The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Agony as 78-yr-old disappears without trace

    Agony as 78-yr-old disappears without trace

    Three weeks after 78-year-old Chief Gbadamosi Fakoya disappeared from his residence in Soyindo area of Sagamu, Ogun State, his whereabouts still remain a mystery.

    The septuagenarian was said to have left home for an undisclosed location at about 4pm three Thursdays ago but has not returned home.

    Chief Fakoya was said to have dressed up on the fateful day for an unknown destination. Those who saw him while leaving his compound thought he wanted to take a stroll, without knowing that he would not return home.

    Family sources said the missing septuagenarian is a traditionalist and a devotee of the Agemo deity.

    “Baba (Fakoya) does not leave home anyhow. He only goes to his farm in Iperu and doesn’t like attending parties or social gathering at all. We have launched a search party for him but our effort has not yielded any fruit. We have also taken his photograph to some police stations in Sagamu Local Government, all to no avail, said a source who spoke in confidence. It was gathered that the family had also sought the help of men of a local vigilance group in Sagamu, in their quest to find their missing patriarch.

    The group, it was gathered, spread its searchlight on Pa Fakoya’s whereabouts to Ijebu and Ibadan, but their intervention has not produced positive result to date. For information on the whereabouts of Pa Fakoya, his distraught family can be reached on 08036971105.

  • Boko Haram victim cries out: Where are my seven children and their mother?

    Boko Haram victim cries out: Where are my seven children and their mother?

    A man in his early 40s is frantically searching for his wife and seven children. He has not sighted them for more than three months after their Vi village in Adamawa State was invaded by the deadly Boko Haram sect on September 7. Matthew Zira said he had conducted all the search he could without the luck of finding any of them alive or dead. Now, he is roaming the streets of Jos, the Plateau State capital, frantically searching for his beloved family members.

    Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent in Jos, Zira said: “My name is Matthew Zira. I am from Vi village in Minchika Local Government Area, Adamawa State. I was living comfortably with my family until that fateful Friday.

    “Before that day, there had been rumours that Boko Haram would attack the village, but no one knew when they would come. So on that day, as usual, I went out of the house to look for my daily bread. I ride commercial motorcycle in the village, I am also a farmer, and did the commercial motorcycle work when farm work was over.

    “So, I left home as early as 6 am on the 7th of September 2014 on my motorcycle to commence the business of the day. But at about noon, I started hearing gunshots and everyone said Boko Haram had arrived town. I immediately rushed back home to go and evacuate my family, but before I got home, they had fled along with other villagers to an unknown destination.

    “I went round town looking for them but could not find them. I went to the police station, hospitals and everywhere but could not find them. Before the evening of that day, Boko Haram had already taken over the entire village completely. I was advised not to go back home because all the houses in the village had been razed by Boko Haram.

    “I fled to Minchika to continue the search for my children. Later, we had to flee to Yola when we heard that Boko Haram would attack Minchika. I spent one month in Yola searching everywhere for my children but I could not find them. Those of us who escaped from Vi village and other surrounding villages were camped at the NYSC camp in Yola. I thought of meeting my children there in the camp but they were not there.

    “I had to come to Jos because I was told that thousands of Adamawa people ran to Jos. But I have searched all the IDP camps in Jos since the 5th of November when I arrived, I can’t still find them. There is even no iota of information about where I could find them. “Others who lost their families during the rush to escape have found their people, but in my own case, I’m still searching in vain. It is only God that will reveal to me what happened to my family. So, I am only looking up to God now because I have done all that is humanly possible.

    “I am really in trauma; at night I can’t sleep, I keep thinking of my children. At times, if I am eating and the thought of the whereabouts of my children came to my mind, I will not be able to eat any longer, from that moment I will lose appetite.

    “I am pleading with any Nigerian who knows where I can locate my children to contact me on my phone – 07037728905. My wife’s name is Tinana Mathew. My seven children are Rita, Ziramatu, Tumbamatu, Kwata, Racheal and one-yearold Doris. Please, I am eagerly waiting for any information on their whereabouts.”

  • Okada man slumps, dies

    Okada man slumps, dies

    IT was a tragic end for a 27-year-old Okada rider, Sulaiman Lawal, who died shortly after an encounter with some policemen on October 28, 2014, in the Oyingbo area of Lagos State. Eyewitnesses said Lawal, who until his death resided at No 90, Jebba Street, Ebute Metta, Lagos, slumped to death shortly after the brutal encounter with the minions of law attached to Denton Police Division, Ebute Metta, Lagos. The incident, according to sources, happened about 8 pm when Lawal fled as he sighted the policemen during a raid on Okada riders in the area.

