The Nation Newspaper

Category: City Beats

  • Family shuts Dawodu’s businesses over N30m donation to politician

    Family shuts Dawodu’s businesses over N30m donation to politician

    Accomplished business entrepreneur and philanthropist, Olawoye Anthony Dawodu,  has called on security agencies to shield him from harm from family members, who he alleged shut down his businesses and are bent on bringing him down.

    Speaking in an interview with reporters, Olawoye Dawodu recalled that part of the genesis of his travails started in November 2013 after a voluntary financial donations to an opposition politician of his family members, a decision that brought out the venomous spit in the bowels of his kinsmen.

    According to the renowned entrepreneur: “I am not a politician but I normally support politicians who I believe and know can be of good service to society and help the people and communities to achieve faste, faster development and improved lives for the populace

    “I donated a large sum of money, about  N30 million to the politician. But my family members got to know about this donation to the politician because it was in the newspapers and they struck by shutting down my access to my businesses. 

    “They shut down my income from these businesses The place I was getting my goods from they shut it down, so I was unable to get the goods . They were threatening me and I was no longer safe.”

    A source familiar with the whole matter said the family members were angry and vexed with Dawodu because he was supporting an outsider against a family member. 

    “They shut all his businesses down due to the political power that they have. He could not access his goods and other Business concerns. 

    Read Also: Hon Dawodu organises five-day free medical outreach for constituents

    “His family members were really after him. They  were constituting themselves to threats to his life and that was why he said he was not safe and he actually spoke of his plight to members of the Nigerian press,” the source stated. 

    Continuing, the activist said in the light of the unfolding events that, “this is why Olawoye Dawodu is crying to Nigerians to help him. He has gone to the police authorities and other security agencies in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country, all in a search of help” 

    Dawodu said he has also gone to Port Harcourt to draw attention to his plight, pointing that sadly nobody is answering me. 

    According to him: “It’s becoming worrying and raises the question if it is when one dies that this matter will be looked into. I am crying for justice now.”

  • Day Femi Kuti had it rough with lizard

    Day Femi Kuti had it rough with lizard

    A crowd gathered around the car of the Afrobeat star, Femi Kuti, at the weekend, as he sought help to locate a reptile that almost caused him an accident on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

    Kuti, who arrived late to the MUSON Centre, Lagos, where he was a guest artiste at the pre-event press briefing on the coming MUSON anniversary concert, described the ordeal as horrifying.

    He said the lizard appeared suddenly from the dashboard of his car, while he was on top speed, and stared at him before ducking away.

    In no time, the search party increased around the Black Prado Jeep.

    The crowd, including his colleague, Yinka Davies, had begun to get amused and Kuti tried to make a joke of the situation: “You know; it could have been a disaster if the lizard had run through my trousers, climbing to my private part. You can imagine how I would have reacted, trying to protect my manhood, because, that to me, it is an important part of who I am. I can’t joke with it.”

    The crowd roared with laughter.

    “Evil people could be at work,” added the musician jocularly, still wondering how the lizard got into his car.

    After the event, the award-winning artiste would not drive his car until the lizard was fished out.

  • Mother, son convicted for assaulting police officers

    An Ilorin Magistrates’ Court on Friday sentenced a mother and her son to nine years imprisonment for resisting arrest and assaulting police officers.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the mother, Ayodeji Abdullahi (50), was sentenced to seven years, while Lukman Bolakale (27), bagged two years imprisonment with 20 strokes of cane.

    However, the Magistrate, Mrs. Silifat Sambo, gave the accused persons an option of N3, 000 and N2, 000 fines, respectively, in addition to 20 lashes for the son.

    Prosecutor Isaq Yakub told the court that they assaulted Ajayi Alice, a constable, attached to ‘D’ Division, Adewole Estate, Ilorin, who was on duty at Gari-Alimi Roundabout, Ilorin on September 17.

    Yakub said that the convicts disobeyed traffic law and resisted arrest.

    He said the police entered the convict’s car and she drove to her house where her son, Lukman ran out assaulted the police officer.

    The prosecutor also said the convict slapped the Divisional Police Officer, tore his clothes valued at N8, 000 and dragged him, while shouting on top of her voice.

    He said the convicts were arraigned on a six-count charge of criminal conspiracy, criminal force, assault, resisting arrest, kidnapping and obstruction of lawful duty.

    He said the offences were contrary to Sections 97, 265, 172, 273 and 149 of the Penal Code.

    The accused persons pleaded guilty to all the charges.

     

  • Is it the season of the mad hatter now?

    It’s Alice truly in Wonderland all over again, and the mad hatter is as usual scampering all over the place

    Now, I assure you this title has no bearing on the fact that our president, Dr. G. E. Jonathan, who I’m sure is a good man in himself, wears a hat. Indeed, it is a coincidence. If my memory is correct, I think Alice in Wonderland was written long before he was born. I would guess several decades in fact. Indeed, the president’s hat (we really must talk about it someday) has become such a status symbol now that it is sold nearly everywhere one turns. When I asked a buyer once why he was buying it, he said he was hoping it would put him on top of the world and remove the world from on top of him. When I asked the seller whether it really did bring luck, he said it had brought him plenty of luck; he had sold hundreds of it. But you know, I’m not sure he was not confusing his luck with the one our president said he had brought to the nation.

    Sometime in the week though, dear reader, I had a good laugh when I read about the president’s call to the nation. On yeah, he still had his hat on, joking or not. He asked us as a people to get over our egoistic tendencies, for goodness’ sakes, and put an end to ‘electoral impunity’! As they say in the movies, I did a double take: What the…! I mean here we have been all this while groaning in pain over the intractable crisis shaking the governors’ forum because of their excellences’ inability to decide which figure is higher than the other, 19 or 16. All we needed was a word from the presidency but none came. Perhaps, we should get a consultant to help us on the matter: we can get the services of a primary school pupil to help us to count pieces of stone on the ambient football pitches of his/her primary school.

