The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Foundation, LASIEC partner on capacity building

    Foundation, LASIEC partner on capacity building

    The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) will support Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) to conduct free, fair and credible elections into the state’s 57 councils. The state has 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

    At a meeting with LASIEC, the foundation’s representatives, Mrs Uloma Osuala and Mr Obaje Ukeh, said IFES was ready to hold a capacity building seminar for electoral officers and others on voter education. It will also develop manuals for the commission, design voter education materials and establish an election support centre to enable the commission monitor progress and development on the field on election day.

    They hailed LASIEC for having a data base of ad-hoc staff it engaged in the last council election in the state.

    Stressing the need for more effective collaboration between Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), the foundation called for the establishment of a functional secretariat for the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON), an umbrella body for the country’s 36 SIECs.

    LASIEC Chairman Justice Abdul-Fatai Adeyinka said the delineation of wards and creation of additional polling units embarked upon by the commission were intended to deepen democracy and make it more inclusive for those at the grassroots.

    IFES is a Washington–based international non-profit organisation founded to provide assistance and support for elections in new and emerging democracies.

  • Fake policemen arrested

    Fake policemen arrested

    Two men, Lawal Hakeem, 43, and Abiodun Ibrahim, 32, have been arrested for allegedly impersonating policemen at Mile 2, Lagos.

    Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Commander Olatunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said the suspects were arrested by patrolling policemen because of their “suspicious” movement.

    The suspects, he said, claimed to be police officers on being accosted.

    Disu said: “The RRS operatives continued interrogation, after a while, one of them, Hakeem, showed his cloned police identification card. The RRS men looked at the I.D card critically to discover that it was a fake I.D. Immediately both of them were arrested and bundled into the squad’s vehicle and driven to the headquarters for further investigation”.

    At the station, Disu said, Ibrahim confessed he is not a police officer but Hakeem’s intimate friend. Ibrahim said he was trying to settle a dispute between Hakeem and a motorist when the policemen arrived, Disu added.

    Hakeem, who lives at Shittu Ajiron in Ajangbadi in Ojo Local government area, confessed that he was a police officer before he deserted in July last year.

    “I got enlisted Nigerian Police force on April 4, 1989 with force number; 180939 before I was deserted from the Force last year due to absenteeism from work after the death of my wife. Since that time, things have not been easy for me. I was only parading myself as police officer only to find means of livelihood. I am appealing to the Nigerian Police force to forgive me and I swear I will not do the same again’’, he appealed.

    The Police said the suspects would be charged to court soon.

  • Council chief donates bags, books to pupils

    Council chief donates bags, books to pupils

    Isolo Local Council Development Area Executive Secretary Olusegun Jubril has distributed school bags and exercise books to 14 primary school pupils.

    He made the donation during the closing seminar of the free summer coaching at the council.

    Jubril said parents, teachers and the government must come together to tackle the country’s security challenges in the country.

    He said: “The summer coaching was organised because we value both qualitative and quantitative education as a means of eradicating the menace of social miscreants. I am hopeful that the knowledge, skills and ideas acquired will go a long way in preparing you better for your future endeavours.“

    The Council Manager, Mr Kehinde Yusuf, said the initiative was designed to inspire the pupils, since it involved academic training, co-vocational and co-curricular activities.

    “We realised that during the long holidays, children are exposed to criminal activities. So, Isolo LCDA, in collaboration with the Community Initiative for Child Education (CICE) orgainised the programme to assist them in building a great future,” he said.

    Iyaloja Ire-Akari Market, Mrs Eunice Dosumu hailed the council chief for the gesture.

    A teacher, Omowunmi Awojobi, said some of the pupils, could not complete a sentence in English before the holiday started.

    “These same pupils can now speak and write well in English. I am glad because it makes our work easier,” she said.

    Speaking with The Nation, a pupil, Tosin Mantanmi, said she was glad for the opportunity.