    He was said to have been given a hot chase by the policemen and beaten up, while his motorbike was also impounded. An eyewitness who asked not to be named said: “He was alerted by his colleagues of the presence of some policemen who were carrying out a raid on Okada riders but he unfortunately fell into their trap.

    The policemen then tried to forcibly impound his motorbike; hence, he fled the scene. The policemen then pursued him and mercilessly beat him up to the extent that he became so weak and barely managed to return home, while his motorbike was impounded and taken to their station. “It was when he got home that his health worsened and he decided to have a shower in order to apply a balm on his body when he slumped and died instantly. As a matter of fact, blood was gushing out of his mouth and nostrils when he collapsed on his way to the bathroom.

    ” The police, in a swift reaction, however, denied that any of its men beat the Okada man. Angry youths and sympathisers were said to have stormed the police station to register their annoyance about the alleged complicity of the policemen in the death of Lawal, but they were pacified by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station. “ We (the youths) went to the station to register our displeasure about the circumstances surrounding Lawal’s death, but the DPO of the station begged us and pleaded that we should go and bury Lawal’s corpse.

    He even gave us some telephone numbers to call if we encountered other policemen while taking Lawal’s body for burial in his home town in Kwara State. His (Lawal’s) body was subsequently taken to Ilorin where his burial held on October 30,” said a resident, who simply identified himself as Adewale. A close family member, who spoke in confidence, explained that the deceased had gone out on the unfortunate day because he needed some money to defray his ailing mother’s hospital bills.

    “Lawal’s mother had been sick lately and was taken to a hospital in Ilorin, where she is currently receiving treatment. In fact, he had to relocate his wife and two children from Lagos to Ilorin, because of his mother’s condition which required a lot of care. He was asked to pay about N24, 000 for his mother’s treatment but had just saved about N16,000. He had hoped that he would make some money to complete the amount requested to clear the bill when he met his untimely death as a result of the unfortunate encounter with the overzealous policemen.”

    The spokesman of Lagos Police Command, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, said: “It is not true that he was beaten by our men. Two of our men were actually on surveillance in Oyingbo, when the deceased was passing on a prohibited route for Okada. On sighting one of our men, he abandoned his motorbike and ran away following which his motorbike was taken to the station. ‘’It was the following day that some people reported that he was found dead in his room. I want to use this opportunity to warn Okada riders to desist henceforth from plying prohibited routes because violators will be arrested.”

  • Kwara police parade four suspected church robbers, others

    Kwara police parade four suspected church robbers, others

    THE Kwara State Police Command has paraded one Abdullahi Muhammed for allegedly robbing a church in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital. The name of the church, located in Iluteju Oko-Erin area of the metropolis, was given as Apostle of Christ Church. Also paraded were three robbery suspects who allegedly robbed a Professor of the University of Ilorin in his home.

    Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state Commissioner of Police, Salihu Garba, said the robbery suspects who allegedly attacked the church were seven in number. Mr. Garba said: “On the 25th of October, 2014 a gang of armed robbers invaded Apostle of Christ Church, Iluteju Oko-Erin and carted away the sum of N308,000, a phone and a gold wrist watch.” Other items recovered from them include one blackberry and one Ipad, the commissioner added.

    He gave the names of the robbery suspects that attacked the Professor’s residence as Samuel Olawale Pedro, Ogunjobi Segun and Alhaji Danjuma Abu, adding that they were also allegedly involved in another robbery incident in the metropolis on the same day. Items recovered from them include nine wrist watches, two cameras, one white garment and jewellery.

    Two of the suspects who spoke to reporters said their friends introduced them to crime. Ogunjobi Segun said: “I was brought here due to robbery. That will be my first time of being involved in robbery. It was just a friend of mine that led me into it. I am a barber in Lagos. I stay at Ojuelegba. I came here on a visit.” Samuel Olawale, who said he hailed from Kogi State, regretted his action.

    He said: “I was brought here because of a robbery incident. I robbed a professor’s wife because of bad friends. “They initiated me into the act. They told me to go with them and I did not know the effect. “We were six in number. Three of us ran away and they were not apprehended. I am a furniture maker in Lagos. “It was during the Sallah period that I came to Ilorin. After the Sallah celebration, they initiated me. I have not been long in robbery business. This is my first time and I am really regretting it.”

