The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Two sales’ reps charged with N10.02m theft

    Two sales’ reps charged with N10.02m theft

    Two sales’ representatives yesterday appeared before a Surulere Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing about 250 cartons of drugs worth N10.02 million from Grace Drugs and Health Care Ltd.

    They are Frank Edeaghe, 39, and Omotola Hassan, 31.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Jimah Iseghede told the court that the accused committed the offence at the drug store, on Adeniran Ogunsanya Street in Surulere between March 2 and April 12.

    Iseghede said the complainant, Grace Drugs and Health Care Ltd., discovered that several cartons of drugs were missing during an audit.

    Iseghede said the offence contravened Sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

    The accused pleaded not guilty.

    Chief Magistrate A.F. Adeeyo granted the accused N500, 000 bail with two sureties each in the like sum.

    He adjourned the case till May 21.

  • Murder: Suspect gets bail

    Murder: Suspect gets bail

    An Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos yesterday granted bail to a suspect, Akorede Hammed.

    Senior Magistrate, Mr A.O. Komolafe, who granted the accused bail, chided the police for not doing their job “satisfactorily and effectively’’.

    The magistrate’s anger followed his discovery that the accused was not the accused as alleged by the police.

    “This is not how to do the right job; and I do not see the need to punish or remand an innocent man who is just a victim of circumstance.

    “This is only a case of an alibi, would you say because the ‘culprit’ is on the run so you should arraign another in his place?”

    The Investigating Police Officer, Corporal Felix Osogu, earlier told the court that the main accused was on the run and he was only following orders of his superior officer to arraign Hammed.

    The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Elizabeth Ekuma, told the court that Hammed, a bus driver, was given a vehicle to supervise and remit an agreed amount to the owner, the complainant (Joseph Emmanuel).

    She explained that on February 28 at Igbe Road in Ikorodu, the corpse of one Azeez Idowu was found inside the said vehicle which had been abandoned.

    “Hammed had given the vehicle to his friend, one Sunday, to use and remit a token of N4, 000 to him.

    “But he failed to do so as the vehicle was found `abandoned’ in Ikorodu with a corpse inside it the following day.”

    The accused, 25, a bus driver, is being tried for murder and conspiracy.

    Hammed pleaded not guilty.

    He was granted N200, 000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    The case has been adjourned till June 8.

     

  • Bus conductor docked for ‘robbing’ motorist

    Bus conductor docked for ‘robbing’ motorist

    A 20-year-old bus conductor, Taiye Taiwo, was yesterday arraigned before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly robbing a female motorist, Mrs Vera Denedo of N12, 000 cash and her mobile phone.

    Taiwo denied the charge.

    Prosecuting police Inspector Livinus Okeke told the court that the conductor committed the offence with others at large, on April 20 at UBA Roundabout on the Marina in Lagos.

    He said the accused robbed Mrs Denedo in the traffic.

    Okeke said: “The accused and his accomplices took advantage of the traffic to steal from the complainant, who came to Lagos Island for a business transaction. Her LG mobile phone worth N6, 000 and N12, 000 were stolen by Taiwo and others.

    “Taiwo, however, ran out of luck when a few days later, the complainant who was driving on the road spotted the accused loitering in the area. At 7.30 a.m. on April 27, the complainant spotted the accused at the same area she was robbed. She immediately alerted the police who apprehended the accused.”

    The offence, Okeke said, contravened Sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

    Magistrate L.A. Owolabi granted the accused N10, 000 bail with a surety in the like sum.

    He adjourned the case to May 5.

  • Media unfair to Islam, says university don

    Media unfair to Islam, says university don

    AS Islam being well projected by the media? No, says a university teacher, Dr Mahfouz Adedimeji, while reviewing a book: “Muslims and the threats of the media.”

    The book, written by a reporter with Encomium Weekly, Rasheed Abubakar, was launched in Lagos yesterday, as part of activities marking the World Press Freedom Day.

    The event was held at the Abdul Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, New Lagos Central Mosque (Hall) in Shitta, Surulere, Lagos with the theme: “Let Islam thrive! Towards balanced reporting and religious equality.”

    Many at the event hailed Abubakar’s resilience in the face of an accident that almost claimed his legs two months ago. His injury did not stop him from going ahead with the book presentation.

    Adedimeji, Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS) at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), lamented what he called some distortions in the media about Islam.

    The book, he said, was meant to serve as a “wake-up” call for all media practitioners to be objective.

    “This event does not only serve as a convergent point but a medium to showcase the value of Islam which is opposed to what is presented in the media. It will appreciate the positive role the media have played in our democratic experience”.

