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| Governor Babatunde Fashola |
Plans to mark 1st anniversary on Monday
by: Gboyega Akinsanmi
Lagos State government at the weekend disclosed that it had
completed a cenotaph in remembrance of the 153 victims of the Dana plane crash,
which threw the entire country into mourning and will be unveiled on June 3,
2013.
The state government added that the cenotaph would be
publicly unveiled on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the plane crash,
which claimed the lives of all passengers on board.
Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed disclosed
the plan to officially unveil the cenotaph at a news conference held at the
state secretariat, Alausa to mark the first anniversary of the incident.
Ahmed, who addressed the conference along with his
information and strategy counterpart, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba and Permanent
Secretary (Special Duties), Dr. Aderemi Desalu among others, said Fashola (SAN)
would on Monday unveil the cenotaph.
He said there would be laying of wreath by the governor and
some other dignitaries.
According to Ahmed, the governor is expected to interact
with families of the deceased and commiserate with them, while prayers would
also be made for the repose of the deceased.
He said right from the time the incident took place, the
government had been in control of the situation, saying Fashola met with
families of the deceased and that it was agreed that the anniversary should
take place.
The commissioner explained that adequate preparation had
been made to mark the first anniversary, saying that lots of lessons had been
learnt from the plane crash and that the state government “is well prepared to
handle emergency issues in the future.”
According to him,”there has been improvement in the Local
Emergency Management in the state. We advise people to always leave emergency
scene for government officials who have been trained to come in for rescue
operation. Also, motorists competing with us for right of way during emergency
period should desist from such.”
Caption: Soldiers on the street of Maiduguri
State of Emergency: Insurgents Dirty Habits Exposed
Senator Iroegbu
The recent findings by the troops of the Joint Task Force
(JTF) in the insurgents camps recently destroyed and taken over by the military
has exposed the dirty habits of the Boko Haram members, which indicates a life
of constant drug abuse and sexual indulgence.
This is coming as the Defence Headquarters have also
debunked the video footage and allegation by Al Jazeera TV Network of mass
civilian casualties in the areas affected by the state of emergency.
The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Chris
Olukolade in a statement yesterday said the findings from the JTF troops
combing the former Boko Haram strongholds revealed extensive use of condoms,
charms and amulets.
Olukolade said that life in the insurgents’ camp is anything
but extremely “dirty”, adding that they troops also discovered other items like
syringes, test tubes and materials used for manufacturing of IEDs.
He said: “More of the dirty sides of the insurgents’ life
style are being revealed as troops continue to stumble on strange and bizarre
objects such as several used and unused condoms as well as charms and amulets
of various shapes seen in the captured terrorists’ camps.
“Other common items are syringes, test tubes and hand gloves
usually found in the rubbles of most of the destroyed camps. Apart from chemicals and materials for
producing Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) narcotics of all types are also
found to be common features as troops combed through camps in Sambisa forest,
New Marte, and others”.
The DDI said that vehicles and various brands of electronics
believed to have been stolen from various parts of the country were also found
abandoned or destroyed in the camps or the escape routes of the insurgents.
He added that most of these items were either destroyed or
set on fire as the terrorists fled in different directions.
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