  • The pangs of cable vandals in Plateau

    The pangs of cable vandals in Plateau

    TWO cable vandals in Jos, Plateau State have got instant justice with their electrocution in the process of stealing. The more recent of the two incidents occurred in an isolated area of Dadin Kowa, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State when a young man whose age was estimated at 35 sneaked out of his house while everyone else was sleep. With a ladder, he climbed one of the electric poles and successfully cut two high tension cables from one end. He then alighted and moved the ladder to another pole in order to cut the other ends of the cables. To show that he was an expert in the art of stealing electric cables, he left the ladder and sat on the pole bar.

    He wore hand gloves to prevent direct contact with the naked cable. It was about 11.30 pm and everyone in the neighbourhood had gone to bed because there was no light for them to stay late that night. The cable vandal thought it was the best time to carry out his plan since everywhere was dark and no one could see him. But just at the point he lay his pliers on the cables to cut them, electricity was restored and the cable thief was instantly electrocuted. But rather than fall from the electric pole, his lifeless body remained hanging till the next day when the people in the neighbourhood woke up to behold his lifeless body on the bar of the electric pole. Some residents of the community recalled that they heard a spark the previous night when light was restored, but they did not know that someone had been electrocuted until they woke up the next day and found the body on the pole.

    A member of the community, Simon Madugu, said: “Last night, a lot of us went to bed on time as there was no light to watch the television. At about 11.30 pm, we heard a violent spark and some of us thought it must have come from an overloaded transformer. So we ignored it and continued sleeping. “But the next day, we started hearing that a lifeless body of someone was hanging from the electric pole, and we all rushed out to see the body.” Mr Paul Gindiri, manager of a Stone Crushing Company located near the scene, said:

    “The same electric lines have been vandalised five times in the last one year. It is my company that keeps replacing them each time they are vandalised because this is the only line supplying power to my company. I did not know that it was these boys that are doing it. Now God has caught one of them. “But he should have been alive to help the police with investigation. It is obvious he is not the only one in the act.

    ” The neighbours then called on the police and men of the Civil Defence Corps who came to remove the body of the criminal from the pole. The second case of natural justice occurred in an isolated area of Tundunwada, Jos where a young man was electrocuted and his body left hanging from an electric pole.

    The incident occurred when at about 11 am when most members of the area had gone to town for their legitimate businesses. But while other members of the community were rushing out early to source for livelihood, the deceased suspected vandal was plotting how to execute his plan to vandalise electric cables. So at about 11 am on that fateful day, the deceased, who was identified as Bulus Dangayi, took a ladder, climbed the poles and had made a good harvest of electric cables. “But as he climbed the last pole to round off his business for the day, electricity was restored.

    The victim had not expected that power would be restored at that time of the day because he was aware that power supply to the community was being rationed. There had been light in the area the previous day and night, and as the light went off in the area, it was the turn of another part of the community to enjoy electricity. One of the residents, Inuwa Bala, said: “It has been long since our community was placed on power rationing. We would have it for 24 hours and they would serve light to another area for another 24 hours before we would get it again. “So everybody knew when it was their turn, and that was what the criminals took advantage of to steal electric cables.

    They would steal the cables and plunge us into darkness until members of the community would contribute money to buy another cable. But God is at work. On the day this boy was electrocuted, he least expected there would be light. So, he was doing it with confidence. But, as they say, every day is for the thief but one day for the owner.” In the case of Dangayi, the family quickly identified him and he was taken for burial instantly before the police could hear of it. Also in Apata, Jos North area of the state, a similar incident occurred. But it was a case of illegal connection of electric line. The victim was a known electrician in the area. Eyewitnesses said he normally climbed the pole to change the lines that supplied power to his shop. But this time around, the electrician made a wrong connection which resulted in a spark. He was electrocuted instantly and his body hanged on the pole.

    The 28-year-old electrician is identified as Chukwuebuka Eze. “We saw him climb the pole in Agwan Lambu quarters around noon ostensibly to change the supply phase to his shop when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) suddenly restored light “The shirt he wore caught fire and burnt out even as his body remained glued to the electric line. We heard a spark when the thing occurred and we rushed out to see the man on fire on the pole. We could not but help the PHCN people to switch off the lines so as to bring down his body” Some onlookers rushed to PHCN office to lodge a report for the electricity supply to the area to be cut off and it took the combined effort of PHCN officials and some concerned residents to bring down the corpse of the deceased from the pole. The corpse was later taken away by the PHCN officials accompanied by three policemen.