  • Residents protest ‘crazy electricity bills’

    Residents protest ‘crazy electricity bills’

    Some Lagos residents have protested what they called the epileptic power supply in their area and “loath-some” billings by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC).

    The residents of Igbehin-Adun in Ilasamaja, Mushin, alleged that they are being billed for what they did not consume by the Iyana-Isolo and Idi-Araba districts of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC).

    A banner at the entrance of the community reads: The real change we want in Ilasamaja from Eko Distribution Company. Their demands as inscribed on the banner  include; No more crazy bills; No more extortion in estimated billing; No more service charges; No more billing not in commensurate with energy consumption; Prepaid metres should be free among others.

    Their representatives made their grievances known at the EKEDC head office on the Marina in Lagos last Thursday.

    They were denied access to the EKEDC General Manager, who was said to be in a meeting.

    An official of EKEDC, however, assured them that their complaints would be looked into.

    A former councillor in Mushin Local Government, Lateef Olayinka Aro told The Nation that the residents’ efforts to lodge a complaints at the Iyana-Isolo and Idi-Araba districts of EKEDC failed.

    He said: “The situation of power supply in this area has been precarious. We want to see the authority in charge but to some extent, we have been finding it difficult. We went to Isolo district but we got flimsy excuses. The Idi-Araba district told us to lodge our complaints at the head office in Marina. For a year now, our bills have been high.  We are being billed as an industrial area while our area is actually a residential area. The bills are high compared to the level of income of the people in this area. We want the government to understand our plight and look into the matter as quick as possible.”

    Aro said their investigations showed that they have been disconnected from the former feeder where they enjoyed “little power supply”, adding: “we have been given that of Itire while ours was given to Itire.”

    The residents said they met with an official of the Idi-Araba district who pleaded with them to exercise patience.

    According to Aro, the official said: “All these are happening as a result of the privatisation of the power sector, but we are assuring you that there will be positive changes”.

    A resident, Taiwo Hamzat, representing Akanro and Ogunbowale axis, decried the outrageous bills, saying they are nowhere equal to the level of power supplied.

    Hamzat said: “We are making our grievances known to EKEDC; we do not deserve outrageous bills, estimated billings, illegal disconnection and frequent power outage. Imagine, an individual being given between N20,000 and N60,000 bill monthly yet the power supply is not constant.

    Another resident, Folorunsho Olorunosebi said they could deal with EKEDC officials, “but we decided to express our complaints at the head office to avoid violence.”

    Mrs Folashade Ajani said her faulty metre which was taken away by EKEDC officials has not been returned, “but I have been receiving bills for power not supplied”.

    An EKEDC official in Idi-Araba appealed for calm, promising to hold a meeting with some selected members of the community.

  • Street traders to face the music

    The Lagos State Government has vowed to enforce the law against street trading to ensure sanity on the roads.

    Chairman of Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Other Special Offences (Enforcement Unit) Olubukola Abe, a Superintendent of Police, told reporters in Alausa, Ikeja on Saturday.

    He said the measure would reduce traffic congestion caused by street trading.

    According to him, Section 1 of the Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003, restricts street trading and hawking in the metropolis.

    “Sections 7 and 8 of the same law gives jurisdiction and power to the special court to order the seizure and public auction of items impounded for street trading”, he said.

    Abe said his men were prepared to step up enforcement of the law, urging motorists not to encourage traders by patronising them.

    He pointed out that Section 10 of the law prescribes a N5000 fine or three months imprisonment upon conviction.

    Abe said: “Aside from the far reaching implication of street trading in terms of accidents which in most cases are fatal, street trading also affects the free flow of traffic in the metropolis as well as contradict the environmental sanitation laws by littering our streets with waste generated from the act.

    “We’ve had reports on the activities of persons who pose as beggars, especially in traffic, but their sole aim is to perpetrate evil. We are beaming a search light on this trend and one way to do that is to ensure that we take pre-emptive measures to forestall this development.”

