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Tag: beating

  • Woman charged with beating husband’s ex-wife

    31-year-old food vendor, Faith Onuoha, who allegedly beat up her husband’s ex-wife, was yesterday hauled up before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court.

    The accused was arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr J.A Adigun, on a charge of assault occasioning harm.

    The woman, who lives at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos, however, pleaded not guilty and was admitted to N50, 000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    Adigun said the sureties should be gainfully employed with an evidence of two years tax payment.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Godwin Awase said the accused committed the offence last December 25 at her residence.

    He said the accused assaulted Mrs Amarachi Onuoha by beating her.

    “The accused used a plank to beat the complainant. The complainant and her ex-husband had approached a court for the dissolution of the marriage and after the judgement, the complainant was granted the custody of their son.

    “After some days of the judgement, the 10-year-old boy was missing and when the complainant went to report to the police to report, she was told that the father must have abducted him.

    “The complainant traced the boy to her ex-husband’s house and saw him.

    “But the accused, her ex-husband’s mistress, prevented her from taking her child by thoroughly beating and injuring her,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the section stipulates three years imprisonment for offenders.

    The case was adjourned until February 27.

  • Man gets N100,000 bail for ‘beating’ father

    Man gets N100,000 bail for ‘beating’ father

    A 27-year-old son, Innocent Pitman, who is standing trial for allegedly assaulting and beating up his father, was yesterday granted a reprieve on the orders of a Grade 1 Area Court in Karu, Abuja.

    He was granted N100,000 bail for allegedly beating up his father, Isaac Pitman.

    Innocent is facing a two-count charge of joint act and assault, which contravened sections 79 and 265 of the penal code.

    The accused pleaded not guilty.

    The judge, Mr Aliyu Kagarko granted a surety in like sum, saying the surety must be resident within the court’s jurisdiction and submit his driver’s licence or national identity card as well as passport photograph.

    Prosecutor Mahmud Ismail told the court that the father of the accused reported him at Jikwoyi Police Station on December 24.

    He said Pitman reported that the accused and his brother, Humphrey, who is still at large, assaulted him.

    “The two sons of the complainant tied him and beat him so much that he was pleading with them not to harm him.

    “They beat him up because he warned them to stop disturbing the peace of neighbourhood with their criminal acts and thereafter, the second son ran away,”  Ismail said.

    The case was adjourned until January 29.

  • VICTORIA NKONG – I love beating men in their own game

    VICTORIA NKONG – I love beating men in their own game

    Victoria Nkong is the founder and CEO of Qtaby Events, which is involved in artistes booking management and human resource consultancy, among others. Over the years she has worked with notable music artistes like Akon, P-square, Harrysong, Orezi, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Shaggy and Toofan from Togo. She tells Adetutu Audu what makes her tick. 

    What is it like being a female entrepreneur, and why did you choose to be one?

    Being a female entrepreneur is both exciting and challenging at the same time. I love it each time I’m misjudged or underestimated by my male counterparts because of my sex, and I get satisfaction each time I beat their expectations by being the best at what I do and hearing the surprise in their voice each time they meet me and are like “oh are you the one?” or “oh I thought you were much bigger”.

    On the sour side, it actually gets frustrating when you arrive a meeting as a female entrepreneur and the person on the other end will rather spend time teasing you and trying to flirt with you instead of talking business. However, on the brighter side, we get soft-landing and easy access on some projects, when you are dealing with a gentleman who would rather not bother a woman.

    What will you say is responsible for your success?

    God’s blessings have brought me this far, determination and dedication; hard work, more hard work and hard work. I have come to realise that there is no shortcut to success.

    What values and principles have helped you so far?

    Strict professional work ethics and standards set for my team and myself, delivery before excuses, attention to the most minute details, strict supervision for my team and ensuring customer satisfaction. I never mix work with pleasure, there’s time for everything.

    Why did you go into entertainment and event management?

    I would rather say that my current business chose me and not the other way round. While in the university, I was that student that would be called to handle social activities. I remember anchoring my HODs book launch and even our final year awards night where I had to change outfits each time I needed to receive my award because I was anchoring and “producing” the event at the same time.

    I finished school and my first job came. It was entertainment-inclined even though my entire family wanted me to be a lawyer. I was two months into the first job when I got the call from the prestigious KORA All Africa Music Awards.

    I spent my early years on earth studying so hard to please my parents who were majorly educationists and my family as a whole. So now I have decided to make the rest of my life one big holiday, hence my adventure into entertainment so that I can earn a living from having fun.

