Justice O.O. Odumosu of a Magistrates’ Court sitting in the Isabo Area of Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on Wednesday sentenced two persons, Adegoke Akinleye and Adediran Adewole, for stealing 404 pieces of catfish valued at N606,000 belonging to their boss, Ibukun Sanusi.

The convicts, who were workers on a farm located in Ilewo, Abeokuta, were arraigned on two counts of felony and stealing.

The prosecutor, Olakunle Shonibare, told the court that the offences committed on January 24, 2023, contravened Sections 516(1) and 382(2) of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State.

The charge read in part, “That you, Akinleye Adegoke, Adewole Adediran and others at large on January 24, 2023 at about 12noon at Abidelep Farm and Agro-Service Limited, Ilewo, Orile, Abeokuta in the magisterial district did conspire to commit felony and thereby committed an offence contrary and punishable under Section 516(1) of the Criminal Laws of Ogun State.

“That you, Akinleye Adegoke, Adewole Adediran and others at large on the same date, time and place in the aforesaid magisterial district did steal 404 pieces of catfish valued at N606,000 property of one Mrs Sanusi Ibukun and thereby committed an offence contrary and punishable under Section 382(2) of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State.”

In her judgment, Odumosu sentenced both convicts to six months imprisonment each for the first count and one-year imprisonment each for the second count.

 She, however, granted an option of fine for the convicts to the tune of N10,000 each for each jail term provided they can pay back the N606,000 to the complainant.

President Bola Tinubu on Monday charged the 45 newly inaugurated Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to prioritise the interests and welfare of the entire nation and its diverse population, above any regional or state-specific considerations.

Speaking at the inauguration of new members of the Federal Executive Council at the State House Conference Centre, the President underscored the immense responsibility the ministers now bear in shaping policies that will significantly influence the lives of hundreds of millions of Nigerians.

“You are not a minister of a particular state, colony, region, or ethnic nationality. You are a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” President Tinubu declared, setting the tone for his directive to the new ministers.

“This is all about the cohesion and work of a great team, and I believe we now have it. It is an honour to be chosen to serve as a minister in the Federal Executive Council, and such a high honour comes with tremendous responsibility. In this moment of abundant promise and peril in equal measure, all of you that have been sworn in have been called to distinguish yourselves. Nigerians are highly expectant of excellence in service delivery, accountability, and transparency,” he said.

“As your country honours you today, you must each work to make yourselves worthy in the eyes of God and our entire nation’s people. Your highest obligation is to restore public faith in government so that our people can once again believe that government can be a positive force for transformation and a vehicle for collective progress of all citizens of this great country,” President Tinubu said while congratulating each of the ministers and welcoming them to “the administration of Renewed Hope.”

He further affirmed that the newly appointed ministers were selected based on their track records of excellence in both the public and private sectors, noting their effective representation of the rich diversity present within Nigeria.

“In this new assignment, we are in this boat together, even if it is a vehicle, I am the driver. The entire nation sits watchful, as you and I navigate this vehicle. We must hold each other responsible. We have to do the job to meet the expectations of all Nigerians. God be with you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The event was witnessed by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, among other dignitaries.

The LP national secretary disclosed that much as the party respects the privacy of its presidential candidate to associate with anybody, he vowed that Labour Party will never merge with any other political platform.

He, however, did rule out the possibility of an alliance.

“That is not true. I think it is the imagination of the writer. It has not come to us as a party. Whatever is going on, if at all it is true, Peter Obi is probably doing that as a candidate, which he has a right to do and associate with whoever he wants to associate with.

“But as a party, we are not thinking of a merger with any political party. And Labour Party will never merge with any party.

“Whatever the issue may be, we cannot take any decision until after the judgment of our election petition at the tribunal. But as a I mentioned earlier, count LP out of any merger with political parties. Alliance may be possible though,” he stated.

“But those who are close to Obi know he has no enemy, except for those fighting him unnecessarily. He is a Nigerian who will always interact with any other Nigerian for the good of Nigeria. But with the level of margin, I can tell you that for now, there is nothing like the merger you talked about.”

Efforts to get the reaction of the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, proved unsuccessful.

