Tribune 9 NIgerian Monday, 4 April, 2011
Learn from botched NASS election, Mimikoadvises INEe
have been learnt. He said: "We hope INEC will have learnt the NDO State gov- necessary lessons from ·this ernor, Dr experience and ensure tha t Olusegun Mirniko, there are no further impedihas advised the Indepen-. ments that frustrate the abildent National Electoral ity of the people to exercise Commission (!NEC) to learn their franchise." from its experience which The governor while exled to the postponement of pressing sympa thy with Saturday's Na tional As- the people, who he noted sembly election so that the defied the blazing early electorate can exercise their morning sun to queue up franchise. for accreditation only for The governor in a state- their efforts to be aborted wide broadcast in Akure midway, urged them not to said that though the gov- be deterred by occasional ernment had noted the ex- challenges or seeming obplana ti on of INEC chair- stacles to the conclusion of man, Professor Attahiru the election. lega for the Dostoonement Mimiko said, "I hereby of the Yinka Oladoyinbo, Akure
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on the part of our people so that elections can still take place in an atmosphere of peace and order. Reports reaching us from across the 'state indicated tha t you h eeded our clarion call to troop out to vote and we are happy you
did not give in to intimidation and harrasment by hoodlums sponsored by some anti-democratic elements. "At this juncture, I enjoin you to be tenacious and vigilant in prPtecting your votes and ensure that your
Culture icon, U1li Beier, dies at 91 ULTURE icon and · the Centre for Black Cula frontline scholar ture and International on Yoruba cul- Understanding, Osogbo, Prince ture, Professor Ulli Beier, Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, is dead. He was 91. His death around who quoted the deceased noon on Sunday, in family as informing the Sydney, Australia, was · centre in a telephone call. The Executive Director announced by chairman of the governing board of of the Centre for Black Cul-
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De!Celnb,er 2005 at AwoJowo University (OAU), Professor Beier (right) with former deputy governor of Osun State, Chief (Mrs) OJusoJa Obada (middle), and Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Adejare Bello.
Churches pray for violence-free polls HURCHES in Kaduna, Elder Samson country. He added that without Kaduna, on Sun- Fakunle urged Christians da y, dedicated to pray for peace in the peace, there would not be most of their sermons to vio lence-free National Assembly election on IGERIA has April 9 and offered joined forces prayers for God's interwith Interna- nator of CADP. vention and guidance. tionalInstitute of Tropical Produced by the fungus A cross section of Chris- Agriculture (IITA) and the tians in Kaduna told the World Bank to help con- AspergilIusfJavus, aflatoxins are fungal contamiNews Agency of Nigeria tain the contamination of nants .that hurt trade and (NAN) that the prayers were food crops by aflatoxins, as people's health, with studnecessary because the elec- country aims to make ag- ies pointing to them as the tioncalledforGod'sinterven- ricultu're the main driver of its economy. tion. The new approach, Mr Tunde Ayoola, a deacall has gone to con at the Trinity Bible which includes drawing a road map to tackle aflatoxall staff of the Church, Barnawa,- Kaduna, ins, is part of the Commer. Ogun State Local said prayers were offered for cial Agriculture Developpeaceful election across the . ment Programme (CADP) Government Service Commission, irrespective of their nation. 'that is Being supported by cadres, to make unflinching He said: "Christians must the' World Bank and 10yalty, 4npeccableintegrity, be part of the global and na- implemented in Kano, . absolute dedication to duty, tional prayer programmes Kaduna, Enugu, Cross probity and accountability and supplications to God, River and Lagos states. their guiding principles. "It is a major step by the The Permanent Secretary . the elections included." government towards en. of the commission, Alhaji G. Also leading a prayer suring food safety and Adeleke Momodu. made this session at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, food security," said A.M. call while speak4ig at a civic Babandi, National Coordi- reception organised by the Revelation Sanctuar ,
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votes count. I know you are not new to exhibiting a tenacity of purpose for a cause; you are no strangers to the pursuit of electoral sanctity and certainly, you are no aliens to the long distance race for our democratic consolidation."
