The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Police, family row over alleged plot to cover up killers of 37-year-old transporter

    Police, family row over alleged plot to cover up killers of 37-year-old transporter

    By Precious Igbonwelundu

    Was 37-year-old transporter, Olatunde Sunmonu, killed by suspected Yahoo boys allegedly related to Sagamu Local Government’s Transition Committee Chairman, Gbenga Baruwa? Did the Sagamu Police Division hide the incident from the family for several days despite the latter filing a missing person complaint two days after their son’s disappearance?

    These are claims Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Inspector General of Police (IG) Mohammed  Adamu and Commissioner of Police (CP) Edward Ajogun will have to investigate as the family of the deceased has alleged foul play.

    Olatunde, a father of four, was said to have been attacked by some boys on Sallah Day near Baruwa’s house for daring to alight from his vehicle to ask them to clear their vehicles from the road for other road users to move freely.

    The deceased, who until his death was a driver with one of the hauling services, was said to have left his home that evening after returning from the hospital with his sick son to meet up with a friend who needed his attention, only to meet a friend who called him on phone.

    There were conflicting accounts on what happened afterwards as one claimed the friend who called him was a relative of the council boss who invited him for the chairman’s party where a disagreement ensued and he was attacked.

    It was alleged that Olatunde ran out of the premises without his car but was pursued by some men who caught up with him and beat him until he fell into coma. Vigilante officials were said to have rescued him and called in the police who arrested the culprits with a baseball bat and a dagger. Tunde was taken to Idera Hospital, a private clinic at Ajaka on July 31 and he died on August 2.

    But the police told the family that Olatunde was beaten up by some motorists who had caused an obstruction on the road after an accident.

    Olatunde’s father, Hakeem Sunmonu, said the police in Sagamu told them that the boys were involved in an accident with a woman and their vehicles blocked the road. Olatunde then alighted from his vehicle and told them to clear off the road to enable other motorists to pass, but his intervention did not go well with the boys, who promptly attacked him.

    The deceased person’s father, who spoke to The Nation, said he was still in shock over the circumstances surrounding the death of his son, alleging a deliberate attempt by the local police to cover up the true situation of the matter.

    Sunmonu said: “My son was killed by yahoo boys who are related to the council chairman, and there have been attempts to cover up what truly happened. We are pained because even the police deliberately withheld information when my young brother went there to report my son missing.

    “They claimed there was an accident that Friday between a woman and some Yahoo boys who are related to the transition committee chairman.

    “They were blocking the road and my son came down from his vehicle to tell them to clear so that other drivers would be able to pass.

    “The woman entered her car and those boys attacked my son. They beat him and used something to hit him and he collapsed.

    “They said they called the police and policemen from Sagamu Division came to the scene and took my son to the hospital.

    They also arrested the two men but the chairman later that day went to the station to secure their bail, which the DPO refused because of the condition of my son.

    “The police also towed his vehicle to the division.

    “He was first taken to a private hospital from where they moved him to Babcock University Hospital where he died and his body was kept in the mortuary.

    “They said he died two days later. My question is how come the police did not search the vehicle they towed from the road to their station since they knew the driver was unconscious? Couldn’t they have got his identity from his particulars in order to contact his family?

    “Another issue is that when they called me that my son did not return home on Friday and that he was not present at the ram slaughtering for his grandparents, I started calling all the people who might know his whereabouts but no one claimed to have seen him.

    “When he had not been seen at the end of Saturday, I told my younger brother,

    Dejola Awosanya, to go to the Sagamu Police Station to report him missing.

    “Note that this was on Sunday and the said accident happened on Friday. Since, the police knew that they had an assault victim who was unconscious and drove similar car as reported by my family, were they not supposed to have told us about it?

    “When they asked my family members to go and bring a picture of my son and they did, couldn’t they identify him in that picture as the same person they rushed to the hospital?

    “It was not until August 4, that the police called my brother, Dejola Awosanya, to break the news of my son’s death.

    “The DPO showed the family Tunde’s driver’s licence and vehicle particulars and Tunde’s picture in the morgue. He told the family that Tunde’s vehicle was towed to the station because they couldn’t find the key.

    “We want to know why there was delay for at least two days without the police informing the family. Why did the police tag Tunde an unidentified person when they had all the information about him, including his driver’s licence and vehicle particulars taken from his vehicle?

    “Why were his two phones taken and later returned by one of the culprits that ran away when the vigilante got there?

    “Why did the DPO release only one phone to the family? Why was the local government chairman, Mr Banjo Baruwa, in a hurry to secure the culprit’s bail?

    “Tunde Sunmonu was the first son of Hakeem Sunmonu and the only child of Yetunde Ajose-Akano. Please help us get justice, because my son cannot die like that. His death should spell an end to incessant killings by yahoo boys in Sagamu,” he lamented.

    Suspects not my relations — Council chair

    Baruwa

    Baruwa, however, denied claims that the suspects were his wife’s relatives, adding that he only went to the DPO to verify the incident when he was told about it.

    “All your information is incorrect,” he said in a text message to our correspondent. “The boys are not my wife’s relations.