    Entertainment, for me, is a passion. I am basically doing what I love to do, so it doesn’t feel like work in the end. Also, I realised early enough that there was a vacuum in the field and I had been trained to fit this field from my early days working with KORA Awards through different roles; first as a bilingual phone operator, PA to the KORA president, presenter, a Talent Manager with KORA and finally as a presenter. When I relocated back to Nigeria, I was quick to know in what areas my services would be appreciated. There’s lateness to contend with. There’s trying to make people see the vision of excellence of delivery around here; trying to make people understand that as a client. Your word is supposed to be law. It was quite hectic. In the end, I needed like nine lives to pull that event through and it wasn’t an event you wanted to also mess with because referrals came all the way from Cape Town South Africa. Also, it was like a diplomatic event. We had the Italian ambassador; we had a couple of ambassadors from the Italian embassies. That’s also difficult because we come from a place where we give you exact figures for what we need to deliver and we deliver it. But now we are at a place where the client is the one telling you to up the figures and is demanding a percentage as a kickback. There were quite a lot of challenges initially, but we’ve been able to find a middle ground.

    How would you appraise the entertainment scene?

    It’s big business in Nigeria, if you ask me. Aside the oil boom, the next thing that has had a serious boom in Nigeria is the entertainment; whether it is music or acting. But then again, we have people who have been in this industry for quite a while, who have not seen the need to professionalise it. So we have people still seeing entertainers as unserious people. It’s not true; we work really hard in this industry. We work twice as hard as the people in the bank, but again, we haven’t done ourselves the right service. We don’t have proper insurance, though a couple of people are trying to start that now. We have artistes whose talent have proved that they should be at an international level. They are earning money but they don’t have the right team to take them to that next level, to give them that kind of respect. They don’t have the right team to ensure that even the brands they are affiliated with get the desired privileges attached to getting an artiste and as an ambassador. There’s still a lot we need to put in place for the Nigerian entertainment industry. A lot is being made out of it, but there’s still a lot we need to put in place in terms of structuring the industry for it to run professionally and properly.

    As a woman, how would you describe life behind the scene?

    I think it’s a decision. My life is actually in two aspects. As an event producer, you really need to learn to stay behind the scene. If you do not learn to discipline yourself, you will get carried away and the job will not be done. So I tell everyone on my team, never try to struggle for stardom with the stars. We are supposed to be the star maker, so I try to keep it at that. You can’t come to an event and see me glamorously dressed. I do that on purpose. As an artiste manager, at times, it is also inevitable to get seen but that’s a different angle entirely. I now know how to balance keeping the star makers. It was something I learnt when I was producing KORA; suddenly, I had to deal with celebrities I had seen on TV.

    Why did you sett up a foundation?

    The first rule of my life is to be different. I’ve always been different from the norm. From the charity angle, I see it as an assignment I had from childhood. I grew up happy putting a smile on other people’s faces. I grew up giving my elder sister my lunch money in school and staying hungry just to ensure she’s happy. I grew up finding out that I cannot sing to save my life. I hardly have any other aspect I can handle well in church so I went on a soul searching at some point in my life to know what I could also do and it was clear to me that it was charity. So I gave myself an age deadline. I told myself that by the time I’m 25, I would love to have started something in that direction. I didn’t know how I was going to achieve that, but each day I went out on the streets and I saw a child begging or a child hawking, I bled. I came from a background where I was lucky to have my bills paid for all through my growing up age but I didn’t choose that. I might as well have been that child on the road hawking bananas or plantain. And then something remarkable changed my life when I was leaving secondary school. We went on an excursion to an orphanage home. There were these pretty little children all in their cots and seemingly at peace. Now I made the move to pick up one of the babies and she wouldn’t let me put her down again. She kept crying. So my heart reached out to that girl and then I told myself that the only way to go would be to have an orphanage home where I can try to set up something as close as possible to a family setting for children. When I lost my sister eventually, I knew that was the halting time. Luckily for me, I met with the CEO of Jabo Oil. I had some savings but not enough to put up the dream I had. And he, with a very large heart, keyed into the vision immediately and has always kept his part of the bargain to do 85% financing and also be a father to the kids at the home. We also embark on a lot of projects for the foundation, empowerment projects for slums and for widows and he has always gone the nine mile with me.

    So you had a soft landing?

    Almost, but finance is still not everything because when you are planning, it looks easier than when you get into it actually. When I had my first five children, I realised what challenges could be; both emotional challenges, financial challenges. Right now, we have 17 children. We’ve had up to 25 kids in the past but some of them got adopted, some found their parents.

    How do you get the kids for your homes?

    For regulatory reasons, we are registered with the Lagos State Government Ministry of Youth and Social Development. So every child we get comes from the government. Even when we see a child in a vulnerable situation, we alert the person in charge in Alausa. They go and do the rescue and then hand the child over to us. We do that to protect ourselves as well as the child. We don’t want a situation where they come and accuse us of being a baby-making factory. If we ever go to rescue a child ourselves, it would have been that we received a call from the government to pick the child up.

    What has been your most emotional moment running the foundation?

