Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, and the All Progressives Congress in the state argued on Sunday over who should collect market rates in local government areas.

They even threatened to arrest each other.

Since February, APC-elected chairmen have been in charge of local councils in Osun.

But Adeleke told the PDP chairmen and councillors elected on February 21 not to go to work.

Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, released a statement in which the governor asked the Osun State Commissioner of Police to stop what he called illegal tax collection by some APC council chairmen.

He also accused them of forging council documents.

The governor said the police should question those involved in faking documents, collecting money with fake papers, and charging traders illegally.

Adeleke mentioned a specific case in Boripe Local Government.

He said the chairman there set up a revenue taskforce, which is against the law.

He said this act also disrespects the court, since the APC has already filed an appeal about their removal from office.

In response, the APC told Adeleke to stop violating the Constitution, asking the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to order the Osun Commissioner of Police to investigate the state government’s alleged plan to attack some council officials who are working to keep order in markets using fake policemen.

APC’s spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said since February 10, when the Appeal Court in Akure brought back APC council officials elected in 2022, the state government has used several tricks to stop them from returning to work.

Adeleke, however, argued that the APC chairmen are in office illegally.

He added, “The same illegal taskforce officials have begun issuing the fake documents like local government Identification letters, market revenue receipts, etc., to the members of the public,” and asked the police to act before things get out of hand.

He also told his Special Adviser on Security, Samuel Ojo, to work with the police to carry out his order. Adeleke said the APC chairmen were making life harder for people by collecting “illegal revenue and tax collections.”

He continued, “Is this the reason for illegal occupation of local government secretariats? Is this all about extorting the people and imposing pains and suffering on them? This should stop forthwith.”

He warned the public, saying, “We alert the public to this new round of illegality on a subjudiced matter. I have directed the police authorities accordingly. Forging council documents and collecting revenue illegally are punishable offences under the law. Any person caught in such act will face the full wrath of the law.”

The APC denied the governor’s claims, saying the governor and his team refuse to accept that the APC chairmen and councillors were legally brought back to power by the court. APC said they have the right to supervise markets.

They said, “By virtue of the Court of Appeal judgement of the 10th of February, 2025, the said chairmen and councillors cannot be said to be performing illegal duties by superintending the markets which fall within the purview of their schedule as allowed by the Constitution.

“One wonders why Governor Adeleke is afraid of approaching the Supreme Court if he is angry that the Court of Appeal backed the elected chairmen to return to their office to exercise the mandate given to them by the electorate in October 2022. The governor should act decently and honourably, rather than knocking his head on the wall, pacing maniacally like a bull in a china shop.”

APC asked the police bosses to warn Adeleke and others causing trouble.

They reminded him that the Constitution does not give the state government power over market affairs.

They added, “We resolve that the political instability which Governor Adeleke has courted in recent time, and which his faction of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has been conscripted to energize, would be given to him in full dosage if he decides to prevent the recognized, lawfully elected and reinstated local government council chairmen from performing their constitutional duties.”

PUNCH

Governor Adeleke Directs Police Commissioner to Stop Tax Extortion & Forgery by Yes/No Council Chairmen.

Governor Ademola Adeleke has directed the Osun state Commissioner of Police to stop ongoing imposition of illegal taxes on market operators and forgery of council documents by some court-sacked Yes/No council chairmen, describing the development as inimical to sustenance of law and order at the grassroots.

The governor further instructed the police Commissioner to invite the affected council chairmen for questioning for falsifying council documents, collecting dubious revenue through illegal documents and for imposing and collecting illegal revenue from market operators.

The Governor citing various reports of such illegality especially from Boripe local government, said such activities not only breached clear provisions of the law but also constitute an affront on the judiciary to which the APC has filed an appeal over the sacking of its Yes/No chairmen.

The Governor in his directive to the Commissioner cited Boripe Local Government where the court-sacked chairman inaugurated a revenue taskforce which forged and printed out some council documents purportedly for internally generated revenue (IGR).

The governor noted that the same illegal taskforce officials have began issuing the fake documents like local government Identification letters, market revenue receipts etc. to the members of the public, directing the police commissioner to intervene before any breakdown of law and order.

Governor Adeleke has further directed his Special Adviser on Security to liaise with the police Commissioner for the implementation of the directive as he expressed shock at the brazen imposition of hardship and pains on the people through illegal revenue and tax collections.

“Is this the reason for illegal occupation of local government secretariats? Is this all about extorting the people and imposing pains and suffering on them? This should stop forthwith.

