TheNewsGuru

Tag: Akeredolu

  • Ondo 2020: ‘I’m ready for any form of primary, Akeredolu boasts after meeting Buhari

    Ondo 2020: ‘I’m ready for any form of primary, Akeredolu boasts after meeting Buhari

    Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has declared his is ready for any form of primary his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) adopts.

    Akeredolu spoke with State House Correspondents on Tuesday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    Asked if he was confident of winning the party primaries, the Governor said he was sure God would give him victory.

    Akeredolu said he was in the State House to tell Buhari he was running for re-election and to present his Expression of Interest forms to him.

  • I’m not afraid of any mode of APC Primary, Akeredolu boasts

    I’m not afraid of any mode of APC Primary, Akeredolu boasts

    The Ondo State Governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has declared that he is ready for any mode of primary election to elect the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) candidate for the October 20, 2020 governorship election in the state.

    Akeredolu made the declaration during the weekend through the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo, at a press conference.

    The APC has fixed July 20 as the date for the conduct of the primary election

    The governor said the declaration became imperative following the insinuations by other aspirants that he would lose if the party adopts the direct mode of primary.

    He said: “First and foremost, we’ve not come out as a government that we are opposed to direct primary; neither had we expressed aversion for same.

    “We’re not afraid of any mode of primary. And I’ll want the public to know too that the noise being orchestrated by those in the Unity Forum for direct primary is to put out a narrative that we are opposed to any direct primary. In fact, we’ll even prefer a direct primary. So those who are making noise about direct primary are only wasting their time.

    “The truth of the matter is that there are no two situations that are the same. Somebody made allusion to the situation in Lagos State. Everybody stepped down for a particular aspirant then and it was a two traffic contest between the incumbent governor and the then governor. For those who clamour for direct primary, the message to them is that Akeredolu is more prepared for any mode of primary than those who clamour for direct.”

    Akeredolu declared that he is not scared because the camp opposing his re-election is full of deceitful aspirants that could not put their heads together.

    “You can’t put something on nothing. What is the basis for their clamour for direct primary? These are people who cannot come together to take any serious decision.

    “Amongst them are those who say they want to run for governorship but are not ready to abandon their choice appointments at the federal level.

    “They are scared of resigning. Today, we want to challenge them that anyone who wants to be governor must be prepared to take the bull by the horn, resign, come and campaign,” Ojogo said.

  • Akeredolu approves reopening of worship centres in Ondo from Friday

    Akeredolu approves reopening of worship centres in Ondo from Friday

    Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has ordered worship centres to resume activities from Friday (tomorrow).

    The religious activities, according to the governor, are to be guided and syndicated.

    Akeredolu said the religious activities were asked to resume after consultation with religious leaders and other relevant stakeholders.

    The Ondo Governor noted that if guided religious worship are carefully managed, casualty on account of such gatherings could be avoided.

    Akeredolu said mosques are to hold only Friday Jum’at services, while churches would hold services on Sundays only

    He warned religious leaders and administrators to ensure strict compliance with the social and physical distancing in the places of worship while water and soap must be provided at all entries into the centres or halls of worship.

    Akeredolu said all worshippers and workers inside the centres and within the premises must wear face masks and the premises decontaminated before and after the services.

    According to him, “I wish to stress that government has placed appropriate machinery in motion to monitor and ensure that these guidelines are implemented to the letter.

    “Cases of infringement, disregard or willful neglect of these extant regulations will be considered as serious threat to the society and will be sanctioned. Let me be more direct. Any church, mosque or worship centre, which fails to obey the simple rule, will be shut down immediately.

    Akeredolu disclosed that the state now has a total of 24 cases with 19 treated and discharged while two deaths were recorded.

    He said three persons were now on admission and receiving treatment and that 432 persons have been tested for COVID-19.

  • Eid-el-Fitr: Akeredolu reopens major, community markets Saturday

    Eid-el-Fitr: Akeredolu reopens major, community markets Saturday

    Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has directed that all major and community markets throughout the state be reopened for business activities on Saturday, May 23.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Akeredolu had earlier banned daily market activities in the state as part of precautionary measures to curtail the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

    This is contained in a statement signed the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Olusegun Ajiboye, and made available to newsmen in Akure on Friday.

