The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Patronise local waste managers, says consultant

    Patronise local waste managers, says consultant

    A waste consultant, Mr Keluo Chukwuogo, has appealed to governments at all tiers to engage local waste managers instead of expatriates in waste disposal.

    Chukwuogo, who made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday, said it would assist in creating more jobs.

    According to him, “Indigenous waste managers understand the uniqueness of waste generated by the people and are in a better position to manage them.

    “We have the manpower in the sector but unfortunately some people prefer to engage the services of expatriates.

    “If more indigenous waste mangers are engaged, there will be technological growth, employment opportunities and capital retention.’’

  • Reporter launches book on Press Freedom Day

    Two months after an accident in which he almost lost his legs, a reporter, Abdur-Rasheed Abubakar will on May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – launch his book: “Muslims and the Threats of the Media.

    Abubakar, who is still on crutches, works with a soft sell journal, Encomium Weekly.

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

    Lagos Deputy Governor-Elect Dr Idiat Adebule will lead others to the event.

    The event will allow guests pay tributes to journalists worldwide that have lost their lives, or been incarcerated for offences they did not commit in the line of duty.

    Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) Dr Mahfouz Adedimeji will review the book. He will be supported by an author and columnist with National Mirror, Dr Zafaran Adeniyi.

    According to Abubakar, Muslims have not been well represented in the media especially when it comes to the reportage of Islam.

    He said the nine-chapter book seeks to correct the perception of the media about Islam; and show the world that Islam is not actually the way the media portrays it.

    Abubakar said: “I felt Islam is not well portrayed and that why I came up with the Idea of this book to present an ideal Islam to the people, especially non-Muslims. Islam is truly a religion of peace. It’s not the way the media portray it. And there is need for journalists especially Nigerian journalists and globally to look inward into the beauty of Islam.

    “And the fact that some few individuals hide under Islam to commit evils does not mean that Islam is a religion of violence and Muslims are extremists. So, that is what we are trying to tell the world in this book because, if you want know about Islam, you have to read about Islam from the Qur’an and Sunnah.”

    Abubakar, however, advocated for the establishment of Muslim-owned media, urging more Muslims who are blessed with writing and oratory power to go into the media industry, “because there is significant relationship between Islam, Muslims and the Media.”

    Expected at the event are The Nation columnist Alhaji Femi Abbas; Managing Director Complete Sports Alhaji Mumuni Alao; Alhaji AbdulRasaq AbdusSalam of the Voice of Nigeria (VON); Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of Association of Muslims Media Practitioners of Nigeria (AMMPON) Abdul Waaris Solanke; Mufti, Conference of Islamic Organisations Sheikh Dhikrullah Shafi’i; National Missioner Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria Sheikh Abdurrahman Ahmad; Executive Director, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation, Imami Abdullahi Shuaib; House of Representatives member-elect Jide Jimoh; former Head of Operations and Logistics, Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) Alhaji Musibau Oyefeso; Aare Jagunmade of Lagos Ambassador Abayomi Mumuni; Amir, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Lagos State Area Unit Alhaji Kaamil Kalejaiye among others.

  • ‘I heard gunshot but didn’t know I was shot’

    ‘I heard gunshot but didn’t know I was shot’

    As I was picking the papers, I heard a gunshot and someone shouted ‘give me the money’. I did not even know I was the one who was shot since I did not feel anything.”

    These were the words of Victor Ahiuma-Young, Vanguard‘s Assistant Labour Editor, who relived yesterday, on his hospital bed, how he was attacked by robbers on Tuesday at Sadiku Busstop, Ilasamaja on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

    He said he never knew he was shot until blood started gushing out of his body, adding that he just left Eco Bank where he withdrew some money when he incident occurred.

    Speaking with The Nation at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where he was transferred to after 13 pellets were removed from his body at May Clinic in Ilasamaja, Ahiuma-young said despite his cries for help while staggering to the clinic, nobody came to his aid.

    HE decried the high robbery rate in the area, calling on the police to ensure the perpetrators are apprehended and prosecuted.

    The reporter said: “I left Eco Bank and walked for about a minute or two to a vendor’s stand to get newspapers. It was between 10am and 10:15am. As I was picking the papers, I heard a gunshot. I turned to know what was happening and a guy holding a locally made pistol shot me.

    “It was at that point that I bent down, picked a stone and hurled at him. I was about picking a second stone when he shot me again.

    “This time, the money I was carrying in a brown envelop fell and he took it and jumped on a waiting bike.

    “I only realised I had been shot earlier when I saw blood all over me. I was bleeding profusely. I was running and shouting for help. I was saying I will fall, please help me but no one answered me.

