etent hand s to govern the society.

Besides, Omiso re has been hell bent o n his

d ecisio n to co ntest, insisting that this is another o ppo rtunity for him to test his political capacity and he wo uld no t let go that oppo rtunity on the altar of zo ning.

Reg ard less o f the oppo sition to the zo ning formula, a socio -political g ro up , C o alitio n o f C o ncern Pro g ressiv e Yo uths (C C PY) has w arned that the party will be left to face a bleak future sho uld the next go vernorship seat taken o ut o f O sun W est Senatorial District.

In a statement by its N atio nal Co o rd inato r, C o m rad e Ko red e A jibad e, the g ro up maintained that it is the turn o f O sun W est Senatorial District in the

interest of fair play and justice, ad d ing that zoning the governorship seat o ut o f the z o ne wo uld amount to crisis, p o litical fraud and imbalance in the sharing of political o ffices since the creation of the state in 1991.

Some concerned elders w ere also rep o rted to hav e sup p o rted the ag itatio n that the next g o v erno rship slo t be z o ned to O sun W est Senatorial District in the spirit o f justice and fair play.

When co ntacted , the Chairman, Elders Caucus of the A PC in the state, Chief So la A kinw unmi d eclined fro m making co mment on the matter for now.

•Mufasir of Osogboland, Sheikh Maruf Ishola representing Governor Rauf Aregbesola (2nd left) presenting a plaque to the Deputy President-General (South), Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Sakariyau Babalola representing the Sultan of Sokoto (2nd right); National Coordinator, Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria (MMWG), Mallam Ibrahim Abdullahi (left); Professor Wahab Egbewole representing the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Mallam Yusuf Ali (right) and others, during the inauguration ceremony of MMWG Board of Trustees, in Osogbo State of Osun.

Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI

Aregbesola's Commitment To Cause Of Downtrodden Unparalleled - I faturoti

By Abdullahi Omotayo The commitment of Governor Rauf A regbesola’s ad ministration to the cause of the p oor and d owntrod den in the State of O sun has for the umpteenth time been rated as second to none in both the annals of the state and the country at large.

The State o f

O sun

Co o rd inato r o f Yo uth

•Coordinator, Osun YESSO, Femi Ifaturoti (left) officially handing over the disc containing the mined potential beneficiaries to the Head, Osun PIU-PWF, Olugbenga Odulaja(right) in Osogbo on Tuesday.

Emplo yment and So cial Sup p o rt O p eratio n (YESSO), Mr. Femi Ifaturoti stated this in Osogbo at the m ining o f p o tential beneficiaries by O sun Pro ject Imp lementatio n Unit (PIU)-PWF from the Reg ister o f Po o r and Vulnerable Ho useho ld s g enerated by the State Operatio n Co o rd inating Unit (SOCU) in the third and fo urth rounds of the sup p o rt o p eratio n’ s Co m m unity Based Targeting (CBT) exercise.

M r. Ifaturo ti said Governor Aregbesola has carved a niche for himself thro ugh his unparalleled commitment to the cause of the poor and downtrodden in the state w hich has seen the present administration receiv e avalanche o f acco lad es and co m m end atio ns fro m rep utable g lo bal institutions such as Wo rld

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Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO among several others.

The Coordinator of Osun YESSO enjo ined the PIUPWF d elegatio n to make the best use of the potential beneficiaries’ list mined fro m the Single Register of the Po or and Vulnerable Households in the overall interest o f the deserving m em bers of O sun community.

In his remarks at the event, the Head of Project Im p lem entatio n Unit (PIU)- PWF, Osun YESSO, Mr. Olugbenga O d ulaja ap p reciated G o v erno r A r e g b e s o l a ’ s ad m inistratio n fo r innum erable sup p o rts received by Osun YESSO, assuring the State Operatio n Co o rd inating Unit of PIU-PW F’ s readiness not to rest on its oars at ensuring the success of the support operation in the state.

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Osun Assembly Urges Ministry To Review Agreement On Freedom Park

By Israel Afolabi The State of Osun House of A ssembly has called on the state’s M inistry of Commerce, Cooperative Industries and Empowerment to do a critical review of concessionaire agreement on Nelson M andela Freedom Park in Osogbo.

C hairm an, Ho use C o m m ittee o n Land s, Phy sical Planning and Urban Dev elo pm ent, Ho n. N urein A d ebisi m ad e the call o n Thursday while speaking after an assessment tour of the park as part of the oversight functions of the state legislature.

A debisi observed that N elso n Mand ela Freedom park is situated in the central part o f O so g bo in o ther to beautify the state capital.

He fro w ned at the present cond ition of the park with the overgrown bushes in the area and the unbefitting entrance to the park.

A ccording to him, “ this is a project that is situated in the central part of the state capital. We must ensure that go vernment infrastructures are functio ning p ro p erly well” .

He said that the p urp o se of the co m mittee’ s visit is to o bserve the state o f the p ark as a so urce o f rev enue fo r the state government.

The law m aker therefo re urged Brito l Engineering Co mpany, hand lers o f the project to redesign the entrance of the p ark to ad d to its aesthetics.

He said: “ we need to give a new approach to this p ro ject to c o m p l e m e n t

g o v ernm ent’ s effo rt because it is a laudable legacy that has helped transformed the face of the state capital” .

He therefore urged the co ncessio naire to p ut so me things in order to m ake the p lace m o re attractive to the public, thus, the maintenance of the park is very essential.

In his contributio n, a m em ber of the committee, Hon. Olatunji Babatunde said that it is a luxurious project in the state capital which must be p ro p erly m anag ed and also commended the efforts and vision of those who put the magnificent park in place fo r Osun p eo p le and v isiting citizens.

Towns and Growth A rea Development A uthority, A rc. Muyiwa Ige took the co m mittee to the A tew o g beja Water Fountain at the Nelso n

Mandela Freed om Park to assess the situatio n of the place.

The law m akers ho w ev er w ere no t satisfied w ith the w ay

weeds grew around most p art o f the p ark and urged the co m pany to w o rk m o re o n its beautificatio n to make it more attractive.

•Cinematographer, Tunde Kelani (right); Nollywood Actor, Mr Dele Odule (left) and other dignitary during the National Colloquium on Nollywood in Honour of Tunde Kelani at 70 at Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding, Osogbo on Tuesday.

Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

Stop Discouraging Youths From Politics, Don Tasks Religious Bodies

By Solomon Odeniyi A professor of political science and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in the State of O sun, Prof. A deolu Durotoye has called on religious institutions across the county to refrain from painting politics as a dirty game if youths are to participate in the process of governance in the country at all.

He fro w ned at a situation w here religious

bodies teach that politics is a p recurso r to hell

thereby d isco uraging a larger percentage of the naive youths that ought to be actively involved in politics even as National Assembly has passed the Not too young to run bill.

He sp o ke w hile responding to questions posed to him during the Liv ing Faith Church’ s Youths in Politics Summit

in Osogbo, where he was a panelist alongside Kunle O y atom i, the D irecto r Publicity , Research and Strateg y o f the A ll progressive Congress in Osun State.

D uro to y e no ted that relig io us institutio ns o ug ht to be a training ground where true leaders

Osun Modulated Salary, Better Than Sacking Workers - Comrade Sunmonu

By Kehinde Ayantunj i The V eteran Labour Leader, and the Chairman O sun Revenue A pportionment Committee, Comrade H assan Sunmonu has said that the M odulated Salary initiative was the best option as at the time it was adopted.

Muslims Challenged To Venture I nto Media Ownership

By Murt ala Agboola M uslims have been challenged to venture into media ownership with a view to tackling the alleged bias and discrimination of the media against Islam and M uslims.

This was the charge at the launching of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Muslim Med ia W atch Group (MMWG) held at the Banquet Hall, Go v ernm ent Ho use, Osogbo last weekend.

The Sultan of Sokoto and the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (N SCIA ), A lhaji Muham m ed Sa’ ad A bubakar w ho sp o ke through his deputy, Alhaji Sakariyau Babalola at the event urged the Nigeria media to shun fake news and report only factual and balanced sto ries, saying, the media has been unfair to Islam.

He then urged Muslims not to be discouraged by the alleg ed bias and d iscrim inatio n o f the media.

The pro ject co o rd inato r, Brito l Engineering Co mpany, Engr. Dapo Oyed ele in company of the DirectorGeneral, O sun N ew

A lso sp eaking , the Governor of the State of O sun, O gbeni Rauf A reg beso la w ho w as represented by the Grand Mufty of Osog bo land, Sheik Mo ruf Isho la, w arned against hate m essag es and subtle incitements along ethnic and religious lines by the media.

This, according to him, p o rtend s d ang er o f triggering a catastrophic civil war from which the nation may never recover, saying, journalist should be able to separate free sp eech fro m libel and promotion of falsehood.

The Osun State Chief Executive described the allegation that he planned to Islamize the state and secede from Nigeria as

•Continued on page 14

In an interview , Sunmo nu said the first option was for workers to go on strike and paralyse the state, w hich w o uld have a bad consequence on the w orkers and the people, the second option was to sack workers if full salaries wo uld be paid , w hile the third o p tio n was the modulated salary arrangement.

A cco rding to him, the first and second options would not be tenable to any sincere labour leader or trade unio nist.

The labo ur lead er hinted that the arrears of the mo d ulated salary would be paid when the eco nomy o f the state is buo y ant, say ing the government was already saving the money for that purpose and has shown co m mitm ent to the payment of the arrears. “ We had three options; y o u hav e to co nsid er your options w hen yo u are a lead er. You must co nsid er the co nsequences o f every action and go for the most suitable o ne. “ The NLC in Osun had the option to go on strike and paralyse the state,

but w hat co nsequence wo uld that have o n the peo ple and the workers themselves? The second option was that if the full salaries wo uld be paid , go vernment w o uld be fo rced to sack so m e workers. We all know the unemployment situation and its effects in Nigeria. “ If the NLC w ent for the first o ptio n, A regbeso la w o uld remain governor because you cannot depose him, but the people, including the w o rkers w o uld suffer. If the seco nd option was taken, what would be the fate of those w ho w o uld lo se their jo bs? Do n’ t fo rget that w hen y o u sack o ne worker, about 10 people will suffer for it because he has a family. “ The third option was to co nsider the resources o f the go vernment and d ecid e w hat co uld be d o ne to acco mmo d ate everybody. “ W e d id no t w ant anybody to be sacked , so w e said that w o rkers from level 1 to 7 w ould be g etting their full salaries while those from level 8 to 17 would earn half.

When the g o v ernm ent beco m es buo yant they w ill take the arrears.

The government was saving the money fo r those guys

because they w ill surely take their arrears. “ I to ld the go verno r that he m ust p ay the m o ney w hen the eco no m y o f the state improves and we asked if the state would be able to p ay full salaries if go vernment’s internally generated revenue could g o up to N 5billio n mo nthly. The governo r said y es, but the internally g enerated revenue o f the state has no t co me clo se to that since then. “ W hen the go verno r g o t the Paris C lub refunds, he reviewed the pay of tho se on level 8 to level 12. Therefore, only the very senior w orkers whose salaries are huge are taking half now, and they will surely get their arrears w hen the state becomes buoyant. That is still better than sacking half of the workforce in Osun. “ W e realised that workers’ salaries is their most fundamental right, y o u m ust no t d eny a w orker his pay, but the situatio n in O sun required p ragm atic lead ership and d efine wisdom to handle. Before the economic meltd own, Go v erno r A reg beso la w as p ay ing the 13th m o nth salary to O sun w o rkers” , Hassan restated.

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with the people’ s interest at heart are raised, saying they m ust enco urag e y o uths to activ ely participate in politics.

He said: “ Youths may not take charge in politics as being clamoured. Our religio us bo d ies hav e demonised politics, they call po liticians nam es, they tell their m embers that those w ho are into politics are corrupt, and w arn to w ade them o ff fro m p olitical participation. They forget that every profession is dirty but, that individuals distinguish themselves by being uniq ue. W hat m akes ev il to thrive is w hen the go o d p eo p le keep mute.”

Co rro bo rating , the political scientist, Barrister O y ato m i stated that religious leaders should understand that if their youths do not participate in the process, the political sp here w o uld be dominated by the corrupt and ung odly and these malicious beings would be d ifficult to g et o ut o f politics if religious bodies rem ain neg ativ e o n politics.

He urged the religious y o uths w ho hav e no interest in politics to strive to become professionals in their respective fields so as to command the respect of those in the corridors of power.

He said: “ On several fronts, the politician needs the expertise of fields, for instance in the accounting, legal, medical and media p ro fessions am o ng st several others. When you excel, as a professional, being hard w o rking , honest and incorruptible, y ou w ill com m and the respect of po liticians. I w orked w ith Vang uard New spaper before I got appointed by the APC and I make bold to say that I haven’t played any dirty game since I joined.