    Actually, there are three things here. The first is the fact that this country believes it is running a democracy. You believe it, I believe it but our representatives do not believe it. Just witness how a good number of them got into the assemblies and state houses and even into high positions within those assemblies and state houses. Just witness the fact that it is on record that that good number neither took part in nor won any election to start with. These are the people we ‘elected’ to forge out our peace, development, and future hope. Since they have no democratic foundations, how then do we, simpletons that we are, expect them to understand or even respect our democratic yearnings?

    Following from that is the second issue. Based on the democratic foundations that this present republic is built on, a mini election was conducted and the entire process publicised, as all elections should be. The results were also quickly known, as they should be, like all transparent elections. Now what do we have? The loser is the winner and the winner is the loser. It’s Alice truly in Wonderland all over again, and the mad hatter is as usual scampering all over the place confusing everything; worse, he’s still mad.

    The third issue is even more fundamental, and it troubles me no end. Why on earth would any sane Nigerian insist on romancing and caressing a spectre that we are trying with all our might to kill, burn and bury? Here we are, not knowing what to do with the June 12 ‘mistake’ made by one individual on the behalf of us other stupid millions of Nigerians who really don’t count, and here are others, benefactors of that very ‘mistake’, doing their utmost to repeat the errors of their ancestors. Now, what do we call that?

    Seriously, I asked before and up till now, no one has given me a satisfactory answer: what is the official role of the governors’ forum either in the nation’s affairs or even in the constitution? Why have they so suddenly taken centre stage that no day passes now without one piece of news or the other on the antics of this forum being paraded before my beautiful eyes? Truth is, at this point, I don’t care; I care more that this situation is a metaphor for lessons that have gone unlearnt by us or that we are all appearing not to notice. It is a metaphor for the ‘electoral impunity’ that is so Nigerian because the government appears to have its hand deep in it!

    We are not noticing that elections are no materials to joke around with, even though we seem to be developing the habit of thinking that it is ‘just politics’. We do not seem to have sufficiently grasped the locus of right thinking: that the will of ‘the people’ translates into votes, whether the people be ten, twenty, thirty-five, ten million, or one hundred and twenty million. A vote is a vote, and it is sacred. Indeed, a vote is so sacred that it carries a spiritual essence that is supposed to translate into hope for a better, brighter future. When that essence is tampered with, it becomes a bone that sticks in the throat because the ghosts of skeletons past, present and future continue to haunt the annuller. The June 12 bone is still in Babangida’s throat, Abacha’s throat (well, he managed to dislodge his by dying), our national throat, etc. Since we cannot all take Abacha’s panacea, we just have to keep coughing and hope the sticky bone will one day come dislodged.

    As I was saying, this government appears to be tacitly, and I must say silently too, repeating the political errors of 1993, showing that we have learnt nothing, and we have forgotten nothing. I honestly do not understand how it can pay tribute to the heroes of 1993 and at the other corner of its mouth intone, ‘cancel the newest election’. I can imagine Chief M. K. O. Abiola rising up from the grave, looking gravely at this government and making only one sound: ‘Ah, Ah!’ before lying down again to continue his rest. Now, that would speak volumes – the sound that is, not the rest. The problem is that the government will not be able to hear it, only the people will.

    All this I think stems from one simple problem: the government is still working with the pre-colonial statistics. You know the problem with statistics? They lie, because anyone can manipulate them for any end. The old statistics say that Nigerians are gullible because less than fifty per cent of them are educated or literate enough to understand simple mathematics and interpret simple figures. The horrifying truth dawned on us however when the video of that little NGF election was shown on the internet and everyone began to make comments: Nigerians now know better and can understand mathematics and interpret figures.

    Thus, dear government, it has become very public knowledge indeed that the person who had the nineteen votes (Amaechi) is expected, by mathematical law, to have won the election while the person who had the sixteen votes (Jang) is expected to have conceded victory like an old gentleman. So, by the new statistics, the person with the less number of votes cannot declare himself winner; to do so is to be as confused. But then, he could just sort of be fooling around, like the hatter.

    Obviously, putting a stop to electoral impunity must first stop with the government, then with the politicians. I just wish though that our leaders would see past their long hats and actually do something about reducing the price of my favourite foodstuff in the market. Oh, wouldn’t you just like to know what that is!

  • Fire guts Ipaja power transmission station

    Fire guts Ipaja power transmission station

    An early morning fire yesterday razed a power transmission station based in Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, causing fears of likely blackout in Ikeja and its environs.

    Eyewitnesses said the cause of the fire which began around 11: am was unknown. The fire consumed a massive transmission station belonging to Transisco Power Company. “We don’t know the cause of the fire but it started shortly before the rains began. The fire was so massive that even the fire services were unable to bring it under control,” an eyewitness said.

    It was also gathered that efforts of the Lagos State Fire Service (LSFC) at bringing the fire under control failed and the team withdrew after 30 minutes. The heavy rain yesterday could not also stop the inferno which eventually ended around 3: pm.

    The eyewitness added: “I think there may be oil or some fuel in the transformer, because it continued to burn despite the efforts of the fire service men and it didn’t stop also in the rain until whatever was burning inside had been exhausted.”

    Meanwhile, a source at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Ikeja District, said the fire might likely disrupt allocation of power in Ikeja and environs.

