The Nigerian Army has pledged not to intimidate or harass genuine voters during the March 28 and April 11 general elections.
This assurance was given by the General Officer Commanding, GOC, 2 Division, Ibadan, Major-General Sanusi Muazu during a courtesy call on the governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in Osogbo.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Tuesday by the media aide to the governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon.
The statement quotes the GOC as saying that, “the military will not in any way intimidate or harass the electorate during the March and April elections.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that security is provided. We cannot do otherwise than to protect civilians. It is the taxpayers’ money that we depend on. We will do everything to make sure that lives and property are well protected.
“It is a familiar terrain that we are in, I have served ‎in the region in various capacities and I can as well charge the people of Osun to sleep with their two eyes closed because the election will be free, fair and credible with the provision of adequate security.”
Responding, the governor was quoted to have called on the military and other security agencies to guard against allowing themselves to be used to intimidate the electorate or to subvert the will of the people, advising soldiers and other security agents not to obey any instruction or order that will compromise their professionalism during the forth-coming general elections.
The governor said: “It is a great misnomer and misuse of the military and tax payers’ resources for military and other security agents to be deployed during elections as instruments in harassing and intimidating the citizens’ freedom and liberty, and bully them for partisan and selfish interest of gaining electoral advantage.
‎”During the last governorship election here, security agencies were unprofessionally utilised to harass, intimidate and oppress the people whose taxes were used to pay their salaries.‎
DAILY POST

Pictures of the Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,  decorating the General Officer Commanding of the 2nd Mechanise Division of Nigeria Army, Ibadan, Major General Sanisi Nasir Muazu, during his working visit to the Governor in Osogbo, State of Osun on Monday 02-03-2015

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; General Officer
Commanding of the 2nd Mechanise Division of Nigeria Army, Ibadan,
Major General Sanisi Nasir Muazu, and Deputy Governor, Mrs Titi
Laoye-Tomori, during the GOC working visit to the Governor in Osogbo,
State of Osun on Monday 02-03-2015

From left, Deputy Governor, State of Osun, Mts Titi Laoye-Tomori;
Governor Rauf Aregbesola,; General Officer Commanding of the 2nd
Mechanise Division of Nigeria Army, Ibadan, Major General Sanisi Nasir
Muazu; Head of service, Mr Sunday Owoeye; Executive Secretary,
Odo-Otin Local Government, Mr. Tope Adejumo; Col.FJN Uwabujo; Deputy
Chief of Staff Administration, ColJude Chukwuemeka Ogbona and AH
Ibrahim, during GOC working visit to the Governor in Osogbo, State of Osun on Monday 02-03-2015

As the March 28 and April 11 general elections inch in, the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has called on the military and other security agencies in the country not to allow themselves to be used in intimidating voters, before, during and after elections.

The governor gave this advice during a courtesy ‎call on him by the General Officer Commanding II Mechanised Division, Ibadan, Major-General Sanusi Muazu at the Government House in Osogbo on Monday evening.

‎Aregbesola noted that the traditional role of the military is the protection of territorial integrity of the country and ensuring an atmosphere where democracy must thrive.

The governor added that military and other security institutions must ensure that were not used to harass civilians during the elections as it was done in Osun during the last August 9 governorship election.

‎He said, “It is a great misnomer and misuse of the military and tax payers’ resources for military and other security agents to be

deployed during elections as instruments in harassing and intimidating the citizens’ freedom and liberty, and bully them for partisan and selfish interest  of gaining electoral advantage.

‎”During the last governorship election here, security agencies were unprofessionally utilised to harass, intimidate and oppress the people whose taxes were used to pay their salaries.‎

“Our victory is due to the steadfastness and resolute determination of our people to assert and defend their rights.

“Some security agents in connivance with the opposition obviously did all they could in a most desperate manner to steal the people’s mandate.

“Security agents wore the same identical hand band to carry out their acts but the popular wish of the people prevailed”. The governor told the G O C and his entourage.