    “As the chief security officer, they informed me about it and I went to the DPO to verify. The DPO told me the man was taken to the hospital and I went to see him.

    “The next day, I was told that the man was deceased.”

    The spokesman for the Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said it is not true that the police attempted a cover-up, adding that the attacker and two others who had the deceased’s phone were in the custody of the Homicide Unit, State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Eleweran.

    He said the police could not have contacted the family since they did not know who he was until the DPO sighted his picture and realised that it was the same man whose corpse he had seen at the University Hospital.

    Oyeyemi said: “There is nothing like a cover-up in this matter. Also, the council chairman did nothing wrong. Every qualified Nigerian is at liberty to seek the bail of a detainee. It is left for the police officer in charge to weigh the gravity of the offence or issue and consider whether bail will be granted.

    “In this instance, the DPO saw that the victim was lying critical in the hospital and denied bail. The chairman never went back to demand bail for the suspect and the DPO transferred the case to homicide as soon as he confirmed the victim was dead.

    “The police did not know any relation of the victim. He was taken to the hospital as an unknown person, because the focus was to save him.

    “The private hospital he was taken to said he should be moved to Babcock University Hospital for CT scan, but he died there. DPO went there, took the picture of the body and moved it to the mortuary.

    “The following day, someone came to make an entry of a missing person. They were asked to bring picture, and when the DPO saw the picture, it turned out to be the same person. It was then they went to his vehicle, searched and saw his driver’s licence. They recovered his phone from two other suspects.

    As of Sunday, police did not know who they were reporting missing. The case has been transferred to the Homicide Section.”

  • Tension as 26-yr-old dies from broken bottles mounted by policeman

    Tension as 26-yr-old dies from broken bottles mounted by policeman

    By Kunle Akinrinade

    The tragic death of a youth in the Sango area of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State has sparked protests by residents who are demanding justice.Funmilayo Oyediji’s death was said to have been caused by some sharp objects planted by an unnamed policeman in Oju Odo part of Iloye in Sango-Ota.

    The incident, according to sources, occurred the penultimate week.

    It was said that the 26-year-old man was on a visit to his parents on Oyalowo Street in Iloye area when he died after falling on improvised security metal and broken bottles allegedly erected by the unnamed policeman who has since bolted.

    Angry residents, especially youths in the community have since vowed not to let go of the matter until justice is done.

    Oyediji’s chest was said to have been pierced by the improvised objects leading to his death at a nearby hospital.

    It was said that the incident happened at nightfall, while the policeman that planted the sharp objects was unfeeling.

    Oyediji was said to have left his parents’ residence to charge his mobile phone following a power outage when he slipped and fell on the objects erected by the policeman on an uncovered concrete drainage.

    A witness simply identified as Mrs Ojelabi said she was returning home when she ran into the deceased shortly before the incident.

    She said: “I was going out to buy some things in the neighbourhood when I ran into the deceased near the spot where he fell on the erected metals and broken bottles at about 7 pm.

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    “Being the happy-go-lucky fellow he was known for, he exchanged banter with me and tried to crack some jokes but I was rushing home then. By the time I looked back, he had slipped and fallen on the sharp objects and had his chest pierced.

    “But rather than sympathise with him, the policeman who planted the sharp objects came out and rebuked the deceased for not being careful. He was rushed to a nearby hospital by sympathisers but he died.”

    Oyediji’s elder brother, Abiola, blamed the death of his brother on the sharp objects planted by the fleeing policeman.

    He said: “I live at Oshodi. I only come around on weekends to give our aged parents their upkeep allowance.

    “I was told on the phone that Funmilayo was battling with life after he fell on the sharp metal and bottles mounted near a drainage around Oju Odo area of Iloye and that his chest was pierced.

    “I was told he had lost so much blood and that they needed money to treat him. I even transferred a sum of N100,000 to them for his treatment. Unfortunately, he died a few hours later.

    “Sadly, I was told that the erring policeman who also visited the hospital in company with some elders of the community had bolted before my arrival at the hospital.

    “The community leaders did not really show concern except one Elder Keshinro.”

    Another resident, Kayode Olugade, said the policeman who planted the sharp objects that killed Oyediji acted illegally.

    He said: “The boy that died was well known to me. The community leaders in this area are also culpable because once you build a house, you have no right to extend your construction to a public drainage.”

    The bereaved mother of the deceased, Mrs Kikelomo Oyediji urged the authorities concerned to ensure that justice was done in the death of her son.

    She said: “My son left home on that fateful day to charge his mobile phone some streets away from our home because there was a power outage.

    “He fell on the sharp metal and bottles because he was not familiar with the terrain since he was no longer living with us. The authorities should ensure the culprit is apprehended and punished.”

    It was gathered that the grieving family could not report the incident to the police.

    A source who spoke in confidence however explained that the case was reported at an unnamed police station by some concerned community leaders.

    It was said that the incident created pandemonium as residents stormed the policeman’s residence in order to apprehend him.

    The policeman, according to sources, however fled on sighting the crowd.

    He was said to have been escorted several hours later by some policemen who fired sporadic shots to scare aggrieved residents.

