The Nation Newspaper

Tag: jail

  • I prefer going to jail, man, 43, tells court

    I prefer going to jail, man, 43, tells court

    An Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court sitting in Isabo, turned to theatre room on Friday when 43-year-old Saburi Yusuf, accused of damaging a car and a windscreen told the court that he was ready to go to jail.

    Yusuf, standing trial before Magistrate Idowu Olayinka on one-count charge of malicious damage, pleaded guilty to the offence.

    When Magistrate Olayinka asked the defendant if he would be able to pay for damages rather than go to prison, he said he preferred going to jail.

    “I rather go to jail instead of paying damages; I have no source of getting any money,” Yusuf said.

    However, after hearing from both the defendant and the complainant, Olayinka remanded Yusuf
    in prison and adjourned the case until Jan. 26, 2018 for more facts and sentence.

    Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Olakunle Shonibare, told the court that Yusuf committed the offence on Oct. 28 at Adu village, OGTV/Ajebo road in Abeokuta.

    Shonibare said the defendant unlawfully damaged the body of an Opel Sintra car valued at
    N38,000 and the car’s windscreen valued at N25,000 and two glasses of sliding windows valued at  N30,000 belonging to Tunde Olalaye.

    He said when Yusuf was interrogated after his arrest, he claimed he was sleeping by the roadside after attending a naming ceremony and was drunk “all of a sudden, I felt someone kicked me and I later discovered that it was the complainant.

    “I then went to his house to damage his properties because he even undressed me.”

    Shonibare said the offence contravened Section 516 of the criminal code laws of Ogun 2006.

  • Cable vandal bags five-year jail term

    Efforts by the Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) to tackle electricity equipment vandalism have yielded result as a cable vandal has been sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour, without option of fine by a Magistrate’s Court in Iguobazuwa, Edo State.

    The convict, Abdullai Usman, male, aged 27 years, was caught on September 28, 2017, at Iguobazuwa trying to cart away vandalised conductor cables from Iguobazuwa/Okada 33KV Line, an act punishable under the Miscellaneous Offences Act M17 Vol 9 laws of the country.

    He was dragged before the Presiding Magistrate Joyce .O. Ejale (Mrs) where he pleaded guilty to a three-count charge of conspiracy, stealing and malicious damage, though the terms will run concurrently.

    This conviction has further strengthened the BEDC’s commitment at fighting vandalism, energy theft and meter bypass, as the electricity supply industry grapples with other challenges.

  • ‘How I landed in jail’, by victim

    ‘How I landed in jail’, by victim

    A manager with a gaming outfit around Idi-Oro has relived his encounter with the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) operatives.
    Hallelujah Olalekan who works with Super Bet Shop on Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro said he was one of the eight persons arrested by the task force.
    Olalekan told The Nation that he spent three days in Kirikiri prison after being charged to court.
    He said he was charged with attacking the agency’s enforcement team and vandalising its operational vehicle, among other offences.
    Olalekan, a footballer, said he wanted his name cleared because he is not a miscreant, threatening to go to court to enforce his right against the task force.
    He said: “On that fateful day, February 20, I was in the shop of my cousin, Amdalat Oluwawomiloju on Agege Motor Road when I was arrested alongside two other people, Lateef Amzat and Femi Adebayo.
    “I was not aware that anything was wrong in that area that day. I was in my shop when my cousin called me to come to her shop and help her pack her goods inside. She is a food vendor. When I was done, we noticed that people were running in the area. We could not run with them because we did not know why or where they were running to, so my cousin told me that we should lock ourselves inside the shopping complex. We were five people in the complex – me, my cousin, my pregnant sister, Amzat and Adebayo. We locked the complex gate with padlock and sat on chairs in the compound. We later noticed that the police used their gun and broke the padlock to gain entrance. We did not move, nor panic, hoping that they were coming to ask us questions. They entered the complex and started beating all of us, including my pregnant sister.
    “My aged cousin tried to explain to the policemen that we were all her children, but they did not listen. They beat all of us. They later arrested me, Amzat and Adebayo, and took us inside the Black Maria.
    “They drove us to their office. I tried to explain to them that I knew nothing about the matter but they said they will put us in jail, which they eventually did. We were taken to court, they charged us but I said I was not guilty. We were told to pay charges of N100,000 and a surety worth N100,000.
    “I spent three days in Kirikiri Prison, I was called last Wednesday that I have been bailed, but the other two guys are still there,” he said.
    He described life in the prison as ‘’bad and full of suffering’’.
    Olalekan added that he did not eat throughout his sojourn in prison, saying the kind of food served there is bad.
    “The environment where they cook the food is not clean. I was beaten in the prison, more than I was beaten when I wanted to be arrested. They just beat and torture us for no just cause,” he said.