PAGE

4 Return Of Dapchi Schoolgirls Nigerians must have heaved a sigh of relief with W ednesday’ s conf irmation b y M inister of Inform ation and Culture, Lai M ohammed, that 106 out of the 110 students abducted from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State on February 19 have been released by their captors.

Considering that five of the students remain unaccounted for, and with speculations rife that they may have died, N igerians, understandably could not have bargained for that kind of closure.

If only for the sake of the remaining parents, the distraught citizens forced endure the trauma, and indeed the global humanity which bandied together in solidarity while the ordeal lasted, we expect the f ederal government not to leave any stone unturned until the remaining missing

Now that majority of the schoolchildren have returned, we expect the federal government to spare no expense to get them assisted to get back to normal lives... After the bitter experience of the Chibok girls, it would seem unimaginable that any school in the Northeast would still be allowed to present a soft target for the terrorists.

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children are accounted for.

Clearly, there are lessons to learn from the unfortunate saga. The first is that the war against the Boko Haram insurgency is far from won. True, the insurgents, as a fighting force, may have been substantially degraded; their capacity to wreak havoc remains no less lethal. Second, that the nation which swore “Never Again” after the Chibok saga was again caught hands down must be seen as revealing of the still pathetic state of intelligence after nearly a decade into the insurgency.

The third revelation must be seen in the absence of synergy between the military, the police and the civil

pretext. They want more freed o m , rig hts, be it legitimate or illegitimate.

These und esirable activities and indiscipline seem to hav e been allo w ed to go o n unchecked, case stud y of what happened recently in the Osun State College of Techno logy, Esa-Oke where some members of

a co nfraternity struck and took lives of innocent persons.

If the security agencies refuse to check the activities of these groups, the w ho le ed ucatio n secto r and training sy stem w o uld so o n be p araly sed . It w o uld

establishment.

The final lesson however must be the fact that security is too important to be left to the security agencies alone. It is something that every citizen should be involved in. For us in the Southwest and the State of Osun in particular, it flows from the civic duty of the citizens to promptly alert appropriate authorities at the imminence of signs of potential threats to public order and

safety.

N ow that majority of the schoolchildren have returned, we expect the federal government to spare no expense to get them assisted to get back to normal lives. As for the Yobe State government, it should urgently undertake a comprehensive review of its security architecture in the light of authorities in the area. Indeed, each what happened. A fter the bitter appears to have acted as if the other experience of the Chibok girls, it would does not matter. The officials of the seem unimaginable that any school in local government which ordinarily the Northeast would still be allowed to ought to have provided the first tier of present a soft target for the terrorists. intelligence acted as if that tier of Far from being the time for our government does not exist. It was like gallant military to let down their the military, said to have left the place guards, what the times call for is for other service exigencies, could not perseverance. W ith a grateful nation be bothered about what happened solidly behind them, and convinced of after; they acted as if calm has fully their capacity despite the odds, it seems returned to the area. As for the police, only a matter of time before they get they acted more like bystanders leaving the job done. the hapless villagers to stew in their juices. Then of course is the OSUN DEFENDER inexcusable lapses under which 110

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Way Out Of Students’ Unrest On Campus Of recent, the gro wing unrest and ind iscipline am o ng stud ents hav e beco me matters of great concern. Stud ents’ unrest is not confined to Nigeria alone, it is a worldwide problem.

There are agitatio ns, strike, bo ycotts of classes etc in scho ols, co lleges, polytechnics, universities and o ther ed ucatio nal and training institutions now and then, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree is a case stud y.

Stud ents’ unrest is a g reat threat to o ur ed ucatio n system , training p ro g ram m es and development, as the stud ents g ratify in v io lence, arso n and d estructio n o f valuable property. They use unfair m eans to g et thro ug h tests and examinatio ns, insult their teachers, threaten their invigilators and abuse o ther staff m em bers of their institutio n on any

pupils can be taken away without any form of challenge whatsoever, and to abodes ostensibly far beyond the long reach of the nation’ s security

penetrate into the very v itals o f o ur natio nal ethos and development, as unrests am o ng stud ents reflect the p r e v a i l i n g d issatisf actio n, d isillusio nm e nt, frustration, dejection and hopelessness.

The stud ents, the serious one w ith proper

orientation and guidance are now frustrated, they feel insecure as far as p ro p er learning env iro nm ent is concerned.

There are many factors co ntributing to this d angero us o ccurrence,

ranging fro m out-d ated and defective system of ed ucatio n and exam inatio n, ram p ant co rrup tio n am o ng teachers and o ther members of staff through nasty facto rs like nep o tism , fav o uritism and bribery.

Therefo re, the w ay fo rw ard is that o ur yo uths sho uld be kept busy w ith creativ e, truthful, relevant, so cial and acad emic activities and their minds should nev er be allo w ed to remain id le.

Pro p er em p lo y ment oppo rtunities should be created fo r them and there sho uld be no po litical interference in educational matters, just as the leg itim ate demands of the stud ent co mm unity sho uld be m et p ro mp tly w itho ut any d elay.

•JOSHUA AFOLABI, OSPOLY Iree, Osun State.

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MAGAZI NE FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

Womenfolk Pressing For Progress March 8th of every year is dedicated to women all over the world to mark and appreciate "International Women's Day". The day is specially set aside to mark the contributions of women to the world at large and as well advocate for women development and well being all over the world. SOLA JACOBS writes that women should work their talk and work more on their unity and development rather than seeing men as their common enemy.

In recent times, women had always been seen as agitators against their noble role of mothers of the nation who are to be seen but not to be heard, except for non-patriarchal society like Euro pe. In A sia, Mid dle East and African countries, women roles seem defined and they are not so much saddled with governance and other intricate things which are w rongly referred to as the exclusive rights of men. However, the trend is changing, w ithin the last 20 years as w omen seem to be pressing more for issues that will advance their course, thanks to the 2007 Beijing Conference in China, just as Nigerian women will be most grateful to the wife of former N ig eria Presid ent, Mrs. Mariam Babangida, the initiator of “ Better Life for Rural Women” which served as an ey e o p ener fo r w omen across Nigeria.

The p ush has i ncreased mo re

‘

Women should develop and position themselves for leadership responsibilities through hardwork, integrity, creativity, modesty, service and mentoring.

participation of women in politics and various other professions that have over the years been wrongly regarded as an exclusive rights of men.

Exami ning this y ear’ s theme: “ Women Pressing for Progress” it xrayed that considerable heights have b een reached , b ut there is still a greater height to mount, meaning that

,

women have to press for the higher height, the peak, as they are the major determinants of their fates, though not w ithout the cooperation of men.

A t the celebration this y ear in Osogbo, the State Capital of Osun, the theme: “ Virtuous woman pushing for the greater Development” which was organised by the “ Osun Government

•Governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola (middle); Wife of the Vice President, Dolapo Osinbajo (3rd left); Aregbesola’s wife, Sherifat and other prominent women at the OSUNWA in Osogbo recently.

O ffic ials W iv es A sso ciatio n” (OSUNOWA) under the leadership of the O sun Go v erno r’ s w ife, Mrs. Sheri fat A reg b eso la, i t w as emp hasised that w o men sho uld develop and position themselves for leadership responsibilities through hard w o rk, integ rity , creativ ity , modesty, service and mentoring.

A lso at the pro gamme, v arious individuals were honoured for their exemp lary feats. N o tab l y w as Oluwatoyin Bamidele, a 20-year-old beans-cake haw ker and 200-Lev el student of Criminology and Security Studies of the Federal University, OyeEkiti w ho w as ho noured w ith an award of Excellence and Educational support.

It w as revealed at the programme that the aw ardee w as honoured for her courage and commitment, as she sells bean-cake (A kara) around the cap i tal area o f O so g b o w ith her w id ow ed mo ther in other to also contribute in fending for the family and pay her tuition fees.

Bo rn in A ra, Eg b ed o re Lo cal Government of the State of Osun, she has consistently demonstrated “ good virtues of Omoluabi” since age 10 by hawking raw food and now Akara as a source of support for her widowed mother.

The G o v erno r, O g b eni Rauf A reg b eso la w hile p resenting the award commended the awardees for w hat he called a demonstration of Omoluabi virtues of hardwork despite her family situation.

Also at the OSUNWA conference, various participants won various gifts items through raffle draw s, such as four mini-buses know n as Korope, frid ge, freezer, p lasma televisio n, grinding machine, kitchen utensils, bed side fridge, cooking gas, electric cooker, fans and lots more.

But besides the funfair of the annual international women day, there had been questions about the readiness of the w omenfolk in the nation to attain the higher heights, which bordered on thei r p rep ared ness, exp erience, exp ertise, financial co mmitment, •Continued on page 6

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MAGAZINE

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

Womenfolk Pressing For Progress

•Continued from page 5 mento ring , transp arenc y and accountability and others.

Critics and analysts have alw ays portend that women are the enemies of themselves, as bickering, envy, jealousy always play fore within and among them when it comes to issues of leadership positioning.

Mrs. Ngozi Nwere, the Coordinator of Community Life Project, a nongovernmental organisation disagreed w ith the assertion that w omen do antagonised one another but rather posited that men always set w omen against each other, so as to drive for their selfish domination.

She q ueried the need fo r the position of “ w omen leader” in our political parties, if men had come in term with equality of w omen who participate in politics, saying, why are the various parties in the country not allow ing women to take the position o f Party Chairm en d esp ite the numerical streng th of w omen and their commitment to party politics.

Buttressing her point, she queried w hat had b eco me of the rejected “ Gender Equality Bill” in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly w hich w as rejec ted b y the male dominated assembly under the guise of religious and dogmatic cultural beliefs.

Mrs. N w ere asc ertained that w o men are p ushi ng fo r g reater heights in their contribution to the national grow th and development, but the religious and cultural beliefs are major impediments, coupled with financial inabilities of women, as they largely bear the brunts of economic recession and are mainly most time entangled with family upkeeps, while men invest more in economic and political issues at the detriments of their homes w hich has in turn have multi- facet co nseq uences o n the country’s moral values.

O n w hether w o men w ho are elected and o nce ap p o inted into v ario us p o litic al o ffices had performed excellently like their male counterparts, or had w omen been caug ht in co rrupt p ractices after which the looted property and money recovered, she queried, “ What is the ratio of such w omen to their male co unterp arts? Only few o f tho se w o men g et inv o l v ed in the act without the connivance of men, and even with that, it doesn’t amount to the fact that women cannot lead” .

O n w o men d ev elo p ment, she argued that w omen had developed considerably over the years, but there is still ro o m for d ev elo p ment in technology realms, enterpreneurship administration and other facets.

She m ad e case fo r g irl child education and the need to stop early child marriage, rape and subjection of w o men, thro ug h female g enital mutilation and other unwholesome traditional practices of widowhood rites, as well as right to own land by females in Nigeria.

A lso sp eaking o n the theme: ‘ W o men Pressing fo r Pro g ress’ , Alhaja Kudirat Oladunmoye, a female politician and retired educationist w as o f the o p inio n that the nongovernmental organisations, faithbased organisations and women need do more to make case for women in the country, challenging that “ some of our laws and penal codes need to b e rev iew ed w hi le so me asp ect should be expung ed to meet the

reali ties o f the p resent N ig eria, especially, Section 55, Sub-section 5 of

‘

the penal code which allows men to co rrect their w iv es thro ug h

Critics and analysts have always portend that women are the enemies of themselves, as bickering, envy, jealousy always play fore within and among them when it comes to issues of leadership positioning.

’

•Wife of Osun Chief of Staff (right), presenting gift to Mrs Modupeola Onikute delegate from Ondo State at the OSUNWA conference.

w hipping, as such act translates to violence against such woman, even if bodily injury occurs” .

She added that laws that set women at disadvantage at home, w orship places and society at whole must be reviewed, noting that women are not claim ing eq uali ty w ith m en as ordained by God, but they may be allo w ed to enjoy human rights as God’ s creation.

She enjoined w omen to strive to contribute positively by mentoring their children and grooming them for lead ership p o sitio n, as w el l as encouraging them to embrace positive v alues o f mo d esty , hard w o rk, integrity, service, giving and the fear of God. A so cial critic, A lhaji Murtala Orabiyi in his own response said, it is high time fo r Nigerian w omen to w ork their talk, as no one fettered them fro m reaching the hig her heights, but they should consciously liberate themselves from self censor and garner financial strength and political skills to assume leadership position, w hich takes perseverance, sub mi ssio n and tenacity and experience.

He was of the opinion that Nigerian w o men hav e no t reached their g reatest heig ht in p o liti cs in comparison with countries in Africa, such as Burund i , Tanz ani a and Liberia, but they are almost there and with lots of sensitisation, lobbying and advocacy, women in Nigeria with lots of potential w ill soon lead the some country, but w ith the cooperation of all and sundry.

