The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Two die, one injured in okada crash

    Two persons were killed and one was injured when a commercial motorcyclist run into the culvert at Araromi Bus Stop on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway last Tuesday night.

    According to eyewitnesses, the motorcyclist took one-way because of the heavy traffic; but was unable to control his speed while pedestrians were crossing.

    “He was trying to pave way for pedestrians crossing the expressway before he slipped. He and his passengers were seriously injured,” Yemi, an eyewitness said.

    The passengers died before they reached the nearby Veta Hospital.

    The hospital, The Nation, learnt refused to admit the dead and the injured.

    Another eyewitness said the Okada rider was going to Abule-Egba from Oshodi when the accident happened.

    Yemi described the incident as unfortunate, saying despite government’s effort to curb the menace of Okada riders; people are still wasting their lives through one-way route.

    The bodies, he said, had been taken to the morgue; the injured rider is in hospital.

    Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) Public Relations Officer Bola Ajao decried the menace of Okada riders on that route especially during closing hours.

    Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, she said, is among the 500 routes commercial motorcyclists are barred from plying under the Lagos Traffic Law.

  • Welder ‘rapes’ expectant mother

    A welder, Monday Maule has been arraigned before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly raping an expectant mother.  The woman was said to be eight months pregnant when the incident occurred.

    The 25-year old defendant, who resides at Friends’ Colony in Agungi,  Lekki, said to have committed the offence punishable under Section 259 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2011, on February 23, about 4:30am.

    Prosecuting police Sergeant Daniel Ighodalo told Magistrate Olaitan Ajayi that the defendant committed the crime while the victim, his neighbour, was asleep.

    He said the defendant unlawfully had carnal knowledge of the 23-year old mother of four while her husband was away.

    According to the prosecutor, the victim slept without locking her door and woke up when she felt pains on her face and private part.

    He said she was dizzy and unable to fight the defendant due to her condition, but raised the alarm which led to the defendant’s arrest.

    The defendant pleaded not guilty.

    Ighodalo urged the court to remand the defendant in prison because of the seriousness of the offence.

    Magistrate Ajayi granted him N250, 000 bail with two responsible sureties in the like sum.

    He adjourned the matter to March 23.

    The magistrate ordered that the case file be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.

  • Synagogue foundation was faulty, says Lagos govt

    The foundation of the last September 12 Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed building was faulty, the Lagos State government told a Coroner yesterday.

    Saheed Ariyori, a consultant to Lagos State Material Testing Agency, told the Coroner, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, that the “building failed because the base that was supposed to take the load was grossly inadequate”.

    He was testifying at the resumed hearing of the coroner inquest into the incident in which 115 persons mostly South Africans died.

    His evidence varies to that of his fellow engineer, Oladele Ogundeji, who said last Friday that the foundation met approved standard.

    Ogundeji, who supervised the construction for the contractor, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Limited, ruled out foundational defect as a possible cause of the collapse.

    Yesterday, Ariyori, led in evidence by counsel to the government, Akingbolahan Adeniran, said he was part of the team of structural and geo-technical engineers that carried out Structural Integrity Test on the building after its collapse.

    He said the team took samples of the materials for testing and also took measurements of the foundation bases.

    The team, he said, simulated the building to arrive at its conclusions because the church did not provide the designs.

    Ariyori demonstrated the defects of foundation before the court with calculations on a board using a marker after being provided with a copy of the structural design.

    He said based on all the tests and the calculations, “we discovered that from inception, the building failed because the base that was supposed to take the load was grossly inadequate

    “The minimum base that will be required should have been 4.5 metres by 4.5 metres but what we had there was 2.2 metres by 2.2 metres.

    “It was a wrong choice of foundation base. The foundation should have been continuous base and not a pad as was used in the construction.”

    He said the load on the foundation was far more than it could bear, hence the collapse.

