Undergraduate commits suicide over SARS haras

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An undergraduate of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Seyi Akinade, has reportedly committed suicide.

The victim, in a lengthy post on Twitterbefore his death, said he could no longer live with the continuous harassment by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, which he claimed led to his decision to kill himself.
His stepbrother, Toye Salawudeen, who announced the death on the social media, told Ottagistreel that the family did not know about Akinade’s ordeal until after his demise.

The deceased had narrated on his Twitterpage, @Akinadeoluwa17, how he plunged into $20,000 debt after he was arrested by the SARS personnel, who allegedly extorted money from him.
According to the 23-year-old undergraduate, who was also a forex trader, his encounter with the SARS personnel gave him constant nightmares.
He had tweeted, “It happened again tonight, I had the same nightmare that’s been reoccurring for months now since the incident happened, same faces. SARS officials in their black uniform carrying us away in the dead of the night and I wake up with serious chest pain from fear of what I was about to experience.

“It happened on the 2nd of February 2020 I was in my hostel working on my post data slides because I had to present the next day when all of a sudden these SARS officials entered my room. It was around 10pm and I still had my generator on maybe that was why they came to my room first, they just collected my laptop and phones, my friends were also in my room, we were all told to dress up and come outside, one of my friends was given a dirty slap for practically not dressing up fast enough ‘what did we do?’ I kept asking.

“They didn’t say anything and they threatened to waste me if I didn’t stop asking silly questions. We were handcuffed like armed robbers, all 17 of us, we were squeezed into small cars like goats to the slaughter, and from camp Abeokuta, we were taken down to Ibara Police Station. Immediately we got there I decided to plead with who was in charge that I had a presentation in school the next day, that they should please let me go early because at that time it was 12 in the midnight already, he said I will pay 200k! Ha! For what?

“I told him to go through my phone that I am not a fraudster, that I am a forex trader and he went through my phone and my friends’ phone nothing was implicating there, except for the bank alerts and that money were not even mine, I told him they were investors money. I forgot to mention I opened a trade on my trading platform before they came to arrest us, I also pleaded with them to give me access to my phone so I can close the trade or something they thought I wanted to call someone and they slapped me for requesting for my phone, the trade kept running till the next day

“I slept in a cell that night for doing nothing, police will slap you and beat you, and prisoners will beat you when you enter the cell too! I cried till the next morning not because I was sleeping in a cell for doing nothing, but because I was on a losing trade with thousands of $ on the line and also because I was going to miss my project presentation which cannot be repeated. I was paraded like a thief in the morning and they were asking us what we did, with tears in my eyes I said ‘nothing’ they still slapped me and told me to admit I’m a fraudster without having anything incriminating on my phone!

“That day I lost almost 20k$ trading and I missed my presentation in school. They still wanted to collect bail after beating and harassing us for nothing. Since then I’ve been in massive debt, I couldn’t complete my education and my life has been in shambles and suicide has been the only thought on my mind every day. So in case I hurt myself and anyone is curious as to why I did it. This is my story

Nigeria can develop COVID-19 vaccine, says ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said heavy investment in education at national and sub-national levels would provide quality medical and behavioural scientists to produce vaccine for the treatment of COVID-19.

The National President of ASUU, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, said this in Abeokuta, after he led members of the association to donate 1, 000 pieces of 125ml bottled hand sanitisers to the state government.
Ogunyemi led ASUU’s members from the Lagos Zone to hand over the items to the state’s Deputy Governor, Noimot Salako-Oyedele.

The ASUU president said what Nigeria should learn from the pandemic was that investment in education would yield immeasurable dividends.

He said, “For instance, conscious and determined investment in university education at national and sub-national levels would give our country quality medical scientists, behavioural scientists, creative scholars and other creams of informed citizens who can respond intelligently to challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To achieve better results, we believe Nigerian governments at the federal and state levels need to work with public intellectuals and patriotic trade unions like ASUU

Ogun Depty Governor Confirmed Covid19, 3 New case In Ota True.

 Noimot Salako Oyedele Confirmed Covid19, 3 New case In Ota True.

Ota recorded its first confirmed cases of COVID-19 overnight as at 11:25 PM on Wednesday 22nd Of April and the contacts of these positive cases will have easy access to testing.

he deputy Gov Noimot Salako was in Ota On Thursday 32rd of April to flag off the OGUN STATE WALK-IN AND DRIVE-IN TESTING CENTRE FOR COVID-19.

