The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Cynthia Osokogu: Judge lambasts counsel for stalling trial

    Cynthia Osokogu: Judge lambasts counsel for stalling trial

    Justice Olabisi Akinlade of the Lagos High Court yesterday accused the defence counsel of stalling the trial of the four men charged with the murder of Cynthia Osokogu in Lagos in 2012.

    She spoke following the failure of lawyers to the first and second defendants, Mosunmola Oladapo and Michael Ajayi, to file their written addresses as ordered by the court when the case resumed yesterday.

    Okumo Nwabufo, 34; Ezike, 24; Orji Osita, 33, and Nonso Ezike, 25, are being tried by the state over their alleged involvement in Cynthia’s murder.

    The defendants, who are facing trial on a six-count charge of felony, conspiracy, robbery and murder, allegedly chained and strangled 25-year-old Cynthia at Cosmilla Hotel in FESTAC Town, Lagos, on July 22, 2012.

    The offences contravene Sections 221, 249, 285 and 327 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011

    At the last hearing, the lawyers closed their defence for the trial within trial, which was to determine how statements were obtained from the defendants.

    Oladapo, who is representing Nwabufo (first defendant), told the court that she had not filed the written address because they could not obtain the record of proceedings.

    When Ajayi, counsel to Olisaeloka Ezife, gave a similar excuse, he drew the ire of Justice Akinlade, who accused the lawyers of deliberately stalling the trial.

    According to Justice Akinlade, both lawyers were not taking into consideration the fact that their clients are in prison custody.

    “I followed up with the registrar to make sure that the record of court proceedings is ready, but you did not show up to collect it,” she said.

    She ordered that the written addresses be filed and served on the prosecution in 10 days, while every other response be done in two weeks.

    Justice Akinlade adjourned the case till February 27 for adoption of written addresses.

    The first and second defendants, claimed at the last hearing that statements were forcefully obtained from them.

  • Mowe CDC elects officers

    Mowe Area Community Development Committee’s maiden inauguration will hold on Saturday at 10am at NUD Primary School, Mowe, Ogun State, under the chairmanship of Chief (Mrs) Elizabeth Anifowose, a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly.

    The newly elected chairman, Kingsley Funsho Ayeni, an engineer, said it is the pioneer executive committee of Mowe Area CDC, adding that its inauguration is to bring the much-desired development to the community by drawing government attention to immediate problems facing it.

    Ayeni, who revealed that CDAs in Mowe comprise Daleko, Olowotedo, Oloke Orimerunmu and Pakuro among others, added that the associations had always worked in collaboration with the residents of their respective domains to ensure improved living aming all their members.

    He said he would bring accelerated development to the community by ensuring residents’ effective participation in all activities aimed at making sure his people feel the impact of the government in their lives.

    “We are in an era when the running of people’s affairs is not solely left in the hands of the government. We must be involved by complementing the government’s efforts; this is what we are out to achieve,” Ayeni explained.

  • ‘One robbery operation fetched me N45m’

    ‘One robbery operation fetched me N45m’

    An armed robbery suspect yesterday recalled how his gang leader almost killed him and his cohorts after an operation in which they got a huge money from some Bureau de Change operators at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

    The suspect, simply identified as Samuel aka Asiwaju, who is being interrogated by operatives of the Lagos State Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), said he participated in the infamous MMIA robbery, where billions of naira were stolen.

    He said: “After the robbery in March 2013, we packed a lot of money; it should be over a billion naira because our bags were filled with dollars and other currencies. The thing that surprised me was that immediately our leader, Arab saw the amount of the money, he pulled his General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) and wanted to shoot us all. We started pleading with him to take the whole money and spare our lives.

    “He later asked us to take some bundles. I picked some bundles and when I counted my share, it was N45million. We were eight that went for the robbery and coincidentally, seven of us got the same amount, but I can’t say how much our informants got. Arab got over a billion naira.”

    Thanking God that he was not killed when he was paraded yesterday, he said: “I invested part of my share in business. I bought lands and trucks for transport business. Parts of my share were taken from me by some street urchins who got wind of the robbery and threatened to report me to the police. So, I gave them some money. Unfortunately, my transport business did not do well and I became broke. I did not want to go back to robbery because all other members had been arrested by SARS, but because of hunger, I was forced to make one more attempt this year. So bad, I was unlucky to land in the hands of SARS operatives.”