    SCOAN’s counsel Olalekan Ojo urged the court to adjourn his cross-examination of the witness to enable him consult with his client’s engineers.

    According to him, there are some discrepancies in the building design which must be examined before the witness is cross-examined.

    He recalled that Ogundeji last Friday testified that a raft foundation was not ideal for the structure.

    Chief Magistrate Komolafe will visit the site tomorrow. Ariyori’s cross-examination will also come up tomorrow.

  • Ejigbo torture: Suspect slumps in court

    •Trial begins March 20

    Trial of 10 persons alleged to have tortured three women at Ejigbo, Lagos two years ago was stalled yesterday when one of them slumped in court.

    Ahmed Adisa slumped and was rushed to the hospital about an hour before  their case

    Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye subsequently fixed the case for March 20.

    Other defendants are Isiaka Waidi, Saheed Adisa, Lateef Tijani, Oloruntoyin Dauda, Adekunle Adenuga, Azeez Akinosun, Jimoh Busari, Buhari Yusuf, and Abdullahi Harun.

    They were charged to court by the Lagos State government for their involvement in the torture and molestation of the women.

    They are accused of conspiracy, attempted murder, sexual assault, malicious administering of poison, obtaining money by false pretences and deprivation of liberty.

    When the case was called, a defence counsel, D.I Chukwuma, told the court that Adisa, the fourth defendant, slumped and has been taken to the hospital.

    “My Lord, the fourth defendant slumped about an hour ago and has been taken to general hospital.”

    Earlier, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mrs Idowu Alakija told the court that the defence counsel had been served with the processes as directed by Justice Ipaye at the last sitting.

    But Chukwuma and another defence counsel, Kayode Adewuyi protested that Tijani, Dauda, Adenuga and Harun, were charged with same offence for which they are standing trial at the Magistrate’s court.

    They argued that it would be an abuse of process if they are arraigned again for the same charges at the high court.

    “The defendants are already facing similar charges before a competent court of law, at the Magistrate’s court. The next sitting in the matter is coming up on March 18. It will be an abuse of court if the same matter is brought before another court,” he said.

    But Mrs Alakija said she was not aware of the proceeding in the Magistrate’s court having withdrawn the charges.

    “We don’t have any proof of what he said. I don’t want to presume that it is the charge I withdrew from the magistrate’s court which our Legal advice ceased. So, I really don’t know what he is talking about”.

    Justice Ipaye adjourned the matter till March 20, for prosecution to withdraw the other matter in the Magistrate’s court properly.

    According to the charge, the defendants were alleged to have taken part in a trial by ordeal of their victims, Nike Salami, Ajoke Agomo and Juliana Agomo, causing them grievous harm.

    They were said to have detained their victims against their will.

    The charge said the defendants beat up their victims, stripped them  naked and rubbed pepper on their bodies. They also allegedly supervised the insertion of sticks and noxious substances into  their private parts on the purported claim that the women stole pepper.

    The prosecution alledged that the defendants attempted to kill their victims.

    They were said to have obtained N50, 000 from one Fima Agomo, a relative of the victims, for the supposed payment of traders whose pepper were purportedly stolen.

    The offences are contrary to and punishable under Sections 44, 171,  127(1), 128(b),  241, 243, 270, 228(2), 259, 312(1)(a), 405 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

     

  • Lagos fire: ‘We couldn’t save any of our goods’

    Lagos fire: ‘We couldn’t save any of our goods’

    Traders, who suffered losses in the fire that ravaged athree-storey shopping complex in Ereko, Lagos Island, are still bemoaning their fate – three days after the incident.

    The traders are planning how to return to business.

    It was learnt that the first, second and third floors are managed by Rembak Textiles, a fabrics company.

    The remains of some of the burnt goods littered the building.

    Some traders were yesterday trying to pick pieces of the destroyed items. The shops were locked. None of the traders including those not affected opened shop.

    Lagos State Ministry of Urban and Regional Planning has invited the caretaker, Kamorudeen Ajagbe-Balogun, for explanation.

