The Nation Newspaper

Tag: residents

  • Residents flee homes over robber’s terror

    Residents flee homes over robber’s terror

    FOR fear of robbers, some residents of Arobadade Street in Bariga, Lagos, have started moving out of their homes.

    The exodus began following the February 11 attack on an octogenarian Pastor Joseph Akinduro, whose wife, Florence has stroke.

    The gang of 10, who usually wore red trousers, black shirts, waist charm and masks stormed the octogenarian’s 60, Arobadade Street residence at about 2:45am, forcing him to part with about N100,000.

    Pastor Akinduro told The Nation that he was shocked to find the robbers on his corridor when he opened his room.

    He said: “It was around 2:45am when my son’s wife (Abiola) called me from her apartment that robbers were in the compound. I was still answering her call, confirming from her if she did not have a nightmare, when I opened my door and saw the robbers on my corridor.

    “Immediately, one of them came close to me and said grandpa, cooperate with us. We want our money. Give us our money. We heard you brought money from someone.

    “I was wondering what he meant by that and he brought out a gun and said that they are only interested in collecting money. They collected my wallet which had over N40,000.

    “As he was emptying the wallet, he said ‘this is not our money. This is small money. Grandpa, bring the money out’. They started ransacking the house and they saw another N50,000. They collected my phone, my wristwatch and that of my wife. The ransacked the bag I usually go to church with and they carried it.

    “When they left, I heard them trying to open the building in front of my house. By that time, the street security people started blowing whistles and they escaped through my backyard and scaled the fence,” he said.

    In Abiola’s apartment, they took away about N50,000 cash and a shoe polish.

    Two weeks earlier, the hoodlums raided a mosque and unleashed terror on the occupants of the building behind it.

    The hoodlums, it was gathered, usually brought a commercial bus for packing their loot, including generators, laptops, clothes and shoes.

    Three persons – Kayode Anthony, Monday and Emeka – were injured when they raided Iya Mosun’s house.

    They also went away with Anthony’s, three phones, flat screen television and N240, 000 cash.

    Anthony said they macheted him on the head thrice, adding: “They raided all 10 rooms here. They also cut Monday’s hand with cutlass. When I noticed that they had broken into my sitting room, I tried to lock the room with my family inside but they were struggling with me. Eventually, they cut a part of the door open and came in. It was about five people that entered my house. We have not been sleeping in this area. They have made life unbearable for us. People now fear to sleep at night. Some people have even packed out of the streets.”

    The street’s chairman, Pastor John Adewumi appealed to the police to fish out the culprits, saying: “We know that there must be insiders among them. Because the way these guys operate, they strike around 2am and 3am. They never follow any of the gates because we have street security, so, they exit through the canal or other routes that cannot be known by non residents.

    “How can someone not sleep at night after labouring in the day? It has become a daily affair. Some people have run out of this neighbourhood because of the continuous armed robbery attacks. People now feel that they are not safe anymore. Those of us who are landlords cannot runaway. This place is close to the dungeon. There are too many hoodlums and bad boys around here. We see them every day but it is difficult for us to challenge them because we are not security agents. They are not allowing us to have peace here. Government should please come to our rescue.”

  • Monarch urges residents to protect power installations

    The Gomo of Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Jibrin Tanko has called on the residents to protect power installations in the area.

    Tanko, who spoke at a meeting of officials of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) with electricity consumers in the area, urged the residents to see the protection of power installation as a collective responsibility.

    The monarch also called on traditional rulers in the area to advise their subjects on the importance of protecting the installation, adding that power supply to the area had improved remarkably.

    The paramount ruler also called on the officials of AEDC to sustain and build on the improvement recorded in electricity supply, urging them to put their subjects under watch to ensure that not only power installation were protected, but also other government facilities.

    “We are supposed to contribute our quota in the policing of power installations in our various communities. As electricity consumers, we must ensure that we report suspicious movement around installations within our neighbourhood.

    “We must avoid tampering with power installations because, if we have knowledge of it, we do not have control over it,” he said.

    Also speaking, a Regional Manager with AEDC, Mr Ihezue Mohammed expressed dissatisfaction over poor response of electricity consumers in Kuje to payment of bills.

    Mohammed stated that Kuje Business office was performing for less than 45 per cent due to nonpayment of bills, adding that out of the monthly target of N60m, the office only generating N29m.