Marketing Or Prostitution Right from her tender age, a girl child is are caring, dutiful and have sense of resp o nsibility , m ay be because o f natural instincts w hich tend them towards being loving and dutiful.

As parent, blessed with both sexes, y ou w ill affirm that a g irl child is alw ay s w illing to co o p erate and sometimes parents hammer on their submission which often time push them to the extent of losing their self-esteem, only to concur to issues and matters that could even affect their personalities.

A frica, being a patriarchal society banks on this instinct and subjects women to various harsh conditions, as they are to obey and not complain, but made to believe they are fulfilling their roles as the society imposes.

Recently noticed was a group of girls that flock major cities in the state of Osun serving as advert canvassers for a herbal company, hawking powdered pile medicine, quick action powder to enhance men libido, while there are also powdered.

W hat w ould q uickly d raw o nes attention to these set of marketers is the p ro m p tness and m annerism , w ith w hich they ap p roach their targ et, “ young men” so as to advertise their products cum services. Their market places are banks and drinking spots.

Curio usly , a y o ung girl w as approached and inquired about the product she was hawking, prospect of the business and how long she had been in the business, she responded, “ I am a fresh graduate from a Polytechnic in Oke-Ogun area o f Oy o State, I had obtained National Diploma but need money to pursue my Higher National Diploma. “ I was invited to be a young marketer who will earn as much as N35,000 in a month plus free accommodation and I

applied. I obliged and found myself in Osogbo, the capital of the state of Osun.

I and other young girls, who are about 100 in numbers, are living together and d o ing the sam e w o rk, selling the pow dered herbal products for men and the targ eted p laces are banks and drinking spots” .

On enquiring of how much would be her salary every month, the response was, “ it depends on how much sales I make, and for now I have not spend up to a month, so I don’t know, how much my salary will be” .

According to her, her relief is that she had left home to do something, as the meagre salaries of both parents couldn’t sustain her and her siblings.

A s a y oung lad y , she w ants to complement her parent effort to raise finance for the family.

Aside the financial remuneration and free acco m m o d atio n, this w o rk provided young girls “ client” , just as it also g uarantee unfettered access to y o ung m en and o ld m en alike to befriend them and even test the potency and efficacy o f the p ro d uct they advertise, so long it could fetch them extra money to take care of their needs and their employers are not against such deals.

How were they recruited? She said her friend invited her and she had in turn enrolled two of her friends, saying, they only tell their p arent that they w o uld be m arketing p ro ducts fo r a pharmaceutical company, w hich w ill give them accommodation. The other aspect of the job: prostitution puts food in their mouth.

This is a mobile prostitution market in large scale and it abounds also in O nd o state cap ital, A kure, the investigation revealed.

A staff of Guarantee Trust Bank in

Osogbo who testified to the nuisance these set of young marketers pose to the security of the bank, said that these young girls throw themselves at our bank custo m ers w ho are alw ay s disturbed on entering or leaving the bank.

Also in a similar manner, a cyclist, Yakubu Hammed affirmed that, he had patronised these set of hawkers, saying, they actually hawk their bodies via selling of the said libido enhancer, just as he revealed that at night in various drinking spots in and around major tow ns, they are there and ready to spend nights w ith w hosoever need their services.

This is clearly a so ciety w here students and youths especially, are d eliberately turned to p ro stitute, hammering on the effect of economic recessio n that has strongly hit the nation. The sad note of it all is that mainly, young girls are being recruited by these herbal companies, w hich in turn use the unsuspecting young girls for such unholy acts.

Will the law enforcement agents of N A PTIP, N A FD A C and o ther government agencies pretend they are not aware of these illegal and indecent businesses that had turned our young girls into prostitution under the garbs of marketing?

Further investigations revealed that some of these girls sometimes fall victim of cultism and those w ho are ready to use them for peddling hard drugs in the society can readily have them.

It is tim e that the g ov ernm ent agencies saddled w ith security and safety rise to their responsibilities, as this is prostitution in marketing garb, enrolling our unsuspecting young girls into prostitution and making them prey in the hands of their predators.

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COMMUNITY

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

Play The Game According To The Rules - ES Charges Parliamentarians The newly-inaugurated Chairman of A takunmosa W est Central Local Council D evelopment A rea, Honourable A nthony A deboye has charged the operators of the newly introduced parliamentary system of government at the third tier of government in the State of Osun to play the game according to the set rules with dedicated loyalty and high sense of patriotism.

A d ebo y e g av e this charge recently at the inaug uratio n o f the co uncil’ s parliament in Ifewara.

The co uncil bo ss recalled that since the ad o p tion of the p resid ential sy stem o f government in 1979, the intro d uctio n of a parliamentary system at the local government level by Go v erno r Rauf Aregbesola is novel in the histo ry of N ig erian politics and of course, a new exp erim ent that deserve a trial in view of the fact that it is devoid of Execu tiv e-Leg islativ e face-off arising from the fusion of the duo and also because its running cost is cheaper.

The Chairm an no ted that its ado p tio n is in ap p arent resp o nse to p ublic o utcries condemning presidential system of government for its expensive nature.

He however stated that its success or otherw ise would determine w hether the state would copy it or not.

While co ngratulating the parliamentarians for the victory at the January 27th, 2018 lo cal government election, he g av e kud o s to Og beni A reg beso la fo r his exem plary lead ership w hich had w on several accolades from the lengths and breadths o f the country.

A d m o nishing his colleag ues, he charged that it should be know n that they w ere elected to

serve and as such they must endeavour to serve God and humanity. “ Let us do all the needful to put smiles on the faces of the people by improving their quality of living. “ Mind you, you are not successful in office until yo ur constituencies are left better than you met them at the expiration of your tenure. “ So let people say he or she has tried even though people do refer to public service as a thankless job” .

He enjo ined them to make spirited efforts and act fast within the ambit of available resources.

The council boss also saluted the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Co ng ress (A PC) at the state and local levels for its tenacity of purpose and stead fastness in ushering in this new dawn in the state of the virtuous. “ To the party’s teeming members and supporters, I assure that the A PC government at all levels is ever determined to bring the d iv id end s of d em o cracy to their

footsteps. I urge them to be a little patient” .

The co uncil Chief ap p reciated the co operation and support of career officers led by the Council Manager during the caretaker era and solicited more robust and cordial relationship in this new dispensation so that

meaningful development can be attained.

The elected Leader of the Ho use, Honourable Ola-Oluw a Olusakin in his ow n speech assured that he would not preside o ver a d ivid ed Ho use, p ro m ising harm onious relatio nship w ith the council’ s w orkforce and

•Officials of the council during the office commissioning.

The Executive Secretary, Ifelodun A rea Council, Honourabl e Yetunde Bab awale has off icial ly commissioned the newly-constructed Chairman’s of fice l ocated in the premises of the council secretariat in Iba.

Ho n. Babaw ale used the opportunity to thank

The Chairman, Orolu Local G overnment of the State of O sun, Prince A dekunle Benson has said that 400 youths would be empowered in the council under the first phase of its Poverty A lleviation Programme.

CHANGE OF NAME/PUBLIC NOTICE MRS. OYEKUNLE LATIFAT BUKOLA

OLAOYE JELILAT ADEJOKE

That I was formerly known and addressed as AZEEZ LATIFAT BUKOLA, but now wish to be known and addressed as M RS. OYEK UNLE LATIFAT BUK OLA. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

That I was formerly known and addressed as YUSUFF JELILAT ADEJOKE, but now wish to be known and a ddr e sse d a s OLAOYE JELILAT ADEJOKE. All forme r doc ume nts r ema in valid. Concerned authorities, law enforcement agencies, parastatals and General public should take note.

SPACE FOR SALE

The ceremony was g raced by d ig nitaries w hich includ e, Ho no urable Festus Kom o lafe representing A takunm o sa East and West Constituency in the Osun House of Assembly, trad itio nal chiefs, p olitical, relig io us and community leaders.

Ifelodun Area Council Commissions Executive Secretary's Office

the citizens of the A rea C o uncil fo r the

Orolu LG To Em pow er 4 0 0 Youths Under First Phase Of PAP He said that beneficiaries w o uld be selected randomly with 40 beneficiaries from each of

an ev enly shared dividends of democracy to the citizenry.

Other elected officers of the Council Area include; Ho no urables Julius Fako w ajo as Vice Chairm an; Jum o ke O lad ip upo , D ep uty Leader of the House and Saka Hamzat.

the 10 wards in the council w ith N 10,000 m onthly stipend.

According to him, apart fro m cap ital, d ev elo p mental and physical pro jects, there w o uld be a to tal empowerment of youths, w o men and farm ers as w ell as o ther po v erty alleviation programmes w hich w ould bo ost the economy to the extent that y o uths w o uld be independent and engaged in meaningful activities.

A cco rd ing to a statem ent by his media assistant, A lao Waheed, the council boss gave the assurance recently during the general meeting of the All Progressives Congress in Ifon Osun, Orolu local government council area.

Benson noted that the programme would mean that the co uncil is complementing the efforts of the Federal and the state of Osun governments by injecting N 4 m illio n monthly into the economy of the council.

He no ted that tho se engaged through OYES, N -Po w er, Civ il serv ice and party Excos would be totally exempted from the programme purposely to allow those that are not The local government boss also w arned party

m em bers and sy mp athisers not to be deceiv ed by subm itting themselves to those that believ e in sharing o f instant no o d les to m em bers as their e m p o w e r m e n t programme.

According to him: “ As we have promised to run a transparent government w ith full accountability, w e hav e to ld all the stakeho ld ers the to tal allocation received from the state level and we do not believe in giving out fishes to people but our priority is to teach people how to fish so that no one w o uld be financially dependent” .

Benso n also enjoined the entire people of Orolu LG to sup p o rt and co o p erate w ith his ad m inistratio n so that u np rec e d ented developm ental pro jects will be experienced in all the nooks and crannies of the council. “ We have been working assiduously together with all councillors to ensure dividends of democracy as well as give back to the society in a w ay that no o ne w ould be marginalised” .

He then eulogised the g o v erno r o f the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for continually changing the face of Osun to a brand new state, ad ding that history will never forget him.

confidence they have in her and her team to represent them by casting their v o tes fo r them d uring the last lo cal government election.

She also commended the workers of the A rea Co uncil fo r the support g iv en to her and her cabinet since the incep tio n of the administration.

The Executiv e Secretary then assured the peo p le o f Iba and O baag un of rap id development in terms of so cial am enities and distribution of divid ends of democracy to the nook and crannies of the two communities.

A cco rding to her, “ our towns will begin to wear a new loo k in terms o f so cial am enities and other things that would bring abo ut rap id d ev elo p m ent to o ur social lives” .

Replying on behalf of the w o rkfo rce, the C o uncil Manag er,

Pharm acist O latund e Oluleti appreciated God fo r the successful completion of the project.

He stated that the issue o f the build ing w as raised on the floor of the O sun State Ho use o f A ssembly, w hen he and the fo rm er Executiv e Secretary, Princess Fausat Jimoh went for the bud g et d efence w here they were mandated by the House to construct an o ffice fo r the Executive Secretary.

He explained further that the co mmissioning o f the p ro ject w as an evidence that the workers in Ifelodun A rea Council are very v ibrant and well-trained, as the office block was constructed by the Works Department.

Meanwhile, Pastor P.S. A limi, w hile d elivering his sermo n stated that peo ple sho uld leave in peace and allow the spirit of love to reign, so as to bring about co-operation among the leaders in the council area.

He explained further that when there is mutual und erstand ing am o ng the people, there would be rapid development in the local government.

The clergy therefo re advised the members of the cabinet to d o everything in accordance to the d irectives o f the most High God. Other dignitaries at the event were: Ho nourable Paul Ogund eji, Pasto rs A deo ye and A dedo kun, all Heads of Departments and members of staff of Ifelo d un A rea Co uncil, Iba.

CHRIST GOSPEL WORLD WIDE EVANGELICAL MINISTRY This is to info rm the general public that the CHRIST GOSPEL W O RLD W IDE EV A NG ELICA L M INISTRY, Odo fun, Old Inisa Ro ad, P.O Box 276 Ikirun, Osun State, has applied to the Corporate Affairs Co mmissio n for reg istratio n under pact “ c” of the companies and allied matters act 1990.

TRUSTEES

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

EMMANUEL ODEDEJI SONIBA RE SONIBA RE A LICE KIKELOMO PATRON OJO LAWRENCE ALA NI BISHOP FAITH AYOBAMI SONIBA RE PA TRON SOLOMON OROGE EVA NG. ADEBAYO RACHA EL OLUBUNMI BROTHER BELLO JOSEPH A DEWUYI

A IM A ND OBJECTIV ES

1.

To shine the light of the g ospel of Jesus Christ all over the wo rld accord ing to the Lord’ s co mmandments in Matt. 28 Vs 19 by cond ucting open air crusad es and spiritual revival w ith spiritual so ng s, drum and dancing.