    Only a few days ago, residents of Old Cemetery Street in the heart of Jos city were thrown into confusion when a suspected fuel thief was electrocuted while attempting to siphon fuel from an MTN base station. The victim was a known person in the area except that they never knew that he lived by stealing fuel from Telecom Service-based stations in town. He was identified as Timkok. The telecom station was fenced and barricaded with barb wires. But the suspect knew there was no electricity in the area and he found it a juicy opportunity to play a fast one. They came in a group of five, but while the suspect was scaling through the naked electric cables, electricity was restored and he was electrocuted instantly. The Public Relations Officer of the Plateau State Police Command, Emmanuel Abu, who confirmed the incidents, advised youths in the state to engaged themselves in productive ventures rather than stealing.

  • Vigilance group arrests four murder suspects

    THE Rivers State Command of Vigilante Group of Nigeria, (VGN) has arrested four suspects in connection with the killing of one Obunikem by unknown gunmen last week in Ahaoda-East Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    The State Commander of VGN, Rivers State Command, Mr. Mambo Wilcox, said his men in Ochiagba Community, Ahoada East LGA of Rivers State found a dead man along Ochiagba-Ogbologolo road of the area. He said the dead body of the deceased was found by one of the Ward Commanders, Mr. Otishi Cosmos, who thereafter reported the incident to the District Commander in Ahoada Area Command. He said the suspects have made confessionary statement admitting that they were responsible for the killing of the victim.

    He added that the suspects were found with locally made pistols during a search on them. Commander Wilcox said: “After hearing the news of the victim’s death and his missing corpse, Mr. Amobi Richard, one of our commanders in the area, mobilised his men on surveillance to search the area. “In the course of investigation, our men apprehended two suspects, Emmanuel and Okechukwu, who in their confessional statements, admitted that they were responsible for the murder of the late Obunikem.

    “The two suspects have confessed that they were four in number, two from Ochiagba and the other two from Ogbologbolo Communities of the LGA. As we were searching them, we found locally made pistols with them before we handed them over to the police.”

    Wilcox also added that the paramount ruler of Ochiagba, Chief Benjamin Okirie and other chiefs of the community were invited alongside the paramount ruler of the neighbouring community of Ogbologbolo to the scene of the crime by VGN officers. He affirmed that VGN, Rivers State Command, will do everything possible to ensure that the lives and properties in Rivers State are protected, especially now that elections are fast approaching. Efforts to reach the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officers, Ahmad Mohammad, on the matter did not succeed.

  • ‘Police would not have caught me like a fowl if I had my charms on’

    ‘Police would not have caught me like a fowl if I had my charms on’

    A robbery suspect, Olawunmi Oluwafemi, has said that he would not have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Ogun State Police Command if he had carried his charms with him while exchanging gunfire with the police because they would have acted as ‘bulletproof’. T h i r t y – t h r e e – y e a r – o l d Oluwafemi a.k.a. Femi Kuti, a native of Okuku, Osun State also confessed that his special role in cult fights and the robbery gang to which he belonged was to shoot dead anyone identified as an enemy, adding that he had killed more than eight people.

    The suspect and some members of his gang who were still at large were said to have constituted a public threat in Ogun State as they killed and maimed innocent people under the cover of Eyee, an occult group that carried out all sorts of criminal activities, including armed robbery and bloody cult fights.

    A police source said the cult had wanted to unleash terror during the annual Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu Ode before the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Okoye Ikemefuna, ordered Mohammed Tijani, the Superintendent of Police in charge of SARS), to relocate to the area for effective policing and possible arrest of Oluwafemi and other members of the gang.

    It was said to have taken the police a lot of patience to arrest Oluwafemi, the suspected leader of the gang, because they did not want to hurt innocent people at the ceremony. The police also did not want to shoot him in a manner that he would die so that he would be able to help the police to locate the fleeing members of the gang. In the exchange of gunfire that ensued, the police succeeded in shooting Oluwafemi in the lower limb so that he could not run again, after which he was arrested.