    He expressed displeasure with the harassment of journalists in some parts of the world, describing some Al-Jazeera reporters’ incarceration by the Egyptian government as a travesty of injustice.

    He chided the media for not projecting Islam’s positive side to the world.

    “Islam,” he said, “is not averse to journalism neither is Islam an enemy journalists. The picture we are seeing in the media implies that the media have not portrayed Islam and Muslims in good light. If journalists are balanced with their reportage, I believe everybody will be taking care of.

    “Whoever is found culpable in a criminal offence should be made to face the law without linking the crime to the person’s religion.

    “We have about two billion Muslims in the world. The ones that are crazy cannot be up to 50, 000. They are not up to one per cent of the population. So do not say Muslims perpetrate a crime because their religion has asked them to do it.”

    Chairman on the occassion, Executive Director, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, Mallam Abdullah Shuaib decried the western media reportage of Islamic issues.

    He said: “When someone commits an offence and he happens to have the name ‘Abdullah’, the headlines become sensational condemning Islam and Muslims. If on the other hand, the perpetrator is Solomon, the media report attributed it to the individual without including his religion.”

    Managing Editor, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Mallam Yusuf Zambo described the book as a great step and a challenge to other media practitioners.

    Abubakar appealed to the western media to be objective in dealing with matters affecting Muslims.

    Muslims, he said, have not been well represented in the media especially when it comes to coverage of Islamic events, explaining that he embarked on the work to x-ray the attacks on Islam and Muslims and chart the way forward.

    He urged journalists to learn more about Islam to ensure their stories are balanced.

    “The fact that you are a Christian journalist doesn’t stop you from learning Islam; ditto to the Muslims in the media. It’s essential for journalists to have wide range of knowledge on all other fields of study, because Islam doesn’t restrict knowledge-seeking to particular areas. If journalists study Islam from the source (Quran and Sunnah), they will definitely know that ISIS, Boko Haram and other terrorist groups are not representing the true Islam brought by Prophet Muhammad,” he said

    In attendance were Grand Mufti, Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO) Shaykh Dhikrullah Shafi’i; Chairman, Management Board, Vanguards Academy, Dr Zafaran Adeniyi; Alhaji AbdulRasaq AbdusSalam of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and Amir, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Lagos State Area Unit Alhaji Kamil Kalejaiye.

  • I’m not a thief, says woman, 80

    I’m not a thief, says woman, 80

    An octogenarian, Alhaja Basiratu Balogun, accused of stealing N7,000 and harrasing her neighbours, is alleging frame up by the police.

    She claimed that an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) at X-Squad is aiding land grabbers and cultists to take over her family land.

    Alhaja Balogun, who was arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, with 21 others last Wednesday for allegedly stealing N7, 000 and frightening her neighbours with a single barrel gun, described the allegations as false.

    She said she and her family have suffered injustice.

    The police, she said, are biased against her and members of her family.

    Alhaja Balogun alleged that during the raid, the police bulldozed some buildings and acted as a shield for some people to take over her village.

    She said: “It is ridiculous, at my age, what am I doing with money that I will conspire with 21 people to steal N7, 000? The fact of the matter is I was born here and grew up in the village. Some 15years ago, certain strangers showed up in the villages, laying claim to our land.

    “This same ACP was then attached to area ‘A’ Police Command, Lion Building. He was then a Deputy Superintendent of police 13 years ago. He did exactly the same thing. He led a police team that completely sacked us from the village. Against a directive from the Inspector-General of Police that policemen should not be involved in land matters, the ACP at X-Squad is doing otherwise.

    “Nothing exposed him better than that count charge No S/16/2015 that reads that the 22 of us, “and others at large on the same date, time and place, did forcefully enter a piece of land in Igando-Orudu, property of Agbaje and Elesho Family of Ibeju Lekki.”

    One of those whose houses were demolished, Alhaji Mutairu Owoeye said he would fight the “injustice”.

    “The police at the X-Squad department of Zone 2, Onikan have abandoned their statutory duty and have become land agent. The whole thing is ridiculous. The police at General investigation (GI) of the same Zone 2 are currently investigating the same matter. The matter is still under investigation and the police at X-Squad of same zone 2 came with some cult boys to demolish our houses,” Owoeye said.

  • Husband seeks refund of dowry

    A middle-aged-man, Collins Nduka, has pleaded with an Ojo Customary Court in Lagos to order his wife, Sefinat, to refund N1.4 million he spent on marrying her.

    Collins told the court that his wife, whom he married three years ago, had decided to abandoned her matrimonial home for more than a year.

