The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Lagos gives illegal abattoir operators two weeks to shut down

    Lagos gives illegal abattoir operators two weeks to shut down

    THE Lagos State Government yesterday gave unauthorised abattoirs operators two weeks to shut down.

    Commissioner for Agriculture Toyin Suarau said the measure was to guarantee wholesomeness in meat processing.

    He said there was need to monitor meat processing from the animal markets to the abattoir, and transportation.

    The government, he said, was significantly handling distribution by introducing the Eko Refrigerated Meat Van which is now used to transport meat.

    “Government will continue to close down illegal abattoir and slaughter Slabs which are not hygienic and not in compliant with the relevant laws governing meat slaughtering in the state,’’ Suarau said.

    He said animal slaughtering was still a big issue because a lot of animals must be inspected before and after slaughtering according to the meat inspection law.

    “The danger with unrecognised abattoir is that the animals slaughtered there are not inspected by veterinary professionals to detect the one that has diseases or pregnant ones because it is illegal to slaughter pregnant animals,’’ he added.

    According to him, operators of illegal abattoirs located within military cantonments and barracks in the state, where veterinary officers are denied access are to close down within two weeks, stressing that government can no longer tolerate such illegal practice.

    “We have veterinary officers deployed to all recognised abattoir in the state to inspect and certify the meat hygienic for human consumption and that is why we are advocating that all illegal abattoirs in the state should be shut down,” he said.

    The authorised abattoir, according to Suarau, are Abattoir and Lairage Complex in Agege, Achakpo Mechanised Abattoir in Ajegunle, Ologe Mechanised Abattoir Badagry (under construction), Matori Slaughter Slab, Itire Slaughter Slab, Ilaje Slaughter Slab, Ikorodu Slaughter Slab, Badagry Slaughter Slab and Epe Slaughter Slab.

  • Two septuagenarians charged with stealing N100m cement, sand, iron rods

    Two septuagenarians have been arrested by the police in connection with the alleged theft of N100 million worth of building materials from a site at Sangotedo in Lagos State.

    Mojeed Babatunde (70) and Tajudeen Ajenifuja (73) are said to be heads of a family having a dispute with occupiers of the premises.

    It was alleged that between last November and January, the duo and several others forcibly entered the site and destroyed the walls of several uncompleted buildings.

    They allegedly carted away the cement, iron rods, sand and granite owned and stored there by a church, an engineer and four other persons.

    The owners of the items were said to be International Church of Christ, Sangotedo, Mr Ramoni Okeowo, Mrs Omolara Fagbemi, Ikehuamen Omokhui, Charles Unachukwu and Asiegbu Wilson.

    The allegedly stolen items are bags of cement valued at N25 million; iron rods and other materials, N25 million; and sand and granite worth N50 million.

    Yesterday, Babatunde and Ajenifuja were arraigned before Magistrate A. O. Komolafe of the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on a four-count charge of conspiracy, stealing, malicious damage, forcible entry and breach of peace.

    The defendants denied the charges and elected for summary trial.

    Defence counsel Akeem Toromade urged the court to grant them bail on liberal terms. He said the men were leaders of their family claiming ownership of the land in dispute and so would not abscond.

    He added that the land tussle was already before a high court.

    Inspector Molo replied that the defendants had been evading arrest, adding that their ages were irrelevant to the crimes they were accused of.

    Magistrate Komolafe granted the defendants N10 million bail with two sureties in the like sum each. The sureties must be their relatives and also resident in the court’s jurisdiction.

    She adjourned the case till February 15.

     

  • Rotary partners Lagos on blood donation

    Rotary partners Lagos on blood donation

    The Rotary Club of Ikoyi, Lagos has thrown its weight behind the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee (LSBTC) drive to save lives through blood donation to the blood bank for the use of the needy.

    Its president Mrs Remi Akinterinwa said the availability of blood for medical needs at emergencies in the hospitals was critical to the survival of patients, particularly accidents victims.

    The state Blood Transfusion Service Executive Secretary Dr Modupe Olaiya, said: “blood is essential to the body and shortage of it reduces body function and may even lead to death. A lot of people who are in critical conditions in hospitals are in short of it and need to be given blood”.

    Olaiya identified road accident victims, surgical patients and those with burns as patients who need blood.

