The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Police arrest ‘fake’ EFCC official in Lagos

    RESIDENTS of Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area, Lagos State have been advised to pay attention to their environment to avoid environmental disasters.

    This was the crux of the message of Hon Joseph Kehinde, member representing Alimosho Constituency 1 to his people at the constituency stakeholders’ meeting held at the council head-office in Ikotun, Lagos.

    Chairman of the LCDA, Chief Mrs. Morenike Adeshina Williams, party dignitaries in the community, traditional rulers and other community stakeholders attended the meeting.

    Stressing that the meeting is to “re-orientate ourselves on the need to properly handle our environmental challenges to rid Lagos of its recurrent waste challenges,” Joseph craved the co-operation of all stakeholders in the community, while promising that all the issues espoused and solutions suggested will be tabled before the House of Assembly and governor to prepare the 2020 budget.

    Read Also: Police deploy detectives as gunmen kill six in Kaduna

    A brief video detailing some of the nagging challenges of the community spanning health, education and the environment was also shown, to demonstrate the MPs familiarity with his constituency.

    Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers in the community, the Elegbe of Egbe, Oba Ashimiyu Olorunfemi called the attention of the authorities to the dilapidated state of the Ikotun-Egbe-Ejigbo road, which he says causes constant gridlock and untold hardship to road users.

    He also condemned the reckless one-way driving of some motorists, which constitutes risk to life and called on the police authorities to rise up to the challenge.

     

     

  • ‘I burgled a nightclub to raise money for my colleague’s bail

    A SUSPECTED robber arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) has said he broke into a Lagos nightclub to raise bail money for his colleague in Kirikiri Prison.

    Sadiq Yinusa, 25, a resident of 24, Oluwalogbon Street, Shomolu, was said to have broken into a nightclub in Igbobi in the wee hours of Wednesday while attempting to rob the supervisor of the club.

    He was said to have shot at the supervisor after he refused to hand over his wallet, adding that he was arrested after the supervisor raised the alarm.

    Yinusa, the police said, had a locally-made gun, four live cartridges, a socket wrench, a chisel and a plier with him at the point of arrest.

    He was said to have told detectives he was desperate to raise money yo perfect the bail conditions of a member of his gang identified as Prince Chika.

    The police also arrested alleged accomplices and receivers of the items Yinusa stole identified as Jubril Adamu and Korede Baki.

    Yinusa said: “Prince Chika is currently in prison Kirikiri. He was arrested for robbery. He called me last week to help him hustle for funds to secure his freedom from prison.

    “I visited him in the prison a week ago and he later called me from prison to appeal for my assistance. He gave me the location of this gun and some of the arms he used.

    “He assured me he will pay back within the first few weeks of regaining freedom. I retrieved all these arms from the bush where he kept them before heading for the operation.

    Read Also: 50 killed in U.S. nightclub shooting

    “He told me that he bought the gun in Anambra State for N5000. This is the first time I am firing a gun during operation.

    “I got to the club on Morocco Road, Igbobi when clubbers have left. I scaled the fence and saw the supervisor. I pointed the gun at him and requested for his wallet.

    “I felt he was wasting time, so I shot at him but he dodged it. He raised alarm and I started running. That was how I ran into RRS patrol team that responded to the gunshot and noise from the club.”

    Yinusa confessed that he used to pickpocket and burgle people’s homes, businesses before taking to armed robbery.

    “Last week, I broke into three houses in Somolu. From each one, I collected two mobile phones. I also got three laptops as well as jewelry. I sold them to Adamu Jubril.

    “Whenever, I collected ATM cards and pins from victims, it is Korede Baki, 22, that assisted with the withdrawals,” he said.

    In his statement to the police Adamu alias Ango said he has been buying stolen items from Yinusa for over six months.

    Adamu, a trader at Tejuosho market, told the police he has bought over 15 mobile phones, laptops and jewelry from him.

    “I bought laptops from him at N30,000 each,” he said.

    Reacting to the arrest, Police Commissioner Zubairu Muazu appealed to residents to see policing as everyone’s business and ensure they knew their neighbours.

  • Okada operator beats wife to death for refusing to breastfeed baby

    The police in Ogun State have arrested one Kingsley Maduekwe for beating his wife to death.

    A statement issued on Friday by police spokesman, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi  said Maduekwe allegedly committed the crime on Wednesday September 11, 2019.