    Ajagbe-Balogun said the ministry’s officials came to empathise with the victims and invited him for talks.

    “Although the owner is aware of the incident, after meeting with officials of Urban and Regional Planning Ministry, we shall know what next to do,” he said.

    The owner of Rembak Textiles, Hajia Tawakalitu Oshodi, said she and other occupiers of the building suffered “great loss.”

    According to her, the second and third floors are used as warehouses while the first floor is for shops.

    “We just offloaded one container of different textile materials last Saturday. We couldn’t save any of our goods from the warehouse. Even the little we saved from the shops are wet. We may end up selling it at a lesser price. As I speak, sales are so low. Everything is dull because all the new designs I purchased went with the fire. I thank God no life was lost and it happened at day time because other buildings would have been affected if it happened at night,” Hajia Oshodi said.

    The ever-busy complex looked desolate. Traders on the ground floor were still in shock.

    Oscar Osadebe, one of those on the ground floor, doesn’t know what the future holds for them, especially those not affected.

    “I have been selling cotton materials for over six years and I realised that when situations such as this happens, we don’t know what is next. Since Tuesday, we have not made sales,” Osadebe said.

    Another occupant, Yinka Twins who also trades in textile materials said: “I have been trading in this complex for over 10 years. I am confused. I don’t know if they will demolish the building because I have no place to go and if I should eventually get another place, it may not be a favoured spot. I plead with Officials of Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to dispose the charred remains of the fire in front of our complex so we can start business again.”

  • Lagos hands over Maidan-Agiliti roads, bridge

    Lagos hands over Maidan-Agiliti roads, bridge

    Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, yesterday handed over the Maidan-Aina-Agiliti network of roads and bridge in Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, stating that the successful completion of the project is a promise made and kept.

    The Governor spoke before cutting the tape to open the road and four others including Oremerin/Ibikunle, Oniyanrin, Ajanlekoko- Oluwo and Adeyeye.

    He described the Maidan- Aina- Agiliti roads as another evidence of slum regeneration and urban renewal.

    “I was here in 2007 and 2008 and have been here every year until we came now. It was overtaken by flood. Canoe was the only means. They asked to make them boxed culverts and to make them a jetty and somebody said the community has been separated from Kosofe for over 50 years,” he said.

    According to him, the new roads and bridge has brought prosperity to all the people in the area, with the traders commuting easily with their wares and Landlords also enjoying an increase in rate of properties due to the new roads.

    Governor Fashola said the project represents the value of democracy where voters can hold politicians responsible for the promises that they made to them.

    He said: “Our work is not finished, for the 800 metres stretch remaining that the residents want us to complete, let us make a promise here today that if you vote for all my party candidates at all levels during the general elections, I assure you that we will come and finish that road. It is social contract, you want something, I promise you that I would do it.

    “You stand in the sun and in the rain and you will vote. Once you finish voting, be sure that you will see me in the sun and in the rain and I have been there for the last eight years. Because I always remember that you voted for me in the sun, you stood in the rain, I cannot hide under the canopy when it is my turn to fulfil my part, you have fulfilled your vote. That is why today you are seating down under canopy while I am in the sun. This is the real opportunity for you to show that you are the masters.”

    The Governor warned that if the people fail to change the Government at the centre now, the Dollar that is now exchanging for over N210 may go as high as N300 to One Dollar, adding that instead of the Federal Government providing a solution to the ongoing fuel scarcity, it is accusing the All Progressives Congress of being responsible for it.

    He thanked the Special Adviser on Works, Ganiyu Johnson who commenced work on the project and the Commissioner for Works, Dr Femi Hamzat who completed it, all the staff who worked on the project and the main contractors, Messrs CCCEC for a job well done.

    Speaking earlier, Dr Hamzat said the new roads include Ibikunle Oremerin, Oniyanrin, Ajanlekoko- Oluwo and Adeyeye and have all been designed to handle flooding that comes with opening of Oyan Dam in the area.