credible elections and urged Nigerians to shun violence.
ture and International Understanding, Osogbo, .Professor Wole Ogundele, said Beier's son, Tunji Beier, broke the news to him at about 3.00 p.m, on Sunday, in a telephone call. Prince Oyinlola while reacting to Beier's death due to old age, described the event as a great blow to him personally and to all lovers of Yoruba culture in general. He sa id Yorubaland and the academic community owed Beier a lot for his great efforts in intellectual preservation of several aspec"ts of the Yoruba · culture that would have gone extint. He noted that Beier h ad described Yorubaland as a place where he discovered his own spiritual essence (ori inu), adding that hi s death had made the race p.oorer. Prince Oyinlola noted that through Beie r's efforts, world renown artists eme rged from ),orubaland, listing Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola, Twin Seven Seven, among several others. He added that the deceased lived a very rewarding life of service to the black race, pa rticularly in Nigeria and Papua New Guinea where he did most of his scholarly works.
Nigeria, IITA, World Bank collaborate to end food contamination by aflatoxins
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cause of liver cancer. In some cases, such as in Kenya, aflatoxin-contaminated maize consumed resuited in several deaths. Poultry and fish are particularly vulnerable to
aflatoxins, which influence their productivity. In Nigeria, ieso urcepoor maize farmers face rejection from the premium food market due to aflatoxjn contamination.
Ogun LG commission boss tasks workers on.dedication to du~
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Ogun State Local Government Engineers Forum in honour
of three of its members · namely, SA. Ijaola; Titilayo Tunde Ashiru and J.F. Adegbesan, who were elevated to the positions.of heads of local government and elected into the Ogun State House.of Assembly respectively. According to a press release issued and signed by the Remo North · Local Government Director of In-
formation, Oloyede Oyeniyi, Alhaji Momodu extolled the virtues of the 'state governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel, not only for his unprecedented and monumental transformation of the state from a civil service state ,to an invest-
ment destination of choice but also for reforming the lo~al government system from its leading rightful position in the scheme of things.
NEWS Briefly Election: i killed, four injured in Surulere LG A member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Isiaka Ademola, was on Saturday killed by suspec ted political thugs, while four others were injured during the bot~hed National Assembly election in Oyo State. Tho ugh the Na tiona l Assembl y election in the state was adj udged peaceful , the Nigerian Tribune learnt in !badan, on Sunday, that the incident occurred at Gbede, Surulere Local Government Area,during the accreditation of vo ters around 11 :30 a.m. • It was learnt that a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, who arrived the polling unit around 11 :00 a.m. ordered his thugs to attack some of the voters who queued up to participate in the election when they ·fa iled to join him in praising his party. II was gathered that Ademola, who was a well-known ACN su pporter, was attacked with machetes by the hoodlums and died shortly after the attack. By Adebayo Waheed
Kwara govt reviews security situation ahead elections
FOLLOWING Sunday's postponement of the National Assembly election by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to Saturday, April 9, 2011, the Kwara State government has reviewed the security situation in the state and put in place adequate measures with a view to achieving peaceful conduct of the general election next weekend. The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Saka Isau (SAN), disclosed this, on Sunday, while answeringquestionsfrom newsmen shortly after the security council meeting presided over by the state governor, Dr Bukola Sarald, at the Government House, norin Alhaji Isau said the security council met to review what happened in the country on Saturday, April 2. and saw what measures could be put in place to ensure peaceful conduct of the elections. According to him, some of the measures taken by the council included making sure that lives and properties of innocent Kwarans were adequately protected during and after the elections. He also assured that uniform policemen would be attamed to every polling unit in the state to control crowd ' and protect prospective voters from being molested on election days.