The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun, has pleaded with organized labour to shelve the planned strike and explore ways of resolving the vexatious issues amid the insistence to embark on a nationwide strike next week.
The monarch equally enjoined the government not to overstretch the people, saying there must be tangible measures to reassure the people that the renewed hope agenda is truly for real.
Oba Balogun, on his 63rd independence day, congratulated Mr. President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his Vice, Sen. Kashim Shettima, the states’ governors, the NASS members, other political leaders, and the generality of Nigerians. He urged the labour leaders to prevail on their members to bear with the present administration with the mindset that no problem could be solved with another problem.
“I plead for dialogue between the labour and the government, and in dialoguing, there should be openness and understanding, bearing in mind that where two elephants fight, it is the grass there that suffers.
“Let’s be mindful of the effect of total paralysis on our battered economy. Consider the sick; consider the students from our nursery school to the university, among several others that would bear the brunt. The loss is simply incalculable.
“I want our labour leaders to cast their minds back to the last prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the effect on our students. How do we compensate for the loss of a whole academic session in the lives of the affected students? Such loss is eternal because it is not possible to wind back the hand of the clock. That’s just an example”, Olubadan added.
Olubadan acknowledged the position of the labour movement is-à-vis the plight of workers and the generality of the people, noting that “things are really bad and living in the country is becoming hellish for the people day by day, but we need to apply caution, considering the short time of the present administration so far and in view of what it inherited. Let’s be optimistic that, with time, the situation will become normal.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")