    He added that the Bridge which is 300 metres length is also heavily fortified with 364 piles and can last up to 300 years, just as the roads have been provided with service ducts to prevent cutting for laying pipes.

    He urged the residents and the Community Development Associations (CDAs) to take ownership of the roads and bridge.

    According to him, the roads and bridge are constructed with tax payers’ money.

  • Ruling in Synagouge’s case Friday

    Ruling in Synagouge’s case Friday

    A Lagos High Court will on Friday decide whether to stop the coroner inquest into the last September 12 Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed building.

    Justice Lateefa Okunnu reserved  ruling yesterday after hearing a suit brought by SCAN’s founder Prophet Temitope Joshua and its board of trustees against the coroner, chief magistrate Oyetade Komolafe.

    She deferred the ruling, which was initially billed for yesterday, to enable the parties address her on whether the coroner is a “juristic” person that can sue and be sued.

    Justice Okunnu said she raised the issue because she considered it vital to the determination of the case.

    The parties will address the court on the issue before its ruling on Friday.

    SCOAN is praying the Justice Okunnu to suspend the inquest and the coroner’s invitation to Joshua to testify, pending the determination of his suit against Komolafe.

    It is seeking to bar coroner from exceeding his jurisdiction on the inquest into the death of unknown persons in the collapsed building.

    No fewer than 115 people mostly South Africans died in the incident.

    When the case resumed yesterday, SCOAN’s Chief Security Officer Mr Sunday Okojie told Chief Magistrate Komolafe that the church “is a secure haven”.

    According to the CSO, the buildings within the church premises have always been under security surveillance before and after the September 12 incident.

    Before the incident, security personnel and officials were deployed on their respective duty posts and in all the entrance and exit points.

    He said there was no side of the premises that was left unsecured.

    He told the court that Visitors Coordinators (VCs), a team in his department, was assigned to visitors and guests, adding that the jurisdiction of the VCs are not restricted, hence they have access into guests’ rooms to ensure their safety.

    The church, he said, has two entrances adding that for security reason, only one was now left open after the incident.

  • I became impotent after sleeping with my wife, says man

    •‘He beats me for sex’

    The last time I slept with my wife was the last time my manhood functioned. On that day, my wife gave me a special treatment when I returned from work which led us to our bedroom. Surprisingly, during lovemaking, I had a terrible attack. I fell from the bed and excreted on my body. I thought I was going to die because it was like magun (charm) was placed on me. As I speak, it’s been three years since I slept with any woman. I am impotent.”

    These were the words of a 67-year-old pensioner, Asimiyu Olayinka, who pleaded with the Alakuko Customary Court in Lagos yesterday to dissolve his 26-year-old marriage to Fatimo, who he accused of adultery.

    He said: “I married her solely because my second wife was troublesome. I wasn’t even bothered she had two sons from her previous marriages because when I met her, she was the best woman in the world. She took care of the seven children I had from my previous marriages.  The problem started when I retired in 2005. She stopped listening to me likewise our children. Our first daughter dropped out of secondary school because I asked her to repeat a class and her mother was not in support.

    “My wife is fond of entertaining men at the frontage of our house which I am strongly against. At my age, I still fetch water and wash my clothes. I never believed she could engage in extra marital sex until I saw her walk out from a hotel with a co-landlord in our neighbourhood. She was shocked to see me but I greeted her. It’s been one year since I stopped asking about her movement. It is painful I can’t do anything as a man. I don’t even know the reason she left her previous marriages. There cann’t be peace in our home except we part ways.”

    Mrs Olayinka, a 54-year-old food vendor, described her husband as violent.

    She said: “Since we got married, I have never achieved anything. He never bought me a wrapper but he complains each time I am in a new outfit. I am surprised he said he is impotent because the last time we slept with each other was February 2014.  The night he fell from the bed and defecated, he was drunk. I washed his faeces in the midnight. He didn’t see me in a hotel with another man. I really don’t know why he is saying all this.

