The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has assured his ex-queen, Naomi Silekunola, that God will vindicate her trial on the stampede that claimed the lives of 35 children during a Christmas funfair she organised in Ibadan, Oyo State, on December 4.

Oba Ogunwusi absolved his former wife of ill intent to harm the children and other participants of the programme.

He noted that she organised the event with the noble intention of putting smiles on the faces of underprivileged children.

Silekunola, the proprietor of an Ibadan-based radio station, Agidigbo FM, Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, and the Principal of Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan, where the programme was held, Abdulahi Fasasi, are facing a four-count charge of conspiracy, causing death by negligence, endangering public safety, and failing to provide adequate security and medical facilities at the event.

An Ibadan Magistrate’s Court had on December 24, 2024, remanded the trio in prison over the matter.

Similarly, Justice K.B. Olawoyin of the State High Court in Ibadan refused to release the defendants on bail when the case came up before him on Tuesday.

Justice Olawoyin adjourned the ruling on the bail applications until Monday, January 13, 2025.

Since the inception of the case, supporters of the ex-queen have been calling on Oba Ogunwusi to intervene and secure her release.

Some supporters accused Ooni of not taking sufficient steps to ensure his former wife was not jailed.

However, the monarch explained that he could not interfere in the matter beyond praying for the ex-queen, stating that only God and the court could decide her fate.

Ooni spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Otunba Moses Olafare, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH on Friday.

He said, “The case is before the court. We cannot interfere with the court process; we will wait for the court’s outcome, and we will not take any step that will jeopardise the court’s process on the matter. We hope she will eventually be exonerated. We don’t know what the court has for her.

“The only thing we can do for her now is to pray to God to vindicate her, and the Ooni, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi believes God will vindicate her because she had good intentions for the programme. She has always cared for children, especially the underprivileged, even when she was in the palace. Nobody ever died during such events when she organised them in the past.

“She must have organised about three or four editions while at the palace, and nobody died. We understand she had been doing it even before she came to the palace and continued doing it after leaving the palace. The Ibadan edition is not the first children’s programme she has held since leaving the palace.

“Based on that, we are wishing her well and praying that God grants her justice. God will vindicate her. We believe she must have acted in good conscience. Nobody organises an event intending to harm people. We at the palace wish her well and pray for her eventual exoneration.”

The Federal Government is set to withdraw the contentious Veteran Federation of Nigeria Bill following strong objections from military retirees on many of its provisions.

The retirees had warned of potential protests if the government proceeded to present the bill to the National Assembly without addressing their concerns.

Since conception, the bill, which was sent to the Defence Headquarters and the Ministry of Justice, has been criticised for several contentious clauses, particularly those related to rank-based appointments.

Confirming the planned withdrawal in an interview with Saturday PUNCH on Friday, the Secretary of the Coalition of Concerned Veterans, Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, disclosed that the decision was reached after a meeting with the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence earlier this week.

“Based on the meeting we held with the Permanent Secretary on Monday, he assured us that the bill would be withdrawn. A ratification committee will be inaugurated, which will include staff from the Ministry of Defence, members of the National Assembly, representatives from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, and veterans,” he said.

The committee’s mandates, according to Durowaiye-Herberts, include reviewing and correcting contentious sections of the bill, ensuring leadership positions within the veterans’ structure are democratically elected, and presenting the revised bill to the National Assembly for deliberation and approval.

Durowaiye-Herberts added, “Although the permanent secretary told us that the process might not be finalised before the Armed Forces Remembrance Day, he assured stakeholders that the committee’s work would be completed by the end of the month.

“Veterans have expressed cautious optimism about the committee’s work, emphasising the importance of transparency and timely results. We are hopeful that this process will address our grievances and establish a structure that truly represents our interests.”

Efforts to get a comment from the Ministry of Defence’s spokesperson, Henshaw Ogbuike, proved abortive, as he did not pick up calls to his line and was yet to respond to a message sent to him.

Credit: PUNCH

A political economist and 2007 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Prof. Pat Utomi, has advised President Bola Tinubu on ways to tackle Nigeria’s surging inflation and food security crisis.

Tinubu, in his New Year address, pledged to prioritise food production and achieve economic stability by implementing policies aimed at reducing inflation and ensuring food security.

The President also pleaded his administration’s commitment to reduce inflation from its current 34.6 per cent to 15 per cent.

But Utomi said the success of the President’s goals would depend on his administration’s ability to tackle insecurity, provide incentives for farmers, and implement effective agricultural policies to create a stable and sustainable food production system in the country.

Utomi, who spoke in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, cautioned against the idea of massive food importation as a solution, warning that it would worsen Nigeria’s foreign exchange problems and undermine local agricultural production.

He argued that imported food would remain costly due to unfavourable exchange rates, maintaining that any subsidy on such imports would harm the nation’s capacity for sustainable food production.

Utomi said, “There is hunger, real hunger in the land. One of the biggest causes of inflation is food price inflation and it is central to how people feel and their abilities to do other things.

“To address this, the government needs to make a deliberate policy to push down the cost of food by investing in agriculture, giving massive incentives to young people to make farming attractive to them and check insecurity as quickly as possible.”

To address insecurity, Utomi proposed the creation of special agricultural security forces, forest rangers”, to protect farmlands and prevent clashes between farmers and herders or attacks by bandits.

He called on the government to support farmers to embark on irrigation schemes to enable year-round farming.

“The government should create schemes for unemployed youths, provide them with one hectare of land each, supply inputs, and train them in modern agricultural practices. In 90 days, we could see a significant increase in food production that would force down prices,” Utomi explained.