Police Release Osun Commissioner Mayowa Adejoorin After 24 Hours in Detention

Osun State Commissioner for Environment, Mayowa Adejoorin, has been released by the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force after almost 24 hours in detention.
Eereporter.com

Adejoorin was arrested in Ilesa on Saturday after a shooting in the Isokun area of the community left three people injured.

The media reports that at least three people were injured during a shooting in Ilesa, Osun State, on Saturday, when members of the Ilesa West Local Government Area chapter of the All Progressives Congress held a street rally.

One of those injured was identified as Tobi Ilesanmi, a 14-year-old boy, who was reportedly shot near the scene of the incident around the Isokun area of Ilesa.

The incident, however, has led to a blame game between the APC and the Accord Party, following the arrest of the Osun State Commissioner for Environment, Mayowa Adejoorin, who was said to be passing through Ilesa after the crisis.

Adejoorin was reportedly arrested by the police and brought to the headquarters of the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force in Osogbo, the state capital.

Speaking on the incident in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Saturday, the Osun State Police Command spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, stated that three people were injured during the shooting, alleging that the incident was perpetrated by operatives of the Amotekun Corps who were conveyed in a vehicle bearing an official Osun State Government number plate.

“Three persons are confirmed injured, and they were taken to different hospitals. From the reports we have, they were shot at the rally scene. There was a rally in some part of Ilesa by the APC.

“The rally was on when they discovered a vehicle parked beside them bearing a particular plate number, OSHAO4, and some people identified as Amotekun personnel came out of the car and shot sporadically, and everybody ran for safety.

“So some brave men among those that were doing the rally chased those Amotekun personnel passengers. The one they were able to catch drew out a knife and tried to stab anyone who came close to him, and he used that opportunity to escape,” he said.

He added that after the matter was reported to the police, some operatives of the Intelligence Response Team stationed close to the scene responded to the distress call.

Ojelabi further explained that the IRT operatives, on their way to the scene of the incident, saw Adejoorin’s vehicle passing and stopped him.

“On intercepting the vehicle, they saw an Amotekun personnel in the vehicle. So they apprehended the vehicle, the personnel and one other person in the vehicle. They brought them straight to the headquarters here. On interrogation, it was discovered that the other occupant is Honourable Mayowa Adejoorin.

“So they brought them to Osogbo for questioning to know the level of involvement in this incident because the exhibits recovered at the scene of that shooting are four expended cartridges, and the gun recovered from the Amotekun is a pump-action gun. So the investigation is ongoing,” Ojelabi said.

But while addressing journalists on the incident, the Head of the APC Campaign Council for Ilesa West, Folarin Fafowora, explained that the rally was about to be concluded when the incident occurred.

Fafowora said, “We were almost rounding up when, suddenly, a car overtook us. The occupant of the car was the Chief Whip of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Wale Akerele. I was even surprised that people were embracing him, but before I could know what was happening, there was a gunshot. To my disbelief, people started running here and there. I couldn’t believe it.

“Then he left, and people immediately started scrambling for safety. As we got to the roundabout around the Isokun area, the panic and confusion among the people had really disrupted the rally.

“From nowhere, they suddenly came out of the vehicle and started shooting. In fact, I had to hide to avoid being hit. By the time I regained my consciousness, hell had already been let loose. But somehow, because of the Amotekun vehicles that were escorting him, he disappeared almost immediately. It was very shocking. The policemen were there when he came back, while they were shooting. He was being protected by the Amotekun personnel, and they were also shooting.”

Efforts to reach Akerele by our correspondent failed, as calls did not go through to his line, while a response to a message sent to him via WhatsApp was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.

However, the spokesperson for the Imole Campaign Council, Pelumi Olajengbesi, while reacting to the allegations against Akerele in a chat with journalists on Saturday, said, “The video of Ilesa shooting is all over the place. Members of the APC were shooting in the name of the rally, destroying properties that belong to the Accord members. They destroyed the Accord Party secretariat, and the videos are all over the place.”

Giving an update on the arrest on Sunday during a telephone interview with The media, the Public Relations Officer of the Osun Police Command, Ojelabi, confirmed the release of Adejoorin.

Police

Ojelabi could not, however, confirm if the Amotekun operative arrested with Adejoorin had been released.

