Unknown gunmen on Saturday evening abducted the Parish Priest of Saint George’s Catholic Church Omu Ekiti in Oye Local Government, Reverend Father Michael Olofinlade It was gathered that Reverend Olofinlade was abducted between Itaji and Ijelu Ekiti while returning from Ado Ekiti. The Owajumu of Omu Ekiti, Oba Adeyeye Ogundeyi told revealed that security agencies and local hunters have launched a manhunt for the abducted Reverend Father. As of press time, the police are yet to respond to the incident.

  Uncertain times lie ahead of Yoruba’s self-determination struggle following threats to the unity among its promoters. Many are concerned about the development, which seems to have left the once united fold divided. Already, key leaders of the platform, Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, IOOW, through which the agitation is being promoted, have resigned, leading to questions on what could have informed the development. Curiously, both the supporters and those opposed to the movement are interested in knowing the reasons for the crisis. Specifically, three officials of the body, including its leader, Professor Banji Akintoye, Professor Wale Adeniran and Mr Maxwell Adeleye, recently resigned from their positions. Their resignation sent shock waves across Yorubaland given their commitment to the struggle irrespective of their age. Akintoye cited old age for quitting whileAdediran and Adeleye threw in the towel following alleged fraud allegations. The leaders were accused of misappropriating funds meant for running IOOW activities, which led to their unceremonious exit. Sunday Vanguard was reliably informed that they were accused of not being able to account for donations made by Nigerians in the Diaspora. They have separately denied the accusations, expressing willingness to be investigated. Both Adeniran and Adeleye have dared anyone to come up with evidence of fraud against them which has deepened the crisis within the group. Akintoye accused of selling out A source knowledgeable in the operations of the group told Sunday Vanguard that Akintoye stepped aside after he was accused of not being able to account for funds at his disposal. Another source, familiar with the Yoruba struggle, who spoke to Vanguard, accused Akintoye of selling out without offering details. However, the octogenarian denied the allegations, insisting he left due to old age. Akintoye, who headed IOOW, resigned and handed over the mantle of leadership to his deputy, Adeniran. The professor of history and Second Republic senator, however, apologized that he was resigning when the movement was in crisis and prayed that Adeniran should bring everyone together and resolve all contending issues. Akintoye, in a letter through the General Secretary of the group, Dr Tunde Amusat, said: “Dear Wale, I write this letter to you in your position as Chairman of Ilana Omo Oduduwa to congratulate you and the newly elected Executive Council of Ilana. “I also, hereby, inform Ilana, through you, of my departure from further responsibilities in Ilana. I urge you and all others not to think that this step is a consequence of recent difficulties in Ilana. “As you know better than any other person, I have been seeking for over a year now to take my leave from Ilana because combining the duties of Ilana with the duties of the greatly elevated demands of the self-determination struggle has been too heavy for me. “I am greatly honoured that you as the closest person to me in Ilana, most Ilana members, and all Ilana committees have for months been urging me not to leave Ilana because, according to you all, Ilana is my special ‘baby’ in the whole self-determination struggle. “But you would remember that at a special meeting of leaders of the self-determination struggle from all over the world about a month ago, you and all the other meeting participants agreed graciously that I should give up my duties in Ilana because of my heavy accumulation of duties. Difficulties in Ilana “As for our current difficulties in Ilana, I am sure you would testify that I am not leaving because of them, and that, in general, even the greatest of difficulties never make me quit. I am imbued with God-given confidence that I can bear all things and solve the most tortuous complications among men because God in his mercy has given me the gift of a heart that loves all persons in all situations. “Still, I must ask you to forgive me for leaving Ilana to you in its current condition. I had wanted to leave Ilana immediately after the special meeting of worldwide leaders about a month ago, but I decided to help you to iron out some of the ongoing difficulties before leaving. “Unfortunately, things have not improved as quickly as I expected, and you now have to face a situation in which some of our extremists are still compounding the difficulties. However, I have much confidence in you – including confidence that you will find ways to steer our Ilana back to the path of compromise, unity and strength.” I resigned due to blackmail —Adeniran When many were yet to come to terms with Akintoye’s exit, Adeniran threw in the towel on January 2, 2023, in a move that left observers with no option but to conclude that things have fallen apart. Adeniran, who is the pioneer Commissioner for Education in Osun State, resigned in protest against allegations of corruption slammed against him by a Cotonou-based Bureau De Change Agent/Personal Assistant of Akintoye, Mr Kabir Adebayo, fondly called Obalola. Alleged corruption Obalola said he was responding to claims that Akintoye mismanaged funds paid into his account by Yoruba people worldwide. He also alleged that 70 per cent of the money sent by supporters of the self-determination struggle worldwide goes into Adeniran and his wife’s accounts. But Adeniran, in a two-minute 33 seconds video, said he stepped aside “to allow a thorough investigation into the allegation of fraud levelled against him.” He, however, challenged whoever might have evidence or pieces of evidence against him to come forward and make it known to the public. The Ilana leader noted that he resigned his membership of the IOOW with a view to “allowing thorough investigation, calling on Yoruba elders to set up a committee in that regard.” He said: “I want to use this medium to step aside as Chairman of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, as member of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, I step down as the participant in the Yoruba Nation struggles to allow unfettered investigations of all these allegations. “Because in all developed parts of the world, what they normally do