    The unnamed cop was said to have left with some of his valuables and has since not returned.

    “The policeman in question disappeared after he got wind that some aggrieved residents were planning to attack his residence.

    “No one knows his name because he does not really interact with anyone in this community,” a source who claimed to be one of the youth leaders in the community said.

    It was said that he was later escorted by a team of policemen to move some of his belongings out of his house to an unknown destination.

    “The policeman left everyone at the hospital on the pretext that he was going to look for money to pay the hospital bill of the deceased who was in a critical condition at the hospital.

    “We did not know that he wanted to run away from home.

    “Some policemen later escorted the policeman to move some of his personal belongings. They were firing gunshots sporadically to stop aggrieved residents from attacking the policeman fingered in the death of the young man,” said a resident who asked not to be named.

    Residents told The Nation that the incident was reported to the police but nothing was done to reprimand the policeman.

    It was said that some angry youths later stormed the policeman’s residence and vandalised his building after they found that he had bolted.

    One of the youths in the community, identified simply as Mobolaji, said the policeman must be apprehended to answer for his complicity in Oyediji’s death.

    He said: “One thing is sure: we (the youth) have made up our mind not to take this matter lightly until justice is served to pacify the soul of the boy, who was one of us.

    “It is sad that the police, who ordinarily should apprehend the said policeman, are the ones shielding him and helping him to escape when residents stormed his house to apprehend him. This is absolutely the height of injustice and we won’t take it.”

    Police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, was not available for comments when our reporter called his mobile phone at press time.

  • How we were initiated into cult as junior secondary school pupils

    How we were initiated into cult as junior secondary school pupils

    By Ebele Boniface

    Four robbery suspects who operate by disguising as taxi drivers are now in the net of the operatives of the inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP IRT).

    Nemesis allegedly caught up with Didi Jolly, Chisom Unegbu, Micheal Matthew and George Ala when the commander of the IGP IRT, Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), decided to lead a special team to smash the gang, following public outcry against their menace.

    They were said to be in the habit of not only robbing their victims of money and valuable items like phones and ATM cards in Port Harcourt and its environs, but also subjecting them to serious torture as they often throw their victims off the moving vehicle.

    A manhunt launched for the gang resulted in the arrest of Jolly, who was said to have led the IRT detectives to pick the three other members of the gang.

    “They also detain their victims while they take their time to withdraw money from their accounts,” a police source said, adding that three of the suspects were all initiates of a cult group known as Icelanders while they were in junior secondary school.

    In his confession, Jolly, a native of Obugbasa Local Government Area, Cross River State, said his parents were living in Port Harcourt where he and his siblings were born and bred.

    He said: “I was a student of Maris Comprehensive Secondary School before I dropped out of school in my second year.

    “It was very common among students to belong to one cult group or the other. The senior student that I took as my college father was the one who initiated me. I was 14 years at that time.

    “During break time, he took me to an uncompleted building behind our school with the excuse that we were going to buy snacks.

    “When we got there, he sent me to buy a bottle of Squadron, an alcoholic drink. When I came back, there were so many boys, especially our seniors.

    “The next thing, they pulled my shirt and started beating me. After that, they forced me to drink from the alcohol.

    “They then said I had become a member and failure to abide by their rules would result in death.

    “I was afraid and wanted to tell my parents but they warned me against it.

    “My mum is a religious woman and did her best to train us well. “In the streets, almost every boy child was a cultist, and my mother warned us that she would not tolerate it.

    “I kept it as a secret till months later when about 50 boys who are members of our cult group visited my house at night.

    “I was supposed to be on duty on that day, but because I was still living with my parents, there was no way I could sneak out.

    “Normally, we take turns to watch over our area in case another rival cult decided to attack.

    “They came and forced me to follow them and threatened to deal with my family members if they don’t allow me to work for them.

    “I can remember so well how my mother wept the night they dragged me away.

    “When I returned in the morning, she told me that they had decided to relocate to Cross River State, and that I should come along. I refused and everyone left, including my father and my twin brother.

    “I managed to hang around school for a year before I dropped out, because I was homeless and was only struggling to survive.

    “I became active, and it is normal for cult members to go and snatch bags and phones.

    “I normally attend meetings at Okirika town till we were scattered in 2009 when the Federal Government offered amnesty.

    “I was not lucky and we all scattered and only met in secret.

    Things were tough for me till I met one Gbongbon who allowed me to live in his room. He was the one who introduced me to robbery.

    “Lately, we have concentrated on using cars to rob people. One of us will carry the car, pretend to be a taxi driver and pick one or two persons.

    “We will also board the same car and rob them. We would sell their phones at Yam Zone at Creek Road in Port Harcourt.

    “We do not collect I phone because it has an iCloud. We sell the most expensive one for about N10,000 or at most N15,000.”

    Jolly, however, denied being a kidnapper, saying: “We only snatch bags and rob people.

    “It is only if we pick someone who has money in his account; we will keep him till we withdraw enough money from his account.

    “I wish at this point that I had listened to my mother who kept calling and begging me to relocate to Calabar. If police release me, I will trek to Calabar if that is my only option.”