    There are several of them. There is a particular child who came in a very critical condition. I was called at about 11:30 at night that the child was almost dying at the orphanage. I was in my house in Lekki. I drove down by midnight alone through third mainland bridge to pick up the child, took him to the hospital. Within the same night, we did four trips to the hospital and back. The doctor kept trying but he didn’t tell me it was beyond him. He suggested that we should go see a consultant at LASUTH. Now, my driver wasn’t available at that time of the night. I had to drive myself and the child to LASUTH. We were kept for about two hours and we were eventually told that the hospital was full and we needed to go somewhere else. They referred us to LUTH. This was about 2:30am. Long story short, we found a private paediatrician who finally stabilised the child at about 5pm the next day. So, between 2am and 5pm we were battling with the child. I missed my MBA exam trying to get the child stable. After that time, I had to nurture that child for a full year. He came to us at three years old and when he was getting to a year and five months, we found his biological father. I had become so attached to the child before the father took him back, I had to lock myself up and I cried throughout the night. I felt like I was losing my own baby. But then, I had to train myself after that to realise that some of them would have to go eventually.

    What are some of your activities?

    We had one annual activity called Slum Invasion. We go to slums; we’ve been to Makoko Extension, and we have been to Ayetoro and Isale Iwaya. We go and celebrate with them. We take celebrities that we know they don’t have the opportunity to meet. We know if we go there to give a motivational speech, nobody would come out so we use celebrities to lure them out, celebrate with them and then empower them. We partner with skill empowerment organisations and we get these youths to register with them for free. We give scholarship to children. We do an outreach to widows called share your closet where we encourage people to give out of the abundance of what they have for us to sell and use to empower widows with petty trade and businesses.

    How do you find time for yourself?

    It’s going to happen someday. I’m going to find time for myself someday (laughs). It has hardly happened yet. It’s almost a 24-hour job because when I’m not attending to business, I’m attending to the kids. And I try to see them on a daily basis when I’m in the country. So, I have to work almost 24 hours most times, but I’m working now so that I can rest in the future. But then I’m trying to organise the orphanage in a way that it must be able to run without my physical presence. That way, I can create more time for myself.

    Describe yourself

    I am completely made in Nigeria. I am multilingual, I love adventures, I love putting a smile on other people’s faces and I love to be happy. I earn a living from helping other people achieve their dreams: I am a talent manager, a line producer, an author and a mother to the children at Life Fountain Orphanage Home. I refer to myself as the best thing that happened to the world.

  • ‘Why looters are beating EFCC hands down’

    ‘Why looters are beating EFCC hands down’

    In this conclusion of the interview with Sunday Oguntola, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), sheds light on why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will keep losing corruption cases. Excerpts: 

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been accusing the judiciary of frustrating the anti-corruption war, especially successful prosecution of looters. What’s lacking in the agency’s effort?

    The EFCC is just an agency. I did constitutional studies and have studied over 50 anti-corruption models. Corruption is fought well when the President leads it. When the late Murtala Muhammed came to power and wanted to fight corruption, he went on TV and told the people what he had stolen. So, he set an example and inspired confidence from people. Then, he went to war.

    But we don’t see that with this current administration. The suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal was accused of fiddling with the contract monies for North east recovery programme. What happened to him? Nothing.

    The monies recovered from Ikoyi flat, what’s happening? Nothing. Immediately when there is selective application of anti-corruption parameters, the whole thing goes to pieces. People will raise dusts. You are accusing Diezani Alison-Madueke of looting but she would raise pro-Diezani groups because she feels others are not hounded like her.

    So, the mistake is an absence of clear commitment on the part of the President that anyone caught in corruption would be severely dealt with. When that happens, it would empower EFCC to function better. It would create the energy for the judiciary to add bite to the war. That is what is missing. That critical, strategic commitment of the President that he is fighting corruption, wherever it is found.

    In the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) conference, one of the things that came out is that the Indian President is succeeding with anti-corruption because he is fighting corruption even in-house. He also uses the best hands as ministers. If he wants a Minister of Mining, he would get the best brain in that field to serve as Minister. In Singapore, virtually all the Ministers are PhD holders. So corruption is not just about stealing money, it is also nepotism. It is about putting only people from a particular section in offices when there are better qualified ones from other sections. You will now make them look inferior and unqualified.

    So the President needs to rise to the level where he is completely neutral and he takes no prisoners of corruption whether it is from his family, party or hometown. If anyone makes a mistake that goes against the rules, he cuts you down. But that is not the case now. He may not know it. It may not be deliberate. But it is not that now.

    I don’t think it is deliberate because he makes the right noises about Nigeria. Look at his last broadcast you could see he was bent on enforcing the sovereignty of Nigeria. If he could do that with the same determination across the board, Nigeria will change.  He won’t tolerate any incompetent ministers. How many of our ministers are competent? That’s why Nigeria is what it is. When I go abroad, my friends wonder what I mean I have to dig my own borehole for water. They cannot understand the concept of boreholes. I have ten generators for personal use and you want me to pay tax. How will I?

