Strike: ASUU Vows To Fight On... Says: "No-Work-No-Pay Rule Will Not Deter Us"

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared that no amount of threat through the implementation of no-work-no-pay rule applied by the federal government would force its members to suspend their four months old industrial action.

According to a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti State, yesterday by ASUU, Ilorin Zone and signed by its coordinator, Dr. Ayan Adeleke, the union said owners of private universities, who had allegedly been advising President Goodluck Jonathan to whip ASUU into line through no-work-no-pay rule, were doing so for selfish motives.

Adeleke said the threat against his members for their failure to suspend the strike would not deter it from fighting to a logical conclusion.

The body, who lashed out at those advising the president to apply the rule, which he described as ‘barbaric, obsolete and inhuman’, said no amount of pressure would dissuade the union from ensuring that the federal government implemented the agreements reached with the body in 2009.

Adeleke, who is the Chairman of the Ekiti State University chapter of ASUU, expressed displeasure at the federal government’s resort to blackmail to coerce ASUU to back-down on the struggle.

According to him, this would further fan the ember of acrimony between the body and the government.

He urged “people and organisations appealing to ASUU to call off the strike to first appeal to the federal government to implement the agreements freely entered into in 2009. to also prevail.”

The ASUU Chairman said the union was appealing to the President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Yinka Gbadebo, to dissociate himself from ASUU’s strike.

He said the action was the least expected from a body the academic union was trying to protect.

Adeleke assured that ASUU would thwart the alleged efforts by some leaders and cabals, who are masquerading as proprietors of private universities to stifle the public universities to expand the scope of their business empires.

He said: “ASUU is fighting for the sustenance of the Nigerian universities so that half-baked graduates will not litter the labour market while the society will come back to blame their lecturers.

“We will not succumb to blackmail. We will remain focused and insist that the 2009 agreements be implemented,” he said.

ICPC Arrests 17 "FAKE" Corpers in Abuja NYSC Camp

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has arrested 17 youths for allegedly impersonating corps members at the National Youth Service Corps Orientation Camp at Kubwa, Abuja. 

ICPC operatives made the arrests on Thursday evening while suspects were posing and taking pictures outside the camp during the passing-out ceremonies. 

It said they stormed the NYSC Orientation Camp at Kubwa based on intelligence reports and effected the arrest of the suspects made up of eight females and nine males. During preliminary investigation, 15 of the ‘fake’ corps members claimed to have enrolled in degree courses run by consultancy services in the following institutions: University of Calabar (6), University of Jos (6), Ebonyi State University (1), Federal University of Technology, Owerri (1) and Crown Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti (1). 

“One of the other two said she never attended any university but desired the NYSC discharge certificate. The other, a young man, impersonated his sister, a genuine corps member currently receiving medical treatment abroad, in order to collect her discharge certificate,” the statement read. 

The spokesman of the ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti, noted that the commission’s Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, has at various public fora warned parents, guardians and young students seeking admission into universities and other tertiary institutions to ensure that their proposed courses are approved by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) and other regulatory bodies. 

The arrests bring to 26 the total the number of “fake” corps members arrested by ICPC. The commission had arrested nine others in May. 

-ThePunch

NUT Gives FG & Lecturers 2 Weeks Ultimatum To End ASUU Strike Or They Will Close Down The Nation's Schools

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has given a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resolve the strike, embarked upon by university lecturers.

Mr. Michael Olukoya, the NUT President stated this in Abuja at the end of the Union’s meeting with teachers’ representatives across the country yesterday, September 26, 2013.

Mr. Olukoya said that members of the Union would not hesitate to close down the nation’s schools, if the two parties failed to reach agreement after two weeks. He described the current ASUU strike as nationalistic, patriotic and self-sacrificing.

Hmmm... 13 days more.

Twins Graduate With 1st Class & Emerge Redeemers' University Best Overall Graduates [Photos]

Identical twins, Taiwo and Kehinde Babaagba,have emerged the best graduating students of Redeemer’s University, Mowe, Ogun State, having both bagged First Class degrees.

At the RUN convocation ceremony last Thursday, the 20-year-old twins did not only bag First Class each, one of them, Kehinde, emerged the overall best graduating student with a 4.96 Cumulative Grade Point Average in Computer Science while her sister, Taiwo, obtained a First Class in Economics, scoring 4.57 CGPA thus emerging the overall second best graduating student. 