    Expressing regret that he did not heed the advice of his friends to run abroad, Samuel added: “I feel sad that God saved me and gave me the opportunity to escape but I messed it up. God really loved me because all our members were rounded up and I was the only one left, yet I did not use the opportunity to escape”

    Commissioner of Police Umar Manko, who paraded him alongside four other suspects, disclosed that one GPMG, one AK47 rifle, two double-barrel locally made pistols, I0 GPMG fully loaded magazines, eight loaded AK47 magazines, 32 live cartridges and Volkswagen Sharon bus were recovered from the suspects.

  • 12 Years a Slave wins at Golden Globes

    12 Years a Slave wins at Golden Globes

    Crime caper, American Hustle , on Sunday, emerged the highest recipient at the Golden Globes, capturing three major awards, including the Best Comedy.

    But voters favoured the much-anticipated film of 2013, 12 Years a Slave, which stars British-Nigerian actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, with the Best Drama slot, while Alfonso Cuarón went home with Best Director laurel for Gravity.

    The two female stars of American Hustle, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, both picked up acting awards.

    Ms. Lawrence beat Lupita Nyong’o of 12 Years a Slave, who was viewed as the leading contender in the supporting actress category. Thereafter, Ms. Adams was announced as Best Actress.

    Ejiofor, however, who has been predicted as an Oscar-hopeful, will be taking his next chance, having been nominated as Best Actor in the British Academy Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) for 12 Years a Slave.

    The awards ceremony is billed for Sunday, February 16, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

    Ejiofor starred prominently in two movies in 2013, including Half of a Yellow Sun, an adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s novel under the same title, but was touted more for 12 Years a Slave, a British-American epic and an adaptation of the eponymous 1853 autobiography by Solomon Northup.

    Also at the Golden Globes, Dallas Buyers Club received two acting prizes for Jared Leto as Supporting Actor and for the heavily campaigned Matthew McConaughey as Best Actor in a drama.

    Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine won a Best Actress award for Cate Blanchett and Mr. Allen took home the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, though he was predictably absent from the ceremony.

    Also favoured by voters was Leonardo DiCaprio, who won the Best Actor in a comedy slot for his performance in The Wolf of Wall Street.

    In the TV categories, Andy Samberg won Best Comedic Actor for the Fox series, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while the show also emerged as winner of Best TV Comedy, besting HBO’s Girls.

    Amy Poehler, returning as co-host along with Tina Fey, was Best Actress in a comedy for Parks and Recreation.

    Breaking Bad made back-to-back trips to the stage, winning trophies for Best Drama and Best Actor for Bryan Cranston.

    Cranston, who was nominated four times for his role as a teacher and a crystal meth dealer, received a raucous standing ovation for his first victory.

    The prizes were a double defeat for Netflix, whose House of Cards was a hot competitor in the categories. But Netflix series appeared to be compensated by Robin Wright’s win as Best Actress in a TV drama.

    For flicks like Nebraska, Philomena, August: Osage County and Captain Phillips, it was a bad outing.

  • Pastor, worshipper held for girl’s ‘murder’

    Pastor, worshipper held for girl’s ‘murder’

    The leader of a prominent Pentecostal church at Aguda, Surulere, Lagos Mainland, is being held by the police over the alleged murder of a 12-year-old girl.

    The pastor’s arrest came on the heels of the confession of a member of his church who was arrested in connection with the murder.

    Pastor Sign Fireman who leads of Perfect Christian Ministry, is being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba.

    He was held in connection with the alleged murder of the girl, Bose, a food vendor at the Badagry Roundabout. She was allegedly strangled to death by a man, Ikechukwu Friday, on Fireman’s order.

    Friday (18), who said he had been washing cars for the pastor since 2011 when his family was introduced to the church, told reporters yesterday that he approached the pastor on December 29, 2013 for N100,000 to buy clothes for the New Year festivities.

    “When I met my pastor, he asked me to go and look for a girl that is less than 18 years and strangle her to death. He said while my victim is being strangled, she would excrete hot excreta. The pastor said I should bring the excreta to him and in return, he would give me the money I requested,” Friday said.

    The suspect, a Badagry resident, added: “So, on Monday, December 30, 2013, around 9.30am, I went to Bose’s mother’s shop to eat. I had known them for a long time; so, Bose is my friend. After eating, I asked her to accompany me somewhere that I wanted to show her something and she obliged. I tricked her into an abandoned uncompleted NITEL building, where I held her neck and strangled her.

