Police, Yoruba nation agitators clash at Abeokuta rally, 11 arrested – Newstrends
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Police, Yoruba nation agitators clash at Abeokuta rally, 11 arrested

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4 years ago

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Police on Saturday arrested 11 Yoruba nation agitators who defied the police ban on the mass rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Members of Ilana Omo Oodua who had stormed the rally organised to drum up support for the actualisation of Yoruba Nation clashed with the police that insisted no official permit was granted for the event.

The group, under the leadership of a renowned Professor of History, Banji Akintoye, is the leading organisation agitating for the emergence of Yoruba nation.

The Ogun Police Command, in a statement by its spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, had banned the rally, on the ground that it was being planned to destabilise the state.

Media and Communications Secretary of Ilana Omo Oodua, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, however said the rally would go ahead, saying any attempt to stop it would be considered as a declaration of war against the rights to self-determination and peaceful assembly of the Yoruba people. The group said, “We read with total disbelief, a statement credited to the Ogun State Police Command that our Pro-Yoruba nation Nation’s rally scheduled to hold in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital tomorrow will not be allowed to hold. We want to believe the statement of the police is a joke. “However, if the Police was serious about the threat, we want to let the authorities in Ogun State know that our rally will go ahead as scheduled because the police have no power under the law to deny us of our rights to self-determination and peaceful assembly.”

The about 100 police at the venue of Saturday rally, the front of Alake of Egba’s palace, came with five Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and attempted to stop the rally which was resisted by the agitators. Adeleye said 11 of their members were arrested and taken to the police headquarters at Elewe Eran.

They were however said to have been released when members of the organisation mobilised and moved towards the police headquarters.

Adeleye said, “I am pleased to announce that policemen in Ogun State have obeyed the will of the people of Yoruba nation. The people have triumphed.

“As the policemen saw the surging crowd of Yoruba men and women moving towards Eleweran Police Headquarters in drove, they quickly released our comrades protesting for Yoruba self-determination. I can confirm that we have rescued all the arrested comrades.”

One of the arrested protesters, Iyanda, told journalists they were picked up as they were about starting the rally.

The rally, led by the Secretary-General Of Ilana Omo Oodua, Mr Opeoluwa Akinola and the Ogun State Coordinator of the organisation, Mr Taofeek Olawale, literally shut down the Abeokuta metropolis for several hours as the protesters danced around the city, singing Pro-Yoruba songs.

They lamented the ordeal of the Yoruba people within the Nigerian federation. Addressing the crowd at Pansheke Junction, Akinola said, “Yoruba land has been encircled and subjugated. It started immediately after the independence of 1960 and got worse when the Fulani elements introduced the federal character principle in 1967.

“The oligarchies ruling Nigeria to the jugular killed Abiola. They ran the tenure of Obasanjo for him. They have taken over our economy. They control our ports and borders. The entire security architectures are in their hands.”

The police speaking through DSP Oyeyemi accused the agitators of launching unprovoked attacks on the security operatives.

He said the agitators attacked the police headquarters in the state and some policemen on duty.

He also said the 11 people earlier arrested for unruly behaviour at Alake palace were later released on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun.

He said, “We just woke up early in the morning and saw some group of people in front of the Alake palace conducting themselves in unruly manners. And don’t forget that one of them had issued a threat to the Alake before, so, our men went there to challenge them and they were unable to give a satisfactory answer.

“Eleven of them were arrested and the Commissioner of Police directed that they should be released, we profiled, screened and released them. Despite that we released them on the order of the Commissioner of Police , these people still went  as far as Police Headquarters Eleweran to launch an attack on  Police.

“Though we have already dispersed them, they still attacked our men at Moore Junction. They attacked policemen who were on their lawful duty; they attacked them for just no reason.

“We are sounding a note of warning to them. They are trying to provoke law enforcement agents, they should be warned that we are law enforcement agents, we are holding our peace because we are following the rules of engagement and we don’t want to engage in an unnecessary show of force with some people.

“They should not take our civility for a licence for them to be attacking our men, it will no longer be tolerated.

“We are still collating the result of their unruly behaviour and I will make that one available .”

 

 

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

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6 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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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

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

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6 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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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

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Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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7 hours ago

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November 14, 2024

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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.

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

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