Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Woju News: Ambode dissolves parastatals, sacks Fashola’s sist...
Woju News: Ambode dissolves parastatals, sacks Fashola’s sist...: There has been a massive shake-up in the Lagos State Government as Governor Akinwunmi Ambode dissolved all Boards of parastatals and ...
Ambode dissolves parastatals, sacks Fashola’s sister, others
There has been a massive shake-up in the Lagos State Government as Governor Akinwunmi Ambode dissolved all Boards of parastatals and agencies, sacking the sister of the former Governor of Lagos State, Ms Olayinka Fashola and 75 other heads of the parastatals and agencies.
Ms Fashola was the General Manager, Lagos State Residents Registration Agency, LASRRA. Also affected is the General Manager, Lagos State Waste Management Agency, LAWMA, whose head was Ola Oresanya; Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu; Executive Chairman, Lagos State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Bolajoko Fashola and the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, headed by Babatunde Edu.
Also sacked are the General Managers of Lagos State Electricity Board, Ms Damilola Ogunbiyi; Urban Furniture and Regulatory Unit, UFRU, Joe Igbokwe; Lagos Water Cooperation, Shayo Holloway; Lagos Internal Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler; Lagos State Building Control Agency, LABCA; Managing Director, LAGBUS Assets Management, Babatunde Disu and the General Manager, Lagos State Lotteries Board, Lanre Gbajabiamila.
Other head of agencies affected are the Lagos State Waterways Authority, Lagos State Building Investment Company Limited, Lagos State Ferry Services, Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau, Lagos State Printing Cooperation, Lagos State Television, Lagos State Traffic Radio, Eko FM, Radio Lagos, among others.
In a statement issued by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Tunji Bello, it said Ambode had approved the dissolution of all boards of parastatals and agencies of government with immediate effects.
According to the statement, the dissolution is with the exception of the Civil Service Commission, Judicial Service Commission and the State Independent Electoral Commission.
While expressing the appreciation of the Governor for the modest contribution of members of the dissolved Boards, Bello wished them well in their future endeavour.
The statement added that constitution of new Boards would be effected in due course.
Fresh crisis hits APC, Deputy National Publicity Secretary calls for chairman’s resignation
The raging crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, took a different dimension with the call by one of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) members, Mr. Timi Frank that the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun should resign.
Mr. Frank who blamed the chairman and some members of the APC’s NWC for the crisis that has resulted from the election of leaders of National Assembly, said it was unfortunate that the leadership of the party played hide and seek and over indulged themselves in the choice of Senate President and House Speaker.
Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara had emerged Senate President and House Speaker, respectively, against the wishes and position of the APC. Senator Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila had been favored by the party after the initial conduct of a mock election which was won by the duo, to occupy the seats.
Speaking in Abuja yesterday, however, Mr. Frank who deputises for Alhaji Lai Muhammed in the party stated that the chairman and leadership of the party ought to resign having embarked on an embarrassing mock election that never had the blessings of the entire party’s leadership, more so that the leadership exhibited gross incompetence to manage the National Assembly issue until it blew out of hand. This he said was because of the vested interest manifested by the chairman and few of his colleagues in the party.
“If my party could not keep to the promise of change, then we must correct them to keep to that. I have no fear or favour than to say that the current leadership of the party has practically failed. With this incident alone, the chairman should resign from his position after taking a position against the people and the people’s position has finally come to stay. In the Western world, by today the party’s national chairman would have resigned honourably.
“Not just the national chairman but the entire leadership that took this decision of conducting mock election against the outcry of the larger members of the party. Against the bigger picture of Nigerians. A hand-full of the party leadership came to take a decision, and by today the people have shown that the voice of the people is the voice of God,” Timi Frank stated.
He specifically blamed APC chairman, Odigie Oyegun for clearly failing to consult widely before embarking on the mock election which he said ridiculed the party. He submitted that the chairman’s action suggested that he acted under undue pressure to conduct the mock elections as admitted by him and was therefore of the opinion that if the APC was to rid itself of the mistakes of the PDP, it needed a chairman that would insulate himself from undue pressures no matter where such pressure emanated from.
“You could see the way the party including the national chairman was speaking before the NASS leadership elections; it showed clearly that the chairman had totally taken sides which wasn’t meant to be. I understand, he took some of those decisions based on pressure. In this century, APC as a party, does not need a chairman that will be under pressure.
“And the party’s national chairman caused it because times out of numbers some of leaders told him to come up with a zoning formula from the beginning. He was asked to take a decision and let people follow that but he didn’t do that. They were playing hide and seek with the issue until the last minute when they saw the danger, and they wanted to play hanky-panky, which led us to lose one position at the Senate,” Comrade Frank said.
