The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Lagos to honour entrepreneurs

    The Lagos State Government is set to mark this year’s Enterprise Day by honouring 10 successful entrepreneurs from different parts of the country.

    Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board, Mr. Olawumi Gasper, who disclosed this to reporters yesterday, said the initiative was “to promote networking of successful entrepreneurs with young aspiring entrepreneurs from the technical colleges in a one-day open interactive forum.

    He added that the second edition, which will hold on July 23 at NECA House in Ikeja, is devoted “to celebrating legacies and promote immense opportunities in youth-led businesses and other entrepreneurial pursuits.”

    “Among the honourees will be “game changers” such as Simzu Shagaya, Ibukun Awosika and Fola Adeola who have narrowed the gap between Nigeria and the global market in their various industrial sub-sectors,” he said.

  • Alleged kidnap: Police exonerate pastor

    Alleged kidnap: Police exonerate pastor

    The pastor of Holy Family, Happy Family Ministry in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, Pastor Ernest Chukwuemeka Nwankwo, who was accused of alleged kidnap of a seven-year-old boy has been exonerated by the police.

    A woman, Rosemary Chukwu who allegedly kidnapped Emmanuel Emeka on June 25, had claimed that Nwankwo sent her on the mission.

    When she was apprehended by a mob, with Emeka concealed in a travelling box, Rosemary had claimed that Nwankwo paid her N4million to steal the boy.

    But the Lagos State Police Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Briade, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said yesterday that Nwankwo “has no case to answer.”

    She said the pastor was granted bail owing to lack of substantive evidence against him.

    Braide, however, said detectives were still investigating the case, adding that whenever anything implicating is found against Nwankwo, he would be re-arrested.

    Braide said: “The prophet is on bail. We can’t just detain someone because of allegation that cannot be substantiated. From preliminary investigations, we have not found any evidence to detain him. We have also sent the woman who made the allegation to the psychiatric hospital to ascertain her sanity; we are awaiting the result. The children found with the woman on the day of incident are nowhere to be found.

    The ministry, through its spokesman, Evangelist Patrick Adebayo, had earlier denied all allegations made against Nwankwo.

    The prophet said the woman found with the boy was neither a member nor a worker of the ministry.

    He stressed that the building where some people were found in chains was only used as praying ground for lunatics and not for ritual purposes as alleged.

  • Hausa community tackles insecurity

    Hausa community tackles insecurity

    The Sarkin Hausawa in Agege, a Lagos suburb, Alhaji Musa Muhammed, yesterday said a census had been conducted to ascertain the number of Hausa people resident in the area.

    The development, he said, is aimed at ensuring that insurgents are not living among them, adding that his domain, which is predominantly inhabited by northerners, is safe.

    The dreaded Boko Haram sect had, a fortnight ago, claimed responsibility for an explosion that rocked the Apapa area of the state and threatened to attack unidentified part of the state again soon.

    However, the community leader said there was no cause for alarm, adding that adequate security measures had been taken to prevent such an occurence in his domain.

    “We have just concluded headcount of our people in Agege”, he said.

    Speaking after a prayer for peace in Nigeria, Muhammed said: “We know ourself here in Agege. Nobody comes here and claimed to be Hausa that we would not know his root. You don’t just come and settle here simple because you are a Northerner, no, you must have an established link with an existing resident, which we must know well.”

    The prayer, which was organised by the Abnaul Faidha Islamic Society of Nigeria, took place at the Agege Central Mosque yesterday.

    Chairman of the society, and the Majidadin of Agege, Alhaji Alli Abubakar, said the organisation’s tenets include the propagation of the real teaching of Islamic religion and urged all Muslims to embrace the concept.

    He added that the purpose of the prayer was also to sensitise youths in Agege and its environs of the need to embrace peace.

    The Chairma, Agege Local Government, Alhaji Jibrin Muhammed, said: “We have gone a step further to ensure that we have our people’s identities. We have been working together for peace and how it will continue to endure; even after my administration, peace will never elude Agege.”

  • Truck rams into market, kills four

    Truck rams into market, kills four

    •11 injured

    Four persons died yesterday, while 14 others were injured at the Odo-Eran bus stop area of LASU/Igando Road, after a truck lost control and rammed into a market.

    Eyewitnesses said truck had brake failure when its driver was trying to negotiate a sharp bend about 10 am. The deceased were said to comprise two men and two women.

    The driver was said to have rammed into the market in an attempt to avoid over-running a tricycle riders’ park by the corner.

    One of the male victims, who was described as a Good Samaritan, died while attempting to save a woman from being overrun by the truck.

    Moments after pushing the woman out of the way, a rod from the truck was said to have struck Good Samaritan.

    The truck driver, it was gathered, attempted to escape, but traders caught him and inflicted machete wounds on him.

    An eyewitness, identified as Balogun Towiwa, said: “The truck driver would have been killed but for the timely intervention of officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).”

