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Alleged political assassination: ZLP candidate, Ajanaku’s account contradicts Fijabi’s narrative

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THE Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) national assembly candidate for Ibadan Northwest/ Southwest federal constituency, Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku on Tuesday presented a new version of events related to the alleged political assassination of Hon. Saheed Fijabi, the present occupant and the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

With this development, Otunba Ajanaku has contradicted the allegation of assassination leveled against him which was earlier circulated on the internet.

The Chairman Committee on Telecommunication, Hon. Fijabi had earlier raised the alarm that his life was under a threat of political assassination.

Addressing a press conference at Fijabi House, Dugbe, Ibadan, yesterday, the APC candidate who is seeking third term re-election informed that he narrowly escaped political assassination three days ago at Sabo area of Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

While requesting for protection from the police and Department of State Security (DSS), as he insisted that the case should be taken to court, Fijabi specifically alleged that his contender in the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Rotimi Ajanaku, was purportedly behind the alleged assassination attempt.

According to him, “Precisely, in the early hours of January 6, 2019, I had a meeting and after the meeting, I was driving home. Unfortunately, on getting to Sabo area of Ibadan, I was crossed by two branded vehicles of a party, precisely ZLP. The picture of a candidate was on the bus, and one Honda Accord car, belonging to one Rotimi Ajanaku, contesting also for Ibadan South West/North West Federal Constituency.

“I was crossed at Sabo between 12:30a.m and 1a.m. I was with one of my personal assistants, Yemi. We came down and on coming down, we noticed that like 10 of them came down from the bus and brandished guns and cutlasses. They asked me to lie down in the gutter, which obviously for one reason or the other, and because of my life, I lied down in the gutter.

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“It was while lied down in the gutter that I summoned courage to call my father because we were in the same meeting together at Davies Hotel, Bodija. The next person I was able to call is officer in charge of Skynet, and I called the Oyo State Control Room.

“Fortunately, within 10 to 15 minutes, while the argument  was on, my father drove in. As he came down from the vehicle, one of the drivers of the bus came down and was fighting with my dad.

“From nowhere, Operation Burst came in, and the Commander of Operation Burst was even the one that led the team to the place that very morning. When he came down, all of them ran away, including Rotimi Ajanaku himself. But we were able to apprehend one of them. Ajanaku was arrested in the evening of that day and the bus was impounded.

“In searching the bus before we left that place, we could notice they still have a well-loaded and ready-to-use gun in their vehicle. In searching it, we noticed that cutlasses were wrapped in the posters in the bus, which they wanted to use against us”, Fijabi submitted.

But, in a press statement issued by Oladapo Tobiloba, Head of Media Team, Rotimi Ajanaku Campaign Organization, a copy which was made available to Mega Icon Magazine gave differing accounts of what transpired.

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Contained in the press statement, Oladapo explained that on Saturday, Ajanaku’s team had gone to paste posters at Sabo axis of Adamasingba when the APC candidate, Fijabi attacked them.

He narrated further, “During this exercise around 12:,45 am on Sunday morning January 6, 2019 the team decided to get some refreshments at Sabo area. As members of this team alighted at Roundabout junction, through to Sabo , we just noticed a Toyota Hilux car and a Toyota Camry car with a tinted glass crossed our vehicle.

“Hon. Saheed Fijabi’s father, Chief Akinade Fijabi alighted from the white Hilux car and attacked one of the members of the team.

“While this ongoing, Hon. Saheed Fijabi also attacked another member of Ajanaku’s team who was attempting to record the scenario. In fact we have a 28seconds video recording of the incident as an evidence of the true story.

“Thereafter, there were struggles among our team to escape the onslaught just as Hon. Fijabi put a call through to ‘Operation Burst’. At no point was Saheed Fijabi was attacked or pushed to the ground. In fact, he pushed and rough- handled one of our members who was recording with his phone and smashed the phone. We have video evidence to backup this claim.

“We were surprised that Hon. Saheed Fijabi, judging by his exalted office could descend to the extent of lying that our team attacked him”, he added.

Ajanaku’s mouthpiece, who described the incident as political and battle of the titans, also tagged it as ‘Hon. Rotimi Ajanaku and the powers- that- be behind Fijabi’.

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Continuing, he said, “If truly our team attacked Hon. Saheed Fijabi as he alleged, how come that up till this moment, there have been no report of injury on Hon. Saheed Fijabi. If he was pushed to the ground as he claimed, did he got treatment in any hospital because we do not believe he sustained any form of injury as peddled”, he questioned.

Oladapo  also added,  ” none of his followers at that scene has reported of having wounds”.

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Politics

Oyo: Rep Oseni Inaugurates N120m Earthmoving Equipment for Grassroots Development

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Engr. Aderemi Oseni, the House of Representatives member representing Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency in Oyo State, on Monday, inaugurated N120 million worth of earth-moving equipment, aimed at enhancing grassroots development and ensuring food security within the federal constituency.

Oseni noted that the dire state of road networks in his constituency compelled him to procure the equipment, which includes a grader and payloader, to facilitate the seamless movement of people, goods, and services.