“We alert the public to this new round of illegality on a subjudiced matter. I have directed the police authorities accordingly. Forging council documents and collecting revenue illegally are punishable offences before the law. Any person caught in such act will face the full wrath of the law”, the Governor was quoted as saying in the statement.

The recent move by the House of Representatives to slam a five-year jail term or N500,000 fine or both on any person convicted for leaking examination questions, and a three-year jail term for persons under 18 years convicted for engaging in various forms of examination malpractices has been generating mixed reactions from Nigerians.

The proposed legislation, entitled, “Examination Malpractices Act (Repeal and Enactment) Bill, 2025(HB2097) and sponsored by the member representing Oredo Federal Constituency, Esosa Iyawe, was introduced on March 6, 2025, and is currently awaiting second reading.

The bill, according to its explanatory memorandum, sought to repeal, “The Examination Malpractice Act Cap. E15, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enact the Examination Malpractices Act, 2025, to provide for non-custodial penalties, expand offences relating to the examination malpractices and prescribe adequate punishment for such offences.”


It further stated that minors convicted under the proposed law shall be treated in accordance with the Child Rights Act.

The bill stated that any person, who procures any question paper intended for use in any examination in the country, whether or not the question is genuine and any person who uses a technological device at any examination, is guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both for a person under the age of eighteen years.

However, in the case of a principal, teacher, an invigilator, a supervisor, an examiner, agent or employee of the examination body concerned with the conduct of an examination, the offence shall attract a four-year jail term without an option of fine.

Also, the parliament is proposing N400,000 or four years imprisonment or both for any person engaged to mark examination papers, who, without lawful excuse, alters or otherwise tampers or attempts to alter or tamper with the scores of a candidate as recorded by another person; or (b) employed by an examination body, who before, during or after an examination, fraudulently or without lawful authority, alters or otherwise tampers with the scores of a candidate or aids or abets any candidate to cheat at an examination.

Similarly, Section 4 of the proposed legislation stipulates that, “A candidate, who at any examination, by any fraudulent trick or device or with intent to cheat or secure an unfair advantage for himself or any other person, steals or otherwise appropriates or takes a question paper, an answer sheet or a script of any other candidate, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both.”

The bill also stated that any person, who impersonates a candidate in an examination shall on conviction be liable to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term not more than three years or both, in the case of a person under 18 years old, while in the case of a principal, teacher, an invigilator, a supervisor, an examiner, an agent or employee of the examination body concerned with the conduct of an examination, the imprisonment shall be for a term of four years without the option of a fine.

According to Section 6(1) of the proposed law, “A candidate at an examination, who leaves the venue of the examination and mixes up with any other person with intent to cheat or secure any unfair advantage for himself or any other person in the examination, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of at least N300,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both, and in addition, the candidate shall not be allowed to re-enter the examination hall or any other place to continue with that examination.”

Section 6(2) and (3) provides that “A person who (a) without lawful excuse, with intent to aid a candidate to cheat or secure any unfair advantage for himself or any other person at the examination, communicates or attempts to communicate to the candidate any information relating to any question paper in the examination; or (b) not being involved in the conduct of the examination, is found in or near the examination hall or any other place appointed for the examination with intent to aid a candidate to cheat or secure an unfair advantage for a candidate at the examination, commits an offence.

“A person guilty of an offence under sub-clause (2) of this section is liable on conviction (a) in the case of a person under the age of 18 years, to a fine of N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of not more than three years or to both; (b) in the case of a principal, teacher, an invigilator, a supervisor, an examiner, or an agent or employee of the examination body concerned with the conduct of an examination, to imprisonment for a term of four years without the option of a fine.”

Since the proposal became public knowledge, Nigerians have reacted variously.

While some have dismissed the lawmakers as idle people who have abandoned important issues affecting Nigerians to chase shadows, there are those who believe that it is not bad in its entirety.

One of those who believe that it is idleness that has forced the lawmakers to abandon critical problems bedeviling Nigerians to chase an infinitesimal issue as examination malpractice is the former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and lawyer, Chief Maxi Okwu.

“I think those lawmakers are idle. There are more important issues to tackle,” he told DAILY POST.

Although he clearly stated that he would not encourage examination malpractice in any form, he argued that in order of priority of the issue bogging the nation, it shouldn’t catch the attention of the lawmakers, when terrorists and bandits are running riots, riding roughshod over the country and spilling the blood of the innocent without let or hindrance.

