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The Mayor of Seattle has fulfilled his Promise!!!

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The promised third public safety department that the Mayor of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, has vowed to establish will receive an additional $6 million in financing when it begins its partial launch in October.

At a news conference on Thursday, Harrell made the announcement that he will provide additional funding for the Community Assisted Response and Engagement department. This department is a new branch of the city’s public safety response, and it will eventually house alternative and dual response options. These options will add civilian responders to certain emergency calls. The police and fire departments will also receive this funding…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

The total budget is increased to $26.5 million as a result of the new financing, and the number of full-time staff is increased from 10 to 13.

“Our new CARE department will deliver on Seattle’s long-standing need for a public safety system with diverse emergency response options designed to meet community needs,” Harrell said Thursday. “This long-standing need has been for a public safety system that is designed to meet the needs of the community.”

The purpose of the CARE department is to dispatch civilian responders to specific emergency situations that do not justify the involvement of the police or fire departments, or that require someone in addition to the services provided by other agencies.

In the early days of his administration, Harrell made a commitment to establishing some type of a third public safety department, which would go into operation by the year 2024. This department would be somewhat modelled after the one in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The office of the mayor has stated that the new agency will be divided into three sections: “emergency call takers and dispatchers,” “community-focused public safety responders,” which will include professionals who specialise in behavioural health, and “violence intervention specialists.”

Harrell made the announcement that a dual dispatch programme that had been approved by the City Council will serve as the pilot launch for the CARE department last winter. The CARE department is housed in the Community Safety and Communications Centre, which also houses the city’s 911 dispatchers. Harrell’s announcement came after a slow rollout of details regarding the programme.

The CARE department will start its work sometime in October, with an initial concentration on low-risk priority 3 and priority 4 calls, such as person-down scenarios and welfare checks. These calls may come in at any time. Training for the new members of the dual dispatch team started this week after the initial hiring of ten new members. The budget that Harrell has suggested for the year 2024 will include funding for the new positions.

According to Harrell, there is no predetermined end date for the pilot programme; however, the city will attempt to expand the CARE department utilising “evidence-based solutions” based on the success of the dual dispatch team. This will be done in response to the progress made by the dual dispatch team. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

In the weeks leading up to the launch of the CARE team, there has been a significant shift in the leadership of the project. Harrell’s niece and a former Senior Deputy Mayor, Monisha Harrell, who oversaw public safety projects, left the administration this summer, and CSCC Director Rebecca Gonzales left her role overseeing the department this month. Both of these changes have had a significant impact on the implementation of the CARE team.

Amy Smith was recently promoted to the position of deputy director of the CSCC, replacing Gonzales, who was sent back to the Seattle Fire Department after being selected by Harrell to manage the newly formed CSCC in January. Gonzales had spent over 30 years working for the SFD. According to what Harrell stated on Thursday, Gonzales “was always going to go back to the fire department.”

“Rebecca served in the role of interim. She will be returning to the fire department in the role of deputy chief, and “I tried—I hope I thanked her for laying the foundation for what we’re doing,” Harrell said. She will be returning to the fire department.

Smith, Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz, and Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins will all report directly to Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess. Burgess was moved from his role as director of strategic initiatives to the position of deputy mayor after Monisha Harrell departed her position in that capacity.

The announcement serves as the first look at Harrell’s second proposed budget, which will be presented to the City Council on Tuesday. This will kick off the process of amending and approving the budget, which will take two months. It also comes one day after Mayor Harrell gave his signature to a contentious law that was approved by the City Council earlier this week. The bill grants the city attorney the authority to charge drug use in public and knowing possession with the more serious offence of gross misdemeanour.

Harrell has made a commitment to the support of divergence programmes, which emphasise treatment options rather than incarceration or jail time for those who break the law. Harrell responded that he “wasn’t quite prepared” to address the question when he was asked how these priorities will be represented in the forthcoming budget that he will be drafting.

An additional statement from a spokeswoman stated that “this administration is committed to diversion.”

In addition, Harrell stated that the city’s 911 centre is on schedule to be fully staffed by the end of the year. In 2023 alone, the centre employed more than 45 additional employees, so it is well on its way to reaching this goal.

 

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METRO

I Just Met This Guy, He Took Me To a Hotel When We Got There, What He Did Left Me Outraged

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I walked into an eatery one afternoon to order takeout. While I waited for my food I kept busy with my phone. A man walked up to me with determination on his face. He smiled and said “Hello my name is Victor. I have been trying to get your attention from my table over there (he points to a far-off table). READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

You didn’t even blink in my direction.” I looked at him and said “Sorry I’ve been engrossed with my phone.” He said “I can see that. I suppose that’s how to get your attention, through your phone. Can you give me your number then?” I didn’t mind giving…Read Full Story Here……..

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1999 Toronto Saga: How Former Speaker, Salisu Buhari, Declared False Age and Forged University Certificate

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On the 3rd of June, 1999, Salisu Buhari, a 29-year-old Nigerian businessman who made his fortune dealing in computers, was elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives in Nigeria, a position which constitutionally made him the fourth most important person in Nigeria.

Unknowing to his colleagues, the government and the whole of Nigeria, Salisu Buhari was not qualified for the office he occupied. Few weeks after he was elected, findings revealed that Salisu Buhari, the sixth Speaker of the House of Rep. forged his way to power…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

The News Magazine released an article on the 19th of July, 1999 claiming that Salisu Buhari is seven years younger than the 36 years he claimed to be and that he didn’t attend the University of Toronto in Canada not to talk of graduating from the institution. The News Magazine had more than enough proofs to back their claims thus suppressing all threats made by Salisu Buhari and his lawyers to sue them for libel.