    In other countries, tax revenue accounts for over 50 percent. But who will pay tax here when I provide my water, security, power and everything? Everyday PHCN is damaging my electronics when there is a surge. The other day I had to install a solar panel for N1million to protect the gadgets. The next day, PHCN burnt the surge regulator.

    Going to Apapa is a war. We have to drive on gutters sometimes to get there. Who will bring money and investments with the road in that state?

    The EFCC has been crying lawyers like you are helping looters to escape prosecution…

    …How

    …The agency says the looters are getting injunctions with the help of lawyers…

    …But that’s the way it is. That is precisely the work of a lawyer. What we should be asking is: how come the EFCC has poor charges that lawyers are able to get injunctions against them? How come the agency goes to the wrong courts many times for prosecution?

    They are the ones strengthening the lawyers and allowing them to get injunctions because of poor prosecution. Lawyers are by ethics expected to accept briefs from anybody. A person is entitled to be fairly heard no matter the offence you commit. You must have a fair court hearing before conviction. Therefore, you are bound to be defended and the defence is based on the competences of the lawyers-the prosecutors and defence counsels.

    How can you have an anti-corruption strategy and you don’t have lawyers and prosecutors? Rotimi Jacobs is busy going around the country alone. How can he handle all the cases? I told Abubakar Malami (The Minister of Justice), who is my friend, what you need to do is to have top advocates to prosecute cases.

    You can’t fight corruption with penny-penny lawyers. The looters have stolen trillions and you think you will be paying lawyers peanuts and they will beat us who are paid in millions? So, those are part of the problems with the anti-corruption war.

    The President has to make it clear this is his commitment with the Attorney leading the war. EFCC needs resources to work well. I hope you know they don’t have resources to work with. If you go to their office in Ikoyi, you will be shocked with what they have. In fairness to them, they are doing more than they are paid. They are overworked, overburdened and overused. They don’t have forensics or any skills. So, they prepare their cases terribly badly. In fact, if you see a typical EFCC charge, you will almost weep. I don’t know who gave them the idea that their charges must be in hundreds.

    You just need one or two charges to make it easy. You remember people criticised a Federal High Court Judge for freeing Ibori. I took pains to read the judgment and realised the Judge was right because the allegation was by Nuhu Ribadu. He said there was a $15million given by Ibori. The very man who alleged was not called as a witness. So, how can the judge convict without the man who alleged called? J.B. Daodu just made an application and the judge threw away the case. But people don’t know all these.

    When cases go wrong, they start shouting not knowing the cases are badly framed, poorly investigated and badly prosecuted. That’s why cases are thrown out and we shout lawyers and judges. I am not saying judges are saints because we have seen many of them caught in corruption issues.

    But again the rule of laws dictates you don’t denigrate an institution in order to win a battle. You don’t have to go in the middle of the night to break into their residences. You know these guys. You can arrest them or even invite them. They can’t run because you know them well.

    Going after them in that way splits the Bar like I am against it and we now forget the issues to discuss how. The problem is the EFCC thinks it is above the laws, which is not true. That is why the anti-corruption war is not going well and needs to be corrected. Fighting corruption is the simplest thing. It is not as difficult as we are making it. Most of the guys have their hands everywhere. It is easy to track them. The evidence is always there. It is the framework that is lacking as well as motivation for prosecuting lawyers. They are not even enlisting the support of NBA. They believe they have Presidential mandate, which is above the rule of laws.

    That is very wrong because you are not fighting with the rule of law yet you want the rule of law to assist you deal with looters. It is not going to work. The judges will be against you. They have their discretions to rule on your cases. You cannot force them to convict any person. You must bring the accused before them and if you have already antagonised the judges, how do you want to get prosecutions?

    They won’t be sympathetic to you because the judges also have their challenges. I know Judges who have not been paid for months. My sister-in-law is a Judge. She was not been paid from January-June. She is a federal Judge. So, how can she survive?

    It comes back to we must empower institutions. At a point I was in the NJC, I made a point that the NJC is not an agency of the executive. It should draw up and submit its budget to the National Assembly. But the NJC has been very conservative and reactionary. So, I went to court and I won. I asked them to implement the case I won, they were not interested.

    Rather, they are content with working without resources. Most of them have no houses, some have no cars. I am talking about senior federal Judges. They have got absolutely nothing. The conditions under which they work are shockingly poor. Some of their offices have nothing. They have illiterate, uneducated and unskilled staff.

    You know in most cases, judges slow down their works. They must write their reports in three months. So, if you have a judge that is fast and has delivered 60 cases, he or she is dead. They have to write as much reports. They have no support unlike abroad where the judges have like 10 researchers and backroom staff. After dealing with a case, they discuss with the clerks and they give him the reports. So his main work is to sit in court, take evidence. There is a backroom support that you won’t see. Here, there is none. So, when we talk about the judiciary being slow, we have to understand why.

