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Oyetola’s wife convoy attack: DSS operative injured as police arrest 5 suspects

Published

2 years ago

August 21, 2022

• APC, PDP Trade blames

Osun State Police Command yesterday said it had apprehended five suspects in connection with the attack on the convoy of Kafayat Oyetola, wife of the state Governor, Adegboyega Oyetota.

Some hoodlums attacked the First Lady’s convoy Friday evening at the Owode-Ede market area.

It was gathered that an operative of the Directorate of State Service (DSS) was injured during the attack.

Kafayat Oyetola

An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said: “The convoy was passing through the market when a truck suddenly blocked the lane that the convoy was passing, then the thugs who were already around the area started to haul stones at the convoy. They attacked the convoy with dangerous weapons and the operatives started shooting into the air.

“Some of the security operatives sustained injuries because one of them was shouting that we have been hit. They (thugs) shattered the glasses of the vehicles. The incident caused panic in the area.”

The media aide to the governor’s wife, Iluyomade Oluwatumise, explained that the incident happened but there was no casualty.

“All I can tell you is that no life was lost in the incident. I can’t tell you the numbers of security operatives that were injured but some of them that were attached to the convoy sustained various degrees of injuries,” she stated.

The Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed that five suspects had been arrested in connection with the attack.

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Meanwhile, the PDP has denied involvement in the attack on the convoy of Oyetola’s wife.

A statement by the PDP Media Director, Oladele Bamiji, read in part: “We have gone this far with the details of the incident to strongly deny allegations that PDP thugs were responsible for the self-inflicted attacks on the convoy of the First Lady.

“We call on the First Lady to apologize to the truck driver who was inhumanely treated. It is not enough to rush him to the hospital. The First Lady should atone for the sins of her overzealous escorts unless she was responsible for the directive to beat up the innocent driver.

“Instead of blaming the PDP, we call on officials of the outgoing government to be mindful of their interface with the people of Osun State. Our people have been badly governed with harsh economic pains under an inhuman administration,” PDP added.

Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday condemned the attack on the convoy of the First Lady of the state, , describing it as primitive, barbaric, shameful, dangerous and wicked.

The state APC chairman, Prince Gboyega Famodun, in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo, the Osun State capital yesterday, stated that it was alarming that some disgruntled politicians could descend so low to the extent of needlessly injecting violence into politics.

Famodun wondered why the hitherto peaceful ancient Edeland could be turned into a perpetual abode of violence where the sacredness of the lives of fellow human beings means nothing to some desperado political power mongers.

Famodun wondered why some suspected political thugs had chosen to make themselves cheap instruments of violence, to heat up the state polity.

He explained that it is not proper for someone who is accused of theft to be romancing a baby goat as it’s on record that it was about two weeks ago that a pregnant woman and another indigene of Edeland were killed in gruesome manner over disagreement by some PDP members on the sharing formula of the leftover of the governorship campaign largesse.

Sun

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

Published

11 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

metro

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

Published

11 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

metro

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

Published

12 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.