  • El Rufai: Those behind Southern Kaduna killings will go to jail

    El Rufai: Those behind Southern Kaduna killings will go to jail

    •Buratai breaks ground for military formation in Kafanchan

    Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday vowed that perpetrators of the Southern Kaduna killings will go to prison.
    He spoke during the stone-laying ceremony of two military formations in Kafanchan by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai.
    The governor lamented that the recent unrest in Southern Kaduna was the 11th in series since 1980 without the prosecution of anyone for the killings and destruction of properties.
    Speaking on the military formations, El-Rufai said the state will provide the army with a temporary facility for immediate take-off of the Forward Operation Base (FOB) pending completion of the permanent site.
    He pledged the state will immediately commence survey of the military formation site land with a view to handing the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to the army authorities.
    Buratai said the Army is in Southern Kaduna to restore peace and promised soldiers will not take sides while discharging their responsibility.
    While assuring that the Forward Operation Base will be ready in the next three months, the Chief of Army Staff said his men will not spare any trouble maker, no matter how highly or lowly placed.
    ”We are not going to spare anyone that is fomenting trouble in the area no matter his standing,” the army chief said.
    Buratai also paid courtesy visits to the Chief of Kagoro, Ufuwai Bonet and Emir of Jema’a, Alh Muhammadu Isah Muhammadu at their palaces.
    According to him: “The present crisis is coming to an end. Now, we have restored normalcy in the troubled areas. People have started coming back to their homes.
    “I was in Ninte this morning. I saw the farmers and the Fulani. I spoke with them on the need to live in peace with one another.
    “You can’t separate the farmers and the herdsmen. They have a long history of co-existence. So, they must live together. The better they live together the better for them and everyone,” he said.

  • Pastor’s plea saves mum, kids from jail

    Pastor’s plea saves mum, kids from jail

    An Akure Chief Magistrates’ Court yesterday discharged and acquitted a woman and her two daughters for stealing three bags of tubers of yam, following a pastor’s plea.
    Chief Magistrate Mrs. Victoria Bob-Manuel said Kemi Kehinde (38), Opeyemi (18) and Ronke (16) were freed in line with the plea of the complainant, who is a cleric.
    “Having pleaded guilty to the two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing, the three accused persons are hereby convicted.
    “But going by the prayer of the complainant, who is a man of God, the court hereby yields to the mercy pleaded by the complainant and they are discharged and acquitted.
    “The offences they committed attract minimum of seven years imprisonment each, but they should thank God and the complainant who has shown open heart,” she said.
    She, therefore, warned them not to be seen around the farmland of the complainant, saying that if seen around the area, they would be held culpable of any offence committed there.
    Police prosecutor Insp. Martins Olowofeso told the court that the Kehindes’ conspired and stole three bags of tubers of yam from the farm of Ojo Oluwasanmi, a pastor.
    Olowofeso said they committed the offences between July 2016 and January 7 at Itale Ikota via Ijare in Akure South Local Government Area.

  • Touch and go (to jail)

    •Senate goes tough on randy dons; passes sexual abuse bill    

    Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was justifiably exuberant, after the senate passed the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Education Institution Bill 2016, which he sponsored. The bill makes sexual harassment in our higher institutions a strict liability offence, and provides for five years imprisonment or five million naira in lieu, upon conviction. Addressing the press after the passage of the bill, the senator reportedly said: “Now, it is touch and go. You stay away from these girls. You touch them as a lecturer; you know there is a price to pay. Somebody describes it as a zip up legislation.”

    While there are still some more efforts to get the bill to become law, we believe that most Nigerians will be excited over the prospects, considering the menace posed by randy lecturers in our higher institutions. To actualise the bill as a law, the House of Representatives would have to pass the same bill, and then the president has to give his assent. Between the passage of a similar bill by the lower house and its harmonisation, we urge the National Assembly to consider extending the law to other institutions and even the work place, considering that sexual harassment is not limited to higher institutions only.

    We appreciate the unsavoury experiences of victims of sexual harassment, so criminalising such scandals is very appropriate. Some females who have been victims of sexual harassment bear the marks sometimes for life. Indeed, some of the stories surrounding the scandals in our higher institutions are very unnerving. Such heart-rending tales include the lecturers asking the victims to arrange and pay for a rendezvous for the abuse, or where the victim is adamant against such exploitation, to pay money in lieu.

