Oyo state

A former Oyo state Governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja has called on wealthy Nigerians to cater for poor Nigerians this festive period.

Senator Ladoja made this call on Wednesday in an interaction with journalists at his Ondo Street, Bodija, Ibadan, Nigeria residence.

''We thank God for witnessing Eid, we pray that we will celebrate more Eids. I will plead with wealthy Nigerians to share with the poor the things they have to celebrate. The times are hard. Let us extend our hands of fellowship to others. I wish Nigerians Barka De Sallah. 

He expressed confidence that the present administration would make a positive impact, saying ''all of us know that we need to readjust and rejig Nigeria. It is now a question of how to redistribute wealth. We assume that he knows what he is doing and he will do well. We will get there.''

Non Indigenes in Oyo state have sympathized with the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo state(BCOS) over the fire incident that occurred on Wednesday.

Eze(Dr.) Alex Anozie made this known in a chat with People

On behalf of myself, my company-Conac Optical NigerIa Limited and Nidgbo in Ibadan and Oyo state, I sympathize with the state government and the management and staff of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo state(BCOS) over the fire incident that occured yesterday, Wednesday 19th April, 2023.

We pray that such this will never happen again. And that God should give them the courage to embark on a very quick replacement of all damaged equipment and carry out all the necessary repairs and even modernize the establishment.
May I use this opportunity to encourage the electricity distribution companies to do everything possible to minimize these worrisome electricity surge-induced occurrences that have always exposed the public to great danger?
The fire services should also improve.

They are doing well, but they can still do better, by making sure they get to fire incidents very quickly.
Finally,  we really thank  God that no life was lost.

Eze(Dr.) Anozie is the Eze Ndigbo of Ibadan and Oyo state. He is also the chairman of the Association of Non-Indigenes in Oyo  state

For some time, now a number of faceless individuals have been parading themselves as the leaders of Igbos in Ibadan and Oyo state for self-centered reasons. In light of the worrisome development of the Ezendigbo of Ibadan and Oyo state, Eze(Dr.) Alex Anozie warns Nigerians to be wary of such individuals.

Excerpt: Any individual or group who allows himself/themselves to be deceived by some people is/ are on their own. Everyone knows the genuine leader of the Igbos in Oyo state. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry knows the authentic leadership of the Igbos in Oyo state, and I Eze(Dr.) Chukwudum Alex Anozie, the Eze Ndigbo of Ibadan and Oyo state, and the Ohaneze/Igbo Community Development Association(ICDA) ably led by the President, Chief Emma Nididi Nzeako, we are the true leadership in Ibadan and Oyo state. God has confirmed this, Ndigbo who chose us has confirmed this, and the courts also confirmed this, so anybody or group who allows himself/themselves to be deceived by anybody is on his own because politics has come up again. This is an electioneering dispensation. Mushroom groupings are springing up. After the elections, you will not hear them again. Igbos are expecting to hear from us the leadership on the way forward.

An unspecified number of farmers have been forced out of business by the unending insecurity and prohibitive costs of agricultural inputs in Nigeria.

This assertion was made by the immediate past chairman  of the Oyo state chapter of the Day old Chicks Association of Nigeria(DOCAN), Alhaji Asimiyu Oyetunde.

''The insecurity in different parts of the country has forced several farmers out of business, they have abandoned their farms. In addition, most of the inputs such as maize and soya beans are very expensive. Prices keep increasing on a daily basis.  The poultry industry is worse hit as banks are not ready to give us loans,'' Alhaji Oyetunde lamented.

He posited that once the safety of lives and property can be guaranteed, activities in the agriculture sector should come back to life, while appealing to the government to tackle the security challenges decisively.

Residents of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state have expressed reservations over the increasing rate of petrol stations and gas plants cited in residentail areas.

The residents insist that these stations and plants pose great dangers to those who reside in and around these establishments.

''These petrol stations and gas plants are threats to people who reside near them. What if there is a negative occurence, what happens to the people ? The Oyo state government must do somwething about this'', one of the residents, Monsuru Akinleye stated.

Insinuations are that fraudulent officials of the Urban Development and Physical Planning Agency in the state connive with the powers that be  to approve the construction of these stations and plants to promote political patronage, in addition to the indiscriminate construction of hotels in residential areas.

There is also the suggestion that it would be extremely difficult for the state Government to muster the political will to reverse the ugly trend.

In his views, the Deputy Director of the state Fire Service, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi opined that since gas is for domestic consumption, the plants have to be located near the consumers.

''The public need to be informed that gas is for domesitc consumption and needs to be very near the consumers. People should not have nay fears for having it in theri domains, since necessary safety mesures have been put in place during constrcution. I want to advise the public not to panic over the way the gas plants are springing up in residential areas'', Mr. Adewuyi stated.

The incoming Government in Oyo state has been called upon to pay urgent attention to the needs of the Department of Fire Service in the state for effective service delivery.

This call was made by the Deputy Director of the Department, Mr. Moshood Adewuyi in a chat with People.

''The department needs prompt attention in terms of equipment that can cope with the present day challenges. We need sophisticated equipment and also we have shortage of outlets which cannot cope with the increasing population. Our personnel also need good welfare package. It is of note that firemen who were recruited sometime ago ran away due to poor renumeration'', Mr. Adewuyi stated.

On the fire incident that occurred at the UMC area of the state capital, Ibadan, recently, the Deputy Director disclosed that communication lag and faulty vehicle hampered the response of the department.