    One of the deceased was said to have been dismembered as her remains were later evacuated in a sac.

    The truck was loaded with bags of sachet of water belonging to Dammy Pure Water, which is situated at 22, Church Close on Igando Road.

    Hon Salami Adedoyin, a politician in Idimu area, said: “The driver was saved by FRSC. He wanted to run, but was apprehended by traders who used machetes on him.”

  • Man, 66, arrested for alleged murder

    66-year-old man, Lateef Sadiku Olarinde, has been arrested for the alleged murder of a barber in Abule-Ado, a Lagos suburb.

    The late Oluwajuwon Olawepo, was hit by a stray bullet last Tuesday when hoodlums allegedly led by a man who was simply identified as Olarinde invaded the area.

    It was gathered that the hoodlums came to chase away commercial motorcyclists from a land used as park.

    Olarinde, it was gathered, warned the riders to vacate the land, claiming to be its owner, but they refused until the day of the incident.

    A rider, who craved anonymity, said: “Every Friday, they come to the area in large number to extort money from us. Each of us (and stall owners) pay them N200 each; yet, they are never satisfied. When they invaded this area, they unleashed mayhem and beat us up. They were about 30 in number.

    “When we tried to resist them, they brought out guns and started shooting indiscriminately. We all ran away and those who have shops in the area hurriedly shut their shops. It was while Oluwajuwon was trying to lock up his shop that a stray bullet hit him on the chest. The police are aware of his activities in the area and they don’t want to do anything.”

    Oluwajuwon’s family has appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar and Commissioner of Police Umar Manko to order “full investigation” into the matter.

    Oluwajuwon’s elder brother, Samson, who said it was his pastor that informed him that some his brother was shot dead during a fight by hoodlums on Fine Niger Road at Abule-Ado, added: ”My pastor and I went to the scene of incident immediately to verify what actually happen; on getting there I met my brother in his pool of his blood on the floor. I was screaming; some policemen from Agboju Police Division were at the scene of the incident.”

    “As I speak to you we don’t know where the Policemen took the corpse of our brother to. While I and my two other brothers were making effort to find out from the policemen about where they took our brother’s corpse to. One of them came and said the Divisional Police Officer of the station had ordered them to detain us.”

    He said he was taken to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) where the Officer in Charge, Abba Kyari ordered him released on bail.

  • Mob attacks woman with her dead child

    A mob descended yesterday on a middle-aged woman for allegedly being in possession of a dead child in Mile 2, a popular Lagos suburb.

    It was gathered that the woman had taken the child, 5, to the hospital, but the child died because she could not afford the cost of blood transfusion.

    The woman, simply identified as Florence, a mother of three, who hails from Kwale in Delta State, said the boy was her third child.

    Sources said she was carrying the boy in her back when passersby noticed that he was dead.

    A mob gathered and descended on the woman, alleging she stole the child and used him for ritual. But for the timely intervention of a team of policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), she would have been set ablaze.

    The victim said: ”I was born in Lagos. I have three children; nothing is wrong with me. My late boy’s name is Chidi; he was five years old and had been very sick. He needed blood transfusion but I couldn’t afford the money. He died three days ago. Before he died, we wanted to travel back to the village. My husband stays in Port Harcourt.

    “The paper where I wrote his number has been destroyed by rain. I don’t have any relation in Lagos. I was living under a staircase in one of the shops located in Alaba Market. A security man allowed my son and I to sleep there at night. I didn’t steal any baby, I didn’t kill any child.

    “I was carrying Chidi on my back after he died when people gathered this morning and started beating me. What have I done to deserve this kind of beating? If not for policemen they would have beaten me to death.”

  • Community angry over ‘illegal’ party congress

    Community angry over ‘illegal’ party congress

    Unless there is an urgent intervention by concerned authorities, the brewing tension in Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos, a serious crisis may erupt in the area soon.

    Amid outbursts of anger Friday evening, leaders and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the area held their maiden meeting and inauguration of the LCDA chapter of the party, following a congress election held on April 5, which was adjudged free and fair.

    They are, however, bitter over a “needless” rerun poll allegedly spearheaded by the member representing them in the House of Representatives, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke – which has since created a parallel leadership for the party in the area.

    Party leaders present at the parley, which was held at the Agidingbi Town Hall, Ikeja, included: Hon Olori Lola Bashorun, a former Vice Chairman of the LCDA; Chief Joseph Olaseinde Famakinwa, chairman of Ward C; Elder Alade Solomon, party lear from Oke-Ira, Ogba; Alhaja Kehinde Quadri, chairman, Ward A, and Hon Azeez Adebayo, Supervisor for Works in the LCDA.

    The mammoth crowd of party members and supporters that thronged the venue of the meeting loudly expressed their anger over the unsavoury development as they urged the state leaders of the party to attend to their grievances to avoid imminent chaos and save the party.