    “I was even ashamed when he said he caught me in a hotel with another man in the presence of our children. My husband is violent. Whenever he is ready to sleep with me, he beats me with a towel. He is the landlord of the house we live but he doesn’t cater for our children’s upkeep. There was a time he disconnected the light of the room I sleep for a year. It was until my first son invited four elderly men to plead with him that he reconnected it.  He gives me N600 to prepare soup for myself and the 10 children. We still had issues before we came to court. I will say he was smart enough to bring our case to court because I am also fed up.   I just want N200, 000 compensation from him and I want him to take responsibilities of our last daughter’s education.”

    Their first son, Abdul’razaq, who was in court said: “My father is always drunk. This issue has been on for over 10 years. There was a time my father told me my mother was committing adultery; I had to monitor her movement for two days but there was no evidence. There is unity among the children but our parents keep fighting. I will be glad if the court reconciles them because this is the time our father needs care.”

    The marriage produced three children.

    The court’s president, Chief Awos Awosola, gave Olayinka two days to re-consider a divorce. He ordered him to rent an apartment for his wife and to give her N350, 000 as compensation. The case continues tomorrow.

  • Fire razes Lagos court room minutes after CJ’s visit

    Fire razes Lagos court room minutes after CJ’s visit

    Fire yesterday gutted Igbosere Magistrate’s court 13 in Lagos about 20 minutes after the visit of the Chief Judge, Justice Funmilayo Atilade.

    The court which is on the top floor of the JCI Taylor Complex, caught fire after an air-conditioner blew its fuse.

    Justice Atilade and her entourage were in the court as part of her familiarisation tour.

    Although the fire was quickly put out by the fire fighters, the inferno disrupted activities as litigants were evacuated from the premises and the gates locked.

    Three security workers tried to put out the fire, but failed because of the heavy smoke.

    One of them was said to have been rushed to the hospital after suffering suffocation.

    Describing the incident as minor, the Attorney-General, Ade Ipaye, said the court would resume sitting today.

    The cleaners, he said would clean the court for normal business to resume.

  • Court fixes judgment on N1.9b subsidy fraud charge

    Court fixes judgment on N1.9b subsidy fraud charge

    The Court of Appeal in Lagos has fixed judgment in an appeal filed by some oil marketers seeking to quash the N1.9billion subsidy fraud charge suit filed against them.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) preferred the charge against Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi and Ontario Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited before Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Ikeja High Court. They were accused of defrauding the Federal Government of N1.95billion through the Petroleum Support Fund under the guise of importing 39.2 litres of petrol.

    The defendants were arraigned on a nine-count charge of altering, forgery, conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretences.

    Last October 10, Justice Okunnu dismissed their application challenging her jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

    Dissatisfied, the marketers headed for the appeal court to quash of the charge.

    Justice Okunnu threw out their no-case submission because the prosecution had said enough to warrant explanations by the defendants.

    Justice Okunnu held: “It is only when there is nothing linking the accused to the crime committed that it becomes unfair to put the accused through trial. The question now is, has enough been said to warrant at least an explanation by each defendant? Enough has been said to warrant explanations and answers by the defendants”

    At yesterday’s proceedings, the panel headed by Justice Amina Augie after taking arguments from opposing counsel fixed judgment.

    The appellants’ counsel led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN) and J.A. Badejo, (SAN) are challenging the high court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

    Olanipekun urged the appeal court to allow the appeal and set aside the high court’s ruling.

    He argued that the charge sheet revealed that the offences were based on importation of fuel into the country, stressing that only the Federal High Court has jurisdiction to hear the matter.

    EFCC lawyer Rotimi Jacobs urged the court to dismiss the appeal since the high court has concurrent jurisdiction with its Federal counter-part to try the matter.