The lawmaker, who spoke shortly after the inauguration of the equipment in Ibadan said: “We are currently starting the rehabilitation of 80 roads in phase one of this project. Once completed, we will proceed to phase two. Additionally, we have selected certain roads in both Ido and Ibarapa East local governments for asphalt tarring.

He added, “Hiring equipment for road rehabilitation is no longer fashionable nor economical. That’s why we’ve invested in our own. In addition to ongoing health and education projects, we’ve finalised plans to dig 50 boreholes in polling units to enhance water supply. Currently, we’ve finished three boreholes, in addition to several others commissioned prior to the elections.”

While also distributing bags of rice to numerous communities as part of the measures to cushion current hardship, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) lauded President Bola Tinubu for the release of N100 million each to lawmakers through the Federal Government Ministry of Agriculture to address the plight of the masses.

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The legislator tasked Nigerians to be actively involved in the intervention of the Federal Government on road projects across the nation by reporting any contractor that indulges in the poor handling of projects to the agency’s offices.

“I have been telling our committee members in the House of Representatives that fixing our roads is our major challenge. But as community leaders and members of society wherever we find ourselves, we should be involved in monitoring these contractors. A lot of money has been appropriated for road projects.

“When you see contractors saddled with the responsibility of fixing the roads in your area and you see that the job is not being done properly, you don’t need to be a qualified engineer before you know when something is not being done very well or the way it should be done. Raise your voice and go to our offices in various states to report such incidents and we will be able to take it up from there”, Oseni posited.

Earlier in his remark, the Senior Legislative Aide (SLA) to the lawmaker, Alhaji Abdul-Hakeem Okedina urged the people to support him (Oseni) in his drive to improve infrastructural facilities in the constituency, assuring that more dividends of democracy will be available to all irrespective of political, religious and ethnic affiliations.

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Economic Hardship: Rep Oseni Lauds FG’s N100m Palliative for Each Constituency

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Hon. Aderemi Oseni, the lawmaker representing Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency in Oyo State, has commended the proactive stance of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration towards addressing the welfare needs of Nigerians.

The lawmaker applauded the government’s commitment to ameliorating the prevailing hardships faced by citizens, particularly through the significant intervention of One Hundred Million Naira (N100,000,000) allocated to each federal constituency via the Ministry of Agriculture.

Oseni, in a statement on Thursday by his media aide, Idowu Ayodele, in Ibadan, emphasised the importance of such interventions in providing essential support to communities and constituents grappling with economic challenges, notably in the distribution of grains to cushion the impacts of the hardship in Nigeria.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said the allocation, aimed at cushioning the adverse effects of hardship, signifies a crucial step towards fostering sustainable development and resilience across the nation.

He informed that the palliative has no bias for partisan politics as it is meant for all vulnerable members of the public in the Ibarapa East/Ido Federal constituency, irrespective of political affiliations, adding that the contractor had supplied the rice in the amount of the money approved.

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“I want to commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the several initiatives and interventions of the federal government to bring ease to the people. I also want to reassure all the constituents in Ibarapa East/Ido federal constituency of my commitment to their welfare at this time and always,” the lawmaker assured.

The APC chieftain appealed to members of the public to remain patient and calm as lawmakers are making frantic efforts to ensure the effective implementation and equitable distribution of democratic dividends for the benefit of constituents in their various constituencies.

Renewing his commitment and promising more dividends of democracy for his constituency, Oseni also hinted that in line with his campaign promises, he would be commissioning road construction equipment for the rehabilitation of rural roads this Saturday.

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APC criticises Makinde for alleged education decline in Oyo

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APC criticises Makinde for alleged education decline in Oyo

 

Oyo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed deep concern over the deteriorating state of education in the region, accusing Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration of negligence and insincerity in addressing the challenges faced by the sector.

In a statement issued by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, and made available to Mega Icon Magazine,  APC highlighted issues such as scarcity of teachers, deplorable infrastructure, lack of teaching aids and equipment, poor monitoring and supervision, erosion of competent administrators, and outdated policy and curriculum implementation as contributing factors to the decline in education standards.

Oyo APC emphasized the need for urgent intervention, stating, “It is time well-meaning citizens and residents of the state began to ask questions on why a key sector like that of education has had to be handled with levity in the last five years.”

The party disputed the state government’s claims of improvement, citing examples of severely understaffed schools and inadequate resources.

The statement pointed out specific cases like St. Joseph Primary School in Ibadan North West LGA, SDA Primary School in Egbeda LGA, Baptist Basic School in Tede, AUD Primary School in Igboora, Muslim Community Primary School in Itesiwaju LGA, and Christ Church School in Ona-Ara LGA, where an alarming shortage of teachers was evident.

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The APC also drew attention to the critical situation in public secondary schools, highlighting the lack of staff to teach core subjects.

“Examples included Baptist Secondary Grammar School in Atisbo LGA and Methodist High School in Ibarapa North LGA, where the Old Student Association and a mere four teachers, respectively, struggled to meet the educational needs of hundreds of students”.

The party urged residents to question the Seyi Makinde-led administration’s commitment to education, stressing the need for immediate action to prevent further deterioration.

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