    But there may still be the challenge of under-reporting the threats and even the abuses by victims, because of stigmatisation and collusion by school authorities and even the police. We hear that when such cases are reported by victims, sometimes the authorities connive to bury the scandal, perhaps out of sympathy for the lecturer involved, or based on outright quid pro quo, considering that the investigating authority may also have skeletons in its own cardboard.

    So, there may be the need for the senate of higher institutions and education authorities of secondary schools to develop a minimum code of conduct for their teachers and students. Such basic rules will regulate the relationship between the teachers and the students, and they should be strictly observed, while infractions are punished. For, while a law may come to regulate where the internal mechanisms fails, school authorities where they are willing may prove efficient in curbing the menace. Preventive measures will also save the institutions the scandal that will come with a trial of a lecturer, under the law.

    It is also good that the bill provides a framework to punish false allegations, so that students and even rival teachers do not use the law for self-serving purposes. We hope the law, when passed, will also criminalise such potential dubious behaviour capable of ruining an honest teacher. Part of the challenge of the bill is that any relationship between a student and a teacher that results in sex automatically becomes a criminal offence, even when the parties are consenting adults.

    Since the bill will still be passed by the House of Representatives, and be harmonised before it goes to the president for assent, perhaps a public hearing of the views of specialists may be helpful. Specialists in psychology, sociology and medicine could throw light on how to mediate between consent and sexual abuse that casts a slur on our institutions.

     

  • Four Lagos princes’ road to jail

    Four Lagos princes’ road to jail

    The next 18 months are  not going to be the best of times for four princes from the Oluwa royal family of Lagos. They will be behind bars at the Kirikiri prisons.

    Three weeks ago, Chief Magistrate A. A. Adesanya of an Ogba  Magistrate’s Court, Ikeja, found them guilty of conspiracy and forgery preferred against them by the police.

    According to the magistrate, the prosecution proved its case beyond doubt.

    Handing down the sentence, he said: “On Count one, the four defendants are sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

    “On Count two, the four defendants are hereby sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment. Each of the counts are to run concurrently. That is the judgment of the court”, Adesanya held.

    Consequently, he jailed them for one year and six months.

    The four princes from Oluwa Chieftaincy Family of Apapa, Abayomi Shamsideen Oluwa (62), Ismaila Abayomi Oluwa (67), Tajudeen Ototo Oluwa (58) and Muse Adegboyega Oluwa (56) would never have dreamt of ever becoming prisoners in their life, not even when they were arraigned on June 30, 2014, by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police for conspiracy, forgery and threat to life. Nothing prepared them for the new life they are living now.

    Police prosecutor, Inspector George Nwosu during the trial, had told the court that the defendants, sometimes in March, 2013 at about 12.30 p.m., at the high court of Lagos, conspired amongst themselves, forged the official stamp of the High Court of Lagos and signature of Principal Registrar of the court and smuggled it into a public notice, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 363(2)(b) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.

    The defendants also allegedly, on November, 2013, at about 0.33 p.m. at Nwokolo Street Apapa, Lagos, threatened the life of one Chief Mukaila Lawal Oluwa, the Oluwa of Lagos and Apapa, with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 56 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011.

    Delivering judgement in the case, No. Mik/V/13A/2014, Magistrate Adesanya held that the prosecution has established a mala facie case against them, going by their confessional statements made to the police, coupled with the evidence provided by the Court Registrar whose signature was forged. He held that all the evidences together weighed heavily against them.

    The court however absolved the defendants of the charge of threat to the life of Chef Mukaila Lawal Oluwa, the complainant. The court held that the prosecution has not been able to prove the charge because of its failure to produce the driver whom the Chief claimed to be present at the time of alleged threat to butress evidence.

    “The driver who could have corroborated or been a vital and crucial witness for the prosecution was never called. Quite frankly, this court holds that the prosecution has not proved the alleged threat to life to any logical and of evidential conclusion”, the court held.

    The Chief Magistrate however held that the defendants, in their confessional statements which were tendered and marked as exhibits during the trial proceedings, each of them owned to be party to the making of the offending public notice and newspaper’s publication.

    “…We sponsored the poster to be published …” Abayomi Oluwa’ statement. “… We are aware of the publication. All others are party to it also”, Ismaila Oluwa’s statment; “…I am a party to the publication”; Tajudeen Oluwa’ statement; “… We are all party to the publication”, Muse Oluwa’ statement, the court reviewed.