    Many have no offices. Many have to wait for judges to deliver judgments before going to sit. That’s the problem. All these go back to building strong institutions. And this is something African about our underdevelopment. There is no black nation that is successfully run. Look at Jacob Zuma, he’s destroyed the country. Look at Museveni (Uganda). He started very well but has stayed for over 30 years. Look at Mugabe (Zimbabwe). He is over 90 but wants to die in office. But look at the developed countries. Macron is 39, Theodore is 41. These are energetic people. Our President is 74. Look, once you cross 60, the energy is not there again.

    I remember when I was young, I can drink my beer before going to court. Now I cannot again except in the evenings. So, I know the difference between being 40 and 64, not to talk of 74 and carry Nigeria’s wahala on your head. You have to be strong to survive. We need young people who can absorb pressure and thrive.

    What’s happening to CLO, which you founded because these days one is not hearing about it again?

    CLO was created as a human rights organisation to fight for prisoners’ right and all that. In the course of that, we found that our missions required a democratic environment to thrive. So, we expanded our mandate to enthronement of democracy, which we have done. So, our mandate has expired.

    Really?

    Yes, it has expired. We were the opposition then with the Military as ruling class. But now, we are neither APC nor PDP. We cannot do anything again. That’s why I insist only leaders of the ethnic nationalities can rescue this nation because the new game in town is not the enthronement of democracy but fight for a new Nigeria. It is the owners of Nigeria that can rescue us. Human rights groups can only contribute their points.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote you last week…

    No, I wrote to him and he only replied. That letter was because of the frustration I feel within for Nigeria. I merely went back to military strategy, that if you agree you are weak, look for an alliance that can assist you. I realised that Obasanjo is a man that can push any course he takes on. I wrote him to help us to create a generational shift. He responded that while he agreed generally, even the youths that have taken power… Anyway, we have opened the conversations that he would give more thoughts. The charge to him was to bring a young man that can take over.

    But he said you have sat on the fence for too long…

    … But where do I start from? I am a lawyer and my resources are limited. I cannot mobilise even in my town. People like Chris Uba with their billions can move everyone away from my presence. So, where do I jump to from the fence? Into fire? So, I cannot do anything. That’s why I appealed to him that since we are in a trap, only someone like him that belongs to the ruling class can drop down the ladder to raise us up. I can name five politicians that can buy up the entire country.

    So, where do you start from if you don’t have resources? How do you fund a party? You know the late Gani Fawehinmi actually thought he would win the presidential race. When he lost, he put mud on his face. He was so distraught and I told him Nigerians love him but we lacked the political organisation.

    In 1998, the space was opened when we the civil societies were invited to participate in the then emerging democracy. But in our meeting in Gani’s house, my motion for participation was defeated because they insisted we must have Sovereign National Government and Government of National Unity.

    I said those things were theoretical and we should enter the space to make changes. I regret that decision would have changed things today. By 2003 when we realised the error, the space had been closed. If Gani had run in 1998, he would have won. It didn’t require money at all then.

    On the aircraft, they would not allow me pay for tickets. Doctors treated me free because they said we were the ones who fought for democracy. The national flavour was still there and people were uncorrupted. That momentum would have taken us in. Even former President Thambo Mbeki came to appeal to us but we shunned him.

    The older part of the Human Rights Movement led by the late Senator Adesanya and co saw the opportunity and took it. They left us behind while we continued to shout and make noise. In four years, the space closed. That was what formed my appeal to Obasanjo.

    So, if a political party asks you to contest, you will take it now?

    Yes. That is part of the appeal to Obasanjo. I cannot on my own offer myself for service because how do I start? It is not easy. Nigeria’s situation is one of the worst in the world where the exclusion is total and the excluded have no voice.

    Instead of fighting their oppressors, they are fighting themselves. The poverty level is horrendous. The level of illiteracy in the north is terribly poor yet the almajiri worship their political heroes who impoverish them in the first place. So, the country needs to be rescued by a visionary person.

    So, Nigeria is not beyond redemption?

    It is a difficult question to answer because Nigeria is touch-and-go. It can go down any moment. We are on the precipice looking at all the indices. We are one of the most fragile states in the world. We are top there. We are at the bottom of any positive rating. All these can lead to a volcanic eruption anytime.

    So, we need a Messiah from the elites who is not self-proclaimed. That, for me, is what we need now.

    As the former President of NBA, why is it not as vibrant as it used to be?

    The political elite have penetrated everything and everyone. There was a time the NBA, NMA, ASUU and others were strong but not anymore. The politicians have infiltrated them because they don’t work. All they do day and night is plotting how to have access to power and treasury.

    Some of them can stay six or seven years without power but when they get it, they don’t stop. Take Diezani for example. What would such a pretty, elegant, classy woman need so much money for? Why would she steal that much?

    That’s the problem. To sustain this politics, this means set up deliberate rules that ensure their power is not threatened. Our politicians can cross any party because the purpose of the party is to have access to power. That is the only philosophy on which our parties run.