    Others according to him are people with sickle cell disease, cancer patients, Anaemia and malaria patients with low blood level.

    Speaking after making a donation to the LSBTC, Mrs Akinterianwa described blood donation is a humanitarian gesture of giving life and saving life”.

  • Whereabouts of abducted Lagos businessman still unknown

    Whereabouts of abducted Lagos businessman still unknown

    THREE DAYS after the kidnap of a Lagos businessman, Francis Umeh, his abductors have not contacted his family, it was learnt yesterday.

    The Police Command also yesterday declined to comment on the incident, which occurred in Amuwo Odofin GRA last Friday.

    It was gathered that Umeh, an auto spare parts dealer at Trade Fair International Market, was kidnapped around 7:30pm at his 1, Sam Akpakwu Street, Amuwo Odofin GRA home.

    His family has since relocated to an unknown place following his abduction by gunmen said to be in military camouflage.

    According to residents, Umeh’s kidnap was the latest of the incessant kidnappings in Amuwo Odofin.

    Another businessman, Cosmos Ojukwu was said to have been abducted by gunmen two weeks ago along 21 road. His family has yet to be contacted.

    Umeh’s abductors, The Nation learnt, fired into the air to scare people before whisking him away.

    The residents decried the spate of kidnappings and armed robberies.

    Security patrols have been intensified in the area.

     Although the Umehs were not sighted at home, the security guard said he does not think the kidnappers have contacted the family.

    Narrating how Umeh was abducted, he said: “Those people were four in number. They drove straight to our gate and forced me to open the gate. I tried to argue with them, they showed me their gun. They took my boss immediately. My boss is a gentleman who has no friend in the neighbourhood. The event was like a film. They drove off with my Oga till today.”

    According to a security source, the case was reported at the Festac police division by the victim’s wife.

    “So far, they are yet to contact his family. Case reported by his wife at Festac area command. We are very close to catching the suspects. The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, has given the Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, an order to smash the gang and rescue the victims. A special squad has been deployed and I can tell you we have advanced on the operation,” said the source.

  • NURTW chief held for alleged murder

    NURTW chief held for alleged murder

    Sixty-two-year-old chairman of Meiran branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Wasiu Onibudo, has been accused of stabbing another member of the union to death.

    Onibudo was alleged to have conspired with some other union members to kill Taiwo Ogunlaja during a NURTW meeting held last December 3 at the union’s headquarters on 365, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Abule-Egba, Lagos.

    The deceased was stabbed several times by Onibudo and others after a disagreement until he died, it was alleged.

    Onibudo was arrested by the police and arraigned at an Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrates’ Court last Friday for alleged conspiracy and murder.

    Prosecuting Police Inspectors Godwin Osuyi and Daniel Ighodalo told the court that the other suspects were at large. They urged Chief Magistrate Afolashade Botoku to remand the defendant in prison custody.

    Osuyi filed an application pursuant to Section 264 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (ACJL), 2011 and supported it with a 10-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Inspector Bartholomew Ali of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit, Abuja.

    Attached to the affidavit were a charge sheet; a petition written to the police by Plenary Solicitors; the deceased’s photograph; medical certificate of cause of death and a statement of a witness, Ahmed Balogun.

    The prosecutor urged the court to remand the defendant pending the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

    But the defendant’s counsel, Spourgeon Ataene, urged the court to discountenance the remand application by considering Section 264 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(9) and (10) of the ACJL and grant his client bail pending the DPP’s advice.

    Chief Magistrate Botoku ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison custody for 30 days, pending the DPP’s advice.

    She also ordered the police to duplicate the case file and forward it to the DPP.

    The matter was adjourned till February 29.

  • Ambode replaces 58-year-old transformer in palmgrove

    Ambode replaces 58-year-old transformer in palmgrove

    Fovernor Akinwunmi Ambode has donated a 500KVA transformer to residents of Palmgrove Estate in Odi-Olowo Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area (LCDA) as part of the ongoing ‘Light Up Lagos’ initiative.

    He also donated transformers to two communities in Alapere and Ijegun to boost electricity supply in those areas.

    Ambode, represented at the presentation by Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources Wale Oluwo, said he read about the residents’ plight in a newspaper in which they appealed to Ikeja Electric to replace their aging transformers.

