Sokoto university matriculates 2,074 students for 2018/2019 academic session

The Sokoto State University has matriculated 2,074 newly admitted students for 2018/2019 academic session.

The Vice Chancellor of the University, Ptofessor Sani Dangoggo, said 13,000 applied for admission into the university but only 2,074 were admitted.

He urged the students to imbibe good character in their academic pursuit and added that the institution was known for its uncompromising attitude and sustained policy of zero tolerance to indiscipline, cultism and examination malpractice.

“The university will not condone actions which contravene its regulations or behaviours that will portray the image of the university in a bad light,” he said.

The VC added:“I urge the matriculating students, to take their studies seriously to enable them graduate in flying colours and impact meaningfully in the society.”

He advised the matriculating students to engage in sports.

According to him, the university had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with various institutions in the areas of staff development and students exchange.

He said the institutions includes Zinder University Niger Republic, Islamic University of Uganda, University of Lahore Pakistan and Kampala International University Uganda.

The Vice Chancellor added that 18 programmes had been accreditated by National Universirties Commission while other five have partial accreditation.

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman Governing Council, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, commended the institution for its progress and enjoined students to concentrate on their students to be productive in the society.

Adeleke faults Buhari’s spokesman on forgery allegation

Senator Ademola Adeleke, representing Osun West Senatorial District has faulted allegation that he presented forged school results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the last governorship election in Osun State.

Adeleke, who attributed the allegation to the spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo (SAN), argued that the lawyer acted out of ignorance.

The Senator, in a statement authored by Niyi Owolade for the Ademola Adeleke campaign Organisation, said he did not, at any time forge any certificate for election or any other purpose.

Part of the statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a tweet credited to Mr. Festus Keyamo that Senator Ademola Adeleke forged a statement of result he presented for election and that WAEC did not attest his certificate.

“We suspect that Mr. Keyamo must have been misinformed or failed to get his facts correctly.

“For his information and that of the general public, both WAEC and the school principal of Ede Muslim High school, Ede attested Senator Adeleke’s result through sworn affidavits before FCT High Court, Bwari.

“We advise the President’s campaign spokesman to get his facts straight before making public statements.

“Being a Senior Advocate of Nigeria demands that level of responsibility. Senator Ademola Adeleke did not at any time forge any certificate for this election or for any other purpose.

“Let us repeat for the umpteenth time that the principal of Ede Muslim High School, Ede and WAEC were summoned by the court in a case filed by the APC against Senator Adeleke.

“The principal through a sworn affidavit attested the statement of results presented by the PDP candidate for his election and a Deputy Registrar of WAEC did the same through an affidavit of evidence.

“The two affidavits were widely published in the newspapers and are available in court papers. WAEC not only attested Adeleke’s result, the school authority, through the principal also did.

“At this stage in Osun election cases, all the facts are in public domain and nothing can be spinned again.

“First, the public is fully aware that both WAEC and the Principal attested to Adeleke’s qualification.

“Secondly, by the combined effect of Sections 177 and 318 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, Senator Ademola Adeleke is qualified to contest for the office of a State Governor.

“Thirdly and much more critical, WAEC and the principal affirmed in their respective affidavits that there was no forgery as results submitted by Adeleke tallied with their records.

“We wish to conclude by informing the public once again that apart from the above attestation of Adeleke’s qualification, there are two subsisting high court judgments, affirming Senator Adeleke’s eligibility to contest for office if Governor.”

FCDA demolishes buildings within Dokpesi’s AIT premises

Bulldozers from the Federal Capital Development Authority on Tuesday morning in Abuja demolished some buildings within the premises of the African Independent Television.

Our correspondent gathered that officials of the agency came with policemen and forced their way into the premises before embarking on the demolition exercise.

Some setsof buildings at the entrance of the television station located on Padoma Hill, Asokoro, and the fence that separated the station from some private building were brought down by the bulldozers.

It was gathered that the FCDA had raised issues concerning some structures within the compound since 2011, but the issues were said to have been resolved.

However, a month ago, it was also learnt that the FCDA brought out the issues that were said to have been resolved.

A source close to the station also said that the FCDA also complained about the road that was constructed by the broadcast station to facilitate access to it in 2007.

Details later …

Abuja Court Sentences Rights Activist IG Wala To 12 Years In Prison Over Facebook Post

The Abuja High Court on Monday sentenced Ibrahim Wala, popularly known as IG Wala, to 12 years in jail after being found guilty of gathering unlawful assembly and criminal defamation of character.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Yusuf Halilu ruled that Wala is guilty of three of the four charges brought against him by Abdullahi Mukhtar, Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

On September 26, 2017, Wala, convener of Citizens Action to Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN), had made a Facebook post accusing Mukhtar of corruptly enriching himself with N3billion after the 2017 Hajj.