    “The fire happened at a transmission station; we at the distribution end of it are waiting for proper briefing on the extent of damage and how much it will affect power distribution in Ikeja and environs. But take this from me, it will definitely affect power distribution, but we just don’t know the extent,” the source said.

  • The many agonies of ex-inmates

    prisons, many ex-inmates find life outside the prison walls nasty, brutish and unfair. SEUN AKIOYE reports on how some are coping with life after jail. SUNDAY Oladapo came out of his underground one-room apartment at the Aftercare Centre in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, and squinted in the afternoon sun. His room was dark and sparsely furnished with an old two-seater chair. The floor was bare; on the far right side were his cooking utensils. The place also served as his kitchen.

    Unless he tells his age, it will be difficult to guess he was 61 years old. He has asparse frame, tough looks and his eyeballs had assumed a sort of permanently red colour. When he removed the skull cap on his head, a natural jerry curled hair was exposed. And when he spoke, he had a mannerism of ending every short sentence with “you see,” which somehow added a sort of flair to his otherwise stuttering English language.

    Since he came out of the prison four years ago, he has lived at the centre and at the mercy of Bishop Kayode Williams. Williams himself has less than a sterling past. In 1973, he was arrested for armed robbery as part of the dreaded Idowu Oyenusi gang and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1976, while attempting to use a Christian tract to smoke marijuana at theSokoto prison where he was held in solitary confinement, he repented and turned his life to God.

    In 1980, he was out of prison and began a new profession as a preacher. He then founded the Prison Rehabilitation Ministry International (PREMI) and the After Care Centre to rehabilitate ex-inmates and minister to their soul. That was how he met Oladapo, at the Kirikiri maximum prison in Lagos where the latter was on death row, for armed robbery.

    Williams also pastors the Christ Vessel of Grace Church, which stands majestically at 82, Old Oko Oba Road, Agege, Lagos. To many of the residents of this neighborhood, the church is a place for destitute persons and ex- prisoners. This is not far from the truth as Williams is the presiding bishop of the church. A high praise was underway when The Nation arrived. Though a bishop, Williams did not dress as one and this Sunday, he wore a black shirt over a black pant with a white collar to distinguish him as a cleric. As the high praise increased, he jingled his tambourine to the beat of the song and performed several dance steps. At the back of the auditorium, Kayode Dada stood quietly almost lost in worship. Dada is no ordinary member of the church; he had served 10 years on death row at the Abeokuta prison and one of the closest aides to Williams.

    Brutish, nasty and harsh Dada’s story is likened to those served as legends. Born in 1972, he had a modest education and had enlisted in the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) but soon found the life of drugs and crime enticing. The robbery that took him to prison and close to death’s door happened in 1995. Dada was not keen in reopening the details of his crime but admitted to it. “I didn’t know the gravity of what I did; I was just looking for money for drugs. April 8, I was apprehended and July 1, 1999, I was sentenced to death by the military tribunal in Abeokuta, I was in condemned cell for four years in Abeokuta. I waited for death every day, which was the worst experience of my life, “Dada said.

    But luck smiled on him and in 2003, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

    Through sheer hard work, he studied and passed his Senior School Leaving Certificate Examination and his Joint Matriculation Exams.

    “ When my death sentence was commuted to life, I was told to use the opportunity wisely. I said I wanted to go to school, and I was escorted out to do the exams. I went for the exams in chains in 2004. It was very funny, I just focused on what I wanted to achieve. I was allowed to put on mufti; in the exam hall there was one warder behind me.

    When the results came and I passed, they were all happy for me.” His good fortunes were not done yet.Prominent citizens pleaded for him to be released to go to the university and on January 1, 2005, he walked out of the prison a free man. “I came out thinking I would walk straight to the school and start but they told me I can’t because I was an exconvict.

    I don’t know how they got the information. They said because I had a record as an ex-convict, if they allowed me to study medicine, I would not be able to practise unless I can get a pardon before I finish the course. In fact, they didn’t want me to come at all, but Kayode Williams helped me, prominent citizens vouched for me and the school took me on the condition that I would study physiology not medicine.” But his troubles were not over yet. At the College of Medicine, he was warned by the management not to foment trouble or he would be in trouble. He was put on constant surveillance. But he won their trust emerging as the departmental student of the year in 2008 and most versatile student in 2009. After his degree, he went on to do his Masters. Currently, he is being sponsored by Mrs. Igiebor for his PhD in Physiology.

    But life has not been a bed of roses for him.

    After his Masters degree, he got nowhere near landing any job. His life has been that of constant frustration, desperation and hope. Providing for his two children has been an uphill task and he has survived mainly on the generosity of good Samaritans.

    “There is so much stigmatisation against ex-convicts and to do a PhD, you need a steady flow of cash; getting a job has not been easy as I always tell prospective employers that I am an ex-convict and that ends the interview. I have lost many job opportunities. I am ready to work but the first thing that can help me getting a job is getting the stigma off and the only way to do that is to get a national pardon. Without that, an employer offers you N10, 000 per month,” Dada lamented.

    While Bishop Williams may have been the most popular face in the campaign for the rehabilitation of the ex- prisoners, there are others who are not ex-convicts themselves but who have devoted their lives serving that cause. Many of them had taken inspiration from Williams; one of them is Ahmed Adetola –Kazeem, a lawyer and the President of the Prisoners Right Advocacy Initiative. Adetola- Kazeem specialises in helping prisoners who have spent years in Awaiting Trial cell get justice, through outright release and if there is a pending case against them, a quick trial.

    His foray into Prisoners Advocacy Rights began in 2009 during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.

    After his NYSC, he came back to Lagos to start his organisation and worked in his father’s chambers. In 2011, he began full time work, helping set prisoners free at Kirikiri Maximum Prisons. Since 2011, he has helped secure the release of about 100 inmates. But unlike Williams, he does not have the facilities to rehabilitate the exprisoners.