''Although the department's dedicated lines for distress calls are in the public domain, residents of the area did not call, when they went to the Molete office of the department, the fire fighting vehicle with water was faulty. The Molete office has a standard funcitional bore hole, so lack of water was out of it. However, we sent another vehicle from the headquarters to put out the fire'', he concluded.

Not long ago, a building collapsed along Molete/Idi-Arere road in the state capital, this has brought to the fore, the fact that several buildings got quesationable approvals from government for reconstrution. And nothing has been done to address the lapses in governance.

However, the state government, recently, distributed 33 excavators to the 33 Local Governments in the state.

  The Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC) in Oyo state, Mr. Mutiu Agboke h has assured the electorate that the Commission would not act in anyway that would compromise the Permanent Voters Cards(PVC) still in its custody.

Mr. Agboke gave this assurance on Tuesday during a Media Briefing at the Commission's office in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''There is no pressure that would make me to compromise your results, there is no pressure that would make me compromise your Permanent Voters Cards. Nobody has put gun in my ears, I am not going to sell your PVCs. Nothing will happen to your PVCs. We are going to harmonize the PVCs and those not collected would be put in the custody of the Central Bank of Nigeria'', he stated.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner also dislosed that the commission was taking the issue of security before, during and after the elections seriously, saying'' the commission is leaving no stone unturned in the area of security of both men and electoral materials on the day of election''.

''That is why the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security(ICCES), chaired by the Commissioner of Police and co-Chaired by me has been meeting regularly to identify grey  areas and flashpoints in the state in collaboration with respective Electoral officers. Security is to be beefed up at both state and local government offices of INEC, inorder to forestall any security threats during election periods'', Mr. Agoke concluded.

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC)      

The governorship candidate of the  African Democratic Congress(ADC) in Oyo state, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin has called on the state Commissioner of Police to stop members of the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW) from pulling down bill boards belonging to ADC candidates.

Senator Lanlehin made this call on Wednesday during an interaction with journalists in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''NURTW has started bringing down bill boards. We are appealing to the Commissioner of Police ,Mr. Abiodun Odunde who is  a fine officer, help us appeal to them so that Oyo state would be peaceful. It is in our interest that everything works. There should be a conflict resolution mechanism in place'', he stated.

A former Governor of Oyo state, who is also the governsorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party in the state, Otunba(Dr.)Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala has expressed worry over the covert moves by some personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) and the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state to move eligible voters from their Local Governments to  different ones to facilitate a new dimension of  rigging.

Otunba Alao-Akala made this disclosure on Tuesday,  in an address he delivered at the  Official presentation  of the ADP governorship candidate, his deputy and other candidates for the 2019 Gubernatorial Elections in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''May I use this occasion to inform the stakeholders in the Nigerian electoral system and the world at large that information reaching us from competent sources is that some bad elecments in the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) are conniving with the ruling APC to disenfranchise thousands of voters across the state and weakening the leading oppositiom candidates in their strongholds by engaging in state-wide illegal relocation of voters from their units/Local Government of origins to other units/LGAs''.

The former Governor called on the INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmud Yakub and the security agencies to ''put a stop to this advanced rigging method''.

He assured the people of the state that candidates of the ADP were passionate about delivering results that shall impact positively on them, adding ''I must say that the re-election of the present administration was an aberration that came by way of the bandwagon effect that followed the election of President Muhammadu Buhari''.

''Regardless of the sinister moves of other parties, our campaign shall be issue-based, violence free and intellectually stimulating, resting on the renewed 13-point agenda drawn from our party's hallmarks; all these clothed in peace and tranquility'', Otunba Alao-Akala stated.

Residents of Oyo state have been called upon to shun acts of violence as the 2019 general elections draw closer.

This call was made by the running mate to the Governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP)in Oyo state, Prof. Abideen Olaiya in a chat with Federationews2day.

Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala is the governorship candidate of the ADP in the state.

''Residents of Oyo state should be patient, nobody should engage in violence as the 2019 elections approaches. Since Democracy has given us the leeway, the opportunity is coming, residents should keep their Permanent Voters Cards(PVC) and use it judiciously in the 2019 elections'',  Prof. Olaiya stated.

He noted that the Education and Agriculture sectors in the state  were in urgent need of overhauling saying ''if we are elected within a year we would change the face of education,  presently education in the state is at its lowest ebb. Agriculture has taken a leap only in propaganda. The people serving government are not happy.''

Residents in the state have continuously complained about the culture of impunity which has become the order of the day in most communities, just as the number of out of school children keeps on increasing by the day.

Prof. Abideen Olaiya is an Associate Professor of  Crop Ecology at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Nigerians have been advised to resist the moves by politicians to use money and foodstuff to influence their votes in the 2019 general elections.

This advice was given by the Governorship candidate of the National Interest Party(NIP) in Oyo state, Mrs. Bolanle Sarumi Aliyu in a chat with People, in Ibadan, Nigeria.

''If any politician comes with money, don't accept it, tell them to provide empowerment. Don't collect one or two ''Kongos' of rice, don't collect blood money. You should not sell your votes'',Mrs. Sarumi advised.

She also advocated for the participation of more women in governance, saying, ''we need more women in government. Women suffer most, women's rights and children's rights have not been adequately  catered for. Do you think a woman would be the Governor and children would be hawking on the streets ? No way.''

Women in the state complain bitterly of inadequate representation in all sectors of governance.