He charged the G.O.C and other security personnel not to tolerate any instruction or order that will compromise their professionalism during the forth-coming general elections.

Speaking earlier, Major-General Muazu assured the governor that military will not, at all levels, not in any way intimidate or harass the electorate during the March and April elections.

He held that people under the coverage area which include Osun should sleep with their two eyes closed before, during and after the elections, noting that the military will provide the necessary support for other security agencies.

He said, “We Will erything possible to ensure that security is provided. we cannot do otherwise than to protect civilians. It is the taxpayers money that we depend on. We will do everything to make sure that lives and property are well protected.

“It is a familiar terrain that we are in, I have served  ‎in the region in various capacities, I can as well charge the people of Osun to sleep with their two eyes closed because the election will be free, fair and credible with the provision of adequate security”. he stressed.

Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, the loquacious spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan campaigns would not cease to amuse Nigerians. As an indigene of the state, he is a stakeholder in the Osun project. So, it was not totally out of place for the tendency he represents to employ his energy to throw into the ring, a new hat of fighting by the highly deflated and totally depleted rank of the Osun Peoples Democratic Party.

But if FFK, as I choose to call him in this piece, had been a film producer, his productions would have failed all critical areas of test in content and aesthetics. But suffice to say that the video FFK took the trouble to bring to the Channels Television last week Thursday had been in circulation not long after the August 9^th 2014 governorship election in which the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, was expectedly and humiliatingly trounced.

A badly written script has earned an equally bad production and the result is that they all have on their hands a distasteful drama, the denouement of which is predictably tragic for the actors. Unfortunately, those involved in this drama of the absurd have not realized that they have embarked on an act of self-immolation.

We do not actually need the Independent National Electoral Commission’s reference to Osun’s poll as its advertised sample of election success story. Neither do we need the spontaneous celebration that enveloped the state in the freshness of that electoral victory by Governor Rauf Aregbesola to put a seal of credibility on it. What we need to emphasise very loudly is the reality of the inelectability (pardon that word) of Aregbesola’s PDP opponent.

Despite the shenanigans that preceded the election; that occurred during the election and the funny theatrics the few paid PDP agents in Osun have engaged after the conclusion of that decisive exercise, what we need as authentic proof of the electoral decision of the people of Osun is the grassroots decision to reject a contestant believed to be far away from the reality of their existence and not in any way connected with the issues that touch them. What they saw in Iyiola Omisore, apart from his personal detestable attributes which negate the virtues and values of the Virtuous (Omoluabi) is the same scary face of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party whose sixteen years of being at the centre has stalled Nigerians’ collective dreams, stultified national growth and practically run us aground as a people.

The likes of FFK truly take Nigerians for fools. Is it not amazing and amusing at the same time that FFK would come out with such a video just about two weeks after the Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime-led tribunal delivered what has been registered as one of the most profound electoral tribunal verdicts of our time.
Not even one of the 17 odd grounds on which the petitioner premised his objections to the validity of Aregbesola’s victory could be found strong enough by the tribunal to uphold. Had there been any substance in the badly produced video and had the petitioner found anything reasonable in it, would he not have sought to bring it before the tribunal as evidence of the alleged electoral robbery against him and his party?

Trust Nigerians! They were intelligently swift to conclude that FFK and his PDP co-travelers were in search of just anything in sight to divert national attention from the opprobrium the highly credible recordings of the rigging plot that ousted Dr. John Olukayode Fayemi from office brought upon them. That has temporarily put in abeyance, the good governance the people of that state had experienced under the four years of the Fayemi’s purposeful administration.

One does not need to look too far. The confessions of Army Captain Sagir Koli who was in the centre of the Ekiti rigging saga had confirmed the hubris that the characters named in the dubious plot had been known for all their lives. Do the people matter to them? No! Their clan had never seen the possibility of people’s acceptance because of the very tendencies they represent. The Ayo Fayoses, the Iyiola Omisores, the Jelili Adesiyans and Musiliu Obanikoros of this part of the world and their ilk have successfully formed a club; one bound by common interests of greed, avarice, blind ambitions and other attributes too grave to mention here.