“Official documents made available to CATBAN reveals that the Chairman of NAHCON, after the 2017 Hajj operations, makes not less than N3 billion for himself," read a part of the post.

“In the interim, CATBAN tends to question how NAHCON expended the total sum of N97,906,500,000 (almost Hundred Billion) accrued from the payment of N1.5million by each individual that made up the 65,271 being the Total Number of Nigerian Muslim Pilgrims for 2017."

Wala was arrested following a petition written by Mukhtar alleging public defamation of his integrity and the commission he heads.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Jalilu said that Wala was guilty of managing an unlawful association, inciting the public and defamation of character on social media.

He also ruled that CATBAN is unregistered, holding that the prosecution has been able to establish the offence of making an unlawful assembly.

The judge also said Wala was unable to provide evidence to back his claims that Mukhtar “enriched himself with N3billion".

“Where is the document proving N3 billion made by Chairman of Hajj Commission?" he asked.

“Why has the accused person failed to tender such document now that he has been dragged before a court of law?”

In his ruling, the judge held that the failure of the accused to provide relevant documents to back his allegations, rendered the case of the prosecution less cumbersome.

New dawn in Ekiti as Fayemi's cabinet members named

By Victor Ojelabi

Ekiti state undoubtedly has the most literate population in Nigeria. Put at about 99% of young adults, and often reckoned as the state with most professors per family unit in Nigeria, Ekiti should boast of the most informed electorate. But many still argue that the ‘Aketes’ aren’t that smart in their choice of leaders. A position that became commonplace after the emergence of not-so-ingenious government in 2014. Governance in the state was famed for cockeyed policies and sycophancy. There was popular consensus among the generality of Nigerians that policies and programs were shallow and sometimes ridiculous. The ‘Stomach Infrastructure’ program, for instance, was a good point for a lot of new media enthusiasts to cackle on the people of Ekiti and their leadership choice.

But not in 2018! the electorate ditched the anointed candidate of the incumbent and went back to their well-educated governor, who they had voted out in the previous election. Friends of Ekiti across the world saw this as a remediation, and in the nick of time. The model of reality in Ekiti changed, with many out-of-home citizens beckoning on hope for their state, after such an inglorious term.

Now that the more poise Fayemi (an alumnus of the prestigious Kings College, London) administration is operational, is honour finally restored to the people of Ekiti? Are we going to witness a more structured, deliberate and comprehensive development drive in Ekiti State? Fencists would argue that its too early to judge, but a litmus test for every new administration is cabinet set up, the quality of which can tell what is to come.

H.E. Dr. Kayode Fayemi recently announced his, and it is expected to define what our hope should be for the Land of Honour and Integrity, with respect to what is attainable in the next four years. Fayemi inaugurated 14 commissioners and five special advisers on Tuesday, April 9, about six months after his inauguration, setting the stage for an evaluation of the character and capacity stock of his administration. Here’s a look at the apostles of Fayemi’s four-point agenda:

Bamidele Faparusi is a 46-year old politician. He hails from Ode Ekiti, and holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Akure.  He also holds an MBA in Project Management from the Obafemi Awolow University, and a PhD. (Honorary) from Commonwealth University.

Hon. Faparusi was a member of the 7th Assembly. He represented Emure/ Gbonyin/ Ekiti East Federal Constituency at the lower house from 2011 to 2015. .

Bamidele’s gross experience in both public and private sectors is an asset to the Fayemi’s cabinet.

Dr. Fayemi appointed one of the most educated Nigerian women on his cabinet in person of Dr Mojisola Yaya-Kolade. She is Nurse, Midwife, Pharmacist and Medical Doctor rolled in one. She has had a progressive life of education in health services. Beyond that, Mojisola worked with several international agencies as consultant. She is globally-sort-after expert who has made her mark in service to mankind as a health professional.

Dr Yaya-Kolade battled the governorship ticket with Fayemi, but stepped down at some point. She maintained that her progressive plan for the state motivated her to contest for the high seat of governor.

It is expected that Dr. (Mrs) Mojisola Yaya-Kolade will positively influence this administration with her own unique agenda, which were well articulated during her campaign for the office of governor.

Fayemi reached for his old tool box for Febisola Adewale. Hon. Adewale serves under him as Commissioner in the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) during his first term, and made his mark. He was at the assembly during the Segun Oni-led administration.