The Director of Publicity for the ruling party, Bala Ibrahim, however, dismissed the perceived threat such a merger could pose to the president.

“With my poor arithmetic, let me say if you can beat them individually, I don’t see any difficulty you will have beating them collectively.

“Whether they (Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso) merged or not, they will still remain below the ladder of the ruling party.” Bala boasted.

As of the time of filing this report, the National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Major Agbo, could however not be reached for clarification.

“In what Orunmila told us, the word of God is established, we have chosen a leader to teach us various languages. When he would gather some of them, he taught them various religions on Isese. He taught them to follow any religion that suited them, and he said one should not hinder one.

Traditionalists celebrating the Isese festival in Ondo State have declared that the festival would continue to be celebrated annually.

Speaking on International Isese Day on Sunday, the Araba Isese in Ondo State, Araba Folorunsho Adetunji, said the group was trying as much as possible to ensure the festival did not go into extinction as they infuse the culture into their children.

Adetunji said, “When we observed that our fathers had gathered and had observed this festival, where they stopped, we get involved. If there’s a festival and we don’t involve our children, such festival would get destroyed, that is why we have the religion of the Ifa Council gathered together.

“We, the youths of today, gathered together in a temple way, we gathered children together in order for them to know that this Isese should not be moved away from them.  You don’t have to be afraid of it, it is not something children should not see; that is why we gathered children for them to know that it is an important thing. It is the word of God being established, it is Irumole’s word we follow. It is how we are created; it is very important.

Following the new rule laid down by our DPO of Igbeba police division, CSP. CHRISTY OKPAGHORO who had Determine in her promised to fight crimes by making all efforts to leave no stone unturned.

She made this known in an interview with Michael Abiodun ( Oracle of Peace reporter) during the weekend
.
She said to curb the criminal acts in the society there is need to make some new rules and this has to do with what this criminals uses as tool to carry out their criminal acts.

She proceeds by saying Henceforth, Motor cycle(Okada) rider will be allowed to work with an Identified and transparent helmet(s).

And, no motor cycle (Okada) rider is allowed to use unidentified helmet as criminals are using this means to disguising under this unidentified helmet or irrational nose and mouth covering to commit crime.

She concluded his speech by pleading to the public to take this notice seriously Because BEFORE WARN IS BEFORE HARM.

Let us be security conscious in all ways, in your household a and the society.

And no matter what never take an action into your hand.

Let’s remind ourselves that

POLICE IS OUR FRIEND..

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Invest in education, tackle poverty, Chinese envoy tells FG

22nd August 2023

By Gift Habib

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The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, has urged the Federal Government to invest in education, food, housing, and security if it wants to end poverty.

Jianchun gave the advice at the launching ceremony for the Hausa edition of Up and Out of Poverty (a book) and the China-Nigeria seminar on governance on Monday in Abuja.

According to the envoy, the book was written in 1988 by the current Chinese President, Xi Jinping, reflecting his thoughts on how to eradicate poverty, which he was able to do within 10 years of his reign (2012–2022).

Jianchun said the President had now “eliminated extreme poverty, of which, at that time, 99.8 million people were below the poverty line.”

The envoy said with the launch of the book, developing countries such as Nigeria would need to re-strategise and do the needful to remove their citizens below the poverty line.

He noted, “The Chinese definition of extreme poverty eradication revolves around two basic needs and three guarantees. For our basic needs, we have first food and then clothing.

“For the three guarantees, we have compulsory education, basic medical care, and safe housing.

Nigeria needs to fix the educational sector. The country has a lot of dropouts, and we all know that without education, a country cannot move forward.

“Nigeria needs to fix the medical challenges it is facing to eradicate poverty.”

Speaking at the event, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, said the book launch was timely, adding that out of 200 million Nigerians, 80 million live below the poverty line, especially in the northern part of the country.

Akume, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services Office, SGF, Aliyu Shinkafi, noted that the Hausa version of the book will help Nigerians benefit from the growth and development of China.

He said, “The book is translated into one of the three major languages so that our population can benefit from China.

“It is not by chance that the book was put together in Hausa because Nigeria has a population of 200 million; about 80 million live below the poverty line, especially in the North-West and North-East.”