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Umahi Apologises to Tinubu, Lagosians, Denies Knowledge of Bridge Closure
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The Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi on Thursday, said the closure of Independence Bridge in Lagos for urgent rehabilitation of the collapsed retaining wall was made without his knowledge or authorization.
Umahi said this while apologising to Lagos residents and President Bola Tinubu for the disruption caused by the sudden closure of the bridge on Wednesday.
Umahi who spoke when he toured the bridge in Lagos said: ” Unfortunately, when the bridge was to be closed, I was not informed. It is very unfortunate because for a bridge to be closed, especially in Lagos, as has been the tradition, I should be informed as the minister.
“We should also have studied the implication of it even in an emergency situation. We would have deployed emergency evaluation of the implication of closing the bridge.”
Umahi warned that controllers of works and engineers would face disciplinary action if such an incident would happen again.
“I use the opportunity to warn all controllers and engineers all over the country. Never you close a road or close any bridge without running through the permanent secretary, who will seek for permission from the honourable minister of works,” he said.
The minister acknowledged the efforts of Lagos State Government in managing traffic flow during the closure.
He also took responsibility for the error, saying: “I take responsibility for it, even though I did not order it, but every action by any staff of the ministry of works, I take responsibility for it.”
Umahi said that the closure, which caused significant traffic congestion, was avoidable.
He said: “If we were to do this properly, there would have been a different kind of method deployed and it wouldn’t have necessitated the total closure.”
According to him, even if closure was necessary, it would have been done in a way that it would take three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and necessary remedial work would have been put in place.
“What we are doing now is to restore the bridge temporarily within the next three days. By Sunday, this place will be totally open.”
He added that a permanent solution would be implemented after a two-week assessment.
“Then, after two weeks, we will look at the settlements, and then we will take out three days to put the permanent structure. That is what we are going to do,” he said.
The minister emphasised the competence of the contractor handling the project, Build Well.
“Build Well is a reputable company, and they have been restoring a lot of failures on our bridges in Lagos, some of them 53 years old.
“Some bridges’ spans have been lifted, especially Eko Bridge, Marina Bridge, and even the Lagos-Ibadan Bridge. They are also intervening in all of them,” he added.
The minister also said that the design of the bridge would be varied to address the emergency situation.
He said: ” The design will be varied according to the emergency situation we have on ground, and the contractor is going to cooperate with us.”
He pledged to personally oversee the restoration efforts, saying, “I am not going until the bridge is fully restored by Sunday, we will work day and night to restore it, and then we will evaluate it.”
The bridge was initially closed on April 1 for essential maintenance and rehabilitation works, with the government planning to complete the repairs by May.
NAN
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Frozen Account: Adeleke Directs Attorney General to Drop Lawsuit Against EFCC
Re-elected Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has instructed his Attorney General to withdraw the suit filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the freezing of the State government’s bank account.
Adeleke disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, hours after he was declared winner of the August 15 governorship election.
Asked whether he is ready to put the political disagreements and the EFCC case behind him, the governor said he has decided to move on following President Bola Tinubu’s intervention.
“I’m putting them behind. What else do I want? I have instructed my Attorney General to drop it. Mr. President has done well. He called me. What more do I want?” Adeleke said.
The governor had earlier challenged the EFCC’s decision to secure an order freezing the state government’s account, describing the move as politically motivated and disruptive to the administration’s activities.
President Tinubu subsequently directed the anti-graft agency to lift the restriction and discontinue the related legal action, following concerns over the timing of the freeze ahead of the Osun governorship election.
On allegations that some of his supporters and officials are being invited and questioned by the EFCC, Adeleke said he has directed his lawyers to provide the necessary assistance.
“Well, we have been talking. I have been calling all my lawyers to go there. I’m sure the APC in Osun, according to them, they are telling us they are using federal might,” he said.
Adeleke, however, said he does not believe President Tinubu is aware of some of the actions attributed to federal agencies.
“Most of these things, the President doesn’t know. The President has a lot of foreign work and jobs to do,” he said.
According to the governor, some of his aides were invited by the EFCC for questioning but were released after no wrongdoing was established.
“I told my people, go there. We haven’t got anything to hide. And when they go there, they ask them questions, and then they will say, ‘Go on.’ Can you imagine my spokesperson? You are inviting my spokesperson – is my spokesperson a finance minister or accountant?” Adeleke asked.
He described the invitations as a distraction and alleged that former Osun State governor Gboyega Oyetola was behind the development because of his relationship with President Tinubu.
“All these things is Oyetola because he is the cousin to the President. He is dropping the President’s name. I know that the President didn’t know about the EFCC one. That is why he had to call me and stop it,” Adeleke said.
The EFCC froze an Osun State Government bank account earlier in August as part of an investigation into the alleged handling of about ₦11 billion in Ecology Funds, intervention funds and Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) funds.
The commission said it had detected suspicious movements of funds and restricted the account to prevent further transfers while its investigation continued.
