The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • ‘I married her despite being told we are incompatible’

    After three different clerics revealed we were not compatible, I still married her. Now, I am trapped in a loveless marriage.” These were the words of a 50-year-old trader, Akintoye Oladejo, who is praying the Alakuko Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his 25-year-old marriage to Folashade. He alleges that she frequently attacks him on trivial issues.

    He said: “I have not known peace since I married Folashade. She publicly harasses my female friends because she thinks I am having extramarital affair. I was ashamed when my wife publicly referred to me as a thief for no reason.

    “I first brought her case to court in 2009 to formally divorce her because we have been separated for six years but I was prevailed upon to withdraw the case after she agreed to change. Each time I return home with money, my wife steals from it.

    “My wife gladly rented out a shop I locked when I was out of town. She doesn’t seek my permission at all. Her attitude disgusts me. Each time my children visit me, she beats them mercilessly. The last time they visited, my wife brought policemen to arrest me. Our second child was in my wife’s care when she got pregnant. How? Who? and where? I still don’t know. She seized our children’s phones saying they would inform me about what was happening in their house.

    “After I had spent N80,000 to process our fourth child’s admission into the university, which was successful, my wife stopped him from accepting the admission. So, I want a divorce this time because my wife has refused to change for the better.”

    Objecting to the divorce, 44-year-old Folashade said: ”The suffering started when he married another woman. I made a vow not to sleep with him since he married another woman after me. His wanting a divorce is because I refused to sleep with him and this has been like that for eight years. I don’t want our marriage dissolved because my children have no other father.

    “Yes, I stole his money and rented out his shop because he doesn’t give us allowance.”

    Their first child, who was present, pleaded with the court to settle her parents’ dispute.

    The court’s President, Chief Awos Awosola, fixed a chamber discussion for the parties and adjourned the case till October 23, for judgment.

     

  • Two die, 14 rescued in boat mishap

    Two die, 14 rescued in boat mishap

    The bodies of two passengers of a boat that capsized on Wednesday night in Igando, Lagos, were recovered yesterday.

    The bodies are yet to be collected by their family members, who stormed the scene yesterday.

    Fourteen others were rescued by local divers with the assistance of men from Igando Police Division.

    The boat capsized on the way to Imoshe in Ogun State after taking off from Akesan in Lagos.

    The number of passengers on board could not be ascertained.

    It was gathered that on taking off, it hooked on to another boat carrying two passengers, so as to withstand the tide, but it did not work.

    The panic stricken passengers were said to have jumped out of the boat before it capsized. Some swam to safety, others were rescued by local fishermen. It was gathered that none of the passengers was wearing life jacket.

    At the scene yesterday, policemen were combing the river for victims. Sources hinted that the case was not reported by the canoe operators.

    “They deliberately refused to report the case to the Police because they wanted to hide the accident from us. As we speak, families of the deceased have not come to the station to report either”, a source said.

    A relative of one of the victims, who gave her name as Omolara, said she was yet to see her brother’s body. She said she got a call from one of the boat operators about the accident but was warned not to involve the police.

    “The challenge we are confronted with is how to get his body. I can’t find the person that called me on phone. He has absconded with the body out of fear of being arrested by the police”

    The second victim, whose name was given as Fatima, a petty trader, was said to have gone to buy jewely which she intended to sell before Eid-El-Kabir celebration.

    Another person was seen wailing as he claimed he was yet to see one Michael.

    Two boat operators are being grilled by the police on what happened.

  • Police arrest 32 as political thugs clash

    Police arrest 32 as political thugs clash

    Political thugs are fighting for control of Costain/Apapa Road in Lagos Mainland.

    Thirty-two of them were arrested by the police as the fight, which began on Tuesday night, raged yesterday. Scores have been injured in the clash.

    Eyewitnesses said street urchins cashed in on the skirmish to loot, rob and rape.

    Guns were said to have boomed since Tuesday night, with residents scampering to safety.