Hon. Adewale his an astute business, who holds a bias for holding his investments to his home state. All of his businesses are in Ekiti and Ondo, being neighbouring state. Commonly ascribed with qualities like calm and unassuming, Febisola is loved and known across Ekiti as an executor.

Muyiwa Olumilua is another experienced hand in the cabinet of Dr. Fayemi. He worked with him as Senior Special Assistant on Special Project during his first term, charge of the proper and precise execution of all Government projects, ensuring that such projects are executed to the stated specifications and details, and also their timely completion, as agreed within the terms of the contract agreement.

Son of a former governor of the old Ondo State, Evang Bamidele Olumilua, Muyiwa is an alumnus of the University of Lagos, where he got his BSc and MBA in Estate Management/Finance.

Hon. Gbenga Agbeyo is yet another returnee member of Kayode’s First Team. A technocrat cum politician, Gbenga came from the academia in 2006 to join Fayemi’s campaign organisation prior to the 2007 election.

He is well-read and vast in administration. Hon. Agbeyo is a former Local Government Chairman in Ido/Osi Council during Fayemi's first term.

Dr Fayemi’s cabinet is also graced with Professor Adio Folayan. He is also material from Fayemi’s first term, where he served as Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. Until his recent appointment he was working at Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji, Osun State as Dean, College of Agriculture.

Prof. Folayan Operation Feed JABU and Environs made headlines in 2015 for its unique approach at driving agricultural entreprenuership. Hopes are high that his zeal and expertise for driving agricultural transformation will be brought to bear at his duties in Ekiti.

He is known to be very intelligent, highly resourceful and frugal.

Folorunso Olabode, was Commissioner for Youths and Sports and later Rural Development during Fayemi's first term. He has a civil society background with biases for social mobilisation and rural development. Folurunso had his degree and postgraduate studies at the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo Universities respectively.

His ingenuity in grassroots development and exposure will add some panache to a government that is people-focused and also helps in transforming the state in all sectors.

With Alhaji Ayodele Jinadu, Gov. Fayemi returns another partner from his past. Alhaji Jinadu is grassroot politician, an excellent communicator and avid listener. He is one of those that could be regarded as home boys. He stays with the people and understands their plight.

Alhlaji Jinadu retired from the National Orientation Agency, joined politics and was appointed Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in 2010 by Dr Kayode Fayemi.

Alhaji Jinadu’s deep understanding of the need of the people would be a serious impetus to the transformation agenda of the governor.

Femi Ajayi is one of the few new names on Fayemi’s cabinet. He is a technocrat, who retired from the corporate world to serve in the state. He brings on board his undiluted private sector experience and networks to help in boosting the economy of the state particularly, in attracting investments. Fayemi’s goal of growing the internally generated revenues will require such hands.

Evangelist Foluso Daramola retired as a permanent secretary from the state civil service in 2015. He holds a Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Business Administration from University of Benin and Obafemi Awolowo University respectively. He also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science from the Federal University of Technology, Akure. He is a member and fellow of eight professional bodies and president of National ICT Public-Private Forum.

His knowledge of Information Technology and Communication will help in building the knowledge zone being proposed by the Fayemi administration.

Sola Adebayo is also returning to Fayemi’s cabinet. He served as the Commissioner for Works during his first coming. During his tenure he planned and delivered many key infrastructure projects. Sola is a younger brother to former Ekiti State governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo.

Mr Davies Olusoga is another familiar member of Fayemi’s team from his first tenure. He was appointed caretaker chairman of Moba Local government, when Fayemi came in 2010. Mr Olusoga will be coming in with is exceptional people skills, as Fayemi moves to run his interactive government.

Mr Michael Awopetu, is one more technocrat on the new cabinet. He has no political experience but has been adjudged to share in Fayemi’s transformation agenda. MR Awopetu will be giving up his lucrative private sector life to serve the good people of Ekiti State in this administration.

CONCLUSION

It is obvious from Fayemi’s choice of his First Team, that he is not given to time wasting. Bringing back most of his tested first tenure appointees and aides reveals that he is not welcoming slow starters. He desire to hit the ground running.

Most cabinet members are experienced public servants who also have successful private sector runs. Quality education is a common factor in the profile of the appointees, reckoning the importance Ekiti people place on knowledge and education. Needless to say that this is a new chapter in the life of the ‘Aketes’, a new dawn. Hopes are high to watch this day unfold.

Victor Ojelabi is a political analyst. He lives in Lagos.

