Gunmen abduct 15 Oyo residents in one month, collect millions of naira as ransom

 

Facts have emerged on how some gunmen suspected to be kidnappers stormed Ibadan and other major cities in Oyo State to kidnap no fewer than fifteen (15) people.

DAILY POST reports that no fewer than fifteen (15) residents of the state have been kidnapped in the last one month.

Our correspondent recalls that the victims were kidnapped at different locations in Ibadan and other cities, including Fiditi town.

Majority of those kidnapped were abducted in Oluyole local government area in Ibadan, which falls under the Oyo Central District currently represented by Senator Teslim Folarin (APC).

Oluyole Federal Constituency is currently being represented by Hon. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe (APC).

DAILY POST gathered that though some of the kidnapped victims had been released, they were, however, freed by the abductors after their families paid millions of naira as ransom.

Among those who were kidnapped in the last one month are two bankers, a palm wine taper and another resident.

The four people were kidnapped on Monday, 15th March 2021 along the Ijebu-Ode/ Ibadan Road on Monday 15th March.

They were released after a sum of five million naira (N5m) was allegedly paid to the kidnappers.

On Wednesday, 17th March, some gunmen stormed a farm in Fiditi in Afijio local government area and kidnapped a security guard.

DAILY POST gathered that one person was also killed during the invasion of the farm.

DAILY POST investigation also revealed that three people who are farmers were kidnapped at Sanyo and Soka area within Oluyole local government area on March 29th 2021.

The three people included a couple and another farmer. The trio were kidnapped while working on their farms.

Similarly, four people among whom are three workers of a Quarry site and another resident were also kidnapped on Tuesday, 6th April, 2021.

Gunmen kidnapped the four people among whom were three workers of Megabolex Quarry site, Idi Ayunre area in Oluyole local government area.

The victims were blocked at about 4:30 pm when they were coming out of the site.

They were later released after some millions of naira had been paid as ransom.

Our correspondent also learnt that three women among whom are a female soldier and two other women were kidnapped on Monday, 12th April at Onipe village, along the Ijebu-Ode/ Ibadan Road in Oluyole local government area.

The victims of the latest abduction were identified as Mrs Okeowo, Mrs Abosede Adebayo and Mrs Bola Ogunrinde.

DAILY POST learnt that the gunmen emerged from the bush around at about 8:20 a.m. and shot sporadically.

They later abducted the three women and took them to an unknown destination.

Mrs Ogunrinde who is said to be a soldier was kidnapped while driving a Toyota RAV-4, with registration number AGL 66 FY.

It was gathered that some of the residents of the area later reported the incident at Idi Ayunre Division at about 10a.m on that fateful day.

DAILY POST gathered on Thursday that the three people were yet to be released by the kidnappers as of the time of filing this report.

Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, DSP Adewale Osifeso, while reacting to the various kidnap cases in the state, said that a combined team of policemen with local vigilantes and hunters under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, ACP Gbenga Ojo, had embarked on a tactical sweep of the forests in the state.

He added that the aim was to destabilize criminal operations, establish police presence, rescue abductees and apprehend the abductors.

Osifeso, in a statement obtained by DAILY POST on Thursday said, “The attention of the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command, CP Ngozi Onadeko has been drawn to the unfortunate abduction incidents experienced along Idi Ayunre axis of Oluyole Local Government Area in Ibadan, Oyo State.

“Consequent upon this, a combined team of Intelligence, Operational and Tactical assets in concert with local vigilantes and hunters under the supervision of the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, ACP Gbenga Ojo, embarked on a tactical sweep of the forest aimed at destabilizing criminal operations, establishing Police presence, rescuing abductees and apprehending the abductors.

“CP Onadeko wishes to use this medium to state that security of lives and properties still remains the number one priority of the Oyo State Police Command and hence unequivocally reaffirm its commitment towards ensuring that commuters plying the axis, residence and the good people of the state as a whole, move about their daily activities without any fear of molestation or harassment.

“The Commissioner of police, therefore, enjoins the people of Oyo State not to relent in sharing credible and timely information with the police for effective discharge of its duties.”

- DAILY POST

Ezekwesili: I don’t think Buhari’s administration is interested in education of children

 

Obiageli Ezekwesili, former minister of education, says with the trend of attacks on schools, she does not think that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is interested in the education of children.

Aside from the abduction of close to 300 girls from Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, in April 2014, there have been attacks on schools in the north in recent times, leading to mass abduction of children.

Speaking on Friday when she featured on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, she said the Safe School Initiative (SSI) which was launched in 2014 after the Chibok abduction failed, because the federal government did not give priority to the programme.