    But he keeps a tab on them through regular phone calls. One of his clients was Maman Keita, who was accused of murder. At the time of his release, he had spent 11 years awaiting trial. Keita said he was trying to fend off robbers who had descended on him at his ram market. One of them stabbed him and he returned the gesture. Later, police said the other fellow died. But Adetola-Kazeem got him out and got him N7,000,000 compensation.

    Another prisoner, Sule Sanni, who spent 13 years in prison, also got N1,000,000 compensation. While in prison, Sanni fell ill with a heart disease. That was not all, his parents also died awaiting his return.

    When he was released in 2012, his illness had worsened. He now lives in a small village outside Yola, Adamawa State where he makes a living charging phone batteries.

    “I have been taking medicine since 2003. I am still trying to get my life back. There is no job and I charge phone batteries now in my village. I want to buy a big generator to improve my business. But what I really want now is to get married and start a family,” Sanni told The Nation in a telephone conversation.

    Ali Hassan also fell ill in the prison. His sickness is said to have to do with his mental capabilities. He was said to have relocated to Borno. His brother told The Nation that he has not heard from him for a long time and he wasn’t sure if he was getting better.

    But there are other prisoners who have been able to turn their lives around, at least temporarily. Some of them have gone on to learn some trade.

    AbdulAzeez Audu was charged with robbery in 2006 and released from Kirikiri in March 2013. When The Nation got in touch with his family, he was said to be learning motor repairs in Ojo, outskirts of Lagos.

    Godwin Johnson got arrested for murder in 2007 and he was released in 2012. He was 15 years old at the time of his arrest. When contacted, his mother lamented that he had fallen into trouble again. She said Johnson went to a red light zone for sex and on his way back got involved in a fight and was picked up by the police. He is currently at Igbeba prisons in Ogun State.

    Iyere Abure spent nine years in prison for robbery. Through Adetola Kazeem, he was released in 2012. The Nation found him at Ikeja motor park. He was dressed in blue jeans and shirt and had an umbrella to protect him from the scourging sun. He has a small strong body and when he shook hands, his palm was hard but smooth.

    Sitting inside one of the buses, Abure, 38, who hails from Edo State, said he was glad to be out of prison. But life has been hard as he currently resides with his parents in Egbeda, on the outskirts of Lagos. Before his prison experience, he was a ‘senior’ bus driver, plying Ikeja to Ojota. Then his bus was used for armed robbery and the next time the bus was spotted, it was impounded. Abure was behind the wheel.

    He turned his life to God in prison and vowed to become a preacher. “ I had many visions in prison, seeing myself preaching to many people,” Abure said. He believed God has called him into full-time ministry because he was able to read the Bible in prison without formal education. When he got out, he began again as a bus

    conductor-not many people would trust their vehicles to an ex- prisoner- but he soon won the trust of some who allowed him to drive in shifts. When he is not driving, he makes a living being a conductor.

    He wants to save enough money to go to a seminary and learn the rudiments of being a gospel preacher. But before then he must contend with present realities.

    “This commercial transport business is really my line, everyone knows I am good.

    If I can get a bus to myself, that would be a big turnaround in my life. I need one LT31 bus; if I get that, all of my problems are over in this life,” he said.

    But two cases stood out from Adetola- Kazeem’s clients. Tunde and Niyi, who were both arrested for armed robbery and who reportedly went mad in prison. At some point, Niyi was said to have been isolated. When they were released in 2012, they left no telephone numbers of any relatives, but left home addresses. The Nation went in search of Tunde at No 2, Raji Oba Street Alimoso, Lagos. Nobody knew him at all; none could recall ever hearing that name. None of the neighbours also knew him, he has simply disappeared.

    At 98, Itire Road Mushin, Lagos the address left by Niyi, an old woman, frowned on hearing the visitor inquire about Niyi. She had been busy tending her petty wares which she sold at a shop beside the house when the visitor arrived and she insisted on finding out the identity of the inquirer. It took a long cajoling and persuasion before she could

    own up to knowing Niyi who she described as “stubborn and troublesome”.

    Her face suddenly took on a sad note, she hissed several times without saying a word.

    Finally, she said: “ I don’t know where he is, please go and ask his mother.”

    The day Niyi was released he had made straight for his grandmother’s house in Itire. She was surprised to see him and didn’t want him in the house. “ I didn’t want his trouble anymore. His father died three years ago because of his case. My children are dying in my presence and I don’t want any more trouble from Niyi. He got angry and left for his mother’s house in Ogun State.” The grandmother, however, does not know her daughter-in-law’s residence in Ogun State.

    The grandmother sank unto the floor and collapsed in exhaustion. Life is hard for her and her grandson had brought shame on her. Several times she made reference to death and dying and the need to be at peace. Even though she had maintained a brutal expression while talking about Niyi, it was evident she nursed some hope the boy would turnaround. “Is there a way you can help me? Do you know where his mother lives? Are you sure he is not in any trouble again?” she asked, her stone-faced eyes giving way to anxiety. When she was assured that her grandson was not back in prison, shesmiled.

    The struggle continues

    In Nigeria, hundreds of prisoners are released every year from the clutches of its 227 prisons; majority of these ex-prisoners would find their new life harsh and brutal. For most of them, there will be no family to return to and no help from anyone. For a sizeable number of them, life in prison

    would be worth more than their harsh freedom. Eventually, they will find their ways back through the iron gates of prison where they are assured a regular meal anda space to sleep.

    But some who are lucky to find mentors like Williams may have a brighter chance at life. For 30 years, Williams has been championing the cause of the rehabilitation of the ex-prisoners in order to reintegrate them back into the society.

