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Crisis Rocks BBA Again: Thugs Backed By Heavily Armed Police Detachment Invades Market By Ifeoma Ikem

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Crisis Rocks BBA Again: Thugs Backed By Heavily Armed Police Detachment Invades Market

By Ifeoma Ikem

Crisis rocked the popular Multi Billion Naira Balogun Business Association,BBA, International Market, located at the Trade Fair International Complex Lagos State, as thugs allegedly loyal to a faction but accompanied by heavily armed police officers, Invaded the Market by 3am in the morning, to enforce a questionable court Judgement forcefully foisting Chief Oscar Odogwu, as new President of the market.
Our Correspondent learnt that the Traders are protesting, even as Market Caretaker Committee Leadership Vows To throw out the Illegal Government.
Some of the Traders at the crisis ridden Balogun Business Association International Market, BBA, said that Lagos State have condemned the wee hours invasion, property destruction, colossal damages to sections of the market and wounding of market security officers by armed thugs, who were said to have been backed by heavily armed police team .
Saharaweekly reporter who visited the market around 11 am yesterday, reported that the visibly angry, obviously shaken and traumatized traders,vowed to resist the new but unpopular Chief Oscar Odogwu’s led  leadership, which they said was unlawful foisted on them by the invaders on Wednesday, November 22nd , 2023.
They however commended the rare high level of maturity,civilization,Safety consciousness and law abiding attitude exhibited by the legitimate Care taker committee of BBA, led by Hon. Chief Anselem Duru,during the Wednesday 3am unlawful invasion and forceful take of the market leadership and Secretariat by Oscar Odogwu and Alex Obi – Odunukwe’s Thugs and police,who allegedly invaded the market to foist an illegal market leadership.
Speaking, one of the visibly Angry traders, Chief Polycarp Nwankwo, “the refusal by Hon. Duru Led ICC to resort to self help and confrontation with thugs, but resigned  to rule of law, was the saving grace that avoided Imminent Bloodbath,Possible Breakdown Of Law And Order, As Heavily Armed thugs backed by Police Officers Besiege BBA Lagos Market Complex to Enforce Controversial court Order”
Our investigation revealed that thousands of angry Traders at the Multi billion Naira BBA International market, located at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, along the Lagos/Badagry Expressway, Lagos, were vexed over the forceful foisting of what they described as a new unwarranted and unwanted leadership on them .
They also condemned the alleged manhandling of the legitimate Chief Security Officer, CSO of the market,Chief Chinaedu Ezebuadi and his security colleagues, who were said to have been brutally beaten by the invaders,who stormed the market by 3am,  early Wednesday morning using hired thugs , accompanied by a detachment of heavily armed Police officers, suspected to be from  the State Command, whose mission they said was to Unlawfully foist a new leadership in the crisis ridden market.
According to our Correspondent ,there are palpable fears, with tension running high,as some breakaway members of the Association led by one Chief Oscar Odogwu, allegedly backed by over 300 armed police officers ,  “on a mission to enforce a dubious and questionable court order , in a very dangerous attempt to foist an unknown and unrecognized members of the Association on the teeming traders in the market, in contravention of subsisting orders and decisions of the Federal High Court”.
The traders are envisaging a total breakdown of  Law and Order, if due process and rule of law that has been truncated, is not restored immediately,which they fear may lead to bloodbath, as it had once happened in the same market years ago.
They therefore called on the Inspector General of the Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, to intervene and call the Lagos State Police Command to order.
Speaking, the legally recognized Caretaker Committee CTC, led by Honourable Anselm Dunu and the Secretary, Chief Leonard Ogbonnia, had Stated in an interview that  the new phase of the  crisis that had been rocking the market association started after Chief Okey Ezeibe allegedly took some of his loyalists to an obscure area  outside the market and  Conducted  an illegal election in which unpopular and unrecognized persons, including Chief Oscar Odogwu,were purportedly elected as leaders of the association to the chagrin of other members who felt the reign  of Chief Ezeibe as President and Board of Trustee,  BOT Chairman,  had lapsed and therefore, conducting an election outside the market runs contrary to their Constitution.
“It was this kangaroo and unlawful election in a hotel outside our market,that Oscar Odogwu and his co- travellers , used in initiating a court proceedings against individuals. For record purposes and emphasis, Odogwu’s court case was not with our organization called BBA , not with the caretaker committee.