SSI was launched in May 2014 with the aim of creating a safe learning environment for children and schools affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, especially in the north-east

“It has failed because this government did not give priority to it. I do not think this government is interested in schoolchildren and their education. I do not think so,” she said.

“Look at northern Nigeria. Northern Nigeria is already behind the curve in terms of development. And development is a function of human capital — education, health, and all other associated services that people need in order to productively engage.”

Ezekwesili noted that the attitude towards the SSI has served as an incentive for criminals, who now attack schools.

“So, it is clear that this attitude towards the safe school initiative that has made it not a priority, has ended up basically incentivising the business of the terrorists. The children need to be given priority in our country. We all need to insist that children should be priority, especially their education,” she said.

Asked about the whereabouts of the remaining abducted Chibok girls after seven years in captivity, she said the last information she heard about them was painful, adding that the majority of the girls may no longer be in captivity.

More than 100 Chibok girls are still missing, seven years after the abduction.

- THECABLE

Calls for sack of Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed thickens as CBN admits printing money

 Nigerians have joined the ongoing controversy surrounding the alleged printing of N60 billion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support the federal allocation to the three tiers of government for the month of March, 2021, calling on the Federal Government to come out clean by telling Nigerians, not just if it indeed printed the money as alleged but also the real situation with the nation’s economy.

DAILY POST reports that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State kick-started the controversy, when he alleged, during the Edo transition committee stakeholders engagement in Benin, that the Federal Government had to print N60 billion to support allocation for the month of March.

The governor, who painted a grim picture of the economic situation in the country, said: “Nigeria has changed. The economy of Nigeria is not the same again whether we like it or not. Since the civil war, we have been managing, saying money is not our problem as long as we are pumping crude oil every day. So, we have run a very strange economy and strange presidential system where the local, state and federal government, at the end of the month, go and earn salaries. We are the only country in the world that does that.

“Everywhere else, the government relies on the people to produce taxes and that is what they use to run the local government, state and the federation. But with the way we run Nigeria, the country can go to sleep. At the end of the month, we just go to Abuja, collect money and we come back to spend. We are in trouble, huge financial trouble”, he said.

Not done, Obaseki, released the bomb that has continued to reverberate all over, when he said:“When we got FAAC for March, the Federal Government printed an additional N50-N60bn to top up for us to share. This April, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, our total borrowing is going to be within N15trn to N16trn.’’

This revelation has continued to upset many, including the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who both reacted but differently. While the finance minister outrightly denied printing of the said amount and insisted that whatever money was shared came from the country’s revenue, Emefiele tried to be smart by half, without completely admitting or denying but rationalizing such a hugely important national discourse.

In her response, the Minister, Ahmed said the claim by Obaseki was not just false but sad, insisting that the money being shared monthly at FAAC is revenue generated. “The issue that was raised by the Edo State Governor, for me, is very sad because it is not a fact.

“What we distribute at FAAC is a revenue that is generated and in fact, distribution revenue is a public information.

“We publish revenue generated by FIRS, the Customs and the NNPC and we distribute at FAAC.

“So, it is not true to say we printed money to distribute at FAAC. It is not true’, Zainab Ahmed said with a bold face.

However, standing by his claim, Obaseki called out the finance minister, accusing her of playing the Ostrich and the federal government of monetary rascality, in a series of tweets.

Obaseki tweeted: “While we do not want to join issues with the Federal Ministry of Finance, we believe it is our duty to offer useful advice for the benefit of our country.

“The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country.

“Rather than play the Ostrich, we urge the government to take urgent steps to end the current monetary rascality, so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further.

“We believe it is imperative to approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and commitment and not play to the gallery because ultimately, time shall be the judge of us all.”

Emefiele, while trying to rationalise and justify the action of the government, ended up painting a grimmer picture of the state of the economy, even worse than Obaseki had done in his initial allegation.

According to the CBN Governor, it was the job of the CBN to print money and lend it to government, slamming the allegation by Obaseki, which he failed to deny, as “unfortunate and totally inappropriate”.

Insisting that printing is a key mandate of the apex bank, Emefiele said the bank must always act to support the government at times of ‘financial difficulties.’

He said: “If you understand the concept of printing of money. The concept printing of money is about lending money.

“That’s our job – to print. It’s about lending money and so there’s no need putting the controversy about printing of money as if we are going into the factory, printing the Naira and start distributing on the streets.

“For us to see some people playing some games, overheating the polity talking about printing of money, I think it is unfortunate and totally inappropriate. I would like to advise that this should stop. We should all work for the growth of our country and not play politics.