2.

To destroy the power of darkness with prayers, to eradicate the use of nativ e medicine.

3.

To create unity among the body of Christ w hich is the church of God the christians.

Any ob jection to this registration sho uld be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Co rpo rate A ffairs Commissio n, plo t 420, TIGRIS crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, w ithin 28 day s of this publicatio n.

Signed: Secretary, Evang. A debayo Rachael O lubunmi

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OSUNDEFENDER

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THE SOCIAL REGISTER

THE SOCIAL REGISTER

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

OSUNDEFENDER

www.osundefender.org

9

A Cocktail Of Recent Happenings Group Holds First Meeting, Pledges Peace

•(L-R) Mr Monsuru Sanisile, Quadri Gafar and Gabriel at the meeting.

By Sola Aderinto

A socio-political group in the State of O sun, Youth Solidarity (YS), last week organised a meeting with memb ers of the group at St. James Government High School, Osogbo.

Speaking at the meeting, the group’s acting Coordinator, Comrade Isa Rotimi thanked all members of the group for their contribution towards the growth of the group.

He then urged them to b e consistent, up and doing in all their various

local governments.

M r. Balogun O ladimeji who was also present at the meeting, expressed his satisfaction towards the giants strides of O gb eni Rauf A regb esola and pledged the group’s loyalty and support to whoever the party chose to be its flagbearer in the September 22 governorship election.

A nother leader of the group, M r. Q uadri G afar, advised the group members to stay away from backbiting and be peace ambassador wherever they found themselves.

21-Day Preliminary Stage Of The 2018 Nigerian National Deliverance Programme ( I tusile Naijiria) The presiding minister of the God of Fire " breakd ow n in the demonic and occul tic Global Evangelical M inistry (G OFGEM ), convenants and oaths between individuals and Dada Estate, Osogbo, Evangelist Peter Kolajo satanic agents brought about mainly by the past has advised N igerians during the 2nd activities of their ill-informed progenitors, and the segment of the ongoing 21- day preliminary stage of the N igerian N a t i o n a l D e l i v e ra n c e Programme (aka Itusile N igeria), to be expectant of d i v i n e turnaround and p o s i t i v e transformation in every sphere of their lives in no distant future.

The cleric b emoaned the current socioe c o n o m i c challenges in the country which manifest in forms of mass unemployment, i n f l ati o n , terrorism, ritual and serial k i l l i n g s , k i d n a p p i n g s , •Evangelist Peter Kolajo, Minister-in-charge of God Of Fire Ministry leading the prayer. human trafficking etc. as indicative of the current craze for wealth. destruction of the social and moral fabric of Taking his sermon from the Scriptural passages the society. This societal decadence can be in 1 Sam: 18, 19 and 20; and 2 Sam 9, the cleric explained in religious perspective as the further explained that irrespective of gender, age,

domicile, socio-economic and educational status, religious creed or ethnic stock, the devil has a spiritual hold and leverage on individuals due to idolatry, occultism, w i tch craf t m an i p u l ati on s and other evil p r a c t i c e s prevailing among the people.

He advised that satanic links and practices with the occultic group s and evil agents should be completely severed, abhorred and renounced by the l ead ers and followers alike for N igeria to experience all r o u n d development.

A lso he averred that the solution to the N igerian s o c i e t a l adv ancem en t cannot be found in rel igiosity, strict adherence to the dictates and counsels of fake and occultic religious con men that littered the nooks and cranny of the country, but rather to the true worship of the Lord and obedience to His precepts.

5-day Revival At C.A.C Oke Isegun District Headquarter, Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State. Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

Presentation Of Staff Of Office To Ajalaye Of I petu I jesa, Oba Adeleke Agunbiade

•Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Honourable Bisi Odewumi (2nd left) presenting Staff of Office to Ajalaye of Ipetu Ijesa, Oba Adeleke Agunbiade (right); Chairman Oriade South LCDA, Honourable Isaac Olaleye (left) during the programme.

It was a gathering of who-is-who in Ipetu- I jesa, O riade Local Government Council A rea of the State of Osun recently, as sons and daughters of the ancient town and lovers of the comm uni ty converged to witness the presentation of Staf f of Office to the A jalaye of Ipetu- Ijesa, O ba A deleke A gunbiade.

The staff of of fice was presented to the monarch by the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf A regbesola who was represented by his Special A dviser on Local G overnm ent and Chi ef taincy A ffairs, Honourable Bisi Odewunmi.

It was a carnival of sort in the ancient town, as the people of the community and dignitaries danced to the tunes of local drums as part of the celebration.

•A cross section of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs at the event.

OUR SOCIAL REGISTER IS OPEN FOR YOUR SOCIAL ACTIVITIES TO BE MADE PUBLIC

•A cross section of local government leaders during the meeting.

•Prophet/Evangelist Oluwatade Taiwo of CAC CFAMIC, Agunbelewo, Osogbo (with mic) praying for the congregation during the revival.

Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

Spaces are available for your anniversaries such as weddings, house-warming and chieftaincy title ceremonies among others for your take. To take advantage of this, you can reach out to Murtala, 08023280935, Kazeem 08062207954 and Nike on 07032594744 Let the public know what you are doing.

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

POLITICS

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10

Osun: Tow ards A Worthy Successor

By Semiu Okanlaw on C elebrated Eng lish p lay w rig ht, William Shakespeare once d eclared , “ A ll the world is a stage, and all men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many times.’’

This is truly ap t o f O gbeni Rauf A regbesola, having been in the saddle fo r o ver sev en y ears in O sun and having to relinquish po wer in line with the dictates of the law of the land come this November.

O sun shall be exp eriencing its governorship election this year. There are d eluge of aspirants from the two major political parties and o thers. Of co urse, the signs are visible o n the political landscape while the info rmed electo rates are und erstud y ing the political climate with rapt fo cusedness.

It is not unusual for an incumbent governo r in the Nigerian po lity to be deeply invo lved in who next flies the flag of the ruling party and indeed, who takes the baton fro m him. By Nigeria’s po litical configuratio n, it w ould lo ok odd for an incumbent to be indifferent o n w ho takes o ver fro m him mo st especially w here the labo ur o f the ending tenure should not be allow ed to go in ruins.

The need fo r d em o cratic co nso lid atio n o ften d riv es the incumbent to w ard s ensuring that a worthy successor takes over so that all the d em o cratic d iv id end s being enjo yed by the citizens are not frittered away by a clueless successor. Definitely, Osun is in need of a wo rthy political successo r to Go verno r A reg beso la simply o n the basis o f the need to co nsolid ate o n the gains o f the eight years that will be ending in November this year.

Beyond personal adventurism of the aspirants, the incumbent A regbesola is d uty bound to ensure the continued survival o f the giant d evelo pmental strides recorded by his administration, hence, the need to make input into the em ergence p ro cess o f the A ll Progressives Congress candidate in this forthcoming gubernatorial election. In the Yoruba proverbial saying, “ if a mad man is allo wed to bury his mother, he mig ht p ro bably have it ro asted fo r dinner.”

Flo w ing fro m the abo ve, Michael Braton’s postulation that “ elections do not in and of themselves co nstitute a consolidated democracy, they remain fund amental no t o nly fo r installing d em o cratic g o vernments, but as a requisite fo r bro ad er d em o cratic co nso lid atio n undersco res the po int being canvassed here.

Further flowing fro m the above is the fact that election is not restricted to one d ay ritual of voting and subsequent vo te co unting and result declaratio n.

Rather, it includes an array of processes that includ es but no t lim ited to cand idate nominatio n and registration with the electoral umpire.

It is trite that the A regbeso la era has intro d uced p ro g ressiv ism and d ynamism to go vernance; a rad ical departure from the old ord er. It w ould therefore be in the interest of the w ellbeing o f the state that the po litical tend ency w ho se modus operandi is no thing but pro gressivism need to succeed him, otherw ise, there would be an unpardo nable d eto ur to the grim political failure which includ es but not limited to corruption, ineptitude, so cial injustice and inequality captured in A chebe’s “ The Trouble with Nigeria’’ engendered by failed leadership.

Lest we forget, the celebrated author, A chebe, hinted that “ the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership….there is no thing w rong w ith the Nigerian character, there is nothing wro ng with the Nigerian land or climate o r water or air or anything

Beyond personal adventurism of the aspirants, the incumbent Aregbesola is duty bound to ensure the continued survival of the giant developmental strides recorded by his administration, hence, the need to make input into the emergence process of the APC candidate in this forthcoming gubernatorial election. less” . Osun had its experience of this failure of leadership before the current revo lution hit the ground running.

Undeniably, loyalty is a key facto r in politics and by extension, governance.

It is a mo ral component of any political relationship, hence loyalty is morality.

The presence of loyalty among all strata o f the po litical class w ill no t o nly strengthen the polity but also guarantee the needed conducive atmosphere for consolidation of democratic dividends.

No one in Osun w o uld w ish for the state, the ty p e o f ‘ w ars’ betw een successors and predecesors that have characterised so me o ther p o litical environments in Nigeria.

Given the steady progress being reco rd ed , w ho need s such tense political atmosphere in Osun to throw sp anners in the w heel of ad v ancements? Thus lo yalty to the id eals, tenets and p rinciples o f the current po litical tend ency sho uld be

o ne o f the mo st im p o rtant co nsid eratio ns fo r O sun p o litical successio n.

The sustainable development in Lago s State offers us a goo d illustration here. No one wo uld d eny the smoo th sail of Lago s fro m what used to be a jumbled metropolitan settlement to a megacity where there is o rd er, glam o ur and glitz. Lago s is prosperous today and looks even much more with greater potential.

No o ne also needs to be told as well that this has been d ue to an uninterrup ted p ro g ressive po litical tendency and ideology that holds sway in the state since Nigeria returned to demo cratic rule in 1999.

O ften tim es, co m m entato rs m isco nstrue lo yalty to be a blind , dogmatic compliance and adherence to the rules of the game set by a political ‘ benefacto r’ o r the incum bent w ho facilitates the em erg ence o f his successor. This is wrong! Loyalty, to me,

Osun 2018: I rewole

APC Elders Back Osun West For Governorship Ticket The El ders f orum of the A l l Progressives Congress in Irewole Local G overnment Council of the State of Osun has called on the party to zone its governorship ticket to the Osun W est Senatorial District.

This w as co ntained in a communique issued at the end of the Elders’ Forum meeting held on Friday in Ikire and signed by its Chairman and Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Ayoade Olubowale and Dr. Ajelere A jew umi respectively.

It read s: “ That m em bers o f the Eld ers’ Forum, having felt the pulse of the entire party members as well as voters in the community, resolved to fully back the call that A PC should pick its go vernorship candidate from Osun West Senatorial District. “ That A PC State Eld ers’ Fo rum (Ig bim o A g ba) sho uld thro w its weight behind Osun West Senato rial

District in the selectio n o f the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the interest o f justice, fairness, equity and party integrity. “ That we took this decision having realised that the past Governors of the state had established a ro tatio nal pattern which began with Osun West (Gov. Isiaka A deleke’s 1 years and 10 months only) followed by Osun Central (Gov. Bisi A kande’ s 4 years and Gov. Olagunso ye Oyinlola’ s 7 and a half years) and currently, Osun East (Gov. Rauf A regbesola’s 8 years). It is only fair that Osun West sho uld be allowed to take its rightful turn” .

They ad d ed that the fo rum is committed to the ideals of the A PC and lead ership o f Go v erno r Rauf A regbeso la lead ership , hence, this catalysed their d ecision to appeal for the zoning of the ticket to the district.

represents a religious adherence to that path created by an incumbent which has been benefitting the peo ple and w hich, if fo llo w ed , w o uld achiev e greater goo d for the peo ple.

A siw aju Bo la A hm ed Tinubu expected lo yalty from his successor.

This was because he had created a path to be followed. That Babatunde Fashola followed that path made him ano ther sup erstar in the ad m inistratio n o f Lago s. That A kinwumi A mbod e has followed that path as well has enriched Lagos. It is beginning to appear like other political parties have surrendered to the A PC given the unpreced ented infrastructure revo lutio n the state is witnessing.

A lready, the people of Osun d ream of the picture of another 8 years with equal o r m uch g reater z eal, d eterm inatio n and clear v isio n as brought by A regbesola.

The issue of disloyalty has been part of o ur political fabrics for so long. This is echoed in a lecture titled ‘’Mending a So cio-poro us Nation befo re the Third Republic’ ’ d eliv ered by Pro f. B.I.C Ijomah on 4th A pril, 1986 wherein he asserted that “ There is no mo rality.