When asked if Adejoorin had been released, Ojelabi simply said, “The commissioner has been released. He was released today but the Amotekun that was arrested with him, I can’t confirm his release yet because I am still gathering my facts.”
Eereporter.com

PFIPC: ADC Dismisses ICPC Report as Predictable, Says Government is More Interested in Damage Control than Investigation

“What has happened is a national disgrace in the full glare of the entire world. No serious government should be satisfied with identifying one culprit for prosecution.”
Eereporter.com

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed the ICPC’s interim report on the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) as predictable and inadequate, accusing the Federal Government of prioritising damage control over a thorough investigation.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the report failed to explain how a fictitious agency allegedly secured federal office space, had civil servants deployed to it and found its way into the 2026 budget with a N1.3 billion provision, even as the investigation reportedly uncovered two other fictitious organisations linked to the principal suspect.

The full statement read:

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reviewed sections of the interim report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) that have been made public regarding the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

It would be recalled that when President Bola Tinubu directed the ICPC to undertake investigation into this case, ADC had waived it off, insisting instead on a full investigation by an independent panel. With the so-called interim report of the ICPC, our fears have come to pass as the report is not only predictable, it appears more concerned with exonerating government officials rather than providing clear answers to the serious questions that the scandal has raised.

The ICPC report appeared to have given the impression that what happened was mere failure in government processes or procedures. This position is difficult to sustain in the light of publicly available evidence, which establishes that this is not an error of omission or a mere glitch in the system. Instead, what happened was a grand scam that could have been possible only with the active connivance of government officials and institutions at the highest level.

The ICPC report also comes gravely short by suggesting that there could be accomplices within government, but mentioned none. Yet, an agency that was able to recommend only Adeyemi for prosecution on the basis of an investigation that the Commission itself has tagged as either on-going or inconclusive. If all that the commission had to present was a preliminary report, why not simply present it as confidential brief to the President instead of making a public drama of it in a manner that potentially prejudiced the overall investigation and cast Adeyemi as the principal culprit?

What Nigerians expected was an investigation into how a “fictitious agency” managed to obtain all authorizations and institutional support required to operate as a legitimate government agency. Instead, what we are being offered, after weeks of so-called investigation is the same official narrative that the government had offered from the start: that what happened was a case of one clever impostor who, somehow, managed to outwit an entire government.

Even as self-indicting as that would appear, the facts already in the public domain make such a conclusion difficult to sustain. What is clear is that the so-called PFIPC was not a creation of any Nigerian law or legitimate executive approval. Yet this same organisation managed to secured office space within the Federal Secretariat.

If according to the ICPC report, Adeyemi had kicked down the door of the Secretariat office and allocated it to himself, did he also deploy the civil servants to himself, allocated a reported N1.3 billion to himself in the 2026 Appropriation Act, allocated official vehicles with customized number plates to himself and deployed armed security to himself? It is indeed impossible to answer yes to these questions and not conclude that this is the most incompetent and porous government in Nigeria’s history.

The ICPC has now reportedly uncovered two additional fictitious organisations linked to Mr. Adeyemi. If this were the case, it should ordinarily widen the investigation, not narrow its conclusion.

If an investigation into one fake government agency leads investigators to two more, then the obvious question is no longer merely how one individual perpetrated an elaborate fraud. The question is how has this administration operated that made such systemic criminality possible?

There is also the matter of the purported appointment letter bearing the signature of the Chief of Staff to the President, which investigators reportedly found to have been forged. But establishing that a signature was forged only answers how the deception may have started; it does not explain how it travelled that far.

How did a forged document survive the verification procedures of government? Who verified the existence of PFIPC before civil servants were deployed to it? Who authorised its accommodation within a federal facility? Who processed its interactions with other government institutions? A forgery may explain the first door that was opened. It cannot explain why every subsequent door appears to have opened as well.

Most troubling is the N1.3 billion provision in the 2026 federal budget. Budgetary provisions do not materialise by accident. They leave records, submissions, approvals and an audit trail. The National Assembly has itself commenced an investigation into how PFIPC found its way into the federal budget.

The ADC therefore expects the ICPC to tell Nigerians who proposed the allocation, who processed it, who verified the beneficiary agency and how a body that the Presidency now says never existed survived the scrutiny required to appear in an Appropriation Act. To prosecute Mr. Adeyemi without answering these questions would be to punish the man who entered through the window while refusing to ask who left the doors open. What has happened is a national disgrace in the full glare of the entire world. No serious government should be satisfied with identifying one culprit for prosecution.