    “I ran from the scene to the hospital, which is less than five minutes. Thankfully, the doctors attended to me and sent for my wife, who was at home (about 25 minutes walk from the scene), to process police report.

    “At the station, I learnt the policemen kept dribbling my wife until I told her to call a colleague of mine who contacted the Police Commissioner before the policemen could come to the hospital for the report.

    “It took them more than one hour and 30 minutes to come and process the report,  I just thank God that the doctors did not wait for them before administering first aid on me, else it would have been something else.”

    Asked if there was connivance between his attackers and the bank, Ahiuma-Young said he doubted the possibility since he has been using the bank for over five years.

    “Normally I drive to the bank on my way to work, but because of the frustrating traffic around the Mile2-Apapa axis of the road, I changed my route and follow Ojuelegba instead.

    “Because this has never happened to me since I started using the bank and I have even made higher transactions, I do not want to think there was connivance with the bank staff.

    “However,  there could be three possibilities – maybe one of the criminals was in the bank to monitor people making withdrawals and followed me out;  or maybe they saw the brown envelop on my hand and followed me; or they just hang around the banks (Eco and Diamond) to attack anyone coming out.

    “I don’t recognise my assailant but he’s a small boy. He was wearing a faded Jeans and T-shirt and spoke very well. He was confident and sounded educated. He had no mask on,” Ahiuma-Young said.

    Expressing fears that he may not be able to use two of his fingers which pierced by bullets again, Ahiuma-Young said he may undergo surgery.

    He said: “Two of my fingers are fractured. I cannot use them. At the moment, I am awaiting results of scans although one of the doctors who attended to me said one of my fingers was shattered and they had to stitch it.

    “The second one, the bullet pierced through to the other side, leaving a hole. Also, my thigh, close to my testes was also stitched as that was where I was first shot.

    “Thirteen pellets were removed from my thigh. It is just the grace of God that kept me. The situation is quite unfortunate. It appears we are under siege. Even motor park touts will harass people.

    “We live in fear in that neighbourhood.  People have been complaining about robbery and cult activities but I never knew it was so pronounced that in the full glare of all, at a busy bus stop like that, I would be shot and robbed.”

  • Police release suspected kidnappers’ maid

    Police release suspected kidnappers’ maid

    DETAINED housemaid of the suspected kidnappers of the Orekoya kids has been released by the police.

    Henrietta Otobo (16) was released to her parents, Mr and Mrs Anthony Otobo, at the Lagos Police Command in Ikeja yesterday.

    The Orekoya kids -Adedamola, Ademola and Aderomola- were allegedly kidnapped by their nanny, Funmilayo Adeyemi aka Mary Akinloye who Henrietta works for as maid.

    The command spokesman, Ken Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said she was released to show that the police were only interested in justice.

    Nwosu said Henrietta’s parents, came from Delta State to identify and reunite with their daughter.

    Mr Otobo, a chartered accountant, told reporters that he learnt that Henrietta got missing last November 12 from her younger brother, Emmanuel.

    He said: “I live in a duplex and my kids occupy the rooms downstairs. So when Emmanuel came that his sister was missing, I ran outside searching for her only to discover that the four doors leading to the gate were open.  The following day, I went to the nearest police station in Delta State and reported a case of a missing child. On our own we searched every other place that we felt she could have gone to without success.

    “I was shocked when on April 17; I saw her face on one of the national dailies. I was thankful to God that she is alive”

    Confronted with Henrietta’s claim that he did not allow her to pursue her dream, Otobo said he only heard about that when he saw her at the police command.

    “I am a professional accountant. I can never stop her from taking to her life ambition to be an actress. If she wants to be an actress it is okay with me. I don’t think I will deny her such ambition if that is her destiny. I bought that phone for her and her siblings. I am going to do more for her. Even the JAMB she took, she passed and got admission from Delta State Polytechnic.”

    Mrs Rosemary Otobo said Henrietta’s disappearance was a surprise “because we do not normally have visitors in our house. She does not have friends. We did not know where to start looking for her. We checked the motor park, relations’ houses with no sign of her.

    “The following morning we went to the police station and reported. We gave them her photograph and it was flashed on Delta State Television without any positive result. We left everything in the hands of God.

    “Sometimes, I kept hearing her voice and I continued to pray. When I asked her daddy, he said it’s a sign of desperation, he told me she will return home soon. She has never been offended, she never lacked love. We used to give her whatever she wanted or stood for. She is the last child of my five children.”

    Henrietta said the desire for freedom made her left home.