    Yet at the time he spoke with our correspondent, Oluwafemi was in critical condition as he could not stand with his badly battered legs. The police also revealed that they recovered from him a locally made double barrel pistol loaded with live ammunition, three expended cartridges and some charms. Speaking with our correspondent, Oluwafemi said he was married with two children but had to sack his wife after finding her with another man. “If not for the two children she had for me, I would have shot her dead the day I caught her committing adultery with one stupid man,” he said. Oluwafemi added: “My parents are late.

    My father died of a brief illness while my mother and grandmother died of old age. My father’s name is Olajere Oluwafemi. He was sick before he died in the 1990s while my mother died in an auto accident. “There were three of us born of the same mother and father. I attended Okuku Community High School and completed the Senior Secondary School in flying colours. But I could not go to university for financial reasons and a misunderstanding between my father and my mother.

    I started seeing hell when my father and mother separated and threw me out to my grandmother, who managed to take care of my secondary education. “When I could not secure an employment, I decided to go into apprenticeship, learning how to operate saw machine. I later got employed in one of the saw mills in Ijebu on a monthly salary of N10,000. “I later left the saw mill and started selling hard drugs. It was the business that brought me into contact with some cult members and some rich people in town because they were the ones that patronised me.” Asked how he was initiated into Eyee cult, he said: “It was one Ahmed, a friend, who introduced me to the Eyee society.

    We lived in the same area in Ijebu. My mother is an Ijebu woman. One day, Ahmed told me that we should go to one party and enjoy ourselves. He advised me to dress well so that we would not be prevented from getting in. I knew him to be a cult member but I did not know that he planned to initiate me into the cult. “When we got there, we entered a beer parlour. As I looked towards the back of the compound, I saw some boys who looked like Eyee members. We started drinking but those at the backyard were drinking and smoking heavily. He later left me and went somewhere he did not disclose to me. He came back around 8 pm and asked me to follow him into a nearby bush around Olabisi Onabanjo University.

    “There were many boys there, including cult members and new members about to be initiated. They ordered me to join those who came to be initiated. We line up and more people joined us, making the line to become longer. “At a point, they started beating us. They stripped us of our clothes so that only our pants remained. They marched on us, dancing, drinking and smoking as they did so. I had no choice but to be patient with them. They blindfolded us so that we would not know where we were. There were more than 30 of us and they beat us with horsewhip or till day break.

    “They asked us so many questions, including whether we would be able to keep their secrets or reveal them to non-members. We said no. As they were beating and marching on us, they were asking for our names and writing them in a note book. “Later, they brought kolanut and used a razor blade to cut open my finger. They mixed my blood with the kolanut and asked me to chew everything. After this, they started giving us our initiate names. I was given Ayee Skipoo. “Later, they asked us to move to one side.

    They moved us out of the initiation ground, untied our faces and started giving us orientation. They threatened that if any of us betrayed the society or cult, the oath we took would kill us. “I was given my first assignment when Eyee cult members killed one of my members (Eyee member) inside the main campus of Ogun State University. Fortunately for us, we went to drink palm wine and to smoke gbana