    The second suspect, George Ala, said: “I am from Bonny Island in Rivers State. I was a student of Comprehensive High School on New Road, Borokiri, but I dropped out of school in JSS3 when my mother died.

    “My father died and a year later my mother was poisoned. After the death of my father,  I  started learning carpentry after school, and it was one of the apprentices who was also a student in my school that took me to the bush after work and  I was forced to join them.

    “My mother, who was sick then, pleaded with me to stop; that my life would be ruined, and I promised her that I would stop. But I just said so, so that her health would not get worse if she got to know that I am a cultist.

    “Unfortunately, she died and our neighbours took her to the cemetery for burial.

    “My mother never took me and my brother to her people or my father’s side. We were alone, and two months later, the landlord asked us to move out. We started sleeping under the bridge or any place that homeless boys used to converge.

    “In the morning, we would go and beg for money in the streets or do any casual job we could get. Luckily, one woman who heard our story decided to take my brother home as a house boy.

    “I stayed back and was mixing with the boys when one popular guy known as Gbongbon, who normally gave me N500 every other day, asked me to follow him out.

    That day, we snatched several bags and I was given N5,000. This was how I started till Gbongbon also started the ‘one chance’ business.

    “I am one of those that would enter the car as soon as our target is in the car.

    “It is Gbongbon who is the expert that makes arrangement for all the guns that we use during operations.

    “We just use the gun to scare people, it does not even have a single bullet. I have sinned against God and man, please forgive me.

    The third suspect,t Chisom Unaegbu, said: ” I am from Ehite Mbaise in Imo State, but I grew up in Rivers State.

    “I am not a cultist, but my father abandoned me for reasons best known to him.

    “We suffered a lot because the money my mother made as an auxiliary nurse was not enough to take care of three children.

    “She asked me and my sister to drop out of school so that our elder brother could further his education. I learnt how to drive and gradually became a taxi driver.

    “I was able to get a car on hire purchase and we agreed that I would be paying N5,000 a day.

    “I was struggling to meet up with target when my friend Michael suggested a fast way out. He told me that my own role was to use my car and be the driver.

    “We normally operate around Rummokuta between 8pm and 9.30pm, and even if we don’t make enough money, the agreement is that they must give me N5,000 so that I can pay my daily contribution.

    “This was the only assurance that the car, which is a Toyota Camry, would be available. A lot of people enter private cars at that Rummokuta and they pay at least N150 per drop.

    “Since I joined them in January, I have lost count of the number of people that we robbed. But I can assure you that we did not kill anyone.

    “The gun is just meant to scare them to submit everything they have.

    “I blame my father for my situation, because if he was not alive, it would be better than to watch me suffer and turn into a criminal.”

    The fourth suspect, Micheal Matthew, said:” We went for a birthday party and on our way back, we met a lot of young boys known to me and they were making mockery of me that I am not a member of any cult.

    “I then decided to join them, and when I came home late, my mother checked my body and saw marks.

    “It was common in our area so she knew what it was. She reported me to the community head and I joined others and ran away.

    “That was how I ended up in the streets and had to survive.”

  • Five held for murder in Ogun

    Five held for murder in Ogun

     Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

     

    POLICE in Ogun State have arrested five men Toheeb Popoola, Ibrahim Ridwan, Mutiu Tijani, Akeem Ishola and Lawal Afeez, for beating a 25-year-old Monsur Kareem to death.

    The suspects were arrested on Wednesday following a report by the father of the deceased, Najeem Kareem, who complained at Sango Police station that his son was beaten to a coma by the suspects following a misunderstanding with Toheeb popoola.

    Police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the incident in a release yesterday.

     

  • Woman poisons her husband to death, chops off his manhood

    Woman poisons her husband to death, chops off his manhood

    Linus Oota, Lafia

    • Accuses victim of dating her best friend
    • Says I poisoned his meal and watched him die painfully
    • He lived dangerously –Victim’s uncle

    An eight-year-old marriage has ended on a tragic note in Zumbagwe, a remote community in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. Thirty-three-year-old Janet Ekpe poisoned her husband for allegedly dating her best friend and watched him die slowly and painfully.

    Besides allegedly dating her best friend, Janet also accused her husband, Sunday Ekpe, of starving her of sex while satisfying her friend with same. Janet recalled that she had got used to having marathon sex with Ekpe since they got married only for him to slow down after her second child and later withdrew completely.

    She said she grew tired of her husband giving excuses night after night as to why he was no longer able to deliver in bed and even telling her on occasions to fantasize about the good old times in order to satisfy her sexual urge.

    Matters came to a head when Janet realised that her husband had fallen in love with her best friend who happened to be a widow. She came to the conclusion that her husband no longer had time for her because his attention had shifted to her friend.

    She reasoned that the best way to deal with the situation was to terminate Ekpe’s life so that she would live a life devoid of psychological trauma. Hence she did not only kill Ekpe, she also ensured that she chopped off his manhood, perhaps to forestall the possibility of her randy husband engaging another woman in an affair in the world beyond!

    ‘Why I killed him, chopped off his manhood’

    In her confessional statement, Janet said she did not know that her late husband was dating her best friend until about three years ago.

