TheNewsGuru

Tag: Kwara State

  • Kwara grants amnesty to 46 inmates

    Kwara grants amnesty to 46 inmates

    The Kwara Chief Judge, Justice Sulyman Kawu, on Wednesday at the Mondala and Oke-kura correctional centres, granted amnesty to 46 inmates.

    The chief judge who spoke when he visited the correctional centres said all the inmates are awaiting trial.

    He said that 18 of them were released out rightly, while others were released on bail.

    He advised them to shun criminal activities and be useful to their families and the society at large.

    He urged those released on bail to always go for their trial and not to abscond.

    He urged the freed inmates to be law abiding and ensure they contribute their quota to the development of the state.

    Mr Adebisi Francis, State Controller of Correctional Service, commended Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and the chief judge for exercising their prerogative power as enshrined in Section 212 of the Constitution.

    He said that 101 inmates had earlier benefited from the gesture.

  • JUST IN: Police detain trailer load of passengers heading to Oyo State [PHOTO]

    JUST IN: Police detain trailer load of passengers heading to Oyo State [PHOTO]

    The Police in Kwara on Sunday intercepted a trailer carrying many passengers at Oyun in Ilorin East Local Government Area of the State for contravening the lockdown order.

    A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria, who was at the scene of the interception, reports that the trailer, with registration ZAR 180 XW (Kaduna) was coming from Zamfara and heading to Ogbomoso in Oyo State.

    The vehicle, carrying food items also had no fewer than 40 passengers, comprising men, women and children on board.

    The Police, however, intercepted the vehicle and asked the driver to return back to where he was coming from.

    It was gathered that two police vans escorted the trailer to the boundary between Kwara and Niger.

    The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, said the command had stationed its men at the boundary with Niger but that the driver resorted to avoiding arrest by going through the bush-path.

    “I have directed that the trailer be escorted out of Kwara. It is the first time we intercepting vehicles that come in through an illegal route,” Egbetokun said.

    He said that he had directed his men to go and identify the route and block it.

    Recall that Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara had on April 10 ordered a complete lockdown, restricting vehicular movement in and out of the state as a measure to curb the spread of the COVID-19.

    Police in Kwara intercept trailer with passengers heading to Oyo State on Sunday, May 3, 2020 (NAN photo)
    Police in Kwara intercept trailer with passengers heading to Oyo State on Sunday, May 3, 2020 (NAN photo)
  • COVID-19: Kwara community supplies PPEs to cottage hospitals

    COVID-19: Kwara community supplies PPEs to cottage hospitals

    The Omupo community in Ifelodun Local Government Area (LGA), of Kwara, has established a COVID-19 Committee and supplied Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the town’s two cottage hospitals.

    Malam Mustapha Abubakar, the National Publicity Secretary, Omupo Descendants Union (ODU), said this in a statement on Friday, in Ilorin.

    Abubakar said that the committee aimed to compliment the state and federal governments’ efforts in the fight against the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), in the country.

    According to him, the community coordinated approach to the pandemic is in line with the directive of Gov. Abdulrazak Abdulrahman of Kwara, to replicate same at the community level.

    “The committee, under the Chairmanship of Prof. Mikail Buhari, has responsibilities which include, to propose, develop and execute appropriate initiatives that meet the peculiar circumstances of Omupo in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “They also donated PPEs to the Omupo Cottage Hospital and Basic Health Center, Omupo.

    “This is to help carry out all the activities relating to the implementation of all the activities on COVID-19 pandemic as may be directed by the Federal Government and Kwara government, among others,” Abubakar said.

    He said the PPEs would help to safeguard the front line workers of the Omupo Cottage Hospital and the Basic Health Center, against possible infections.

    He said that the donations were promptly approved and money released from the Omupo COVID-19 Relief Fund, into which several sons and daughters of Omupo and their friends had made generous donations.

    Abubakar said that the PPE items included gowns, disposable aprons, infra-red thermometer, face masks, face shields, boots and boot covers, protective eye glasses, latex and nitrile gloves, hand sanitizers, and other hygiene substances and materials.

    He added that the PPEs had been handed over to Dr. Monisoye Afolabi, Doctor-in-charge of the Cottage Hospital.

    The ODU spokesman said the community’s gesture was part of its contributions to complement the efforts of the Kwara State Government.