People swear by and lie by the Bible and Ko ran……the sacred has been p ro faned , the pro fane has been sanctified and im m o rality and corruption have been tagged the o rder of the day” . There is a need to sound a caveat that the loyalty of successo r to predecessor being envisaged here is not the o ne that w ill turn d emocracy to kleptocracy typical of so me emerging demo cracies in A frica.

Next which is of utmost importance is charism a. O urs is an A frican d emo cracy w herein the head o f the executiv e w hich is the go v erno r o r president as the case may be, occupies a central space in the scheme of things usually w ith an alluring character, d o gged ness, empathy, unblemished integrity, co nfid ence, inspiratio n to o thers, co m m itment and p assio n, decision making capabilities, tact and d ip lo m acy , astuteness and accountability.

Do you find these lacking in Ogbeni A regbeso la in Osun? N o ! It w o uld therefore not be a sin for him to identify and suppo rt a cand id ate w ho best typifies those ideals and would set the thames on fire.

To Theo d o re Ro o sev elt, “ In any moment of decision, the best thing you can d o is the right thing. The w orst thing you can do is nothing” . When the moment of decision comes, A regbesola must d o the right thing. He canno t afford to do nothing.

•Semiu Okanlawon is Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, State Osun

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

FEATURE

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Lawmaker Distributes 500 Mama Kits To Pregnant Women, Others

By Israel Afolabi It was on the football pitch of St. John Government Elementary scho ol, Ikire on Thursday, January 18, as scores of artisans and po liticians fro m Irewo le and Isokan Local Government Councils co nvened at the quest of the State of Osun Ho use o f A ssembly member, A lhaji Olasunkanmi A kino la fo nd ly called “ Omotuntun” A kino la w ho represents the tw o councils at the state parliament chose to give back to his co nstituents, but elected to chart a different co urse in term o f em p o w erm ent, using his personal savings, to say thank yo u to the peo ple w ho voted fo r him in the 2015 legislative election.

The fo rm er Irew o le Lo cal Go v ernment chairm an, w hile co ntem p lating his fo rm of em p o w erm ent co nsulted critical stakeholders in his constituencies and made his mind know n to them that he w o uld settle fo r the v ulnerable segments of the so ciety - women and children; while associations o f artisans would receive in their custodies, some working tools that could be accessed by the budding artisans who are struggling to survive.

A kino la w hile setting up the committee that would superintend the strategic empowerment mandated the member to take cognisance of people who were really in the need of help, a mandate that w as carried o ut to the letter.

On the D-day, the venue was full to its brim, as artisans, women and school pupils flo oded St. Jo hn football field, while po litical leaders and politicians of the A ll Pro gressives Congress (A PC) were also in attendance to identify with one of their own. It was a carnival-like occasion, as party faithful and w omen w ere dancing to the rhythm o f lo cal drummers.

It w as a unique em p o w erm ent ind eed , as Ho n. A kino la ro se to distribute mama kits for more than 500 pregnant wo men shortlisted across the co uncils. The kit co ntains w hat a pregnant w o man need s like; flask, pads, pampers, cotton wool, Goya oil, stockings, cap, shot and bag. It was like m o thers’ d ay w hen the p reg nant women filed out in hundreds to receive the kits.

This fo llo w ed find ing s w hich revealed that a large number of women could not afford to buy mama kits that could welcome their babies on the point of call; hence, things like this could soar up mo rtality rate.

Instantly, the event became the talk o f the to w n, as so me peo ple in the

•Some of the items distributed by Honourable Akinola Olasunkanmi.

•Honourable Akinola presenting Mama Kit to one of the pregnant women. crow d were mouth agape to see legion touched on education.

Conscious of the safety of lives, Hon. of pregnant women at a stretch.

Besides, close to 5000 exercise books A kinola mad e scores of safety helmets were distributed to pupils of all public available for the use of the commercial scho o ls in Irew o le/ Iso kan state mo to rcyclists who co nvey peo ple in co nstituency , ano ther g esture that the two councils, w hile build ers go t shovels and hand trowels that could be hired for free from their associations who took custody of the materials.

A long the line, Natio nal Unio n of Road Transpo rt Wo rkers (NURTW) received C-cautions and android jacks on behalf of their members who may be in need of the too ls. Even, some politicians who worked for the victory of the lawmaker went home with bags of rice, standing fans and vegetable oil in categories.

Interestingly, school of Special needs located in Ikoyi got fo od items and toiletries, while Co mmunity Mid dle scho o l ad jud g ed to be the neatest scho ol in the state got mo tivated with cash award from the parliamentarian, premising his decision on the need to motivate excellence in other scho ols.

Info rming the aud ience about what motivated the committee on the choice o f the m aterials d istributed , the chairman, Mr. So la A d egbo yega, a retired Vice Princip al and fo rmer chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Irewo le Lo cal Go vernment •Akinola (left) presenting cash award to representatives of the Community High School council stressed that the beneficiaries w ere vulnerable majority w ho may for being the neatest school in his constituency.

never be remembered if the lawmaker chose not to think about them.

In his goodw ill message, the political lead er in the co nstituency, Elder Peter Babalo la laud ed A kinola, describing him as a politician who loves his people, saying that his empowerment was well tho ught o ut.

In his remark, Ho n. A kinola w hose wife, A lhaja Muslimat stoo d w ith all through the programme, thanked the lead ership and members o f A PC from his co nstituency w ho put him in his present positio n, saying he may no t hav e been p rivileged to lo o k after vulnerable women and children if not given a platform to do it.

He explained that he settled for the pregnant w omen and schoo l children hav ing realised that the m aternal mo rtality rate in the state w as high amo ng the po o r in the suburbs and inner city who could not afford little medical needs; insisting that something must be done to save pregnant w omen and children from poor backgrounds.

Other speakers at the event were; the immediate past lawmaker representing the co nstituency , Ho n. Maruf Olanrewaju alias Larry J, the A PC West Senatorial lead er in the state, A lhaji Yinusa A mobi and the A kire of Ikire, Oba Olatund e Falabi, represented by O o sa o f Ikire, Hig h C hief Yinusa Ojewale.

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FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

Tow ards An Enduring Peace I n I le-I fe

By Sola Jacobs Peace is not a state of absolutely no trouble. When a society is peaceful, an ind ividual or group is not perturbed but rather remain calm. Peace is an essential brick fo r natio n build ing and developments in any society.

In allusion to the biblical Solomon, w ho ascend ed the throne o f Israel and w as confronted w ith numerous challenges of governing a contro versial nation like the then Israel, he asked God for tw o major things; w isdom and understanding which are essential to o ls fo r a successful leadership, having realised that peace is a quintessential tool to having a good and developed society.

The reign o f Oo ni Enitan A d eyeye Ogunw usi, Ojaja, II in Ile-Ife co uld be related to that of biblical Solomon as he kno w s that he needs peace, w isdom and und erstanding to lead the source of the black race, the cradle o f civilisation. He quickly saddled himself w ith the business of making peace across various tribes and people not only in Nigeria but even in the diaspora.

This singular move end ears him to many hearts including those w ho had not ebeen opportuned to met him.

But it is a know n fact that after every conquest, there is a still land to conquer, thus the question, is Ile-Ife itself peaceful w ithin? Every society has its challenges and d isagreement is evident in human existence. So Ile-Ife, being a land of the living and not the d ead, there could be noise, there could be d isagreement, there could be rivalry, there could be envy but alas there must be peace.

Earlier this year, there w as controversy in the Ancient City over “ Ew i conundrum” w hich w as said to be prod uced by an “ unknow n author” w hich tends to breed discord between the Kabiyesi and some of his subjects.

Reports from Ile-Ife revealed that the “ M ay e o f the so urce” Dr Rahm an Adedoyin w as a stro ng co ntender of the throne of Oodua and immediately after the installation o f the Ooni Enitan Adeyeye Ogunw usi, he had been o ffered Olive branch, as Ooni deliberately paid him a visit in his resid ence in Eleyele quarters as a father and royal brother and tasked him on the development o f the Ancient city. He sought the cooperation of all the ind igenes as he cannot do it alo ne.

A s a ro yal father, w itho ut the co o peration o f all his subjects, just as Yoruba proverbs say “ Agbajo ow o la fi n soya” , meaning that to steer things right in the to w n, all hands must be on deck” , w ith this gesture it is a cheering new s that really, Ooni Ogunw usi is a peace lover.

But it w as alleged that utterances and dispositions of Dr Rahman Adedoyin to issues and m atters that relate to the foremost royal father portrays that he is yet to come to reality that Ooni Ogunw usi is the supreme monarch of Ifeland.

The d isp o sitio n o f O ba A d eo y e Ad efarakan after being fingered as the sponsor of the alleged “ Ew i” that ridiculed the highest stool in yorubaland could be said to be tied to his “ activist” style but w ith no co ncrete evid ence. Ho w ever, Yoruba had this proverb that “ Whosoever that shy in d ealing w ith his ow n siblings from the same mother, other siblings from his father w ill not fear him’ hence leading

to the arraignment o f Oba Adefarakan in February , co incid ing w ith his 63rd birthday before an Ile-Ife magistrate court o n fo ur-co unt charg e o v er an Ew i conundrum and his subsequent remand at Ile-Ife Prison, Kosere for 14 days.

Most of the people o utsid e Ife reacting to the reports are of the opinion that if Oba Adefarakan is not of Ife extract, w hat is more serious and dangero us co uld have hap p ened , but thank G o d fo r the intervention of Ife ind igenes in diaspora and w ithin, as w ell as so me friends and lovers of peace that mediated in the crisis.

The most cheering of it all is that Oba A d efarakan had since reg ained his freedom w hile all charges against him had been quashed , that is the sp irit o f forgiveness: to err is human and to forgive

Everyone I s Created A Master, …Be One! A man should learn to detect and w atch that gleam of light w hich flashes across his mind from w ithin, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dis miss es w itho ut notice his thought, because it is his. In every w ork of genius w e recognize our ow n rejected thoughts; t hey co me back to us w it h a cert ain alienated majesty -Ralph W aldo Emerson

If all o f us are born w ith an essentially similar brain, w ith more or less the same configuration and po tential for mastery, w hy is it then that in history o nly a limited number o f peo ple seems to truly excel and realize this potential pow er? Certainly, in a p ractical sense, this is the most important question for us to answ er.

The common explanation for a Mozart, a Leonard da Vinci, an Obafemi Aw olo w o, a Wole Soyinka, a co-fo under of facebo ok, Mark Zuckerber, (a Gov . Rauf Aregbeso la, if you like) etc, revo lv es around natural talent and brilliance. How else to acco unt for their uncanny achievements except in terms of something they w ere bo rn w ith?

But thousands upon tho usand s of child ren disp lay exceptio nal skill and talent in some f ield , y et relativ ely f ew o f them ev er amo unt to anything w o rthw hile, w hereas tho se w ho are less brilliant in their yo uth can often attain much more. Wole Soyinka w as rep o rted ly belo w av erag e as an undergraduate at Ibadan, yet he excelled in his chosen field . Same w ith Obafemi Aw olow o w ho did not have a special laurel as a stud ent, yet bestro d e the p o litical atmosphere of the w estern Nigeria like a colossus, both in theory and practice. A source clo se to Gov. Rauf’s roots stated that o n p ro dd ing, the late mo ther p ointed ly stated that nothing sp ecial herald ed his birth. H e no netheless tu rns a hu gely d isad v antag ed situatio n aro und in the State.

So, natural talent or IQ cannot explain future achievement.

The liv es o f Charles Darw in and his younger cousin, Sir Francis Galto n typ ify the abov e. By all acco unts, Galton w as a super-genius w ith an exceptionally high IQ, quite a bit higher than Darw in’ s (these are estimates d one by exp erts years after the inv ention of the measurement). Galton w as a bo y w o nd er w ho w ent o n to hav e an illustrio us scientific career, but he nev er quite mastered any of the fields he w ent

is divine.

But the begging question is that is the present peace in Ile-Ife an enduring o ne, has all the factions, individuals and group sheath their sw ords? Time and events has w ay of revealing the truth as w ell as the responses of leaders to situations arising.

Now that Oba Adefarakan had regained his freedo m and charges against him had been quashed , Ife had w o n the battle again, as w hat could had strained the peaceful atmosphere of the ancient city had been w isely truncated, and every effort to plunge the city into any internal crises must be jealo usly guid ed as the house that is divided against itself w ill suffer defeat.

Ife has m any enem ies to co nquer rang ing fro m y o uth jo blessness, underdevelopment, lack of infrastructures, lack of unity and purpose, unpatriotic acts amo ng ind igenes and selfishness of some individuals to conquer. But to add division and internal w rangling to these societal enemies is suicidal, as many are w atching w hat w ill beco me of a preacher w ithout peace in his abo de.