    He noted that the meeting was to sensitize electricity consumers on the business trend of AEDC and identify areas where the company could improve on its services.

    “AEDC must break even to remain in business and as consumers, you must acknowledge the fact that there is already invest from private hands in the power sector.

    “To sustain the already improved supply to Kuje and avoid going back to the period of blackout, we must ensure that we pay our bills promptly. Kuje is expanding and there is need for AEDC to expand its facilities to avoid over stretching of our facilities,” he said.

    Some of the residents who spoke to Abuja Review stated that there have been significant improvements in power supply to the area, however called for upgrade of electricity facilities and proper education of AEDC markers to avoid persistent harassment of residents.

     

  • Residents hail council over roads

    Residents of Egbe Idimu Local Council Development Area have praised the Executive Secretary Kunle Olowoopejo for fixing roads in the council that had been in deplorable condition.

    A community leader, Chief Jebutu Oladipupo said previous council chairmen never bothered with repairing bad roads.

    Olowoopejo, who led state monitoring officers from the Ministry of Local Government to two of the road sites, appealled to officers of the state Water Cooperation to liaise with the contractor handling the Community Road, Egbe, to ensure the project is completed on schedule.

    He made the appeal following complaints by the community leaders in Egbe that the officers threatened to open the water pipe which had not been functioning for months if the council failed to consult with them adequately.

    Olowoopejo said: “Water Corporation is an agency of the state. The Local Government is the baby of the state. The water is meant for the residents. The roads are also meant to ease the burden of the people, so we must work in harmony in order to achieve the mega city status of the state.”

    The council road currently under construction was where first Secretariat of Alimosho Local Government Area was located before it was relocated to Ikotun Market area.

    When completed, it will ease the traffic congestion around the Popular council bus stop.

  • Residents seek demolition of building

    Residents seek demolition of building

    •Landlord: it’s in good condition

    Is House 102 on Idewu Street in Ajegunle, Lagos safe for inhabitation?

    Some residents of the street believe that the two-storey building is not conducive to live in.

    Part of the building, it was gathered, collapsed in 2010 and it was marked for demolition by Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning officials.

    According to the residents, after the marking, the landlord, Mr Fatai Martins, removed the third floor of the building and ejected tenants on the ground floor.

    But, Martins denied that the house was marked for demolition.

    He told The Nation that he built the house in 1999 as a three-storey building.

    “In 2010, when a part of the building collapsed, some officials came but I was only told to renovate it and remove the third floor which I did. I removed it and made a solid gutter roof and fixed a pillar to the part that collapsed. They inspected what I did and since then nobody has come to me. I have not had any issue with my tenants. The reason I ejected the tenants on the ground floor was because they always owed me. As I speak, someone has paid for the room,” he said.

    The 70-year-old landlord added: “I used to live on the third floor. The reason I left was because of my leg. I left there even before the government officials came. It’s a family issue. My siblings and I have issues over the property and since then they have been finding means to destroy the building. They once locked me up in a police station.”

    A tenant, Samuel Sam, said it was all a family misunderstanding.

    “When the two-storey building crashed, government officials came and Baba did all what he was asked to do. His family have issues with him because of property,” he said.

    A shop owner, who didn’t give her name, said she has been occupying the place for over five years, adding that the building was not marked.

    Another tenant, simply called Baba Tosin, said he has been living there for over 40 years.

    “I have been a tenant here. Fatai and I grew up together. It is a family problem,” he said.

  • Residents accuse agency officials of harassment

    Residents accuse agency officials of harassment

    •NTDA men keep mum

    Residents of Moba community in Eti-Osa Resettlement at Lekki Phase 2, Lagos have called on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to save them from what they called “harassment” by New Towns Development Authority (NTDA) officials.

    They alleged that the NTDA officials have been harassing them for the past four years, telling them to give up the nine-metre setback given to them by the Otedola government in 1986 after the acquisition of their land.

    According to the Baale of the community, Chief Sharafa Elegushi, the community was originally from Lekki Phase 1 but it was resettled in Lekki Phase 2 by the government.

    He said: “They gave us 13.5 hectares out of 500 hectares which was taken from us. When the government allocated this area to us in 1986, we were given Certificates of Ownership (C of O). I have been the Baale for 11 years now and we have never been disturbed over our land until four years ago when NTDA officials came to harass us, telling us that the nine-metre setback no longer belongs to us. The only thing we use this place for is for Eid festivals, reason we did not build anything there. We established a block making industry here so that the land would not be empty.