The development triggered a dispute between the commission and the Adeleke administration, with the governor describing the action as politically motivated and taking the EFCC to court.
President Bola Tinubu subsequently directed the EFCC to return to court to vacate the freezing order and discontinue the related action, saying the timing could create the impression that a federal agency was being used to interfere with the election.
Adeleke secured a second term as Osun State governor, winning 511,067 votes against APC’s Bola Oyebamiji, who scored 444,815. ADC’s Najeem Salaam came third with 17,180 votes. Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 LGAs, while Oyebamiji won 11.
Following his victory, Adeleke described the result as a triumph for democracy and pledged to transform Osun into an industrial hub.
He also called for unity, saying there was “no victor, no vanquished.”
His re-election sparked celebrations across the state, particularly in Osogbo and his hometown, Ede, with his nephew Davido also celebrating on social media.
News
INEC Resumes Upload of Osun Election Results after 3Hours Pause
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has resumed the upload of results from the Osun State governorship election to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV), with more than 92.53 per cent of polling unit results now available on the platform.
Tribune Online reports that 3,482 results had been uploaded out of the 3,763 polling units across the state, representing 92.53 per cent of the total results expected on the portal.
Concerns were earlier raised after result uploads on the IReV portal appeared to stall for about three hours.
The delay triggered reactions from several social media users, including Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, who questioned the halt in the upload process.
In a post on X, he wrote, “INEC IREV uploads have been stuck for almost 2 hours now. 3292 out of 3763 results submitted and then silence. This is not acceptable Why has the uploading stopped?@inecnigeria
Another X user, @mundus01 tweeted, “Osun IReV uploads have been stalled for over 2 hours. The last result was published at 8:48:08 p.m. The portal is online, but no new results are appearing. @inecnigeria, what is happening? This doesn’t look good.”
News
Food for Living: Love What You Do (Pt. 2)
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Last week, we laid the foundation of loving what you do. We discussed loving the topic as it relates to family, career, health, relationship, personal development, purpose and spirituality. Today, we shall be focusing on how loving what you do can be a game changer.
It’s instructive to note that in the dictionary of life; when you love what you do and what you do loves you, you are destined for not only success, but also greatness. One may be wondering how this works. Trust me, it is difficult to succeed in a major, or profession one doesn’t like.
The journey of life can be challenging, stressful and unpredictable. When one is trying to set up a business, there’s bound to be setbacks maybe due to a new policy or meeting up with the requirement, there could challenges of funds; in academics, if one choose a major one likes, despite the associating challenges that may arise, one will still manage to pull through because he that is in him is greater and stronger than he that is in the world.
Also, in relationships and marriage, if one values friendship, they won’t allow their ego to have influence over them. Rather, they will invest time and resources in the relationship. That’s why it’s always good to place values above physical features in a human body when it comes to settling down for marriage because at the end of the day, the human body features can fade away, but values and friendship will not fade away, rather, it will serve as the binding factor that keeps the relationship.
One’s career is not an exception; one can tell who likes their job and one who doesn’t like their job. In workplaces, if one is happy at work, they tend to put in extra hours to get the job done. But when they are not happy with the job, they’ll do the bare minimum just to get through.
Let’s spend a minute to understand how loving what one does can be a game changer in one’s life. Just imagine, one is inspired to write a book, there will be challenges, however, it is the inspiration and determination of the person that will determine if they will finish strong. But if they are inspired by the wrong source, they might finish weak. Here is the gist, it is your desire to succeed that will outweigh your fear of failure.
Again, imagine a scenario where one is starting a business but has no resources and structure behind him. The fact is that if the person loves what he’s doing, it will be hard for the person to give up because their force is internal. I can vividly remember when I was working on my first, second and third book, I had many reasons to quit, but I refused because I love the work I was producing.
Furthermore, when you love what you do, you’ll endeavor to learn something new in addition to spending quality time to improve the work. I say this because rational minds don’t invest time and resources in what they don’t like. There’s a saying, if you want to know a man, give money, women and power. One of them would like to subdue him, but if he’s able to overcome them, he is a man.
This principle of loving what you do cuts across all facets of life whether we are taking care of families, academics, religion purpose, health, career, finance and even spiritual life. For families a man/woman who is intentional in building their family, must love their family and loving their family intends sacrificing for the family.
For health, if one loves their health, they won’t take harmful substances, just because they love their health; they will be intentional in exercising, and in doing so, they must love exercising. For finance, an intentional person must spend time learning about stock, budgeting and investment. These are avenues to show that they have interest in growing their income. Even in spiritual life, when one shows interest in loving God in truth and spirit, God has a way of coming through for them because they have been tested and trusted. This is simply how life works. Even in relationships if one loves their partner, there’s a high probability they would like to invest time and resources into that relationship.
In summary, endeavor to love what you do because there’s a certain level of spiritual strength, blessings and corresponding opportunities that’s associated with success, when one loves what they do. This is basically how life works.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny- Actualizing Your Birthright to Success, Unleash Your Destiny and The Six Pillars of Success . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com






