EAGLES EYE UPDATE

The authorities of the troubled Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, on Friday unconditionally recalled the 23 staff of the institution who were sacked over a month ago. The workers were sacked following a petition written by some of them to the anti-graft EFCC against the management of the university accusing them of financial impropriety. After investigations, the EFCC filed an 18-count criminal charge against the Vice Chancellor of the University, Olusola Oyewole; the Pro Chancellor, Adeseye Ogunlewe; and the Bursar, Moses Ilesanmi, before an Abeokuta High Court. They have since been granted bail while the case continues in court next year. Mr. Oyewole and other officials have also returned some illegally collected money to the EFCC. The dismissal of the workers for what the university said was theft of school property, has since been condemned by labour unions and civil society groups who accused the authorities of persecuting whistleblowers. On Thursday, the u...

Police stand with the members of an alleged child trafficking gang in Mumbai. Story highlights Child trafficking gang arrested in MumbaiPolice say they sold at least five babies in the past year New Delhi (CNN) Police in Mumbai have arrested six people in connection with a baby smuggling ring. The gang, five women and a man, would abduct babies in Mumbai and sell them to childless couples in other parts of India, according to senior police inspector Naresh Kasale. The activities of the gang came to police attention when they received a complaint about a missing boy who had been kidnapped from his home in Mumbai. The child was tracked down earlier this month and found with a gang member in Goa. She confessed that the gang would kidnap babies and present them as their own to sell to customers for around 200,000 to 300,000 rupees ($3,000 to $3,600). In the past year they sold five babies in this fashion, Kasale said. He said police are still investigating the gang, as they believ...

…Sanctions coming on whistleblowers, others PEACE seems not yet in sight at the troubled Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State following the resignation of the acting Chairman of the Governing Council, Chief Olukayode Akindele, and the plan to punish the three whistleblowers and some sacked workers of the university. The GatewayMail learnt that the Council meeting on Thursday was turned into uproar following sharp disagreements among the members, particularly academic staff, who are loyal to the embattled Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, and allegedly acting the script of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who insisted on punishment for the sacked workers, despite the plan to recall all of them. But, sources said that the sacked workers, who are members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), are planning to kick against the move to recall them with “stringent” conditions attached. At the controvers...

An Osun State Chief Magistrate Court has issued a warrant of arrest against a first class traditional ruler in the state, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi after he failed to show up in court to defend allegations against him. The arrest warrant is coming days after Chief Magistrate, Olusola Aluko, threatened at the last sitting of the court that if Oba Akanbi failed to appear before him in compliance with the order of the court on November 25, in a case filed against him by the Oluwo of Iwo-Oke, Oba Kadiri Adeoye, he would have no option but to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. At Tuesday’s sitting, while the applicant, Oba Adeoye, was in court, the Oluwo of Iwo was conspicuously absent, a situation that drew the rage of Magistrate Aluko. He had at the last sitting sent another monarch, Ologburo of Ogburo, Oba Asimiyu Sadiq, to represent him. Counsel to the Oluwo of Iwo-Oke, Mr Soji Oyetayo, in his submission urged the court not to entertain any of the applic...

Women and girls across Nepal are banished to chhaupadi huts like this one during menstruation despite the practice being banned in 2005. Story highlights 10 women and girls have died practising chhaupadi in the past decadePractice dates back centuries and has its roots in Hindu taboos over menstruation (CNN) Deep in the Himalayas, the night rolled in and a girl in a tiny hut lit a fire to keep warm. As she slept, the 15-year-old died of smoke inhalation. She was alone, separated from her community because of a biological function that half the world's population will experience. The girl, from Gajra village in western Nepal's Achham district, was taking part in chhaupadi, a common practice in the far west of the country in which women, considered unclean during menstruation, are banished for the extent of their periods. Her death was the second in under a month, according to Achham district police inspector Badri Prasad Dhakal, who added that 10 girls have died in simila...

Jiangxi-province,China BEIJING —  Four men in eastern China accused of murder and rape have been exonerated after a 16-year legal ordeal in the latest instance of Chinese courts overturning deeply flawed verdicts. A Jiangxi province high court announced Thursday it cleared the men accused of killing a woman in 2000, apologized and offered them an opportunity to seek compensation. The men had been sentenced to death by a municipal court in 2003 based on dubious confessions and they had successfully appealed. The same lower court reheard the trial and sentenced the defendants to death again the following year, only to be overruled again by the provincial court in 2006. The provincial court reviewed the case this year and determined that forensic evidence did not match confessions given by the defendants, who said they had been tortured. A string of stories about wrongful convictions has surfaced in recent years in China, where the government has sought to strengthen a crimina...