Salisu Buhari
Salisu Buhari

It was made known to the world that Salisu Buhari, the self-acclaimed Toronto University graduate, was actually born in 1970 and not in 1963 which he claimed. This rendered him unqualified to be the Speaker as section 65 subsection 1 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria disqualified anybody under 30 years from contesting membership of the House of Representatives.

Also, it was made known that Salisu Buhari didn’t attend the University of Toronto in Canada not to talk of graduating with a degree in Business Administration in 1990. The University of Toronto, when asked, denied knowing Salisu Buhari. The management said they couldn’t find any record relating to the his name. Carlo Villanueva, an official of the Institution said,

Regarding your request for confirmation of degree for Mr. Ibrahim Salisu Buhari. We have searched our records and could not find anybody with the name you are inquiring with”.

Letter from University of Toronto
Letter from University of Toronto

Also, Salisu claimed that he did his national youth service at Standard Construction in Kano. This was proven false as records at the NYSC secretariat in Abuja could not produce his name among the 1991 corps members who served in the scheme. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Blocked in every way, he had no means of escape. After several open denial of the allegations and threats to sue The News Magazine, Salisu Buhari, on Thursday, July 23, 1999, eventually faced Nigerians and admitted declaring false age and forging certificate. In tears, he said,

“I apologize to you. I apologize to the nation. I apologize to my family and friends for all the distress I have caused them. I was misled in error by the zeal to serve the nation, I hope the nation will forgive me and give me the opportunity to serve again.”

He then resigned and walked into the shadows. In 2013, he made his return to the news and the public space when he was appointed as a member of the governing council of the University of Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Normally, the move garnered a lot of criticism. In a feeble attempt to justify the appointment, the Nigerian government explained that Buhari’s apology had earned him a presidential pardon from President Olusegun Obasanjo.

 

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The Man Called Adegoke Adelabu ‘Penkelemesi’

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Joseph Gbadamosi Adegoke Adelabu alias Adelabu Penkelemesi was a colossal in the political arena of Ibadan and the then Western Region before the independence of Nigeria in 1960.

He was born in Oke-Oluokun, Ibadan, on September 3, 1915 to Mr. Sanusi Ashiyanbi Adelabu and Mrs. Awujola Adelabu. At the tender age of five, Adegoke Adelabu lost his mother and then lived with his paternal aunt. Adegoke Adelabu attended St. David’s C.M.S School in Kudeti, Ibadan from 1925 to 1929; CMS Central School, Mapo, Ibadan in 1930 and Government College, where he was a head boy, from 1931 to 1936…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

In 1936, Adegoke won a U.A.C scholarship to study commerce in Yaba Higher College but eventually left the college six months later to work as an assistant to the UAC Ibadan district manager. After working with UAC for sometime, he was promoted to an Assistant Manager due to his hard and clever work. However, he left UAC in 1937 to start a business of his own which was unsuccessful. He later took up a civil service job, then returned to UAC in 1945 only to leave after a short period to start a textile trading business which was successful.

After acquiring little wealth from his textile business, Adegoke Adelabu got involved in politics. The starting point of his political career was traced to the period when Ibadan lineage chiefs (Mogajis) rose against Salami Agbaje, the then Otun Balogun of Ibadan, from becoming the Olubadan of Ibadan. In 1951, during the local elections, Adelabu and some other political elements formed a new party called the Ibadan People’s Party to challenge the already established Ibadan Progressive Union and fortunately for Adelabu, the new party won all six seats to the Western Regional Assembly. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

However, the Ibadan People’s Party broke apart after an informal alliance with NCNC was proposed by Adelabu. Adegoke Adelabu stayed with NCNC and became the secretary of the party’s Western Province Working Committee. In 1954, Adelabu became the chairman of Ibadan District Council. Also, in the Federal elections of 1954, Adegoke Adelabu won a seat to the House of Representatives and later became the First National Vice President of NCNC and appointed Minister of Social Services. He held this post along with his chairmanship of the Ibadan district council.

He later resigned from both positions after allegations of corruption by the opposition party, Action Group.
In 1956, Adelabu ran for a seat in the regional assembly as the leader of NCNC in the Western Region but his party lost majority seats to Action Group thus making Adelabu the leader of opposition in the Western House of Assembly.
Adegoke Adelabu alias Adelabu Penkelemesi was a strong politician, leader and had his ground, a firm ground, in Ibadan. He was found of using the phrase “Peculiar mess” whenever he address the public. The non-literate segment of his followers who had never heard of the words peculiar and mess and never knew its meaning Yorubanized the phrase into “Penkelemesi” and then added it to his name- Adegoke Adelabu Penkelemesi. The people so much loved Adelabu. He was indeed a ‘man of the people’. OldNaija gathered that when he became the Minister of Labour, he was given an official limousine car which he drove to Ibadan to show his friends and followers and declared that the car belonged to them, not him. Also, when Adelabu was given an official residence in Ikoyi, the most exquisite part of Lagos inhabited mostly by the British and French, he called drummers from his hometown to celebrate the success which the British and French residents found disturbing. Adegoke Adelabu simply said, “If they do not like noise and drumming, they are free to go back to their own country.” Adegoke Adelabu admitted being an egoist in a book he wrote in 1952 titled ‘Africa In Ebullition: Being a handbook of freedom for Nigerian nationalists’.

Adegoke Adelabu and Obafemi Awolowo
Adegoke Adelabu and Obafemi Awolowo

On March 25, 1958, at the age of 43, Adegoke Adelabu met his untimely death in a fatal car accident on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. His death sparked protest and chaos in Ibadan as many of his supporters claimed he was assassinated by his opponents with juju. Several properties were destroyed and people also lost their lives. The police arrested over 500 persons of whom 102 was charged with murder and others discharged and some, jailed. It was indeed a big loss, a “peculiar miss” for the people of Ibadan.

 

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