    She said: “We were married for eight years with two children. It was three years ago I discovered that my husband had fallen in love with my best friend, a widow, and had been dating her.

    “Since then, he stopped sleeping with me; he began to  starve me sexually while satisfying my best friend.

    “When we got married eight years ago, sex seemed to be the only thing on my husband’s mind. He was always in the mood.

    “We would make love three or four times before morning, and when he woke up, he would be ready to continue.

    “There were days he skipped work and we would spend the whole day making love.

    “We had sex in the bathroom, in the kitchen and anywhere it caught our fancy in the house.

    “I became used to constant sex through him and also became the envy of my close friends, including my best friend who he later fell in love with.

    “Whenever we shared stories of our exploits in bed, my friends felt I had the best man and jokingly begged me to allow them to have my husband just for a day because their husbands could not satisfy them in bed.

    “But shortly after we had our two kids, I began to notice his disinterest in sex with me and his performance level began to drop.

    “While we were having sex on a regular basis before, it came down to two times in a week and later became so bad that we could stay for three or four months without making love.

    “Initially, I was not bothered because I felt that he would come around it after the babies were weaned. But I was wrong. He began to starve me of sex for months on end.

    “It got to the point that I would be begging him to sleep with me but he would rebuff my requests.

    “At times, he would tell me I should relive the moments we had sex every day and wallow in that fantasy.

    “When I pestered him further, he told me he was no more interested in sex as he had had enough to last him a lifetime.

    “He even told me that sex is not food and that if I felt so sex starved, I should get a man to satisfy me.

    “I reported the matter to our church and the pastor summoned him, but he could not convince our pastor.

    “I reported the matter to his parents in the village and some of his relations around, but he ignored their invitation.

    The final straw

    “Within this period, my husband started keeping late night, which was very unusual of him.

    “Unknown to me, my best friend, Hellen, who is a widow, started keeping distance with me, while some of my friends started hinting that she and my husband were dating.

    “I watched the way they acted and how happy he always seemed in her presence.

    “I monitored them closely and caught them five times in a drinking joint in new Nyanyan.

    “When I confronted him about it, he said I was being silly; so I decided to believe the whole story.

    “The worst was the day I saw a text message from Hellen in my husband’s phone, thanking him for giving him the best sexual satisfaction ever in her life the previous day.

    “I was devastated. I felt sick and angry.

    “I was hurt that my own husband could do this to me.

    “I went back to our pastor but my husband turned down the pastor’s invitation and even stopped attending church.

    “At this point, he stopped coming back home most times and resorted to sleeping in hotels with Hellen.

    “I felt like a single mum and it upset me. I confronted Hellen and told her she was hurting me and that their relationship was getting stronger while they were not taking my feelings into consideration.

    “I could not stand the thought of them being so close.

    “I used to love and trust my husband but he turned me into something I never knew I could become: a murderer. I killed him. I poisoned him and watched him die in our bedroom, painfully.

    “I mixed a deadly, colourless, tasteless and odourless substance in his meal and drinking water which destroyed his intestines immediately.

    “He cried and struggled uncontrollably after taking the meal. He gave up after an hour and I used a sharp blade and knife to chop off his penis, place it on his chest as evidence of what killed him.

    “If your penis is the one that is giving you the audacity to have feelings for my best friend and refusing to listen to the advice of your parents and even your pastor, it is better to cut it off.

    “Mr Sunday (Ekpe), a cheating, filthy, lying bastard, ought to die for me to live. I deserve to live because I am human and have blood flowing in my veins.

    “These foolish men, you give them everything, yet they choose to fool around and play with your intelligence.

    “I had monitored him closely and tolerated him for long and his end has come.”

    Ekpe lived dangerously, says uncle

    Mr Adakole Onoja, an uncle of Ekpe, told our correspondent that the deceased man was not Godly in his affairs with Hellen.

    He said: “When his wife reported the matter to me, I invited him to my house and told him the implications of his actions.

    “You cannot completely starve your young wife of sex and resort to dating her best friend.

    “Many people, including his parents in the village, his pastor and his close friends, interfered in the issue but he turned a deaf ear to them.

    “Maybe that was how he was destined to end his life.

    “His wife’s action may not be right, but she is a human being too.”

    All the efforts made by our correspondent to reach Hellen on the phone yielded no result as her phone was repeatedly said to have been switched off.

    Visits made to her hairdressing salon also yielded no fruit as the salon was locked up.

  • Ogun monarch petitions IGP, demands justice for farmer allegedly killed by Customs men

    Ogun monarch petitions IGP, demands justice for farmer allegedly killed by Customs men

    Kunle AKINRINADE

     

    A monarch, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu over the alleged killing of farmer, Kehinda Ogunji, by men of the Ogun State Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service.

    In the petition dated May 10, 2020, Oba Akinyemi, who is the Eselu of Iseluland , Yewa-North Local Government Area of Ogun State, said the young farmer was dastardly killed by customs men while he was returning home from a communal farming with his twin brother at Agbon village.