    “My parents gave me everything I needed; I only wanted to be on my own. I wanted freedom. I did not want to depend on anybody that was why I went in search of job, unfortunately I fell into the hands of kidnappers. I took the job to work as a maid and they agreed to pay me N10, 000 monthly. I did not know that they were kidnappers till we were arrested,” she said.

    Nwosu said efforts were being intensified to get others involved in the Orekoya kids’ kidnap saga.

  • Sanitation holds in Lagos tomorrow with restrictions

    Sanitation holds in Lagos tomorrow with restrictions

    The Lagos State monthly environmental sanitation will be observed tomorrow with its attendant human and vehicular restrictions between 7 and 10am, the state government said yesterday.

    Environment Commissioner Tunji Bello said the ruling of Justice Mohammed Idris will not affect the enforcement of restrictions during sanitation tomorrow.

    According to him, the order made by the High Court Judge has to wait until the outcome of the appeal filed by the state to challenge the judgement.

    The judge had ruled on March 16 that the government has no right to ban Lagosians from moving about during sanitation.

    But the government through the Attorney-General’s Office appealed the verdict.

    According to Bello, all human and vehicular activities within federal and state roads remain restricted from 7am to 10am.

    He warned that anyone found floating the order will be liable to arrest.

    The commissioner appealed to Lagosians to respect the court ruling, as sanitation is aimed attaining a clean and sustainable environment in the state, which is in the overall interest of the people.

    While stressing the importance of the sanitation, Bello said it was an incontrovertible fact that a clean and hygienic environment is a sine-qua-non for the socio economic wellbeing of Lagosians.

    He explained that besides the monthly sanitation, the cleaning of environment should be an everyday affair, stressing that, human beings generate waste daily.

  • Five years after, court frees policeman of murder

    Lagos High Court yesterday freed Constable Paul Ogbeh of the murder charge for which he was dismissed from the police five years ago.

     Ogbeh (34), attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, was brought before Justice Olabisi Akinlade for allegedly killing Abiodun Awe and Nelson Obeto in 2010 at Oshisomi Street, Ori-Okuta, Ikorodu, Lagos.

    He was alleged to have shot two suspected robbers to death around 2:30am on January 18, during a patrol with three others.

    One of the suspects died on the spot; the other passed away on January 20 at Ikorodu General Hospital.

    At his trial, Ogbeh said his patrol team responded to a distress call of a robbery in the area, adding that on arrival, the hoodlums opened fire “on us”.

    The patrol team, he said, comprising four policemen, shot back in self defence, leading to suspects’ death. He denied firing the fatal shots.

    Ogbeh alleged that charms, a toy gun, a locally made pistol and expended gun cartridges were found with the deceased.

    A prosecution witness and brother to one of the slain suspects, Babatunde Awe, who claimed to have filed a missing person complaint at the police station a day after the incident, said he was informed of his brother’s death and directed to the General Hospital’s morgue where he saw his body with gunshot wounds.

    In her judgment on two counts of first degree murder preferred against Ogbeh, Justice Akinlade found him not guilty, insisting that the prosecution failed to prove that he fired the fatal shots.

    “The defendant was performing his lawful duty on the day of the incident. The prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

    “The prosecution did not tender any post-mortem or medical report on the death of the deceased, no ballistic report was tendered by the prosecution and there was also failure by the prosecution to produce eye witnesses to the incident.

    “All these lapses in the prosecution’s case have created doubt in the eyes of the court.

    “The prosecution has failed to create any direct or circumstantial evidence linking the defendant to the death of the two deceased.

    “The defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted of the two-count charge of murder against him,” Akinlade said.

    Ogbeh shed tears of joy following his acquittal, mopping his tears with a handkerchief, while stepping out of the dock.

    Ogbeh, who clutched “The Prisoner’s Bible” said: “I feel happy because I held onto my God since the first day of my incarceration. The incident happened while I was performing my lawful duties.

    “I thank God for my release this morning and that in the five years I was in jail I did not die.  It was the wish of my enemies that I should rot and die in prison but God has shown that He is still God.”

  • Ibadan crime diary

    Ibadan crime diary

    For 5 weeks towards the last conducted general elections, men of the Nigerian Police Force were able to arrest and expose various crimes committed in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

  • Seven convicted over BRT violations

    Seven convicted over BRT violations

    The Special Offences Court  has sentenced seven drivers to one hour community service for violating the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) law.

    Magistrate Olabisi Kushanu warned the drivers to desist from plying the BRT lanes or face harder sanction if rearrested.

    He also fined them.

