Tag: Precious Igbonwelundu
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Building collapse update: Seven rescued, one corpse recovered
Seven people have been rescued in the Lagos Island building collapse of Tuesday afternoon with many others still trapped.
According to the Nation’s Correspondence, officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Rapid Response Squared (RRS), National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the POlice and other stakeholders have moved to the scene to evacuate the victims.
As at the time of filing this report, LASEMA’s excavator is expected to ease the rescue mission.
It would be recalled that the building, located at Karena Street, Campus Bus Stop in Lagos Island caved at about 2:30pm on Tuesday, shortly after the rain.
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Breaking: Many trapped as building collapses in Lagos Island
Many people are currently trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Lagos.
It was gathered that the building, located at Karena Street, Campus Bus Stop in Lagos Island caved in this afternoon.
Already, officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and other stakeholders have moved to the scene to evacuate the victims.
Details later…
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REVEALED: ‘Nnewi deities exposed Evans, neutralised his charms’
New revelations have emerged on why the police were able to arrest notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudemeje George Onwuamadike alias Evans last Saturday after a seven-year hunt.
It was gathered that Nnewi monarch and the traditional council two weeks ago, went round all the communities in Nnewi with their deities to curse those kidnapping prominent sons/daughters of the town.
The monarch was irked by the alleged kidnap of the Ikenga Nnewi (keeper of the Oracle of justice), whose abductors abandoned him on their way to a detention camp after an argument broke out among them.
According to some natives of Nnewi, the Ikenga had told the kidnappers their end was near whether they left him or not.
He was said to have gone to the monarch and told him those responsible for their plights were among them (natives), which prompted the ritual.
Despite the ritual, Evans’ native doctor in Nnewi assured him that he would never be caught. He was said to have prepared charms for him to counter the curses placed by the monarch and chiefs and told the kingpin to carry on with his life.
A native who refused to be named said: “Two days after the Igwe and his chiefs went round the communities with Ofor Nnewi (staff), a house, where the kidnappers usually held their victims hostage in the town was exposed. The house is near a prominent politician’s house but no one knew something like that was happening there.
“One afternoon, the man in charge of the house started acting like he was insane. He left the door open and that was how all the victims ran out. People saw them and the house owner was lynched after his confession.
“A lot of people were implicated in the kidnapping business of Evans and most of them were silently arrested.
RELATED: Evans weeps for being locked with ‘common poor criminals’
“It was the Igwe’s curse that led to his arrest. The Ikenga told them the day of his kidnap that if they left him, they are in trouble and if they took him with them, they would still be in trouble.
“As they were going with the man, the kidnappers started arguing and fighting among themselves, that was how they dropped him and he went to the Igwe.”
Meanwhile, in the build-up to arrested Evans, the police picked up his pregnant sister and mistress but none of them was able to implicate the kingpin.
According to a source, the sister initially claimed Evans was her boyfriend and she knew nothing about his crime until she was threatened that her baby would be born in the Police cell.
Evans’ mistress, said to be a widow with four children, refused to give him away because he has been her benefactor. The source said the woman, who lived around Okota explained that she would die of guilt if she assisted the police in arresting him.
“The woman said he has been the one taking care of her and her children and that she could not give him away. She said he usually came to her house to take her out and always gave her anything she requested. He was a good man to her and father to her children.
“Police wanted to use her to lure him but she refused to comply. She was arrested. So many people were arrested in the quest to get Evans. It was one of those picked up that told the police he had a scar on his shoulder, which he sustained from a gun injury.
“He has not stopped crying. He drinks only Eva water and has been very quiet. He has confessed that he owns a big hotel in Amuwo Odofin, a house in South Africa, Canada and other properties.
“He also said he used to live at that Igando camp and that he moved to his Magodo mansion from there. He retained the place as detention camp and used Ogechi Amadi’s name on it.
“He said his native doctor promised him that nothing would happen to him. That after Felix was arrested and the failed kidnap of the Ikenga and the curse by the Igwe, the native doctor told him nothing would happen to him. He said reports that the native doctor warned him to stay out of the Magodo house was not true. That if he had warned him, he would not have gone there.”
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UPDATE: Lagos building collapse death toll increases
Two more bodies have been recovered from the collapsed three-storey building at Ilasamaja, Lagos, bringing the number of deaths recorded to three.
The deceased were recovered between 12:18am and 12:32am, said the General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and Incident Commander of the operation, Adesina Tiamiyu.
According to him, three people died, 19 were rescued and some were still feared trapped.
Among the deceased was a 25-year-old Plumber, Emeka Okeke, from Enugu State, whose boss was inconsolable Thursday night.
