The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fatai Owoseni

  • Rapist attacks woman, children in Lagos

    Rapist attacks woman, children in Lagos

    Less than two weeks after a serial rapist killed an expectant mum, Afusat Yusuf and left her husband and two children unconscious, another family was yesterday morning attacked.

    The incident which occurred at the Igbefun area of Ibeshe, Ikorodu, left the residents in shock and desperate for solutions.

    It was gathered that the woman identified as Toyin Ogunleye, her son, Seun and daughter Funlola were sleeping when the rapist gained access into their home through the window.

    The woman resisted being raped and screamed to the hearing of other neighbours who were said to have rallied round to help them.

    However, it was learnt that the rapist, who escaped the scene, injured his victims.

    According to some of the residents, the frequent rape of women and children in the community could be the handiwork of ritualists, especially because pregnant and old women are not spared by their attackers.

    It was gathered that the Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni visited the community Thursday evening after he heard of the development.

    Contacted, the command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP) confirmed the incident, adding that Owoseni has directed the Divisional Police Officer there to fish out the culprits.
    She said: “The command has arrested three suspected rapists in the area called “Badoo” and charged them to court. I don’t want to call the criminals by any name because I do not want to celebrate criminality.

    “Yes, the CP visited the scene after he received the report that a woman and two children were attacked. Good enough, there was no death.

    “He has directed the new DPO there to fish out the culprits and apply the concept of community policing to end the criminalty.

    “He also met with stakeholders within the community where opinions were raised on how best to police the area because of its difficult terrain.

    “The community expressed their readiness to partner with the police to end the menace.”

  • ‘Pliant’ policeman goes unclad to evade arrest

    ‘Pliant’ policeman goes unclad to evade arrest

    There was drama at a United Bank of Africa (UBA) premises in Surulere on Thursday afternoon after a policeman who had followed a customer to extort her was caught pants down.

    It was gathered that the policemen identified as Ogogor, who arrested a woman for alleged traffic offence had demanded N30,000 bribe from her, insisting that she would pay N50,000 should the matter get to the station.

    He thereafter followed the woman who claimed to be out of cash to the bank in order for her to withdraw the N30,000 and give him, not knowing she had put a call across to a rights activist.

    It was gathered that the unnamed activist contacted the Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni, who deployed policemen to the scene with an order to apprehend the errant personnel.

    But on getting to the scene, it was learnt that Ogogor first went under a vehicle parked within the premises but was dragged out by his colleagues who had been directed to fetch him.

    “He became violent. When he was dragged from underneath the vehicle. He started tearing his uniform and went naked in public. He striped to his pant to avoid being arrested but some area boys came to assist the policemen who came from the CP’s office to effect the arrest and they dragged him into the police van,” said a source.

    It was gathered that Ogogor was taken to the X-Squad unit at the police command, where he was detained and would be tried in orderly room