    “I would want a refund of the amount that I spent as marriage and dowry expenses because she has become unfaithful.

    “My wife is not faithful to the marriage because she has other relationships apart from me and I don’t love her anymore. After all, she has not given birth to any child for me.

    “The most painful thing is that she has packed all my belongings in my house to an unknown place in addition to her emptying my shop which I stocked with over N750, 000,” he said.

    According to him, the three-year-old marriage is being threatened and every bit of her action portrays her as someone no longer interested in the union.

    “I invited my friends from outside the country to make the marriage an expensive one and after it, she wants to leave me for another man, I need my dowry so she can be free,” Nduka said.

    He pleaded with the court to dissolve the marriage and order Sefinat to return his belongings and money so that he could continue with his life.

    Sefinat, who was not in court, had earlier said she did not cart away her husband’s property.

    She said that she was ready for the divorce.

    The court President, Chief Joseph Ogunmola, while advising the husband on the dangers of divorce, instructed that the respondent be invited to court.

    “The court does not dissolve any marriage except in extreme cases, we need the consent of both parties before judgment so she must be invited,” he said.

    Ogunmola, adjourned the case to May19.

  • Ex-Naval officer’s son held for ‘robbery’

    Ex-Naval officer’s son held for ‘robbery’

    SON of a retired naval officer is being held by the police in Lagos for robbery.

    Emmanuel Enu Ekpong, whose father retired as a Master Warrant Officer said he took to robbery to raise N300, 000 to process his papers “to travel to Sweden to hustle”.

    The suspect, who hails from Ogoja in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, is being detained by the Lagos State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

     Before his arrest, Ekpong and his gang operated around Marine/Oduduwa Road in GRA Apapa, using a motorcycle. They snatched money, phones and vehicles before the police sighted and pursued them on another motorcycle, it was gathered.

    On sighting the policemen, Emmanuel and the gang leader, Maxwell, ran into a nearby building; Ekpong later came out, clutching a bag, attracting suspicion.

    The police found a locally made gun in the bag, and transferred him to SARS.

    Ekpong, who said he was raised in the Navy Barracks, Lagos, added: “My father retired when I finished Senior Secondary School three years ago, but he refused to sponsor my higher education. I was a footballer and I was not getting much money from it and my father was not ready to train me because he is a polygamist and never cared for any of his wives or children before he retired.

    “None of his wives is living with him. Once you bear two or three children for him, he drives you away. He does not even pay bride price. He married three wives. My mother is the third and I am the first son from my mother. When my father retired, I was still in the barracks working and playing football. We were five from my mother. One is in Italy; another named Bose is in Ikorodu.”

    On how he left the APMT Terminal, Apapa, where he was working, he said: “One day, Wharf rats (thieves) came and we joined them to break a container. They later gave me N10,000 as my share. We later broke another container and the company sacked us.”

    Regretting his arrest, the suspect said: “It was around between 8 and 9pm. I would have escaped because the policemen that were pursuing us could not recognise me when I came out from the building I ran into because many people ran into the same building. The others did not know whether the two men on motorcycle were policemen or robbers. We were the only ones who knew that they were policemen pursuing us. Maxwell escaped from where he went to urinate and I was the only person arrested. I am a footballer. I have represented Coca Cola and Pepsi Limited in Benin and Togo. If my father had taken care of his wives and children, I would not have become an armed robber. Government should arrest and charge mothers and fathers to court for abandoning their wives and children.”

    “If I am released today, I will never marry more than one wife and I must take care of the children God gives me,” he said.

    Lagos State Police spokesman Ken Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said accomplice who escaped would be tracked down soon.

  • Court dissolves 16-year-old union

    Court dissolves 16-year-old union

    THE Agege Customary Court has dissolved the 16-year-old marriage of Mr and Mrs Joseph Ibeh.

    Mr Ibeh told the court that his wife, Eneh, is adulterous, troublesome and a threat to his life.

    Ibeh said they met while in secondary school, adding that he single-handedly sponsored her university education.

    “My wife’s attitude changed overnight. She was not the same woman I loved. She brought different men home whenever I was on sea, referring to them as her siblings. The last time I came home, I met another man in the house whom she referred to as her brother. I realised they spoke different languages but I didn’t suspect her,” he said.

    Mrs Ibeh didn’t deny the allegations, blaming it all on her husband for not performing his matrimonial duty.

    She said:”He knows the nature of his job and each time he is around, he complains of tiredness. What should I have done? I know all this is because he wants to marry another woman.”

    The couple confirmed the relationship had broken down completely.

