Confusion As Ekiti Removes Envoy As Regent

Ekiti State Government on Wednesday announced Mrs. Comfort Idowu as the new Regent of Ilasa-Ekiti in Ekiti State, barely 24 hours after Nigerian Ambassador to Republic of Congo, Princess Jolaade Onipede, was installed as Regent of the town.

 

The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Funminiyi Afuye, at a press conference, announced Idowu as the “rightful and lawful Regent” of the town.

Afuye said the government had taken its decision based on the recommendations from the appropriate authorities.

 

He said, “The state government hereby confirms Mrs. Comfort Dayo Idowu as the rightful and lawful regent of Ilasa-Ekiti. As far as the state government is concerned, traditional institution in Ilasa recommended the name of Mrs. Comfort Dayo Idowu to the Ekiti East Local Government and the local government recommended to the state government.”

 

However, Onipede, who was a special adviser on chieftaincy affairs during former governor, Mr. Segun Oni’s administration, said what the government did was a ruse.

She said she would not allow the state government to trample on the culture and tradition of the people of the town.

 

Onipede, who is the daughter of the Late Oba Abel Ajibola, who died on October 1, 2012, said the tradition of the town was that the eldest daughter of the late monarch ascends the thrown as the Regent.

 

She said, “It is a ruse, the commissioner does not know the tradition of Ilasa and he is not a native of the town. All the kingmakers of Ilasa will not come together and make a mistake. They are the people to announce and have done that.

 

“Idowu cannot come to my father’s palace and room. She will have to go to Afuye’s village to serve as Regent and not Ilasa. The state government does not know the rule.”

 

Onipede, after her installation on Monday, said she would not spend more than six months on the throne and asked the next ruling house to come up with its candidate.

Tribune Sacks 160 Workers

There has been a mass sack of workers at the African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) PLC, publishers of the Tribune titles, based in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria. 
 
At least 160 workers in all the departments were affected in the mass purge which took place last week.

The retrenchment exercise which took place barely a month after the appointment of Mr. Edward Dickson as the new Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the company, was a shock to many of the affected workers.

  According to sources, the management felt that it was necessary to prune down the over bloated staff strength estimated at 700, adding that a staff survey they conducted revealed that other media houses have not more than 300 workers.

A source said, “they went to other newspapers and found out that their staff strength are far less than our own.

They claimed that they went to a Lagos-based newspaper and found out that they employed not more than 300 staff and they do not see the reason why they should have 700 staff.”
Other reasons adduced for the retrenchment include drop in the company’s working capital and its inability to give dividends to shareholders.

Our source revealed that the new MD in a meeting with the staff pointed out that it was necessary to down size in order not to disappoint the founding father of ANN, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, adding that he was not ready to preside over an establishment that would go into extinction during his tenure.

It was gathered that he pleaded with the affected staff that they should not see the retrenchment as a vindictive exercise but rather a necessary one to ensure that the company does not die. Some of the affected staff were immediately given half of their entitlements and asked to pick a cheque for the balance of their entitlements in a month’s time.

P.M.NEWS gathered that workers who had not spent up to five years with the company were not given any money. They have therefore appealed to the management to consider them for severance allowance.

One of the affected workers who spoke with our correspondent said: “My brother, I have been thrown back to the labour market. I am now jobless and don’t know what to do for now to maintain myself and my family.”

Another worker who was not affected and also spoke with P.M.NEWS under anonymity said: “Thank God I am not affected. It was a big tsunami that passed through my office last week. Could you believe that it affected line editors like assistant editors and the rest?”

Chika Unigwe Wins Nigeria Prize for Literature

The book cover: On Black sister’s street

Just as TheNEWS magazine predicted, Chika Unigwe, the Nigerian Internationally acclaimed writer has been awarded the Nigeria Prize for Literature for her novel, On Black Sister’s Street.

The prize, worth $100, ooo, was awarded this morning by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas at OceanView on Victoria Island Lagos.