The boss who gave his name as Okeke and identified himself as the deceased’s uncle, was held by rescue workers from jumping on the rubble.Crying and speaking in Igbo, Okeke said he left his two brothers-Emeka and Chima- at the site Thursday afternoon before leaving for Festac.
He said they were both his brothers and were handed over to him by their parents so that he could teach them plumbing.
“What do I tell my people? These boys were given to me by my brothers to train. Where do I start from? God! Why me?
“They were working together. I left both of them here this afternoon and I went to Festac. We all slept here with other workers. I was just coming back to sleep now, so, we can continue our job tomorrow. I didn’t know something bad happened here. I didn’t even here about it until I got to the site.
“Death should have taken me instead. It should have taken me and left my two young boys, who are just starting life. I should have died in their place,” said Okeke who refused to admit that one of his brothers might still be alive.
“My people have been calling Emeka’s phone since. It’s ringing but he wasn’t picking. Look at the phone in his pocket. It’s there inside his pocket. God! What did I do wrong?” Lamented Okeke.
The Nation observed that paramedics, at the instruction of Tiamiyu, took him and checked his blood pressure, before they showed him a place to sit down. Okeke, who wanted to sleep at the scene until his other brother was found, was advised to follow an ambulance to Isolo General Hospital so that he would check if Chima was among the injured.
Most of the victims recovered from 9pm had at least one of their legs amputated, with suspected spinal cord injuries.
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Hundreds benefit from Navy’s free HIV screening
As part of activities lined up to mark the Nigerian Navy’s (NN) second quarter health awareness programme, hundreds of Ajagunle residents on Monday received free HIV screening.
The screening which was organised by the Western Naval Command (WNC), was held at the boundary interstate motor park.
Aside the tests and counselling, the command distributed free treated mosquito nets and condoms to participants.
Addressing reporters before the exercise, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) WNC, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai said the outreach was part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
He said the command chose the location because most residents around there might not subject themselves to paid screenings.
He said: “This year, we decided to go to boundary and target places like motor parks for free HIV screening and counselling. We also talk to them on how to prevent diseases and where to get help.
“You will agree with me that these category of people to some extent, live a kind of reckless life. They wouldn’t on their own submit themselves to screening.
“So, we took the screening to them because we believe that some people would be motivated to do it. Anyone who tested positive can at least get counselling on how to properly manage and live healthily with it.
“Again, we have some contemporary issues in the health sector such as depression and meningitis, which we have keyed into very key issues in discuss. We are going to be doing lectures on how to deal with these issues.
“These are our focus in 2017 for our second quarter health awareness programme.
“We said security is everyone’s business. A healthy community would have people who can contribute to safer community. In a situation where you have sick people, they can hardly move and so, can’t contribute to security architecture of the community.
“Being HIV positive is not the end of the world. It’s better for people to know their status so that they can live responsibly and that way, when they are happy with themselves, they would easily report any anomaly in their communities to security agencies when they see it. You must be in a proper frame of mind before you can give information. That’s why we urge the community to five information.
“Alot of people do not know the causes of meningitis and symptoms. There are a lot of cases were people have attempted or committed suicide. It’s because they are not properly managed.”
The command’s medical officer, Surgeon Commander Ugochi Nzeribe-Abangwu said the programme was part of the activities marking the WNC’s health awareness week.
She said HIV was still prevalent in the country, adding that according to the United Nations statistics, Nigeria was second in HIV prevalence.
“The activity is aimed at testing and counselling the participants. Those who are found to be positive would be given free medical treatment at the navy hospital. We have kits for over a thousand people. We would also distribute free mosquitoes nets to the people.
“It’s a week long programme and we would have health lectures on issues such as substance abuse, meningitis, depression, among others.” -
BREAKING: Protest at Akowonjo as police kill man
Protest has engulfed Akowonjo, a Lagos suburb, after policemen allegedly killed a man at Sabo Bus stop.
The young man was reportedly shot dead at Erico Hotel, forcing angry residents to take to the streets.
At the time of filing this report, most outlets in the neighbourhood have been shut and houses locked.
Heavily armed policemen have been deployed to the area to prevent vandalism and other social vices.