    A mediation session was fixed for the couple and they both agreed on dissolution.

    The union produced three children between ages 7 and 15.

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams, said they ceased to be husband and wife.

    He ordered the petitioner to give his wife N150,000 to re-settle with the children. The amount, he ordered, should be paid within 30 days.

    Pa Williams referred the estranged couple to the family court for the children’s custody.

  • One week after, kidnap victim returns home

    It was all praise and worship at the United Apostolic Church in Agege, Lagos, last Thursday, one week after Mrs Felicia Ajijola, who was reported missing, returned home hale and hearty.

     Mrs Ajijola left her Irepodun, Orile-Agege, Lagos home on April 16, few minutes after she received a strange phone call.

    Narrating her experience, Mrs Ajijola said she escorted her daughter out around 6am that day and returned home, but she couldn’t remember what happened thereafter.

    “I had just returned from vigil and accompanied my daughter, who left for work. Anything that happened afterwards, I am not aware. Last Thursday, I was shocked to have found myself at Pleasure Bus Stop along Lagos/Abeokuta Express-way and that was how I returned home. I didn’t eat or drink for one week but I thank God I could still locate my house. I appreciate those who prayed for me during my absence,” she said.

    Her step-daughter, Oriyomi Ajijola, who was at home that day, said she was washing clothes when her step-mother received the phone call.

    She said: “I was in the bathroom when she received a call but I didn’t know who she spoke with. Whenever she returned from vigil, she takes her bath and sleep but I was surprised not to have found her in her room. It was my niece who told me she went out. I thought she went to the market to buy fruits because she sells fruits at a primary school near Pen Cinema in Agege.

    “We dialled her mobile line severally but she didn’t pick our calls. Around 4pm, her line was switched off. I contacted all my siblings because I couldn’t think straight. Right now, I am glad she is back. It is really a miracle.”

    The junior wife, Mrs Florence Ajijola, told The Nation that the case was reported to Elere Police Station in Pen Cinema, Agege and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to track her phone.

    “We were told her mobile phone couldn’t be tracked because it was a small phone,” she said.

    She described her senior wife as patient, kind, quiet, accommodating and easy going.

     “My senior doesn’t go out anyhow, she informed us before leaving the house. We are happy she returned to us hale and hearty. We thank God and those who stood by us,” she said.

  • ‘My woman isn’t good for me’

    A middle-age man, Egberamen Iyobor, has taken his wife, Abieyuwa, before an Agege Customary Court in Lagos, for being troublesome and abusive.

    The petitioner, who lives at Pa Alao Street in Fagba, a Lagos suburb, said his wife started acting up two weeks after she moved into his house.

    “I met her in 2008 but I never promised her marriage because I was jobless then. Since she kept in touch for five years, I decided to give her a chance,” he said.

    Iyobor said he couldn’t wish for another woman when she visited because she cleaned the house and cooked for him.

    He said: “I also gave her some money to get kitchen utensils which she did but everything ended within a week. She complained N1, 000 was too small to prepare a pot of soup. Each time I returned from work, she sat outside gisting with neighbours pretending not to see me which made me dish my food myself after the day’s stress. There was a day she poured urine on me when I was about to leave for work. Her attitude disgusts me.”

    The father of one said it was from that moment he realised she was not good for him.

    “As I intended to end the relationship, she said she was pregnant. I told her I wasn’t ready to marry her and gave her N10, 000 to abort the pregnancy but she didn’t. Our son is now two years old,” he said.

    Iyobor added: “The last time I slept with her was six months ago and my wife recently told me she is expecting another child for me. As I speak, I am just aware she is expecting another baby. In fact, am not ready to marry her.”

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams, asked the petitioner: “Why will you say you are just knowing your wife is seven-months pregnant and you live together?

    Egberamen: “She once told me she had a boyfriend and that is the reason she stopped disturbing me for sex. I just know she is pregnant and we live together.”

    In her defence, Mrs Egberamen claimed all her husband said was not true saying they left home together and rarely quarreled.

    “I didn’t want to collect the summons because we have no trouble in our home. He told me his parents were late but we did introduction. He pleaded with me to live with my father when I had our first child because he didn’t have enough money to cater for our needs. “

    She said: “How could he say he is not aware of this pregnancy and we live under the same roof. He keeps saying I raped him and doesn’t have feelings for me. His attitude changed towards me because he has another woman.” she said.

    Mrs Egberamen said she wanted settlement not dissolution.

    Williams fixed a mediation session and ordered both parties to bring two relations each. He adjourned the matter till May 18.