This walk-in center is in partnership with the Flying Doctors Investment Group led by Dr. Ola Brown. Ota was chosen strategically because it is one of the towns which border Lagos State, the disease hot-spot in Nigeria.

This center is a game changer in the detection of the disease in our communities. The tests are available to high-risk patients who are detected during contract tracing or those who are symptomatic. After an initial assessment at the Test Centre, patients who meet the criteria for testing have their samples taken and sent to the newly installed molecular lab in OOUTH or other accredited labs in neighbouring states. The results will be communicated directly and confidentially to the patients.

Incidentally, Ota recorded its first confirmed cases of COVID-19 overnight and the contacts of these positive cases will have easy access to testing.

I assured members of the public of His Excellency Prince Dapo Abiodun’s commitment to doing his best to flatten the curve of the disease while at the same time ensuring that the State is equipped to deal with many cases in which it gets.

I also seized the opportunity to remind everyone to wash their hands regularly, practice respiratory hygiene by sneezing into their elbows, keep social distances, and wear a mask.

Lockdown package: Oyedepo distributes food items to households in Ogun

 Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel has distributed foodstuffs to residents in Ogun state - According to the church, the relief packages will continue on a weekly basis to soothe people's hardship - The donations will be complementing the support the church already gave to Ogun, Lagos and Abuja The general overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide (aka Winners Chapel), David Oyedepo, has started the distribution of relief package to less privileged households in Ogun state on a weekly basis during the lockdown. The development was made known by Sheriff F. Folarin, the head of media and editorial board of the church, on Wednesday, April 22. Sheriff said that the distribution of the food items will keep going for as long as the lockdown lasts, The Cable reports. “The initiative is targeted at the vulnerable and needy in the state, including members of the Winners’ Family “The distribution is systematically and fairly done, with a dedicated team, which maps communities and identifies homes of the poor; while the Winners Satellite Fellowship cell system and network is used to engender a fair distribution among members of the church,” he said. Lockdown: Video shows Nigerian federal lawmaker sharing bags of rice to Lagos residents The media head also said that the sum of N25 million was used to provide palliative for thousands of poor Nigerian who are most affected by the movement restriction. Sheriff said that the new relief packages are in addition to the support the church is giving to the governments of Ogun, Lagos and Abuja during the crisis. Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Oyedepo donated medical equipment and relief materials to Lagos and Ogun states to aide the fight against coronavirus. The church donated ambulances, test kits, thermometers, amongst others to the two states. Among the medical/health resources are two state-of-the-art ambulances with capacity for first aid, test, and treatment of those infected or on emergency resulting from the infection. In other news, Babajimi Benson, a Nigerian lawmaker representing Ikorodu federal constituency at the National House of Representatives, has donated hundreds of bags of rice under his organization called iCare Foodbank .The lawmaker, the present dispatch of free rice makes the third time the foundation will be giving out food. The batch is targeted at 10,000 households in the state. The lawmaker said that giving out the food item is important due to the extension of the lockdown. Babajimi also called for people to nominate those who are in serious need of the food item in Ikorodu. People who qualified are the elderly, single parent, widow, and disabled with addresses that could be traced.

Lagos, Ogun, FCT get 279 trucks of grains

THE Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun states have received 279 trucks of grains, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Farouq has said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the release of 70,000 metric tonnes of grains for distribution to the poor and vulnerable to cushion the impact of the lockdown order in affected states.

The minister spoke at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja yesterday.

She said she was yet to get the 70,000 metric tonnes approved by President because of the storage challenge.

Mrs. Farouq said: “70,000 grains were approved by Mr. President that it should be given to the PTF through the ministry and to be distributed to the three affected lockdown states by the federal government and then to other frontline states.

“So far, we have deployed 279 trucks of grains to the three affected states locked down by the federal government and we are making plans for the next deployment to other frontline states.

“We have not taken all the 70,000 metric tonnes of grains. So, we still have some grains in the silos because metric tonnes are quite a huge number. 2000 metric tonnes alone will require nothing less than 80 trucks to deploy, so it is quite a huge number and there is nowhere we can put these grains. We have to leave them in the silos and be deployed as the need arises.”

Reacting to a viral video of a lady who claimed that two members of her household benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer disbursed by the Federal Government to beneficiaries in various states, she said: “I think this is near impossible because the process involved is a very tedious as it involves all critical stakeholders in the community.

“The community leaders, leaders of faith-based organisations, youth leaders, women leaders, and others are involved in drawing up the list of the poor and vulnerable households in that community.