    The transformer at Palmgrove Estate, according to the residents, was installed in 1958 and became problematic about 10 years ago, making it prone to fault weekly.

    Oluwo said Ambode’s gesture is to alleviate the people’s suffering.

    He said: “This is part of the Light up Lagos Project. The Project is not all about street lights alone. In fact, street light is a small component of the project. It will be interesting to note that the governor read about the residents’ plight yesterday (Friday) in the papers and we are dropping the transformer today (Saturday) here and in two other locations.”

    Responding, President of Palmgrove Estate Residents Association, Captain Jide George said the governor’s response to their plight should be emulated by other leaders, describing it as an eloquent testimony of leadership by example.

    “This is very much unprecedented. I never believed that such a thing could happen where you will just put something in the papers and the governor will respond to it expeditiously. All of us are behind him and we want to say thank you to the governor,” George said.

    Two other senior residents of the Estate, Dr Ladi Awosika and Mr Akintunde Adeyinka said the remarkable way with which the governor responded to their plight was a confirmation of the fact that Lagos State is in safe hands.

  • Residents accuse ‘Alausa men’ of forceful ejection

    Residents accuse ‘Alausa men’ of forceful ejection

    Residents and shop owners of House 17, Bamgboye Street in Mushin, Lagos, have been allegedly forcefully ejected by men who claim to be government officials from Alausa.

    The Nation learnt that the landlord of the building died three months ago following which his children took over the house.

    One of his children who claimed that the building was old and could collapse at any time, was alleged to have sold the house.

    An aggrieved tenant, who asked not be named, said they were told the building needed to be renovated because it is old.

    He said: “We knew the landlord’s son (Demola) had sold the house. We invited a lawyer and human rights personnel and took the case to court, the judge adjourned the case, but when we asked for the date of next sitting from the lawyer and his client, they did not say anything. After some weeks, some men from Alausa marked the building for demolition. Surprisingly this (last Thursday) morning, they came here and forcefully ejected us.

    “When we got the quit notice, we weren’t given sufficient time to park our things. Some boys forcefully parked our things out, other shop owners and tenants who were not around had their things locked inside the building”, a shop owner said.

    Mike Ozona, another shop owner, said: “We waited for the lawyer for three months after the landlords’ death, but nothing happened. Not long after, ‘Alausa boys’ came and sealed the house because it’s going to collapse, I asked them, if the house is going to collapse, what about the shops? they told me the shops will also be demolished too. When we met Demola, he asked us to meet his elder sister, she also directed us to someone else, and this was how they tossed us up and down until the forceful ejection today. I was at Iyana-Ipaja when I heard my shop was demolished, I called the lawyer, and he told me the persons who came to evacuate and lock the building are not from Alausa, they just disguised as officials from Alausa.”

    Demola could not be reached for comments.

  • Controversy over boat mishap

    Controversy over boat mishap

    NOW many people died in Saturday’s Ijede, Lagos boat mishap? Seven, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) insisted yesterday.

    But residents of the neighbourhood are claiming that the casualty figure is 13.

    According to LASEMA, besides the dead, eight others survived including the four discharged from Ikorodu General Hospital yesterday.

    Also yesterday, the family of one Kareem Lasisi, who said he is yet to be found, claimed he was a passenger in the boat.

    The boat, the first to take off after the monthly environment sanitation held across the state last Saturday, capsized around 10:30am en route Badore.

    It was said to have hit a heap of sand packed by sand dredgers, causing the 20-passenger boat to overturn.

    Four persons including the driver, motorboy and two passengers, were said to have walked out of the wrecked boat without assistance.

    Among the survivors were 21-year-old Ayebo Atinuke and Adetula Makunju, 28.

    A source at the crash site, who gave his name as Bode, told The Nation that 13 people died including the jetty’s ticketing officer identified as Taiwo.

    He claimed that four bodies were initially recovered dead; adding that the rescuers later got three persons, who were proclaimed dead on arrival at the Aromedics Hospital.

    Another man, he said, was also confirmed dead at Ikorodu General Hospital.

    According to him: “The boat had 20 people, 17 passengers and three crew members; it was going to Badore and it was the first boat to leave after environmental sanitation. It crashed into a heap of sand midway to Badore and only four people walked out alive. Four others were recovered dead from the water.