Details later…
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We collected N.5million to release Police Sergeant – Suspect
One of four suspected kidnappers arrested by the Lagos Police Command on Wednesday disclosed that the collected N500,000 ransom for the release of a policewoman, Sergeant Bola abducted in February at Omu-Ijebu, a Lagos-Ogun border community.Tola Samuel, 26, Aboy Fekun, 23, Mimo Blessing, 20, who were arrested on Sunday by a combined team of Anti-Kidnapping and Mobile Policemen, said they collected N200,000 from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Ketu and N300,000 from the policewoman’s family.They were paraded yesterday by the Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni, who disclosed that four automatic rifles, one locally made gun, N400,000, three-speed boats, several cutlasses and cell phones were recovered from the suspects.The suspects admitted collecting N5million ransom from the family of a lawyer who was kidnapped at his farm at Igbodun in Epe, which they shared before they were caught.According to Fekun, it was his N400,000 share of the loot that the police recovered, adding that he joined the gang three months ago.He said: “I was recruited into the gang three months ago by Tallest. I knew him from our village in Ondo state. It was tallest who invited me to Lagos. I arrived Lagos in January and I was picked up by two members of the gang. They took me in a boat to their camp at Molajoye, in Epe.“My first operation was the one involving a female sergeant. On that fateful day, we came out from the creek in two-speed boats. We laid an ambush at the Molajoye bridge, while we were waiting we saw a vehicle carrying five persons. We pounced on them immediately they got to the bridge. We took all the occupants of the vehicles into our boats. They were three women and two men. We headed to our camp. We kept them for five days. It was while we were at the camp that we discovered that a female policewoman was among the five persons were abducted.“We separated her from the others. We later called the DPO in charge of Ketu that we have abducted one of his policemen. We demanded the sum of N5 million as ransom from the DPO. We also contacted the family of the policewoman and demanded N5 million from them. “But the DPO said he won’t be able to pay N5m. At the end, we collected N200, 000 from him and collected an additional N300,000 from the woman’s family.”Fekun said as soon as they released the policewoman, they stormed the lawyer’s farm and kidnapped him, adding that their action was instigated by the protest to the Government House by farmers.He said: “We also took the Lawyer to our camp. Initially, we demanded N20m from his family members but at the end, we settled for N5 million. His family paid the agreed sum. Tallest gave me N400,000 as my own share of the ransom. It is the money the police found on me on the day we were arrested.“We were arrested at Epe while on their way to Ijebu, Ogun State. Other gang members fled when they learnt of our arrest.”Samuel denied being a kidnapper, insisting that he was contracted by Fekun and Mimo to take them to Ijebu.He said: “They contracted me to take them to Ijebu. I don’t know what they do. I am not their member.”Corroborating his claim, Fekun said: “We had scheduled to go to Ijebu last Saturday, but he declined, insisting that it was too late. We agreed that he should pick us up around 4:30 am on Sunday. As agreed, he arrived on time and we were already on our way when some policemen accosted us. They discovered the money and some phones inside the bag I was carrying.” -
Lagoon suicide: LASEMA establishes marine unit to patrol waterways
In a bid to contain cases of people jumping into the lagoon, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has established a special marine emergency unit.
The agency, acting on the directive of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has also stationed local divers for quicker responses should anyone fall into the lagoon or attempts suicide.
Commissioner for Special Duties, Seye Oladejo and General Manager LASEMA, Adesina Tiamiyu stated this during a stakeholders forum held yesterday.
According to Oladejo, people who can do immediate rescue on the waterways have been deployed and stationed strategically.
He said: “The recent increase in water-related emergencies such as drowning in the lagoon, well, suck-away and boat mishaps have worried the state government. To this end, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has approved the establishment of Aquatic Rescue Unit with requisite equipment in LASEMA to effectively respond to this trend.
[quote font_size=”18″ color=”#000000″ bgcolor=”#dda756″ bcolor=”#dd3333″ arrow=”yes”]This unit would complement the activities of sister agencies such as Marine Police Unit, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Lagos State Ferry Services among others.
We have deployed people who can do immediate rescue on our waterways. And as a deliberate policy of the government, we have decided to set up a unit that would be stationed permanently to provide help whenever there is an occurrence like that. That’s not to say we are encouraging people to jump into the lagoon.[/quote]
On the importance of the conference themed “a new dawn in emergency/disaster management in Lagos State”, Oladejo said there was the need for better synergy and collaboration between emergency responders in the state.
He said such fora would emplace seamless disaster risk reduction strategies across the state, adding that surmounting emergencies takes the collaborative efforts of relevant stakeholders.
[quote font_size=”18″ color=”#000000″ bgcolor=”#dda756″ bcolor=”#dd3333″ arrow=”yes”]Related Post: Two fresh lagoon suicides averted Lagos[/quote]
Oladejo said: “We are making very good efforts as regards to collaboration among responders. I believe every response team should be made up of the full compliments of the medical team like the ambulances, SEHMU, police, RRS and others.
So, we need to achieve a synergy and understanding. We want to achieve bigger collaboration.