    Out of every N1 Nigeria makes, they steal as much as 90k. The system has completely collapsed. The States are just there. The governors just wait till the end of the month, send their commissioners to bring cheques from Abuja and then start distributing to people. That is all they do now. Our local government chairmen only work from when they get their allocations and distribute. After then, they become free. So, the entire governmental system has collapsed. Local governments are gone. States are gone. Only the federal government exists and is overloaded.

  • Man in court for ‘beating’ another with plank

    A 28-year-old man, Monday Michael, was yesterday arraigned at an Ota Magistrates’ Court in Ogun State for alleged assault.

    Michael, who lives at 36, Fadipe Street, Iyana-Ilogbo, Ota, is facing a two-count charge of assault and conspiracy.

    The prosecutor, Chudu Gbesi, said the accused and others at large committed the offences on July 25, about 7 pm. at Iyana-Iyesi, Ota.

    He said the accused and his accomplices conspired to assault Jelili Badru by using a plank to inflict injuries in his neck.

    Gbesi said the offences contravened sections 351 and 452 of the Criminal Code, Vol. 1, Laws of Ogun State, 2006.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

    The Senior Magistrate, Mr. S. O. Banwo, granted him bail at N450,000 with two sureties in like sum.

    He said the sureties must live within the court’s jurisdiction and swear to an affidavit of means.

    Banwo said they should submit four passport photographs to the court and show evidence of tax payment to the Ogun State government.

    The case was adjourned till September 20 for hearing.

  • ‘Beating is the language she understands’

    ‘Beating is the language she understands’

    A photojournalist Francis Abiagan, yesterday said the only language his wife Joy, understands is beating.

    Abiagan, who works with Business Day, was accused of beating his wife and stripping her naked by the campaign Against Impunity and Domestic Violence.

    Abiagan said Joy who he married 10 years ago had made his life hellish since he brought his indisposed mother to their Ifo, Ogun State home.

    A statement by the group’s spokesman, Gbenga Soloki, said Abiagan was alleged to have injured his wife and boasted that nothing could happen to him.

    According to Soloki, Abiagan had been assaulting his wife for long with the couple’s family intervening to broker peace.

    Abiagan who admitted on telephone that he beat up his wife, said he could not bear the way she treated his mother.

    He said: “I have been married for 10 years now. My mother had stroke and no one was available to take care of her. I brought my mother to the house and since then, it has been war. My wife hates my mother with passion. My sin is that I accommodated all her siblings and they have turned my life into a nightmare.

    “My wife has been devising means to deal with my mother. She starved my mother to the extent that I hired a help, who cooks for her. My wife was seen dragging my mother on the ground, calling her a witch. I have been enduring it but I could not bear this last one she did to my mother.

    “My wife threatened the cook I hired not to come. The church has organised several meetings for us. They begged her to change but she refused. It is the language she understands I gave to her.”

  • Beating swindlers as festive season begins

    Beating swindlers as festive season begins

    Gradually but surely year 2016 is coming to an end. Another Yuletide is here again. Recession or not, Christmas will be celebrated and there will be feasts to mark the days following even if not elaborately.

    However, take note because as you are planning on how to get good value for any money spent, swindlers are also working out the best strategy on how to rip off and extort money from buyers. We are all aware that this is the season when people shop the most.

    A visit to various markets in and outside Lagos already reveals a sharp increase in activities. Take for instance, Balogun and Idumota markets on Lagos Island; they are already experiencing the characteristic pushing-and-shoving usually associated with the Yuletide season. Balogun and Idumota markets are associated with different kinds of lace, George, wrappers and other fashion accessories. No wonder it’s already teeming with shoppers as most people want to beat the notorious Christmas season  price at the tailor’s place.

    While more people are visiting the markets, traders have increased the stocks in their shops with some of them spreading their wares by the road sides, ringing bells loudly to attract teeming buyers.

    In as much as government agencies like the Consumer Protection Council Nigeria [CPC] will carry out sensitisationprogrammes and enlightenment campaigns, it is entirely the responsibility of the consumer to be on alert when shopping.

    Yes, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, [SON] will do their best to rid the market of products below the acceptable standard, while the National Agency for Food, Drug  Administration and Control [NAFDAC] will also be on their toes to make sure that the market is not saturated with poor quality, expired drugs and food product, it is the sole responsibility of the buyer to open their eyes to the activities around them.

    This is the period that all manners of products are filled in gift baskets, nicely wrapped and pushed into  the market for unfortunate buyers, especially corporate bodies seeking to buy large quantity gift baskets.

    Most traders use this opportunity to sell unpopular products, expired or products nearing their shelf life or Best Before Date. Their reasoning and which has been working for them is, how many buyers actually demand to scrutinise the products in those baskets in order to verify the expiry date?