  • 12 injured, motorcycles destroyed as riders, NURTW clash

    12 injured, motorcycles destroyed as riders, NURTW clash

    There was pandemonium at Igando, a Lagos suburb on Thursday morning after commercial motorcyclists and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) clashed.
    At least 12 persons were said to have sustained injuries and several motorcycles destroyed in the fight that grounded business activities in the area.
    Among the injured were Abdullahi Lawal who’s on admission at the hospital, while others are Saheed Ayanshola, Taofeeq Jimoh, Olorunfemi Shakiru, Segun Idowu, Abbass Ahmed and Kazeem Ramoni.
    Trouble was said to have started after the NURTW increased the prices of the ticket for Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) including commercial motorcycles.
    From a daily levy of about N400, it was gathered that the parent body increased the fare of motorcyclists to over N1,000.
    It was learnt motorcyclists at Alimosho usually paid N50 tax security and ticket N200 on a daily basis until the introduction of the new rates which indicated that they have to pay N500 to the national NURTW and N200 booking tickets to operate within.
    Angered by the increment, the motorcyclists’ union told their members to resist any attempt by NURTW officials to pay the levies, which did not go well with the latter.
    However, the NURTW denied that the hike was over N1,000, insisting that the daily fares for motorcyclists at Alimosho was N600.
    According to the union’s Secretary, Tijani Pekis, booking ticket was introduced in order to curb cases of illegal taxation motorcyclists were subjected to.
    He said: “This is a case between a father and his son, which an adopted father wanted to hijack. It is a misunderstanding between the rank and file of the union and so we are meeting to resolve it.
    “What actually happened was that some of our workers used the restriction of motorcycles to certain routes in the state to extort motorcyclists.
    “They keep collecting money from them and these riders end up paying so much daily. In Alimosho alone, there are over 30 units and imagine how much they spend, laying N50 tax security to each one daily.
    “At the end of the day, their interest is not protected and the money goes into private pockets. So, in order to correct that situation, we introduced booking tickets of N200 per day. With this ticket, an Okada can ply Igando to Egbeda and Ikotun, but cannot go to places like Surulere because of the restriction.
    “At Igando, they protested and we reduced the amount to N100 per day, and then, the N500 daily paid to national, totaling N600. Still, they refused to pay. That was what caused the fight, but it’s being resolved because we are members of the same family.”
    The Nation gathered that it took the intervention of anti-riot policemen from Igando Division and the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) for the factions to retreat.
    Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni and RRS Commander, Tunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) were on ground and appealed to the parties to maintain peace.

  • Eid-el-Kabir: Lagos beefs up security

     

    The Lagos State Government has made adequate preparations to ensure a hitch free celebration of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir, disclosing that security personnel have been mobilized to be at strategic places.

     

    While briefing Government House Correspondents at the end of the monthly Security Council meeting, the State’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni said the Council appraised the security strategies already put in place for the celebration and members were satisfied with the solid arrangement towards a successful celebration.

     

    According to Owoseni, “We looked at all the strategies that have been put in place by all the security agencies and the support that the State Government is giving us and we are satisfied that we are well prepared to ensure that residents of Lagos have hitch-free holiday period and that the Muslim brothers and sisters also have a successful and hitch-free Eid-el-Kabir holiday.

     

    “Security agencies will be at all the strategic places including the Eid-el-Kabir praying ground, amusement parks and the malls so that by the time we are ending the holiday and the Sallah is finished, everybody will be happy to say that it is another successful holiday and it is another successful Eid-el-Kabir celebration.”

  • Police nab fraudsters over botched $7,000 deal

    Police nab fraudsters over botched $7,000 deal

    The police in Lagos on Thursday paraded an aggrieved fraudster, Henry Ezechie with six others who allegedly specialise in internet fraud.

    The suspects were all arrested on Saturday at Ajah, after Ezechie who felt cornered in a $7,090 deal he had with Kenneth Eric alias Biggie, petitioned the police alleging that the others were kidnappers and fraudsters.

    It was gathered that detectives from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence (SCIID) Panti-Yaba stormed Eric’s Ajah residence and arrested Stephen Onwunama, Jacob Chukwuka and two others.

    However, Onwunama and Chukwuka have both denied being criminals insisting that they were just Biggie’s friends and usually visited his home.

    Ezechie who admitted reporting to the police said he was angry that Biggie refused to give him his 80 percent share of the loot.

    “Biggie is the one owing me. We had a $7,090 deal and he refused to give me my 80 percent share of the money and so, I took the payment slip to the police to report. We do yahoo business (Internet fraud). It was my deal. He is the picker and so, his share is 20 percent.

    “Picker is the person who receives the money and sends to Nigeria. He has contacts in America who pick the money and send through money transfer. I have been doing this business for some years now to survive, but this was my major breakthrough and he refused to give me my money.  It is dating that we do. We use Match, Facebook and other sites,” he said.

    But Eric, who admitted he was into Internet fraud, denied being a kidnapper. He also denied defrauding Ezechie, claiming that the deal did not click.

