A pastor, identified simply as Timothy
Abiola, has allegedly shot dead a fellow pastor, who was also his
friend, Pastor Bamiji Ilori.
The Police Public Relations Officer for
the Osun State command, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, who said this in a
statement on Sunday, added that the reason for the action had yet to be
ascertained.
The name of the church of the two pastors was not stated, but the PPRO said Abiola shot his colleague with a locally-made gun.
She stated that the gun had been recovered by the police, adding that the incident happened in Ikire, Osun State.
She said that the suspect was arrested following a report made to the police by a relative of the deceased cleric.
She said, “Ilori had confessed to the
police. Investigation into the killing has started and the suspect will
soon be charged to court.”
She stated that the remains of late
pastor had been deposited at the Catholic Hospital’s morgue in the
Oluyoro area, Apomu, for autopsy.
It will be recalled that a pastor
identified as Adepoju, had in January 2014 stabbed his colleague and
friend, Pastor Julius Oguntoye, to death in Gbongan, in Osun State.
Eighty-six-year-old Alex Ajayi is
the first graduate from Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State. He was also the campaign
director to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the 1979 presidential
election. He talks about his life with KAMARUDEEN OGUNDELE
How was growing up like?
I was born on June 28, 1930. I was
privileged to come from a literate family. My father worked with
missionary priests who were Oxford-trained. Ado Ekiti, as a metropolis
and occupied by agrarian people, did not develop as fast it should be in
the beginning. Many towns and villages near and far from Ado produced
graduates decades before our own time.
My father combined teaching with
evangelism. He was in charge of three schools and three churches in
Ikere in the 1920s. He and one other person established the first Olu
Scout Troupe in Owo where I also became a member in 1941. My mother was
also trained by the missionaries. My parents travelled to different
parts of the country.
Which schools did you attend?
I attended many primary schools because
my father was a headmaster and pastor. I started at St Luke’s Ikere and
then St. Mary in Ode Ekiti. I later had a stint at Emmanuel Primary
School, Ado Ekiti and in All Saints, Ogbonkowo, in Ondo State. I was at
St James Igbara Odo, Ekiti, when my father was the headmaster and
catechist there. I was at St Patrick, Owo, in 1941. My headmaster was
the late Pa D.O Fagunwa who authored Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumale
and later became my class master at Igbobi College. I later went to All
Saints, Owode in Abeokuta, Ogun State, which my father upgraded to
Standard 5 and 6 till October 1943 when I came to Ado after my father
was transferred to Aramoko Ekiti. I finished Standard 6 in Christ’s
School, Ado Ekiti.
After leaving Christ’s School, which other schools did you attend?
I attended Igbobi College, Lagos from
1944 to 1949. At the time, the principal was the only member of the
Headmaster’s Conference of England. I got sound education from the
school. Because I belonged to a group of boys who were adventurous, we
begged the school to allow us to sit for a high examination and school
certificate when we were in final year.
We also sat for the London matriculation
examination and many of us passed. I was able to teach my own mates
while they were still in school because I left school months before
them. I later gained admission into Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, an
affiliate of University of Durham in England. The college produced
Bishop Ajayi Crowther and all the great men of letters at the time. The
first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Kenneth Dike,
attended the university. I skipped the first year and spent only three
years and that gave me a lot of advantages. Many of my seniors in
grammar schools started working and could not continue with their
education. That was how I became the first graduate in Ado Ekiti.
Can you give insights into your career in the civil service?
I was the principal of Fiditi Grammar
School, Oyo State, at age 26 in 1956 and produced the first set of
students in 1959. I ensured that the school was stabilised before I
joined the West African Examinations Council. I also established a
football team and the late Teslim (Thunder) Balogun came from Ibadan to
train my boys. They went on to win all their matches in the western
region and even defeated the University of Ibadan football team 12-0.
With that level of achievements, I joined the West African Examination
Council as a pioneer staff. I was the first substantive Nigerian
Assistant Registrar. I took over the control of the examination from the
University of Cambridge. I took examiners to Cambridge for training
across 10 years and trained them in Nigeria. I had the opportunity of
issuing WAEC certificates to three former Heads of State: Buhari, Abacha
and Babangida in the 60s. When I was in WAEC, I was put on the council
of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1966 by the
national government of Aguiyi Ironsi. I was put on three important
committees. The vice-chancellor and others were interested that I became
a full staff of the university which I was not really keen about. But I
finally accepted out of pressure. When I was serving on the council of
the University of Ife, I was among the three-member committee selected
by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the first chancellor. I was on the council
that installed him in 1967. From the early days of my life, I never
applied for jobs. I was just invited. I stayed at the University of Ife
before I left for an examination correspondence college as a director
and controller producing lectures for professional courses and involved
with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Institute of
Insurers and Institute of Bankers. I had the joy of launching these new
lecture courses in the universities in Lagos, Ife and the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka. Thereafter, I went into private business with the late
of Oni of Ife and Leventis. I established a factory at Ibadan where I
was a director and subscribing shareholder.
In those days, we produced carpet used
by the Senate, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and others. The carpet
companies in Lagos then were just distributors; we were the real
manufacturers.
Did you hold any public office?
I served as the local government
chairman of Ado Ekiti between 1973 and 1983 first under the military and
again invited under the civilians without receiving a kobo. That was
when I gave out my house as Senate to the then Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ado Ekiti. I’m used to giving to charity. I have instituted a
scholarship for the best final year student in Christ’s School since
1967. These are just some flashes of my public and private life.
How did you meet your wife?
It was during independence in 1960. We
had a ceremony at a Race Course which later became Tafawa Balewa Square.