    “This court thus holds that all the Defendant’s oral and documentary evidence so far adduced to, the consequences of these multiple contradictions are clear. They succeeded to destroy the Defendants’ case as presented. They completely knocked the bottom out of their case. On the other hand they succeeded in making and keeping the case of the prosecution solid, fortified and monolithic. See also O.K. Mogaji vs. Cadbury Nigeria Ltd (1985) 2NWLR (Pt. 7) 393.”, the court further held.

    In answer to the defence of the defendants that they actually obeyed the order of Justice Harrison of the Lagos High Court, who ordered the party to destroy the offending publication as it did not emanate from her court in a civil case before the Lagos High Court, the Chief Magistrate asked:

    “Can it be said that the content of the newspaper (Punch Newspaper) has been destroyed? With all human and logical mathematical calculations, same would not have been accomplished. To my mind, such would only have been destroyed if not … but for sensical and logistic approach and equally published a rejoinder, the disclaimer, or any, in obedience to the order of the High Court, disassociating, exonerating, and or public apology of some sorts to the public, to disregard and or exonerate the name of the undersigned persons in the public notice or adverts … None of the above so far during trial proceedings was tendered before this honourable court.

    “Thus the lie, misconception and misrepresentation of my Lady’s ruling still lingers in the mind of the readers”, he said.

    “Suffice to state, to my mind, conscience and the Law the Order of Court is still yet to be obeyted and the offence of forgery still remains alive in countless and numerous hands of the public whom had bought and still have the Punch Newspaper dated the 12th day of March, 2013.”

    Justice Harrison had earlier ruled: “The court observes that both parties appear to have misconceived the scope of the order of interlocutory injunction granted by the court on the 21st day of February, 2013. The above resulted in the purported certified true cope of the public notice attached as Exhibit AR3 to the 1st defendants application dated 18/3/2013, which is not a document originating from the court but which bears the signature and name of the court registrar Mrs. A. Akinola and was purportedly certified by H.S. Adeniyi Principal Registrar an official of the court. From a closer look it appears that a portion of a regular and valid order of court was super-imposed by whatever electronic means on the said public notice which was alleged to be issued under the hand and seal of the presiding judge.

    “I have carefully considered the issue of sentencing alongside the punishment as enshrined in the charging section in which the defendants are charge. However, going by the defence counsel’s allocutus, that defendants are family members; however as the family rift, rivalry and disputes had to go through the tedious process of full blown litigation cum judgment, the law would surely take its cause.

  • Crimes in jail

    •In an age of insecurity, it is strange that a Boko Haram inmate possesses 25 cell phones

    Reasons adduced for the riot that broke out at the Kuje Prisons, Abuja, on Monday suggested that there are more to frequent protests by inmates than Nigerians know. We have always complained about the irregular and poor feeding in the prisons; we have had cause to complain about congestion in the prisons; we have condemned the inadequate medical facilities that had led to the death of some of the prisoners, we have written on the plight of awaiting trial inmates, among others, all of which had led to protests in prisons across the country at one time or the other.

    But now, we have been told that some warders even collude with inmates to bring in all kinds of items, including prohibited ones, into the prisons. According to a newspaper report, Monday’s violence was caused by the resistance of some inmates to allow warders search their cells for prohibited items, as ordered by the prison authorities.

    The report said “The incident happened this (Monday) morning. The warders, who were acting on instructions from the prison authorities, decided to search the cells and seize prohibited items. During the search, they found 25 handsets with a Boko Haram suspect. After a search of the convicts’ cells, they moved to the awaiting-trial cells. But those men, who saw the warders approaching with some ‘already’ seized items, decided to resist them.  They attacked the warders with stones and every object they could lay their hands on, and in the process, many of the warders were injured.” The report even said that substances suspected to be cannabis were found in some of the cells and were confiscated.

    Apparently, the inmates resisted the search because it was some of the warders who assisted in bringing in the prohibited items in the first place. The report added, “The rot in the Nigerian Prisons Service is serious. The prohibited items that the warders wanted to seize were brought into the yard by the same warders. The inmates had been enjoying this privilege through trafficking by the warders. It is only natural that they will fight back, and it is a bad trend for the prisons service.”

    We cannot agree less. This is bad for our prisons, indeed. Imagine the case of the Boko Haram suspect reportedly caught with 25 mobile phone sets. The logical question we would have asked is the place of intelligence in a situation where an inmate would have access to 25 mobile phone sets but that question beggars an answer because that answer has already been provided: warders are complicit in the arrangement. It is bad enough that a high-profile suspect had access to such a large number of telephone sets in prison; and who knows the kind of communication that would have been going on between him and his colleagues outside.