    Moreover, the way the baskets are wrapped and sealed will even discourage buyers from venturing to validate the dates. Corporate bodies that buy in large quantity are those who mostly fall victims to these fraudsters in sheep skins.

    Nevertheless, word of caution, it will be worth the trouble to demand to verify the expiry dates of the products. If are doing bulk buying, randomly select the gift baskets and authenticate the expiry dates and the quality of the products.

    It could be recalled that last year we reported many cases of wine importers and retailers who changed the expiry dates of their products to give longer shelf life to those drinks.

    Another trick that those dodgy swindlers put into use, especially at times like this, is positively positioning themselves in busy big shops within the market, attending to customers and receiving money from them. How they do this successfully without the connivance of the shop owner is what I find quite baffling.

    This brings to mind part of a story we ran on this page some time ago. For the benefit of those who did not read it, a woman shopper went to the ground floor of  Ecobank shopping plaza on Balogun road in Balogun market to buy laces, georges and other wrappers.

    According to the owner of the shop, Mrs. NgoziIkolo, the woman who had been her customer for two years met her two sales boys as she was not in the market that period.

    “My customer bought goods worth N74,000.00 and paid to another boy she met in my shop who she thought was working for me. Immediately he collected the money from her, he unobtrusively and swiftly left the shop. At the end, when the shopper wanted to leave the shop with the goods, the other two sales boys asked her for payment and she said she had paid one of them,” narrated Mrs. Ikolo.

    Continuing, she said her sales boys explained to the woman that they were the only two people working for her and in the position of receiving payment if the shop owner is not available.

    “At that point my sales boys had to raise an alarm and had to call me. Nobody knew who the boy that collected the money was. Some of the customers in my shop at the time thought he was also a customer while one other customer said she believed him to be one of the sales boys.”

    The female shopper who erroneously gave him money said she thought he was one of the sales boys as he responded to her questions and assisted her in selecting fabrics and matching colours. She said that she also observed the boy assisting other customers.

    Finding the whole incident unbelievable and overwhelming I went in search of the union chairman, only to find out that, the market has numerous Associations and Unions. In fact each of the shopping plaza has a chairman.

    The man who simply identified himself as chairman, explained that the method was the most recent way swindlers have engaged in stealing money from customers.

    “The most common is where you have elderly women as old as 70years pretending to be intending buyers but actually in shops to pilfer from unassuming customers. You will least expect someone that old to be a thief, so when you come across them in shops, you will not be on guard but if it is a young person, you will immediately clutch your bag tighter,” said the Chairman.

    “Thieves mingling with customers and sales boys and actually impersonating sales boys and receiving payment from shoppers is a new trend in Balogun market,” he lamented.

    Who do you blame in cases like that? Can you attribute it to charms like some people are alleging? Measuring and weighing his response, “I cannot blame the customer nor the seller and I do not believe is charms.”

    Don’t you think the owner of the shop ought to have asked the intruder his mission in the shop? I further asked. “The shop owner cannot ask such a question if he sees the customer walk in with the person however with this latest developments, owners and sales boys now query people inside shops to ascertain their missions and if they are together.”

    Counselling customers, he said they should make sure of the identity of the person they want to give money to while calling on his fellow traders to gently challenge any person found in their shops who does not seem to be making any purchase.

    Speaking with the owner of ‘Jesus Reigns Stores’, shop 3, Alatise Plaza, 6/7 Balogun street, she lamented that it was the latest way of stealing in the market.

    Asking the amiable lady who is a big time dealer in high quality georges, blouses, lace materials and head ties how she would have handled the issue if it had happened to her customer, “ Well, I will find a way of sharing the loses with the customer but I pray it doesn’t happen to me.”

  • Row in Bayelsa over Dickson’s alleged beating of council chief

    Row in Bayelsa over Dickson’s alleged beating of council chief

    •APC: denial statement issued by Government House 

    The alleged beating of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Chairman of Bayelsa State, Chief Remember Ogbe, by Governor Seriake Dickson, yesterday sparked controversies across the state.

    Dickson was accused of descending heavily on Ogbe for failing to ensure his victory at the botched governorship election in the local government on December 5 and 6.

    The election in the area, where the All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed it defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by a landslide, was cancelled, following alleged irregularities.

    Dickson allegedly invited Ogbe to the Government House in Yenagoa and reportedly gave him a beating of his life.

    But the governor has denied assaulting Ogbe.

    A statement quoted Ogbe as debunking the reports that Dickson physically attacked him over the poll.

    The statement, which emanated from a Government House source, said Ogbe described the report of his alleged assault as wicked and malicious, adding that it was the handiwork of the APC and its governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva.

    The council chief was quoted as saying that the APC was getting more desperate in its bid to take over Bayelsa State by hook or crook.

    He reportedly expressed confidence that the PDP would win in Southern Ijaw.

    Ogbe was said to have also wondered why the APC claimed that the governor was angry for losing election in his council when there was no election at all in the first place.