    Receiving the items, Afolabi said: “the efforts will safeguard the health of front line workers at the Omupo Cottage hospital in the discharge of their duties during this period of the coronavirus pandemic.”

  • BREAKING: 2 separate cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Kwara

    BREAKING: 2 separate cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Kwara

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed two separate cases of Coronavirus disease in Kwara State, the State Technical Committee on COVID-19 has announced.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Spokesman of the Technical Committee on COVID-19, Rafiu Ajakaye, who is also the Chief Press Secretary to Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, Governor of the State, made the announcement on Monday.

    “Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19 sadly confirms two separate cases of COVID-19 in the state. One is the wife of the UITH patient, a UK returnee, who died last Thursday and the other is another UK returnee.

    “This statement is issued at 18:33pm, a few minutes after the government received official confirmation of test results from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Test Centre in Ibadan.

    “The government will address a news briefing tomorrow morning at 11am to give details and further measures now being taken to tackle the development,” the scribe said.

    Earlier on Monday, the Governor AbdulRazaq launched the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer to 25000 households in the state, with beneficiaries getting at least 20,000 each.

    “Today, I flag off the disbursement of conditional cash transfer initiative of the Federal Government to 25,000 households in Kwara. Each benefiting household is to get N20,000 cumulatively for the months of January, February, March and April,” AbdulRazaq said on Monday, well over two weeks since he was last seen in public.

    “This is to assist the poor in this time of global pandemic when our people are asked to stay at home to halt the spread of the virus. I commend the Federal Government for increasing the number of CCT beneficiaries in Kwara from 10,000 to 25,000. I commend the Federal Government for increasing the number of CCT beneficiaries in Kwara from 10,000 to 25,000. I especially thank Mr. President for this gesture as well as the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for their efforts in coordinating theses actions at this crucial time.

    “This complements the measures taken by our administration in order to alleviate the consequences caused by the pandemic and the restriction of movement resulting from it. At the moment, relief materials consisting mainly of food items are being distributed at the ward level by independent committees comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders and community-based organisations. I welcome civil society and media groups to monitor this process to ensure transparency and accountability. My administration will be available to receive feedback and reports through appropriate channels.

    “All of these measures clearly underscore government’s good faith and commitment to the welfare of the people. But much more crucial is a need for all of us to be responsible and not endanger ourselves and others. Let us stay at home and maintain social distancing until it is safe to resume normal life.”

    AbdulRazaq said he proceeded into self isolation shortly after returning from the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja in full compliance with the safety protocols of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on COVID-19.

    “Until now, I have remained in self-isolation shortly after returning from the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja on March 19. This is in keeping faith with the COVID-19 Protocol that requires anyone with probable exposure to the virus, especially after travel to frontline areas, to either self-isolate for 14 days incubation period or get tested to know their status. AlihamduliLlah, I am fine as I have always been.”

    The Governor, who departed the event to do an on-the-spot assessment of the Sobi Specialist Hospital which houses the state isolation centre, said Kwara had long started preparing for any eventuality on COVID-19.

    He added however that no preparation is enough because even countries with better facilities and wherewithal are also fine tuning their strategies and getting more facilities to cope with the pandemic.

    Asked to comment on the UITH incident of suspected corona virus case, AbdulRazaq said the controversies arose because of lack of full disclosures by the affected parties — something he observed was a breach of protocol.

    AbdulRazaq said the government awaits the outcome of the internal investigation of the incident by the UITH before taking further steps “even though our own committee has immediately sprung into action which included contact tracing and isolation of all persons believed to have had contact with the deceased.”

    The Governor repeated that samples have also been taken and results are being awaited as at Monday morning.

    “We have done six tests before now that turned out to be negative. We are awaiting some other results shortly. However, I must say that only the NCDC is empowered to make pronouncement in the event of anything,” he added.

    Head of Unit of the National Cash Transfer Office Hajia Amina Bagudu said the payment to the beneficiaries gulp a total of N550,405,000 including “some arrears and top up.”

  • KWASU gets new Vice Chancellor

    Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara has approved the appointment of Prof. Mustapha Mohammed-Akanbi as substantive Vice Chancellor of the State University, Malete.

    Hajia, Sa’adatu Modibbo the state’s Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Ilorin.

    Modibbo said that the appointment followed the recommendation of the University Governing Council.