On Black Sister’s Street, was adjudged the best of three novels that were earler shorlisted. The other two novels are: Only a Canvas. By Olusola Olugbesan and Onaedo; The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Ngozi Achebe.

Professor Ayo Banjo, the Chairman of the panel of Judges who announced the award, said they consider Unigwe’s novel a work of outstanding merit.

He also said poor quality of production is still a fundamental problem affecting Nigerian literature.“Some of the entries would have stood a better chance of winning this prize but were marred by problems attendant upon poor publishing.

“Some of the books submitted for this year’s prize failed to to rise to the final stage because of issues like poor editing, proofrrading and other publishing errors. Nigerian publishers ought to realize that this prize is an international one,” he said.

 

The criteria set for the entries were; quality of editing and production, relevanc to the Nigerian situation, vivid presentation of character and plot and use of language.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature was instituted in 2004 by the NLNG to identify and reward excellence in Literature.

“The overall objective of the Prize is to encourage and atimulate authorship and development of Nigerian literary culture in terms of creative writing, production and reading and by so doing guide literary taste,” Banjo said.

PHOTOS: Same Plane Crash, Different Treatments - Governor Suntai Aides Still In Nigeria

Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State, involved in a plane crash in Yola on Thursday, has been evacuated from the Yola Specialist Hospital, where he was receiving treatment, to Germany.

The governor and his aides were the occupants of the Cessna 208, 5N-BMJ Jet that crashed at the Yola airport last Thursday.

Some members of the families who craved anonymity told journalists in Abuja that if the governor could be flown to Germany, it showed that the government lacked confidence in the local hospitals.

They spoke their minds when the injured aides were transferred from Yola to the National Hospital, Abuja, 30 hours after Suntai was flown abroad.

2face Idibia Buys Two Multimillion Naira Homes

I am happy for Tu Baba. Good stuff, at least he is not spending the money on booze and women

Genevieve To Return Range Rover Evogue SUV To Owners In December

If rumour reaching us is anything to go by, then, Nollywood actress, Genevieve Nnaji, who was made Range Rover Evogue SUV brand ambassador in June 2012, may return the car to Coscharis, the distributor of Land Rover brand of cars in Nigeria.

According to a bird in the know, Genevieve will have to return the about N8million worth car due to what we hear is based on the terms she agreed to while signing the deal with the car distributor. The source, who claimed to be in the know, told us that Genny, as the actress is fondly called, was given two options while she was about to put pen to papers on the deal.

The first option, as we were told, was to have $100,000 and cruise with the car for six months as its ambassador, while the second option was to have the car for keeps and have about $50,000.

So, Genny, as the source said, went for the first option, which means she would return the car by December 2012.

We didn’t kill Oyerinde – Suspects

The suspects arrested by the State Security Services on Thursday said they were tortured and “promised many things” to admit to the killing of Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde.
 
Oyerinde was killed on May 4 at his Benin City residence at about 2am.
The three suspects spoke to Journalists shortly before they were arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court.

They said they had participated in several robberies but were not involved in the killing of Olaitan.

The suspects are Raymond Dregbo (24), Edeh Chikezie (32) and Mohammed Ibrahim.
Raymond said, “They beat me to say what I didn’t do. I didn’t go to Oyerinde’s house. I don’t know his house. I took them to the house we robbed where we collected N48, 000 and I got N8, 000. We didn’t shoot anybody there. They are holding us for robbery but we didn’t kill Oyerinde.”

The second suspect, Mohammed, said he was arrested along Water Resources and that the SSS promised many things for them to admit to killing Olaitan.
He said it was his personal phone that the SSS paraded as Olaitan’s and that the gun also paraded was not theirs.

“I admitted because of the dehumanising treatment they gave us. We later discovered that what they were saying about us didn’t concern us.”

Presiding Magistrate, Edo Asemota, ordered the suspects remanded in prison custody and requested that the case file be duplicated and sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for advice.