    The ex-prisoners respected him because of his past reputation of being a member of one of the most vicious gangs in Nigeria. They also respect him becausehe is now a pastor.

    For him, there are four cardinal issues to crime reduction: Reformation, Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Resettlement. These four cardinal points, he said, are missing in the Nigerian prison system, thereby making prison terms more of deformation than reformation.

    For those who got out and stayed out, life is often full of ironies; they have to battle with the stigmatisation that comes with having been to prison. Families are lost and the prospects of starting all over again are grim. This is the fate of Oladapo, who was arrested in 1982. Recalling the details that led to his arrest, he swore he was innocent of the crimes. “I was living at N0 9, Olumokun Street Amukoko; I was selling marijuana and a lot of boys used to come to my place. One day a boy came, I didn’t know he was an armed robber and that the community vigilance group was after him. He was found at my place and killed.

    Later the community arrested me and the police charged me with robbing one Mr. Sowunmi of N3,000 and some jewelries.” He was convicted of the crime on September 13, 1983. He spent the next 19 years in the condemned cell before his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by then Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu. On May 29, 2009, Tinubu’s successor, Governor Babatunde Fashola, gave him a pardon and he was released from jail. The total number of years spent in jail was 27 years.

    His life is as complicated as his case. When he was arrested, he had a threeyear- old son and his wife was three months pregnant. Now his wife and son are nowhere to be found, his father had died and his properties taken over by his brother-in-law. He doesn’t know what happened to his wife’s pregnancy too.

    When he got out of prison, Williams came to his aid and offered him a room in his house. Today, everyone calls him Baba Sunday at the After Care Centre and to keep body and soul together, he has taken to carpentry – a trade he learnt before he went to prison -using tools that were given to him by the Prison authorities.

    “All my tools are bad, I need serious tools to work. If I get N200, 000, I will be able to establish myself. But now, life is hard and business is bad. Whenever I don’t have any job, I join the bricklayers as manual labourer,” Oladapo said.

    Life in the AfterCare Centre An imposing signpost announced the After Care Centre and informed the visitor that it is a vocational management training centre. Located in Odongunyan, Ikorodu, Lagos, it was opened with pomp in 2005, a collaboration between PREMI

    and the Nigeria Prisons Service. According to Williams, the centre was designed to serve as the bridge between the prison and full integration back to the society. Because many of the prisoners had no formal skills, the centre would train them in carpentry, welding, computer studies, barbing, tailoring, and toilet tissue manufacture.

    “This whole place has fallen down,” Williams said as he took a walk around the centre. Of all the skill acquisition trainings available at the centre, only tailoring still functions. The building itself –donated by Williams- had collapsed in several places while the farm, which hitherto consisted of

    piggery, poultry, snail farm and fish pond now boasts of only grass. Inside one of the halls, the toilet tissue manufacturing machine is now home to spiders that have made their web all over it.

    “This is the result of lack of funding from the government. We are supposed to have a booming place here but look at what we have. I have made representations to the federal government but without any response. I am doing this because of the passion I have to help ex-convicts and to make them useful to the society. But this burden is too much for me to carry, there is no way I can do it alone.”

    PREMI had Nigerians who have taken up the cause in the past. One of them is former President Olusegun Obasanjo who in 2000 gave Williams a state pardon. Obasanjo has been instrumental to the release of many prisoners both home and abroad. He serves as the patron of PREMI and he laid the foundation stone of a 42-hectare rehabilitation centre in Ibadan.

    That centre too has collapsed, save for the palm tree plantation which is still being operated manually. Are Afe Babalola is the Chairman of the Board of PREMI and he has also single-handedly fought for the release of many prisoners and personally saw to their rehabilitation.

    Also, His Royal Majesty, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, the Osile of Oke Ona Egba, has been of tremendous help to PREMI and its army of ex-prisoners. But as individuals, they can do very little without the back up of the government.

    At the After Care Centre, the former inmates called Williams “father”. To many of them, he has been the only relative they know, but times are bad and money scarce.

    Having no one to pick the bills, Williams has devised an ingenious way of achieving his goals. “We can’t house and feed the exconvicts; we don’t have the money to do that, so before a prisoner is released, we contact his family and prepare them for his homecoming. Then, we keep monitoring them from there.”

    Problems of integration

    The first problem a prisoner faces upon release is that of accommodation. For many of these former inmates, while coming out of prison may offer freedom, it also offers harsh realities. Oladapo realised this shortly after he left prison. “The bishop has been kind to me, but this is the 4th year and I need to move to my own place, but there is no money to rent a house,” he told The Nation.

    When funding was available, William used to house desperate inmates in his rehabilitation centre in Ibadan. That has since stopped and many of the former inmates who had nowhere to go soon find themselves in the wrong crowd. Some are back in prison.

    There is also the problem of acceptance.

    Some family members were reluctant to take their own back after such a violent past. It was a stain on them, but the larger problem is with the society which has refused to give them a second chance. Dada said he has had to work twice harder to measure up to the minimum acceptable standards.

    “Most people still view us as dangerous. I don’t blame them; if it didn’t happen to me, I would have done the same. It’s difficult to identify genuinely changed people, so the people are skeptical. But I think everybody needs a chance and once you have not misbehaved, then the society should give you a chance,” he said.

    Dada and the rest like him have had a raw deal with rejection by the society. They have had to bear the humiliation silently, live with slammed opportunity and watch their life’s hope fade away. That is the lot of many exinmates in Nigeria.

    According to an ex-inmate who went into drugs and spent some years in prison in Thailand, living outside could be more difficult than in jail. “The first year usually is so tough, it’s like 20 years in jail put together,” said the former drug baron who refused to mention his name.