After their initial bravado of denials and playing the Pontius Pilate, they came back one after the other admitting being present at the scenes recorded by Patriot Sagir Koli.

It is germane to note that almost two months after the mind-blowing confessions on how the Ekiti election was manipulated in favour of Fayose, the stench has refused to go away. The more the actors move to wash their hands off, the more they get entangled in the shameful web of their ignoble acts. On the other hands, less than a week after FFK came on air to attempt discrediting the re-election of Aregbesola through the badly produced video, those who still talk about it only keep asking FFK and the PDP to provide credible proof of its veracity. Mum has been the word.

It is the season of politics, yes! And in Nigeria, anything goes. But shoudn’t the likes of FFK pause a bit to reflect on what side of history they hope to be recorded even if they must dance to the beat of their paying masters? The social media is saturated with videos and audios of the same FFK who just some few months ago, was all over hopping from one media house to the other telling Nigerians the Jonathan administration is the greatest tragedy that had befallen us as a people.

It is obvious this is the season for PDP’s factory of lies to be in its upbeat form. And as the ruling party’s doomsday draws nearer, we expect more deft moves in the desperate project to subvert the burning desires of Nigerians for total change.

*Owolabi a journalist and Law student, writes from Osogbo, Osun

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has hailed the performance of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at the lecture delivered at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), which, he noted, has further reinforced the readiness of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rescue Nigeria from its current state.
He said Buhari’s articulate presentation of the development agenda of the APC has shown that the party is prepared for the rescue mission to salvage Nigeria from underdevelopment.
In a statement by his Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, the governor said Buhari’s presentations on the scourge of corruption and terrorism aptly captures the slogan of change being propagated by the APC.
He said, “Nigeria has on her laps at the moment the tragedy of a party that has no idea of how to take the country out of the woods; a party and its government at a loss on how to confront the horror of terrorism, which is unfortunately fuelled by the poverty its anti-people policies have also bred and the endemic corruption which has been elevated to the level of state policy.
“There is no doubt that the Jonathan administration is too fickle-minded to surmount the many areas of urgent needs which our people are craving for. This is why the clamour for change has attained this all-time high in the history of our country.”
Congratulating Buhari and the party for a robust presentation, Aregbesola said after the Chatham House talk, even Buhari’s worst critics must have come to terms and embraced the positive change ideas that he and the APC represent.
“Nigerians and the international community by now understand the determination of Buhari, the fecundity of his ideas and the clarity of his vision to take Nigeria out of the present morass,” he added.
By Adesoji Adeniyi
THENATION

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State has said that it has distributed 72 per cent of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
The INEC Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs Adenike Tadeshe, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo on Wednesday.
Tadeshe said the commission as at Monday distributed 1,016,071 out of the 1,407,107 PVCs received for the state.
She said the figure represents 72 per cent of the total number of PVCs received for distribution to registered voters while the balance of 391, 036 PVCs which was 28 per cent were yet to be collected.
The spokesperson said the cards were made available at ward and local government levels, and expressed regrets that some registered voters did not collect their cards.
Tadeshe, however, attributed the non-collection of the cards in some cases to death of registered voters, relocation and apathy by some registered voters.
She said the distribution of the PVCs would continue till March 8, and advised those who were yet to collect their cards to go to their respective wards and local governments between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. daily.
(NAN)
 

The Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and his Kwara State counterpart, Abdulfatah Ahmed, have described the plot to remove the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, as dangerous.
Speaking with one of our correspondents on Sunday, Aregbesola said that the plot reflected desperation on the part of the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government.
He said, “It is obvious that they (PDP) are desperate. A desperate person is a dangerous person. This country is bigger than anybody.
“They have postponed elections. They are planning an interim government, they are engaging in all manners of scheming. They are showing acute desperation. With all these undemocratic and uncivil acts, they are leading Nigeria to the path of turmoil.
“The whole world must be told that they must be held responsible for whatever happens to Nigeria. Why can’t they allow the ordered election timetable to go on as planned and, through that, allow democracy to grow in our land?”

