Ibadan floods: Corpses of two siblings, policeman recovered

Against the assertion that no life was lost in last Saturday’s flooding in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, three corpses were recovered at Dandaru Dam, near the Cultural Centre on Tuesday.

The bloated corpses were discovered early in the morning on Tuesday at the dam, close to the Fisheries Department along the road to the Cultural Centre.

One of the deceased, a policeman from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, was identified as Ojo Ijebo. The two others Sunkanmi and Wole Iyiola are siblings.

Meanwhile, search parties were said to have been sent to other parts of the city to look for missing persons.

One of the relatives of the deceased, Mrs. Bunmi Qudus, said there were five passengers in the car in which the deceased were when they got drowned.

Qudus said, “We have been searching for them since Sunday morning. When we could not find them, we reported to the police.

“They left home around 10:30pm for a club. But, after some time, we were unable to reach out to any of them. We expected them back in the morning but we did not see them. We were called some minutes ago that they discovered their bodies.”

Sympathisers screamed uncontrollably as they besieged the scene.

PUNCH

Reps move to create new constituencies

The House of Representatives, yesterday, mandated its Committee on Electoral Matters to liaise with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the purpose of reviewing federal constituencies and senatorial districts in the country.

The House which was presided over by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal took the decision after a motion, presented by Mr Mohammed Ango-Abdullahi, was endorsed by a majority of members through a voice vote.
Abdullahi cited Section 73 (1) of the amended 1999 Constituttion which stipulates that: “INEC shall review the division of the states and that of the federation into senatorial districts and federal constituencies at intervals of not less than 10 years and may alter the districts or  constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it may consider desirable in the light of review.”
To buttress his position, Abdullahi further said the population of the country had been growing at the rate of 3.18 per cent since 2006 when the nation’s population stood at 140,003,542.
He also cited the need to have more senatorial and federal constituencies to adequately safeguard the interest of the people socially, politically and economically, adding that this will also reduce the burden of National Assembly members who have two, three or four  local government areas as  federal constituencies or even 14 local government areas in a senatorial district without consideration to population density.
It would be recalled that INEC had attempted to embark on the exercise since the days of its former Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu.

VANGUARD

'Before our mum died, she couldn't recognise us' - P-Square open up

What Peter Okoye told an Encomium magazine reporter:

She has been diabetic for years, and when it started many months back, we got good doctors to treat her in Jos. But when we couldn't get good result, we brought her to Lagos. We took her to St Nicholas Hospital and everybody who went to see her in the hospital cried. She had lost a lot of weight and couldn't recognise us. She called me Jude. I can never forget that day.

FG embargoes cough syrup sales

Concerned over the rising cases of abuse of cough syrups, Federal Government has directed a restriction on the sale of codeine syrup to persons without doctor’s prescription, to check the indiscriminate and illicit consumption of the drug by addicts.
Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, who fielded questions from newsmen in Otukpo, Benue State, said government was constrained to place the embargo because of the high rate of abuse.
He said: “In recent time, we have been confronted with rising cases of young persons and women abusing some cough syrups, especially codeine, to get high, which is known for it’s efficacy in the treatment of cough.”

Jonathan sets up committee on Belgore committee report

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday set up another committee to study the report of the Justice  Alfa Belgore-led Presidential Committee on the Review of the Constitution.

The  committee,  which  is headed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Bello Adoke (SAN), has three weeks to submit its report.

A statement by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, said the setting up of the committee was sequel to the submission of the report of the Presidential committee on the review of outstanding issues from recent constitutional conferences in Nigeria.

The committee will, among others, “identify the areas/issues on which the review committee affirmed consensus earlier reached in previous  conferences and for which the review committee prepared draft bills for consideration and legislation, identify the areas/issues on which past constitutional conferences had arrived at a consensus but which the review committee felt the consensus was no longer current or relevant and therefore did not prepare any draft bills.”

‘Obasanjo would have stopped Boko Haram’

Founder, Ifeoluwa Mission, Rev. Tela Tella, said on Tuesday that Boko Haram assumed the monster it had become because President Goodluck Jonathan failed to apply the ruthlessness of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

At a news conference, Tella, said the level the dreaded sect had got to could no longer be tackled by force but by persuasion and dialogue.

He said, “The mistake President Goodluck Jonathan made about Boko Haram was that he did not borrow from Obasanjo’s ruthlessness. Now, he has missed it; he cannot use force anymore.

“Applying force now is too late. There is already total confusion in his administration. Boko Haram is beyond him because he did not take action quickly.”

However, he said Jonathan was the Lord’s chosen and nothing anybody could do about it.

NEC accepts Obasanjo’s resignation

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s resignation as Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees has been accepted.

The Secretary of the Board, Senator Walid Jubril, confirmed this at the party’s secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday.

Jibril said the resignation was accepted at a board meeting in Abuja on Monday night.