He said: “It is not as if I am encouraging exams malpractice, but to me, it is not a priority matter. It is not a priority at all; look at kidnappers, bandits and terrorists that go away with mayhem; they don’t want to do anything about that, it is to go after school children who engage in what I may call some malfeasance.

“Yes, there should be punishment, and by the way there is punishment already for examination malpractice in Nigeria, but like I said, if you want to improve the law, fine. But there are more important things facing the nation that they should give their attention to.

“There is already a punishment for exam malpractice. Increasing it may be useful later but for now, that is not a priority to me.”

Also contributing, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, Adekunle James, questioned the moral standing of the lawmakers who are pushing the bill.

He noted that most of them are in the national assembly with forged secondary school certificates, and should not be talking about examination malpractice.

He added that the law against examination malpractice in Nigeria is strong enough to deal with the problem.

“So, for anybody to abandon all the problems that Nigerians are facing and be talking about a non-issue like exam malpractice is most unfortunate.

“Are the lawmakers not aware of what Nigerians are going through? Nigerians are being killed like chickens in their homes by bandits and terrorists; nowhere is safe; People can’t feed; they can’t afford ordinary medication for malaria; house rent is rising every year; transportation cost of out of reach of so many Nigerians due to the removal of subsidy on petroleum products and some lawmakers are talking about examinations malpractice.

Are they supposed to be debating about examination malpractice in a country where people are not sure when death will come calling or where their next meal will come from? Are they not supposed to be making laws that will alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians and secure their lives from the criminal gangs in the name of bandits, terrorists and killer herdsmen?

“Certain things are better left not discussed. These lawmakers will never cease to amuse us. So, of all the problems bedeviling us as a people, it is examination malpractice that they chose to single out and discuss?

“This is a shame. My advice to them is to sit up and face their constitutional duty of ensuring that they make laws that will protect the lives and property of Nigerians, put food on their table and improve their general well-being,” he told DAILY POST."

Dailypost

I’ll sponsor video shoot of Eedris Abdulkareem’s song banned by NBC – VeryDarkMan.

Controversial activist, VeryDarkMan, has pledged to sponsor the video shoot of new protest song, ‘Tell Your Papa,’ which was recently banned by the Nigerian government.

DAILY POST reported that the Federal Government, through the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, banned the song on Thursday, describing it as inappropriate and offensive.

In a twist of fate, the ban brought significant attention to the song, which was largely unnoticed prior to the ban.

Reacting, VDM criticised the federal government for banning the song from Nigerian radio and television, arguing that what the singer said in the song was true.

He vowed to support Abdulkareem to re-do the video.

Speaking in a video message shared via his social media page, VeryDarkMan said, “I went to Eedris Abdulkareem’s page and saw the message NBC sent to him that they have banned his song, ‘Tell Your Papa,’ wherein he asked Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to tell his father that there is hardship in the country and people are dying.

“So the government doesn’t want to hear it on the stations, and they know he is saying the truth. Isn’t there hardship in the country? Ain’t people dying from insecurity?

“This is what we are going to do now. First of all, we don’t even know radio. How many people listen to radio or watch TV? That’s by the way. We are going to take it over by social media.

“Dear, Eedris Abdulkareem, we are going to shoot another video. This time, we will sponsor it. I will be in the video. We will also look for Tinubu’s lookalike since we can’t get the President to be in the video. We will remake the video, ‘Tell Your Papa 2.’ Then, we will also highlight other problems.

“That [the ban] is to say, this people listen to what is going on in Nigeria but they don’t want to act. Then when you talk, they want to control the media so that you don’t have a voice and this voice doesn’t exceed what they can control.”

TWO Rival Cult Groups Clashed at the Osun State Polytechnic Campus, Iree Osun State on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

A video showed how a victim was stabbed severally by the suspected cultists in daylight.

The incident occured in the early hours of Tuesday when there was a gunshot in OSPOLY, by a suspected gang of cultists.

The abrupt gunshot triggered panic and distress amongst students of the institution, resulting in a critical head injury sustained by a lady, whose identity is yet to be unraveled.

According to sources, the pandemonium that engulfed the institution stems from a cult clash between two rival confraternity; Buccaneer and Supreme Eiye Confraternity.


In one of the videos seen online, a three-man-gang was seen butchering a man around the microfinance bank of the institution.

However, the injured persons in the cult clash have been taken to the hospital for treatment, while investigation has been launched to fish out the perpetrators of the attack.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Media Relations Officer of the Polytechnic, Mr. Adebayo Fedeji confirmed the incident.

He said, “”What happened was that two groups had disagreement. The police are around. And the situation is calm now.”