    “Much later, three persons were rescued and rushed to Aromedics Hospital which is nearby but they were confirmed dead on arrival. Four others were rescued again and taken to Ikorodu General Hospital, where one of them died.

    “Now, we are still looking for Lasisi. His children have been here since and that man is still missing.”

    Another source told The Nation that the boat conductor identified as Sunday Ebijimi has been arrested by the Marine Police at Ijede.

    He explained that no commercial activity has taken place since the accident occurred, adding that the only boats that have plied the water are those on rescue operations.

    LASEMA boss Michael Akindele, who insisted on the casualty figure of seven, however said only the manifest could ascertain the number of those on board.

    “We still stand on our seven dead toll; I have visited the General Hospital and I can tell you that the four surviving victims there have been discharged. One person was pronounced dead on arrival there, while two people had similar fate at a private hospital in Ijede, Aromedics.

    “So far, we can say that eight people survived but without the manifest, I cannot tell you for sure how many people died or were on board the boat. We will get the manifest before this week runs out and then, we can reconcile the figures,” he said.

  • ‘We stole over 19 phones, three laptops in traffic’

    ‘We stole over 19 phones, three laptops in traffic’

    A 22-year-old traffic robbery suspect, Biodun Omoyeni, has recounted how his gang stole over 19 phones and three laptops in four operations on Lekki-Ajah expressway.

    Omoyeni, who was arrested by Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives last Saturday, was quoted by the RRS as saying that his gang usually distracted its victims before stealing their valuables.

    “Once there is traffic, we strategise and we start operating. One of us from the driver side tells the motorist that the tyre is punctured while the other person through the window takes the phones, money, wallets, pad and other valuables from the other side,” Omoyeni said in a statement by RRS.

    The suspect was arrested by a decoy team which received information about his gang’s operations.

    According to him, one Rasaq, 24, was the one who lured him to robbery.

    He claimed that Rasaq trained him and four others on how to steal in traffic with and without motorcycles.

    ‘Rasaq is a meat seller at Sabo, Ikorodu. He is homeless and we have been to four operations together. We stole up to 19 phones in those operations. We always operate in Ajah.

    “We meet in Mushin and Ojuelegba whenever we want to operate before heading to Lekki and Ajah. We work as conductors for commercial buses and we use that to monitor traffic till 7:30pm when it has built up before we start operating,” he said.

    Asked why he has scars and stitches on his face, Omoyeni said they were from street fighting.

    “I was rejected in four hospitals two years ago before I was admitted in the University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH), where the wounds were stitched.

    A victim, Eugene Paul whose phones were recovered by RRS operatives, said he never knew his money and phones were stolen until another motorist told him.

    Paul said Omoyeni’s accomplice had diverted his attention by fooling him that his rear tyre was flat.

    “I didn’t know Omoyeni from the other side of my car has taken my phones and some money. I was still in the car when a fellow motorist told me that they have stolen my phones.

  • Ogudu GRA residents, mechanics quarrel over security

    A row has broken out between residents of Ogudu GRA in Lagos and auto mechanics over security in the neighbourhood.

    The residents are complaining that the neighbourhood has become insecure because of the artisans’ activities.

    The Motormech and Technician Association of Nigeria (MOMTAN) denied the claim, accusing the residents of intolerance.

    MOMTAN chairman, Alhaji Rasaq Alabi said: “The residents are threatening us to vacate from where we now operate.  Former Commissioner for Transport Kayode Opeifa has intervened for settlement between both parties but Group Captain Muri Salami (rtd) used his influence as a military person to lead some residents to threaten us.”

    Alabi said the artisans have been operating in the area since 1980.

    The government, he said, began to develop the area in 1983, adding that the place is formerly Alebiosu Street but now Muri Folami Street, Ogudu.

    Alabi accused Salami of leading some residents to cut down some of the trees planted during Col. Raji Rasaki’s administration to scare them.

    “One major observation was that iron barb wires were used to separate them from the residents so that customers would not have access to the residential area,” Alabi said.

    The MOMTAN chairman appealed to the Commissioner for Transport, Dr Dayo Mobereola to intervene before the situation degenerates.

    Reacting, Salami, Ogudu GRA Residents Association president, said the mechanics were constituting a nuisance in the area.