Therefore, it should be an imperative sincere d esire fo r everyo ne, as an Ife ind igene and o f pure Yoruba extracts to see that peace reigns in Ifeland and the state of Osun in particular but it requires concerted effort of internal reconciliation, building bridge of love and forgiveness, selflessness and perseverance just as the biblical injunction stated “ He that must be g reat amo ng y o u, m ust accep t the king d o m o f G o d like o f these little children” . The peace o f Ife, is the peace of the entire Yoruba race.

Truth Of The Matter with

AYEKOOTO ayoakinola444@gmail.com

•Charles Darwin

•Mark Zuckerberg

•Wole Soyinka

•Rauf Aregbesola

into . H e w as no to rio u sly restless, as common w ith child pro digies.

Bu t D arw ins, by co ntrast, is rightly celebrated as the superior scientist, one of the few w ho has ev er changed our view of life. Darw in himself admitted he w as “ a v ery o rd inary bo y, rather belo w the common stand ard o f intellect…I have no g reat q u ic kness o f m em o ry o r ap prehensio n” Robert Greene, an authority on this subject listed 20 lessons of mastery:

Suffer fools gladly , and don’t take criticism seriously or personally from people who don’t know w hat they’re talking about.

– Understand who you truly are, and w hat kind o f vo catio n or career you are called to do.

– Commit to an apprenticeship, in which you undergo years of humble observation, skill acquisition, and experimentation.

– Revert to a feeling of inferiority, and p ossess d eep humility and eagerness to learn from others.

- Move tow ard s resistance and pains, let go of need for comfort/ security, and cross the threshold, past the initial tedio us stages of learning.

– After apprenticeship phase, you must become bold, confident, and w illing to test out skills and make co nnections betw een different ideas.

– Learn to embrace criticism and failure, and be grateful for the opp ortunity to learn and improve as a result of your mistakes.

– Understand that there is an emotional component, not intellectual, that separates

the true masters from others.

– Develop your social intelligence, and your ability to empathetically put yourself in ano ther p erso n’ s sho es and see/ u nd erstand things f ro m his o r her perspective.

– Move past the habitual tendency to judge others or id ealize/ demonize them, and simp ly o bserv e them rather than projecting your ow n thoughts, emotions, or insecurities onto them.

– You must be wary of many peoples’ tendencies to d isp lay certain v ices that could hinder your pro gress, such as: envy, confo rmism, rigid ity, self-obsessiveness, laz iness, f lig htiness, and p assiv e aggression.

- Learn to speak through yo ur w ork, and w in o thers to your sid e of thinking by being p atient and letting w hat yo u hav e d one speak for itself.

– Try to see yourself as others see you, so that y o u c an rem ain em o tio nally detached and try to improv e up on your flaw s and shortcomings.

– Suffer fools gladly, and don’t take criticism serio usly o r p erso nally fro m p eo p le w ho d o n’ t kno w w hat they ’ re talking abo ut.

– Return to your childlike sense of w o nd er and endless curiosity abo ut all things in order to stimulate your creative energy.

– Drop all preconceived notions about the w orld, and utilize the pow er of your imagination to the fullest.

– Always be open and receptive to new id eas that challenge conventionality, and don’t be afraid of thinking so mething that is unpopular.

– Love learning for its own sake, and connect a w ide array of ideas fro m different fields o f study and disciplines.

– Maintain a sense of destiny/purpose and feel consciously connected to it.

– Qualities that will help you succeed: Self-d iscipline, desire, persistence, focus, effo rt, p atience, energy, o bsessiv eness, o bserv anc e, co nf id ence, tru st in self , em o tio nal c o m m itm ent, hu m ility , adaptability, boldness, op enness.

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

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13

Many Problems Plaguing The NHI S When the National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS] w as set up under Act 35 of 1999 by the Federal Government, the aim of its establishment w as to improve the health of all Nigerians and see that affordable health care w as available to all irrespective o f class, status, gend er o r social standings.

It fully came into o peratio n in 2005 during the administratio n of President Olusegun Obasanjo w ith a mandate to enlist at least 70% of Nigerians by the end of 2010. This goal w as later shifted by the D r.

G o o d luck Ebele Jo nathan ad ministration to cover at least 30% of Nigerians by the end of 2015.

When the NHIS became a reality, staff of government ministries, departments and agencies and w ell established private co rporate o rganisations keyed into the scheme and till d ate, they have been enjo ying the services pro vid ed by the schem e thro ug h the m any Health M anag ement Organisatio ns [HM Os] scattered across the country.

Essentially , the schem e is being o perated by public tertiary [teaching hospitals], second ary [general ho spitals] and primary health care facilities and licensed private hospitals in the country w ith patients paying just 10% o f the amo unt o f drugs prescribed and in some instances drugs are dispensed w ithout patients paying, depending on the HMO

and the type of health insurance being operated by the patients. “ Health is w ealth” , so says a w ise saying but the case is different w hen it comes to the issue of health care delivery in Nigeria because accusatio ns have trailed the scheme in recent times.

Co m p laints hav e rang ed fro m restricting drug prescription to drugs that are not covered und er the scheme and keeping the very essential drugs for those w ho can afford them.

In so do ing, only the usual d rugs are p rescribed to p atients. Drug s like analgesics, antibiotics and anti-malarial are commo n in this list.

The normal tests to ascertain bloo d sugar levels, full blood count, the amount of red and w hite blood cells, w id al tests for typhoid fever detection and a host of other smaller medical tests are all covered.

In so me instances, there have been complaints that these drugs are arbitrarily prescribed to patients and no fixed d ate of appointment given for patients to check back fo r co nsultatio ns. So me o f the treatments co vered und er the health insurance scheme d o no t co ver majo r surgeries, some expensive medical tests, and in such cases the patients or their relativ es are co m p elled to p ay the differential bill.

Ordinarily, o ne w o uld have thought that patients or clients as some would w ant

With FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

to call them sho uld be placed o n the exclusive lists, because they have paid w ell in ad v ance to fo restall any health challenges but a visit to hospitals w ithin and w itho ut the state capital o f Osun reveals the direct opposite.

In an interview w ith an NHIS officer in a popular private hospital in Osogbo, some health care facilities in Osogbo reserve more treatments rights fo r their paying clients at the d etriment o f their NHIS enrollees w ith the argument that they are not making any gains fro m the scheme, w hile also running their business at a loss. “ What mo st NHIS enro llees d o no t know is that drugs being prescribed have both generic and trade names. An example

We’ve Given Environmental Offenders 21-Day Ultimatum - Orolu LG Open Defecation:

In response to the earlier published news story on last week’s edition of OSUN DEFENDER newspaper, titled: “Osun School Classroom Converted To O pen D ef ecation Spot” , the management of O rol u Local G overnment Council A rea has disclosed that appropriate steps have been taken on the residents of the area.

In a statement signed by the Head of Water and Environmental Sanitation, Mr Raji Jimoh and Head of Information and Co mmunity Develo pments, Mr. Bad ejo ko Kazeem w hich w as mad e available to this med ium, they stated that prior to the publication, a team of Environmental Health Officers visited the scho ol and after d ue inspectio n carried out appropriate steps to check

the dirty act perpetrated by residents.

A cco rd ing to the statement, “ the env iro nm ental health o fficers cond ucted a thorough inspection of all ho uses surro und ing the scho o l premises to know those that had toilets facilities from those that do not. “ A batem ent no tices w ere subsequently issued to all the ho uses without pro per toilet facilities to do the needful within 21 days as prescribed by the environmental law in order for them to p ro v id e to ilet and sto p the indiscriminate defecation around the scho ol, A UD Elementary School, Ifon. “ The list o f tho se issued w ith the abatem ent no tice p apers includ e, Messrs A bd ulg aniy u Olad o su, Ibarahim A demola, Kareem Ogunleke, Suleiman A bo lad e, A lid u and Iy a

Emmanuel Palmwine store who were all served on the 26th of February, 2018.

While tho se served on the 19th o f March, 2018 w ere Messrs Ramo ni Oyelami, Olad o su Ganiyu, Tiamiyu and A lhaji Okunoye A bdul-Lateef. “ W e are o nly w aiting fo r the ultimatum to lapse before embarking on prosecution of sanitary offend ers. “ Ho w ev er, w hile w aiting, the Executiv e Secretary o f the Lo cal Go v ernment o n hearing this d ev elo p ment is pro p o sing to site a m ulti-co m p artment v entilated improved pit latrine to be located in the area” , the statement no ted.

The council officers then noted that the management would continue to do everything possible to ensure that the people of the local government remain healthy.

of this is ANPHETA MINES w hich is the generic name for all analgesics, w hile their trad e nam es v ary fro m o ne pharmaceutical company to the other. “ To some, it is kno w n as paracetamol, M and B paracetamol, Emzor paracetamol, phensic, pengo , d aga and so o n. Fo r antibio tics, it is penicillin, ampicillin, ampiclox and so on” .

Inv estigatio ns co nd ucted by this medium reveals that so me drugs w ere more potent than the other and so, medical directors of hospitals in order not to cause confusio n fo r their clients remove the packing and labels from such d rugs and d isp ense it so as no t to aro use the suspicions of their patients/ clients.

This m eans that d ue to co ntinual scientific and med ical research on the development o f more potent drugs, the fed eral and state governments w ho pay the capitatio n to these hospitals thro ugh the HMOs have not for more than a decade review ed upw ardly the capitation being paid the hospitals and it had remained at the same amo unt for more than a decade.

Within these periods, reasonably, it is commo n kno w ledge that the Nigerian eco nomy has experienced inflation and hyper-inflation and the only thing that had not been inflated in recent years have been salaries and w ages of w o rkers in both the public and private sectors and now added to the list the NHIS capitation from the agency to the hospitals.

In her ow n submissio n, Mrs. Doro thy Nnamani, the Chief Executive Officer of Novo Health Africa Limited, stated that the health insurance co vers childhoo d imm unisatio n, p aed iatrics treatment, antenatal and d eliv ery services and gynaecological and obstetrics care.

She stated that und er the schem e, contributions w ere earning-based w hich meant that emplo yers pay 10% w hile employees pay 5%, but in some instances, the employee may pay the w hole amount.

Another scenario is that staffers of these organisations have refused to remit their ow n part of the counterpart payment to the NHIS. Nnamani also revealed that the scheme w as also o ptional and peo ple can just decide not to buy into it. “ A major challenge co nfro nting the schem e is that so m e stakeho ld ers especially pharmacists are not happy w ith the capitatio n method of payment. “ Capitation is payment w hich a client makes on a regular basis to the provider w hich may be a clinic or a ho spital but it is supposed to be renew ed o n a yearly basis. “ They accuse the medical doctors w ith the co-o peration o f the NHIS of hijacking the scheme, but the HMOs do no t pay the retainer hospitals as and and w hen d ue.

Also some of the retainer hospitals do not give the patients the best services because they are being o w ned by the HMOs o r do not have capacity to provide the promised services”, she noted.

Nnamani also ad ded that pro blems such as under-payment of medical doctors and incessant ind ustrial actio ns in government-ow ned health facilities, the recent scand al w hich invo lv ed the Executive Secretary of the NHIS, lack of government spending, po or accessibility, an uninformed public and delay in the d eplo ym ent o f d igital techno lo g y in tackling health issues and challenges are part of the issues confronting the scheme.

Many enrollees also complain that the essential course of treatments that at times co me in at unexpected period s are not covered under the scheme and as such, they have to pay the medical bills from their pockets. Medical care under these categories includes, surgeries, specialists’ surg ical p ro ced ures and m ed ical examinations.

Health insurance officers in some of the ho spitals also revealed that w hy the situation is so is due to the insurance plan that each enrollee applied for.

14

OSUNDEFENDERwww.osundefender.org

NEWS

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

DFI D Says Osun I s On Right Path To Growth, Development The D epartment For International Development (D FID ) has l auded the giant strides and determination of the government of Osun to have a robust development plan for the growth of O sun.

This w as just as the C o m missio ner fo r Eco no m ic Planning , Bud g et and Dev elo pm ent, Dr Olalekan Yinusa said the series of w o rkshops fo r Sector Plan Development Teams approved by the state g o vernm ent is already yield ing positive results as the state is on the verge of develo ping a robust development plan for the state in all sectors.

The DFID thro ugh its So uth-W est Refo rm Facilitato r, Miss Rachel Illah at a 3-d ay Envisio ning / C ap acity Build ing Wo rksho p fo r Sector Plan Development Teams on Medium Term Secto r Strategy (20192021) o rganised by the Ministry o f Eco no m ic Planning , Bud get and Development said Osun is o n the right path to development.

Miss Illah said the passion coupled with the machinery set in mo tion fo r development by the present administration in the state is v ery enco uraging, as it falls in line w ith the guid elines and regulatio ns o f the DFID. She explained that the d esire fo r g ro w th and d ev elo pm ent as po rtrayed by the Osun government is worthy of emulation by other state governors in the country, stressing that the mo st important ingred ient o f g ro w th is the d esire w hich the O sun

g o v ernment has demonstrated.