    The 40-year-old commercial motorcyclist popularly called okada allegedly killed his wife, identified as Glory Maduekwe at about 11.30pm, following a misunderstanding over breastfeeding of their new baby.

    He said: ‘’The arrest of the suspect followed a report by one Chief Rafiu Gbadamosi, the Baale of Egando in Atan-Ota that the couple have a minor misunderstanding as a result of which the husband beat the wife to death at about 11:30pm.

    Read Also: Indian woman commits suicide after husband stops her tobacco intake

    ‘’On the strength of the report, the Divisional Police Officer(DPO) of Atan Ota division, SP Salau Abiodun led his detectives to the scene where the suspect was promptly arrested. On interrogation, the suspect, an okada rider who is an indigene of Ihiala in Anambra State, stated that his Late wife, a mother of eight was nursing a month- old- baby and that the baby was crying which made him to wake his wife up to breastfeed the baby, but she refused claiming that she was too tired to breastfeed the baby at that time.

    ‘’He stated further that the victim got up and was going to the sitting room leaving the baby behind and this got him annoyed, consequent upon which he drew her back and gave her a hot slap. The woman there and then fell down and gave up the ghost. The corpse of the victim has been deposited at the morgue in General Hospital, Ota, for post mortem examination.

    Oyeyemi added that the suspect had been transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation and prosecution.

  • NSCDC arrests 12 female naira vendors

    No fewer than 12 young female currency vendors have been arrested by men of Rivers State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) over alleged illicit sale of naira notes.

    The suspects who were arrested during a raid supervised by the Commandant of NSCDC in the state, Muktar Lawal, were paraded on Friday in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    Parading the suspects at NSCDC headquarters on Olu Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt, Lawal said the arrest was carried out in collaboration on September 12, 2019, in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in order to forestall the illicit sale of the country’s currency notes.

    “The clampdown on the naira vendors and sellers is hinged on the CBN’s Act, Sections 20 and 21, which make it a punishable offence for any individual or group of persons to hawk, sell or otherwise trade in the naira notes, coins or any note issued by the CBN.

    Read Also: Aregbesola tasks NSCDC on intelligence gathering

    “The twelve suspects were arrested on the grounds of economic crime of national security, bordering on hawking of new Nigeria currency around Garrison Bus Stop, Rumukwurushi and Rumuodara, all in Port Harcourt.

    “A total N1, 047,555, consisting of various denominations, was recovered from the suspects.

    Investigations have already commenced on the matter, to ascertain the sources of the naira notes.”

    The commandant also assured that NSCDC and the CBN would continue the clamp down on the perpetrators of the offence, which he said was punishable under the CBN Act 2007 to a jail term of not less than six months or to a fine of not less than N50, 000 or both.

    He hinted that the suspects would be charged to court, as soon as investigations were concluded.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, acts of spraying the naira notes at occasions, soiling and writing on the naira, squeezing the naira, hawking and selling of the country’s currency notes are abuses of the naira and are punishable by law.”

  • Police not after me, says Lagos NURTW chieftain

    A chieftain of the National Union of Road and Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos State, Mustapha Adekunle a.k.a Sego on Friday denied being wanted by the police for any crime.

    He said he had no link with a recent attack on the new chairman of NURTW in Lagos State, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo who was stabbed in the neck during a rally organized by the All Progressive’ Congress(APC).

    Adekunle said some people orchestrated false news to discredit him following his recent appointment into the state executive council of NURTW.

    Read Also: NURTW crisis: MC Oluomo, predecessor settle rift

    “The news that I am being wanted by the police is fallacious and misleading. First, let me make it clear here that, I am not on the wanted list of the police. The issue they were referring to was the violence which occurred at an APC rally in which myself and Alhaji MC Oluomo were the targets of the aggressors. This issue was reported to the police by those who actually masterminded the attack with a view to implicate me. The police instead of carrying out due investigation on the matter decided to take side with the mastermind of the crisis.

    “They went over board to declare me wanted for an offence I never committed. Because of this, I confronted the police to clear my name. Alhaji MC Oluomo who was the prime victim of the organised attack also testified to exonerate me of any wrong doing. The police, sensing that they had goofed on the matter tactically withdrew their statement against me. And since then, I have been going about my legitimate activities as a law abiding citizen.

    “It is funny to hear now that I am being wanted by the police. The question to ask those who are sponsoring the malicious story is that, why is such story coming up now that I am being made a member of the caretaker committee of Lagos NURTW? If i am being wanted, how come the Nigeria police have not arrested me all this while that I have been moving freely about and carrying out my business activities? At least, it is in the public knowledge that, I don’t live a fugitive life as i go out to attend social functions, business engagements and religious activities without any fear.