I have seen first hand how the choice of the humble but powerful broom as the symbol of a major political party has contributed to the growth of the local economy of remote rural areas in the oil palm producing belt of southern Nigeria over the past few months of electioneering campaign.

From Ilubirin Agbabu, a remote waterside settlement near Ore, where the Irele/Ore oil palm settlement is located to Okitipupa, Igbotako, Omotosho, Igbobini, Irele, Ode Aye, and so on, we have the oil palm belt of Ondo State. Agbabu, one is reminded by an aging signboard is the location of the Agbabu Bitumen project conceived during the first republic but never implemented by a succession both military and civilian governments and long since forgotten. No government has bothered to invest in the local production of this vital ingredient for the modern nylon tarred road. It matters little that under the earth stretching for kilometres from Ilubirin Agbabu into the creeks that lead to Igbokoda, Mahin, Ugbonla Zion on the great western Nigeria water highways linking Epe to the right and Warri to the left. The neglect of Agbabu’s riches means more profit for a few in profligate Nigeria while this remote corner remains literally in the dark age.

The humble broom, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s symbol is giving the women of Agbabu something to survive on with the rising demand for this undervalued but essential tool for cleaning in all Nigerian homes and surroundings of the rich and the poor. The. Hard working women of this area eagerly go with their male counterparts who climb the majestic palm tree to hack off it’s rich oily bunch and trim out the tree’s branches, out of which the powerful broom now sweeping across Nigeria politically is made by woman power. Many families eek out a living in the semi-abandoned oil palm settlements first created by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, first premier of the Western Region in the late 1950s. The living quarters are all in various stages of dilapidation with apparently no one caring one bit. Young and middle aged Nigerians of different ethnic groups make up the farm settlements, from their languages and dialects: Ikale, Urhobo, Ijaw, Itshekiri and Igbo mostly live and work here.

The normal level of demand for brooms before now had meant that the branches of the palm tree fetched little income, compared to the political season when demand has quadrupled. The women are happy to see new buyers with weigh-in scale coming to their remote villages and buying tonnes of the humble broom at fair prices whilst relieving them of the burden of transportation to the. Far-away market centres. This new idea is signalling the industrial exploitation of the broom and the oil palm’s other by-products that were once undervalued. It is estimated that the women from each household sell up to 3dozens of sizeable brooms (about three big brooms make one kilogramme which may be sold for N100 or more and gross about N1, 600 twice a week or N3, 200 for meeting family needs. This may seem small at first until you see the number of families it takes to supply 1000 kilograms or 1 tonne of brooms ordered by a major user.

The broom revolution is powered by our amazing women working with their children from their humble homesteads, and though they may not know fully how their hard work is heralding the wind of change that is blowing across Nigeria’s four cardinal points, it is already winning hearts and minds from ethical injection of cash directly to rural families. The broom revolution’s leaders must prepare their minds to do more for these simple folks by making life less arduous and providing them some modern comforts to enable them get more work done.

The towns and villages of the oil palm belt have had no electricity for up to 2years in some cases as we found out to our surprise and it must lead one to ask: wither governance in Nigeria with all the wasting assets around us? Such is the power of a thoughtfully chosen symbol, the common, humble but powerful symbol for getting rid of filth wielded by our women daily.

