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Tribune publisher, Wole Awolowo dies

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EROMOSELE EBHOMELE

Second son of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Oluwole, is dead.

He died Wednesday evening at the Wellington hospital, St Johnswood, London, according to a statement released by the African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Publishers of the Tribune titles, which he was the publisher.

He was aged 70.

His death was as a result of the complications he suffered as a result of a car crash that occurred on 30 September, 2006.

Confirming the death in a statement late Wednesday, Edward Dickson, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director, African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Publishers of the Tribune titles, said Chief (Oluwole) Awolowo had been in and out of hospital, home and abroad, since he was involved in the ghastly accident seven years ago on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, in a statement signed by its spokespman, Yinka Odumakin, said Chief Oluwole’s death was a big blow to the deceased’s family as well as the group.

“His death is a big pain and loss to all of us who are followers of the sage. We pray that the Almighty will strengthen our Mama and the entire family in this difficult moment. May his amiable soul rest in perfect peace,” Odumakin said in the statement.

Born at Ibadan on the 3 December, 1942 into the prestigious family of the Late Obafemi Awolowo, Wole was the third child and second son of Papa Obafemi Awolowo and Mama Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo.

He never discriminated against friends and relations who knew him as ‘Unbreakable’, a title given to him by Papa Awolowo himself for his tenacity of purpose.

At the tender age of 12, he joined the youth wing of the NCNC, the political party led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe which was opposed to his father’s Action Group. This was not an act of rebellion, but freedom of expression and association which in fact the late Papa Awolowo admired in his son.

From Ibadan Grammar School, he proceeded to Leighton Park School, Reading, Berdshire, England for further studies. He was admitted into the famous Leeds College of Commerce where he graduated in Business Studies in the early sixties.

After sojourning abroad successfully he returned to Nigeria when the inclement clouds were gathering on the Action Group Party and his revered father was being befitted by the political turbulence of that era.

He thereafter took up jobs at managerial cadre at the Nigerian Tobacco Company, Ibadan, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and the Nigerian Television Service, Lagos.

Having acquired experience in the public service, his entrepreneurial spirit propelled him into the business of Transportation, Petroleum Products dealership and Estate Management and Development amongst others

The responsibility of manning the family later fell squarely on him when his father was incarcerated and his beloved elder brother – Lawyer Segun Awolowo, passed on in terrible circumstances in 1963.

He became very active in politics. He joined the UPGA and effectively participated in the successful election of Chief TOS Benson as an Independent United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) in 1964.

With the emergence of the military on Nigeria’s political landscape in 1966, he veered away completely from politics to active full-time business. Apart from transportation, petroleum products dealership and Estate Development, he was also a Director of Dideolu Stores Limited, Sopolu Investment Ltd, amongst others.

He won his first elective office in 1975 as a councilor representing Apapa in the then Lagos City Council. For discharging his responsibilities creditably in various city council committees, he had virtually no rival when the time came in 1979 to pick a UPN candidate for the Lagos State House of Assembly to represent Apapa Constituency.

He won a landslide victory and remained a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly till 1983 when the military came calling the second time in the chequered history of Nigeria.

A successful parliamentarian, he had a reputation as a smart political operator. With a high sense of responsibility and unusual capacity for hard work and vigour which are the hallmark of the Awolowo family, he was able to head several legislative committees on Environment, Education and Health.

He led the delegations that visited UK, Canada and USA on special assignments.

In 1984, the Board of the African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc appointed him Publisher/Vice Chairman of the Tribune titles.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Tribune

Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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