The DFID representative noted that the cap acity build ing w o rksho p is the rig ht way to go in the move to crafting a d evelo pment plan for any state, w hile exp laining that no meaningful development can take place witho ut a visible blue print.

She ad d ed that it is good to kno w that Osun is developing a blue print which according to her is being done in accordance w ith internatio nal best practice. “ I am am az ed and im p ressed at w hat is go ing o n in Osun, it is only very few states that do what Osun is d oing.

This is the best way to go if you want to achieve a real and m eaning ful d ev elo p m ent p lan o r blue print. “ This cap acity build ing w o rksho p fo r sector plan development teams is a po inter to the fact that the state really know s w hat it w ants to achiev e in term s o f g ro w th and development. “ I can see and feel the d esire fo r g ro w th and d ev elo p m ent by the people and government of this state and I can see thro ugh this w o rksho p that the g o v erno r has been able to carry all stakeholders alo ng. “ I am happy to know that everyo ne is o n the same page in Osun, this

is w hat my o rganisation clam o urs fo r, that everyo ne includ ing the g o v ernm ent share the sam e p assio n fo r development. “ This sho w s something significant, it shows the go vernment in this state knows that it is not all about po liticians, I am aw are that this w o rksho p is all enco mpassing, I can see p ublic serv ants, civ il so ciety o rg anisatio ns, NGOs, market w o m en and I hav e also seen m em bers o f p o litical parties different fro m the ruling party in the state. “ It sho w s that go vernment knows that the particular need s o f the people should be the p rio rity and no t w hat g o v ernm ent w ants, a budget for development sho uld be carefully d rafted to cater fo r the particular need s o f the masses resid ing therein. “ The happiness of the p eo ple sho uld be p aram o unt to the government in planning for development and the O sun g o v ernment has taken this as priority or else this w o rkshop w ill not be happening in the

falsehoo d that w as not backed by any fact.

Aregbesola, the Special Guest o f Ho no ur at the occasion stated that “ If you say that Aregbeso la w ants to Islam ize O sun and secede from Nigeria, you must be able to back it up w ith facts and incontrovertible evidence” “ Failure to d o so , it has become libel and falsehood w hich is injurio us to my p erso n, g o v ernment o f Osun, our political party, the All Progress Congress (APC) and ultimately the society in general” .

Speaking o n “ Effective Use o f Mass Med ia fo r D a’ aw ah” , the G uest Sp eaker, a fo rm er Managing Director of the defunct National Concord New spaper, A lhaji Liad i Tella id entified alleg ed ‘ m ed ia biased ’ ag ainst Islam as hind rance to the effective use of media for pro pagating Islam.

He stressed that Nigerian government and the media w ere aw are for a lo ng time that Bo ko Haram are not muslim, but d eliberately ad d ressing them as Islamic sect.

A cco rd ing to him , efforts to deceive members o f the p ublic fro m kno w ing that m uslim s dominate public schools in Osun led to the w ar against Hijab w earing by pupils in the state.

He co ntinued , “ The go vernment knew w hen French jet w as dropping arms fo r Bo ko Haram in Sam bisa Fo rest. They continued attributing them to Islam” . “ Fair, balanced and objective reportage are the card inal ethics and sup p o sed inv io lable principles of jo urnalism, unfortunately, this is not so w ith med ia repo rtage on Islam and m uslim s in Nigeria” .

In v iew o f this, Tella challenged muslims w ho are w ell to d o to embrace new sp ap er o w nership , saying , it is o nly w hen muslim ow n new spaper, radio station and television houses that they can fight the unfair and unbalanced reportage against muslims and Islam.

In his w elcome address, the Natio nal Co ordinator of MMWG, Alhaji Ibrahim Abd ulahi said the aim of the group w as to promote

p articip ants at the workshop to see it as an opportunity to contribute to the g ro w th and development of the state, Dr Yinusa urg ed particip ants to g iv e in their best to the crafting of a better future for the state.

He said the essence of the cap acity build ing workshop was to take the state to w here it ought to be, while putting into use

the missions, visions and core values that will be d evelo ped thro ugh the workshop.

Yinusa who noted that the 3-d ay env isio ning workshop is a follo w up to the recent programmes held in Iloko -Ijesa and Ede, emphasised that the pre-requisite skills gotten at the p rev io us w o rksho p s w ill be o f hig h v alue in m o v ing forward.

•Deputy Governor, State of Osun, Otunba Grace Laoye-Tomori (right); Chief Staff to governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola (2nd right), with member of Farm Settlements during an interactive session with the Governor in Osogbo recently.

Osun Govt Dismisses Report Of Attack On NYSC Corps Members • Says Hoodlums, Not Students Attack School O sun state government has explained that hoodlums and not students allegedly attacked the Osogbo High School where some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were serving in 2017, saying that at no time did students of the school attack any N YSC member.

The government in a press statement signed

Muslims Challenged To Venture Into Media Ownership •Continued from page 3

first p lace” , The DFID representative stated.

Declaring the w o rksho p o p en, Dr Olalekan Yinusa said the recent step s o f the present administration in the state has set the tone fo r the p o sitiv e d ev elo p m ent o f O sun and for it to be ranked among her peers in terms o f d evelo pm ent in the country.

W hile calling o n

quality broadcast in media o rganisatio n all o ver the country.

He said the group is also w o rking to co rrect misrepresentation of Islam and muslim in any media by p utting the co rrect, accurate and true picture o f issues at stake in the right perspective fo r the benefit of view ers, listeners and readers.

The 7-member Board is head ed by a reno w ned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SA N), Mallam Yusuf A li.

D ig nitaries in attend ance includ e, the Executiv e Secretary o f M USW EN , Pro fesso r D aud N o ibi; V icechancello r, University o f O sun (UN IO SUN ), Pro fesso r Labo Po poo la; immediate past VC of the Univ ersity o f Ilo rin, Pro fesso r A bd ulGaniyu A m bali, and Pro fesso r Obini Ekpe.

Others w ere, Pro fessor Saad iya Bello , Pro fesso r W ahab Eg bem o le, and O lufo n o f Ifo n, O ba AbduMoruf Magbagbeola, Senato rs Bay o Salam i, Barrister Ko lap o A lim i, Barrister M o ham m ed Ibrahim and Mr Muid een Olateju among others.

by the Commissioner for Ed ucatio n, Mr Ko la Omotunde-Young said, it has eliminated cultism in public schools, as he also stated that there was no o fficial co m p laint o r w ithd raw al o f co rp s m em bers fro m any scho o l fro m the N YSC Directorate office before the report.

A cco rd ing to Om o tund e-Yo ung, the alleged attacked schoo l was the old Osogbo High School with porous and broken down fence at its far end at the back.

O m o tu n d e - Y o u n g stated that the school was besieg ed so m etim e in 2017 by hoo dlums w ho found accommodation in so m e aband o ned build ing s aro und the premises ad jo ining the scho ol at the rear.

He ad d ed that the government reported the presence and activities of the hoodlums to the State Security Serv ice and Po lice w ho resto red o rd er thro ugh arrests, p ro secutio n and surveillance since 2017.

The co m m issio ner wondered why incident that happened almost a year ago, with no official complaint by NYSC that any corps members were

ever end angered, could be a subject of complaint and media syndication in March 2018.

O m o tu n d e - Y o u n g said the scho o l has adequate number of full tim e teachers and N Power volunteer teachers w ho have co ntinued to d o their w o rk w itho ut hind erance o r d anger, stating that the school has no t mad e request fo r N YSC C o rp s mem ber neither as it been turned down.

He said the administration of Ogbeni Rauf A reg beso la is committed to promo ting quality and functio nal ed ucatio n and the w elfare o f the co rp s members in the state.

The statement read s in p art: “ O sun has eliminated cult activities and ho oliganism from its Elementary, Middle and High scho o ls and have been greatly commended for these. “ O sun has been ackno w led g ed and commended locally and by internatio nal agencies fo r its successes at und ertaking substantial refo rm o f the scho o l system, with new w orld class scho o l in f ra stru c tu re , d ecentralisatio n of m anagem ent thro ug h creatio n o f Senato rial Districts headed by Tutor Generals/PSs’, and strict quality enforcement and re-orientation of students

thro ug h the new ly established O sun Ed ucatio n Q uality A ssurance and Morality Enforcement A gency.” “ The go v ernment o f Rauf A regbeso la has d elivered 9 wo rld class High scho ols each w ith capacity to accommodate 3000 stud ents and another 2 of these are to be d eliv ered in tw o mo nths. These scho o ls are state-o f-the-arts and p ro v id e secure env iro nm ents fo r learning. In add ition 25 w o rld class Mid d le scho o ls and 22 w o rld class Elementary schools have been delivered. “ It has also carried out renovations on hundreds o f scho o ls, d eliv ering more than 1,694 standard classrooms in the existing elementary, mid dle and high schools. More than 12,000 qualitativ e teachers hav e been em p lo y ed by the A r e g b e s o l a administratio n to bo ost manpower in the school system. “ O sun is acknowledged as one of the safest states in the country due to the state g o v e r n m e n t’ s co mmitment to security of lives and property. “ The government will co ntinue to sup p o rt NYSC as it is do ing in its mo re than 1000 schoo ls and assures the NYSC and all cadets of the state g o v e r n m e n t’ s commitment to their best interest.”

FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

CRIME

OSUNDEFENDER www.osundefender.org

15

Woman Remanded I n Prison For Allegedly Killing Friend

By Abdullahi Omotayo A 23-year-old woman, Jimoh Simiat has been remanded in Ilesa prison on Tuesday, 20th M arch 2018 by an Osogbo M agistrate Court over alleged killing of her f riend, Esther O ga on the 10th February, 2018.

The

susp ect

w as

alleg ed

to

hav e

unlawfully fought Oga to d eath aro und Fo untain University area, Oso gbo.

Meanw hile, it w as rep o rted o n the 10th February , 2018 that a d ead bo d y , w ho w as reco gniz ed to be “ Iy a

Frid ay” by a p asserby w as fo und besid e the road aro und Oke Osun, Osogbo.

The police prosecutor, Insp ecto r Mustap ha Tajudeen told the court that the accused person

co m mitted the o ffence co ntrary to Sectio n 316 V o l. 11 Law s o f O sun State of Nigeria 2002.

Sim iat, w hile exp laining w hat transpired between her and Oga said, she went to Oga’s house to ask her if truly she to ld her new boyfriend that she w as a prostitute and eventually the issue resulted to a fight betw een them.

A cco rd ing to the daughter of the deceased, Eliz abeth Jo nathan, Simiat and her mo ther went out together around 7:30pm , o n the 9th February, 2018, saying her mother did not return home until the bad news

was broke to her that her mother was found dead by the roadside.

The plea of the accused person was not taken due to the magnitude of the o ffence alleg ed ly committed.

The magistrate, Tunde Bad mus said the co urt does not have jurisdiction to co ntinue w ith the case, and said the accused p erso n sho uld be rem and ed in Ilesha priso n custod y, while the d efend ant sho uld be arraig n befo re Hig h C o urt that has jurisdictio n.

He then adjourned the case till 8th of May 2018.

Six Men Remanded For Alleged Armed Robbery

By Mariam Bello

•Simiat, who is alleged of killing her friend.

An Osogbo Magistrate Court on Monday, March 12, 2018 remanded six men in Ilesa prison custody over alleged armed robbery.

•The late Esther Oga.

Woman Accused Of N826,135 Theft Arraigned

By Abdullahi Omotayo The Osun State police command on Tuesday, arraigned a 25-year-old woman, Mercy Onoko

Okiemute before an Osogbo M agistrate Court for allegedly stealing a sum of N826,135 and A TM card valued N 1,000 belonging to A deb oye Cecil ia

Bolanle.

Onoko who is facing three-co unt charg e bothering on conspiracy, felo ny and stealing

plead ed not guilty to the offence preferred against her.

The charge sheet read in the court disclosed that

the suspect and others at large committed the offence between 11th and 13th d ay o f November, 2017 at FCMB in Osogbo.

It further stated that the d efend ant sto le an A TM card and the w ho o p ing sum of N826,135 belo nging to A deboye Cecilia Bolanle,

Father, Others In Court Over Attempt Ritual Murder Of Daughter

By Abdullahi Omotayo The O sun State Police Command has charged three men to court on W ednesday 21st M arch, 2018, over attempted ritual murder, unlawful possession of charms and obtaining by false pretence.

The accused perso ns includ e Isaac A jao 40; Od eso la Oded o kun, 38 and Kazeem Ibrahim, 42 were arraigned on a fourco unt charge bothering o n attem pted m urd er and defrauding.