    “The NTDA officials are always threatening me with police. I have been taken to the police station more than three times and each time, I make sure I go with our papers and the police would always refer us to Alausa but we have never gotten any response from them.”

    Elegushi urged Ambode to save them from further harassment by NTDA.

    Moba Community Development Association General Secretary, Fafunwa Bolaji Olatunji said the NTDA officials told them that the land had been sold.

    “The government relocated 32 communities into this area but this little setback that government gave to us which is not more than nine metres, the NTDA officials are disturbing us over it. They keep telling us that the land has been sold to some people we have not seen. There is no building here and this is the only thing we have left. If the government takes this from us, what do they want us to have left? We have written them series of letters but we have not gotten a tangible response. The only thing they always tell us is to exercise patience but for how long do they expect us to be patient?” Olatunji said.

    Officials at NTDA’s Eti-Osa Zonal Office in the Resettlement Town, said they could not comment on any issue and directed our reporter to their Allen, Ikeja Avenue office.

    At Allen Avenue, officials there also declined comment, saying “no comment”.

  • Residents demand improved electricity supply

    Residents demand improved electricity supply

    Some residents of the suburbs of Abuja have appealed to the Federal Government to improve electricity supply to their areas.

    They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews in Abuja on Tuesday, that they had yet to benefit from the relatively stable electricity supply being experienced in Abuja.

    Mr. Murtala Mustapha, a resident of Zuba in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, said that the cost of diesel and maintenance of generating sets was overwhelming.

    “Poor Nigerians are not happy in their homes because they don’t have electricity,’’ Mustapha said.

    Chief Johnson Okechukwu, a businessman at Deidei Building Material Market, urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to implement projects for which it would be remembered.

    “I have a 150 KVA generator which is supposed to serve as standby to cater for short periods; but now that it is being used as the only source of electricity, it will spoil quickly.’’

    Alhaji Mufutaudeen Balogun, an Islamic scholar and resident of Zauda Village in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), said that the community had not seen light for the past two months.

    Balogun attributed the blackout in his area to the deplorable condition of the transformer serving the community.

    He appealed to the relevant authorities to assist the community by replacing the old transformer with a new one.

    “This community has not seen electricity in the past two months, in spite of Federal Government’s efforts at ensuring stable power supply in the country.’’

    Another resident, Mr. Sikiru Muhammed, said the blackout in his area, had paralysed business activities.

    He said the situation imposed additional hardship on owners of generators, making them to spend more money on the fuel.

    “We call on the FCT Administration, particularly the Abuja Municipal Area Council to come to our aid and find a lasting solution to this situation.’’

    Similarly, Mrs Comfort George, who runs a saloon, said that the inadequacy of power supply in the community was threatening her business.

    “I spend over N12, 000 to fuel my generator every week just to render service and satisfy my customers but at the end of the day, I hardly make profit,’’ George said.

    She appealed to the relevant authorities to provide the community with a new transformer as the residents could not afford to buy one.

  • Free health care for residents

    Free health care for residents

    The lawmaker representing Apapa Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Mojisola Lasbat Lawal, has organised a five-day free dental care for residents of her constituency.

    The programme, which began at Oluwole Health Post, Apapa and ended at Ojora Palace, was organised in conjunction with MOCARE Initiatives. It was aimed at fulfilling the electoral promises made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain. The focus was on dental consultation, medication, screening and treatment.

    Speaking at the event, Hon Lawal said the gesture was to enable residents enjoy dividends of democracy.

    According to her, their primary assignment as members of the House of Assembly may be lawmaking, but that would not hinder her from fulfilling promises made to the people.

    The lawmaker said dental care was chosen among other health challenges because only few people pay attention to the issue.

    She, therefore,  urged residents to ensure that all parts of the body are well taken care of, saying no one is expected to wait until he/she is affected with diseases on any part of the body before going for medical treatment.

    Hon Lawal pledged to organise eye, hypertension and diabetics screening after the exercise.

    The Head of the Dental Consultancy team, Dr Oladipo Bamgbose, thanked Hon Lawal for organising such an event, saying it would enable the people to know their dental status.