    According to the statement, the approval, which subsists for Saturday only, is to enable Muslim faithful in the state engage in shopping activities ahead of the Eid-el-Fitr festivities.

    “Meanwhile, it must be noted that the earlier order restricting business and market activities to Tuesdays and Thursdays in the state resume immediately after tomorrow,” he said.

  • Akeredolu meets young artist who drew his portrait

    Akeredolu meets young artist who drew his portrait

    Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo state, has finally met with Adefeniku Imole, a young boy, who drew his portrait.

    TheNewsGuru recalls that Akeredolu had on Monday taken to his social media page to ask about the whereabouts of the gifted kid after Mary Ogunga, a Twitter user, shared a portrait of the governor drawn by him on the micro-blogging platform.

    In a new development on Tuesday, the governor announced that he has met with the young artist.

    He went on to describe the SS 2 student of Greater Tomorrow Secondary School in Okitipupa as a talented kid with promising future ahead of him.

    Akeredolu also revealed that Imole told him that his dream has been to meet the governor some day.

     

    “I met with Adefeniku today. He lives with his family in Okitipupa. He said his dream was for him to meet the Governor some day. A vibrant young man with a bright future ahead of him. Thanks to Twitter and @mary_ogunga for helping him realise his dream,” he wrote on Twitter.

     

    US president, Donald Trump back in 2019 hailed Oyedele Adedokun, a Nigerian ballpoint artist, for making a portrait of him solely out of a blue and red pen.

     

  • Akeredolu hunts for young boy who drew his portrait

    Akeredolu hunts for young boy who drew his portrait

    Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu has commended a “talented” young artiste who drew his portrait, adding that he would like to meet with him.

    TheNewsGuru recalls that the picture of the boy while creating the artwork was shared on Twitter by a certain Mary Ogunga.

    “This small boy actually did a rough art work of @RotimiAkeredolu. The white beards,” the tweet read.

    Reacting in a tweet on Monday, Akeredolu requested details of the young boy in order to obtain the portrait.

    “Where is this talented young boy? If anyone has his details, I’d love to have this piece,” he tweeted.

    The governor’s reaction has since generated commendation from some Nigerians on the microblogging platform.

     

    A user, known as Joshua, described Akeredolu as “a listening and attentive leader”.

    He also advised the governor to support the boy’s creativity and help him to build a career out of it.

    “Dear Arakunrin, I’m highly impressed by your quick response to this showcase. You are indeed a listening and attentive leader. Please, make this young man a renown artist from ondo state to the world. Moreover, we still have many of this uncommon talent across the 18 LG area,” the tweet read.

     

    In the same vein, another user @OndoFirstBorn, appreciated the governor for acknowledging the boy’s talent and showing the needed support.

    “We have for ourselves a very interactive and engaging Governor in Ondo State. I’m very impressed. This is one of the traits of a great leader. Thank you my amiable Governor for noticing and acknowledging the creativity of this young talent. Ondo state to the world,” it read.

     

  • ‘Double wahala’ in South-West over handling of Buhari’s expired palliative rice, Covid-19 pressures

    ‘Double wahala’ in South-West over handling of Buhari’s expired palliative rice, Covid-19 pressures

    Like the immortal lyrics of Afro legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, ‘double wahala for dead body and the owner of dead body’, some South West governors were at the weekend faced with double jeopardy of handling the burden that comes with supposed expired palliative rice sent to the region by President Muhammadu Buhari-led government while still struggling to contain pressures of curtailing spread of deadly Covid-19.

    Recall that TheNewsGuru (TNG) had earlier reported that Oyo State Government would return bags of rice received from the Federal Government, after discovering it is in bad condition.

    In the same vein, Ondo State Government has rejected some of the expired bags of rice from the 1,800 bags sent to the state by the Federal Government, while Osun State government claimed that the FG’s palliative rice is presently undergoing quality control checks in the state.

