News
CUPP tackles Gov Abiodun over poverty rise in Ogun State
*Says, about 68.1 per cent of population are in poverty
By Francesca Hangeior
The Coalition for United Political Parties, CUPP, in Ogun State, yesterday, accused Governor Dapo Abiodun of plunging 68.1 per cent of people living in the state into poverty by abandoning purposeful governance.
The Coalition equally alleged that the governor and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, have opted to engage in massive neglect of infrastructural development across the state.
Addressing newsmen in Abeokuta, the Chairman of CUPP in the state, Femi Sholuade, accused the state government of “acute misgovernance, maladministration, insensitivity and deliberate institutionalized economic rascality and slavery of the good people of the State by the APC controlled administration under Governor Dapo Abiodun in the last 24 months.”
Flanked by other executive members of the CUPP in the state, Sholuade said: “As responsible opposition political parties, it remained its duty to inform the people of the state whenever a sitting government has derailed from espousing good governance capable of making life more meaningful to the people.
“All our roads are in a calamitous and dangerous state as a lot of the contractors who are the beneficiaries of awards only erected their signboards as a decoy, but they have no equipment to work.
“Governor Dapo Abiodun’s cluelessness has also plunged Ogun State into total darkness whereas so many states in the federation are evolving into solar or going into Independent Power Projects to improve their economic fortune with stable supplies of electricity.
“Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration has successfully made 68.1 per cent of people living in Ogun State poor via the multidimensional poverty level across states in Nigeria.”
Reacting to the allegations, the state government described CUPP’s remarks as the ranting of political jobbers and fraudsters stunned by the governor’s rising political profile.
The Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Governor, Mr Kayode Akinmade said he was not surprised by the antics of corrupt and perfidious individuals who can only thrive in mushroom parties which they used as meal tickets.
The statement reads: “Were it not for the need to disabuse the minds of innocent people who may be taken in by CUPP and its tales by the moonlight, it would have been entirely unnecessary to dignify the utter gibberish by CUPP and its sponsors with a reply, but we owe the nation a record to curtail the spread of fake news released with intent to create chaos in Ogun State.
“CUPP and its sponsors are just playing to the gallery because some politicians gave them money to rubbish the achievements of the governor in various sectors. Most of these so-called “CUPP members lack integrity; they should be disregarded. Only the blind will fail to see achievements.
“Their hearts being full of mischief and evil, we understand why CUPP and its sponsors are willfully and deliberately blind, and cannot see the numerous achievements of Governor Abiodun, for which the good people of Ogun State remain deeply appreciative.
“CUPP’s statement is nothing but a vainglorious, irredeemably illiterate and utterly mischievous concoction that can only excite ignoramuses. Just how can anyone who claims sanity say that a Governor who has been radically transforming Ogun State and made it an investment destination has plunged the populace into poverty by so doing?
“It is a pity that Femi Sholuade says that many states in the federation are evolving into Solar or going into independent Power Projects to improve their economic fortune with stable supplies of electricity, without paying attention to happenings in his state.”
The Universal Basic Education Commission on Tuesday announced plans to introduce a new template for disbursing counterpart funds under the Universal Basic Education programme.
This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the commission, Aisha Garba, during an interactive workshop with State Universal Basic Education Boards in Abuja.
Garba explained that the Federal Government, through UBEC, had recently restructured the delivery of basic education nationwide to align with four strategic pillars aimed at improving access and quality across states and the Federal Capital Territory.
She identified the pillars as expanding access to basic education, especially for rural and underserved populations; enhancing the quality of teaching and learning nationwide; strengthening accountability and the effective use of education financing; and optimising monitoring and institutional systems for quality service delivery.
She said, “The Hope Education Project of the present administration is a performance-for-reward initiative designed to support states that judiciously utilise resources in line with these four pillars.”
She added that the new approach had made it necessary to develop fresh templates that will guide SUBEBs in preparing work plans to access UBE intervention funds under the framework of the Hope Education Project.
Also speaking at the event, UBEC’s Deputy Executive Secretary for General Services, Tunde Ajibulu, described the workshop as timely and essential.
He stressed that the realignment of basic education delivery made the introduction of the new templates crucial.
“We expect you, as implementers of basic education in your respective states, to contribute positively and help develop workable templates,” Ajibulu said.
A Kano State High Court on Tuesday dismissed an application filed by former Kano State Governor and current National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear a bribery and misappropriation case against him.
The Kano State Government brought 11 counts against Ganduje, his wife Hafsat, son Umar, and five others, alleging bribery totalling $413,000 and misappropriation of N1.38 billion.
The other defendants include Abubakar Bawuro, Umar Abdullahi Umar, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari Textiles Limited, and Lasage General Enterprises Limited.
Delivering her ruling, Justice Amina Adamu-Aliyu dismissed all preliminary objections raised by the defendants, describing them as incompetent and lacking merit.
She ruled that the charges filed on May 13, 2024, were competent and that the matter should proceed to trial.
The judge further issued a summons to the sixth defendant, Lamash Properties Limited, and adjourned the case to July 30 and 31, 2025, for hearing.
Ganduje, his wife Hafsat, and son Umar, had through their lawyer, Mrs. Lydia Oyewo, filed a preliminary objection dated November 18, 2024, challenging the court’s jurisdiction and seeking to have all charges quashed.
In response, counsel for the state government, Adeola Adedipe (SAN), filed a counter-application dated October 22, 2024, urging the court to dismiss the preliminary objections for lacking merit.
Similarly, counsel for the third and seventh defendants, M.N. Duru, (SAN), submitted a motion on notice dated October 18, 2024, supported by a 14-paragraph affidavit and a written address, asking the court to uphold their application.
Counsel for the fifth defendant, Muhammad Shehu, also filed a motion dated October 18, 2024, and urged the court to grant it with substantial costs against the complainant.
Abubakar Ahmad, representing the sixth defendant, filed a preliminary objection dated September 9, 2024, supported by a nine-paragraph affidavit.
Additionally, counsel for the eighth defendant, Faruk Asekome, filed a notice of preliminary objection dated October 18, 2024, supported by a five-paragraph affidavit and written address, also seeking dismissal of the charges.
Justice Adamu-Aliyu, however, ruled that the objections lacked merit and cleared the way for the trial to proceed.
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