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Tag: Rauf Aregbesola

Senate Seeks Investigation Into Incessant Jailbreaks, Invites Interior Minister
The Senate has directed its Committee on Interior to commence an investigation to unravel circumstances behind incessant jailbreaks in the country.
The lawmakers during plenary on Tuesday directed the committee to invite the Minister of Interior, the Comptroller General for the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), and the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the status of correctional centers nationwide.
This according to the lawmakers is to also prevent future recurrence of jailbreaks.
The Senate gave the directive to its committee after a Federal Lawmaker Senator Istifanus Gyang drew the attention of legislators to the attack on a correctional center in Jos, Plateau State over the weekend and the attack on two communities in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Senator Gyang said the attack is a setback to the relative peace in Plateau North and called for an efficient reinforcement and security management system to prevent attacks at correctional centers across the country.
Several inmates are currently on the run due to incessant jailbreaks in the country.
Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola earlier in November said there are over 3,000 inmates at large following jailbreaks in Nigeria within the last year.
Aregbesola who disclosed this during a briefing at the State House in Abuja said 4,860 inmates escaped from various custodial centers from 2020 till date, and out of this, 984 have been recaptured.
This leaves the country with about 3876 inmates out of custody.
According to Aregbesola, biometrics of all inmates in the country have been captured, and it is the hope of the Federal Government that this exercise will aid the tracking and rearrest of the escapees.
November 30, 2021
NUJ South-West Zone To Honour Aregbesola, Says NUJ
By Richard Ayinde, Osogbo.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) South-West Zone has said that the investiture of former governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as the Grand Patron of the union in the zone would hold as planned tomorrow, Friday, March 26.
While speaking on a current affairs programme on Unique Fm radio today, the Zonal Secretary of NUJ, Mr Bamigbola Gbolagunte said the National Secretariat and President of the union, Mr Chris Isiguozo were in support of the programme, because Aregbesola merits it.
Gbolagunte also added that none of the six-state NUJ councils in the South-West which originally endorsed Aregbesola for the award has withdrawn from the programme.
He said: I will like to state that the programme has not been put on hold as being rumoured. None of the six councils, that is, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun which make up the South-West zone has written to my office to officially inform the zone of their withdrawal from the event.
“The zone chose Aregbesola for the investiture and award. Before he was chosen; his name was presented to the Chairmen and Secretaries of the councils that make up the South-West zone. They all approved that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola be made the Grand Patron of the zone and also receive an Award of Excellence.
The National Secretariat and President are aware of the programme and they have not given us the order to stop the programme.
Explaining why the former governor of the State of Osun was chosen, Gbolagunte said his accessibility to journalists; establishment of three media houses, among others was why the councils in the zone unanimously agreed to bestow him with the honours.
He said: The criteria used in choosing Aregbesola then was his performance in office and secondly, he owns three media organisations. Two of them were established long before he became a governor. Journalists are working in all of these places and are being paid by him.
When he was the governor in Osun, Aregbesola set up the Bureau of Communication and Strategy where he also employed journalists to work there. He also gave one bus to the Osun State Council of NUJ and another bus to the NUJ Correspondent Chapel.
In addition to that, he was accessible to journalists; he held an interactive programme where journalists and other members of the public asked questions uncensored regularly. Even right now as the minister, he is accessible to journalists”.
March 26, 2021
Deceptive: Rauf Aregbesola Received 96-Month Salary Arrears In Secret, Claims He Did Not
Facts have emerged on how a former governor of Osun State and the incumbent Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, was secretly paid 96 months salary arrears towards the end of his administration in 2018.
The former governor had boasted publicly on many occasions on how he sacrificed his salaries throughout the eight years of his 2-term tenure in office as a result of his personal conviction on inclusive governance.
However, we authoritatively gathered that the former Osun State governor, towards the expiration of his administration in 2018 ordered the Ministry of Finance, through the Accountant General Office to effect the payment of his salaries for the whole eight years in office, amounting to several millions of Naira, which was paid to his personal account. We cannot confirm the actual amount.
It would be recalled that Aregbesola, at different occasions had also claimed not to operate any personal account throughout his tenure in office.
But a very reliable source at the Ministry of Finance, who craved anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said there is a verifiable evidence to substantiate that the former Osun State helmsman received all accruing salaries meant for his office in bulk.
According to him, the former governor was paid 96 months salaries around October 2018.