    “There is no way any responsible government will allow street trading to continue after providing stalls in designated market places all over the state”, he said.

  • Beneficiaries to get homes Sept. 30

    Beneficiaries of Mushin Housing estate under the Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (HOMS) will be known by the end of this month, Lagos State Government has said.

    Ministry of Housing Permanent Secretary Mr Olatunji Odunlami, at a meeting with the prospective homeowners on Saturday, said the project was 95 per cent completed.

    The Ambode administration, he said, was also restructuring the scheme, adding that this is responsible for the delay in handing over the houses to their owners.

    He said work on the Sangotedo and Igando Housing schemes would soon be completed and delivered to the owners.

    Odunlami said arrangements were being made to engage facility managers to run infrastructure in the estates.

    Previous agreements on the houses, he said, would be implemented, adding: “Before the end of this month (September), our Mushin Project will be ready so that people can collect their keys. It is 95 per cent completed.

    “We will continue to work simultaneously on the Sangotedo and Igando schemes, Sangotedo is 60 per cent completed,’’ Odunlami said.

    The beneficiaries, Odunlami said, would be given update weekly and appealed for their understanding.

  • My wife is ungrateful, says divorce-seeking man

    A middle-aged man, Adedola Odetola, has taken his wife, Regina, before an Igando Customary Court in Lagos, seeking the dissolution of their five-year-old union.

    Odetola, a businessman, said 11 months after they got married, his wife started acting strange.

    He also described her as ungrateful, adding that he started a business centre for her but she didn’t operate it for two years.

    “She does whatever her mother and sister wants saying they are her priority to the extent of taking our foodstuff to them. At times, she violently collects money from me and gives to her mother and sister,” he said.

    Odetola accused his wife of being fetish, saying there was a day he saw a strange candle in their bathroom.

    “Since the day I caught her burying something in the front of our flat that was the day the love between us went sour,” he said.

    He said he was shocked when she dropped their second child with him last Sunday, claiming she had no place to stay. Odetola said he was tired of her, adding that he no longer wants her.

    In her defence, Mrs Odetola decried her husband’s attitude at home, saying she got to know from his brother that her husband hasn’t been happy with her for three years.

    “I once heard him on phone, saying I wanted to poison his food and since then, he has stopped eating from me and I still wash his clothes,” she said.

    The respondent said her husband gives her N1,000 daily, adding that he expects her to cloth their children out of the money.

    She said: “My husband doesn’t like cold food. So, I prepare his food when he is close to our house but he complains if he sees the food is still on fire and won’t eat from it. It is true he gave me a shop but he didn’t stock it. Even when he gave me N20,000 to stock the shop, I used it to buy clothes for myself and our children. His attitude is somehow. My mother has only visited our house thrice. I just want him to rent an apartment for me because he was the one who asked me not to work.”

    The Court’s President, Mr. Hakeem Oyekan, ordered the couple to be peaceful. He adjourned the matter till September 30.

  • ‘Ajegunle not notorious community’

    Crime in Ajegunle, a Lagos community, has reduced drastically, a former local government chairman has said.

    Mr Kamal Bayewu, former Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area chairman, was speaking at the Ajeromi Ifelodun 2015 Community Day and Award. Some members of the community were honoured on the occasion.

    He said the perception that Ajegunle is only for negative things should be discarded, noting that youths from the area have excelled in various fields.

    “People see Ajegunle as a never do well area, it is when people move closer to us, they found out that we are very hospitable, we have resources and talents abundantly here,” he said.

    He said Ajegunle is relatively peaceful because of the cooperation with law enforcement agents to flush out criminals.

    ‘’This area is a highly cosmopolitan community and I can say it that almost every part of West African states is represented here. There is no tribe that is not represented in Ajeromi/Ifelodun council.