  Sunday 15 January 2023 Polls: DHQ to deploy troops in Sokoto, Imo, Katsina, others I won’t steal nation’s wealth, Obi replies Tinubu Our rejection of Shettima stands, North-East youths say Veteran actor ‘Papa Ajasco’ is dead PDP CRISIS: Wike says window of reconciliation closing, warns of dire consequences Money tears Yoruba Nation struggle apart How Lagos DPO died mysteriously inside his office Unknown gunmen abduct Catholic priest in Ekiti IPoB: Bid to force US to intervene in Nnamdi Kanu’s case gets boost US citizen narrates how she was duped, lured to Ilorin by suspected ‘yahoo boy’ Gunmen Attack CUPP Spokesman’s Home In Imo, Kill Three China Reports Almost 60,000 COVID-Related Deaths In A Month 199 Ghost Doctors Uncovered On Zamfara Payroll, Says Matawalle 10 Die In Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Crash Offices burnt in fire outbreak at police headquarters in Kano ‘Trafficking’: Police intercept three men with 41 children in Kwara PDP crisis: Resignation of ABC Nwosu vindicates G5 governors, says Wike Jonathan to politicians: Don’t blackmail judiciary when you get power Atiku In Kogi, Promises To Revive Ajaokuta, River Port Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

  The Lagos police command says it has arrested a couple over their alleged involvement in the torture of two children in Egbeda area of the state. Speaking with TheCable on Saturday, Benjamin Hundeyin, police spokesperson in the state, confirmed the incident. Hundeyin said the woman, identified as Busola Oyediran, is the mother of the children, while one Akebiara Emmanuel is identified as their step father. He said the children, aged two and five, respectively, had physical injuries all over their bodies. The couple were apprehended on Friday after neighbours reported the matter to the police. “The report is correct. The mother is the biological mother of the children but she is no longer with their father. That person is the step-father to the children,” Hundeyin said. “The children are five and two years old. The couple were arrested yesterday.” Also confirming the incident, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), on its official Twitter page, said the couple will be charge to court on January 16. “The couple is currently in detention and will be arraigned on Monday 16th of January, 2023,” NAPTIP said. Meanwhile, the 2003 Child Rights Act makes provisions against harmful practices, abuse, and any kind of violence targeted at children.