Abimbola Daniyan, Osogbo

Osun State House of Assembly yesterday passed the 2015 appropriation bill of twenty billion naira into law at its plenary following a motion moved by the chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Honourable Kamil Oyedele.
Earlier, the House had asked it’s committee on supply to make necessary amendments to the bill in connection with the report of the committee over the review and adjustment of the estimate.
The budget estimate of N197,082,191,560, christened, “Budget of Renewed Hope,” was presented to the House on December 23, 2014 by the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
In the course of the review of the budget estimate, the assembly adjusted it upward to N201,740,360,700 to cater for the omission of the salaries of middle school teachers to the tune of N4,428,591,350.
The recurrent expenditure in the new budget is N90,614,061,690 while the capital expenditure stands at N111,126,299,010.
The passed budget is expected to be forwarded to the governor for his assent.
Speaking on the upward adjustment of the budget, Oyedele said the increase was necessary because when the estimate was being drafted by the state’s Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), the salaries of the middle school teachers were omitted.
He said it was in the process of scrutinising the estimate that the discovery was made, saying the effectiveness and vigilance of the House led to the discovery.
The speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam, charged ministries and agencies of government to ensure effective implementation of the budget for the benefit of the people of the state.
He said the House deliberately sped up action on the budget due to its commitment to the development of the state, saying the it will not treat with kid glove, whoever treats the budget with levity.
Commending members for their commitment in handling issues relating to the development of the state, he charged them not to relent.

