Nigerians have unanimously demanded for a combative approach to eliminating corruption in the country for her to record a post 65th independence success, even as it was suggested that, the office of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be made elective instead of being by appointment by the President.

The demand was made this morning on Miliki 101.3 FM ,as listeners made contributions on a program flagging off activities marking Nigeria’s 65th Independence anniversary on the station .

On the program monitored by thecolumn.ng, the majority of the speakers stated that the country will only continue to count years without any tangible achievement for as long as corruption continue among the citizens.

Though some guests admonished that moving forward, the country should reduce her concentration on oil, improve on its security status and eliminate touting in the transportation sector to ensure moderate pricing of farm produce, majority of the speakers however insisted that conscious efforts should be made to eliminate corruption in the system failure of which the country will continue to retrogress.

The tone for the zero corruption demand was set by one of the callers, who introduced himself as Kaymus, following which Other speakers maintained the same line, insisting that the anti graft agencies in the country should be well equiped to confront the problem which they claimed has assumed a cankerworm status.

A lone voice among the speakers who advocated that the constitution should be reviewed for Nigeria to progress, also suggested, that Nigerians should henceforth elect the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as against the present practice where occupants of the office are appointed by the president for the country to record a credible electioneering process.

The siblings of one Akeem Oluwaseun Akinyemi have raised the alarm over his disappearance from home after he miraculously escaped from kidnappers.

According to Mr Dapo Akinyemi,a Mechanical Engineer, who spoke on behalf of the family, one morning, some time in year 2015, the family woke up to the sad reality of their missing brother, Akeem Oluwaseun Akinyemi.

Speaking at a media parley, organized by the family to inform the public about the disappearance of Akeem, Dapo said among other life threatening instances, that morning , it dawned on them that something may have happened to Akeem because he did not return home from work the previous night.

” We informed the police in our Ibafo, Ogun State area and combed the neighbouring communities for him unsuccessfully for two days.

” It was a temporary relief for the family on the second day of the search when we got a message from Zone 2 Police Headquarters Onikan, to come and identify one Akeem a victim of random kidnap operation who gave my name as his brother.

” We moved in quickly and brought my brother home after we identified him to the police after the police told us he was a victim of a Kidnap operation between Ibafo and Ikeja area of Lagos.

” As details of the incident was later relayed, Akeem was kidnapped along with 3 other occupants in the vehicle he boarded to work. They were blindfolded and taken to an unknown place where one of the victims was eventually killed for ritual purposes.

” Akeem became the automatic next target to be eliminated because being a Christian , his first name, Akeem, gave him away as a converted Muslim, a revelation which angered his captors who were Muslim fundamentalists. They quarried his guts to continue to answer a Muslim name Akeem while he is actually a Christian”

Apparently the kidnapers did not like the idea of one of them becoming a Christian, hence Akeem was severely tortured and one of his fingers broken.

The family spokesperson explained that Akeem informed the police in the statement he wrote later, that the kidnappers slept off while awaiting further directive from their superiors on the fate of the remaining victims, who seized the opportunity, with the other victims, to escape from their den while the captors were sleeping.

Events took a new turn however, when few weeks after the escape, Akeem disappeared from home again, thus prompting the family members to raise the alarm over their brother’s disappearance.

” It’s been years now since we have been visiting the police station for update on Akinyemi’s situation and nobody has been able to tell us where he is, that’s why we are crying out to the public to help us plead with the authorities to help get Akeem out of whatever danger he may be in, because prior to his disappearance from home, he was always talking about threat messages he received from time to time”

Akeem’s brother described him as an easy going, hardworking man who ensured the family lacked nothing.

The creation of associations for Co-curricular activities to engage youths, has been suggested as one major way to stem the use of illicit drugs among the youths at the Local government level.

Hon Olusegun Afolabi

A two term Councilor, Shomolu Local Government, Lagos, Hon Olusegun Afolabi, made the suggestion an exclusive with the column.ng on the role of Local Government Authorities in arresting the dangerous spread of illicit drug use among youths.

Alabi stressed that, beyond parental training, the Local government authority also has a role to play in nipping the escalating menace in the bud.

The All Progressive Congress member, who is also a Chairmanship Aspirant in the scheduled Lagos state local government election, highlighted the need for parents and teachers to monitor their children and ensure they don’t keep bad gangs.

He emphasized that LG authorities can also collaborate with school authorities and Community development associations within it’s jurisdiction to introduce co- curricular or extra curricular associations like the Young farmers, Press and Science clubs among others, to engage the youths profitably after school hours.

This he said, will give the youths a good future to look forward to as the move, he maintained, would create a healthy competition among the youths to want to create a foundation for a better future.

Alabi, thus, concluded that engagement with the clubs will deny the youths time to engage in life damaging activities like consuming illicit drugs.