(see more photos below)

Kenny won virtually all the awards – including the Visitor, Vice Chancellor, College, Dean and the University Family Forum prize. As she walked to the podium on each occasion to receive her awards, electrifying shouts of victory rent the Youth Centre, the venue of the convocation. There was giggling and words of astonishment. In fact, many guests at the event wondered how she could have learned so much to be that outstanding at her age.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Debo Adeyewa, on affirming Kehinde’s exceptional academic prowess, described her as a potential Nobel Laureate.

Their parents must be proud!


Source: The Herald

Cultists & Security Man Gang Rape 18yr Old Student in Ekiti

Four suspected members of a cult group and a security man at a private polytechnic in Ekiti State have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping a student of the institution.

The rape victim (name withheld), who is an ND 1 student of the polytechnic, told us at the Ekiti State Police Command headquarters in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday that the suspects stormed her room, tied her up and took turn to rape her.

The four suspected rapists are Kunle Aralepo 20, Oluwaseun Akomolafe, 23, who are ND II students of Business Administration and Kehinde Adeyemi and Ayo Olomola, who are on the run.

The victim added that one of the boys had asked her out and she refused.

She also accused one of the security men in the polytechnic, Mr. Seyi Adanbioje, of raping her the same day at his residence.

The victim said the Chief Security Officer of the school directed Adanbioje to take her to police station to make an official report of the rape case.

She said after leaving the station, the security man took her to his residence and also forcefully had sex with her.

The security man, however, denied raping the female student. He explained that he granted the girl an asylum because she said she could not sleep alone in her house.

He said, "She could not sleep alone because she was afraid that those who had earlier raped her might come back again."

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Victor Babayemi, who paraded the suspects, said police investigation had shown that rape cases had been rampant at the institution.

He said the police were still probing such cases of rape and why they were not reported to the police.

Babayemi said the police would thoroughly investgate the fresh rape incident and allow justice to take its course.

The PPRO said, "A group of four young men namely, Aralepo Kunle, Akomolafe Oluwaseun (both ND II Business Administration students), Kehinde Adeyemi and Ayo Olomola, aka AY Bishop, who was expelled from the school in March for rape went to the house of a female student of the polytechnic, broke her door to gain entry, tied her hands and legs and gang-raped her.

“They also robbed her of her phone and the sum of N5,000.00. A security guard at the polytechnic, Seyi Adanbioje, 28, was also found to be part of the gangsters. He was told to take the girl to the police station and make a report but he took a detour to his house, where he also raped the victim."

Photo: Olabisi Onabanjo University Student Arrested in Lagos for Armed Robbery

 A member of an organised criminal gang made up of a woman, her brother and three others  has expressed regrets becoming a thief, saying he had planned to become a police officer.

“My role in the gang is to push the victim out of our vehicle but I am always careful so that he will not fall and hit his head against a stone or hard object,” Emmanuel Ochi, also known as General said.

“I am a student of Olabisi Olabanjo University, Ogun State and I am in 300 level studying Crime Investigation. I intended to enlist in Nigeria Police Force when I graduate. I want to become a police detective.

“It is God that will decide. If I regain my freedom I will stand a chance. Even if I am jailed, I may get state pardon. Everything depends on God.”

28-year-old Anita Ekechukwu who was arrested with her brother, Sunday Ekechukwu said she became a thief because she was unemployed, adding that it was better than prostitution and her brother had introduced her to it.

“I am a member of the gang but we do not operate with gun. I am from Owerri, in Imo State. I am unemployed but I live at Lekki with my elder brother, Sunday, who is a building contractor,” she said.

“I joined the gang because I could not secure any reasonable employment.

“I joined the gang this year and I was given the telephone number of a bureau de change operator. I told him I wanted to buy $30,000. The next day, he sent his brothers who brought the dollars. I then told the man that we were going to a bank where I would pay him the naira equivalent. On the way to the bank, we collected the money from the man and pushed him out of the vehicle.”

According to ThePunch,

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old woman, Anita Ekechukwu, her brother, Sunday Ekechukwu; and three others, Benedict Nwadike, Emmanuel Ochi, also known as General and George Emmanuel, aka Force Man, for armed robbery.