The two parties to the crisis rocking Ipetumodu and Ashipa communities in Ife North Local Government Area of Osun State have presented their positions to the commission of inquiry set up the state government to look into the matter, ADESOJI ADENIYI reports.
There is a semblance of peace in Ipetumodi and Ashipa, the two communities in Ife North Local Government Area of Osun State that literally went to war recently over their common boundary.
But beneath the relative peace is the hardening of positions by the two warring parties as both communities have stuck to their guns on the issues that brought about the violent clashes in the area last month during which no fewer than 20 people were severely injured and properties destroyed on both sides.
The peace was restored at the instance of the Osun State government which has set up a six-member judicial commission of inquiry to look into the crisis and proffer lasting solutions. The commission is headed by Justice Jide Falola of the State High Court.
The commission, The Nation gathered had received memoranda from interested parties to the dispute, especially leaders of the two warring communities stating the position of their people.
It was gathered that the Ipetumodus in their memorandum are demanding among other things that the Ashipa people should stop their aggression against their community.
Speaking with The Nation on condition of anonymity, a leader of Ipetumodu disclosed that the Supreme Court’s judgment of 1984 on their disputed boundary was in favour of Ipetumodu.
As a result, he said, the Ipetumodus are demanding that the boundary between their community and the Ashipa community should remain the Okooko River and must not be extended as the people of Ashipa are demanding.
He said it was an insult for the people of Ashipa to want to claim the land that belongs to the Ipetumodus. In his words: “The land which the people of Ashipa are fighting over belongs to Pa Ayoola of Ajae Compound in Ipetumodu. The family took the Adeniyi Odofin family of Ashipa to court and was favoured by the Supreme Court judgment of 1984. The case was not between the people of Ipetumodu and people of Ashipa but between two families in the two communities. The case started from the Customary Court and ended in favour of the Ipetumodu indigene at the Supreme Court. So, what are the people of Ashipa looking for on the land if not trouble?”
Speaking on the clash of the market day in the two separate markets in the two communities, the Ipetumodu leader said his people would neither agree to a shift in their own market day nor a shift in its location. He insisted that the new market at Ipetumodu must remain because the community consulted the Ifa oracle before arriving at the name, the date of trading and location of the market.
He said there should not be any reason for anyone to start crying over the coincidence of the day of trading at the newly created Akinola market in Ipetumodu with that of Ashipa market.
According to him, the Apetumodu together with his chiefs made spiritual consultations before the market was established where it is now and the time for trading in the market. “Today we are in a competitive world and no one should complain that our market day is the same with theirs. Is that a crime, requiring violence? Not far from us there are many markets sharing the same day for trading and there is no problem. For instance, market day at Obada market in Ipetumodu coincides with that of Edun-Abon and Owode markets. Olufi Market day coincides with Moro market Day, likewise Sekona Market Day coinciding with Akinlalu market Day. Also, Ode-Omu Market Day coincides with that of Ashipa Market. The Akinlalu and Moro markets’ Day too coincides.
He said hitherto the people of Ipetumodu and Ashipa were friendly and trading together in same market until the Ashipa (people) started being hostile to the Ipetumodus after the latter had helped developed and gave life to their (Ashipa) market. According to him, when the Ipetumodus could not cope with the hostility they decided after consulting the Ifa oracle to establish their own market on Akinola land within Ipetumodu and named it Akinola market.
Ashipa’s position now
Speaking on their demand before the commission of inquiry, a leader of the Ashipa community Ojediran Olaleke said his people want the Ipetumodus to vacate the disputed land which he claim to be a Ashipa territory while the boundary between the two communities should also be extended beyond the Okooko River. He said the Ipetumodus should stop invading Ashipa land and allow peace to reign in the area.
According to him, the Ashipas are peace-loving people and therefore maintained that their demands are realistic.
On the clash of market day, he said the Ipetumodus deliberately chose the market day of their new market to coincide with that of Ashipa Market in order to ‘kill’ the Ashipa Market. He therefore demanded that the Ipetumodu market day should be changed.
He also alleged that the people of Ipetumodu are kidnapping Ashipa people and demanded that this must stop for peace to reign in the area. He insisted that the people of Ipetumodu must listen to the paramount ruler of the area, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and ensure there is peace.
At the commission of inquiry
The two warring parties last week appeared before the commission of inquiry where their representatives continued to trade accusations.
Counsel to the Ashipa community, Mr. Funminiyi Adeyemi, asked the commission to recommend the removal of the Akinola Market from Ashipa territory identifying the location and the market day as the cause of the crisis. He said the removal of the market could provide a solution to the crisis between the two communities.
Appealing to the state government through the panel  to render assistance to the victims of the crisis, he submitted that those linked to the crisis and  already apprehended by law enforcement agents should be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to other would be troublemakers.
But counsel to Ipetumodu community, Chief Afolabi Adedeji, in his submission faulted Ashipa’s demands for removal of the Akinola market. Adedeji asserted that the power to shift the market was beyond the discretion of the panel. Also, Ipetumodu Progressives Union in a letter written to the commission urged the panel to see the request of Ashipa people for the removal the market as unacceptable.
The chairman of the commission, Justice Oyejide Falola in his short ruling, said that the commission will look into the matter and make its recommendation to the government without favour. He however, gave an order that the Akinola market, which he said the commission has identified as the source of clash of economic interest between the two neigbours, be stopped from operating on same date with the Asipa market.
Falola blamed the Ife North Local Government for not asserting its authority on the establishment of the market. “The crisis might have been averted if the council authority had done its job effectively by making sure Ipetumodu community did not erect a market on government land unless with due approval of the government,” the judge submitted. He  said the commission may recommend sanction against the council to serve as deterrent.?
Call for memoranda
At a press conference preceding the public hearing, Justice Falola had called on stakeholders, including communities, academics, traditional rulers and chiefs to come with their memoranda to the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, Osun State capital, venue of the sitting of the commission. According to him, the commission had received memoranda from the two communities adding that the members of the commission had also visited the two communities on a fact finding mission.
The chairman, who noted that the commission will carry out the job without any fear or favour, adding that it also received memoranda from other communities such as Osogbo Ede, Edunabon, Yakoyo and Moro; Songbe and Ede; Origbo communities; Ikirun and Oke-Ila; Gbongan and Osunjela among others where pocket of crisis exist.
He said: “The memoranda submitted so far are not limited to Ashipa/Ipetumodu communities, but from different parts of state of Osun where communal crisis over land are brewing. This is in line with one of our mandates which is to develop a template to be used to tame the monster of communal crisis across the state. But we are assuring that the commission would not apply its full weight of power on the affected communities but we have decided to employ persuasion and dialogue to the raging crisis, so, we are pleading with the two communities to cooperate with the commission.”
THE NATION