    Getting a good job is totally out of the equation. The best most ex-inmates do is to become pastors. Others like Oladapo and Abure would go back to their trades and live in the dream of a prosperous life in the future. For those who dared like Dada, the stigmatisation of being an ex- convict would dampen any dream of a great future.

    “I also think the stigmatisation is the cause of all these violent crimes because when you don’t give people a chance, they have nowhere to turn to. When you help an ex-convict, you keep yourself safe. If you stigmatise and the person doesn’t get help, he’s coming back to you because resentment would set in,’’ Dada said.

    Williams also attributed the stigmatization experienced by most ex-inmates to ignorance. When he also came out of prison, he had to face resentment from people who totally distrusted his motives. Now, 30 years after, Williams has under his tutorship thousands of ex-prisoners whom he has helped find a new life. “We lack understanding that if we fail to rehabilitate,

    reform and resettle the ex-convicts we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. When they leave the prisons and they could not find help outside, they will commit another crime and go back inside,” William said.

    Rehabilitation

    The AfterCare Centre appears to be a genuine panacea to the issue of rehabilitation for ex-prisoners and that only option has also fallen apart. According to Adetola Kazeem, one way the government can attack the problem is to begin the rehabilitation in phases. “There could be rehabilitation in phases; the government can put in place comprehensive skill rehabilitation for them and for those who have acquired skills, the government should give them a small grant to start off.”

    His position is not different from that of Abure who wants the government to build a large factory that would employ ex-prisoners.

    “When you come out and you try for a long time you don’t have something to do, you will go back to crime. That is why I want the government to build a large factory that would cater for ex-prisoners,” said Abure.

    Williams admitted that the Nigeria Prison Service has partnered with both PREMI and After Care but the commitment of government is waning and funds are not forthcoming, therefore the centre has been in doldrums for a long time. “The federal and state governments need to wake up. This is not an issue for debate at all, it is time they know this is a big problem. I cannot do it alone; we need the government to take action. I am available to do all I can if the government is willing and ready,” Williams declared.

    But Abdul Rasheed Alimi, a Deputy Controller of Prisons in charge of After Care Programme, told The Nation that those who are willing have been trained and equipped.

    “For those who are willing to go into vocational training, we teach them various vocational skills. We have tailoring, carpentry, welding, barbing and we have educational aspects too. Now, upon discharge, for those that have been involved in the trainings, before they are released, we liaise with their families and see how we can help in resettling them,” Alimi said.

    He also enumerated some of the success stories the Prison Service has recorded: “It is essential to cater for inmates that have changed and are willing to be of good behaviour and good citizens. We relate with their communities and relatives. The After Care Service would then help in resettling inmates. Last year December, we took some of our inmates to Abuja and we gave them equipment for their resettlement. One of them is in Ikorodu. Over the years, we have resettled a number of inmates. We have their records.

    We give them the equipment free of charge, it is government that gave us these equipment and then we continuously monitor their progress,” he added.

    Abure insists that government can do much better. There are so many ex-inmates out there that are on the verge of returning to crime. “There is a guy at the park, he doesn’t have anything and he sleeps in the buses. I don’t like to go near him,” he said.

    Oladapo is still battling his old demons. He wants to prove he was innocent of the crime that ruined his life. He asked The Nation reporter to help him prove his case.

    “Please, go to Amukoko, ask for Fijabi and Alhaji, help me find them and let them tell you the truth. I was not an armed robber,” he pleaded. Innocent or guilty, that would make little difference to the desperate situation he now finds himself.

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  • Two dead, six trapped in Lagos building collapse

    Two dead, six trapped in Lagos building collapse

    Tragedy struck in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos yesterday. A two-storey building under construction caved in, killing two builders. The second victim was brought out at 9.30 pm, while the fate of six others, including a pastor said to be living on the ground floor, is yet to be ascertained as they remain trapped in the rubble.

    As at press time, frantic efforts were still in progress to excavate the trapped victims of the ill-fated structure located at19, Bashiru Street.

    It was gathered that the building collapsed around 4:45pm while the construction workers were still on duty. Some of them were also trapped. The Nation also gathered that four of the workers were rescued alive.

    The General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr.Femi Oke-Osanyintolu told reporters that the agency’s quick response and efforts of other security agencies facilitated the rescue operation.

    The official said it was too early to conclude on what must have caused the collapse of the building, which approval was allegedly granted by the Federal Ministry of Housing.

    An eye witness said he was in an adjourning building when the building collapsed, saying: “I heard a large bang and the next thing we saw was that the building undergoing construction just collapsed.

    “Immediately after, we saw a little boy crying, saying that the construction workers, numbering about seven, had sent him to buy water for them, only for him to return to discover that the building which they were working on, had collapsed.”

    NEMA’s South West Information Officer, Ibrahim Farinloye, who also confirmed the story, said efforts were being made to save one of the victims crying for help, adding that the agency would work overnight.

    “The trapped victims are construction workers and their apprentice, who was the only survivor, was sent on an errand. We just got a voice under the rubble and rescue work to get the victim out is ongoing. The person was speaking Hausa language and he said five of them are trapped,” he added.

    As at the time of filing in this report, rescue operations by security operatives and emergency agencies, including Civil Defence Corps, LASEMA, and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) officials, were still ongoing, in effort to rescue the trapped persons from the rubble.

    Meanwhile, the state government has given the owner and occupants of a three-storey building beside the collapse building 24-hour ultimatum to vacate it because it had failed construction “integrity test.” This, it explained, was aimed at forestalling another tragedy.

