Category: Politics

There is an indication that the health of billionaire businessman-cum-politician, Senator Buruji Kashamu, who has been receiving treatment for Covid-19, has turned for the worse.

Global Excellence magazine earlier reported that the famous philanthropist, who was tested positive for the deadly pandemic few days ago but later confirmed to be negative by doctors at the Lagos isolation centre, had been moved to the First Cardiology hospital when his condition reportedly deteriorated.

A reliable source told Global Excellence magazine that the senator, who represented Ogun East senatorial district between 2015 and 2019, few days after testing negative, was found to have underlying chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart and lung deseases and high blood pressure that were fast weakening his immune system.

The source said that the discovery affected his body’s ability to respond as quickly to treatment at the isolation centre; hence, the need for advanced treatment at a higher hospital.

Kashamu’s negative status had been confirmed and he was expected to be discharged from the centre last weekend before the latest development.

“I saw a video of one charming young boy online asking his mom to ‘calm down’ as she was set to punish him for his misdemeanour.

I was moved by his sobriety, which reflected in his promise of “last chance”, when confronted with the fact that he is a regular offender.

The exchange was indeed funny, but it depicts the efforts parents put in moulding children into responsible adults. I want to assume that his mom indeed calmed down because the appeal was moving enough to make anyone change their mind.

Interestingly, the video inspired this special message to the good people of Lagos State because of the deeper meaning it conveys.

Fellow Lagosians, we need to ‘calm down’ as we enjoy the coming holiday and festivity.

It is a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim’s heart of sacrifice and faith in Allah.
We need to emulate and demonstrate his sense of self-restraint at this time the world is combating the scourge of COVID-19.

We need to be moderate in our celebration and also observe prescribed protocols towards defeating the deadly coronavirus, which are, maintaining social distancing, washing and sanitizing our hands, and using our face masks.
The world needs responsibility and commitment of its people to oust coronavirus.

I urge every Lagosian to ‘calm down’ and not get carried away by the ‘excitement of the moment’. Like the rest of the world, we are still in the middle of a pandemic and need to remain extremely careful to keep the gains of the sacrifices we have all made in the past months.

Let’s calm down!

Meanwhile, I would like to meet the young boy since we both have exclusive right to the phrasal verb ‘calm down” – Sanwoolu.

The 320-kilometre standard gauge rail line connecting the port city of Warri, Delta State and Itakpe, Okene in Kogi State including the station buildings has been declared reading for commissioning.

The operational hub of the rail line located in Agbor, Delta State, has also been named after the immediate past president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan.

Although the standard gauge line connecting three states including Kogi, Edo, Delta has since April 2019 been used for commercial operations while the construction of the 13 station buildings along the corridor was ongoing.

But the Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi while inspecting the project on Sunday said the rail was ready for commissioning and may be commissioned by the President virtually.

He disclosed that contractor handling the project Julius Berger has moved from the site while the China Civil Engineering Construction Company, (CCECC) is maintaining just a little presence saying what is left is for them to handover to the Nigeria Railway Cooperation (NRC), and Transport Ministry.

Amaechi said the NRC’s director of rail Engr Baba Kobi will double as the managing director for now until there is an arrangement to do the final inspection and take over from CCECC and Julius Berger.

Expressing satisfaction with the quality of work, he said: “When you see a good job, don’t ask questions. The camera will show that this is a good job, this is the Goodluck Jonathan Agbor Station which incorporates the railway facilities. Julius Berger and CCECC teams have all done a good job. We will know if NRC has done a good job when they manage it properly because the issue is maintenance”.

“I don’t want to come here in the next four, five years and it looks worn out. I have seen the toilet facilities they look good but typical of us, I hope in the next five years it will be intact because in Kubwa now, those things look worn out, if you break anything, replace it or repair it. I think we should learn to maintain the infrastructure that we inherit”.

The Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, who rushed into the residence of a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh, following alleged police harassment , has taken her to the Government House.

Wike was said to have arrived the house, which was surrounded by over 15 armed policemen, in the morning.

He reportedly bulldozed his way into the building and zoomed off with the embattled ex-NDDC managing director.

Sources said the Governor relocated Nunieh, who was supposed to be in Abuja to testify before the ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives investigating alleged corruption in the NDDC, to the Government House in Port Harourt.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as African Union (AU) Anti-Corruption Champion in Africa, firmly assures all Nigerians that he will not be deterred by baseless criticisms by the opposition in his determination to eradicate rampant, chronic corruption.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents on issues raised by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since the beginning of the interrogation of suspended acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the volume and reach of the anti-corruption crusade so far reflects what the PDP left behind.

Shehu said corruption became so normalized by the PDP that they had difficulty defining what is “corruption” and “theft”.

The presidential spokesman praised President Buhari’s determination to end corruption in the country as responsible for the number of highly publicized charges and cases.

“The large number of cases, new and old, may appear to be daunting but PDP, which is now heckling the President, has forgotten that the party bequeathed this to the current administration. They had large number of cases they did not investigate and prosecute,” he said.

Shehu also cautioned the PDP to allow the process of investigation and prosecution to work instead of being preemptive about ongoing cases and unduly agitating the public.

He expressed hope that the Judiciary would deal with the cases swiftly and satisfactorily, in a manner that would deter other would-be offenders.

“The current administration is handling many of the cases that the PDP should have dealt with and the new ones as they arise,” he said.

What’s your take on this?

The Lagos state house of assembly lawmaker, Tunde Braimoh populally known as Big Daddy passed away early this morning.

Until his death, he was a Barrister at law and the chairman’s house committee on information, security, and strategy in the Lagos state house of Assembly.

His cause of death is yet to be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.

It can be recalled that a senator from Kosofe LGA, Bayo Osinowo, recently died of COVID-19.

The remains former Governor of Oyo state Ajimobi was laid to rest at his Oluyole’ s Residence amid tight security today.

The former governor was buried at 10.20 a.m. according to Islamic rites after his body was brought in from Lagos early on Sunday.

His burial was only attended by family members with some insiders so as to observe social distance laid by NCDC.

Among the cleric at the burial were Alhaji Kunle Sanni, Sheikh Muyideen Bello, Chief Imam of Ibadan land, Sheikh Abubakri AbdulGaniyu Agbotomokere among others.

Also present here APC gubernatorial candidate, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Hon Shina Peller, Honourable Saheed Akinade-Fijabi, Representative of Ekiti State governor, Senator Teslim Folarin, Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare and members of 8th Assembly.

Yesterday, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu, paid a condolence visit to the family of the late former Governor of Oyo State, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi, in their LAGOS residential home.

Governor Sanwoolu also commiserated with the Government and people of Oyo State on the death of the immediate past Governor and prayed for Allah to give the deceased family the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.