    According to the monarch, Ogunji was killed by a stray bullet fired by the customs officers when they were pursuing some rice smugglers in the community.

    The petition reads: “On Sunday, 3rd May, 2020, some Officers of Ogun Area Command 1 of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) who were on the trail of some rice smugglers at Agbon Community in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State killed my subject – Kehinde Ogunji through a stray bullet.

    “The deceased,  Kehinde Ogunji was an innocent person because he was just a farmer, not a rice smuggler as accused by the men of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

    “On that fateful day, Kehinde Ogunji, a husband of two wives and a father of five children was returning home from his farm along with his twin brother.

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    “Apart from the fact that the deceased’s family and my humble self want justice and adequate care for the wives and children of the deceased, we also requested the Customs Officers to withdraw the statement in the media, where they claimed that the deceased was a rice smuggler. Amazingly, up till now, they have not withdrawn the malicious statement made against an innocent Kehinde Ogunji.

    “There is currently an insinuation in the public that the Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force is possibly conniving with officers of their sister agency to sweep the matter under the carpet and to also enable the affected Customs officers escape justice.”

    Oba Akinyemi urged the Inspector General of Police to bring the customs officers fingered in the gruesome killing of Ogunji  to justice.

  • Family petitions AIG over son’s death in Osun police custody

    Family petitions AIG over son’s death in Osun police custody

    Toba ADEDEJI, Osogbo

     

    The family of Obalogbo in Ila-Orangun, has petitioned the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG Zone XI, over the death of their son, Saheed Agboola, who allegedly died in the custody of Ota-Efun Police Division in Osogbo, Osun State.

    The family, in a petition dated April 21, 2020, signed by its lawyer, Mr Kazeem Odedeji, demanded a proper and discreet investigation into the circumstance leading to the death of Agboola in police custody.

    The petition stated that the deceased on March 30,  2020 reported a case of threat to his life at Ota-Efun Police Division in Osogbo, but the police turned the case against him when the suspect he reported made a counter-complaint that Saheed was owing him about N462, 000 from a daily thrift he coordinated.

    The letter read:  “Our client’s son was arrested and detained. He was released on administrative bail the following day.

    Read Also: 10 IPOB members held with 15 police rifles in Delta

    “Saheed was invited to the police station on April 15 where he was quickly rushed to Osogbo Magistrate’s Court and was arraigned without the knowledge of any member of the family, who could make arrangements for his bail pending trial. He was thereafter ordered to be remanded in police custody.

    ”It was noted that the father of the deceased saw him late on April 15, 2020, and he was in a very high spirit, not suggesting any unwholesome behaviour.

    “Surprisingly, late Saheed Agboola’s uncle and guardian were invited to the police headquarters on April 16 where he met with senior police officers led by the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, who broke the news of Saheed Agboola’s death on the excuse that he committed suicide in a police cell.

    “Mr. Agboola Rasaq sought to see things for himself, but alas, the situation he met the deceased did not in any way suggest that of somebody who took his own life.

    ”Another question agitating the mind of our client is ‘how on earth will a suspect in police cell such as Ota-Efun divisional police headquarters take his own life and nobody would be available to come to his aid?’ How a suspect/defendant dies in a police cell like a chicken beats everybody’s imagination.

    “It is against the above background we hereby have our client’s instruction to demand a proper and discreet investigation into the circumstance leading to the death of Saheed Agboola in the custody of the Nigeria Police.”

    Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of Osun State Command, Yemisi Opalola, said, Saheed committed suicide in the cell using his shirt.

    She said: “The man (deceased) is not a suspect of police, but he was remanded in police custody by the magistrate’s court. There was nobody with him in the cell because this period of pandemic the Inspector-General of Police gave an order that we should not keep anybody in our cell unless the person committed a capital offence like, murder, armed robbery, arson, and the likes.”

  • COVID-19: Long nights in Lagos, Ogun neighbourhoods

    COVID-19: Long nights in Lagos, Ogun neighbourhoods

    Following the Covid-19-induced lockdown now in its third week, crime, especially broad daylight robberies have been on the increase, with citizens living in fear and having to stay awake night and day to ward off of marauding attackers in Lagos and environs. Medinat Kanabe and Dorcas Egede report.

    A Week into the initial two-week lockdown announced by President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos Abuja and Ogun State, Mustapha, popularly known as Daddy Kareem, went out to get bread and akara for his family at the bus stop at Oko Afo along Badagry Expressway.  It was about 6pm and the man, an electrician, who had not gone to his Mile2 workshop for over a week because of the lockdown had delayed his children’s lunch till evening, so that they could eat and sleep.

    He had barely left the point where he bought the items, when a few boys between ages 16 and 18 years walked up to him and asked him to buy akara and bread for them.

    Mustapha told them politely that he didn’t have any money on him and that what he was carrying was his children’s dinner but they insisted and even offered to follow him to his house to collect money for their own akara and bread if he wasn’t going to release the one he had bought.

    “I looked around but everyone ignored me. It was as if they were telling me to give the boys the food with their eyes, so I thought for a second and released the food to them,” he said.