  • Exhibits in Funsho Williams’ case destroyed, court told

    Exhibits in Funsho Williams’ case destroyed, court told

    A  Lagos High Court was yesterday told why the trial of those accused of killing a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant Funsho Williams seven years ago is being delayed.

    A prosecution witness told court that the delay was caused by the destruction of some exhibits brought by an expert pathologist, who conducted a post-mortem on the deceased.

    The exhibits, he said, went bad because of epileptic power supply.

    Ovie Oyokomino, a Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Forensics at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, told Justice Adeniyi Adebajo that “the perishable evidence such as blood samples as well as the vitrous humour of the eye went bad due to interrupted power supply in the course of refrigerating.”

    Six defendants, Bulama Kolo, Musa Maina, David Cassidy, Tuna Sonani, Mustapha Kayode and Okponwasa Imariabie, are standing trial on a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder.

    They were alleged to have, on or about July 27, 2006, at 34A, Corporation Drive, Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, conspired to murder Williams, an engineer.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty to the offence, which contravenes Sections 316 and 324 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2003.

    Oyokomino said he and his men visited the crime scene about 12:30pm following a call from the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Zone II.

    He told the court that a mattress and cushion containing shoe prints were collected from the deceased’s home, adding that a blood-stained pink shirt was found in a Samsonite suitcase in the third bedroom.

    The witness said a green rope that was notched in various places was used by the killers to gain access into Williams’ house, adding: “The assailants gained entry into his apartment (his wing of a twin duplex) from the unoccupied second wing of the twin duplex.”

    He said: “I got there at about 12:30pm with my men. There were so many people; we could hardly get into the scene with our vehicle. The deceased was in a lying position on the floor; his arms were tied behind him. His head region was under the bed and we observed blood around the head on the floor.

    “He was wearing a multi-coloured Ankara ‘Buba and Sokoto’. The ‘Sokoto’ had shifted, thereby revealing his white under-pant. There was evidence of ransacking the whole upstairs including the family’s living room and master bedroom. We processed for finger prints, shoe prints and noted the position of things considered to be relevant for our forensic work, which included one empty scabbard without the dagger. We did not move the body from the position we found it. The pathologist who subsequently moved the body discovered the dagger under it.”

    The witness said there was a manhole in the concrete ceiling for ease of maintenance, adding: “An opening of 2 by 2 covered with a plywood board was made on the ceiling. The manhole was just two feet from the dividing wall of the duplexes and it was similar with the other side. The building has a common roof.

    “They used a green colour nylon rope notched in a number of places for easy usage to descend into the deceased’s apartment. We collected the rope, mattress, containing shoe print, cushion in the living room with shoe print. We also found a blood-stained long-sleeve shirt, pink in colour, in a Samsonite suitcase in the third room.”

    According to Oyokomino, the police at that time, relied on the mode of entry into the apartment to effect arrest, adding that two suspects who had previously broken into apartments in similar pattern, were nabbed.

    He said DNA materials were collected from the suspects and tested in a forensic laboratory in Britain, adding that the suspects were released after the DNA report exonerated them.

    Oyokomino added: “The Investigating Police Officer, IPO, investigating the case later came back with suspects apprehended with the cell phone of the deceased, which was removed the day the incident occurred.

    “We got an order from the Magistrate’s Court to obtain blood samples of the new suspects along with those of the policemen who were attached to the deceased and his private security guard. Three of the suspects are police officers. We obtained the blood samples from the suspects while in detention. Samples were sent for DNA profile, which were reported inconclusive. This was reported to the prosecuting counsel who immediately set in motion to obtain fresh samples through a court order at the High Court.”

    “I was later informed that the judge at the time gave an order, but I never saw the certified true copy till now. It was only recently that I learnt that the order could not be carried out because the presiding judge at that time died without signing the order she made,” he said.

    Asked by the court where the exhibits were, the witness said they were at the forensic department, including “body tissues and blood samples brought by the pathologist who conducted autopsy on the late Williams.”

    Prosecuting counsel Mrs. O.A. Akin-Adesomojo prayed the court for an order to collect fresh DNA samples from all the suspects in order to match same with the blood stains found on the shirt at Williams’ residence.

    She said it was necessary to obtain further samples from all the suspects so that those who may not be involved in the crime would be freed, but counsel to the defendants, Okezie Agbara, objected. He the prosecution had ample time since July 27, 2006 that the deceased died, to make its requests, adding: “It will be unfair to come through the back door to make another request.”

    Justice Adebajo adjourned the case till June 3.

  • Police smash pastor-led kidnap gang

    Police smash pastor-led kidnap gang

    •’We will fish out Bamigbetan’s abductors’

    A 12-man kidnap gang allegedly led by a pastor, Solomon Eze, 33, has been smashed by the police.

    Lagos State Police chief Umar Manko, who paraded the suspects at the command headquarters in Ikeja, said the police would fish out the kidnappers of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Chair Kehinde Bamigbetan. Bamigbetan, who was abducted on April 15, was released last weekend.

    The pastor was arrested with a landlord, three drivers, a commercial motorcyclist and a clothes seller.

    One of them, a suspected fake Lance Corporal, Joseph Onyeami, was said to have died when he jumped from a two-storey building at Agboju, a Lagos suburb, in a bid to evade arrest.

    The others are: Sunday James, 29; Emmanuel Iloakazi, 26; Ikechukwu Okafor aka Osuofia I, 37; Obinna Egbugha, 26; Ikechukwu Chedom, and Christian Ezinkwo aka Alhaji, 31. Onyeami is dead; five others are at large.

    Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) recovered three AK47 rifles, 11 Ak47 magazines, each loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunition, from the gang.

