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By Oluwole Francis
The Nigeria Police Force,(NPF) has taken a lead at the ongoing One Service One Medal, (OSOM) Games in Abuja by sweeping most of the gold medals available at the gold medals available at the weightlifting event, hauling a total of 32.
reports that the event held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja at the indoor Hall on Sunday, saw the police team claiming 28 gold,four slivers medals for other contestants .
Second placed team on the medals table is the Federal Road Safety Corp ( FRSC), who claimed two gold ,three sliver , while others claimed three sliver each that is Economic Economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) and Federal Fire Service (FFS).
Team police claimed their gold medals from female team (49 kg, 59 kg,64 kg,81kg, +87 kg), for male 61kg,73kg,81kg,96kg, 109kg.
The FRSC got their gold from 64 kg from female.
Meanwhile,the championship would help in the effort to churn out more sports talent from the Nigeria Military and para military.
Speaking after the match, Maina Akawu, NPF Lagos ,said that I started in a little bit but I finish well. I believed that i will be able to reach 110kg.
“ It’s not easy when you attempt. You will get the technique but you will be scared. We are two in the categories 61 kg and I defeated him to take the gold.
“We need more competitors to participate, this will fine tune the atmosphere ,” he said.
On her part,Chinonso Anuebunwe, NPF athlete,said am glad, I am have really improve in my skills. I started lifting with 81 kg categories and I snatch 110kg.
“ I have been playing this game for past seven years but I always won gold and am proud of my progress. I have played in all African games and OSOM .I won gold medals now.
“ I pray that Nigeria should just support us one on one because weightlifting is not a easy game to play,” she said l.
Raphael Adefemi, NPF team Lagos state said that’s they need more competitors and this will help out and I also won the last edition of OSOM.
“ I am impressed. I started from 81kg and I was able to snatch 110 kg weightlifters,” he said.
On her side, Janet Ali, the announcer of weightlifting OSOM game, she said that the athletes that perform are in high spirit of sportsmanship.
“ The only thing observed is that the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC ) they pull out of the competition.
She said “ As far as weightlifting is concerned, we abide by the international standard.we do not go below it .and from all indications the athletes did well and they are all happy about the game.
“The police took overall in the competition and of course any one that is fully prepared must come out victory.They trained their athletes If others agencies can do the same the competition will go a longer way.
“ I urge the organiser for this edition that they should improve on the welfare of the participants next edition because welfare of participants is very important .
“ They need to set up another rules governing this OSOM. So that other agency that didn’t participating will know the worth of why they ought to be there ,” she said.
A total of 11 participants participate, five females and six male for weightlifters.
Events competed for include Athletics, Swimming, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Beach Volleyball, Tennis, Shooting, Table Tennis and Badminton,Beach Volleyball will take place at the Jabi Lake.
Just finished reading this. It is an indept analysis of the quagmire we find ourselves. This kind of reports are lacking in the Nigerian media space. Kudos to gongnews
Senator Saraki is our ‘brother’. If you agree so, please find it in your heart to say a word of prayer for him today. Forget about those who are annoying us with their dubious tributes.
Saraki’s trouble appears tenfold. Code of Conduct trial. Running battle with Sen. Omo-Agege. EFCC vs his aide. IG vs him. Looming murder case. Now, APC structure is being taken off him. O mase o! 🙆♂
HMMMMMMM ! Oro po nbe .
OK let’s go there , let the police do the needful .
*Senate President Saraki’s Links To Kwara Cultists*
In the afternoon of Easter Sunday, one Wasiu Idris, a famous member of the Aiye Confraternity, was murdered in the Sakama area of Niger Road in Ilorin, Kwara state. The death of Idris, also known as “Wasiu Igbo-Owu” or “Adanri,” was reportedly carried out by members of a rival cult gang. Idris, who was in his early 40s, was well known in the neighborhood as a leader in his confraternity. He is also known as one of the elite thugs in the camp of Senate President Bukola Saraki. The deceased, who was living in Saudi Arabia, returned to the country on the eve of the last general election to resume work as a political agent.
According to National Pilot, a local publication owned by Saraki, Idris was on the balcony of his house when four gunmen arrived and shot him at close range. “His assailants ensured that he was dead before leaving the scene in a commando style,” the paper reported. It went further to state that the attackers came to the area through Baboko axis around 3:46pm and escaped through Edun axis. One of them, the paper added, was masked.
The murder of Idris was the latest episode in the fierce cult gang rivalry that has become a staple in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. This death, however, produced less shock than that of Bayo Ajia, who was hacked to death by members of a rival gang on January 19 at his carwash business situated under the popular Stadium Bridge, along the Ibrahim Taiwo Road. Earlier that day, another top thug, Bukola Ajikobi, had been assassinated in Ilorin.