“It is very inappropriate for people to just give some colouration to the word ‘printing of money’ as if it is a foreign word coming from the sky.

“In 2015/2016, we were in a similar [fiscal] situation, but it is far worse today. We provided budget support facility to all the states of the country and that loan remains unpaid till now. We are going to insist on the states paying the loan back since they are effectively accusing us of giving them loans.

“Most countries of the world today are confronted by not just the health crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic but also economic crisis. I keep saying this: it would be irresponsible of the Central Bank of Nigeria or any Central Bank to stand idle and refuse to support its government at this time. Whatever we do in Nigeria is being done in any clime.

“Nigeria is unfortunately in a very bad situation and we cannot pretend about it in the sense that we are facing problems about productivity output which is gross domestic product (GDP). We are working very hard to see how we can get our heads above water. We are also concerned with issues of inflation.”

For Emefiele, printing of money to lend to government for sharing among the three tiers is not a new thing, as he alluded that it had been done in 2015/2016 when the situation was not this bad. He also said it is the same thing that is being done in other countries facing similar challenges.

The question most Nigerians are asking is why the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed denied the allegation. Most of them are worried as to Why she tried to cover up what will eventually become public knowledge with time.

For many Nigerians, Minister Ahmed’s denial only follows what the Nigerian government has been known for over the years; denying the obvious and painting the picture of an Eldorado that only exists in the minds of government officials and their spin doctors.

According to Oladele Bello, a banker and economic expert, what is happening is obvious, as the current government has tried hard to keep the real situation away from Nigerians, just to hoodwink citizens with fake reports of performance and reeling out numbers that only exist in their imaginations.

“This is not rocket science, the boat of government was rocked by the revelation by Governor Godwin Obaseki. I can tell you for free that they never expected that the printing of the money will become public knowledge, thereby, rocking the boat of the artificial image of performance and robust economy it had always laid claim to.

“The reality is that Nigeria is not just broke but the economy is already in shambles. Government is not generating enough revenue to keep up with what is needed, and they do not want to admit it. We are indeed in trouble with the insatiable appetite of this administration for loans, with those saddled with running the economy constantly telling us that the nation’s debt is still tolerable. How can the debt profile of a country that uses a huge chunk of its budget to service be tolerable? These people qualify to be called Voodoo economists!”, he said.

For Akintoba Olaore, a chartered accountant with an audit firm in the Ikeja area of Lagos, what the federal government did is indefensible, reeks of financial recklessness and portends greater danger for the nation.

Olaore said: “What government did through the CBN cannot be defended at all. It is better government opens up that the nation is in distress and we all will know what has come upon us. I do not think it is right hiding behind one finger, telling Nigerians all is well when nothing is actually well. That’s deception and it will not help this government or Nigerians.

“As it stands, what government has done is concealing the true position of the national economy from Nigerians. It is just like the management or board of a publicly quoted company concealing the true financial position of the company from shareholders. It is a major corporate infraction that can lead to the sacking of the board. Government needs to urgently give a full disclosure of the true situation of the state of the economy and stop living in denial.

“Also, government officials must know that their offices and positions are held in trust for the Nigerian people and they must be accountable to them at all times. The people are their employers and only them deserve their loyalties.”

Also, reacting to the controversy, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), called for the sacking of the Finance Minister for attempting to cover up the printing of the money.

According to the PDP, the admission by the CBN Governor has vindicated it that the apex bank has been printing the nation’s currency at the behest of the Buhari administration and that the government under the APC has been characterized by “concealments, deceit, and falsehood”.

The party said in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday: “Indeed, the admission by the CBN governor that “Nigeria is unfortunately in a very bad situation” further justifies our position that the Buhari-led APC administration has wrecked the economy of our nation.

“Our party is worried over the huge negative impact of indiscriminate printing of currency which has led to the unprecedented rise in inflation rate to 18.17% as disclosed by the Federal Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

“The PDP calls out President Buhari to come clean on the amount that has been printed so far by the CBN to finance the deficit caused by the financial mismanagement of his government as well as what the funds had been used for.

“Furthermore, for failing the full disclosure test, the PDP demands that the Minister of Finance should immediately be relieved of her position, while the President accepts responsibility for the indiscriminate printing of currency in our Naira.

“Our party implores President Buhari to save our nation by allowing better hands to manage and salvage our economy before it is too late.”

- DAILY POST

COVID-19 kills over 3 million worldwide

 

The global death toll from Covid-19 has now surpassed three million, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.