According to the police authorities, the suspects were arrested while robbing bureau de change operators of millions of naira at different times.

Narrating how the suspects operated, a source at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad said Anita would pose as a customer and convince the bureau de change operator to enter a vehicle with her only to rob him.

The source said, “Anita would go to a bank and say she wanted to buy foreign currency knowing well that banks do not sell foreign currency to just anyone.

“The bankers would introduce her to a bureau de change operator and they would establish contact. Later, she will call them for a huge transaction in a vehicle.

“When the victim enters the vehicle, her colleagues would come in another vehicle, abduct the victim, rob him of his money at gunpoint and then throw him out of the vehicle.”

PUNCH Metro learnt that the robbers were arrested while trying to rob one Sanusi of $80,000 (N12.8m).

The police source said the robbers operated around a bank in Lekki and had boarded their vehicle when policemen intercepted them.

He said, 

“They organised another operation. Already police were aware that the gang was about to operate around the area. The robbers had already abducted their victim, when the police swooped in on them and arrested them. The robbers then revealed the location of the others. The police recovered the money collected from the victim.”

Anita said she took to robbery because of unemployment, adding that it was more honourable than prostitution.

She said it was her brother that introduced her to the illegitimate business but insisted they never used guns for their operations.

She said, “I am a member of the gang but we do not operate with gun. I am from Owerri, in Imo State. I am unemployed but I live at Lekki with my elder brother, Sunday, who is a building contractor.

“I joined the gang because I could not secure any reasonable employment.

“I joined the gang this year and I was given the telephone number of a bureau de change operator. I told him I wanted to buy $30,000. The next day, he sent his brothers who brought the dollars. I then told the man that we were going to a bank where I would pay him the naira equivalent. On the way to the bank, we collected the money from the man and pushed him out of the vehicle.”

Another suspect, Ochi, who claimed to be 24 years old, said he was a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State.

He said his dream was to join the Nigeria Police Force but it was unclear if he would still be enlisted following his arrest.

He said, “My role in the gang is to push the victim out of our vehicle but I am always careful so that he will not fall and hit his head against a stone or hard object.

“I am a student of Olabisi Olabanjo University, Ogun State and I am in 300 level studying Crime Investigation. I intended to enlist in Nigeria Police Force when I graduate. I want to become a police detective.

On his hope of realising his life ambition to become police detective after graduation, now that he had been arrested he said, “It is God that will decide. If I regain my freedom I will stand a chance. Even if I am jailed, I may get state pardon. Everything depends on God.”

Shocking: UNIBEN Student Shot Dead & Buried By Police, While Parents Search for Him

Protest by students of the University of Benin over alleged shooting to death of late Momodu Ibrahim, a 22-year-old 500 level student of the Faculty of Laboratory Science yesterday disrupted vehicular movement in Benin city yesterday, as the students dressed in black attire marched through some major streets, calling for the arrest and prosecution of the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ogida Police Station, Mrs. Carol Afegbai, over her alleged complicity in the murder of Momodu.

Late Momodu, said to be the only male child of his parents was allegedly shot close to his family house at 1, Igbobaewaye Street, off Siluko road by Textile Mill junction.

An elder sister of the deceased, Ebohon Rebecca Egbe, who spoke to newsmen gave an account of how the life of his brother was cut short by the bullet allegedly fired by the DPO, while she called for justice to be done in the case.

“I was in my office in Port Harcourt when I received a call from a cousin of mine in Benin who is a policeman, saying that he wants to tell me that we lost Ibrahim my younger brother.

“I called my mother and she said they had been looking for him for two days. Normally it is after 48 hours that you report such thing to the Police.”

According to her, she later went to the Police only to be told that he was allegedly killed by Carol Afegbua, the DPO of Ogida Police Station and was buried the next day without the knowledge of the family".

According to her, his brother’s cell-phone which was with the Police rang all through as “we were trying to locate his whereabouts until the Police finally picked the call and asked my mother to come to the police station.

“When the DPO was confronted over why her men shot my brother, she explained that they did not know his identity because her men asked him to stop and he refused. The DPO alleged that he was carrying a gun and wanted to shoot her men on patrol before they shot at him in self defence.”

The family, according to the sister of the slain student, was informed that the body of late Momodu had been buried at a public cemetery in Egor Local Government Area of the state.