Vanguard , MONDAY, ,MARCH 4, 2013 —9
ACN slams Jonathan over Boko Haram menace Blames failed leadership on FG BY OIASUNKANMI AKONI
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AGOS—ACTION Con gress of Nigeria, ACN, has said that part of the reasons why the Boko Haram has festered was due to failure of President Goodluck Jonathanled Federal Government, to show leadership, as he had stayed away from the affected parts of the country, since the crisis started in 2009. The party, however, hailed the progressive state governors, under the aegis of All Progressives Congress, APC, who visited Borno State last week, saying their pace-setting, courageous and compassionate action was a boost to the country’s unity and a blow to anarchists. National Publicity Secretary of ACN, Mr. Lai Mohammed, yesterday, said that the action of the governors had reassured the people of Borno and Yobe states, which are mostly affected by the Boko Haram crisis, that their fellow Nigerians had not abandoned them to their fate. He said: “No part of Nigeria should be a no-go area, especially for the President, Commander-in-Chief.
‘’Part of the reasons this needless Boko Haram crisis had festered was that the President in particular had failed to show leadership. By staying away from the affected parts of the country since the crisis started in 2009, for receding behind the safe walls of Aso Rock fortress to celebrate inde-
pendence anniversaries, the President has unwittingly emboldened the anarchists, who have killed and maimed thousands. ‘’When Presidents in other lands defy terrorists, it is not that they don’t care about their own safety, but that they simply want their compatriots to
know that whatever fate befalls them was shared by their leaders. That was why President George Bush of the US flew to Iraq in the heat of the insurgency there, and President Barack Obama also of US travelled to Afghanistan even amid threats. By the way, both places are thousands of kilometres from the United States.”
BRIEFING: From right; Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, Lagos State Commissioner of Information and Strategy; Dr. Olatunde Williams, Permanent Secretary, Primary Health Care Board, Lagos State Ministry of Health, and Dr. Jide Idris, Commissioner for Health, during the briefing on 2013 National Immunization Plus Days Exercise in Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.
Fashola visits shut Ladipo market Insists on clean-up before reopening As leaders promise to comply BY OIASUNKANMI AKONI
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AGOS—GOVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, paid unscheduled visit to the Ladipo spare parts market, in Mushin Local Government Area, shut last Monday over violation of environmental law, insisting that the market must be cleaned it would be reopened. In addition, he said the traders must sign an undertaking that never again will trading take place on the road or the edges of the canal. The governor ’s visit was to assess the situation of the market, following pleas by the traders and the leadership of
the Igbo Council in Lagos State led by Professor Anya O. Anya, who visited the state House, Ikeja last Monday to present the new Council members to the governor. Fashola, who addressed newsmen and leaders of the market unions, described the state of the market and its environs as “massive degradation of a section of Lagos,” noting that the good thing in the visit was that the traders had seen the lack of caution in their deed, and were ready to make amends. Fashola said: “It is a massive degradation of a section of Lagos and this is not acceptable. People should not carry on like this. But what is, perhaps, worthy of note is that those who are
involved have seen the error of what they had done here and are ready to work with us to clean-up and I have said here that they must take the lead. “The blockage of the canal poses a lot of danger and we are expecting heavy rains this year. I don’t want to come back here to pick any dead body. We built the canal and we must make it work by not trading on it or dump refuse in it. “People told me that they picked engine parts, spareparts and other things from the canal. It must stop.” Also addressing the leadership of the Ladipo Auto Dealers’ Association led by its President General, Mr.
Ikechukwu Animalu, Fashola made it clear to them that before government will reopen the market, the traders must clean-up the place and put measures in place to ensure that there was no trading on the roads in the market.
Contempt: Court adjourns Oshodi Tapa chieftaincy suit to April 18 BY INNOCENT ANABA
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AGOS—JUSTICE Opeyemi Oke of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, weekend, adjourned till April 18, 2013, to hear the contempt proceedings by members of Oshodi Tapa family in Lagos over the Iga Oshodi chieftaincy title. The head of Oshodi Tapa chieftaincy family, Pa Fatai Amao Oshodi and a member of the family, Dr. Mustapha Oshodi had filed Form 48 against some members of the family to ensure the enforcement of a court order, following allegations that some family members were allegedly flouting the court’s order. The alleged contemnors, Chief Babatunde Oshodi, Alhaji Rasaq Oshodi, Alhaji Sura Oshodi and a lawyer, Victor Otuyemi, were alleged to have violated the consent judgment delivered by Justice T. Ojikutu Oshode (rtd.) two years ago. In the judgment, the court had ordered the defendants to vacate Iga Oshodi and stop parading themselves as custodians of the Oshodi Tapa chieftaincy family and as Council executive members.