Worldometer which also tracks the virus puts the death toll at 3,014,739 and cases at 140,630,831.

Global cases and deaths have been rising in recent weeks, prompting warnings from the World Health Organization.

“It is growing exponentially,” WHO technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said of cases on a global basis.

The United States leads the grim death statistics with over 566,000.

Brazil is next with more than 368,000 deaths, followed by Mexico with over 211,000 and India with around 175,000.

Brazil has been a source of concern in recent weeks, as cases and deaths increased as a more contagious variant known as P.1 spreads.

There is also concern about India, which suffered a relapse, after months of slowing down the virus.

The world as a whole is recording about 12,000 deaths per day, despite ongoing vaccinations.

- PM NEWS

‘He’s not a private citizen’ — PFN wants disclosure on Buhari’s health status

 

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has asked the federal government to disclose the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari to Nigerians, noting that he is not a private citizen.

Wake Oke, the PFN president, who spoke in a press briefing in Lagos, said Nigerians deserve to know the health status of their president, adding that it would enable Christians to pray for him.

Oke bemoaned why elected officers are traveling abroad for medical check-up when they can inject money to better the healthcare sector.

“We are praying for our president, for good health; he has been out of the country for two weeks on health matters. However, two things give us concern about our president’s sojourn. We feel that the nation is not being told all the truth. We ask that the federal government and presidency should lay the cards on the table and tell us what is happening to our president,” he said.

“He is no longer a private person; he belongs to us, so we will know how to direct our prayers. Stop hiding the health status of our president, tell the whole nation and then we will know what to do.

“Again, we are concerned that whenever our president needs a health check, he will go out of the country. To us, that is a major national security risk. Does it mean our president is safer in the hands of foreigners than our hands? Supposing those people, in an attempt to undermine our nation, play games with our president, what can we do? Why should our elected officers be going abroad for health care when they can inject money in our health care sector?”

On Thursday, Buhari returned to the country, having departed for the United Kingdom on March 30 for “routine medical check-up.”

TheCable had reported that Buhari has spent over 170 days on medical trips abroad since he became president.

- THECABLE

Anthony Joshua insists he would defeat Fury in blockbuster fight

 

Unified Boxing champion, Anthony Joshua has vowed again that he would defeat WBC title holder Tyson Fury in their forthcoming match to hold later this year.

Joshua told the Jonathan Ross Show, on Saturday when asked if Tyson could win but said unfortunately, he would lose the match.

Asked if Tyson could claim his three major belts, Joshua laughed: “Unfortunately he’s not going to win.”

Joshua also assured that the match would hold this year hinting that it may be by the end of July or early in August.

He also explained that the deal has been stalled due to finding a venue.

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be this year. End of July, early August,” he said.

“Where? That’s what’s the delay, because of this pandemic. We want to have people coming to the venue. It’s just finding the right location. For me, Wembley would be ideal.”

The Unified boxing champion also said that he would be retiring from boxing in five or six years time.

At the age of 31, Joshua has become a two-time world champion, but believes he still has plenty more to achieve before eventually bowing out of boxing.

When asked how long he wants to remain in the sport, Joshua replied: “Five to six years left.”

- PM NEWS

Yoruba leaders storm Ibadan, demand Oduduwa Republic [PHOTOS]

 

Thousands of youths, women and leaders of Yoruba race are currently occupying some streets in Ibadan in demand for Oduduwa Republic.

DAILY POST correspondent, who ismonitoring the procession, reports that the protesters are currently at the front of Mapo Hall in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The protesters are led by a Yoruba group, “Ilana Omo Oodua”, clamoring for self determination.

The group is led by Professor Banji Akintoye, a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The protest, which was supposed to start around 9.am on Saturday, could not start until 11.am due to heavy security presence at the entrance and around Mapo Hall.

The protesters having sensed heavy security presence later mobilized to the front of Mapo to begin the protest.

Some of those who spoke, noted that Yoruba nation had suffered enough in Nigeria.

One of the leaders of the group, Bashorun Kunle Adesokan maintained that it was time for Yoruba race to have their own country.

He said, “Youuba have suffered enough. We are not in support of the 2023 elections.

“We are telling all politicians not to contest. They should not contest to waste their money.”

Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye who spoke with DAILY POST confirmed that the security agencies did not allow the protest to hold at Mapo Hall as earlier scheduled.

He said, “Dear Colleagues, the Police in Mapo, Ibadan said they are at the venue to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the rally for Yoruba Self-Determination, and not stopping it from holding.”

- DAILY POST