The deceived the court, the police,collected illegal Judgement with which they came to our market by 3am in the morning , broke into the security office, destroying things, manhandling our security personnel and Unlawfully took over leadership of the market .How can police Officers invade a market at the wee hours of the day, when market had long closed to enforce a questionable court Order . IGP Kayode Egbetokun, The Judiciary,Federal and State governments, should urgently intervene, so as to restore the democratic Hope of common man and our genuine traders”, The oldest Member, BBA Board Of Trustees, BOT, Chief Nick Okeke, lamented.
Meanwhile, Chief leonard Ogbonnia, frowned at what he described as Odogwu’s group deception and love for illegalities, “considering that just on Monday all parties in several Federal High Court cases, including this invaders, were in court for peaceful settlement and resolutions of cases and issues in the market “
According to a press release signed by Hon. Dunu and Chief Ogbonnia, despatched to our Correspondent, titled: “THE EVENTS AT BBA/ICC TODAY, WEDNESDAY, 22ND NOVEMBER,
2023″, it reads:
“Greetings beloved and greet fellow members of BBA/ICC.
The Caretaker Committee of BBA uses this opportunity to address you on the
regrettable and ridiculous events of today, Wednesday, 22nd of November,
2023 when the duo of Mr. Alex Obi-Odunukwe and Mr. Oscar Odogwu broke
into the hallowed grounds of our Shopping Complex under the flag and color of
enforcing an alleged order or judgment of court.”
“It is imperative that you, resourceful and glorious members of Balogun Business
Association, hold very closely to your noble hearts the very vital information
that the purported judgment under which cover Mr. Alex Obi-Odunukwe and
Mr. Oscar Odogwu invaded the sacred grounds of our complex is one they
fraudulently contrived and invoked in a stale and illegitimate lawsuit in which
neither our dear Association, Balogun Business Association, nor members of this
Caretaker Committee are parties.”
“In other words, Balogun Business Association, either in its plain name or in its
capacity as a body corporate and registered Association, is not a party to the
suit.
And neither this incumbent Caretaker Committee No any of its members are
parties to this abusive and contemptuous lawsuit.”
Mr. Alex Obi-Odunukwe and Mr. Oscar Odogwu, consumed and propelled by a
combustible mix of inordinate ambition and desperation have done the
unthinkable by brazenly deceiving, misinforming and manipulating both the
Court and the Nigeria Police Force to levy execution of a purported judgment
against Balogun Business Association, the Caretaker Committee of the
Association and members of the Caretaker Committee of the Association who
are not parties to their contemptuous lawsuit!”
“And to make matters worse for these two desperado and their confederates
who claim to have been “elected” as members of a phantom “executive council”
of their own imagination at an hotel in Mile 2, Lagos, their illegitimate lawsuit
was wangled by them and unleashed on the Court AFTER the Federal High Court
had specifically in Suit No.”
 FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2021(Incorporated Trustees of Balogun Business Association & Others versus Inspector General of Police &
Others) and Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/451/2021(Incorporated Trustees of Balogun
Business Association & Others versus Corporate Affairs Commission & Others)
made orders, decisions and pronouncements which effectively invalidated and
nullified the comedy of errors that masqueraded as “elections” at Villa Park
Hotel!The above two suits and the orders, decisions and pronouncements made by
the Federal High Court predated the now infamous and contemptuous lawsuit
of Mr. Oscar Odogwu, Mr. Alex Obi-Odunukwe and their confederates, and the
orders, decisions and pronouncements of the Federal High Court in the above
two cases(Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2021 and Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/451/2021)
are still subsisting!”
“In fact the two suits came up before the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday,
20th of November, 2023 and have been further adjourned by the Court to the
19th of December, 2023!
In the circumstances, we hereby advise our beloved members, stakeholders,
affiliates and esteemed customers to remain calm and law-abiding while this
Caretaker Committee, in exercise of its lawful management and administration
of the Association and the ICC, attends to the toxic and noxious shenanigans of
these fifth columnists who by all indications are mere scouts for some ambitious
predators that have in recent times set their sights on the ICC and the Association under various covers, including false environmental and sanitation concerns.”
“The Association and this incumbent Caretaker Committee is backed and
sustained not only by the subsisting orders, decisions of the Federal High Court
in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2021 and Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/451/2021, but by
subsisting judgments of the Federal High.
Crisis Rocks BBA Again: Thugs Backed By Heavily Armed Police Detachment Invades Market

