The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Shops’ roofs removed at Ladipo market

    Shops’ roofs removed at Ladipo market

    TRADERS at the Ladipo and parts market yesterday protested the locking of their shops and the removal of the roofs. They accused Mushin Local Government of being behind the action.

    Their allegation was based on a notice at the gate, stating that the market would undergo redevelopment.

    The police and Operation Mesa (OP-MESA) team were deployed to forestall violence.

    Ladipo Central Executive Auto Dealers Association (LACEC) Task Force Chairman Emmanuel Osakwe told The Nation that the union is meeting with the council on the way out.

    Some of the traders said they met the market gate locked when they arrived at 6.30am.

    “No trader was allowed to go into the market because the gate was locked. Many of us stood outside the market waiting to hear from our executive members who had gone to dialogue with the local government,” said Chukwuma, a trader.

    Those who pleaded not to be named said they were worried because of the money they left in their lockers.

    “Some of us usually keep our money in the lockers for convenience and hoodlums may take advantage to loot goods and steal our money. Enough notice was not given to us, even our executive members did not notify of their coming. We did not prepare for this horrible experience,” a trader said.

    Another trader who simply gave his name as Innocent said: “I was surprised to see the gate locked, I could not go inside. When I enquired, they said it was local government. I can’t give you my full name because I do not know why they locked the market. Our executive members did not inform us that local government will lock the market. My worry now is that my money is inside. I can’t go now because I must take money from there to go home. Tell them to come and open the market.”

    Another trader blamed the executive for not notifying them before the action.

    “The problem is with the executive members. There is no way a local government will do such thing without giving notice to the traders. Our leaders are not representing us well rather they are representing their selfish interest.”

    Theodore, another trader alleged that chisel and hammer were used to remove the roof and stalls.

    “They did not touch inside but we have not entered to know what happened. We are not going anywhere until they open the gate. Our goods and money are not safe. They should have given us enough notice. We are not against redevelopment of the market rather they should do the correct thing,” he said.

    The council’s Information Officer Segun Akinyemi, said he was unaware of the incident.

     

  • Student arraigned for ‘entering’ girls’ hostel

    A 21-year-old student, Francis Onitiri, was yesterday charged before a Somolu Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, for allegedly breaking into a girls’ hostel at night with intent to steal.

    Onitiri, whose address was not provided, is facing a two-count charge of assault and conspiracy.

    He denied the charges.

    Prosecuting Inspector Nurudeen Thomas told the court that the accused committed the offences with others still at large on June 22 at about 11.58 p.m. at Classic Girls’ Hostel, Morounfolu Street, Akoka, Lagos.

    He said Onitiri and his accomplices scaled the fence of the hostel with the intent of stealing, but the security guard on duty raised an alarm.

    “While others took to their heels, Onitiri was not lucky and was immediately apprehended by the guard.

    “The accused, who started struggling to free himself from the guard, brought out a knife and stabbed the guard in the face and chest.

    “The security guard immediately alerted the girls in the hostel who helped to overpower the accused and was later taken to the police station,’’ Thomas said.

    The offences, Thomas noted, contravened Sections 170 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    Ruling on the bail application, Chief Magistrate B.O. Osunsanmi, granted him N50, 000 bail with a surety in the like sum.

    He adjourned the case to August12.

     

  • Court discharges murder suspect for ‘showing remorse’

    An Ijede Magistrate’s Court near Ikorodu, Lagos yesterday discharged a man, Kazeem Ajiga, who allegedly lynched another man for stealing his aluminium roofing sheets.

    Ajiga was arraigned for taking laws into his hands by executing jungle justice on a suspect, Raheem Omoyele, whom he accused of stealing his property.

    Omoyele was on Monday brought before Magistrate Jumoke Olagbegi-Adelabu on a charge of stealing 25 aluminium roofing sheets belonging to Ajiga.

    Olagbegi-Adelabu ruled :“Since Ajiga has shown remorse, caution and did not waste this court’s time by pleading guilty, I hereby discharge him and strike out the case.

    “I ordered the arrest and subsequent arraignment of Ajiga and his accomplices still at large for almost blinding a suspect they arrested and for obstructing the police from doing their job.

    “This court is not against citizens arresting criminals in support of the course of justice, but will not tolerate the use of excessive force, beating up and violence on them.

    “Many Nigerians have been killed in such acts which clearly is anti-social, barbaric and against human rights and contrary to being sane in this 21st century.

    “No sane mind should justify transferred aggression on an apprehended petty thief because of a perceived loss or theft.