    Commercial activities were grounded as shops and markets were shut.

    Commuters trekked as commercial buses stayed off the road.

    A resident, Akeem Lasis said: “They have been fighting since Tuesday with cutlasses, guns and other weapons. People cannot move around freely as they are also robbing and molesting residents. We have not seen policemen come around to arrest anybody. We do not even know the cause of the clash. This morning they have started again. People should help us call the police”.

    Lagos Police Command’s spokesman, Mr Kenneth Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), explained that the clash was between thugs of opposing parties, adding that men from Iponri and Denton Police Stations have moved to the scene to restore peace. He said Iponri Division arrested 26 suspects while Denton arrested six.

  • Workers protest death of colleague, maltreatment

    Over 100 youths working for a Chinese company, Linda Manufacturing Company at Agege, Lagos State yesterday protested to Lagos State House of Assembly  over the death of their colleague,  Nnamdi Solomon. The protesting workers alleged he was denied medical treatment after he complained of stomach pain.

    Vincent Victor who led the protest said the company, which is into the manufacturing of Expression Weave-on has also been maltreating its workers.

    He said: “our colleague went to meet with the management complaining of stomach pain but he was not allowed to go home until he died. The management kept us in darkness, trying to sweep the case under the carpet. They knew we were going to stop work if we are aware that our colleague is dead.

    “Solomon remains was left inside the gutter for two days in the rain. We were looking for him before we found him in a gutter. The company is fond of sacking  workers whenever they are absent from work.

    “The boy died because he did not want to forfeit his salary or be sacked”.

    Hon. Bisi Yusuf representing Alimosho 1 constituency assured the protesters that the House would look into the matter. “We know what you are going through;we are going to investigate the matter and we will not spare anyone guilty no matter who he or she is”, he said.

  • Free bus ride in Lagos

    Free bus ride in Lagos

    THE Lagos State Government will offer free bus ride to residents tomorrow to mark the Eid-El-Kabir celebration.

    Commuters along the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route will enjoy free ride from Mile 12 to CMS; those on the Bus Franchise Scheme (BFS) will not pay on the Ikotun-Igando-Iyana-Ipaja-Ikeja route.

    Managing Director of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) Dr. Dayo Mobereola urged Nigerians to reflect on the significance of the celebration.

    The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has assured Lagosians of a traffic-free Sallah celebration. The agency said it would deploy more personnel in traffic prone areas to control movement during the celebration.

    LASTMA’s General Manager Mr. Babatunde Edu, said the move is necessary because of the volume of traffic during the period.

    Edu said more personnel would be despatched to remove road impediments for motorists’ safety.

    He advised motorists to avoid excessive speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol. They should obey traffic laws and officer’s directives.

    Edu advised motorists to avoid the use of Eko Bridge inward Costain. Instead, they should use the Third Mainland and Carter Bridges as alternative routes to avoid delays because of the ongoing rehabilitation of Eko Bridge.

  • Lagos politician held for alleged pipeline vandalism

    Lagos politician held for alleged pipeline vandalism

    A House of Representatives hopeful, Wahab Jinadu, has been arrested for alleged pipeline vandalism.

    He was arrested by operatives of the Inspector–General of Police(IGP) Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism at Ifote village in Obafemi/ Owode Local Government (LGA) of Ogun state.

    Jinadu was described as one of the most wanted pipeline vandals, who he had been arrested and arraigned three times for the same offence.

    Sources said he was discharged and acquitted on each occasion.

    The police are linking him to the siphoning of petroleum products worth millions of naira from vandalised Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline within Lagos and Ogun states.

    Speaking on his arrest, head of the IGP task force, Mr Friday Ibadin, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said on September 15, detectives acted on an intelligence report that Junaid was back and operating with his boys at Ogere in Ogun State.

    He said:”Detectives led by Ogere sector commander, Mr Shakwallo Philemon, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP), stormed the area and arrested him. They  also recovered three big valves already mounted on  NNPC right of way in Ogere. This is the fourth time Junaid would be arrested by the police.