    Hon Bashorun told The Nation: “The problem here is about somebody who claims to be our representative desiring to control the leadership of all the six wards here. Hon Faleke was at the April 5 congress which was free and fair. But because he could not realise his ambition of having his people in all the wards, he organised a bogus rerun and went to the state leadership of our party to lie that his own version was the authentic. Interestingly, the state leadership said there was no rerun anywhere. This is unacceptable. We just want to assure the party that we are on ground here. They have taken over the key to our secretariat; that is why we are he because we don’t want trouble. Let the state intervene and ensure justice now.”

    Famakinwa, who echoed Bashorun’s views, said the matter demanded urgent attention by the authorities in the party because of the imminence of the 2015 election, adding however, that they remained loyal members of APC in the area.

    Also, Alhaja Quadri said the rerun is illegal and unjust, saying: “I am the only elected woman in the free and fair poll. To now say that the same poll should be set aside is strange; it does not help the course of justice and ideal democracy. We need help here.”

    Both Solomon and Adebayo also expressed displeasure over the development, adding that it would be too much of a political risk to leave the area in the throes of the mounting tension.

    When contacted, Faleke, in an SMS, said: “I think you should contact the party secretariat at Acme. Why should I destroy the party we have built? Those that organised the parallel (congress) are Hon Oloro and sadly Baba Eto who incidentally is the deputy chairman of the party in the state.”

    However, Oloro (the LCDA’s chairman) exonerated himself and Baba Eto, saying it was the people that organised the congress. “I was Hon Faleke’s deputy for two terms when he chaired this council; I did not give him any problem. It is strange and unbelievable that today, whatever happens, he is always quick to mention my name,” he added.

  • Lawmakers to Fashola: Curb menace of truck drivers

    Lawmakers to Fashola: Curb menace of truck drivers

    Lagos State House of Assembly has called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to check the menace of truck and trailer drivers on bridges and highways in Apapa Local Government Area.

    They also urged the governor to ensure that tanker drivers patronise their terminal and holding bay on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    These were part of the resolutions passed by the House following a motion co-sponsored by Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe (Apapa 1); Wahab Alawiye-King (Lagos Island 2); Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu 1), Olumuyiwa Jimoh (Apapa 2) and Moshood Oshun (Lagos Mainland 2).

    The House urged the governor to “expedite action on the revitalisation of rail transportation system of the state to help reduce the influx of trucks and trailers plying the route to ease the hardship being experienced by commuters on a daily basis on the road”.

    It also called on the National Assembly through the Committee on Works to direct the Federal Ministry of Works to expedite action on the reconstruction of the road to avoid practical shut down of the road.

    In arriving at the resolutions, the lawmakers noted the indiscriminate parking and abandonment of trucks and trailers on bridges and highways in Apapa Local Government Area causing traffic jam with their attendant loss of productive man-hours and posing serious danger to the bridges built to ease vehicular movement in the area.

    The House also pointed out the health hazards to commuters and residents plying the route because of emissions from the trucks and trailers which constitute nuisance to the environment.

    The House expressed worries that the perpetual parking and abandonment of articulated vehicles on the roads and bridges had resulted in serious traffic gridlock that had taken a toll on the economic activities of the axis.

    It said the situation had worsened the state of federal roads, thereby posing further serious danger to lives and property in the area.

    Also, the House expressed worries that the deep potholes along the roads have turned into death traps, thus giving hoodlums the opportunity to attack commuters and vehicles plying the routes.

  • Fraudsters held with fake $200m

    The police have arrested four suspected fraudsters with fake $200 million.

    The suspects were arrested in their shrine at Ajeromi community off Railway line in Badia, Ijora, a Lagos suburb, following a tip-off.

    The police also recovered charms and amulets from them.

    According to the police, a victim report on how the suspects swindled him of a huge sum of money, including mobile phones.

    Sources said following the victim’s report, the Area ‘B’ Commander, Innocent Ndubueze Anene, an Assistant Commissioner (ACP), worked out a plan on how to arrest the suspects in their den.

    A source said the victim was duped last Sunday, adding that the police began to trail the suspects the following day.

    It was gathered that the suspects have duped many people of large sums of money.

  • Community elects exco

    Opeloyeru Community Development Association (OCDA), Igbo-Olomu, in Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area of Lagos State has elected new executives to run its affairs in the next two years.

    The new officers are: Mr. Ogunfemi Oladeji, Chairman; Mr. Raimi Musibau, 1st Vice-Chairman; Mr. Yusuf Muyideen, 2nd Vice-Chairman, Mr. Nseabasi Umoh- General Secretary, Mr. Omowumi Abiodun- Assistant General Secretary; Mrs. Babalola Christiana, Treasurer; Mr. Foster Omoregie, Financial Secretary; Mr. Peter Okonji, Auditor; Mrs. Popoola (Marigold), Public Relations Officer; Mr. Wasiu Olowe, Chief Whip; Mrs. Tayo Ogunnaike, Socials, and Mr. Adeoye Nurudeen, Welfare.