    “Gov.AbdulRazaq, has accepted the recommendation of the Governing Council of the Kwara State University, Malete, with regards to the appointment of Vice Chancellor.

    “Consequently, on behalf of His Excellency, I hereby announce the immediate appointment of Prof. Mohammed Mustapha Akanbi as the new Vice Chancellor of the State University, Malete.

    ”I am similarly conveying His Excellency’s approval of the appointment to the Governing Council of the University, on Wednesday, April 1, 2020,” he said.

    Before his appointment Akanbi was a lecturer at the Department of Business Law, Faculty of Law at the University of Ilorin.

    His father was late Justice Muhammad Mustapha Akanbi, Pioneer Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

  • APC sweeps governorship, Assembly seats in Kwara

    APC sweeps governorship, Assembly seats in Kwara

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the governorship ticket and all the 24
    House of Assembly seats in Kwara.

    The Returning Officer for the governorship election, Prof. Liman Sanusi, announced the emergence of AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of the APC as winner of the governorship election.

    Sanusi, who is the Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Lafia said AbdulRazaq scored a total of 331 546 votes to emerge
    victorious

    Sanusi said Razak Atunwa of the PDP came second with 114,754 votes, while APA came third.

    According to the returning officer, the total number of registered voters in the state is 1,376,372, while a total of 464,393 were accredited for the election.

    He added that there were 453,433 valid votes, while 9,994 votes were rejected.

    He said “I, Prof. Mohammed Sanusi Liman, hereby certify that I am the Returning Officer for the governorship election
    of March 9, 2019 in Kwara.

    “That AbdukRahman AbdulRazaq, having satisfied the requirements of the law by scoring more than one quarter of the
    votes cast in each of the 16 local governments and the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and return elected.”

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Malam GarbaGarba Ataihuru-Madami, also announced that candidates of the APC won all the 24 seats in the House of Assembly.

    He said that the results of the elections were announced at the various state constituencies by the Returning Officers for the constituencies.

     

  • My father forced me to contest Olofa stool – Oba Gbadamosi

    My father forced me to contest Olofa stool – Oba Gbadamosi

    The Olofa of Offa, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi, Esuwoye II, disclosed on Sunday that his late father, Alhaji Muhammed Esuwoye, forced him to contest the traditional stool of Offa town in Kwara.

    The monarch made the disclosure in Offa in his tribute at the eight day Fidau prayers for his father who died on Feb. 24 at the age of 76.

    Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the Kwara All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Osun governor attended the prayers

    Monarchs including the Oluwo of Iwo land, Abdulrasheed Akanbi, Olupo of Ajase Ipo, Oba Sikiru Atanda, the Olomu of Omu-Aran Oba Abdulraheem Adeoti, Oba Saheed Elegushi from Lagos, among others were also in attendance.

    He said “You vowed to curse me if I failed to honour the call from the family to leave my business in Lagos to participate in the contest for the Olofa stool.

    ”Out of fear and respect, I honoured your call, and to the glory of Almighty Allah, I am now the 24th Olofa of Offa.

    “My dear father, I am proud of you, even in death. You were a source of inspiration to me and the family.”

    After the Fidau prayers led by the Chief Imam of Offa, Sheik Muyideen Salman, an Islamic cleric, Dr Saidi Hussaini, gave an exhortation.

    He focused on inevitability of death, life after death and the need to impact positively on people while alive.

    The cleric, who used Olofa as example, underscored the need for people, especially the privileged to impact positively on their parents, family, community and the poor in general.

    Speaking with newsmen after the event, the Information and Culture Minister said the array of personalities at the event was suggestive of the influence of the Olofa.

    The minister said he was particularly touched by the humbling sermon of the cleric which focused on life after death and the need to prepare for the journey and make amend when alive.

    The deceased, born in 1933, was a grand son of the 19th Olofa of Offa, Oba Esuwoye I.

     

  • Fire destroys property worth millions of naira in Ilorin

    An early morning inferno on Sunday destroyed goods and property worth millions of naira at a shopping complex along Lanjorin Street in Ilorin.

    About 16 shops and five-room apartment were affected in the fire disaster.

    A victim, Mr Akeem Oyeniyi, popularly known as Murphy, blamed the disaster on the burning of cables by scavengers that lived behind the shops.

    Oyeniyi, who explained that the inferno gulped all property in the shops, asserted that the shop owners had at several times warned the scavengers against such activities.