  • Man takes to robbery after being robbed

    Man takes to robbery after being robbed

    DAYS after he was attacked by robbers and stripped of the sum of N29,000 on his way to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a Beninoise also took to armed robbery. Thirty-year-old Bernard Bongi said he was travelling to Port Harcourt for his mother’s burial and payment of his fiacee’s younger brother’s school fees when he was accosted by robbers who took away the sum of N29,000 meant for the two purposes. He said that in his desperate search for money, he was left with no choice but to also take to robbery Bongi was, however, arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command after an order issued by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti to the officer in charge SARS, Mr. Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to track down members of a robbery gang that disarmed two policemen who were sleeping on duty and recover their Ak47 rifles. Identifying himself as the leader of the robbery gang, Bongi, whose nickname is Champion, said: “I was coming back from Port Harcourt in a night bus more than a month ago when some boys numbering about six ordered all the passengers to come down and lie on the ground. They collected my wristwatch, cell phone and N29,000 cash which I wanted to give my fiancée’s younger brother to go to school. That was what made me to become an armed robber because I was desperate to get money to bury my mother. “ The second suspect, Ifeanyi Okafor (35), a welder turned conductor, works at Sunrise, Apapa with a trailer. Asked why he was arrested by the police at Obalende, Lagos, he said: “I was arrested because I went to rob at Ogombo area of Ajah. We snatched handsets, ipad and gold jewellery worth thousands of naira. “We were five in number. We scaled the fence and entered the house through the window. We met the woman with her husband and two daughters while it was raining heavily. We arrested them and started asking them where their money was kept in the house but they said there was no money. Only the husband gave us N20,000, pleading that it was the only money in the house. We collected the money with ipad and jewellery. “We then asked them about the other house at the backyard and the wife said it was for domestic workers. We went to knock at the door of the domestic workers, not knowing that they were policemen on duty. When the door was opened, we found that they were sleeping and we grabbed them and collected their guns. “When we were leaving, we threw away the guns inside the gutter.” On why he became a robber, he said: “I joined a robbery gang because the driver I used to follow to work had an accident and I had no other driver to follow and no money to feed. “I am not married. I rented a house at Agbara for N170,000. It is a self-contained oneroom apartment. I got the money when I was following a trailer. I saved N2,000 daily for two years. We are four in the family; two men and two women. I am the first son. My parents are late.” Asked how many operations he had participated in, Bongi said: “I had gone to three robbery operations. The first one was in Victoria Island, at Whynot Club. We went there and sat down. We kept watch to see a guest that was drunk and threatened him with broken bottles. We collected all his money, phones, wristwatch and Mercedes SUV. The buyer of the SUV, Amadi, has not given us a dime till date. “The second operation was in the same club on Victoria Island. We went there after two weeks. This time, the victims were a man and a woman. The man had a Nissan Amada SUV and the lady a Toyota Camry. “The Camry stopped on the road and we abandoned it at Mile 2 but managed to carry the Amada Jeep to Cotonou where I sold it for N300,000. Four of us, namely Bernard, Emeka Small, Obinna and Chukwuma shared the money. “From the robbery, I was able to make N150,000 out of which I sent N100,000 to my people for the burial of my mother who was then in the mortuary in Benin Republic. “I am based in Cotonou but I normally come to Nigeria once in a while because I once worked here as a driver in an insurance company on Lagos Island. We never used gun. We only use cutters to cut burglaries in order to have access into the house. “The Ak47 rifles we collected from the police were not used by us. We put them in a sack we got from the house of the woman and threw it the gutter. When we got inside the compound, we used a cutter to cut the burglary. When we saw two policemen sleeping, Ifeanyi collected the gun and Small grabbed one of the policemen. Obi grabbed the other one and collected his gun. “One of the policemen scaled the fence and escaped. We started hearing gunshots from Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) vigilance group. We became confused and abandoned the new Toyota Highlander and Toyota Camry and ran away.”

  • Rivers community demands justice 24 years after alleged massacre

    THE people of Umuechem community in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State have demanded for justice and full compensation on the alleged massacre that led to the death of over 200 people in 1990. It would be recalled that 24 years ago, Umuechem, one of the oil communities in Rivers State, was allegedly attacked by the military after the people protested against environmental degradation caused by oil spill from the operation of Shell Petroleum Development (SPDC) in the area. In a Town Hall meeting during the week in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, with Social Action, a non-governmental organisation, the community said the judicial panel set up over the incident did not present a true and fair picture of what happened to their community in 1990. The chairman of the Umuechem Progressive Union Mr. Onwuli Johnson, and other members of the community expressed confidence that the NGO would bring justice to the community and assist them to get their full compensation. The community, who is set for its annual celebration on November 1st 2014, said over 200 houses were burnt down and destroyed with dynamite and other explosives. Mr. Johnson said: “We are happy that Social Action has come to intervene, unlike other NGOs which visited this community but regrettably nothing has come out of it. We are confident that Social Action’s intervention will be the end of our cries for justice. “We have agreed that the Umuechem resolution paper on the 1990 massacre will be presented and handed over to Social Action at the second Town Hall meeting which will take place before November 1st, 2014. “I want the NGO to understand that only N2500 was paid as relief funds to the people. And not all the cheques issued as relief funds were cleared. No other money was paid to anybody for whatever reasons. Most of the people murdered were thrown into the Chokocho River by their attackers.” Another community leader, Chief Sylvester Nwala, in his solidarity speech, said the mass murder that took place in Umuechem in 1990 happened to human beings and not plants or sands. “We have the account of what happened to us and such is unforgettable; no amount of money could be quantified with what the people and the community had suffered. I believe Social Action will achieve our expected dream.” Responding, the NGO’s Head of Community Action and Paralegal Centres, Celestine Akpobari, said his team was in the community to assess the plight of the community and to find ways to assist them to get justice. He said for many years now, the intervention of Social Action has become the only source of hope to those seeking for justice of all kinds. “We are here to intervene, this is a non-violent action. We are glad that the community understands our working plan to achieve justice.” When contacted, the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammed, said: ‘’That was a long time ago. I cannot comment on something I don’t know until I lay my hands on the available records.