On remarks attributed to the APC’s national publicity secretary that Buhari is a product of the party and not the party’s leader, Timi Frank who frowned at the statement, called on Lai Mohammed to desist from such comments as it was capable of putting the party in bad light.
” Let’s go back and ask Lai Mohammed who the leader of the party is. If he does not recognise the President as the leader. In my own view, If Lai Mohammed that is my direct boss could come up to tell Nigerians that the President is only a product of the party and not the national leader of the party, then he should have been able to tell us who the leader of the party is.
“We have seen that even in then PDP, former President Goodluck Jonathan was the leader of the party. If in our own case the President cannot be the leader of the party, he should tell us who the leader is then,” Frank averred.
He described what transpired at the national Assembly as good for democracy, noting that Nigeria stood to be the overall beneficiary.
“Those that are calling for the deputy senate president to resign are anti-people, and I
will campaign against it. I will continue to support Burkola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu and every progressive Nigerian should support this mission as it will take Nigeria to the next phase because failure to do this will disrupt democracy, ” the deputy national publicity secretary stated.
Woju News: Njoku gets N640,000 fine, three-match suspension
Woju News: Njoku gets N640,000 fine, three-match suspension: Nigeria defender Ugo Njoku has been suspended for three matches and fined 641,349.27 Naira by FIFA after being found guilty of elbow...
Njoku gets N640,000 fine, three-match suspension
The
substitute escaped the referee’s sanction for the action in the second
half but has now been punished after a post-match video assessment.
The Australian striker suffered a broken jaw from the incident.
In a
statement issued by FIFA on Monday morning, it said the decision became
necessary after asserting the Nigerian’s poor challenge in the game
which the Super Falcons lost 2-0 on Friday.
“The FIFA
Disciplinary Committee has reached a decision in the case related to Ugo
Njoku of Nigeria following an incident that occurred during the FIFA
Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 match between Australia and Nigeria played
on 12 June 2015,” the statement reads.
“Ugo Njoku
has been suspended for three matches and fined CHF 3,000 as well as
being issued with a warning by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee after
being found to have breached art. 48 par. 1 d) of the FIFA Disciplinary
Code.
“Disciplinary
proceedings had been opened in accordance with art. 77 a) of the FDC
which states that the Disciplinary Committee is responsible for
sanctioning serious infringements which have escaped the match
officials’ attention.
“The first
of the three-match suspension is to be served in the upcoming FIFA
Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 fixture between Nigeria and USA on 16 June
2015, with the remaining two to be served either at any subsequent
matches within the competition or, in the case that Nigeria would be
eliminated, at the next official matches of the Nigerian national team
in analogous application of art. 38 par. 2 lit. a) of the FDC,” it
concluded.
This
development means, Njoku will miss Nigeria’s final group D clash against
the USA as Edwin Okon’s ladies hope for a win to reach the round of 16.
Trailers block Kaduna-Zaria road over alleged shooting of driver
Trailer drivers have blocked Zaria-Kaduna highway over the alleged shooting of one of their colleagues by soldiers at a military check point at the dismantled toll gate near Tudun Wadan Dankande in Igabi Local Government, Kaduna State.
A staff of Nagarta Radio and some of the drivers caught in the traffic jam, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES via telephone said the situation has degenerated into chaos with commuters abandoning their vehicles to trek the long distance.
Salisu Babayo, a commercial driver, alleged that a soldier shot at the trailer driver for refusing to give the soldier N200.
“The trailer driver insisted on giving them N100, which they declined and opened fire on him around 11:00pm Sunday night,” Mr. Babayo said. “That was when the situation degenerated when other trailer drivers and many vehicles protesting the soldiers’ action blocked the road around 3:00am.
“The traffic gridlock is getting worse. Right now, it is around Kawo-Maraban Jos, Birnin Yero and is going beyond Jaji cantonment. It will get up to beyond Zaria if the authorities do not do anything to resolve the issue. Some soldiers who managed to get to the scene had to leave because they could not control the situation.”
He said hunger and fatigue was beginning to take effect on commuters as food vendors make brisk business.
“Those soldiers at that check point have for long been extorting N200 from drivers,” Mr. Babayo said. “Sometimes, they will also ask passengers who do not have national identity card to drop N200 and go. So, we are used to their action. What is strange is why they had to shoot a driver who gave them N100?”
The spokesperson of 1 Mechanized Division Nigerian Army, Abdul Usman, a colonel, when contacted on phone said personnel have been drafted to investigate the issue.
“We are trying to find out exactly what happened,” he said. “Some personnel have gone to find out. We will give you details later.”
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