By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Olu of Itori, Oba Abdulfatai Akamo, on Monday, denied that he never conferred a chieftaincy title of ‘King of Street’ on controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola Olalomi ‘portable’.

The monarch in a statement made available to newsmen by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, titled ‘Setting the records straight’ said the story was untrue, denying any close relationship with Singer Portable.

He explained that ‘Portable’ was named ‘King of the streets’ by Farmers Association in Ore, Ondo, sometimes in 2024, saying he would never desecrate the rich culture and heritage of the Yoruba tradition.

Oba Akamo said ‘Portable’ adorned himself with the costume to the grand finale of his 21st coronation anniversary as a guest.

He therefore urged his colleague, the Eselu of Eselu, Oba Akinyemi Akintunde, to retract the statement as contained in the open letter.

Oba Akamo wondered why Eselu refused to cross check the facts from him before writing such an unsolicited open letter.

The statement read thus; “The attention of the Palace of the Olu of Itori Egbaland has been drawn to an open letter originating from the Eselu of Iselu, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi alleging the Olu of Itori Egbaland, His Royal Majesty, Oba Abdulfatai Akorede Akamo of purportedly installing Portable as King of street.

“This allegation in its entirety is unfounded, baseless and incorrect as Olu of Itori has been on the exalted throne of his forebears for more than 21 years and would not be involved in any act that can desecrate the rich culture and heritage of the Yoruba tradition.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the controversial singer Portable was named King of Street by Farmers Association in Ore, Ondo state, sometime in December 2024. The event, which was widely circulated in the print media, stirred controversy on social media. Check the punch newspaper of 7,December 2024. The controversial investiture of the singer was published in the paper.

The controversial singer even posted it on his verified social media accounts.

“During the just concluded 21st coronation Anniversary of the Olu of Itori which took place at Olu of Itori’s Palace on 28, February 2025, the controversial singer was dressed in the costumes to the event as a guest. He was invited by the official photographer to the Palace.

“On his arrival, he was requested to remove the costumes as it is a desecration of the rich culture and heritage of the Yoruba race. The singer immediately removed the costumes before entering into the event where the occasion took place.

“As a matter of fact, the controversial singer was brought forward to pay homage to Olu of Itori without the costumes, and he did not appear in those costumes throughout his stay at the event.

“It is important to set the records straight as the Olu of Itori can not be a party to distortion of the rich culture and tradition of the Yoruba race.

“We implore the Eselu of Iselu, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, to retract the statement and put the accurate account of details into the public without further delays as he could have verified with the Olu of Itori personally as a colleague before writing this unsolicited open letter.

“This is the honorable path to follow as we would not like to dwell further on this matter.”

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Some retail outlets belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited have adjusted the petrol pump price to N860 per litre.

It was observed that while there is no official communication from the NNPCL Retail yet, some stations in Lagos adjusted their pumps to N860 per litre, down from N945 as of Sunday.

This comes a few days after the Dangote Refinery reduced its ex-depot petrol price from N890 to N825 per litre.

NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, did not respond to calls or messages regarding the development.

However, the National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, confirmed the development to PUNCH Online.

“It is true, NNPC is selling petrol at N860 in the filling stations. Though this has not been reflected on the portal, they told me they are working on updating the portal,” the IPMAN leader said.

Also, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, said, “They reduced the pump price earlier this morning but I’m yet to get the details.”

The Dangote Refinery announced a price cut last week Wednesday, setting another price regime for the petrol market in Nigeria

He said: “This budget essentially is going to target those areas where there were deficits in terms of infrastructure, erosion and other areas of human capital development.

“You are aware that since after the civil war, the South East has been. What it ought to be. Remember that at the end of the civil War there was this promise that was made to us.

“You know the three R’s abd till today, that has not been done until this President signed the bill into law. We are talking about 54 years after the civil war.

“This budget is essentially going to target those areas where there is deficit in infrastructure, erosion and other areas of human capital development.

“The Commission will be expected to build roads, bridges, railway and manpower development.

“Although the money will not be enough, this is just a take off grant. This is just the beginning because the SEDC is just a growing concern and the President has given them this take off grant.

“The commission also expect money to come in from federal allocation. I am told that money is also expected to come from the five South eastern states,  from ecological funds coming into the country and from oil companies operating in the South East.

“Even though this is not enough, we need to start from somewhere. But we are grateful to the President thay after six military heads of state and five democratically elected Presidents, attention has been given to the South East.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. Even those boys that are causing trouble, when they see that the region is now being taken care of, what they are doing now will not continue.

“If you want to develop the South East, there has to be peace. If there is no peace and Security, there is nothing we can do. Some of the items in the budget is a aimed addressing insecurity, unemployment and youth development”.

Nkwonta said that the SEDC through its projects implementation would bring about end to agitations and youthful unrest in the area.

The budget ooutline plans to address critical infrastructure deficits in the region.