•A vehicle that plunged into the lagoon We cannot be careful enough. “Most times you don’t anticipate disasters and emergencies. We are fortunate in this part of the world because we don’t have so many natural disasters. So, we need to be careful to ensure that we manage the situations we have.
“Disasters like road traffic accidents can still be managed if road users are careful. When such accidents happen, people should endeavour to call our toll free lines for quick action.
“To stop the attack on emergency workers, we are working on the collaboration with security agencies so that whenever they are going on the rescue mission, security men are attached to them.
[quote font_size=”18″ color=”#000000″ bgcolor=”#dda756″ bcolor=”#dd3333″ arrow=”yes”]Also Read: Man docked for attempting to commit suicide[/quote]
“The issue of overstretch is being tackled by putting some of our retired emergency workers on special reserve lists. That way, whenever we have overstretched days for the emergency, we can always bring them in to ensure they join forces with people on the ground. The Government is also poised to provide necessary incentives to achieve this.
Earlier, Tiamiyu stated that the agency receives an average of 80,000 calls through the control room on various issues such as rape, child abuse/trafficking, domestic violence, land grabbing, which are dispatched to relevant authorise for necessary actions.
He said the meeting was an avenue for stakeholders to review and understand their collective roles in emergency or disaster prevention, preparedness, management, mitigation, response and recovery.
According to him, responding to an emergency wasn’t for LASEMA alone, just as he disclosed that the command and control centre was being upgraded to interface with those on the field for support and necessary deployment.
He said: “We have partners. When I came onboard, I visited them individually and solicited their cooperation. Also told them the capacity of LASEMA and when to contact us. We reinvigorated our monitoring and surveillance unit, which goes ahead to check things and give us a report. We also undertake in-house training.
[quote font_size=”18″ color=”#000000″ bgcolor=”#dda756″ bcolor=”#dd3333″ arrow=”yes”]Also Read: Suicide psychiatrists urges quick passage of mental health bill[/quote]
“The state government has bought a lot of heavy duty equipment for us. We have invested a lot of money and have been trained on how to use the equipment. What you see now is the result of the investment.
We don’t want to disappointment the governor who has done all these things. So, when we get to the emergency scene, it’s not an issue of who’s the senior or not. Everyone has a role to play. When there’s an accident, our people know the important thing is to save lives. We have paramedics on our team. When it’s fire incident, the fire service takes charge. So, we are improving.
“Before the governor gave directive on the aquatic issue, we had retainership of some divers in Lagos. It was one of our retainers who went underwater to latch the vehicle that fell into Elede river on our crane and we pulled it out.
“He was also involved in the recovery process of Dr Oji. He was in the water. We have the Lagos Waterways Authority and the Marine Police as well.
“So, all of these agencies usually patrol the waterways but very soon, you would see LASEMA branded boats joining forces with those on the waterways to improve the capacity of emergency services on the waterways.”
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Kidnappers demand N100m for Caleb varsity student’s release
The abductors of a student of Caleb University, Miss Rachael Umejuru, who was snatched from her home in Epe, Lagos on Friday night, have demanded N100million before releasing her, her father, Chukwuemeka Umejuru, said on Monday.He said Rachael, an accounting undergraduate, was abducted at about 2:00 am, by men armed with cutlasses and axes who neither stole anything nor asked for any money.Umejuru, 64, pleaded for Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s intervention because the family could not afford the N100m ransom.Speaking at his residence in Epe on Monday he said, “We have not eaten any food since she was kidnapped. We are fasting and praying for her release because her safety is paramount to us.“On the day they struck, we had all been in the sitting room all night until about 2:00 am and it was not up to 15 minutes after we went to our various rooms that they struck.“They invaded our apartment and broke down our door. The men, who were armed with cutlasses and axes, forced their way into our house and took away my daughter.“Surprisingly, when they entered, they did not demand money but went straight to my daughter’s room where she was sleeping and asked her to follow them. The four of them pushed her into their Sienna vehicle parked outside our compound and zoomed off. Meanwhile, before they left, it was her screams that drew our attention.
“Immediately, her mother and her elder sister who were in their room also joined me in trying to resist the kidnappers from going with her. But they beat me off and blood started gushing out of my head. I was later rushed to the hospital. My wife was also injured as she struggled with the kidnappers.“Three days after she was abducted, I was allowed to speak with her on phone and she was begging me to come and take her away and give the gunmen whatever they demanded.”Umejuru, who dismissed notions that his daughter might have made some enemies in the neighbourhood, said she was an introvert, who was always occupied with her laptop when not in school.He added: “I have been in Epe since 1995 and I have not witnessed such ugly incident like this. I beg Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the state Commissioner of Police to come to the rescue of my daughter.”