Ooni, Emir Sanusi, Clark, Others Make List To End FG, ASUU Crisis

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has constituted a committee made up of elder statesmen in the country to help provide permanent resolutions to the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union’s crisis in Nigeria.

Danielson Bamidele Akpan, president of NANS, in a statement on Saturday said the committee’s resolution will bring about new dawn in the educational sector.

He said, “History has it that Nigeria education system was good such that other countries sent their nationals to acquire tertiary education in Nigeria. Until the inglorious days set in beginning in the year 1988 when the academic staff unions of universities started what is today known as the “ASUU Strike”.

“It is no longer news to Nigerians that not only has ASUU strike affected the standard of education in Nigeria, but that other academic staff unions have followed suit, e.g Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).

“Consequently, we began consultations to seek the support of elder statesmen and eminent Nigerians to interface with ASUU, ASUP, COEASU, other unions, stakeholders and the federal government to bring a permanent solution to the incessant academic strike actions which has damaged our educational sector and made us a subject of ridicule in the comity of nations.”

Named in the committee are HRM. (Oba) Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi II, Ooni of Ife; HRM. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, Emir of Kano; HRM. Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe I, Obi of Onitsha; HRM. (Dr) Victor Folagbade Olateru – Olagbegi III, Olowo of Owo.

Others are Chief Edwin Clark, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, Aare Afe Babalola, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Mrs. Folorunso Alakija, Prof. Suleiman Bala Mohammed, Vice Chancellor, Nasarawa State University, Keffi; Prof. Rukayat Mohammed, a former minister of Education, Chief Femi Falana and Barr. Kayode Ajulo.

Bamidele said “the association is of the belief that the selected elder statesmen have all the requisite and will be patriotic enough in the discharging of this ‘life time task”.

The Daniel’s Cross By Yiseyon Agboyinu

One would need to think like the Biblical Daniel to be able to appreciate what must have been going on in his mind when he was, for no just cause, thrown into the den of lions. Was he sweating? Or was he just calm all through? Even if he was, being human could he have entertained some doubts about his own faith and convictions. We all face such difficult moments in our daily lives.

Two events dominated the media and Nigerian Political space in the last two weeks; one was the resignation of the former Governor of Ogun State and Director General of the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCO), Otunba Gbenga Daniel from PDP and partisan politics and, the sham called Supplementary Governorship And Houses of Assembly elections in some states of the Nigerian federation. The one I find interesting for the moment, (I can’t help the election “supplements” situation) is the Daniel’s resignation and the icing on the cake, the purported decamping or defection of same into the rival All Peoples Congress barely twenty four hours after the announced resignation.

The issues raised in this matter bother on morality and betrayal of trust. Some argue on the propriety of the time he did; too early when Atiku is still in court trying to challenge the results of the election and reclaim his “stolen” mandate.

Just like I would give more than a penny for the thought to have a peep into the minds of the Biblical Daniel to know how he felt while in the Lion’s den, I have the same compulsion to read through the mind of this modern age Daniel. What exactly was on his mind; how is he relating to all these events and controversies. The answer may not necessarily lie in Daniel’s mind but in the Atiku Presidential campaign organisation itself. How did it function? What are the interplay of forces and the intrigues which removed the strength of morality and propriety of time, consultations and trust?

The Atiku Presidential campaigns gained a lot of tractions on the strength and assumptions that there is money- heavy money to be made by a lot of people. It has the largest number of Support Groups that refused to function as Volunteers which they should be, but cut out as a paid employment in expectation of gratifications and rewards. At the last count, the number of Support Groups are over one thousand and each boasting of having membership across the length and breadth of the country with a minimum of 1,000 members each. And on the average, over one million people claim to be members of the various Support Groups. Daniel’s crime Number One: fulfilling the desires and expectations of over one million people will be a tall order so Daniel might have unwittingly thrown himself in the den by choice; he has enrolled a course in a political university where no one has ever passed with honours.

Atiku also is on record as the longest and the most recycled presidential aspirant (candidate) in the recent history of Nigeria’s democracy. In the course of the years he has built a large retinue of personal staff who remain on his permanent payrolls and have by right carved a territory, formed a paternalistic view and claim a hold on his purse. They are surely and most likely to develop a mutual distrust of any newcomer(s) trying to usurp or take a slice off their comfort territory. This is a hell hole far deeper than a Lion’s den into which Daniel plunged.