    Manko said on April 6, about 2.00am, the officer-in-charge, SARS, Superintendent of Police (SP) Abba Kyari, received information that a robbery/kidnap gang that relocated from the east to Lagos planned operate that day. The police, he said, swung into action, tracking down Eze in Ajegunle.

    Eze, he said, confessed to several robberies and kidnapping in the state, after which the suspect led detectives to one of the gang’s hideouts at Ikorodu, where an AK47 rifle with serial number 6090 was recovered. The detectives, he added, arrested other members of the gang in Surulere, Ajegunle and Ajangbadi.

    All the suspects, Manko said, led detectives to Ajegunle where two AK47 rifles with serial numbers 28097 and 23451, including 11 AK47 magazines loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunition each, were recovered. The weapons, he said, were concealed in the gang’s operational vehicle, an unregistered Nissan Sunny car.

    They also led detectives to their detention camps at Ikorodu and Ibeju-Lekki where two houses were searched and sealed off.

    Eze, who hails from Osisioma village, Abia State, described himself as a “deliverance minister” at Bride Assembly in Ijesha, Lagos Mainland.

    Asked why he got involved in robbery and kidnapping, he said: “On October 15, 2012, I met a brother, Uchenna where I used to pray for people – Mountain of Mercy, Ikoyi, Osun State. After three days’ prayer, he started calling me. He asked me where I live and do prayer. I told him that I live in the Leadway Estate, Eruwe. came with one Ogonna on January 2. Ogonna collected my number and left. I did not see him for more than a month when I wanted to travel to Anambra for a church programme.

    “I left them in Ikorodu and travelled to Anambra. I was there when my brother, Kingsley called me that the police had arrested him because of me. I returned and reported myself at the Ajegunle Police Station. I was arrested and brought to SARS. Uchenna told me that his brother used to bring cars from abroad and asked me to follow him to bring them. We went and brought a Toyota Camry car. He gave me N30,000.

    “I only prayed for Uchenna before my encounter with them. I am married. My wife sells fruits and she is carrying a seven-month pregnancy. It was James that put me into trouble because I arrested him. I did not participate in four armed robbery and kidnap operations as he is claiming. I don’t even know that I was arrested for belonging to a robbery/kidnapping gang. It is a surprise to me because I have never been involved in this type of case.”

    James, the gang’s second-in-command, said he used to smuggle Okrika (second-hand clothes) wears from Ghana. A native of Ndieze Opoto in Ebonyi State, he said he took to robbery and kidnapping in December, last year, when he lost his goods to Customs men at the Togo border.

    He said: “Out of frustration, I met Victor Emmanuel, now at large at Mazamaza in Lagos. I narrated my problem to him and he promised to help me. He said we should look for a house. He contacted one Okeh living at Ajah. When we got a house, I called one Victor who said work had started; that we would be kidnapping people to keep there and collect ransom.

    “Our first victim was a woman. We blocked her on Lagos-Ajah Road, forced her inside our vehicle and took her to our Ikorodu detention camp. Her people paid N1 million. I got N100,000. In the second operation, we carried one man and collected N1 million. Like the second, our third operation was on the same Ajah Road. We carried a man and collected N2 million. We used N1.5 million to buy a Pathfinder Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). My role was to take victims to our detention camp.”

    Iloakazi, a taxi driver who hails from Imo State, said: “I am a landlord in Shibiri area of Ajangbadi and used to drive Sunday James.

    “The Gulf car I was driving for him had its windshield and side mirror broken. He gave me N45,000 for the repairs. It was not the money I got from him that I used to build my house at Shibiri Ajangbadi. I was formerly working with Guinness Plc Nigeria in Lagos.”

    Okafor, a bus driver who hails from Ihiala in Anambra State, said: “Sunday chartered my car to Ijebu-Ode side and paid me N45,000. I only followed them once. They wanted to force the second one on me with gun, but I refused. I forgot to inform police about what they were doing before I was arrested. It was only Sunday I knew at the Jibowu motor park. I did not know that he is a kidnapper and armed robber.”

    Imo State-born Egbugha, a commercial motorcycle rider in Ajangbadi on the outskirts of Lagos, said he only took Chedom and Iloakazi on his bike on at different.

    Chedom said his brother duped him of N1.3 million after which another South African-based brother helped him with N700,000 which, he said, was “consumed by the high cost of living in Lagos.” He added: “My wife ran away with my son who later died after a brief illness and she became a full-time prostitute. One of my friends, the late Efiigbo, who used to go to Cotonou with me went to Onitsha and bought an AK47 for N1million. I took policemen to Nwafada’s place to get our operational AK47 rifle in his possession but he escaped. Onyeami aka Lance Corporal Joseph jumped down from his hotel and died when SARS men cordoned off the hotel.”

    Chedom, who said he broke his hand in an accident, said he participated in robbery with Sunday Emmanuel, Ikechukwu and Okwudili only once.

    Ezinkwo, a truck driver from Anambra State, said: “I am a victim of circumstance because my brother, Ikechukwu Chedom gave me a AK47 rifle to keep in my Nissan Sunny car.”

  • Polytechnic losses lecturer

    The management, students and staff of the Federal Polytechnic Auchi, Edo State, were bereaved on Tuesday. A lecturer in the Mass Communication department, Mr. Nasiru Ikhazuagbe, died after a brief illness at Faith Foundation Hospital in Edo State. The news of his death was broken by his wife, Zubedatu.

    His remains were moved to his Ogbido, Edo State home where he was buried according to Islamic rites.

    His students said his death came as a shock because he taught them a day before his death, and that he was still seen in the school premises on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

    A source said: “He slumped on Friday and he was rushed to Faith Foundation Hospital where he was hospitalised and was receiving treatment until his death early on Tuesday”.