By Ifeoma Ikem

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ASR AFRICA FLAGS OFF CONSTRUCTION OF A N280 MILLION INTEGRATED PUBLISHING HOUSE FOR BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

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ASR AFRICA FLAGS OFF CONSTRUCTION OF A N280 MILLION INTEGRATED PUBLISHING HOUSE FOR BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

ASR AFRICA FLAGS OFF CONSTRUCTION OF A N280 MILLION INTEGRATED PUBLISHING HOUSE FOR BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

 

 

 

 

Sahara Weekly Reports That The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa), the philanthropic initiative of the Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu (CFR, CON), has flagged off the construction of a N280 million Abdul Samad Rabiu Integrated Publishing House for Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State. This project will enhance the capacity of the University from basic press status to a modern, integrated publishing house to encompass publishing, print production, and other related diversified services. The one-storey building facility will serve as a laboratory and studio for training students of communications, media studies, and allied disciplines as well as other disciplines.

 

 

 

ASR AFRICA FLAGS OFF CONSTRUCTION OF A N280 MILLION INTEGRATED PUBLISHING HOUSE FOR BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

 

 

 

 

At the groundbreaking event, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Ademola S. Tayo, expressed satisfaction at the nomination by ASR Africa, under its Tertiary Education Grant Scheme. He added that the choice of the project was a response to the vision to take the Mass Communications Department of the University to a whole new level. According to him, the university’s vision is to produce young men and women capable of critical thinking, and problem-solvers capable of proffering innovative solutions to problems of everyday life, be it social, political, and cultural.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his response, Dr. Ubon Udoh, the Managing Director of ASR Africa, expressed his delight at the University’s choice of establishing an Integrated Publishing House. He added that when information is appropriately applied, human society is empowered to liberate itself from limitations and attain its full potential. Dr Udoh reiterated the commitment of the Chairman of ASR Africa, Abdul Samad Rabiu to supporting quality education within the tertiary education system in Nigeria and urged the institution to focus on the sustainability of this noble project. He also reiterated the importance of cooperation and collaboration between the university and the contractor for the timely delivery of the publishing house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About ASR Africa

ASR Africa is the brainchild of African Industrialist, Philanthropist, and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) was established in 2021 to provide sustainable, impact-based, homegrown solutions to developmental issues affecting Health, Education and Social Development within Africa.

 

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, PLEASE, ACT FAST!

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, PLEASE, ACT FAST! by Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, PLEASE, ACT FAST!

by Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi.

 

 

It’s no longer story that the preparation for the EndSars carnage went on for a while before its actual implementation.

 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, PLEASE, ACT FAST!
by Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi.

 

But lack of proactive approach on the part of some people in the government of the day became a recipe for the actualisation of the dastardly act. History is about to be repeated, but I do not expect this to happen under the watch of President Bola Tinubu.

I do not say that people should not be allowed to protest if they have any reason to do so. But given the fact that the country does not have the capacity to separate genuine protesters from hoodlums, unnecessary protest should be curtailed.

Some people may be surprised that I call it unnecessary protest.

Yes, it’s unnecessary because this government has never displayed any act of rigidity since it took the mantle of leadership. It responds even to mere comments on social media expressly within. It is clear to every discerning and positive citizen that this government has become one of the most engaging one since 1999.

It has engaged with the organised labour on the minimum wage and it’s being passed to law. It has won autonomy for local government councils. It is on course for disbursements of students’ loans. It has given tax waiver for certain commodities and goods. You only protest against a government that is either passive, incorrigible or rigid. How can a government that is barely a year in office be protested against even when it has surpassed many of the past ones within one year? That cannot be called a protest but a mischief.

President Bola Tinubu should not be deceived by those who harp on funny fundamental human rights to cause mayhem. America is the country they use as a reference point. But American government does not take untoward attitude from anyone. If you want some you will be given some. There is no way for avoidable discomfort.

Kenyans are licking their wounds at the moment. We must not allow our own case to get to that point. I believe that many of those who are planning for the protest are children who do not know the implications of such a protest. Those who are old among them are those who would gladly set their universities’ libraries on fire in the name of students’ demonstration just because water tap didn’t run at the expected time.

Please, begin to show us that we have someone in charge of our affairs. Be more presidential Your Excellency. We know that it’s those who lost elections in 2023 and those they have recruited among those who think you have not compensated them among your conditional supporters that are behind the protest.

Please, refuse to be blackmailed. No matter what you do, there is but one mind in those people and it is turned against you. Please do everything humanly possible for PH REFINERY to work. Support Dangote Refinery to get crude oil locally.

We must not be importing fuel forever. Therefore, you should beware of the sinister motive of the August 1 planned protest, Your Excellency. May you continue to succeed and may all patriotic Nigerians continue to progress in all spheres of life in the mighty name of God.

Comrade Oladimeji Odeyemi is an entrepreneur, opinion leader and a security analyst.

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Law Enforcement Training Institute ( LETI ) Commences Annual Mandatory Training

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Law Enforcement Training Institute ( LETI ) Commences Annual Mandatory Training.

 

 

The Lagos State Law Enforcement Training Institute ( LETI ) begins her Annual Mandatory Training Exercise for the year 2024 for Law Officers across the state.

The exercise, which will run for a duration of six weeks brings together officers from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority ( Lastma ), the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps ( Kai ), the Vehicle Inspection Service ( Vis ), the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps ( Lnsc ) and the Central Business District ( Cbd ) law Officers.

In her opening remarks, the CEO / Head of Leti Mrs Abiola Adeyinka emphasised on the importance of continual training for Law Officers to ” be at their best” and to ” embrace the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge.” she stressed the need for professionalism, integrity, and respect for the Rule of Law in the discharge of their duties as respectable officers of the state of excellence. The training program will cover a wide range of topics to include:
* Traffic management and Enforcement.
* Public safety and security.
* Human right and law enforcement.
* Conflict resolution etc.
* Interpersonal relations to mention but few.

Mrs Adeyinka reteirated the State government commitment to ensuring that Leti delivers on its mandate of providing high quality training to Law enforcement Officers in the state.

According to the Ceo, “The Governor of Lagos State has pledged the full support of his administration to Leti in its efforts to enhance the professionalism and effectiveness of Law enforcement in Lagos State. The annual mandatory training exercise is a testament to the Lagos State government commitment to ensuring a safe, secure and well- managed environment for all residents.

Law Enforcement Training Institute ( LETI ) Commences Annual Mandatory Training.

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