Headline

Lara Owoeye-Wise Replies Critics ” I Do Not Possess What It Takes To Be Treacherous”

Published

4 years ago

June 25, 2019

Editor

Lara Owoeye-Wise who was recently appointed by Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege as his Senior Special Assistant on Electronic and New Media has received torrents of bashing from critics who have questioned her loyalty and capability to to take up the appointment.

Though many friends rose to her defence, noting that she was a thoroughbred professional and fair-minded analysts, she has decided to personally put the matter to rest with a riposte. Here is the full statement

SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT.

In public communication, response to an orchestrated attack especially from social media should ideally be measured, self restraining and driven by purpose.

As I am not habitually one to jump into frays in this case as a panicky rebuttal to a coordinated social media attack on my person and character, my purpose here would be to sacrifice my preference for silence in order to get up and pull away the esteemed personality and exalted office of the Deputy President of the Senate, Rt. Hon. Ovie Omo-Agege, whom I have tremendous respect for and whose personality and office are naturally caught up in the middle of the unforced rumpus generated by my appointment. While i do not mind to take the hit, I would not want the Distinguished Deputy Senate President to bear any stain by association.

While i won’t claim to be a Politician as yet, I have nonetheless, put in over 25 years cognate experience as a Media Professional in Print and Electronic Journalism practice.
Indulging in self-praise would amount to vainglory and self-conceit, I would however risk to assume that my aforementioned professional track-record earned me the privilege of being hired to work with the immediate past Deputy Speaker of the 8th Assembly, Rt. Hon Lasun Yusuff of the APC until the 7th of June when the 8th Assembly wound down.

This is a pointer in one unequivocal direction, which is a combined loyal service to nation-building in both the Media and public service.

The searchlight for service I would also submit, came my way as a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria whose rights include freedom of expression in as much as it falls within the confines of civilized endeavors, lawful boundaries, sublime compliance, professionalism and the stimulation of intellectual engagement. These I carried out with the use of satires and literary imageries: expressions which were neither demeaning of our great country nor of her leadership. These are posts i hold dear and desire to have endure. It is therefore unimaginable if not laughable, that i would in panicky and dishonest move, “delete my posts, numbering up to 11,000”! One, if I had up to 11,000 posts, that must mean I had spent the past years doing nothing but indulging in endless postsings. How would i have had such luxury of time within the pressure we work under daily, managing my Principal on one hand, fulfilling my role as a family woman on the other, and giving myself to other upbuilding social services to better my environment and world? One more thought…If i had deleted 11,000 posts within the few days of my appointment, how were my traducers able to send mugshots of same deleted posts around and about? I have not deleted neither have I edited even one of my old posts on social media since my appointment. Please crosscheck.

As unfortunate as this incident is, the umbrage against my appointment is an unfortunate showcase of sobering reality to well meaning Nigerians that there is so much we need to do on civic engagement as the future of Nigeria rests on the quality of our followership which will produce future leaders. I bear this stark reality in mind as I daily attempt to mentor the younger generation through my social media posts and my character.

I shall resist the urge to join issues on the salacious insinuation of any working/ intimate relationship between Senator Dino Melaye and I. While there is no iota of truth in this, dissipating energy on it equates to according undue attention to sheer indiscretion from a group of people who probably still have a lot to learn from the tenets of honour, graciousness, dignity, depth of perspectives and uncommon ability to respect the sensibility of others, especially our fellow citizens. Germane issues must always rise above laughable conjectures and must never be made to suffer preposterous dimensions or such cluelessness emanating from myopic inclinations.

By the way, Dino Melaye represents my Senatorial district. The few interactions I have had with him were usually at public events, occasions where i muster enough honour to expand frontiers for my Principal and engage in robust political cross fertilization of ideas. Should i have worked for Senator Melaye in his political ambitions or even his party, I would have demonstrated some measure of honour to own up to it and actually turn down this appointment as I do not posses what it takes to be treacherous.

May I use this opportunity to express profound gratitude to the Deputy Senate President for considering me worthy to render my professional services to support his office for the betterment of Nigeria and her people.

May I also observe that in my capacity as Electronic and Social Media Adviser, the event of yesterday has opened a sobering perspective that a lot of gap is open to be filled in not just shaping the right narratives on social media but doing so with an impressive demonstration of mental aptitude and pure intellect.

To those who rose up in stout defence of my person, while i do express my appreciation to you all for such display of decorum, I dare say, please “don’t go yet”, as we have a lot to do together in showcasing to the outside world, that as a nation with a teeming youth population, we can do better than continued indulgence in pull-down mentalities as self appointed judges from self-induced cages and prisms.

Thank you.

Lara Owoeye-Wise

Headline

Tinubu Presents N27.5tr 2024 budget to NASS, Seeks Speedy Passage

Published

13 hours ago

November 29, 2023

Eric

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, presented the Appropriation Bill of the Federal government for the year 2024 tagged ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’ to a joint session of the National Assembly.