Perhaps, and most probably if Daniel was fishing in familiar territory, some of these challenges could have been easier managed, it looks like he was alone, home and dry. The PDP appears like a very hostile and uncharted water when most of his colleagues and contemporaries in the party since 2003 have left in search of other plausible windows of expressions and political survival away from the choking outhouse of PDP. Rashidi Ladoja, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Alao Akala, Musiliu Obanikoro, Segun Oni, Professor Tunde Adeniran etc. the fewer remnants of leaders function only at the fringes of party activities like some hired employees to keep up space in a political party; they take instructions from where the power of the party resides.

Daniel in a conservative Peoples Democratic Party could be a total stranger and this cross he had borne ever since he got elected on the platform of the party in 2003, he has been fishing in hostile waters, his progressive political ideology have clashed severally with the party’s ideology. His political views, dispositions, conducts and temperaments have been antithetical to what the PDP stands for and he was never too far away from constant brushes with the powers that be in the party. The entire problem of PDP started from Ogun State around 2009 where he, as a sitting governor was stripped of the power to control the affairs of the same party which he nurtured for over six years. Instead, that power was vested in a totally new comer to the state’s politics; he was not allowed to install a successor in Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka.

Several attempts to stage a come back were clearly rebuffed by the “owners of the land and party”, even when he sought to lead the party as national chairman, deploying all arsenal in a nationwide campaigns for an office which was assumed to have been zoned to the South West as a strategic move to strengthen the party in the region, until he was persuaded to step down like most other contestants (Bode George, Jimi Agbaje, Rashidi Ladoja) from the South West. That was the PDP in which Daniel was ready to go into the gulag for.

Not done yet, on the strength of the colourful campaign in his chairmanship bid, Daniel got another rare opportunity to prove himself, capacity and commitment as he was appointed to lead the Atiku Presidential campaigns where he deployed his dexterity in the management of men and resources. He was able to steer Atiku to victory in a keenly contested primaries with about twelve contestants in Port Harcourt. And no sooner has he done what was considered unthinkable than the “owners of the land” rose again. This Daniel must be cut short at all cost. Daniel had only planted a tree in a dessert, and like Moses who struck the rod on the rock of life, he can only see the Promised Land from a distance, a Joshua would have to lead the “Israelites” to God’s promise. And so, it was that PDP prosecuted its campaigns like a people who have already won an election even before the votes were cast and counted.

There lies the burden of Daniel’s morality: to stay or not to stay. The moral compass which were not invoked for former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he left and torn his PDP membership card in 2014, not for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar when he moved in and out of PDP to pick the ticket of Action Congress (AC) in 2007 and APC in 2014, not for Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was changing the names and identity of his political parties at every turn, not for President Mohammadu Buhari who left from ANPP to CPC and eventually to APC, not for Bukola Saraki, for Kwakwanso and for Godwill Akpabio when they leave the same PDP in 2014 to work for and got elected on the platform of APC, now became a banner on which Daniel must be judged. It appears political morality is only a Daniel’s Cross.

While Daniel must have been imprisoned in a moral gaol of his own convictions, chained by the propriety of Time of his choice movement, to wait till the court matter for Atiku to reclaim his mandate is dispensed with, only a few give it a thought “to play what role?”. His office which is already up for grabs by less competent hands? Is he a lawyer? What other assurances of relevance has been given and accorded him. The whole of South West states where he comes from, except Oyo, are safely in Opposition hands. How many Yoruba prominent politicians are playing leading roles in the PDP at the national level. Politics of principle must be rooted in a solid foundation, and political leadership is a function of followers and those who believe and trust in the capacity of a leader to take the right decision and lead them to a safer destination. The God of Daniel stood by him in the Bible and that was why he was accepted as a Prophet and a Judge over the Israelites. Should a leader wait till all those those who repose their trust in him leave in droves or one after another before reestablishing his leadership. Those who criticise Daniel definitely are not those who want to follow him, but more of those who feel he was at a time the man who usurped their daily bread, those who felt he did not allow them to milk from the Atiku Presidential, campaigns, those who are also threatened of what they fear might be his next political moves, and of course those who genuinely felt concerned with inadequate information about the Cross he had to bear and what he must have gone through.

If Daniel’s supporters insist he should and must lead them to another party, logic prevails he must hearken to the voices of those who truly believe in him and trust his leadership and not those who he cannot truly please no matter what he does; that is the hallmark of true leadership. Of course Daniel has promised not to abandon Atiku in his trying time, but what if Atiku abandons him?

Yiseyon (yiseyonagbonyinu@yahoo.com) is a social commentator, writes from Badagry Lagos, Nigeria.