25112022

10 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2022
:Vanguard News
Alleged defamation: Owoeye
petitions Ogun gov, CP, DSS,
demands probe
By Innocent Anaba
LAGOS—A renowned
estate agent, Alhaji
Mutairu Owoeye, yesterday,
urged Governor Dapo
Abiodun of Ogun State, the
Commissioner of Police and
Director-General,
Department of State Services,
DSS, to investigate an alleged
defamatory publication made
against him by President,
Centre for Democracy and
Socio-Economic Rights,
CEDESER.
The group had on an online
platform, on November 22,
2022, described Owoeye as a
notorious land grabber that
has controlled a criminal
gang that has been disturbing
the peace of the state.
Housing: Partnership with govt
yielding positive results
—BSTAN Homes boss
By Adeola Badru
IBADAN—BSTAN Homes
and Properties Limited,
yesterday, announced that the
7th edition of the National
House Fair and Lagos first
edition will hold on December
1st, 2022 at the Oriental
Hotel, Victoria Island in
Lagos.
Speaking at a press
conference to herald the
forthcoming event tagged:
'Property in a sachet', the
Coordinator of the Lagos
National House Fair, Mr Tolu
Oluwo, said: "The objective of
the event is to bring
affordable, accessible and
functional housing to lowincome
earners without
stress."
Also speaking, the Group
But, Owoeye, in a petition
by his lawyer, Ogabi
Babatunde, said the
publication was a deliberate
effort to damage his
reputation and credibility in
the society.
He said publication has
"lowered his image in the eyes
of the numerous readers of the
unfortunate story both on the
online platform and other
platforms where the story was
forwarded to within Nigeria
and overseas."
Similar petitions were
written to the Attorney-
General and Commissioner
for Justice, Ministry of Justice,
and Speaker, Ogun State
House of Assembly,
respectively.
Managing Director, BSTAN
Homes and Properties, Dr
Becky Olubukola, said: "We
have come to organize the
Lagos edition of National
House Fair to produce basic
shelter for people at
affordable rates.
"The government cannot do
it alone, private-public
participation and workable
policies that will support
people are some of the things
that we need.
"We started this project six
years ago and we have
recorded remarkable success
in the real estate business.
"We have since built about
28,000 units of houses and we
plan to reach 5,000 housing
units as well as expand to
other African nations that
have been inviting us."
We've registered 3700 waste
pickers in Lagos —ASWOL
LAGOS—THE Association
of Scrap and waste Pickers
of Lagos, ASWOL, yesterday,
said it has started the
uploading of the profile of
3700 registered waste pickers
on its newly launched website.
Speaking during the
Nigerian Artisans Technicians
Conference held in Lagos, the
association's President,Mr
Friday Oku, who stated that
the essence of putting the
registered members' profiles
on the website, said: "The
website will make you know
the real waster picker that is
on the street, all the cart
pushers we want to have all of
them on the website in which
they will have a number and
you can click on the website
and you know that this person
is from Ikorodu, Ikeja and you
know even the unit where the
person is coming from.
"For now those on the
website are not up to 1000 but
for those who filled their hard
copies, we have 3700. Before
we put anyone on the website,
we must investigate your
source and whether you have
National Identity Number, so
that you can click and know the
state that the person is from."
Also speaking, a consultant of
the association, Rethinking
Cities, Mr Deji Akinpelu said:
"The website will serve as a
resource centre for any
information relating to waste
and scrap dealers in the state
thereby strengthening the waste
and scrap dealers' networks at
the international, regional,
national and local levels.
"This is why we, at
Rethinking Cities and
Heinrich Böll Stiftung, see
this step as a laudable
initiative in our efforts to end
discrimination against
informal waste pickers."
Methodist Church to set up
radio, TV stations
By Dickson
Omobola
LAGOS—THE New Prelate of
Methodist Church Nigeria,
Dr Oliver Aba, has disclosed that
the Church plans to establish a
radio and television station that
would be used to spread the
gospel.
Aba, who spoke at his
investiture as prelate, said the
church needed a constant use of
the media to broadcast its
activities to the Christian body.
On his part, the outgoing
prelate, Dr Samuel Kalu, advised
Aba to inculcate a bold attitude,
adding that he must always
speak out in the face of coercion
or oppression.
He also urged the new prelate
to defend his flock, saying that
the "inability of Christian leaders
to defend their people is one of
the reasons for the attack on the
Christian body."
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058
ANNIVERSARY—From left: Chairman, The Address Homes, and former GMD, First Bank of
Nigeria Ltd., FBN, Mr. Bisi Onasanya; former First Bank chairman, Umaru Mutallab, a
British MP; Chairman, First Bank Holdings Plc., Ahmad Abdullahi; Chairman, First Bank
Nigeria, Tunde Odukale, and Non-Executive Director, FBN, Julius Omodayo-Owotuga,
during the FBN UK 40th anniversary, themed: 'Partnership Beyond Borders', held in London.
Assembly crisis: Aribisogan, others
threatening us, Ekiti lawmakers tell Police
•Aribisogan's impeachment breach of law —Afe Babalola
By Rotimi
Ojomoyela
ADO-EKITI—THE crisis
rocking the Ekiti State
House of Assembly deepened as
the lawmakers, yesterday, called
on the security agencies to invite
the embattled former Speaker,
Gboyega Aribisogan over an
alleged threat to their lives.