    Although the lapses in the prisons are only a reflection of the general laxity in the country’s public service, we call for a thorough investigation of the alleged malfeasance by the prison warders. If our prisons are this porous, then no one is safe. As a matter of fact, this type of collusion between prisoners and warders might also have accounted for the frequent jailbreaks and attempted jailbreaks in our prisons.

    We are aware that the prison authorities have had cause to carry out disciplinary actions against some warders for all manner of offences, ranging from smuggling of alcoholic drinks into the prisons to alleged complicity in jailbreaks, but it seems dismissal and suspension have not served as enough deterrence; hence, we suggest the prosecution of those of them whose offences bordered on crimes.

    In the meantime, the Federal Government should address the challenges in our prisons, including the welfare of warders. This is one sure way of ensuring that prisoners serve their sentences in a conducive atmosphere and hence reduce the incentive for jailbreaks and abominable relationships between inmates and prisoners.

  • Man jailed four years for burglary

    An Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court on Friday sentenced a 25-year-old man, Fatunmbi Akeem, to four years imprisonment for burglary and stealing.

    Akeem, who lives at 33, Iyana Grammar School, Ogunmakin, Owode in Ogun, was charged with burglary, stealing and escape from lawful custody.

    The Magistrate, Mr Babajide Ilo, sentenced Akeem to four years on each of the three counts, with no option of fine.

    However, Ilo said the sentence would run concurrently.

    The Prosecutor, Insp. Famous Edigbue, had told the court that the convict, with others at large, committed the crime on June 15, at about 11 p.m. at Osiele area of Abeokuta.

    Edigbue said that Akeem stole some items and damaged properties worth N250, 000 belonging to four persons.

    “He broke into the shop of Mr Saheed Salami, through the ceiling which he damaged and stole wines, sweets, Tiger brand batteries and other goods worth N16, 000.

    “He also stole welding machine, grinding machine, electric cable, all valued at N50, 000.

    “At the same time, he stole two Turkeys and a fowl valued at N20, 000 from one Mr Aderonju Olaniyi,” he told the court.

    The prosecutor added that on May 23, at about 4.30 a.m. at Erunwon, Abeokuta, the accused also stole a Bajaj motorcycle with registration number SGM 504 WU valued at N130, 000, property of one Adewale Adeogun.

    He said that the accused was arrested and that while in police custody at Oke Itoku Divisional Headquarters in Abeokuta, he tried to escape from the cell and was caught.

    Edigbue said that the offences contravened sections 411, 390 (9) and 516 of the Criminal Laws of Ogun state, 2006.

    The accused pleaded guilty to the three charges against him.

  • Bill seeks 10-year jail term for land grabbers

    •Bureau makes N3.148b in four months

    A bill seeking 10 years imprisonment for land grabbers popularly known as Omo Onile is pending before Lagos State House of Assembly, Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau Mr. Bode Agoro has said.

    The bill is expected to be passed into law in the third quarter of the year.

    It is titled “Bill for a law to prohibit forcible entry and occupation of landed properties, violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties in Lagos State and for connected purposes.”

    Agoro, who was giving account of his one-year stewardship under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said the attacks on government allottees by Omo Onile were unbecoming, adding that the government would no longer fold its arms and watch.

    “The incessant complaints and constant agony being felt by people of the state necessitated the Lagos State House of Assembly to embark on the bill. This law will definitely go a long way in stopping this terrible menace in our society. Let the Omo Onile be warned because we are determined to win the battle against them. We are coming for them and we are facing them squarely,” Agoro said.

    He regretted that Omo Onile have constituted themselves into nuisance, disturbing public peace at will.

    Agoro said between January and last month, the bureau realised N3.148 billion from land sales.

    Between last May and March, it generated over N8 billion; Governor Ambode signed 5,625 Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) within the same period. Agoro attributed the feat to the government’s strong will, immense capacity for hard work and desire to accelerate the process of issuing land title.

    “The need for the acceleration of the titling process is that a high number of property owners in the state have realised the importance of having titles for their lands, especially the business community, as registered land titles are major documents needed as collateral for obtaining facilities from financial institutions,” he noted, adding that the Directorate of Land Services, a department in the Bureau, has also introduced a new form, known as IC, which incorporates the passport photograph of the purchaser to be affixed on the deeds of agreement.