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Edo APC Crisis: Oshiomhole Not Ready For Settlement, Says Party Chieftain

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A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Charles Idahosa, Wednesday, February 5, said the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has been running away from all attempt to settle his rift with the state governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Idahosa disclosed this in Benin City during a solidarity visit paid to him by party chairmen from the 18 local government councils of the state on his purported suspension from his ward in Uhunmwode gocal government.

According to the former Political Adviser to former governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, he (Oshiomhole) pretend to open for settlement before the public but do the contrary behind the scene.

READ ALSO: Edo APC Crisis: Party Scribe Wants DSS, Police To Investigate Recent Attacks, Bombing

He said, “Oshiomhole is the one running away from settlement. Adams comes to the public and say he wants settlement but go behind to do something else.”

On his purported suspension, Idohasa described the act as another “another wise goose chase.”

Commenting on the forthcoming election in the state partucularly the primaries, the party Chieftain said the state chapter of the party will determine the kind of primaries to be adopted and not the national as insinuated in some quarters.

He said he was optimistic that Obaseki would run his eight years and that nothing would stop him from winning the party ticket at the primaries.

READ ALSO: Edo APC Crisis: Oshiomhole must apologise if he wants reconciliation, Shuaibu Insists

There is no cause for alarm…Don’t be bothered or shaken, Obaseki must do his eight years. If anybody by omission or commission stop him, APC is dead in Edo State. I have said it many times and I want the powers that be to understand this”, he declared.

PHOTO: File

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OPINION: Oyinlola Keeps His Promise Despite Tinubu’s Victory (2)

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Tunde Odesola

After reading the first part of this article last week, Oyinlola called me, and as my phone was ringing, I was tempted to fetch the bitter kola in my hunter’s pouch, take a bite, gargle some aromatic schnapps and chant the incantation, “Ohun ta wi fun ogbó, l’ogbó n gbo, ohun ta wi fun ogbà, l’ogba n gba, kóse kóse ni ti ìlákòse, á sùn má párádà ni ti igi àjà… tùèh!”

I wasn’t going to harm Oyinlola with my chant. Far from it. I was only going to safeguard the kill that Ògún Lákáayé Ósìnmólè, the god of War and Iron, had secured for me, a gunless hunter, from a gunnery old soldier. I didn’t want to hear, “Tunde, I mistakenly sent some bags of cowries to your vault. I’m sorry; they’re not meant for you. They’re meant for Tunde Kelani, the world-renowned cinematographer.”

Well, if Omo’ba Lagun had tried to recall the ancient legal tender aka cowries in my possession, in the manner Bible-loving Godwin Emefiele recalled the naira, I wouldn’t have been sheepish like the Nigerian masses. I would’ve stood up to him and reminded him of the epic Battle of Òrè during the Nigerian Civil War.

Oyinlola knows the art and science of war. He knows why the intensity of the Òrè Battle is prefixed with the phrase ‘O Le Ku’, Ija Òrè. It was in Òrè, Ondo State, that Biafran forces were turned back by federal forces.

I would’ve refused to return the cowries because in vain the moinmoin seeks escape after entering the house of agidi corn meal. The bracelet is cast on the wrist of Olóòsà, nobody can pull it off! I’ll remind Oyin that the Kelani that directed Ò Lé Kù also directed Agogo Eewo, which affirms the efficacy of African traditional powers. I have the full support of the Awise Agbaye, Prof Wande Abimbola, and the Araba of Osogbo, Baba Yemi Elebuibon.

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Travelling Through Nigeria In Tinubu’s Yacht

When I picked up Oyin’s call, his voice was unmistakable, “Young man, you want to reveal what we did in secret, abi? I’m going to sue you and press for damages because people are going to bombard me.” I protested, “They’ve been bombarding me too, despite my incantations, sir.” “Na you sabi di fake incantation you’re chanting. You’re muddling ‘Ohun ta wi fun ogbó, l’ogbó n gbo’, and ‘Fírí, fírí loju n ri, bòhùn, bohun làgùtàn ń wò’; the two serve different purposes. One is to make you do what you wouldn’t do, the other is to render you powerless,” he said. Hmm, I could see Oyin doesn’t know Ifa has gone digital.

Oyin belongs to the rich cultural past when mothers exhaled thrice ‘ha! ha! ha!’ before slicing open the gizzard of a freshly killed fowl, nowadays, ‘ha! ha! ha!’ could indicate delirium or the commencement of cult war. Nowadays, everything is muddled up.