  The full implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye report may not be feasible under the regime of the President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), a senior presidency source has revealed to Saturday PUNCH. This, the source said was premised on the current election mood of the key stakeholders involved, coupled with the body language of the National Assembly. Submitted in 2012, the Oronsaye report on public sector reforms revealed that there were 541— statutory and non-statutory — Federal Government parastatals, commissions, and agencies. A year earlier, the then-President, Goodluck Jonathan, set up the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions, and Agencies, under the leadership of a former Head of Civil Service, Stephen Oronsaye. The 800-page report recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies be slashed to 161; 38 agencies be scrapped; 52 be merged and 14 be reverted to departments in various ministries. The report also recommended that the law establishing the National Salaries and Wages Commission should be repealed and its functions transferred to the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Responsibility Commission. It advised the FG to merge the nation’s top three anti-corruption agencies—the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, and the Code of Conduct Bureau. An earlier analysis by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the Nigerian government could save over N241bn if the report was duly implemented. However, while presenting the 2023 budget in October 2022, Buhari said his regime inherited an archaic set of corporate, banking, and capital markets laws, draft but unenacted bills to reform the critical petroleum sector, an unimplemented Oronsaye White Paper to reform the civil service, among others. In April 2020, amid the biting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and falling oil prices, Buhari convened a committee to consider the report’s recommendations and implement them to reduce the cost of governance. In November 2021, the Federal Government inaugurated two committees on the report. One of the committees was to review the Orosanye report and its White Paper chaired by a retired Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Aji. The second committee, which reviewed agencies created from 2014 till date, was chaired by another former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ms. Amal Pepple. After submitting their findings, the FG, in July 2022, convened another committee chaired by a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ebele Okeke, to produce a white paper on the reports. The following month, August, the Okeke-led committee presented the White Paper to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha. Confirming the committees’ progress, former HoS, Amal Pepple, told our correspondent, “We did our work. My committee handled commissions and agencies that were set up post-Oronsaye. That is from 2014 up to last year (2022). “And after we submitted our report, they set up a White Paper to look at it and that White Paper committee has also finished its work and submitted it to the government. So, it went out of our hands long ago because after we finished, the White Paper was supposed to go to the Federal Executive Council.” In a brief conversation with our correspondent, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, affirmed that the White Paper was under review by the legislature. “It is still under the bureaucracy of the National Assembly and the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. We know that the President’s part is to sign and approve it. So, it is going to come from the bottom up. “Whenever they are done considering it at the national assembly and the SGF receives it, then it will come to the President,” Adesina said. But in defiance of the Oronsaye report and its recommendations, the Senate proposed the establishment of 376 new agencies and institutions, a PUNCH report dated December 26, 2022, revealed. Since 2019, the 9th Senate has passed 1,070 bills, including 376 establishment bills for the creation of various institutions despite the rising cost of governance. A presidency source who did not want to be named said the Oronsaye report implementation may be passed onto the next administration, given the recent actions of the NASS and the political mood in the polity. The source said, “I don’t think this administration will be the one to finish that job. Yes, it has left our hands and it’s now with the NASS. But most of them are campaigning for the next elections. “Those who are not campaigning for themselves are campaigning for others. So, having that thing (White Paper) pass in this period will be difficult because of the election season. I think it will be one of those things that this administration will hand over to the next.”

  The North-East Youths and Stakeholders Forum of the All Progressive Congress has knocked the spokesman of the APC campaign council, Festus Keyamo, for alleging that its decision to withdraw support for the party’s Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, was a subtle blackmail. The group’s threat to dump Shettima over the gale of defection that hit the camp of North-East APC is coming just 40 days before the 2023 presidential election. The PUNCH reported how they lobbied the presidency and the leadership of the ruling party to consider zoning the position of running mate to the North-East region in the wake of APC standard bearer, Bola Tinubu’s victory after the presidential primary. The aggrieved youths, however, made a U-turn on Thursday and accused the former governor of Borno State of being responsible for the loss of some foundational members of the structure including the Zonal Women Leader, Amina Manga of Bauchi, who defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party with over one million women. They further alleged that his snub and nonchalant attitude has continually undermined their efforts, an act that made Keyamo allegedly reek of subtle blackmail. While contesting the alleged number of members who had defected from the North East APC, the PCC image maker noted that their grievances would be addressed. But Keyamo’s statement did not sit well with the group who released another statement on Saturday denying the allegation that their decision was an attempt to blackmail Shettima for money or favours. The statement, which was signed and issued in Abuja by its Acting Chairman, Shaibu Tilde, further urged the Minister of State for Labour to juxtapose the total figure of voters in the region released by the Independent National Electoral Commission to determine the veracity of their claim. He said, “In the last 48 hours the media has been awash with the news report of our position on the Vice presidential candidate of our great party. We wish to reaffirm our resolve on the issue and state unequivocally loud that our position to withdraw our support for the vice presidential candidate of our dear party, Sen Kashim Shettima still stands. What has however become a source of worry for our group is the unsavoury and scathing attack launched at us by the APC presidential spokesman Barr. Festus Keyamo. “While we intend not to join issues with Mr Keyamo, we are however obligated to set the records straight so as to mitigate the poignant narrative Mr Keyamo is constructing around our noble group and clear intentions and love for our great party. “We shall continue with that mantra of speaking out to power for the love of our dear party, the All Progressives Congress not minding whose ox is gored. “Firstly, it’s clearly manifest that Mr Keyamo does not understand the calibre of youth and the extent of their fibres in the Northeast region of the party and therefore can resort to calling us names as ‘cheap blackmailers’. This is rather unfortunate that the spokesman of our party has tuned his war arsenal against his fellow party men with a common goal to win the 2023 election. “No one can deny that gale of defection our party has suffered in the region in the last few months. Our group noted with dismay that the Senior Advocate of Nigeria rather than being introspective on the germane issues we raised that are affecting the fortunes of our party in the region instead chose to play to the gallery by calling us blackmailers and attention seekers. This is unfortunate and quite shameful. “Secondly, we wish to remind Mr Keyamo that we are not seeking empty attention nor do we want to be pampered. It is important to school Mr Keyamo that this group did not emerge from the blues. We have been on this journey from time to set. For the records, this group has spent millions of naira mobilising support for both Sen. Kashim Shettima and by extension the APC. “We have held many press conferences and organised strategic meetings with relevant stakeholders within and outside the North-East region all in support of our great party, APC. How can we now stand and watch what we have laboured for slip away from us when we have an opportunity to avoid it? We cannot at this moment risk an avoidable shipwreck by the action of one reckless individual. We cannot simply shut up until the right thing is done in the interest of our party. “Thirdly, Mr Keyamo has blatantly discredited our defection statistics asserting that the entire Northeast region will have nobody to vote for the APC if 8 million voters defect from the party. In his views, the total number of registered voters in the North-East put together will not be up to 8 million but the recent figure of registered voters released by the Independent National Electoral Commission shows that out of the 93.5 million people registered, North-East region has a total of 12.5 million voters. The figure has therefore vindicated us and expose the ignorance of Mr Keyamo and his skewed narrative on our ground. “Finally, it will do our party much good to address the gale of defection it’s suffering from the region as a result of the action of our Vice Presidential Candidate Kashim Shettima. Turning a blind eye to grievances will amount to fatal consequences. We the North-East APC youth stakeholders remain committed to the success of our party and its presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu come February 25.”