    “We are still on the trail of his accomplices who are still at large. He would soon be arraigned before a competent court and we hope to get him to face the wrath of the law upon conviction this time.”

    Junaid said he was seeking means of making fast money after being nominated by his people to represent them at the House in 2015.

    “Heaven knows that after I regained my freedom in 2012, I had stopped anything that has to do with pipeline vandalisation. The slot for the House of Representatives was zoned to my area, Ibeju Lekki constituency. I am one of those who has the best opportunities to contest and win the election. I was told to go and look for money to sponsor my campaigns.

    “I called my friend Oloje, a vandal, who informed me that the area is calm and that I can come and lift some trucks. I was waiting with the tanks to lift the product when policemen arrested me. I guess it is my enemies who are bitter that I was anointed  for Ibeju Lekki constituency at the House of Representatives in 2015 that informed the police. As I speak to you, no one knows that I have been arrested. Please forgive me and give me another chance to represent my people in the House of Representatives’’

    He claimed that a full tanker can be bought for N1.5million from vandals and sold at N3million.

    Junaid, who claims to be veterinary doctor, said he was first arrested and arraigned in court by the task force in 2008. “I was discharged and acquitted. In 2010, I was also arrested at Epe and after several months, I regained my freedom again. The third time was in 2012, when policemen from FESTAC Division arrested and arraigned me in court. I was able to secure my freedom because of the calibre of lawyers that stood for me.”

    He said his nickname Doc was given to him because he is a veterinary doctor. “ I am a graduate and I read Botanical Science and Animal Rearing. It’s just that people no longer patronise us and I had to change my profession. I am sorry and I promise that as soon as I am elected, I will assist the police in their war against pipeline vandalisation.”

    The task force also busted an illegal local refinery at Osara near Lokoja in Kogi State. The owners were said to have fled when they spotted some patrolling policemen.

    According to Ibadin, the task force is still combing the village for those who constructed the ‘refinery’. The ‘factory’ has been burnt.

  • Flood sweeps away siblings in Lagos

    Flood sweeps away siblings in Lagos

    Two siblings were swept away by flood during yesterday’s downpour in Lagos.

    The tragedy occurred on Richard Abimbola Street in Ilasamaja, Lagos, when the children, a boy (9) and a girl (5), went out to urinate in a nearby drainage.

    Their mother was said to have left her elder sister whose makeshift home is near the drainage.

    The children had requested to go out and urinate during the rain and their aunt allowed them.

    After urinating, they started playing in the rain and the girl fell into the drainage.

    Her brother rushed to her rescue and both of them were swept away by the surging floor.

    An eyewitness, Tunde James told The Nation that the girl fell into the canal first. “Her brother tried to rescue her when he also fell in. The wave took them to Jimoh Ibrahim Street, Ilasamaja. The girl was dead when they were found but the boy was still alive. He died on his way to the hospital,” he said.

    Their bodies were recovered in a nearby canal after the downpour.

    Sympathisers gathered in their aunty’s home, weeping after the incident.

    Their aunt was inconsolable as she bemoaned her loss.

    Sources said when the news of the children’s death was broken to their mother, she fainted and was revived. It was gathered that when she got to her sister’s house she broke down.

     

  • Three bus conductors jailed 21years for armed robbery

    Three bus conductors jailed 21years for armed robbery

    An Ikeja High Court in Lagos sentenced yesterday three bus conductors to 21years imprisonment for armed robbery.

    They bagged seven years each.

    They are Paul Sunday, 30; Adewale Taofeek, 27 and Shina Shoyeye, 24.

    Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo  found them guilty on a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery.

    Justice  Onigbanjo held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

    The prosecution, he said, produced credible, cogent and convincing evidences enough to convict them.

    Justice Onigbanjo said the jail term would run concurrently starting from the date the defendants were remanded in prison custody on December 1, 2009.