“The groups submit a list individually and if you go through the list and discover that a name that is not on a particular group’s list is on other people’s list, it disqualifies such a person. So, it is almost impossible for the same members of a household to get this intervention but we will go back and investigate very well.”

The minister added that the food relief distributed to some beneficiaries would last them for two months.

“The Federal Government’s palliative is for a minimum of two months for the food relief and the cash transfer. I think we have been able to adequately cater for these vulnerable groups by giving them the two months package

Suspended Ogun PDP chairman, not interested in genuine reconciliation – Kashamu

The People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate in the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State, Senator Buruji Kashamu, has said that the party’s suspended chairman, Chief Adebayo Dayo, is not interested in reconciling members of the party but in feathering his own nest.

Kashamu said this in a statement issued in Lagos.

The former lawmaker, who was reacting to a statement credited to the suspended party chairman, said “Contrary to his claim and pretence to facilitating reconciliation, Chief Dayo was only after what he could grab before leaving office. That is the only reason why he betrayed the Ogun State PDP structure and its leadership by selling 70 per cent of the party structure to Hon. Ladi Adebutu and 30 per cent for himself.”

Senator Kashamu said while reconciliation is important to return the party in Ogun State to its winning ways, it is only the national body of the party that can broker it.

According to Kashamu, “I have never opposed any reconciliatory move because I know a tree does not make a forest. But, having shown his hands, Dayo cannot preside over any reconciliatory move. He cannot even be part of it because he does not have the integrity to do so. Rather, it should be championed by those who have the trust and confidence of the two main tendencies. The national leadership of the party is in a better position to call everyone, hear from them and resolve the issues in order for the PDP to move forward in Ogun State.

“As a matter of fact, when Chief Dayo, Chief R.A Adenaike (a.k.a Baba Oloolu), Dr. Remilekun Bakare, Chief Kola Sorinola and the Acting PDP Chairman in Ogun State, Hon. Samson Bamgbose (a.k.a Imisi) came to meet me about the need for reconciliation, I told them that it was a good idea so long as they carry key stakeholders along after the congresses. I also told them that it was imperative for the other people to publicly repudiate the three-year agreement that they had with the Allied Peoples Movement (APM). But, Dayo chose to sidestep everyone and went behind to betray structure and purportedly sold it. This is nothing but a scam!

“There was no genuine reconciliation in his moves. Reconciliation is a process. Parties have to meet, discuss and agree on the modalities and terms of settlement. There was no way he would think that just because he was the state chairman, he could decide for all the leaders, elders and stakeholders.”

Senator Kashamu said the attempt by Chief Dayo to share the PDP exco among some people would fall through.

He said, “Any purported agreement that Chief Dayo signed with anyone would not stand. Doing so after he was suspended for anti-party activities renders the whole move a nullity. It can never work. When we get to that bridge, we would cross it

Kyari’s death a national tragedy – Abiodun

Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun has expressed shock over the death of Mallam Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, who passed on Friday, describing it as a national tragedy.

The governor described the deceased as a good leader and devout Muslim who sacrificed so much in the service of Nigeria.

“This is a national tragedy. Mallam Kyari died in the service of fatherland. The Chief of Staff was said to have contracted the virus while on an official assisgnment in Germany.

“He was confirmed positive to COVID-19 on March 23 and died of complications arising from the virus. So sad,” Governor Abiodun said in a statement he personally signed on Saturday morning.

He added: “We are extremely saddened by the news of Mallam Abba Kyari’s passing away.

“He was a detribalised Nigerian, consumate technocrat, gentleman and leading member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s team, for whom we had a lot respect.”

He recalled that Kyari carried out his duties with a lot of charisma and high intellectual disposition, which earned the office of Chief of Staff a lot of dignity and respect.

Abiodun said of the Cambridge University-trained technocrat: “Today, the dreaded virus, COVID-I9 claimed its biggest victim, our respected friend and an influential figure within the Buhari administration, Mallam Abba Kyari.

” I remember the late Abba Kyari as a great democrat, a thoroughbred administrator, a good party man, a diligent networker and servant leader, whose service orientation could have helped Nigeria to tame the dreaded COVID-19.

“He would have helped in finding solutions to this pandemic. Indeed, Kyari’s passing is a major blow not only to the Buhari presidency but to all of us serving Nigeria at this critical period in our history. It leaves a gaping hole in the administration.”

The governor condoled with the President, family, friends and associates of the deceased over the painful loss