    “This message I hope will sink into the minds of the Oke-Eletu people and Nigerians that jungle justice, lynching and harm to arrested suspects by them is criminal and unacceptable by law.”

    Earlier, Prosecuting Sergeant Friday Ekunday had apologised on behalf of the accused, Ajiga, on the grounds that he did not know the implications of his action.

    “He was the complainant in the case that led to this charge against him and acted out of ignorance for not knowing that a crime was being committed by beating up the person who stole from him.

    “Ajiga has leant his lesson after sleeping at the police cell for the night, and I beg this court to temper justice with mercy,” he said.

    He said the accused violated Section 166(d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011 when he committed the offence on June 26 at Oke-Eletu area of Ikorodu.

    Before the ruling, the accused had pleaded guilty to the charge of breaching public peace by executing jungle justice on Omoyele.

    In an interview with NAN, a lawyer, Mr Victor Nwadike, attributed the lynching of criminals to ignorance and the high rate of illiteracy in the country.

    “‘Mob action and jungle justice are a reflection of the level of education that Nigerians have about basic issues of their rights and about what is legal and permissible.

    “The need for more enlightenment cannot be understated and for an overhaul of our educational system, its philosophy and its approach to transform the people.

    “Even many so-called educated people cannot understand simple legal documents, many cannot interpret our constitution and cannot explain a contractual agreement.

    “Our backwardness even in the administration of justice is largely because of the pervasive ignorance and illiteracy in this nation.

    “We need to ensure every person gets educated up to secondary school and review our curricula at all levels to imbue critical thinking as an essential ingredient of our education system,” he said.

    Nwadike urged government at all levels to step up their enlightenment programmes on such issues.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘I was set up for attack by Customs’

    ‘I was set up for attack by Customs’

    A publisher, who was brutalised by smugglers in Seme last week, has accused the Customs Area Command (CAC) of setting him up for the attack.

    Otunba Yomi Olomofe, Executive Director and Editorial Board Chairman of Badagry Prime Magazine, accused the command of working with one Alhaji Momoh popularly known as Basket to unleash  terror on him.

    According to him, Basket boys attacked him.

    He said the no fewer than 15 attackers waylaid him as he stepped out of the command’s office.

    “I was invited by an Assistant Comptroller Ibrahim Turaki with a correspondent of Tide Newspaper who has been running stories on illicit activities of the smugglers. I had no premonition of the planned attack because the tone of the invitation was friendly. Immediately I stepped out of the man’s office after the meeting, five ruffians appeared, descended on me and I landed on the sideway hitting my head on a stone. I became unconscious. I was beaten to coma. Fortunately for the Tide correspondent, he was a bit closer to the man’s office, so he quickly ran back. Before they could come out, the thugs had dealt with me. I was later revived,” he said.

    “I wonder how anybody could have been waiting for me there. How did they know that I will be there? As they were beating me, they were threatening to kill any journalist that writes any story about them.

    “The most annoying part was that it happened within the Customs premises and I don’t know what they might do again. These hoodlums are not unknown. They are known to everybody, but they are above the law. They even told me that they have killed many people and nothing happened,” Olomofe added.

    He expressed disappointment over the Badagry Area Commander’s inability to see him when he visited his office.

    “My going to the police station went awfully, very bad. Before now, I knew it wasn’t going to be of much use because they said the people had him in their palms, so order has to come from higher level, maybe the Assistant Inspector-General of Police or Inspector-General of Police himself before any meaningful action could be taken against the smugglers,” he said.

    Olomofe said the Badagry Area Commander directed him to report at the station in Seme.

    “Can you imagine that, going back to where I was beaten to a coma so that they can finish what they started? I would rather go to the Commissioner of Police. If he too says he cannot wade in, I would then call on Nigerians to come to my rescue,” he said.

    Olomofe pledged to pursue the case “with the very last breathe in me. It is unfortunate that life can be so meaningless in our society. I intend to see this to its logical conclusion; I will not relent until justice is done and these criminals are brought to book. These people see themselves as above the law and always publicly announce severally  that they need to kill a fellow human being to serve as a lesson to other journalists,” he said.

     

  • Policemen detained for shooting at bus

    Policemen detained for shooting at bus

    THERE was panic in Ilupeju, Lagos yesterday as policemen shot at a passenger-laden commercial bus.

    The policemen are being detained at Ilupeju Police Station on the order of Lagos Command spokesman Kenneth Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP). Nwosu told our reporter last night that what the policemen did was wrong.

    The policemen pursued the bus from Ikorodu Road into Adegboyega Street in Ilupeju, shooting, as passersby and residents running for cover.