    The statement said: “Southern Ijaw was riddled with violence and turned to a theatre of war by the APC. Election materials did not get to the polling units, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials were kidnapped and these were the reasons why INEC cancelled the process and fixed January 9, 2016 for the election. So, how could the governor be angry with me for not delivering?”

    But in a statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of the Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO), Chief Nathan Egba, APC dared Ogbe to publicly deny the alleged assault.

    Egba said while Ogbe was still nursing his wounds, Dickson, through his Government House Press Unit, was issuing statements for the chairman.

    He said: “Our response is, therefore, simple as we are also very convinced that Chief Ogbe is a Christian.

    “If he is sure that he was not beaten by anybody, let him come out publicly to deny it on television so that cameras can show his face and other parts.

    “It is embarrassing to note that these denials were issued from the Bayelsa Government House Press Office, while Chief Remember Ogbe is still on his sick bed.”

    Egba said the Southern Ijaw Local Government chairman had not been seen in public since the incident.

    He added: “It is more than two weeks now that Chief Ogbe received the Governor’s beating. This is no lie at all and not political either, but to draw attention to the character of the man who is seeking the mandate of the people.

    “Let us recall that Governor Dickson recently met with various stakeholders from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, including the traditional rulers, chiefs, political appointees and youth groups. Chief Ogbe could not attend any of the meetings because of the injuries inflicted on him by the desperate governor.

    “For the records, the APC flag bearer, Chief Timipre Sylva, has nothing to do with the story; rather, it was the numerous eyewitnesses, including some close associates, who broke the news because of their unhappiness with the goingson in the Government House.

    “We have also promised to provide at least three eyewitnesses, who are willing to stake everything, to confirm this story.”

    Egba urged the Government House to provide a platform for the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area’s chairman to personally address reporters so that Bayelsa residents could see who was lying.

  • Wife: he enjoys beating me

    A trader, Funmilayo Amadi, has taken her husband, Uchenna, to an Agege Customary Court in Lagos, seeking a dissolution of their one-year marriage.

    She is alleging that her husband gets angry over trivial issues.

    “I wish I foresaw this because our marriage is too young to start having troubles. Since we got married, I haven’t had rest of mind. He is very troublesome and enjoys beating me,” Mrs Amadi said.

    The Ekiti-State-born woman said she left home two months ago after her husband beat her up.

    She said: “He dealt with me mercilessly and sent me out of the house as if I never mattered to him. Since then, I have been forced to live with my parents. I doubt if I can return to him because I wasn’t born to suffer.”

    The respondent, Uchenna, said a month after their wedding, his wife insisted on returning to her parents house and left two months ago.

    Uchenna denied beating her, alleging that she packed out of her own volition.

    “We were not forced to marry each other; it was consensual. This is happening because I advised her to act like a married woman to which she objected. I still love her and am not ready for dissolution,” he said.

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Williams, fixed meeting with the couple and asked them to bring along two relatives each for July 13.

  • Policemen arrested over beating in Hong Kong

    Ken Tsang was photographed on 15 October being taken away by policemen, shortly before his alleged beating  PHOTO:AFP

    Seven Hong Kong policemen have been arrested in connection with the beating of a pro-democracy protester.

    A police statement said the officers, who had already been suspended, were detained on suspicion of “assault resulting in grievous body harm”.

    The incident took place on 15 October amid clashes while police cleared an underpass by the Admiralty camp.

    Civic Party protester Ken Tsang was filmed being led away in handcuffs and beaten for several minutes.

    Local TV network TVB later aired footage of his assault, and Mr Tsang’s lawyer said that the beatings had continued after he was taken to a police station.

    The authorities immediately moved to suspend the officers and launched an investigation shortly after the clip was aired.

    A video filmed by the Apple Daily newspaper appeared to show officers beating a handcuffed protester

    Images such as this one allegedly showing marks on Ken Tsang’s back have caused outrage

    On Wednesday, a police spokesman said they had not delayed investigations into the case, and that Mr Tsang had promised to show up to identify his assailants, but failed to do so.

    The spokesman called on Mr Tsang to “assist the police in investigations as soon as possible”.

    The police also rejected previous criticism of their handling of the case, saying that their investigations had consistently followed the procedures for complaints against police officers.

    “If any other officer is suspected of illegal behaviour, the police will investigate impartially and not show favouritism,” said the spokesman.

    Police used pepper spray and batons on 15 October to remove protesters from Lung Wo Road, arresting 45 people who had resisted the action.

    The clearance operation continued on Wednesday as bailiffs, backed by police, began removing barricades

    Since then the authorities have attempted to clear parts of the three protest sites in Hong Kong, after the high court granted injunctions to several groups.

    Wednesday’s announcement by the police came amid efforts by bailiffs, aided by the police, to clear the Mong Kok protest site, which resulted in more clashes. More than 140 people have been arrested.