    They are Kimi Egbekun (34) driver of Toyota RAV 4 with number plate LSD 318 DJ; Daniel Chimmezie (24), Toyota Hilux – number plate KTU 780 BR;  Sodiq Musa (50) Toyota Corolla FG 688 A42 and Felemi Moses (41) Mitsubishi L200 AKD 132 XD. Others are Idris Olewale (22) KIA Pregio SMK 33XL; Obasi Emeka (42) Toyota Camry LND 186 DB and Bucky Olapade (40) Golf CH225 APP.

    They were apprehended last Tuesday inside the BRT lanes at Anthony area of Lagos State by Lagos State Traffic Management Autority (LASTMA) officials.

    They pleaded guilty to a count charge of BRT violation and admitted to regular use of the corridor to meet deadlines or beat traffic gridlocks associated with carriage way.

    Egbekun said he was caught on his first attempt.

    While cutting the grass on the football field of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development remand home at Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, the offenders regretted their actions.

    According to them, the punishment has humbled them.

    Some of them promised to avoid the use of the corridor.

    LASTMA General Manager Babatunde Edu, an engineer said the agency will not relent on its oars to ensure free flow of traffic in the state.

    “We don’t have to wait for the uniformed men before we do the right thing. We should all adopt the culture of self-discipline on road usage. We are determined to do more enlightenment and little enforcement to bring sanity to the roads,” he said. He Urged motorists in the state to cooperate with the traffic officers.

  • My wife beats me, man tells court

    A 55-year-old retiree, Emmanuel Osuya, shocked a court yesterday when he claimed that his wife of 32 years beats him up at “the slightest provocation.”

    But Mrs Abigael Osuya (50) denied the allegation, saying: “it is my husband that always beat me up”.

    Osuya, a retired civil servant is seeking the dissolution of his marriage at an Igando Customary Court in Lagos for alleged battering by his wife.

    His wife, he said, had turned him into a punch-bag.

    Osuya said he was afraid his wife may kill him one day.

     “My wife wants to kill me; she beats me almost every day with dangerous weapons. On three occasions, she broke my leg, preventing me from going out for days,’’ he said.

    Osuya also accused his wife of turning his children against him, saying: “Abigael succeeded in creating enmity between me and my children, she tells them false and damaging stories about me in order to hate me.

    “So my children only care for her by sending her money and other items every month, without extending their love to me, they always ignore me as if I do not exist.’’

    The petitioner described his wife as a thief, claiming: “I cannot keep money at home again because my wife will steal it.

    “She acted as if she is not always satisfied with the money I give her in spite of the fact that my children always send her money every month.”

    Osuya said Abigael also starves him.

    He appealed to the court to dissolve the marriage, saying: “I am no longer interested in the marriage, I don’t want to die now, more so that I am out of love’’.

     Denying the allegation, Mrs Osuya said since they married she had never beaten her husband.

    She said: “It is my husband that always beat me at any slight provocation, I have never beaten him.

    The mother of five said she had never stolen her husband’s money, explaining that she cooks for him wherever he gave her money.

    She asked the court not to grant her husband’s prayer.

    “I am still in love with him,’’ she said.

    The Court President, Hakeem Oyekan, adjourned the case till April 30.

  • ‘Lagos generates 11,000 metric tonnes of waste daily’

    ‘Lagos generates 11,000 metric tonnes of waste daily’

    Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) Managing Director Mr Ola Oresanya yesterday said the state generates 11,000 metric tonnes of waste daily.

    He said on the average, each resident produces 0.65kg of waste, but the state recycles most of it to help preserve the environment.

    Oresanya spoke at a colloquium to mark the 2015 Earth Day where experts suggested ways to halt the deterioration of the environment and minimise the effects of polluting factories, power plants, raw sewage and toxic dumps.

    Organised by the Kuramo Conferences and the Resource Innovation and Solutions Network Nigeria (RISSN), initiators of the Sustainability School Lagos, the theme was: “Solutions for a sustainable future.”

    Oresanya said Lagos has partnered with a technology company, Ericsson, to recycle electronic waste, such as those from the Computer Village.

    According to him, better data management would aid development plans, saying: “Lack of data has been a bane of development in Nigeria.”

    Lafarge WAPCO, Chairman Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, who chaired the event, urged the Federal Government to pay more attention to recycling systems, waste water treatment, solid waste management especially in a populated city such as Lagos.

    He said: “The local sustainability agenda therefore relies heavily on inter-agency resources, making public-private partnerships a major critical success factor for sustainable development.

    “Adopting multi-level collaborative approach in order to deliver sustainable solutions for the growing waste and other resource challenges in Lagos and Nigeria is the only way we can protect the investment climate and ensure sustainability of businesses for the 21st century and beyond.”

    A German chemist and toxologist, Dr Beate Kummer said the government should pay more attention to the importation of what she described as end-of-life vehicles listed for recycling in some European countries.