    They fired at the Oyingbo-bound vehicle, with number-plate KRD 516 XF when the driver allegedly refused to stop as ordered. The bullets hit the front tyre which got burst while the bus was on motion.

    The incident happened at 9am on the one-lane Coker Road in Ilupeju in Odi Olowo-Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area (LCDA). The bus was carrying traders who went to buy food stuff at Mile 12 Market in Ketu.

    When the driver eventually stopped in front of a church on Adegboyega Street, four policemen, riding in a pick-up marked, “Police Ilupeju Division” with number-plate MUS 04 AW, descended on the driver and his conductor, with the butts of their rifles.

    The passengers fled the scene to avoid being beaten by the policemen, who also used the sharp ends of their guns to deflate the bus remaining tyres. It took the residents’ intervention to rescue the driver from the policemen.

    Tempers rose when the residents demanded to know the offence of the driver, who was identified as Fatai Olatunji. The policemen tried to whisk him away, but residents resisted the move. The officers were also prevented from towing the bus to their station. Hot arguments ensued between the residents and the policemen, which almost led to confrontation.

    Afraid of being attacked by the mob, one of the officers, Adams Ajih with Force Number 358918, called their station, claiming that the driver attempted to kill them.

    Speaking to our reporter, Ajih said: “The commercial bus driver took the wrong lane and faced the police vehicle. We tried to stop him but he fled. This is why we chased the bus. But, it is not true that we fired shots at the vehicle. Rather, the driver attempted to kill us by driving on our lane.”

    When our reporter told the policemen that Coker Road is one-lane, Ajih insisted that the driver was driving on “one-way road”.

    Olatunji denied taking one-way, alleging that the policemen attempted to extort money from him.

    Olatunji said: “I was coming from Ketu and passed through Ilupeju to avoid the traffic gridlock on Ikorodu Road. As  I drove on Coker Road, I discovered a vehicle had broken down on the road. I moved to negotiate to the opposite lane to avoid the faulty vehicle and rejoin the lane in the front; then, I saw the police pick-up coming from the opposite direction.

    “I moved back a bit to allow the policemen go, since they have the right of way. But, they asked me to stop. I asked what my offence was, but they could not mention anything.

    “One of them came down and broke my side mirror. Another officer also shot at the vehicle, which made me drive away from the scene. The policemen made a turn and ran after my bus. I later found out the front tyre had burst after being hit by bullets.”

    A passenger, who gave his name as Taofeek, said the passengers were terrified by the policemen’s action.

    As the mob grew, the policemen left, saying they were going to get a towing-vehicle to remove the bus from the road. They did not return.

    Another officer identified in the police vehicle is Monday with Force Number 362282.

     

  • Residents protest ‘forceful acquisition’ of their land

    Residents of Labora Owode in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, yesterday urged the Lagos State House of Assembly, to save them from hoodlums who have “forcefully taken over” their land despite a court injunction.

    Led by Mr Babatunde Olumegbon, Moshood Lanrewaju Rasaq, Chief Najeem Fatai, Ismaila Asimu Fatai, Molikiu Ganiyu and Ademola Samuel, among others, they displayed placards, condemning the hoodlums.

    According to them, the hoodlums stormed the community with well over 10,000 settlers in January, wielding cutlasses and other lethal weapons.

    Addressing reporters Rasaq, who is their lawyer and also a member of Agbon Busari Royal Family, said the matter was reported at Elemoro Police Station.

    He said the over 200 hoodlums had almost completed the fencing of the area they forcefully took over in defiance of a court order.

    “We reported the matter at Elemoro Police Station, we have written petitions to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and others. We have been to court, we have sued them. There is a court injunction restraining them. They have not stopped working.

    “It would be unwholesome if we don’t do something. That is why we are here to call on the House to save us and save our land which was handed over to us by our progenitors from being taken over from us,” he said.

    Rasaq, who said the hoodlums were unknown added: “We don’t know them. In court, we have sued unknown people.”

    Also speaking, the community’s Chief Imam, Hameed Habeeb, said the invaders refused to obey a court injunction, and had almost completed the fencing the land they forcefully took over.