This is the president’s first budget presentation to the National Assembly since assuming office on May 29.

The President arrived at the National Assembly for the presentation of the 2024 budget at about 11:09 am accompanied some ministers and aides. and senior officials.

He was led into the chamber of the House of Representatives for the presentation of the N27.5trillion Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly which began after the rendition of the National Anthem and opening prayers.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC)on Monday approved N27.5 trillion as the 2024 budget estimate.

It will be recalled that Tinubu had about three weeks ago forwarded the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework ( MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper ( FSP), proposing an expenditure of N26.1 for the 2024 fiscal year.

After two weeks of deliberations and interface with heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the revenue and expenditure projections, the Senate through its Committee on Finance approved the MTEF.

It specifically approved the N26.1 trillion proposed as 2024 budget and other parameters proposed by Tinubu.

It also approved new borrowings of N7.8 trillion, while pegging the oil price benchmark for 2024 at $73.96 and oil production at 1.78 million barrels per day.

Other parameters approved are GDP growth rate of 3.76 per cent, the inflation rate of 21.40 per cent, a suggested benchmark exchange rate of N700 to $1 and a projected budget deficit of N9.04 trillion.

Headline

Emefiele Yet to Meet Bail Conditions, May Stay in Prison Till 2024

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2023

Eric

A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, has adjourned an alleged procurement fraud case involving a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

The court adjourned the trial of the former apex bank chief to January 18 and 19, 2024 for continuation of trial.

Emefiele is standing trial on a six count amended charge on alleged procurement of vehicles to the tune of N1.6billion.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He was granted bail on November 17, 2023 to the tune of N300million and two sureties, but remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre, pending when he meets his bail conditions.

At the resumed hearing, the prosecution witness, who is a top official of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) told the court that the Emefiele is not the owner or a shareholder of the April1616 Investment Limited awarded N1.2 billion vehicle supply contract by CBN under his watch.

He was led in evidence by counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo , while tendering several documents on how the company was incorporated on August 1, 2016.

He further read out the names of the shareholders of the company as Aminu Yaro, Maryam Abdullahi and Saadatu Yaro as joint owners of the entity.

Emefiele’s lawyer, Mathew Burkaa, who declined to speak on camera, said Emefiele is yet to meet his bail conditions.

Counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Federal government declined to speak on the day’s proceedings.

Headline

One Year in Office: Adeleke Gives Scorecard, Pledges Continuous Democracy Dividends

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2023

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has felicitated with the people of Osun State as his administration marks one in office.

In the statement he personally signed, the governor informed that the last one year has been characterized by reconstruction and reconfiguration of various of the state’s economy, adding that the administration has been able to navigate through “numerous land mines deliberately set by the past administration to frustrate our administration” to provide appropriate leadership and benefits for the people of Osun state.

Adeleke further intimated that he is on a working visit to Europe and Asia, where he hope to attract investment opportunities foe the state.

The governor highlighted stability of the civil service, improved intercity road networks, surgical and medical outreaches as well as the #Imole100BInfrastructure as some of the laudable achievements of his administration in the last one year.

Below is the detailed statement:

It is one year ago today since our administration came into office. It has been a year of reconstruction and reconfiguration across the various sectors of the osun economy.

Due to the current economic situation in the state and our country in general, I have directed that this anniversary be conducted in a low key atmosphere. I remain committed to prudent use of our scarce resources on more pressing issues.

I am currently on a working vacation to Europe and Asia where I am advancing partnership discussion with potential investors needed to improve our state economy.

It is important to recognize the enormous challenges and obstacles we have overcome and the progress we have made thus far. Despite the numerous land mines deliberately set by the past administration to frustrate our administration, we have developed a robust mechanism to successfully navigate and overcome these challenges.

We have stabilized the state civil service with continuous commitment to the welfare of the state civil servants and pensioners, this we will continue to focus on in fulfillment of a critical part of our 5 point agenda.

We have massively improved intracity road network across the state by constructing over 90KM of roads, completion of the Phase II of Òṣogbo-Ikirun road and ongoing construction of Osun ring road (Ona Baba Ona) both abandoned by the past administration.

We have embarked on surgical and medical outreach that benefited over 50,000 vulnerable citizens. Also, we have completely rehabilitated over 31 schools across the state.

Recently, I launched the #Imole100BInfrastructure that focuses on education, health, road construction and water. These are critical sectors that we have identified to urgently revamp for the sustainability and development of the state economy.

I am happy to share that as we move forward, the positive results of our collaborative efforts for the past one year are expected to bear fruit. With projected increase in our internally generated revenue and prudent application of public funds, our infrastructure plan will be fully funded without seeking external loan.

Today, I re-affirm my commitment to serving with the fear of God and focused on delivering on my 5 point agenda as promised during the campaign season.

I thank you for your continuous support and prayer as you continue to support our efforts to develop our dear state.