  The Kano State Police Command headquarters situated in Bompai area of the state has been engulfed by fire. Information available to Vanguard as at the time of filing this report were sketchy. It was gathered that the inferno whose cause was yet to be ascertained affected parts of the administrative block of the command. Efforts to get the command’s spokesperson, SP Abdullahi Haruna to react to the development proved abortive as calls put across to his number were not connecting.

  Ike, Beatrice and Obeta denied conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation at the Old Bailey on December 20, while Sonia pleaded not guilty today (Friday), Daily Mail reported. It is alleged they conspired together, with others and another family member Isaac Ekweremadu who remains in Nigeria, to arrange the travel of a 21-year-old man with a view to exploiting him between 1 August 2021 and 5 May 2022.   The group arranged his travel from Lagos to London to remove one of his kidneys for Sonia, who has a kidney-related disease, it is claimed. Ike and Beatrice Ekweremadu were arrested after the young man, who previously lived on the streets of Lagos, claimed he was the victim of trafficking at Staines police station. The man told officers he arrived in the UK on February 20 this year and was taken to Royal Free Hospital for tests, none of which he consented to. After the tests, the man said he returned to the house he was staying in, where he was ‘treated effectively as a slave.’ He said he escaped the address and was homeless for three days before going to the police. Daily Mail gathered that the trial will begin at the Old Bailey on January 31 before High Court Justice Adam Johnson. Ike, a lawyer and former deputy president of the Senate, and his wife Beatrice were arrested in the UK on June 21 after flying to Heathrow from Turkey. Ike has been elected to five consecutive terms in the Senate since 2003. He led the Nigerian delegation at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021. Ike has been deputy president of the Senate on three occasions, which he said was equivalent to being Leader of the House of Commons. He said he had been one of the most senior lawmakers for many years, and a well-known philanthropist. Ike and Obeta are in custody in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Belmarsh respectively, while Beatrice and Sonia are both on bail.

  Former President Goodluck Jonathan has admonished the political class to allow the judiciary perform its constitutional functions, saying politicians get blinded when they get power. Jonathan gave the admonition during the book presentation/reception that ended week-long activities that marked the retirement of the Bayelsa State Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri. At the event in Yenagoa, the state capital, Jonathan acknowledged the critical role Justice Abiri played when she swore in the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, thus averting a constitutional crisis in the state. He advised politicians not to be blinded by the power they wield, while urging judicial officers to strive to be impartial and courageous in upholding the rule of law, which he noted was significant in the delivery of justice. He said: “I advise politicians that while in office, let us not try to blackmail the judiciary because it is conservative. When we get political power, we get so blinded. Politicians should know that society is changing. “Today, we are celebrating our retiring Chief Judge because she has served meritoriously. In 2015, she left Bayelsa for Rivers to perform the swearing-in of the governor thereby averting anarchy. It appears that the judicial arm is more functional than the executive.” In his remarks, the Bayelsa governor, Senator Douye Diri, hailed Justice Abiri for her outstanding achievements, noting that during her 15-year term as Chief Judge, she swore in three governors in Bayelsa and one in Rivers. They are Chief Timipre Sylva (2008), Senator Seriake Dickson (2012), Senator Douye Diri (2020) and Nyesom Wike (2015). Governor Diri described Abiri as a legal icon, who rendered unblemished and meritorious service in three decades of legal practice. He said the state would still require her services due to her commitment and wealth of experience.