SPLENSIZY'S BLOG

Nursing mother, man remanded over kidnap

A nursing mother, Ibiloye Shittu, 39, and Sheriff Abioye, 37, were on Wednesday remanded in prison custody by an Iyaganku Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan for alleged kidnap, demand ransom and attempted murder.

Chief Magistrate Taiwo Oladiran remanded Abioye in Agodi prison pending the receipt of legal advice from the Office of the Oyo State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

He ordered that the nursing mother should be remanded in the office of the anti -kidnapping squad at Eleyele, Ibadan until the next adjourned date for proof of service to be tendered.

The counsel for the two defendants, Miss Ibironke Sodiq, had pleaded with the court to be lenient with Ibioloye because of the seven-month-old baby she was nursing.

Oladiran, thereafter, adjourned the case till April 19 for mention.

The accused were arraigned on a four – count charge of conspiracy, kidnapping, demand and attempted murder.

The plea of the two defendants was, however, not taken by the court.

According to the Prosecutor, Sgt. Femi Omilana, Ibiloye and Abioye conspired with others now at large to commit a felony.

Omilana alleged that the accused kidnapped one Sunday Oladapo and Elizabeth Oladapo and later demanded the sum of N13 million, warning that they would be killed.

“The two defendants, while armed with guns, cutlasses and knives, allegedly attempted to murder both Sunday and Elizabeth Oladapo,” Omilana said.

The alleged offences were committed on March 19 at about 7.a.m. at Jankata area of Apata, Ibadan.

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 320 (1) 406 and 516 of the Criminal Code cap 38, Vol. II Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

Omilana said the offences also contravened Section 3 (1) (2) and punishable under section 4 (2) of the Kidnapping (Prohibition) laws of Oyo State, 2016.

A group of youths in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded that the National Chairman of party Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff must apologise to former President Goodluck Jonathan for walking out on him and other PDP leaders at the party’s stakeholders meeting in Abuja last week Thursday.

The youths, under the aegis of the Almagamated PDP Youth Leaders Nationwide, said that it was an embarrassment for Sheriff to have walked out on the former President who they described as leader of the party.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, the Chairman of the group, Segun Aderemi said that Sheriff disrespected the party by walking out on Jonathan and other party leaders during the stakeholders meeting.

Adeyemi added that while the youths would not want anyone to disrespect Sheriff, as a leader in the party he would not be allowed to disrespect other PDP leaders.

The group gave the party chairman seven days within which to tender apology to Jonathan and other party leaders, for embarrassing them through his conduct last Thursday.

“We witnessed what happened that day, when he walked out on the former President. Would Sheriff be happy if any member of the party embarrassed him the way he embarrassed Jonathan that day?

“He has to tender an unreserved apology to the former President, the Board of Trustees (BoT) and other leaders of the party.

“We insist he should tender unreserved apology. We strongly believe that he is going to do the needful”, Aderemi stated.

He said the youths don’t against have any issues with Sheriff or the chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, stressing that the goal was to ensure timely resolution of the leadership crisis in the party.

Aderemi explained that the Almagamated PDP Youth Leaders are made up of youths from Both the Sheriff and Makarfi camps.

Senate Committee on Industry, on Wednesday, expressed disappointment over the present state of the 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) across the country.

According to the committee, nothing tangible has been going on at the centres to justify the name by which they were conceptualised.

The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Sam Egwu, made its position known on Wednesday when he led members on an oversight function to the IDC in Port Harcourt.

He held the view that successive administrations had truncated the vision that informed the establishment of the IDCs.

“For any nation to develop industrially, middle-skill manpower is needed, and this is the idea of establishing the IDCs.

“But what we have seen here is nothing to write home about. We have seen obsolete and non-existent workshops.

“From what we are told, most of the equipment were installed over 20 years ago but never commissioned because of lack of electricity or power,” he said.

According to Egwu, the non-usage of the equipment resulted in most of them being cannibalised and becoming obsolete.

“There is nothing actually on the ground and yet we talk about industrialisation.

“It’s unfortunate, we’ve made our observations and as a committee, we’ll report and ensure that appropriate steps are taking to preserve the IDCs because they are veritable centres for development”, he said.

Egwu emphasised the need for Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework so as to get the funds needed to revive the IDCs and achieve the set objectives.

Dr. Dikko Umaru, Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said the main objective of setting up the IDCs was to develop middle-level skill manpower for growth the nation’s economy.

“In fact, the IDCs are meant to be a place where there is common facilities , thereby reducing the cost of production for the entrepreneurs.

“IDCs are designed to be the springboard for industrialisation of the nation through the training of middle-level manpower”, he said.

Umaru pointed out that only seven out 23 IDCs across the country were partially working saying SMEDAN took over their running from the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment in 2010.

He said the IDCs had not been funded for capital projects and overhead since 2011.

“Staff salaries have not been paid up to date apart from the salaries of the security men and this is due to overhead that is not available,” he said.

The DG appealed to the senate committee to help recover the land belonging to the IDCs that have been encroached upon by trespassers due to a long period of inactivity at most of the centres.