…As Health Commissioner assures residents of safety THE dreaded disease, Lassa fever, has killed an undertaker, identified as Okusaga, and an Assistant Chief Nursing Officer, Omobolanle Adesuyi, at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. The deceased persons, GatewayMail learnt, died following their infection with the killer disease after their contacts with an alleged Lebanese patient in the hospital‎. The GatewayMail further gathered that the 43-year-old nurse, who joined FMC in 2001, had innocently contracted the virus while administering medications on the patient, who later died while on admission. Similarly, the undertaker, who was infected while bathing the corpse of the Lebanese, died last Friday, and has been buried by the family in Ijebu-Ode. It was further gathered that the deceased had just completed his National Youth Service Corps service to join his parents’ business of undertaking. According to reliable source,...

…As Governing Council set to recall 23 sacked workers STRIDENT pressures are being mounted on the embattled Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, to honorably exit himself from office before being shown the way out by the Federal Government. The twist is coming at the time that if found guilty Oyewole risks five years behind bars in line with the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000 No 5 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria Section 8 (19), should the anti-graft agency pick up the case and try him for corruptly enriching himself in office. The government, according to sources, may ask Oyewole to go between Thursday and next week if he refuses to voluntary step aside. The development is coming on the heels of Tuesday’s commencement of sitting of the Council Committee set up by the Governing Council to investigate lingering industrial unrest and tension in the university. The committee,...

THE trial of alleged misappropriation of N800 million against the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, the ex-Chairman, Governing Council and Pro-Chancellor, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, and former Bursar, Mr. Moses Ilesanmi, could not commence on Friday. The absence of the trial judge, Justice Olatokunbo Majekodunmi, stalled the commencement of the case being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Oyewole and the two former principal officials of FUNAAB. They are facing 18-count charges of corruption bordering on misappropriation of university fund and abuse of office. They were also accused of fraudulent conversion of government property and stealing, an allegation which has made Ogunlewe and Oyewole to refund N4 million and N2.5 million respectively. GatewayMail learnt that the judge, who fixed Friday for the trial to commence when the accused persons appeared before her last November...

The management of the crisis-ridden Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, said it is ready to re-absorb 23 sacked workers if they tender written appeals for pardon by Monday. In a press statement by spokesperson of the institution, Emi Alawode, on Friday, the university explained that the step was to ensure lasting peace in the institution. “In a bid to ensure lasting peace in the University, the Governing Council of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), is set to re-absorb the 23 sacked members of staff of the University,” the statement read. Mrs. Alawode said the decision was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 91st Meeting of the Governing Council, held at the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja and signed by the Acting Registrar and Secretary to Council, Obafemi Oginni. “Owing to series of appeals from within and outside the University community, the Council communiqué directed that 23 staff, whose ...

…As ASUU, NASU insist on Oyewole must stay THE Federal Ministry of Education has commenced moves to return peace to the troubled Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), in Ogun State. The Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, has appointed Chief Olukayode Akindele, as the acting Chairman of FUNAAB Governing Council, which also has former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na’abba, Prof. Femi Otunbanjo, and Abba Dasuki, among others, as members. According to reliable source, the Minister took the decision to restore normalcy to the university not to create further vacuum at the highest hierarchy following the resignation of the erstwhile Chairman and Pro-Chancellor, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe. Ogunlewe, the university Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, and former Bursar, Mr. Moses Ilesanmi, are currently facing corruption charges over alleged misappropriation of N800 million. The trio had last November 25 appeared before an Ogun State High Co...

THE nation’s regulatory body for the university system, the National Universities Commission (NUC), has waded into the crisis that has engulfed the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), in Ogun State. GatewayMail learnt that the Executive Secretary of the commission, Professor Adamu Abubakar Rasheed, summoned the members of the Governing Council and management of the university to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, on Tuesday. Despite having resigned his position as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, was also invited to lead the Governing Council while the embattled Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, will head the management delegation to the meeting. Oyewole and his team, it was gathered, left Monday noon for Abuja to the talks where the issues of the financial misappropriation will be on the table alongside the need to recall the sacked 23 workers, among who are the three whistleblowers who reported Ogunlewe, ...