Oyinlola continued, “I was the one God used to end the Ife-Modakeke War, not Chief Bisi Akande, as contained in the first part of your article. When I became governor, they were still fighting, albeit on a low scale. So, I went to Ooni Sijuwade Okunade. I told him, ‘Kabiyesi, you’re the only one who can put a permanent end to this crisis’. I said he should cooperate with me. Thereafter, I went to Baba Ogunsua, the late Chief Francis Adedoyin. I told him of the need to put a permanent stop to the war. I pleaded with him to follow me to Ife. And he agreed.

“It was on a Sunday. Modakeke people said Ife people were threatening that Ogunsua should not come. I said the Ogunsua should come in my car, that anyone who wants to kill or harm him would have me to contend with first. When we got to Ife, we entered the palace, and Ogunsua was given a seat, but he refused the seat and sat on the floor.

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: My Children Won’t Suffer What I Suffered

“At the meeting, I suggested to Oba Sijuwade that all the lands of Modakeke seized by Ife should be returned, and he agreed. I also urged him to upgrade Ogunsua, who was a baale, to a king. Sijuwade also agreed. Also, I implored Sijuwade to pay all the salaries accruable to Ogunsua, which had been seized, during the war. Oba Sijuwade agreed to that, too. That was how the war ended permanently. So, when people ask what my greatest achievement was as governor, it is ending the Ife-Modakeke war, not the Osun State University, not the numerous infrastructural projects. Human life is sacrosanct.”

Never dig the hole of antagonism deep because you might find yourself in it, counsels a Yoruba proverb. I was the Lagos State Governor’s Office/Lagos State House of Assembly reporter when the letter transferring me to Osun State as correspondent came. Some of my Alausa colleagues I shared my impending destination with warned me of virtually everyone on Oyinlola’s media team. “Ha! Lasisi will want to control you.” “Oh! Oladeji is cunning. You can never know where he’s going.” “Salam is manageable, but don’t trust him totally.” The advice came in torrents. But I never allowed what I had heard about the trio to affect my relationship with them.

I cherish and nurture friendship. An ex-Osun House of Assembly Speaker, Chief Adejare Bello, was the first politician I met when I got to Osun. His enigmatic Press Secretary, the late Olumide Ajayi, (my ‘aburo’) saw me the day I arrived and insisted I must see his ‘oga’ in Ede. I complained it was getting late, but Olumighty begged. He was such an irresistible soul. I succumbed.

When Bello left government, I still kept in contact with him. Bello, now the Ambassador to Mexico, loves football. His team is Real Madrid and his favourite player is Ronaldo. Hardly a day passes without me needling him about the inability of Ronaldo to win the World Cup like my favourite player, Messi did. In return, he would remind me that Real Madrid are superior to Barcelona, my team.

During the Qatar 2022 World Cup, I was rooting for Argentina while Bello was seeking their ouster. When Argentina got to the final and I started to diss Bello, he said in annoyance, “Argentina will never win the cup.” “The cup is already in Bueno Aires,” I fired back. “Do you want to bet?” “Yes, sir, I want to bet.” “How much?” “N100k.” “OK?” Ok!”

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: When I Forged My Exam Record

When the referee blew the final whistle and I was jumping about the house, thanking God for crowning Messi’s stellar career with a World Cup, my phone rang, it was Bello, “Tunde, congratulations! Send your account number, please.”

“N100k just like that? Why have you been wasting your time in journalism? Why don’t you become a pundit and make money, Tunde?” I wondered.

I don’t like to bet. The few times I have betted in my life, I returned the won bet. But what’s N100k to an ambassador? Did I ask for the win? Tunde, send your account number jo! I did and heard an alert shortly afterwards.

In 2011, inside PUNCH newsroom, I predicted the outcome of the 2011 Osun governorship election. Saturday PUNCH had on its cover the map of Osun, showing the 30 local government councils. The election was a straight fight between the incumbent, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and the challenger, Chief Iyiola Omisore. Saturday PUNCH Editor, Mrs Bisi Deji-Folutile, predicted victory for Omisore.

The Executive Director, Publications, Mr Adeyeye Joseph, now Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, asked if I was the one that shaded each candidate’s areas of strength on the map. He was told I wasn’t. He called for me and directed that I handle the map.

