News

PDP Endorses Adeleke for Second Term

Published

2 years ago

January 9, 2024

Eric

Osun state Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke has warned political appointees against corruption and abuse of office in their various ministries and agencies.

He handed down this warning today at the 2024 prayer programme of the state’s Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), where he was publicly endorsed as the governorship flag bearer of the party for 2026 guber polls.

Addressing party stakeholders and top officials of the state government, Governor Adeleke said “from the outside, we are inside as officials of the government. Those yet to be reached will soon get accommodated. Those already appointed should be mindful of public service regulations.

“Let me use this opportunity to warn our party members holding various offices to be good representatives of the party. We are a party of law and order, due process and rule of law. We must comply with the law in all our doings.

“Appointees must know their rights and responsibilities. As board members , you are not to be involved in the day to day running of the agency. That is the turf of the management of the agency. But as a board, you have supervisory roles on the management in line with policies you set at your board meetings and in line with laws setting up the agency. All appointees must take note of this separation of functions.

“I had earlier warned all appointees to beware of self-serving posture. We are in office to serve the people.This administration will not tolerate corruption and abuse of office and powers either by appointees or management of the agencies. We will impose heavy sanctions on those who breach state laws”, Governor Adeleke told the party stakeholders.

While recalling the rot inherited from the previous government, the Governor said his team devised several strategies and tactics to provide much needed solutions.

“Our efforts paid off in several areas. God provides us with wisdom and directions, leading to ongoing attention to workers welfare, infra upgrade, water provision, school rehabilitation, and widening of health access to our people.

“Since we took over a year or so ago, we have launched a series of reconstruction efforts to achieve recovery. Your government since inception has equally been delivering democratic dividends to the good people of the state. Everywhere in Nigeria and abroad, our good work attracts commendation and applause from Osun people at home and in the diaspora.

“I am happy to congratulate you all that your government has not failed the people. We have kept faith with our electoral promises. We are directly addressing the wishes and aspirations of our people. In all our conduct as a government, we have carried the party along to ensure those who worked reap the benefit of their labor.

“As a pro-people leadership, we have used the party structure to service our people. The goal is to strengthen the party as the platform on which we all got into office. We are going to do more for the party in 2024”, he said.

Governor Adeleke said several programmes have been lined up for the benefit of the state, her people, and our party members, calling on party members to unite for the good of the party and the state.

“Permit me to also inform you all that we have kickstarted the reconciliation process. We are to build a united strong family. I call on us to embrace the peace and unity movement. Henceforth, there should be no more segregation. We are all one happy family”, he noted.

Earlier, the party through its state Working Committee announced its endorsement of the Governor for a second term in 2026.

Speaking for the working committee, the State Publicity Secretary, Hon Ayodeji Areola, said the party has decided that there will be no vacancy in Osun state come 2024.

“I have the directive of the party in Osun state to announce that there is no vacancy in Osun Government House come 2026. We declare today that the 2026 governorship ticket of PDP is for Governor Ademola Adeleke.

“ The party took the decision because the Governor has performed creditably well and has not betrayed the confidence reposed in him by the party and the people of Osun state”, Hon Ayodeji noted.

State chairman of the party, Hon Sunday Bisi eulogised the state Governor for making the party proud since assumption of governorship, noting that the prayer session was to thank God for successes of the past and the victory of the future.

News

El-Rufai’s Son, Bello, Dumps APC, Joins ADC

Published

5 days ago

May 7, 2026

Eric

Bello El-Rufai, the son of former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The speaker said Bello El-Rufai joined the ADC alongside two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Kaduna State — Reps Umar Ajilo and Suleiman Yahaya Richifa.

He also announced the defection of Kamilu Ado, a lawmaker from Kano State, from the ADC to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

The Speaker also announced the resignation of Rep. Joshua Obika, representing the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency of the Federal Capital Territory, from the APC to the NDC.

The defected members, however, cited internal crises and uncertainty within their former parties as reasons for their defections.

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

3 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

3 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.