    Speaking to newsmen, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Osun State Governor, Mr Ismail Omipidan, acknowledged receiving the rice from the FG but added that it was undergoing “quality control” checks.

    Reports reaching TNG is that some of the states in South West governed by All Progressives Congress (APC) have refused to open up on the worrisome state of the FG’s expired palliative rice due to their political affiliation with the Buhari-led government.

    Meanwhile, Lagos and Ogun state have commenced distribution of the rice to their people. In Lagos, one Iyabo Johnson raised an allegation on Twitter that she got an expired rice from the government, but the report has since been refuted by Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu.

    The story in Ondo is similar to that of Oyo:

    Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, has ordered the return of some bags of rice sent to the state by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management as they were found to have expired.

    Speaking on the development, the Secretary of the state palliative committee, Mr Alex Kalejaiye, confirmed that some of the bags of rice had expired and were no longer fit for consumption.

    According to him, the bad rice will be separated from the good ones and the good ones will be taken to the laboratory to ascertain if they were fit for human consumption.

    He said, “We discovered that some of the bags have expired and not good for consumption at all, so we are separating them from the ones that are still manageable for consumption. After this, we will still take the ones that appear good to the laboratory to test if they are fit for consumption.”

    It was gathered that when it was discovered that some of the rice had expired, the governor reportedly ordered that they should be rejected.

    Akeredolu, who officially received the palliative items at the Government House ground, Alagbaka from the state coordinating unit of the Youths Empowerment and Social Support Operations, last week, was said to have expressed displeasure over the development.

    Kalejaiye said, “They brought many bags of rice, we just carried out a random check on them to discover the ones that are not good. What we are trying to do is to separate those ones that appeared bad from those ones that appeared good then we will carry out laboratory tests on them to ascertain whether they are safe for consumption before giving them out to our people.

    “Some are expired, it is even written on the bags but some are not expired but it seemed they were not properly stored, and those ones are not properly stored would not be good to be given to our people without carrying out the laboratory test.

    “We will separate the extremely bad ones from the rest and we will carry out the laboratory test on those ones that appear good, to ascertain how safe they are for consumption. But the extremely bad ones, we don’t even need to do a test on them, we will return them.

    “We will meet tomorrow (today) to decide when to return them, you know we can’t do it without the consent of Mr Governor.”

  • Akeredolu imposes curfew in Ondo hours after third COVID-19 case

    Akeredolu imposes curfew in Ondo hours after third COVID-19 case

    Ondo Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has imposed a 7pm to 7am curfew on the state to curb further spread of COVID-19.

    He threatened to declare a total lockdown of the state if another COVID-19 case is discovered.

    Akeredolu clarified that the third case was not a member of the National Youth Service Corps but an employee of the Nigeria Army Clinic that served there in 2017.

    He ordered arrest and detention of any person caught during the curfew hours.

    The Ondo Governor said it was disturbing that a third COVID-19 case could be detected in the state despite measures put in place to curtail the spread.

    Akeredolu noted the stiffer measures being put in place was to stop COVID-19 from spreading across the state.

    Details shortly…

  • COVID-19: Ondo Governor, Akeredolu appoints son secretary of state Palliative Committee

    COVID-19: Ondo Governor, Akeredolu appoints son secretary of state Palliative Committee

    Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu on Friday appointed his son secretary of a six-member COVID-19 Palliative Committee he constituted to consult and make recommendations to the government on how to mitigate the harsh economic effect of the lockdown on the residents of the state.

    To serve alongside Babajide Akeredolu is Mr. Kayode Falowo who is appointed to lead the committee, while other members are Engr. Akin Odumakin – Vice Chairman, Ms. Cecilia Akintomide – Member, Mr. Segun Fagboyegun- Member, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi- Member.

    Speaking in Akure on the initiative, Governor Akeredolu said the committee became important to find a viable solution to the enormous burden imposed on the citizens by the steps put in place by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19 within the state.