    “They live behind these shops and burn the cables to remove aluminium. We have warned them several times.

    “They used to burn it in the day, but because we used to complain, they changed the time to the night when we would have closed for the day.

    “Immediately they knew of the incident, they fled the place leaving us with a huge loss”, he said.

    One Mr Sola Anifowose lost warehoused furniture and upholstery such as sets of cushion chairs, doors and tables, among others in the disaster.

    Another victim, Mr Abayomi Owoola, popularly known as Yomex Promoter, said all his musical instruments were lost to the inferno.

    “About 30 ready-made imported pairs of speakers sold at N270, 000 each, Plasma television sets, air conditioners, mixers and engines are gutted by the fire.

    “Not even a pin I was able to salvage,” he said, urging both federal and the state government to provide succour for the victims.

    Mrs Florence Ogundele, who operated a soft drink depot, said she had lost all her capital which was sourced from bank and cooperative loans to the inferno.

    She appealed to the National Emergency Management Agency and the state Emergency Management agency to come to their aid to ameliorate the loss.

    NAN correspondent who visited the scene reports that the victims were seen with some sympathisers wailing over the incident with an appeal to government, corporate bodies and individuals to assist.

    Mr Akeem Hassan, Spokesman for Kwara State Fire Service, in a telephone interview, confirmed the disaster to NAN.

    He said that it was a passerby that called the agency to alert it of the fire incident.

    Hassan said that the service was able to put off the fire and saved it from extending to other parts of the shopping complex and some residential apartments attached to it.

    He warned people to be cautious of the way they handle power and fire during this harmattan season.

    Hassan also warned residents and shop owners to always put off their electrical appliances when not in use to avoid fire outbreak.

     

  • Boat mishap: 19 drown in Kwara boat mishap

    Boat mishap: 19 drown in Kwara boat mishap

    No fewer than 19 children have been reportedly drowned in a boat mishap on Saturday in Lafiagi, Edu Local Government Area of Kwara.

    The boat, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt, was conveying the victims across River Niger for a programme at a traditional wedding ceremony in a community in Niger.

    The boat, conveying about 22 people mostly children, capsized while crossing the river.

    A source said that while two of the passengers were rescued, the 19 others drowned and died.

    According to him, all effort to rescue other passengers proved abortive.

    “As at yesterday evening, four corpses have been recovered from the river.

    “Effort would resume this morning again to ensure that others also are found.

    “Both men of the Nigeria Police and the State Fire Service were there yesterday in the rescue mission.

    “Unfortunately only two of them survived,” the source told NAN on Sunday.

    Meanwhile, Alhaji Sulyman Aliyu, the Secretary of the Lafiagi Traditional Council, has confirmed the incident.

    Aliyu told NAN that the number of the victims could not be ascertained yet, noting that there was a conflict in the number.

    “Definitely they are up to 12. The figure is between 12 and that 19 that you said ” he said.

    The secretary also confirmed that four corpses were recovered on Saturday and that efforts to remove others would continue on Sunday.

    The Public Relations Officer of the Kwara Police Command, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, also confirmed the incident.

    He told NAN that the officers of the force and other security agencies had joined the local government council to recover the corpses.

    He, however, said that the number of the passengers and the victims could not yet be ascertained as the recovery exercise was still ongoing.

     

  • INEC to display Voters’ Register in Kwara

    INEC to display Voters’ Register in Kwara

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is to display register of voters in all the 1, 872 polling units of Kwara state from Tuesday, Nov. 6 to Monday, Nov. 12, 2018.

    This was contained in a statement on Sunday in Ilorin by the Commission’s Head of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Jacob Ayanda on behalf of the state’s INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner.

    Ayanda said the display would allow people with claims and objections to raise such through INEC officials at their wards headquarters at the same period.

    He also said that collection of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC), would be carried out during the display of the register.

    “The exercise is to weed the register of deceased, non-Nigerians and under aged voters.

    “it will also help tackle cases of double registration.

    “This is an opportunity to keep our register credible and be armed with our PVCs, as we prepare for the 2019 General Elections,” Ayanda added.

    He therefore called on the electorate to make use of the opportunity to check their names on the register.

    “So, avail yourself this opportunity. Note that Saturdays and Sundays are inclusive,” he said.