“Although, I cannot specifically state the exact amount the 96 months salaries amounted to, what I can say is that it runs into several millions of naira, and the former governor was paid towards the end of his second term tenure in office, sometime around October, 2018,”the source said.
Also, a senior official at the Accountant General office in the state confirmed the development, adding that the payment was shrouded in secrecy.
Meanwhile, a socio-political group in the State, Osun for Accountability, has berated Aregbesola for what it termed lack of transparency and probity on the part of the former governor, as it called on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the Minister.
“It is now glaring that the former governor, Rauf Aregbesola, was so deceptive throughout his tenure in office. He ran a government of deception and double standard.
“It is criminal for a public officer older of this stature and status to say something in the open and went ahead to do another thing, especially when it has to do with finance. How could you have mopped up a whole sum of 96 months salaries while claiming not to collect a dime throughout your tenure,’’ he said.
February 24, 2021
Stop Giving Ethnic Colouration To Crimes, FG Tells Nigerians
The Federal Government has asked Nigerians not to give ethic colouration to crimes, saying the morality of the African race and Nigeria, in particular, abhors all forms of criminal activities.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said crime is evil to the nation.
Aregbesola, who received a delegation from the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 14, of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), said Nigerians must equate security with the global picture of a society that puts its emphasis on the dignity of man and human development.
“One thing we must all resist is the tendency of seeing crime in relation to one ethnic group or another, a criminal is a criminal no matter the ethnic group he or she belongs to. No ethnic group in Nigeria glorifies crime and criminality, so let us all condemn the crime. Our morality itself makes crime an unpopular vocation,” he said.
The Minister called on the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) to see the need to develop a policy analysis that will ensure adequate reorientation of an average Nigerian to see crimes and criminality as they are.
He said the institution should begin to think of how it could help Nigerians change the narrative of crime tied to a particular ethnic group and stop prioritising tension and heating up the polity unnecessarily: as no good governance could be provided in the atmosphere of chaos.
February 13, 2021
#EndSARS: Minister explains why correctional centres rejected new suspects
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday, said authorities of the nation’s correctional centres are rejecting new suspects being sent to them by the police because the action was not in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.
Aregbesola stated this during an interview with journalists after defending his Ministry’s 2021 budget proposal before the Senate Committee on Interior.
He also said his Ministry would approach the National Assembly with a supplementary budget soon to rebuild all the correctional centres destroyed during the protests that followed the #EndSARS protests recently.
November 3, 2020
BREAKING: FG declares Oct 1 public holiday
The Federal Government has declared Thursday, October 1, 2020, as a public holiday to commemorate Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made this known on Tuesday, September 29 in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Georgina Ehuriah.
According to the statement, the minister praised Nigerians for the feats in economy, education, the creative sector, amongst others.
The statement also quoted Aregbesola as saying, “Though celebrating sixty years of independence really calls for pomp and pageantry, but with the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced all nations in the world to think and act cautiously, we cannot avoid the imperative of a low-keyed celebration at this time.”
It added, “While wishing Nigerians a fruitful independence celebration, he reminded them of the fact that our founding fathers, in spite of the differences in faith, tribe and tongue came together for Nigeria’s independence.”
September 29, 2020
BREAKING: FG declares Thursday, Friday public holidays for Eid-el-Kabir
The Nigerian Government has declared Thursday 30 and Friday 31 July 2020 as public holidays to mark this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
Nigeria’s interior minister Rauf Aregbesola made the announcement in a statement by the permanent secretary of the ministry Georgina Ehuriah.
While making the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, he congratulated Muslim faithful and all Nigerians both at home and abroad on the occasion.
He called on the Muslims to continue to imbibe the spirit of love, peace, kindness and sacrifice, as exemplified by the Holy Prophet Muhammad and to also use the period to pray for peace, unity, prosperity and the stability of the country especially as the world is witnessing global health challenges caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
Aregbosola assured that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is fully committed to battling the scourge with the cooperation of all Nigerians.
The minister emphasised that the government would continue to foster peaceful coexistence, national cohesion and stability in its march towards actualizing the full potentials of the country.
He called on all Nigerians to join hands with the administration of President Buhari in its avowed determination to build a peaceful, harmonious and prosperous country, where the rights of every citizen, are protected and guaranteed, as enshrined in the constitution of the country.
The minister advised Nigerians to take responsibility against the spread of the COVID-19 virus and also to stay safe by observing physical and social distancing, personal and respiratory hygiene, as well as other regulations issued by relevant authorities.
July 28, 2020