    “Anyway, I know this is the handiwork of my enemies within Lagos NURTW who are not happy about my appointment as a member of the caretaker committee of the union. They were the ones who sponsored the malicious story,’’ he added.

  • Suspected burglar trapped, dies in Lagos church

    A suspected burglar met his tragic end on Tuesday after he was trapped by burglar proofs at God’s Prestige Church, Arepo Street, Awori area of Abule Egba, Lagos.

    The church, according to sources, had been burgled twice this year before the latest incident.

    When The Nation visited the scene, the body of the unnamed robber was still trapped in between the burglar proof made of iron bars.

    Read Also: Two burglars arrested by IRT operatives

    Sources said the robber must have gained access into the church on Monday night and got trapped before he could cart away items kept there.

    “The first time the church was burgled early this year, the robbers carted away equipment such as keyboard among other music instruments.

    “They came back a second time and stole electrical appliances, hence, the burglar proof was put in place by the church’s management.’’

  • Man hangs self over wife’s alleged infidelity

    A man has taken his life in Lagos after finding out that his wife of over  12 years  was cheating on him.

    The body of the middle age furniture maker, Abiodun Tijani was found dangling from the ceiling of his one room apartment at 1, Abeokuta Street in Alagbado area of Lagos  penultimate Tuesday.

    Sources said Tijani decided to end it all when he suspected that his wife was  indulging in extra-marital affairs.

    The Nation gathered that the deceased was residing in Abeokuta, Ogun State, until he recently relocated to Lagos to join his wife who had been living in the house for nine years now.

    Residents described him as an easy going man who ran his furniture workshop around the AIT Road in the area.

    A source said: ‘’His wife moved into this building about nine years ago and she is a quiet woman.

    Read Also: Man threatens suicide over father’s unpaid gratuity

    “The man (Tijani) used to live in Abeokuta, Ogun State, until he joined his wife here about a year ago. The couple is blessed with a 12-year-old boy, called Wasiu

    “Although the man was unassuming , he had been feuding with his wife who sells soft drinks and grocery at the  old toll gate in Ota.”

    Wasiu, , the only child of the deceased, recalled how his father tricked him out of the house on the fateful before taking his own life.

    He said: “ He went out the day before the incident and returned home the following  morning.

    “By then my mother had gone out; he gave me money to go to a barber’s shop to cut my hair. By the time I returned home I met him dangling from the ceiling.

    “He didn’t share his problems with me and I wouldn’t know what could have led him to commit suicide. He lost his father several years ago but his aged mother is still alive. He hailed from  Ago Ika, Abeokuta.’’

    The incident was reported to the Alagbado Police Station, while men of the station assisted in evacuating Tijani’s body from the scene.

  • Court remands ‘okada’ rider in prison custody for throwing baby into river

    A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Minna has ordered that a 20-year-old commercial motorcyclist popularly called ‘Okada’ rider, Mustapha Aliyu be remanded in prison custody for throwing his three-month-old baby boy into a river.

    Aliyu is standing trial on a charge of culpable homicide contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code.

    The prosecutor, ASP Daniel Ikwoche, told the court that Amina Zakaria, the   mother of the baby had reported the matter to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Sept. 8.

    Ikwoche said that the complainant of Keranbadi village in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger alleged that she had the baby for the defendant out of wedlock.

    Read Also: Okada operator beats wife to death for refusing to breastfeed baby

    The prosecutor said that the complainant alleged that the defendant had visited her at about 9:30p.m., on Sept. 7 and took the baby away.

    Ikwoche said that the defendant took the child to his own village, Tamanai.

    There, he threw the baby into a river where he eventually drowned, the prosecutor said.

    When the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.

    Chief Magistrate Hauwa Yusuf, however, declined to take his plea, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.

    Yusuf directed the prosecuting police officer to forward a duplicate copy of the case file to the State Director of Public Prosecution, (DPPs) for legal advice.

    She, thereafter, adjourned the case until Oct. 10 for further mention.