It was widely believed that Ajia himself was plotting the murder of Ajikobi when he received a call to meet someone, probably a confidant, at his carwash. Ajia, who always moved around with a bevy of well-armed thugs, however, headed to the car wash all by himself and was killed. In 2004, Ajia was sentenced to death for the twin murders of AbdulYekeen Gobir and AbdulGaniyu Hussein. Both men were murdered in cold blood while partying at Deen’s Motel in Ilorin.
Ajia’s appeal against the death sentence went to the Supreme Court, where it was affirmed. But towards the end of his tenure as Kwara State Sovernor, Mr. Saraki granted him amnesty and he was freed from death row. But Ajia was not just another cult kingpin. He was a premium thug used by Saraki against political opponents. And on his return from prison, he took off from where he left in the service of Saraki.
In fact Ajia’s death was ascribed to insinuations that he was knocked off by Saraki because he was blackmailing the Senate President late 2015. The use cultists as thugs in Kwara politics was premiered a few years after the return of civil rule in 1999. The late Muhammed Lawal, who was governor at the time, recruited cultists around 2002 because he needed them in the fight against the Saraki dynasty, which wanted him stopped from being re-elected in 2003.
The Sarakis, who operated a major political machine, also had a most vicious army of thugs and cultists. Lawal was no match for the family regarding finance and violence. Also, to the advantage of the Sarakis was the possession of a ruthless propaganda machinery, which was efficient in shifting the blame for the actions of their thugs to others.
By the time Mr. Saraki became governor in 2003, the use of cultists as political thugs had become a state policy. Cultist like Tunde Ojulari, Bayo Ajia and Ariyo were placed on salaries together with the existing thugs led by Akaje, Olosasa, Kannike, omojomola, jatto, Kawando, Go slow, Babalola, kankani etc who were all prominent members of the B Saraki political team.
Along with their political uses, they continued as cultists carrying out hits and reprisal attacks on rival gangs. Attending parties in the city became a hazardous undertaking because violence, often involving murders, frequently erupted. Many of the nightclubs in the Ilorin GRA are run by cultists, whose strong political connections ensure that such clubs got regular security cover, with security agencies turning a blind eye when they committed atrocities.
Cult killings in Ilorin, people in the town, said, also, take the form of ritual killing of young women for traditional purposes. Rumors suggesting this are especially rife when the late Olushola Saraki, Senate President Bukola Saraki’s father, was ill. The recent killings of some young women in the GRA area has also been linked to the problems arising from the Senate President’s prosecution for false assets declaration by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
This grotesque trend is new to the community, which has always prided itself on its Islamic heritage. The escalation of violence in the state, many are convinced, is directly linked to Saraki’s vice-like grip on political affairs in the state.
Many analysts reckon that young people in the community have come into the voting age in the years of Bukola Saraki’s domination.
Opportunities for advancement are limited for most of these young people, as the only openings available are directly related to the patronage structure the Senate President inherited from his father. Saraki decides who receives financial remuneration for political loyalty and when. He also has the mercenaries for whipping dissidents back into line as part of his political machinery. Any member of his political camp that exhibits an independent streak is put down via suspension, ostracism, and exclusion from the state-funded largesse. This implies that a dissident may find himself moved from relative comfort to grinding poverty.
Most of the cultists have no real life skills and see Saraki as the only passport to living a comfortable life. This makes them ready to maim and kill whenever they are activated to do so. They are aware that the funds he uses for patronage come from the resources of the state, but have been wired to see the Senate President who is seen as a messiah.
A little over two years ago, some thugs accosted Saraki at the Ilorin Airport and shouted: “Ole” (thief)! They insisted that they were no longer interested in working for him and demanded payment for services previously rendered.
A very shocked Saraki was said to have sobbed before instructing enforcers like Kayode Yusuf (Maja) to pay off the disaffected thugs so they could disperse.
Also last April, Ilorin went close to a total breakdown of law and order when thugs, several of them drug dealers, took on agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at a drug den in the Gambari area of the state capital.
Early that morning, the NDLEA operatives started shooting in the area, drawing an equally robust response from the firepower of the thugs. Two thugs were killed. Later that day, one Ariyo, known as a drug dealer NDLEA Saraki thug, led reprisal attacks on homes of the NDL operatives involved in the crackdown.
The action resulted in the killing of three people and the destruction of many houses in Agbarere and Ita-Ore areas. The fracas later spilled to other parts like Oke-Kura, Oja-Oba, and Popo-Igbonna, disrupting social and economic activities.
Ilorin Info, an online news portal quoted police spokesman, Okasanmi Ajayi, as saying: “There was a confrontation between miscreants and security operatives. It was as a result of problem between the NDLEA and drug dealers….That was what caused the crisis and the police came and rescued the NDLEA officers, and we are trying to control the miscreants there. Some houses have been attacked. We have arrested some people. I can confirm that two people died. They were attacking anything they see. They did not identify any particular place to attack. They were just attacking.”
What the police officer failed to disclose was that the ‘miscreants’ had close links to Saraki. Ariyo, who led the raid, was a member of the Saraki camp.