The Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board has sealed two traditional birth attendant facilities for flouting practice regulations.

The facilities were sealed during an operation of the board to combat non-compliance with the code of conduct of traditional medicine practice in the state, according to a statement on the government’s official website.

The two traditional birth attendant facilities found wanting were sealed at No. 58, Willoughby Street, Ebute-Metta and 12, Ogunnaike Street, Agege, area of the state.

Speaking during the enforcement operation, Mrs, Adams Aisha, who led LSTMB’s inspectorate team, said the facilities were sealed to protect public health and safety in the state.

She said the inspectorate team mobilised personnel of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps to ensure swift and effective response to protect the well-being of Lagosians.

According to Adams, the Board strives to protect the public from unscrupulous traditional medicine practitioners and promote the responsible use of traditional medicine for the benefit of all through continuous clampdown and ongoing initiatives.

She said, “The Board’s operation is rooted in its commitment to create a structured Traditional Medicine practice that is respected, standardised, documented, modernised and protected.”

Adams, therefore, urged practitioners and the public to collaborate in upholding the best standards, while prioritising the well-being of patients seeking treatments.

The Lagos government had on Sunday said it would impose sanctions on traditional medical practitioners operating in the state who fail to register their business with the traditional medicine board.

The LSTMB Registrar, Babatunde Adele, made this known in a statement on January 21.

The government ordered all traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine practitioners to regularise their registration by visiting the head office of the agency on or before Friday, February 6, 2024.

“The order for registration was necessitated owing to the increasing and unbearable level of quackery in the field of traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine,” Adele had said.

The Bodija Estate Residents Association, Ibadan, on Wednesday, said about 10 people were still missing following the January 17 explosion in the area.

Recall that five people died, 77 sustained varying degrees of injury and 58 houses were damaged during the explosion that rocked Dejo Oyelese street in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Governor Seyi Makinde presented the preliminary report of the explosion to President Bola Tinubu at the weekend.

“I think it is now more towards eight and nine persons now, or even 10, whom those in the neighborhood have talked about,” the Association’s President, Muyiwa Bamgbose, told newsmen after their consultative meeting.

“We took the map of the street to them (government) and tried to account for (people) house by house to get accurate information.

“If the person was seen yesterday and was not seen today or you can’t find him again, then you need to get worried. But I believe it’s nearer 10 now,” he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that BERA, an umbrella body of all communities in Bodija, also called for massive assistance for victims of the explosion to get back their lives.

It pointed out the need for continuous care and support for victims whose lives had changed unexpectedly since the incident.

Members of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday visited Governor Makinde to commiserate with him and the people of the state over the explosion.

The BoT led by its chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, met the governor at his office, State Secretariat Agodi, Ibadan.

According to NAN, Wabara commended Makinde on behalf of the board for his prompt response to the unfortunate incident and for showing his prowess as an engineer, by directing that a structural integrity test be conducted on about 230 buildings in the affected area.

He expressed the BoT’s condolences to the governor and the government of the state as well as families, who lost loved ones to the incident.

Wabara called for a thorough investigation to unravel the cause of the incident in order to avoid a recurrence of such incidents in the country.

In his response, Makinde appreciated the body for the visit which he described as encouraging, noting that it indicated that the body was looking out for his government.

“There has also been the humanitarian side of things, especially with regards to children affected by the incident, who are supposed to be in school.

“So, you need to keep encouraging us and supporting us where possible as well as keep praying for us,” he said.

Makinde also used the opportunity of the visit to pledge his support for the unity of the PDP, saying he would continue to play a positive role toward ensuring that the party became united and formidable.

Femi Adesina, special adviser to former President Muhammadu Buhari, has shed more light on the relationship between his religious life and working as the image maker of the erstwhile president.

He disclosed that he stopped attending his Foursquare Gospel Church in Abuja because he grew tired of the incessant criticism of the former president by his pastor, Rev. Babajide Olowodola.

He revealed in his new book; “Working with Buhari: reflections of a special adviser, media and publicity (2015-2023),” that he had to quit the Asokoro-based church in February 2018 because the pastor thought he could pull Buhari down.

He accused the man of God of being bias and exhibiting messianic disposition, adding that he urged members of his church to get their voter card and vote out Buhari.

The former presidential aide wrote: “I am a member of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, and I have been since I got converted in 1988. When I went to work in Abuja in 2015, I began to worship at the Asokoro branch of the Church, pastored by Rev. Babajide Olowodola.

“A retired very senior civil servant, Olowodola is a good preacher and pastor. But at a stage, he began to exhibit some messianic tendencies, in which he believed he would pull down President Buhari single-handedly.

“Week after week, I heard snide remarks he made against the President from the pulpit. He would threateningly ask people to get their PVCS (Permanent Voters Cards) against 2019, and vote out the incompetent government. I didn’t let it bother me initially.

“Matters however came to a head in 2018, when Boko Haram abducted the Dapchi girls. I was in church on Sunday, and there was no name the pastor did not call the President. He even went into the fallacy of saying more people had been killed in the country since 2015, than what we lost during the Civil War.

“Recall that Nigeria lost between two and three million souls during that fratricidal war: He went on and on that Sunday, but I kept my peace.

“As it turned out, the Dapchi girls were recovered within the week, save for Leah Sharibu, and few others. So, the next Sunday, I went to church, waiting to hear what Rev. Olowodola would say. Not a word! Not even by accident.

“He did not mention the positive development, thus showing him as unfair and prejudiced. After the service, I picked my Bible, went home, and never returned to the church.

“I remained a member of Foursquare Gospel Church, but I could not imagine myself sitting to listen to a prejudiced preacher. I left the church in February 2018, Rev. Olowodola, who we were on regular talking terms almost weekly on phone didn’t ask after me. Neither did I reach out to him.

A governorship aspirant in Edo State, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, says his relationship with the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, is cordial and friendly.

This is as he dispelled rumours of a rift between him and the former governor of the state.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, he said he and Oshiomhole had disagreed on certain issues but they did not snowball into some bitter rift.

“I will tell you categorically that we are on good terms. There is no quarrel between myself and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“We have worked closely throughout the party formation to begin to quarrel unnecessarily. The fact that we disagree does not mean that there is a problem. He has a strong personality, I also have that. So we are bound to disagree,” he stated.

The ruling party fixed February 17 for the conduct of its primary ahead of the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.

Reports emerged that Ize-Iyamu was disqualified from the APC’s primary by a screening committee allegedly constituted by Oshiomhole, a claim he has since dismissed, maintaining that he is still very much in the contest.

During the interview, he said the decision as to who emerges the candidate of the party is not something that is in the hands of ‘one man’.

Describing Oshiomhole as a highly respected party man, Ize-Iyamu noted that the former Edo governor cannot decide who becomes the APC governorship candidate.

He stated, “The issue of who becomes a candidate is not a decision for one man. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is highly respected in our party but even him, will