    When he got home, his family had to make do with drinking cassava flour for dinner, as according to him, “I was too scared to go to the bus top to buy another meal and I could not send any of my children. Since that incident, I have made it a point not to leave my house or send my children out on any errand once it is 5pm – at least until after the lockdown,” he added.

    Mustapha’s story is just one of several other broad daylight robberies playing out across Lagos and Ogun states since the commencement of the Covid-19 induced lockdown. Virtually everywhere you look, young boys have taken to the streets to rob people of their valuables just to buy food to eat and survive the lockdown.

    Their activities, mode of stealing and what they take from the crime scenes point to the fact that they are hungry boys or family men who just want something to eat.

    On one of the social media platforms recently, a lorry loaded with yam and other foodstuff heading into town from the Mile 12 food market was waylaid and almost looted bare. The boys did not hurt him, but to scare him, they threw stones at his vehicle, forcing him to stop before making away with what they could – perhaps to feed for the day.

    In another instance, a commercial yellow bus laden with the popular Agege bread was assailed by a horde of humans and the loaves looted freely.

    Many victims who spoke to The Nation said the boys who stole from them only took food, while those who demanded money stated that they were hungry.

    According to Innocent Chukwu who runs a foodstuff shop at Cele, Alaba, the boys broke into his shop and stole rice, beans and garri.

    “I think they noticed that I had restocked my shop that day and because it was a Sunday I went back home to relax only for me to receive a call from someone that some boys had broken into my shop and stealing my food items.

    “I didn’t leave my house because I knew that I was powerless and neither did I go to the police because they will not be of any help. I simply allowed them to take whatever they wanted and leave. The next day, I went to fix my shop, but I have not restocked since then. Once my stock finishes, I will wait until everything goes back to normal before buying anything.”

    Arinze, another foodstuff seller says he has not opened his shop for days out of fear. When this reporter called him on phone, he said he heard what happened to his colleague, Chukwu and decided to stay at home until the lockdown is over.

    “I came to my shop on hearing what happened to that man at Cele and packed my foodstuff to the house. It is better that my family feeds on them than those touts who call themselves omo onile (land owners),” he explained.

    Another family man, name withheld, who also experienced robbery said they carted away his flat screen television from his sitting room during the day.

    “I just stepped out of my house to get something and before I got back, someone had removed my flat screen television. I didn’t lock the door because I thought I thought I wouldn’t be long gone, but like magic, I came back to meet a vacant wall. My flat screen television was gone.”

    He blamed the stealing on the lockdown as he said that boys are hungry.

    “At Shibiri, another community along the Badagry Expressway in Lagos, the boys’ mode of operation is to wait for people to go out, sneak in with blades to cut open window nets, enter apartments, and then steal whatever they could,” another source said.

    A journalist who took to social media to narrate his ordeal at the hands of robbers has also blamed the stealing on the lockdown.

    He said: “Haven’t been online for sometime as I became a victim of the fallout of the lockdown measures of the Federal Government. I was robbed at gunpoint and dispossessed of my phone, wallet, ATM card etc. But I am grateful to be alive.

    “Please be careful of ‘lonely areas,’” he counselled.  “As an essential worker, I was on duty, heading towards the Ojota bridge to connect Maryland on my way to Ojuelegba, when I saw two young men standing apart at the side of the bridge end that leads to the expressway to connect back to Maryland. Thinking they were stranded passengers, I didn’t even give them a thought, but a towing vehicle dragging a trailer right in front of me slowed my speed. Suddenly one of the men rushed to open the passenger side of the car and before I knew what was happening, the other guy stood in the middle of the road pointing a gun straight at me like you see in movies. As I was about to come to terms with the situation, a set of guys wielding weapon of different sizes and shapes (guns, machetes, axes, knives) pounced on me from the driver’s side, threatening to unleash all manners of terror on me if I didn’t do their bidding. They asked for money, phone, laptops, my car key while at the same time making efforts to open the doors which were securely locked. All through the operation, which lasted less than five minutes, no vehicle was in sight. Luckily, I managed to leave the scene alive and with my car, unscathed. Whatever they had stolen would be recovered or replaced with time. Meanwhile, the police were at the other side of the foot of the (Ojota) bridge ‘enforcing the restriction order.’ So, if you have been trying to reach me without success, here is why.” He wrote.

    Interestingly, these hungry boys’ siege and reign of terror  is not limited to Mainland Lagos, as they have been sighted in Lekki Phase 1, stopping cars and begging for money to eat.

    A source who gave his name as Michael said, “They are not as violent in Lekki Phase 1. What they do is surround your car and start begging for money. They also carry signs saying, ‘We are hungry, give us food, we have no work etc.’

    “My fear is that sooner than later, they will start entering people’s homes and forcing them to part with their valuables. It’s just day 15, we still have about 13 days to go,” he said.

    Michael, who said he does not support what the boys are doing, however said what is playing out is not unusual, as people are really suffering.

    Meanwhile, a source around Aiyetoro in Ogun State told The Nation that over 100 boys were seen robbing people off their valuables on Aiyetoro Bridge.