…Oyewole going nowhere, says Governing Council THE Governing Council of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) is set to re-absorb the 23 workers who were sacked recently, but with a caveat: each of them must within 48 hours write letter of appeal before the job would be given back. Also, they are to face Council Committee to defend themselves on series of allegations and if found culpable may get punitive measures, probably losing their jobs again. Similarly, the Governing Council said that the embattled Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, who is facing 18-count charges bordering on misappropriation of N800 million alongside the erstwhile Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, and former Bursar, Moses Ilesanmi, would continue in office, despite the case in court and his return of N2.5 million of the misappropriated fund. These are part of the resolutions of the FUNAAB Governing Council reached at its 91st meeting held at th...

…AS SSANU rejects conditions for recall THE crisis at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State is yet from being over going by alleged plan of the Governing Council to deal with the three whistleblowers and other workers who participated in exposing the fraud in the university. Similarly, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has rejected the conditions placed before its members to return to their jobs. GatewayMail reliably gathered that the Council was particularly peeved by the action of the whistleblowers in reporting its former Chairman, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which led to his hurried resignation and prosecution in court, alongside the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, and former Bursar, Moses Ilesanmi, for corruption charges on misappropriation of over N800 million,. Apparently still insisting on taking its pound of flesh, GatewayMail gathered that th...

APPARENTLY to lessen their infractions, the embattled Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, and four others have joined the list of those who have returned money allegedly embezzled in the university. On Tuesday, Oyewole allegedly paid N2.5 million to the coffers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti-graft agency that dragged him alongside Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, who resigned his position last week as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, and former Bursar, Mr. Moses Ilesanmi, to court on 18-count charges of corruption. Four others – who are members of the Governing Council – were at various times between last week and Tuesday alleged to have refunded a total of N4 million. Oyewole, the Founder and General Overseer of Divine Height Bible Church, Abeokuta, Ogunlewe and Ilesanmi, the EFCC claimed in its charges, misappropriated over N800 million fund of the u...

DESPITE the vote of confidence passed on him by fellow lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNNAB), Prof. Olusola Oyewole, may resign his appointment any moment from now. The procrastination on when to take the decision came at the time the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has summoned Oyewole, who is the Founder and General Overseer of Divine Height Bible Church, Abeokuta, to Abuja. Similarly, the development came at the time the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) in the university kicked against the vote of confidence passed on Oyewole by the Senate of the university. Oyewole, left for Abuja on Thursday to hold talks with the Minister who was said to have been peeved with the vote of confidence passed on the Vice-Chancellor coupled with the need to decide on the allegation of corruption leveled against him alongside the former Pro-Chancellor a...

APPARENTLY to escape prosecution and yield to the directive of the former Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), Prof. Felix Kolawole Salako, has returned N1.4 million into the university purse. Salako refunded the money via bank draft issued by the FUNAAB branch of the Guaranty Trust Bank last Wednesday at 9.15am. “It was in respect of the money collected for children wedding ceremony as allocated for members of Governing Council,” the source explained. The credible source explained that the Governing Council of the university has been thrown into confusion following the insistence of Ogunlewe that all members who collected “illegal” money from the university must return them to avoid prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “Peace has eluded the Governing Council since Senator Ogunlewe advised them to r...

…Oyewole appoints acting Registrar to spite Ayoola ANOTHER crisis has engulfed the troubled Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State as the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, and the Registrar, Mr. Matthew Ayoola, locked horns over internal administrative procedure. The two officials are also at loggerheads over the decision of Oyewole to appoint an acting Registrar, Mr. Obafemi Oginni, who until Friday was the Deputy Registrar and Director, Office of Advancement at the university. Trouble erupted between the two principal officers of the university when Ayoola requested the Governing Council, under the chairmanship of the erstwhile Pro-Chancellor, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, to grant his request to proceed on two months leave ahead of his full disengagement on June 1, 2017. Ayoola in his capacity as the Registrar is also the Secretary of the Governing Council of the university. It was learnt that the council approved Ayoola’s leave at its m...

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an urgent appeal to Mallam Adamu Adamu Minister of Education requesting him to “order an immediate, unconditional and full reinstatement of all the twenty-three Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) sacked by the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) simply because they reported cases of corruption on campus to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).” SERAP said that unless Mr Adama is able to “prevail on the University Council to recall the victimised 23 staff members within seven days after the receipt and/or publication of this letter, our organization will be compelled to pursue appropriate legal action to challenge these unjust acts against whistle-blowers.” In the letter dated 6 December 2016 and signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni the organization said that, “SERAP has been fully briefed by the twenty-three SSANU member...