    He said the committee would work out modalities and mobilise human and material resources that would help cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the areas of making food available and accessible to the residents of the state.

    Meanwhile. the development did not go down with some people in the state who opined that the governor’s desire to fix his son up in government did not start today. It would be recalled that Akeredolu had during his 3rd-anniversary dinner in Akure said his son, Babajide worked hard during his campaign and there is nothing anyone can do if he decides to appoint him as his chief of staff.

    “When somebody says Baba (Babajide) is this, I just laugh at them. If I wanted to make Baba my chief of staff, he can be; did you do more than him in the campaign? Ask yourself, how many of you did more than Baba in the campaign? How many?” he asked.

    “The young boy was going everywhere and all of us saw him but we decided not to because he wouldn’t want it. My son is satisfied, that’s why. If he is not, I will put him somewhere, there is nothing anybody can do. I will put him there, there is nothing you can do. Is he not my son? Is he not from Ondo state? Has he not worked?”.

    However, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation Donald Ojogo, while reeling out the functions of the committee said it’s mandate, amongst others, is to help mobilize funds, in cash or kind, and manage the efficient and transparent utilisation.

    In the press statement made available to newsmen, Ojogo stated that the terms of reference of the committee includes recommend and advise the government on funding strategies, manage funds mobilized, direct funding campaign, identify and contact effective funding channels/sources and carry out any other activities for the success of the above-mentioned.

    The Committee is expected to begin work immediately till the last resolution of the pandemic is achieved, Ojogo submitted.

    Read the Full Statement Below:

    “Following the constitution of the palliative committee put in place by his administration to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has constituted a committee for Ondo State CoronaVirus Response Fund to mobilize resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

    The committee’s mandate, amongst others, is to help mobilize funds, in cash or kind, and manage the efficient and transparent utilisation.

    Members of the committee include:

    Mr. Kayode Falowo – Chairman

    Engr. Akin Odumakin – Vice Chairman

    Ms.Cecilia Akintomide – Member

    Mr. Segun Fagboyegun- Member

    Prof. Adesegun Fatusi- Member

    Mr. Babajide Akeredolu – Secretary

    The Terms of Reference of the Committee are as follows:

    i. Recommend and advise the government on funding strategies.

    ii. Manage funds mobilized.

    iii. Direct funding campaign.

    iv. Identify and contact effective funding channels/sources.

    v. Carry out any other activities for the success of the above-mentioned.

    The Response Fund Committee will work closely with the State Inter-ministerial Committee and is expected to begin work immediately till the last resolution of the pandemic is achieved. It will equally provide weekly reports and submit a concrete completion report at the end of its activities.

    For transparency and accountability, the committee will work with Ernst and Young as Fund Advisors, and SIAO Partners will serve as Auditors for the Fund.”

  • Akeredolu advises residents to steer clear of explosion site

    Akeredolu advises residents to steer clear of explosion site

    Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has urged residents to steer clear of Saturday’s explosion site at Ilu Abo on the Akure-Owo express way.

    A truck laden with dynamites being transported to Edo from Lagos State had developed a fault and exploded around 1am.

    The governor, who visited the scene of the explosion on Saturday, said the destruction caused by the explosion could only be imagined, advising residents to allow the bomb squad to do its job.

     

    GOVERNOR AKEREDOLU AT THE EXPLOSION SCENE

     

    “I have had thorough briefing from head of our security agencies and the preliminary reports received was that it was an accidental discharge of explosives that was in transit through Ondo state to another state where it was needed.

    “We will advise all citizens, all residents of Ondo State, not to come near this place at all, they should vacate and move out of this premises.

    “As we are told, the vehicle that was carrying this explosives is buried in the crater it created, so we never know what number of explosives are left.

    “Let everybody give the police, the bomb squad, space to do their work and we will know what to do,” he said.

    He urged residents not to forget that the coronavirus was still raging, urging residents to avoid crowded areas.

    “Right here where we are standing, we are not safe, tell the people to move back and allow police to bring out the vehicle that is buried there,” he said.

    No casualty had been reported as at the time of filing this report. (