    “I don’t know how many routes those boys use or even their number, but I believe they were up to 100. Some people reported that they were operating on Aiyetoro Bridge as at 7:00pm on Sunday. I also learnt that they went to Iyana-Ipaja on Saturday, but the people repelled them, so they returned on Sunday afternoon. I learnt that two of them were killed that day,” she said.

    She also said they had information that the boys were heading towards Ayobo.

    “I asked a guy on my street, Gbenga and he told me that as at 8:00pm, they got information that the robbers were coming to Ayobo. This information quickly spread and boys in the area mobilised and got battle ready.

    “I also learnt that the robbers are from Agege, and that they call themselves Awawa Boys. Their strength is in their number, and they move in tens and hundreds. If they are entering a compound, they do so in tens, so you don’t have a way of overpowering them. Their weapons, as I heard, are acid and blade. Because of this, all the routes into Ayobo are being manned by residents and the neighbourhoood watch, all wielding machetes, knives, daggers and hammers.”

    Meanwhile, when the Police and its SARS operatives came to Ayobo, residents still refused to leave the streets. “Two vans were on ground, patrolling with the Area Commander, who was calling for reinforcement. The police tried to calm the residents to go into their houses, that they were in charge; but residents were too afraid to leave their safety in the hands of the Police, so they stayed put.”

    Iya Gbogbo, a woman in the neighbourhood told The Nation that she didn’t sleep a wink the night before. “We were outside till 4:00am. We couldn’t sleep. We were informed that robbers were coming to Ayobo and that they had started operating at Aiyetoro Bridge as at 7:00pm on Sunday, 12, April. The suffering in this lockdown is too much. We’ve not had light since lockdown, and as I speak, they have sent February bill, even though we do not have light,” she said.

    When The Nation contacted the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana, he said, “Yes the boys were on the street during the day time begging for food and money but our patrol is on and the order is ‘sit at home’. Agencies of government responsible for distributing palliatives are reaching out to them. If they are not at home, how will they reach them? Besides, sitting at home is important for them.

    “We have identified patrols and our surveillance teams are all over, watching and ensuring that people sit at home and not on the street, so that some of them will not take advantage of that to rob people.”

  • Inside story of how landlady sliced tenant with razor

    Inside story of how landlady sliced tenant with razor

    By Kunle AKINRINADE

    A minor disagreement over unpaid electricity bills on Sunday March 29 at House 78 Amudalatu Street, Agodo, Egbe, a Lagos suburb, ended on a brutal note when the landlord’s wife, Alice, allegedly picked up a razor and sliced the face of a female tenant, Mariam Peter, leaving her with a bloodied face and deep gash.

    The landlord’s wife was seized and handed over to the police at Ikotun Division, where she was detained for three days while the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.

    Red Also: Buratai’s camp under Boko Haram fire

     

    Initial report suggested that the victim and other tenants in the building had allegedly defaulted in payment of electricity bills, prompting their disconnection by the officials of an electricity distribution company penultimate Monday.

    However, neighbours said the duo had been at loggerhead lately over flimsy differences. For example, it was said that the victim recently beat up the landlord’s wife and left her with a scar on her body during the fight.

    Police spokesman, Bala Elkana, said the suspect would be arraigned in court after the current lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus disease.

  • Fears grip Delta community after suspected herdsmen killed technician

    Fears grip Delta community after suspected herdsmen killed technician

    Okungbowa AIWERIE, Asaba

     

    Palpable fears have engulfed Albert Camp, a community in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State following the killing of a resident by suspected herdsmen.

    The victim was a 28 year-old generator technician and father of two, Austine Nwaeke. She is survived by his 25-year-old widow.

    The community, a haven for migrant farmers from Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi States, is now a ghost town as residents feared possible return of the herdsmen.

    Albert Camp, which was founded in 1970 by Albert Chukwukelu, lies on the remote hills bordering Okpanam community, filled with lush vegetation.

    This densely populated community is made up largely of mud houses roofed with thatches. It lacks basic amenities such as roads, potable water and electricity.

    Their only source of water is the Anwai River ,a tributary of the River Niger flowing a few kilometres away.

    Nwaeke’s widow, Jennifer, who sat by the dried patch of blood where her husband was killed wept profusely when The Nation visited the community.

    Read Also: Herdsmen kill three in Ondo community

     

    She said: “The family has tried scrubbing the blood off the concrete floor to no avail. I wake up every morning to see my husband’s blood on the floor. It is making me scared. I do not know what to tell my son’s for they keep asking after their father”.

    She said she was asleep when she heard the sound of gunshots in their compound.

    She said that four heavily armed men scaled the fence of their compound and shot her husband.

    Jennifer noted that said the herdsmen  shouted that they killed her husband to avenge the killing of their cows by residents of the community.

    She urged the state government to assist her with the educational needs of her children, stressing that she does not have the resources  to send her children to school.

    The crestfallen parents of the deceased, Mr and Mrs Romanus Nwaeke who spoke said they have lived in the camp for thirty years where all their children were given birth to, and appealed to the Police to investigate the matter with a view  to unravelling the son’s killers.

    They said they were living in fear as the suspected herdsmen while shooting sporadically threatened to come back for further attacks.