    20160908_114110“Henry alleged me. He gave me a transaction of N300,000 which did not click and he went to the police to claim that I was a kidnapper and a fraudster. He left what we were doing and started talking rubbish. Whoever gave him that receipt he took to the police was just deceiving him. I do Facebook loto. We tell victims that if they pay $800 they will win $100,000. Most of our victims are white people because they are greedy,” he said.

    Onwunama who denied being a fraudster said he only came to visit his friend and he was arrested.

    He claimed that he was a government worker in Delta State,  adding that he laid somewhere in the room when the police came and searched everywhere.

    “They found nothing on me. They searched my phones and laptop and they didn’t see anything that has to do with fraud in it. I was just visiting my friend and I have spent two weeks in his place.  I was to go back to Asaba on Sunday before I was arrested on Saturday. I don’t know how it is an offence to be a friend to a fraudster,” he claimed.

    Chukwuka also denied being a fraudster,  insisting that he only went to Kenneth’s place after he heard the police were there.

    “I was at my house when I heard that the police were at Kenneth’s place to arrest him that he was a kidnapper and a fraudster.  So, I went there with my younger brother to explain that I know him. That he was not a kidnapper. That’s how I was also arrested. I did not do anything wrong. I have never been a criminal in my life,” he said.

    Parading the suspects, Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni said they will be charged to court at the completion of investigation.

  • Ambode seeks policemen redeployment over unauthorized raid

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday asked the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, to redeploy some police officers attached to the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences Unit.

    The request followed last Friday’s raids in different parts of Lagos by officers of the taskforce, leading to a rough treatment and arrests of innocent citizens.

    In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the governor sought an immediate redeployment of several of the task force officers from the unit and possibly from the state over what he called “unacceptable conduct.”

    Ayorinde said the request was necessary in order to prevent a reoccurrence of last weekend’s unauthorized raid and indiscriminate arrest of citizens who were out to have fun on Friday night.

    According to the commissioner, preliminary investigation showed that the unauthorized raid was carried out with the knowledge of the Taskforce second in command, SP Taiwo Adeoluwa, without the approval of the Chairman, SP. Saheed Olayinka Egbeyemi.

    “The conduct of the affected officers is not in tandem with the vision of Lagos State Government and is therefore condemnable. Their conduct is also unbecoming of officers who are expected to protect the citizenry and ensure that citizens and visitors find every part of the state safe and conducive enough not only on Friday nights but every day.”

    The commissioner added that governor Ambode’s massive investments in security and “Light Up Lagos” Project was meant to create a 24-7 economy that encourages businesses to thrive.

    He said the government would not fold its arms and watch any overzealous officer derail the vision that has earned the government applause.

     

     

  • ‘Two robbers killed, 15 others arrested in Lagos’

    At least two armed robbers have been killed and 15 others arrested in the last seven days across Lagos.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, disclosed this to journalists at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja.

    According to Owoseni, the suspects, who rode on motorcycles and waylaid bank customers, were nabbed at Festac, Egbeda and the Lekki-Ajah axis of the state.

    He said the dead robbers were killed during gun duel with police.

    The police commissioner said a Beratta and two locally made pistols, a motorcycle remodified by the hoodlums for increased speed, and four cartridges were recovered from them.

    He added that charms, six women handbags, seven Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, three razor blades and several identity cards were also found in their custody, some of which have been returned to their identified owners.

    Owoseni, who described the menace posed by the robbers as worrisome, stated that the command was bent on putting a stop to the practice.

    One of the suspects, Monday Joseph, 25, denied being a robber, insisting that he was arrested alongside his friend, Monday Korede.

    He insisted they were victims of circumstance.

    Joseph, who later admitted to have robbed before, claimed he stopped the act and became a bus conductor.

  • Shallow graves discovered at Lagos prophet’s residence

    The police on Tuesday claimed that shallow graves were discovered at the residence of a 70-year-old Prophet, Emmanuel Adeyemi, who was arrested for chaining his son and 27 others in Lagos.

    The state Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, who confirmed this, said the place was raided following a tip-off that the suspect traded human parts to ritualists.