    ‘’We must all work towards the development of the community. We should pay less attention to what we benefit individually. Today, we are coming together to speak with one voice, to debunk wrong impression and put the record straight about Ajegunle,” he said.’

    Bayewu said when he was in office, he ensured that roads were constructed and rehabilitated.

    He said: ‘’I built roads, there is none of our CDAs where roads were not provided, linking the communities. Notwithstanding, we still have challenges of roads, we still need state government presence in terms of roads and other facilities.

    ‘’We need at least four highway roads, which they have given us one. We need these roads in Mosafejo, Kirikiri, Ojo road and Mba areas. If we have them in place, Ajegunle will be open up to people and development.

    ‘’We are so close to development, but we remain underdeveloped. We are close to Apapa, Surulere and Lagos Island. These surrounding communities are well developed but Ajegunle remain behind despite its contribution to the country.’’

    He maintained that Ajegunle has one of the best tourist attractions, supported by the provision of educational facilities.

    ‘’In Tolu community alone, here alone you have over 41 schools. This is what should be commended and encouraged. I must say again that there is no threat in term of security because, the society has reflected flushed out those fomenting trouble.’’

  • NNPC gets 67,400 litres of petrol from Civil Defence

    NNPC gets 67,400 litres of petrol from Civil Defence

    Lagos State Command of Nigeria Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has handed over 67,400 litres of fuel to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after being tested by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    The products were recovered from oil vandals in the last four months.

    About 1,443 jerry cans of 25-litre each were intercepted around Badagry; 204 kegs of 50-litre each and 81 drums of 250-litre each were also seized within the Ikorodu-Ikeja axis.

    The products were loaded from creeks in Ikorodu, Escravos Apapa and Festac Town. They were to be shipped to the Republic of Benin and Togo.

    NSCDC Commandant Gabriel Abafi said the operations were because of the intelligence gathered by the undercover agents and other members of the society.

    He appealed to Lagosians to always give the corps information to enable it discharge its responsibility.

    Abafi said: “Tanker and trailer drivers have become a discomfort to motorists in the state. But I assure you that the corps will join hands with other sister-agencies to prevent the recurrence of such ugly incidents as recently witnessed in Iyana-Ipaja and Ojuelegba areas of the state in the future.”

    He told drivers not to take for granted what he called the benevolence of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who ordered the release of vehicles arrested by LASTMA to their owners.

  • Three feared dead in Balogun market fire

    Three feared dead in Balogun market fire

    Three persons were feared dead yesterday when fire razed the second floor of a six-storey building at Balogun Market on Lagos Island.

    The fire, which started at 10am, was caused by an electrical surge.

    It was learnt that the cause of the fire was electrical surge.

    The building was filled with shoes, bags and fabrics.

    Lagos State Fire Service Director Rasaq Fadipe said three fire trucks were deployed to fight the inferno.

    “The second floor is like a hall demarcated with metal sheets into 20 shops and at the same time, the traders disrupted us from doing our job because most of them made sure they evacuated some of their goods.

    “To prevent it from spreading to the third floor, we used chemical foam. Traders associations should ensure that they have first aid fire equipment to combat such incident before emergency workers are contacted,” he said.

    An eye witness said the fire started as the complex manager was trying to operate the power switch.

    The fire brigade, he said, was unable to access the building because of the cubicles on the street.

    Some eye witnesses, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN), said that some people who jumped out from various floors of the burning plaza to escape the fire were carried away dead.

    Mallam Hamza Abdullahi, a trader in the market told NAN that he saw three dead bodies and five people who were wounded.

    “People were shouting and jumping down from up stairs, I saw a woman dead with her skull open,” he said.

    Another witness, Ismail Adebanjo, confirmed that the cubicles had caused damages in the past, leading to the destruction of three buildings in January.

    Nonso, a trader, said he watched his good burning, pointing out that he wanted to kill himself.

    Ogbona, another trader, said he ran to a nearby bank for fire extinguishers but got no positive response.