  • REVEALED: Cause of fire at Ile-epo oja

    REVEALED: Cause of fire at Ile-epo oja

    The cause of the fire outbreak at Ile-epo oja, Abule Egba are of Lagos state that consumed many shops over the weekend has been discovered.
    The inferno which reportedly started at about 9pm was blamed on careless handling of generators.
    It was gathered that one of the shop owners put off the generator and carried it inside without allowing the heat to reduce and then kept a carton on it before leaving for home.
    Reports further claimed that the carton containing seasonings melted due to the hotness of the generator resulting in the fire that razed no fewer than four shops.
    Eyewitnesses reported that one of the miscreants (area boys) hanging around saw the fire and informed another shop owner, Segun who sells cassette at the other section of the building.
    Segun was said have notified the Agege fire station immediately who came but were unable to immediately put the fire under control.
    Thus, the Agege fire station contacted Alausa fire service station who eventually came to help.
    Owner of one of the affected shops, who sells cooking utensils and household items, was said to have brought in new goods on Friday before the fire incident of Saturday. Her shop was completely razed by the inferno.
    An old man whose shop was also razed said: “This is my only means of livelihood. I also send my two children to school from what I make here.”
    He also sells household wares and cooking utensils.
    It was discovered that many Northerners who trade nearby rushed to offer help as the fire stated. They broke into some shops as part of efforts to savage a few of the goods as they could.
    When The Nation arrived the scene, some men were seen tiding up the shops.
  • Ladipo traders: ‘we’re at landlords’ mercy’

    Ladipo traders: ‘we’re at landlords’ mercy’

    Some Ladipo auto parts dealers have alleged that they are at the mercy of multiple landlords, who “are making life difficult for us.”

    The traders in the Odo Aladura Spare Parts section also complained of the menace of ‘area’ boys and the lack of toilets in their shops.

    The unit’s outgoing Chairman, Jude Nwankwo, said his team did all it could to correct their anomalies.

    Nwankwo enjoined the incoming executive to request a space from the landlords to build toilets for the traders.

    Maxwell Uroko Chukwuma polled 235 votes to defeat Ebenobo Michael and others to emerge as chairman.

    Sunday Onyekwe was elected treasurer with 174 votes to Maxwell Okafor’s 115 votes.

    Elected unopposed are Ndubuisi Okonkwo – Assistant Provost, Iloka Ifeanyi – Chief Provost, Chinedu Okoro, Public Relations Officer (PRO) and Ikechukwu Onyema Financial Secretary.

    Nwankwo was appointed Deputy President of Ladipo Central Executive.

    He described the chairman-elect, Chukwuma, as a detribalised man who would work hard to protect the traders.

    Chukwuma waved the olive branch to those who contested against him.

  • Girl, 2, needs N1m for cancer surgery

    Girl, 2, needs N1m for cancer surgery

    Little two-year-old Kehinde Adebiyi should be running around the house like her peers, particularly her twin brother, Taiye. But she cannot because she is in pains, a situation that has kept her indoors.

    Her parents are indigent- the father, Matthew Adebiyi, is a Furniture maker, and the mother, Bidemi, is a petty trader. Kehinde has a tumour in her right ear and needs  about N1 million for surgery at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Mushin,Lagos.

    According to her mother, Kehinde’s problem started in December, 2013, about two weeks after her birth, when she noticed what looked loke a mosquito bite on her right ear.  Thinking that it was a boil, the family, which now lives in a room at 26, Abati Street, Cole Bus-stop, Ikotun Egbe in Lagos, took her to the General Hospital at Ibafo in Ogun State. She got no succour there.

    Following the family’s relocation to Ikotun-Egbe, Kehinde was taken to LUTH where the growth was diagnosed to be a Cancerous tumour by a physician in the Burns and Plastic section.

    To save her daughter, the mother said she took to begging at bus stops to raise money for the surgery. She said they were able to raise N700,000 for the surgery which was done on December 29, 2013.

    But a year later, she said, the growth returned. She rushed back to LUTH and was told that the case has gone beyond medication. The family was told Kehinde must undergo a fresh surgery to save her.

    Kehinde’s parents can be reached on 0817-762-6057; donations can be sent to Access Bank with account number 0043558184 in favour of Mr Adebiyi Adebayo Matthew.

  • Two men remanded for murder

    Two men – Matthew Imeh and Aliu Salisu – who allegedly caused the death of a man by pushing him into an oncoming traffic, were remanded at Ikoyi Prisons.

    An Ebute Metta Chief Magistrate’s Court which gave the ruling, said the accused should remain in custody pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

    The accused – Imeh, 25, and Salisu, 29 – were arraigned before Magistrate O.A. Komolafe on a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder.

    Komolafe, however, rejected the bail application of the accused.

    The prosecutor, Elizabeth Ekuma, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP) had earlier told the court that the accused committed the offences on May 7 at Aiye Junction on Mushin-Isolo Road.

    She alleged that the accused pushed a man, Rafiu Baale, into an oncoming traffic which led to his being crushed by a Mercedes Benz truck.

    She said the offences contravened Sections 221 and 231 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The case has been adjourned to Aug. 19, 2015.