The police prosecutor, Insp. Mustapha Tajudeen to ld the co urt that the accused perso ns and others at large on 7th day o f March 2018 at Ifo n, co nsp ired am o ng themselves to attempt to kill one Mary Oded okun w ith the intentio n o f using her fo r m o ney ritual and thereby co m m itted an o ffence co ntrary to and punishable under section 320 of the Criminal Code Cap 34 Vo l. II Law s if O sun state o f N igeria 2002.

Mustapha add ed that the seco nd accused p erso n, O d eso la Odedokun was said to be the father of the victim, Mary Odedokun.

He further stated that the third accused person, Kazeem Ibrahim did by false pretence and w ith

intent to d efraud and o btain the sum o f N34,000 fro m the first accused p erso n, Isaac A jao with the pretense of using same mo ney fo r d o ubling ritual, a p retence w hich is an o ffence co ntrary to sectio n 418 and punishable under section 419 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Vol. II, Law s of O sun state o f N igeria 2002.

The accused perso ns plead ed not guilty to the fo ur-co unt charg e slammed against them.

Counsel to the accused p erso ns, R.A Ug w u urged the co urt to grant the accused persons bail.

The mag istrate F.A So d am ad e granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N500,000 with o ne surety each in like sum.

She said, each sureties must be a grade level 15 civil servants and must resid e w ithin the co urt jurisdiction and pro duce evidence of three year tax payments.

So d am ad e further

stated that the sureties must provide threep assp o rts siz ed pho to grap hs, attached w ith an affid avit o f means, and the address of surety must be verified by the police.

She thereby adjourned the case till 30th of April for hearing.

the complainant.

It affirm ed that the o ffence co ntrav ened sectio n 516, 383 (1) punishable under section 390 (9) o f the crim inal co d e cap 34 vo lum e 11.law s o f Osun State 2002.

The co unsel to the accused person, Mr. O w o eye O y inkanso la applied fo r the bail of the d efend ant in the mo st liberal and affo rd able terms.

The Police prosecutor, Insp. Oladoye Joshua did no t o p po se the applicatio n.

The mag istrate, Mr Tund e Bad mus granted the accused bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties.

The suspects include, A d eribig be Kunle, 23; Basiru So liu, 24; Saheed Umar, 25 and Akintayo Adekunle, 30.

O thers are Kamorudeen Olofaina, 32; Akeem Adeniyi, 33 and Isiaka Lasisi 37.

The accused p ersons were arraigned before the co urt o n a ten-co unt charg e bothering o n conspiracy and stealing.

The Police prosecutor, Inspector Oladoye Joshua to ld the co urt that the accused p erso ns co mmited the illicit act betw een November 2016 and February 16, 2018.

Inspector Joshua stated that the suspects armed w ith g uns and o ther d ang ero us w eap o ns robbed A deniran Lasisi, A kinso la A kinw um i, Olarew aju Rashidat and Ilesanmi A kinleye of their property.

Man Docked Over Alleged N700,000 Fraud

By Mariam Bello An Osogbo M agistrate Court in Osun state on M onday arraigned a 35-year-old man, Diran O lawale f or alleged ly stealing 700,000

belonging to Abiona Adelakun.

Olawale is docked on Ota-Efun area Osogbo.

She explained further a three-co unt charg e bothe ring on false that the defendant also pretence, stealing and stole the stated sum of breach o f p ublic money belonging to Abiona Adelakun. peace.

A cco rd ing to The p ro secuto r, Serg eant A d ew uy i prosecutor, the accused Kehinde told the court also conducted himself that the accused person in a manner likely to committed the o ffence cause breach o f peace so metimes in A p ril, by co nv erting the 2011 at Olobi Street in mo ney into his o w n Ow o -Op e area o f use.

Prosecutor Adewuyi Osogbo.

Adewuyi stated that submitted that the o ffence co ntrav ened the accused o btained the sum of money from sectio n 419, 390 which the co mplainant w ith is p unishable und er pretence to purchase a sectio n 290(d) o f the plo t of land for her at criminal co d e cap 34

v o lume 11.law s o f Osun State 2003.

The d ef end ant pleaded no t guilty to the three-count charge alleged against him.

Defense counsel Barr.

A lay o kun A bay o mi p ray e d the co u rt to grant his client bail in the mo st liberal and affordable terms.

A l a y o k u n guaranteed the co urt that the suspect is ready to p ro v ide a reliable surety if granted bail.

The magistrate, Mrs O. Olo y ad e g ranted the accused person bail in the sum o f 500,000 with two sureties in the same sum.

The case w as adjourned till May 3rd for hearing.

He exp lained further that the sto len item s includ ed: LG TV, N 80,000; D VD p lay er, N7000, Elepa generator, N 60,000; Big bag pack and Nokia A sha mobile phone, N15,000; Samsung galaxy , N350,000 and a laptop valued N120,000.

Other stolen valuables w ere fo ur w ristw atch N44,002,566, power bank, N5000; HP rechargeable lamp valued N2000 and cash sum of N38,000.

The p ro secuto r said that the defendants did co nsp ire am o ng them selv es to co m m it felo ny to w it arm ed ro bbery and thereby committed an o ffence co ntrary to sectio n 6( b) and punishable under section 1(1) of the Robbery and Firearm s (sp ecial p ro v ision) act cap R11 vol. 14 law of Nigeria.

Lawyer Okobe Najite ap p eared fo r three accused p erso ns w hile Barr. Temitope Oyetope ap peared for the third accused person (Saheed Um o ru) and to ld the court that her client is facing one count charge before the court out of the nine-count charge.

He ad ded that Saheed Umoru received a motorcycle suspected to hav e been sto len and urg ed the co urt to be lenient w ith him , pleading that he should be granted bail as his case is bailable in nature.

Mag istrate O lo y ad e granted bail to the third accused p erso n in the sum of N200,000 with tw o sureties and ruled that the rem aining six accused perso ns be remanded in Ilesa prison custody He adjourned the case till May 21, 2018 fo r mention.

HEALTH

Osun .

.

THE SI XTH MOST VI SI TED W EBSI TE I N NI GERI A

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P. 13

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FRIDAY MARCH 23 - THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2018

ISAAC OLUSESI writes, in the State of Osun, the intellectual property bequeathed to the state by Governor Rauf Aregbesola's years in office is the insignia of purposeful governance for purposeful votes, come September 22.

OSUNDEFENDERwww.osundefender.com

By I nvitation

Of I ntellectual Property And Osun Votes

In Nigeria, nothing in the State of Osun could go for intellectual property under any o f its g o v ernm ents. N o thing , absolutely nothing, even fro m the last go vernment o f the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that loo ked visibly moronic, w ithdraw n, at both the 1st and 2nd term inaugurations of its governor as tho ugh amidst praise singers’ flurry of drums and intoxicating legw o rks. The party, ever moribund, lacks manifest inventive, the cocoo n of intellectual property that could have positioned Osun on the house top for distinctio ns.

How ever, in just one year or so in office, fro m the cache o f the All Pro gressives Co ngress (A PC) go vernment o f Rauf Aregbesola, w ith a d etest for governance as a tea party, came the iconic, rich cluster of intellectual pro perty – State of O sun, Osun Anthem, Osun Pledge, Osun Flag, and Osun Crest, with Osun Motto . The

five intellectual inventions depict a living thing that has continued to steer a desired m ind -set in the O sun p eo p le, g o o d governance and demo cracy, courage and sacrifice; and as aftermath, faith and hope in the grow th and d evelo pment of the state.

Intellectual pro perty is a means o f id entificatio n and co mmunication. The Christian Knights from Western Europe w ho fo ug ht in a series o f m ilitary cam p aig ns in the m ed iev al tim es, displayed coats of arms on the shields and flags that assisted their fo llo w ers to recognise them in the battlefronts. And the royalty, nobility and clergy in the Feudal Euro p ean so ciety w ere also able to id entify their pro cessio ns and o fficial d o cum ents by m arking them w ith heraldic signs, symbols or emblems.

Similar heraldic bearings in the Osun intellectual p ro p erty includ e sev en co w ries, the em blem o f the sev en grandsons of Olofin O duduwa; and OriOlokun, symbolic of the commo n origin of Yoruba and d exterity in technolo gy, have put, for instance the Osun Flag on the same pedestal of intellectual pro perty as that of the United Kingdom (UK)’ s Flag – the amalgam of the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland, respectively bearing the cross of St. George, St. A ndrew and St. Patrick and the United State of America (US)’ s Uncle Sam, the Salute and Liberty ,

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Good! The Osun intellectual property have received the much requisite legal teeth in the state parliament that has now made the inventions to be used, displayed, honoured and shielded from desecration.

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and G eorg e W ashington , the US first president. Intellectual property includ es, for instance, National A nthem, National Flag, National Pledge, and the Coat of A rms for Nigeria; Maple Leaf for Canad a; John Bull fo r England; and the Fluer-de-lis for France.

The Osun intellectual property traced exclusiv ely to A reg beso la, hav e practically provided Osun w ith a rallying point for its internal and external affairs; signaled a display of Osun virtues at home and abro ad ; p ro tected O sun fro m misrepresentatio n, marking o ut Osun d o cum ents, co m m unicatio ns and processes; id entified Osun in national enterp rises; re-p o sitio ned O sun significantly o n natio nal ranking; and garnered in the vary peoples of Osun, the consciousness of patriotism.

Goo d! The Osun intellectual property have received the much requisite legal teeth in the state parliament that has now m ad e the inv entio ns to be used , displayed, ho noured and shielded from desecration. The legal protection is the heart beat o f the state intellectual p ro p erty, p ro tecting them fro m unauthorised use. The infringer could be

liable fo r actual damage(s) specified by the law . Unintentional infringement is also said to be illegal but co uld be treated less harshly by the court than intentio nal infringement. The primary legal question to be add ressed in a court of law w o uld be w hether the infring er’ s use has confused or misled the public mind.

Electo rally , the O sun intellectual p ro p erty trium phed fo r bo th the emergence of Aregbesola as governor and co urse of liberty of votes cast by Osun peo ples that quitted PDP’ s near 8years of open misrule in the state. The invention of the State of O sun, Osun A nthem, O sun Pledge, Osun Flag, and Osun Crest, w ith Osun Motto, is symbolic o f Osun peoples’ revolution and Osun vo te–conquest o f mis-governance of the state under PDP. Where then is the irascibility o f the o p p o nents o f the O sun intellectual pro perty? The incipient indignations of the hit-and -run PD P o v er the fiv e intellectual inventions are particularly irksome. The grimace of the never-dow ell PDP in society and politics at the very hig hly co m m end able intellectual inventions in the co urse o f the years of APC in Osun go vernment, is iro nically, the PDP self-indictment because not even one innovatio n or invention ever came fro m PDP w hile the party held sw ay in the state government house.

Instead, all that came fro m the PDP go vernment in Osun w ere shod diness, rottenness, rustiness, decay, resentment, hate, inco m p etence, co rrup tio n,

BY ISA A C OLUSESI irresponsibility, recklessness, mediocrity and such other w eird, arbitrary symptoms o f bad governance. Meaning that, the opposition PDP and its co-travellers in the Osun electoral firmament do no t deserve a v o te o f O sun p eo p le, co m e the September 22 gubernatorial election in the state. Not even any other party in the PDP garb and grab should get Osun votes.

A las and alack, critics in PDP have co ntinually g riz z led o v er O sun intellectual property in manner that the incurable mo ckers w ithin the PDP are better neck – chained to a sangoma ho me to be treated fo r monomania by a dutiful inyanga, a person w ho treats people w ho are ill, using natural materials such as plants. Ironically, the oppo sitio n PDP in the state have alw ays w orked self, albeit irrationally off-times into frenzies over the hero ics o f A regbeso la in the art and science of governance and administration of Osun, the heroics that daily open a new vista in intellectual governance in the state.

In the O sun histo ry , A reg beso la rem ains a lo ng d istance runner in intellectual p ro p erty and o ther d ev elo p m ent p o litics, p o licies and pro jects, a stud y in intelligence and ind ustry of the man, called Aregbeso la, inv ulnerable to kno ck-backs fro m opposition elements in the state. Honestly, it w ill be mo mento us, historic should the state g o v ernm ent after A reg beso la proclaim Osun Intellectual Property Day, an annual event to feature corresponding intellectual d isco urse o n the fiv e inventio ns: their o rigin, meaning and potency. Many natio ns and constituents of natio ns, the w o rld over celebrate their intellectual property. In the State of Osun, the Intellectual Property Day ought to be celebrated annually, to mark the hot votechase the peoples o f Osun gave the PDP rudd erless government that eventually herald ed the em erg ence o f the Aregbesola’ s go vernment.

A celebration of the re-develo pment of Osun, making the election o f w hoever emerges as the APC candidate for the 2018 Osun go verno rship a sine quanon fo r further d evelo pment of the state.

•OLUSESI is Assistant Director, Publicity, Research & Strategy, All Progressives Congress (APC), State of Osun

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