On election day, Aregbesola won in all the 22 councils while Omisore won in the eight I predicted, though there were one or two councils where I predicted victory could go either way. When I got to the office on Monday, Segun Olugbile, the news editor, told me Saturday PUNCH editor was looking for me. When she saw me, she was full of praise for me.

I speak regularly with General Oyinlola. After the 2023 presidential election, I called Oyinlola to get his view. He said Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would win but I said Tinubu would win. He said, “Do you want to bet?” “Yes,” I said. “How much,” he asked?” I said, “Sir, let me stake N500,000.00 to you N5m.” He said, “Which type of betting is that?” Are you betting or not,” he asked with a military finality. I said, “Yes.” “How much?” he asked again. I said, “If I bet N500,000, I’ll win N5m.”

Last Monday, I got an alarm from a microfinance bank. I called Oyin. He said, “I am a soldier. I keep my word.”

Concluded

This article written by Tunde Odesola, a columnist with The PUNCH newspaper was first published by the same paper. It’s published here with the permission from the author.

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BREAKING: Ogun Places N50m Bounty On Killers Of Finance Director

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Ogun State Government on Friday announced N50m reward for anybody who could provide information leading to the arrest of the killers of Mr Taiwo Oyekanmi, the former Director of Finance and Administration attached to Governor Dapo Abiodun’s office, Oke-Mosan Abeokuta.

Oyekanmi aged 51 was last Wednesday, November 29 killed down by gunmen at the Kuto Flyover Bridge, Abeokuta.

The deceased, alongside two others, were accosted by the gun-wielding hoodlums while returning to the Governor’s Office with money said to have been withdrawn from two major commercial banks within Abeokuta metropolis.

READ ALSO: Three Operatives Injured As NDLEA Officers, Armed Hoodlums Clash In Edo Forest

The gunmen killed the Ifonyintedo-born chartered accountant and made away with the huge cash.

Governor Dapo Abiodun, who said that the killing of the senior civil servant left his cabinet devastated and traumatised, promised not to leave any stone unturned until the killers are brought to justice.

The state government, in a statement on Friday, has however said that a cash reward of N50m awaits whoever provides information that can help the security agents to unravel killers.

READ ALSO: Gunmen Shoot Ogun Gov Office’s Finance Director Dead

The statement partly reads “Ogun State Government has announced a reward of N50m for anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the killers of the state’s Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. Taiwo Oyekanmi, on 30th November, 2023 in Abeokuta.

“Information provided would be treated with utmost confidentiality.”

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Edo Lunches Security Control Centre, Holds 2023 Summit

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As a measure to ensuring security of lives and property in Edo State, governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday in Benin launched the state Command and Control Centre.

This is even as the State held its 2023 Security Summit with the theme, “Edo State Security Framework: Repositioning for the future”.

Speaking at the twin event, Governor Obaseki said that the summit is to serve as pivotal platform in uniting the leaders, law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders towards the safety and fortification of Edo State.

READ ALSO: Obaseki Commissions Merry Ehanire Hospital, Decries Nation’s Over $2bn Annually Spending On Medical Tourism

He noted that his administration is concerned about the sustainability of all the reforms introduced in the last seven years, particularly in the area of security.

He said: “Key to our security report in Edo has been collaboration with various security agencies in the state.

“Every month, we collate every incidences that has occurred across the state and our goal is how to use these data collected to combat crime, investigate crime and understand what is going on in various communities across the state.

“Since we started collecting data on crime incidences in the state, that is between 2017 and 2020, we saw astronomic rise in crime and criminal activities across the board.

“But since we started using data to analyse what is going on in the state, since 2020 till post COVID era, we have seen incidences of crime reducing significantly. There is 41.7 reduction of crime rate since 2021 till date in Edo State

“What we need to do now is to ensure active collaboration between the central security agencies and the local agencies. The point is, as we look into the future, emphasis must be on decentralises security”, he said.

READ ALSO: Edo 2024: Poll Tips Sen. Okpebholo To Win APC Ticket

Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Police Service Commission and Chairman if the ceremony, Dr. Solomon Arase, said that as a result of its key position in the country, Edo State is prone to influx of crimes imported from other states.

In response to the above threat, community policing emerges as a unique and effective strategy to root out these criminal elements.

“The police community relations committee is the driving force behind the community policing initiative which has improve the operational capacity of the local hunters and vigilante along with the influencial traditional and religious leaders.”, he stated

In his keynote address, Major-General Ohifeme Ejemai (rtd), said that there should be security awareness amongst the people in order to combat the issue of crime in the state.

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