    He claimed that Adeyemi who was arrested alongside his first wife on Friday, buried some dead persons in the swamps and three others at his residence.

    Owoseni said: “We got a tip-off that there were people he buried in that compound and he confirmed it during interrogation.

    “Because the area is swampy, the suspect had allegedly buried some people in the swamp and about three others in the house.

    “When we asked him of their identities, he said it was some of his patients that were brought to his home from the hospital, after they were given up for dead. He said the patients finally died in his care and were buried in the swamp.

    “When we also queried him on the claims that he sold the body parts of the deceased to ritualists, he swore that he was only a traditional healer and not a human parts seller.”

    The police commissioner said Adeyemi was earlier invited for questioning after it was discovered that he put his son in chains.

    Owoseni said the suspect claimed he chained the teenager, Toba Adedoyin Adeyemi, in order to cure him from stealing.

    He added: “When we got information that a teenager was locked up in a house, the area G Commander invited the suspect, who claimed that his son was known for stealing and so he locked him up in chains to cure him of stealing.

    “While we were still on that case, we got another credible tip off that there were other people chained up in that same house. Of course, we carried out a raid and confirmed the allegation to be true.

    “But before then, we had contacted the Lagos State Government because we don’t have the facility to keep the rescued persons. His claims now that he has been arrested is that he is a herbalist, but why didn’t he tell us that when we first invited him to the station for locking up his stepson?

    “He only told us that he wanted to cure his son of stealing.”

     

  • Four armed robbers killed in Lagos

    At least four suspected armed robbers have been killed in the last three weeks by police in Lagos.

    In addition, 37 armed robbery suspects, nine alleged kidnappers and 39 cultists were arrested during the period.

    The state Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, who stated these during a press conference at the command’s headquarters, said 20 different weapons with 30 rounds of live ammunition and 38 vehicles were recovered by the police.

    Owoseni said the cultists’ arrest followed intelligence report on their plan to wreak havoc across the state during “their Eight-Eight (August 8) celebration.”

    “All police divisions were put on notice leading to their arrest. One of the groups was going to bury a dead colleague but in the process tried to attack Denton Police Station. But the DPO and his men arrested nine of them on the spot and 21 others were later arrested. Two others were at the Shomolu and Bariga axis,” he said.

  • Lagos to confiscate buildings used as criminal hideouts

    The Lagos State Government on Tuesday warned that it will not hesitate to confiscate houses and hotels used as hideouts for kidnapping and other criminal activities in the state.

    The state Commissioner of Police Mr. Fatai Owoseni, who read the riot act while briefing journalists after the State Security Council meeting presided over by the state Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, said the government is poised to eradicate the menace of kidnapping and militancy in the state.

    He said, “The take away from today’s Security Council Meeting is for us to look at all the strategies that we have been employing in tackling the security challenges that we had in the state and to further strategise with the view to sustaining those measures that would put all the criminal elements in check and the Security Council of the State has come out to let our people know emphatically that the state is more poised at tackling all the criminal challenges and making sure that all the criminal elements that are going about in the state will not be allowed any free reign. They will not be given freedom of space to practice any of their criminal acts.

    “There is no hiding place for criminal elements again in the state and as we get them, they would be made to face the full wrath of the law. In addition to that, the Council resolved that any structure or any places of hiding that criminal elements are using in the state, the state will not hesitate, in the interest of the public, to take over those safe havens, structures or houses that these criminal elements are using as hiding places to perpetrate their criminal activities.”

    Owoseni warned commercial motorcyclists popularly known as Okada operating on restricted routes in the state to obey the state’s traffic laws, saying enforcement of the laws is still ongoing.

    He added: “The state still want to use this opportunity to further enlighten the public on the need to observe those laws that had been made in order to make life easy for the good people of Lagos.

    “The two particular ones that we have looked at is the restriction of the commercial motorcycles to certain routes in the state and of course the activities of street traders. What we want people to know is that the state is not sleeping on its enforcement duties but government is just trying to be responsible in the way these laws are enforced.”