    “Her shout while I was strangling her attracted neighbours and the security man that watches over the place. I attempted to run away but was caught and taken to the police. But I was unable to get the excreta.”

    Friday said it was the first time he would carry out such an assignment for the pastor.

    It was gathered that the pastor, who had been on the run, was arrested yesterday.

    He was said to be writing his statement while Friday was being paraded by the state Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

    Braide, who said the matter was being investigated, added that the suspect would soon be charged to court.

    She also confirmed the pastor’s arrest, saying: “We just got him today. He is writing his statement.”

  • Woman loses N3.7m to suspected fraudsters

    Woman loses N3.7m to suspected fraudsters

    A woman, who was tricked by suspected fraudsters to provide some money for the execution of a contract has lost N3.7million.

    The victim, Chiamaka Eze, said one of the suspects, who is a member of a church she attends, approached her for N3.7million to execute the contract.

    She said because she was convinced, she agreed to provide the money.

    “An agreement was reached and signed in the presence of our pastor after which he prayed for us,” Eze said.

    She said she paid them the money within three months, adding: “After collecting the N3.7million, they kept demanding more money, but when I demanded to see the contract papers or the Local Purchase Order (LPO), they were not able to come up with any. At this point, I started suspecting I might have been duped.”

    She explained that she had known the pastor for over four years and wondered why he could lead her to fraudsters.

    Police operatives at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba have arrested the pastor and three other suspects.

    They were paraded yesterday by the Command’s spokesperson, Ngozi Briade, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP).

    The suspects, Pastor Ejike Samson (35), Emmanuel Chukwuemeka, Chukwuma Nkoro and a herbalist, Sunny Olufoye, were alleged to be professional fraudsters who tricked unsuspecting victims to defraud them of their money.

    It was gathered that they hypnotise their victims.

    Ejike said none of them was a member of his church, adding: “They came to my church and said I should pray for them, that they had a contract and to witness the payment. There was a written agreement which I signed as a witness. I witnessed the payment of only N525,000 in two instalments. The day Eze came with others was the second time I met the woman”.

    Olufoye, in whose house some charms, a calabash and other items were recovered, denied being part of the fraud.

    He said one of the suspects, simply identified as Prince, who was squatting with him in his three-bedroom apartment, was the one that kept the charms there.

    “I never knew it had any security implication because they never worshipped or did any sacrifice in the house. They just kept them in one of the rooms that is leaking”, he said.

    Chukwuemeka said he got a contract to supply aluminium worth N4million and had no money to finance it.

    “It was my brother that took me to Madam Eze. But I did not use the money for the contract. We shared the money as it came. We spent it on women and drinks, he said”.

    Braide said the suspects would be charged to court after investigations.

  • Traders resettled as Fashola opens market

    Traders resettled as Fashola opens market

    Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola yesterday commissioned the Isopakodowo Market in Oshodi and urged market men and women to desist from street trading.

    Fashola said the market was provided to facilitate the resettlement of traders who once traded on the Oshodi rail line.

    He explained that the ultra-modern market comprises 571 shops out of which 374 had been allotted to the rail-line traders, while 50 were handed over to the Market Women Association in line with his promise to their departed leader, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji.

    The governor, who said the remaining shops would be allotted in due course to interested persons, urged occupants of the market to resist the temptation of setting up extension or trading on the car park. He also urged them to maintain the toilets and generating set provided in the complex.

    While commending the role of the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji during the construction of the market, he urged the traders to vacate the roads for free traffic flow.

    Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Obafemi Hamzat said the market was another signature of the government to develop every sphere of the state, adding that the market consists of 22 toilets, fire-fighting equipment and 64 Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.

    He assured that government would continue to improve market infrastructure to discourage street trading.

  • Lagos to repair 1,400 roads

    Lagos to repair 1,400 roads

    •Reads riot act to residents

    Lagos State Government has said that it would invoke its environmental sanitation laws against any resident found damaging infrastructure in the state.

    The state government expressed concern over the habbit, which it said, had compelled it to replace more than 251 in 2012 and 350 in 2013 in different parts of the state.

    The Chairman of Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC), Mr Gbenga Akintola disclosed this at a news conference he addressed at Ojodu-Berger yesterday.

    He also disclosed that the state government had completed the construction of Asphalt Production Plant in Imota, which he said, has the capacity to produce 160 tons per hour.