A lot of my friends came all the way from Freetown to watch the
independence ceremony in Lagos. So, I decided to take them out. They
gave me an address. But when I got there, maybe they were not so sure of
the address, there was no sight of them. I met a young lady in front of
the house. I asked for direction and she tried to explain to me whether
it was another street or so. That was how we met. The friendship
flourished. We married six years later. She is a brilliant, healthy and
virtuous woman. She was the captain of netball in her school and later
captained all Lagos netball teams that toured the whole of the West.
How do you unwind?
I enjoyed dancing a lot. In those days,
we had jazz, jive, swig; these took us to different parties and
restaurants in Lagos. In the university on Saturdays we had hops and
dancing in the theatre. In my days in London we had Saturday hops. I am a
life member of Lagos Island Club. I was a founding member of Ado Ekiti
Inland Club. I was the launch chairman of scouting movement in the
University of Ife in 1971. I am a life patron of Boys Brigade in Ado
Ekiti. I compose hymns and write poems. I am a life patron of the choir
in St Francis in Lagos; a patron of the choir in All Saints, Yaba and in
Emmanuel Cathedral in Ado Ekiti. This gives me enough time to relax and
enjoy hymns.
Tell us about your relationship with the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
My working relationship with Chief
Obafemi Awolowo started with my father. In 1954, my father became a
member of the House of Assembly in Ado Ekiti. Then, Awolowo was about
founding the Action Group. At the time, not many people knew the
difference between Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe. They saw Awolowo as
co-runner to Zik. Many people in the West then were Zikists. When
members of the assembly were elected, it was on the day the assembly was
going to open that Awolowo announced Action Group and started calling
people to join him. I advised my father to stay with the National
Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons because I belonged to a group
referred to as Zikists Movement. Although I had just left secondary
school then, Lagos gave us much political maturity because as students,
we were allowed to attend public lecturers by the likes of Nwafor Orizu
Zik, among others. Awolowo put my father on a very important committee.
As principal of Fiditi Grammar School, Awolowo wanted to land his
helicopter on the school’s field, but I insisted that the Premier must
write a letter of permission, which he did. He wrote the letter and we
allowed him to land the helicopter on the school’s field in June 1959.
And he campaigned. I started visiting his house. Later on, Awolowo gave
the first set of 200 scholarships. Before that, he gave out 40 to
graduates and post- graduates students whom I was among. He wrote us
letters personally at different locations to congratulate us. I replied
his letter and thanked him. He was very pleased. I later became his
campaign director under the United Party of Nigeria for the 1979
election.
You were Awolowo’s campaign
director in Borno State for the 1979 elections. Do you share the belief
that UPN was a party for westerners?
The intention of the founding fathers
was to build a national party with branches all over the country. I had
my office in Maimalari in Maiduguri, Borno State. Awolowo had his men
all over the country. It was just the reception that failed. There were
people that wanted to work with him in the North but they were in the
minority. They were people that were anti-establishment who would rather
be on their own. There was acceptance but not enough to change the
status quo. But we still won a seat in Biu senatorial district. However,
there was still rigging.
If the election was not rigged as you said, do you think Awolowo could have won the election?
No, he could not have won. There was
suspicion in the North that the first coup plotters of 1966 wanted to
make him the prime minister. There was so much distrust of him in the
North because many leading northern leaders were killed in the first
coup. So, they didn’t want him to become the president. But some still
believed in him and worked for him. We still won a seat in Biu
senatorial district.
Samuel Awoyinfa, Abeokuta
The national leadership of the Senior Staff Association of
Nigerian Universities, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration, to as a matter of urgency reverse the sacking of 23
members of staff of the Federal University of Agriculture ,Abeokuta,
relieved of their appointments last Thursday.
The Governing Council of the institution had sacked 18
members of staff while the Vice-chancellor had reportedly sacked five
others.
The sacked staff were members of the association.
This appeal was contained in a communique issued at the end
of SSANU’s 29th Regular National Executive Council Meeting, held in Abia
State, on Saturday.
In the communique, the union had called on the FG to set up
a special visitation/investigation panels into the allegations of
corruption against the VC and the Pro-Chancellor of the Governing
Council, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe.
The NEC-in-Council alleged that Oyewole and Ogunlewe had
clampdown on the petitioners and the union, following their appearance
before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
It argued that the termination of the appointments of the 23
members of staff did not follow due process as stipulated by law and
considering the fact that the matter was pending in court.
The communique reads in part,” That SSANU NEC in session,
received the disgusting and shocking news of the recent developments at
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where 23 members of the
Union, including the entire branch executive of SSANU had their
appointments terminated from union activities and for reporting crime to
the appropriate organs of government.
“NEC -in-session was surprised that rather than being
commended for playing roles in the national interest , their
appointments were terminated as a cover-up and in retaliation for
exposing the rot, corruption and fraud inherent within the system and
condemns the exposure ,hazard and tension which members of the Union
have been exposed to since the investigation started.”
Donald Trump will keep his vow to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the United States, he said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, saying as many as three million could be removed after he takes office.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million — we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” Trump said in an excerpt released ahead of broadcast by CBS’s 60 Minutes program.
The billionaire real estate baron made security at the US-Mexico border a central plank of his insurgent presidential campaign, which resulted in last Tuesday’s shock election victory against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump added that the barrier to be erected on the US border with Mexico may not consist entirely of brick and mortar, but that fencing could be used in some areas.
“There could be some fencing,” Trump says in his first primetime interview since being elected president last week.
“But (for) certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I’m very good at this, it’s called construction,” he tells CBS.