In a five-point resolution
passed at plenary, the lawmakers
urged the security agencies to
invite and investigate the
impeached and suspended
Speaker, Mr Aribisogan and
other suspended lawmakers.
The lawmakers hinged their
call on the need to ensure that
the lives and properties of
members and staff are protected
due to the recent calls received
by members from the impeached
Speaker and his cronies.
The motion, moved by the
lawmaker representing Ekiti
East II, Mr Lateef Akanle, was
seconded by Mr Abiodun
Fawekun, Ido/Oso 1.
Other parts of the motion were
to make the suspended Speaker
sign an undertaking that nothing
untoward will happen to
members and that the
Resolution is transmitted to
Governor Biodun Oyebanji for
necessary action.
2023 polls: Why Nigerians must eschew religious intolerance,
violence —Patriots Roundtable
By Dapo Akinrefon
LAGOS—A pressure group,
the Patriots Roundtable,
yesterday, urged Nigerians and
supporters of political parties
to ensure they imbibe religious
tolerance as the 2023 general
elections draw near.
In a statement by its Director-
General, Uthman Shodipe-
Dosunmu, the forum urged
Nigerians not to be divided by
religion adding that religion
has no place in politics.
The statement reads: "When
Asiwaju Tinubu told the
leadership of the Christian
Association of Nigeria that his
wife and Children are all
Christians while he is a
Muslim, he appropriately
defined the very exemplar and
In their various submissions,
at the plenary presided by Mrs
Olubunmi Adelugba, the
lawmakers supported the
motion.
The lawmaker urged the
relevant security agencies to
address the allegation before it
gets out of hand.
Earlier, the Speaker, Mrs
Adelugba read the composition
of the new Standing Committee
of the House to members, stating
that it takes immediate effect.
Aribisogan's
the unique accommodating
essence that is the normative
particularity of Lagos state and
the South-West in general.
"The Yoruba people are
undoubtedly the most liberal
in this nation when it comes to
matters of faith. Here they lack
the prejudicial recourse of the
extremist who would
discriminate and vilify others
over religious differences.
"Not in Yorubaland. Not in
Lagos state. If there is a place
where the two religions
intermingled without malice,
distortions or any violent
upheaval, we urge everyone to
come to Lagos.
"It is common typicality in
Lagos that a family will have a
Christian father and Muslim
Mother or vice-versa. It is a
impeachment
breach of law
—Afe Babalola
Meanwhile, the Chancellor
and Founder of Afe Babalola
University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD,
Afe Babalola, yesterday,
described the impeachment of
Aribisogan as a breach of a
fundamental law of fair hearing.
Babalola, who stated this,
yesterday, at the 3rd Aare Afe
Babalola Distinguished
Personality Lecture Series,
DPLS, noted that Aribisogan's
long-held customary practice
where all religions both Islam
and Christianity, including the
traditional worshipers, cohabit
under one roof without
rancour.
"They all celebrate
Christmas, Eid Kabir, or even
the Egungun season with
genuine friendship, with the
sincere clarity and bond of
cultural brotherhood without
any intimation of differences or
hostile intentions.
"This accommodating amity
should be a guide, a bellwether
to the unifying core of the
Nigerian nation.
"Religion should not divide
us. Religion has no place in
politics. We at the Patriots
Roundtable are convinced that
the sincerity of character, the
genuineness of the core of the
impeachment might not install
peace in Ekiti, noting that the
Lawmakers took the law into
their hands and didn't consider
the fact that he was conditionally
elected.
His words: "My learning
teaches me that there must be
fair hearing, there must be full
compliance with rule of law. You
cannot impeach somebody
unless he has committed an
offence.
"It's a clear case of breach of
fundamental law and fair
hearing. So, I cannot but believe
this was a case of total neglect of
the law as people took the law
into their hands."
2023: Majority of Yoruba 'll vote
for Tinubu, says YCE
By Adeola Badru
IBADAN—THE
Yoruba
Council of Elders, YCE,
yesterday, expressed optimism
that the majority of Yoruba people
will vote for the Presidential
candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu in the 2023 election.
Speaking with journalists in
Ibadan after his inauguration,
the new President-General of
YCE, Ajibade Oyekan, stressed
that the body language of the
majority of members of the group
has shown that they will vote for
Tinubu in the election.
He said: "I have said, we are a
non-partisan organisation; we
don't talk about politics here and
that has held us together, bound
us together for all these years.
"We didn't discuss who to vote
for, but the body language of the
entire members tells me that we
should look inwards since we
have a Yoruba man there.
"I can see that people will vote
for their kinsman. So, the
majority of our members, without
discussing, without agreeing on
any particular candidate will vote
for Tinubu. The majority of our
members are for him.
"Please get me right, we are
not, as a group, endorsing a
particular individual, because
once you do that, you are just
mocking yourself, because
members are going to the polling
booth to vote individually with
their conscience.
"Our body language just tells
us that majority of our people are
going to vote for Tinubu."
human soul, the competence
of leadership, and the devotion
to the supremacy of the unity
of our nation should supersede
any narrow divisive recourse
to sectarian values."
"Faiths and individual beliefs
should not be a gauge of
leadership. What ought to
concern us all in the renewal
of the national ideals should
be the content of character, the
indices of leadership such as
intellect, vision, competitive
bearing, merit, reflective grasp
of power and the progressive
ability to project far ahead of
the throng, selfless in service
and devotion to the general
welfare. That is the leadership
we should encourage. That is
the leadership effulgence in
the Tinubu-Shettima ticket,"
he added.