    Akintola said no fewer than 1,400 roads had been outlined for maintenance and rehabilitation under the 2014 budget compared to 988 roads, which he said, were maintained under the 2013 fiscal year.

    He said the government was prepared to use “relevant laws to dissuade people from indulging in activities that cause road damage and manhole cover theft.”

    He highlighted some of the achievements of the corporation in the past year, which he said, included the maintenance of 988 roads as against 705 roads in 2012 and 568 in 2011.

    Akintola cited the replacement of 251 manhole covers and grating in 2012/2013, while 350 have been earmarked to be replaced and grated in 2013/2014 .

    He said the state government had completed the construction of an asphalt production plant, which he said, had capacity to produce 160 tons per hour, noting that the plant would be commissioned next week.

    He explained that the new plant, which was initiated in January 2013, was expected to cater for about 404 roads in the Local Government and Local Council Development Areas around Ikorodu and Epe axis, , adding that the first batch of asphalt was produced at the plant on December 25, 2013.

     

    He said the construction of another asphalt plant at Ajido, Badagry Local Government Area had reached 35 per cent completion stage, stressing that the manufacturing of the plant itself had been concluded in Italy and shipping of its components would commence soon.

  • ‘Ijebu people must unite’

    ‘Ijebu people must unite’

    The Asiwaju Onigbagbo of Ijebu Christians and Olori Omoba of Ijebu land, Otunba Subomi Balogun, has reiterated his commitment to bringing together Ijebu indigenes regardless of their religions and family backgrounds.

    The First Monument Bank (FCMB) president said such move is vital for actualisation of dreams, agitation and ambition of Ijebu people.

    He said he had built a monument of unity among the Ijebu people as reflected in the way the indigenes usually support his projects.

    The octogenarian, who spoke yesterday in his Ijebu-Ode country home during an annual thanksgiving service, said he was committed to leaving a landmark legacy for unborn generations.

    He noted that his commitment to the cultural development in Ijebu land made him to embark on the construction of a monumental edifice called ‘Oba Adesumbo Tunwase Museum and Hall’ in Ijebu-Ode.

    He said the centre would be an archive for Ijebu tradition and also as events’ place, students’ meeting point and cultural centre.

    He maintained that the unity being enjoyed by the people is among the achievements of the paramount ruler of Ijebu land, Oba Sikiru Adetona.

     

    adding: “This annual thanksgiving service is to thank God for keeping Nigeria, Ogun State, and Ijebu region together till date. We started it 30 years ago and we still continue today. Oba Sikiru Adetona has suggested that the commissioning of the historic centre should be part of my 80-year birthday celebration and we have accepted it.”

  • Insecurity, poor infrastructure worry residents

    Insecurity, poor infrastructure worry residents

    Residents of Masafejo community in Oshodi area of Lagos State yesterday appealed to Governor Babatunde Fashola to arrest the insecurity of lives and property and poor living condition of dwellers in the community.

    They made the appeal when the governor, accompanied by members of his cabinet, visited the community, which is notorious for harbouring hoodlums.

    A resident, Dare Akinbolusere, said the major challenge facing the community was security, lamenting that unknown persons seek refuge in the community to perpetrate evil acts.

    “People within the age of six and 10, once they fall out with their parents or for any other reason, they leave their homes and come here to stay. These are some of the boys that roam the streets in the wee hours of the day and at night,” he said.

    Some leaders of the community, while appealing to the governor to upgrade the community, noted that many great men who had served the nation in various capacities in the past once lived in the community.

    Fashola said he visited the area following reports that hoodlums often take refuge there after carrying out nefarious activities.

    He added that he was out to see how government could improve the quality of lives of residents.

    He decried a situation whereby some residents had turned the roads in the area into business centres and parking lot, saying that the trend hampers development.

    Fashola, who promised government intervention, urged the residents to organise themselves and provide land for government to build blocks of houses for the community.

    He added that any move by the government to develop the area must come with some discomfort and concession which the residents must give. “No doubt, conditions here are not too good. I am sure you residents do not like to continue to live here this way. If you really don’t like to continue to live this way and you need help, we will help you to redevelop this place.

    “We will help you to redesign this place so that you can still build on your property and get amenities like schools and so on. But you need to provide the land for us to do this. So, go and meet and tell us when you are ready so that we can begin to take the necessary steps,” the governor said.