ADC

The ADC calls for the immediate publication of the full ICPC interim report. We also demand that every public official whose action or negligence enabled these entities to acquire official legitimacy must be named and held accountable where wrongdoing is established. Nigerians are not asking the government to manufacture culprits; they are asking it to follow the evidence wherever it may lead. Anything short of this, this so-called investigation, will remain what it presently appears to be: an exercise designed less to discover the truth than to contain the historic embarrassment.

Signed:

Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi National Publicity Secretary African Democratic Congress (ADC)
Eereporter.com

Tinubu’s Flagship Highway Projects Will Connect Nigeria, Drive Trade and Create Prosperity, Says Goronyo

The Honourable Minister of State for Works, Rt. Hon. Bello Muhammad Goronyo, Esq., has called on Nigerian engineers, innovators, professionals in the diaspora and international development partners to deploy their expertise and innovations towards accelerating Nigeria’s infrastructure development and economic transformation.
Eereporter.com

Goronyo made the call while speaking at the 2026 UK Engineering Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, themed “Engineering Innovation for National Impact.”

The Minister described engineering as more than technical expertise, stressing that it remains a critical foundation for Nigeria’s national development, economic growth and prosperity.

He said Nigeria, with its large population, abundant resources and immense human capital, could only achieve sustainable transformation by embracing innovation, professionalism and deliberate investment in infrastructure.

According to him, “Roads lead to prosperity. They are not just pathways of asphalt and concrete; they are the arteries of commerce, agriculture and industry, carrying the lifeblood of our economy.”
Goronyo noted that quality road infrastructure serves as a major enabler of economic growth, facilitates movement of people and goods, reduces transportation costs, creates employment opportunities and strengthens trade across the country.

He said the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has demonstrated unprecedented commitment to infrastructure development through significant investments in road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance.

The Minister highlighted the Federal Government’s flagship legacy highway projects, describing them as strategic infrastructure corridors designed to strengthen connectivity among Nigeria’s geopolitical zones and unlock economic opportunities.

He listed the projects to include the 750-kilometre Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway; the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway; the Trans-Sahara Trade Route (Calabar–Abuja); and the 1,100-kilometre Akwanga–Jos–Maiduguri Superhighway.

Goronyo explained that the projects were not merely roads, but strategic economic lifelines designed to integrate communities, facilitate trade, strengthen regional connectivity and stimulate economic activities.

He further emphasised the importance of professional standards, regulatory compliance and accountability in the engineering sector, noting that the Federal Ministry of Works remains committed to ensuring that public infrastructure is delivered to the highest standards.

Goronyo said the Ministry had fully endorsed the proactive regulatory philosophy of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), including stronger sanctions for professional misconduct, technical monitoring mechanisms and enhanced professional development through the Engineering Residency Programme.

He stated that the Ministry, under the leadership of the Honourable Minister of Works, Engr. (Sen.) David Nweze Umahi, CON, was intensifying project audits and technical oversight to ensure that only qualified, competent and duly registered professionals are entrusted with critical public infrastructure projects.

Goronyo urged Nigerian engineers to see themselves as guardians of public safety and national development, stressing that engineering excellence must remain central to the delivery of durable and sustainable infrastructure.
He also extended an invitation to Nigerian engineers in the diaspora and international partners to bring their expertise, innovations, investments and global experience to Nigeria.

“Nigeria is open for business. Bring your talents, innovations and investments. Join us through Public-Private Partnerships, tax credit schemes and engineering collaborations. Together, we can build roads and bridges that do more than connect cities; they can connect dreams, aspirations, opportunities and prosperity,” he said.

Goronyo

Rt. Hon. Goronyo expressed appreciation to the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Glasgow Branch, for the invitation and for providing a platform for Nigerian engineers and international professionals to exchange ideas on how engineering can contribute to national development.

He reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to supporting President Tinubu’s vision of a Nigeria where movement is seamless, logistics are efficient, infrastructure is sustainable and prosperity is widely shared.

Signed:
Abdullahi Mohammed
SA Media to the Honourable Minister of State for Works.
Eereporter.com