    The findings of the court, he said, were not only based on the confessional statement made by one of the convicts. The court, the judge said,  also looked outside the confessional statement.

    In the charge to which they pleaded not guilty, the convicts were said to have robbed Stephen Ameh of his mobile phone and money with a carved wood shaped like a gun.

    Justice Onigbanjo said: “I have no doubt that there was indeed robbery on the said date. The defendants were caught with an offensive weapon to wit a  carved wood shaped like a gun.

    “The prosecution was able to establish a case of robbery. The defendants in their statements claimed to be bus conductors. “The first defendant pointed a wooden gun and asked the victim to surrender his belongings.

    “A police officer also testified that the first defendant was handed over to him with a wooden gun.”

    The defence counsel, Mr. Lateef Salami, pleaded for leniency, saying the convicts had been in prison since 2009.

    Objecting to the defence counsel’s plea for leniency, the prosecutor, Mr. Ola Oke, argued that where the law specifies sentence for an offence the court does not have any discretion. He urged the court to pass the sentence.

     

  • Adeboye: I don’t want to live up to 100

    Adeboye: I don’t want to live up to 100

    If the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God Pastor, Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has his way, he will not want to live up to hundred years.

    The 72 year old preacher doesn’t  mind living up to 90, but being hundred for him, ” is not necessary.”

    Pastor Adeboye gave his opinion on longevity last Sunday, while delivering the sermon at the 60th birthday of the founder and president of Living Faith Church worldwide, a.k.a Winners Chapel, Bishop Oyedepo.

    ‘’When I marked 70 and people prayed that I would be up to 80, I said amen. When they said I would be up 90, I said well, amen. But when they said 100, I didn’t say amen.

    “I didn’t because I don’t know what offence I would have committed for God to keep me up to 100 in this sinful world when a crown of glory is awaiting me in heaven.

    ‘’I wouldn’t mind to be 92 though, so that I will be alive to preach when Bishop Oyedepo is 80. But to live up to 100, I don’t know about that,’’ Pastor Adeboye said, noting that every birthday is a reminder that ‘’our days are numbered.”

  • Court affirms orders in Sterling Bank, Dana case

    Court affirms orders in Sterling Bank, Dana case

    Justice Mohammed Yunusa of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday dismissed applications by Dana Impex Limited, a member of Dana Group, seeking to strike out a suit filed against it by Sterling Bank Plc.

    The firm prayed Justice Yunusa to strike out the suit or extend the time within which it can respond to his interim orders.

    The suit is over the N1.7billion Dana Impex allegedly owes Sterling Bank.

    Justice Yunusa held that the application did not lay a proper foundation for the striking out of the action.

    He said the temporary orders he made are still in force. “The interim orders still subsist,” the judge said.

    Justice Yunusa granted Sterling Bank’s Receiver/Manager, Mr Kunle Ogunba (SAN) leave to “take over and preserve” the company’s mortgaged property at Plot C, Block 11, Ilupeju Industrial Estate, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos.

    The judge, among others, restrained the company or its agents from withdrawing or tampering with funds in any of its accounts “under whatever name or guise in any bank or financial institution in Nigeria.”

    He also reinforced the order he made against Dana Drugs Limited in a sister case before him, also filed by Sterling Bank.

    In the June 9 order, Justice Yunusa granted an interim injunction restraining Dana Drugs or its directors from tampering with its funds in any bank or financial institution, pending the determination of the application for the appointment of a provisional liquidator.

    The court also directed banks keeping Dana Impex’s money to furnish Sterling Bank or its lawyer details of the outstanding credit in the account.

    Sterling Bank said it granted Dana Drugs a N200 million overdraft Dana Impex a N1.5billion loan.

    It said the company, after the tenor, “could not liquidate the overdraft facility.”

    The bank said Dana Impex guaranteed the facility granted Dana Drugs through a tripartite legal mortgage.

    But the companies denied owing the bank, saying part of the facility had been repaid.