  • Nurturing the Sino-Nigerian Friendship: The Sam Maduka Onyishi’s way

    To the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Peace Mass Transit Ltd, Chief Samuel Maduka Onyishi, awards and recognitions have become a common thing. Make no mistake -they don’t come cheap by any means. But since he has distinguished himself and business in an indigenous way, these rewards always come his way.
    On a daily basis, Dr Onyishi, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, does various kinds of philanthropic acts. For some of these acts, he hardly keeps track of them all.
    He was once quoted as saying, “Whatever act of kindness or philanthropy I do is between me and my God. I don’t do them to get any special praise or recognition from anybody or government. “Let the beneficiaries tell their own story.”
    Indeed, as foretold, the beneficiaries are “telling their own stories,” by themselves, as evidenced by the recent award by the Chinese Alumni Association of Nigeria, on Chief Onyishi as “Outstanding Nigerian Advocate on China/Nigeria Relations.”
    The recognition is part of the “October 1st Awards”, for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and Nigeria’s 59th Independence anniversary.
    The Peace Mass Transit founder Onyishi has been at the forefront of the Nigeria-China relations with business connections and investments, dating back to nearly three decades. Remarkably, his involvement with China isn’t all about business: In 2009, he sponsored five Nigerians to China on fully paid undergraduate scholarship. All of them are back after graduation and are in different spheres of life, promoting Chinese language and Sino-Nigeria relations in general.
    Dr Onyishi’s citation read at the “October 1st Awards,” highlighted some of his investments in, and association with Chinese blue-chip companies, including Foton Motor Corporation, Tianji Meiya Automobile Vehicle Company and Xiamen Kinglong Automobile Motors.
    The award, which came with cash, was presented to him by the Chinese Language Coordinator at the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ejemezu Charles. Charles is one of the members of the pioneer team that benefited from Dr Onyishi’s scholarship.
    Everything being equal, for Dr Onyishi and Peace Mass Transit Ltd, these awards are not about to dry up.

  • I was sodomised by multiple inmates, says chef

    They said they will teach me a lesson for being gay. I told them I was not but they did not listen. The first night I was taken to prison, three of the inmates took turns to rape me.

    “I begged them but they refused to leave me. They beat me up with different sticks, injured me and kept making mockery of me.

    “Even the officers at Badagry prison were I was locked up for over two months kept calling me gay. I want justice. I feel wounded and very hurt. I have lost my self-esteem, suffered isolation and depression. I am even afraid of what tomorrow holds.”

    Those were the words of 24-year-old Ayomide Idowu, a Lagos chef, a victim of Nigeria’s dysfunctional criminal justice system. Idowu’s travails began on June 10 when he was arrested by policemen attached to Olodi-Apapa Division while he was returning home from rendering his service as a chef at a private party.

    It was around 11pm and he was in a commercial bus with about 20 others when the policemen stopped the bus and bundled all of them to the station.

    Read Also: Mechanic in Court for allegedly sodomising 13-year-old student

    Idowu told The Nation that he had showed the cops his identity card but they threw it away, and insisted all of them must get to the police station.

    “At the station, they said each person should bring N20,000 for their bail. I told them I have only N5,000. They said I should call my family members to bring the money or they will take me to prison for being gay but I told I didn’t have any family member in Lagos.

    “I honestly did not have the money and so I resigned to fate since I knew I have committed no crime. Those who could paid and were released. We were kept at the police station for three days before they took me to the Mobile Court in Alausa.

    “I was not wearing female clothing. I was properly dressed as a man and I am not gay. I have never been gay. I think the problem is that I have a feminine outlook.

    “At the Court in Alausa, I pleaded not guilty but I was taken to Badagry Prison where I stayed until August 20 when I was discharged and acquitted after an activist took up my case,” Idowu told The Nation yesterday.

    According to him, the ugly experience he had in prison has marred him and he was constantly battling with himself to regain his confidence.

    Asked if he could name any of the inmates who allegedly raped him, Idowu said he never bothered to find out what their names were, adding that he kept to himself almost all through his stay in prison because he was a laughing stock there.

    “The pain was just too much. Two of them were later granted bail and released but one was still in Custody when I was freed. I was never interested in becoming friends and I did not report it out of fear.

    “I am sharing my story now so that young people can learn. Once you go somewhere and it is late, just remain where you are. Do not bother going home so that you do not have the kind of experience I went through.

    “Nobody knew I was in prison. My friend I was squatting with said he was trying my number and could not get me. It was after my release that I shared my experience with him.”

    “The court discharged and acquitted me because there was no evidence from the police. It is very painful for a struggling young man like me to have gone through such an experience. I could not even move about freely inside prison because everyone including the warders would call me gay.

    “It still hurts narrating the experience. I cannot even say everything. I feel so bad each day.”