  • Burglars on the rampage in Ogun community

    Burglars on the rampage in Ogun community

    SINCE a recent clampdown on robbery gangs by the Ogun State Police Command, the dare devil robbers, who had been terrorising innocent citizens in the state, are believed to have resorted to burgling shops and supermarkets in the state to cart away expensive goods. With instruments like iron cutters and heavy industrial hammers, burglars are said to be having a field day in Iyana-Iyesi community and its neighbouhoods.

    Last month, burglars were reckoned to have broken into more than seven shops and supermarkets in the area. The development has led to calls on the police to checkmate the activities of the hoodlums, particularly because it is capable of halting the rapid development of the area. Others cannot help but wonder why their joy that the menace of armed robbery had been curbed in the area would be cut short by the activities of burglars.

    Some argued that the opening of viewing centres on major roads in the area could have encouraged the ugly development. Upon our reporter’s visit to the Central Mosque area of Iyana-Iyesi where about five shops were burgled and goods worth millions of naira were carted away in one fell swoop, Mr. Obas Innocent, whose medicine and supermarket store was burgled, narrated how the burglars cut the keys to his supermarket in the night and carted away goods and drugs worth hundreds of thousands of naira. He said: “It was on September 30 that they burgled my supermarket in the night. The burglars, who some people suspected was a four-man gang, broke into five shops on that fateful day.

    “They broke into my supermarket and carted away drugs worth thousands of naira. You can see that the drug shelves are empty because they packed all the drugs on display. These were drugs I had just bought a few days before they burgled my shop. “They also carted away provisions and took the sum of N3,000 I left in the drawer. They cut the keys I used to lock the door and the burglary proof to gain entry. Although the police have visited, no arrest has been made so far. “They also burgled four other shops, including the one that sells phones and phone accessories. They carted the shop owner’s phones away.

    “There is also a foam shop. They broke into it and carted away whatever they could lay their hands on. The other one is a nylon shop. They also broke into it. “I was attacked by armed robbers in this shop some years ago. They came into the supermarket when I had not closed. It was between 8.30 pm and 9 pm. They shot at me. More than 40 pellets were extracted from my body. They ransacked the whole place and carted away goods and medicine worth thousands of naira and all the sales I made for that that day. I don’t want to mention the amount, but it was huge. Up till now, nobody has been arrested.

    “The police have visited the affected shops and supermarkets and they say they are still investigating. By the special grace of God, the culprits will be arrested.” Asked why the other victims had not reported the incident to the police, he said: “Some of them see it as a waste of time because of their belief that the police will only be telling them to come today or come tomorrow.

    “They also feel that reporting to the police could endanger their lives because they could be attacked by burglars for reporting them. Most importantly, they do not want to be seen by the burglars as fighting them. “Again, the burglars are not yet known. So, you don’t even know who is watching you.” Our reporter visited the area called Powerline.

    A resident, who spoke with our reporter but pleaded that his name or picture should not be used for security reasons, said: “The road that leads into this community leads into a canal. In that canal, you find people smoky Indian hemp. Some of them do so in order to have the boldness to commit crime.

    “The place is secluded and convenient for criminals to meet and relax, because those who go there to smoke act like one family. “The truth is that one hardly sees police in the night in the areas where they operate.

    They are taking advantage of that. If the burglars dare do it here, the vigilante will catch them and hand them over to the police after a thorough beating. At Rainbow Roundabout area, a man who identified himself simply as Segun, said: “Two months ago, the burglars operated at a pharmaceutical shop there and drugs worth N400,000 were carted away in addition to an unspecified sum of money.

    “Let me use this medium to appeal to the Chairman of Ado-Odo/Otta Local Government Area to come and build the roads and streets in this area to make them motorable. The streets are so bad that police patrol vans may find it difficult to branch to some of them in the night. Some of them are very swampy. If the streets are made motorable, it will help to fight crime.”

    In a text message forwarded to our correspondent, the spokesman of the Ogun State Police Command, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, said: “ The affected shop owners had refused to show up let alone pursue the matter. They said they were not interested in any case, and their attitude poses a challenge. But I want to urge people to always show interest in cases like this.’’