    He said it was very sad as the government doesn’t pay much attention to dental or oral health.

    He thanked the Lagos State Government for the awareness, even as he urged that more of such programmes be organised for the benefit of the people

    Dr. Bamgbose urged the people to ensure that they visit a dentist at least twice a year for oral examination, saying  mouth is the gate way to the body and whatever we take through the mouth goes down through the body and gives nutrient to other parts of the body.

    According to Bamgbose, some of the drugs people take are placed under the tongue for effective use. So, for good health, oral health is very important.

    Sharing his experience during the exercise, Bamgbose said: “I advise that we should brush our teeth twice daily, in the morning immediately we wake up and at night when we are about to go to bed. Secondly, we should endeavour to visit the doctor regularly for medical checkups.

  • Ex-Commissioner, residents praise Ambode on road repairs

    Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame Chairman Mr Wale Edun has hailed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for embarking on road construction.

    Edun, a one-time Commissioner for Finance, described the road project as a dividend of democracy for Ademola Street in Ikoyi and a legacy for Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area Executive Secretary Miss Toyin Caxton-Martins.

    Edun urged the contractor to do a quality work, which will propel residents to pay their taxes promptly.

    He praised the government for approving the reconstruction of Ademola Street under the project.

    The residents are upbeat about the project.

    A former chairman of the residents’ association, Mr Tunde Coker, said the road would be reconstructed with provisions made for drainages and street lights.

    Caxton-Martins described the project as part of Ambode’s initiative to develop the state.

    She said the construction of 114 roads, two roads in each local government and LCDA, showed the governor’s commitment to drive the state through community development.

    She urged the community development association to assist the contractor when the work begins.

  • Residents beg to perfect titles of demolished houses

    Residents beg to perfect titles of demolished houses

    Mosafejo Community residents yesterday – the day after the demolition of their houses – appealed to the Lagos State government to allow them perfect their titles.

    Many of them were seen sitting dejectedly outside their homes yesterday.

    The main buildings were still standing, but the attached structures and shops have been pulled down.

    Those, who did not want to be named, said the task force was sent to demolish structures not in the original plan of the buildings.

    Reliving the incident, Mrs Bose Adegbola, said the task force officials came in early Sunday around 3.30am, asking them why they had not moved.

    “They asked us to leave. They arrested some young men. Another group of task force men returned later that afternoon and asked why we were still around, saying in Yoruba, E nfi Ijoba sere abi? meaning, you are toying with the government,” she said.

    Another resident said: “They were asked to come and remove illegal structures, why are they now asking us to vacate our homes?”

    Mosafejo community leader Pastor Otolorin Ogunlana said when some of them went to the Town Planning office, they were told that the department did not send anybody to demolish houses.

    Ogunlana said: “Although a few people were able to salvage their properties, most were unable to. This is because, as the seven-day ultimatum given to the residents drew to a close, miscreants had a field day, wreaking havoc on the community, claiming to be the new landlords, as government had asked the original landlords to leave. The area boys moved into homes, and shops; vandalising them with ruthless abandon. They could be seen boldly taking off with peoples freezers, electronics, and household items. What is more, they proceeded to uproot/chisel out doors, windows, and burglar proof frames of homes, this is responsible for the desolate look of the houses in the area, as the houses lack doors, windows, burglar proofs and the like. The miscreants made brisk sales of our properties while we watched helplessly. All the while, the policemen looked on, not saying a word.

    “When former Governor Babatunde Fashola visited us, he promised to partner with us. We are pleading with the government to grant us approval to submit our drawings, and make the necessary renovations to our properties so as to make a transformation that befits a mega city.”

    A resident, Innocent Alike, who was beaten by policemen, said he gained consciousness in hospital.

    Alike said: “I was on my way home around 5.30pm when policemen accosted me and asked where I was going to. They said I didn’t have a house again and asked me to wait. I pleaded with them to allow me to pack some things. As I was packing, a sergeant from Mosafejo Police Station rough handled me and locked me up. We have been living here for decades they should please help us.”

    A trader, Ibrahim, who sells curtains said: “They said they don’t want illegal street trading and most of the people had to start selling here after former Governor Fashola sent them away from the railway; so, they sent us quit notice. We were given a week’s notice to leave the market and we took our goods out of the market. It was on Sunday when everybody had left the market that the area boys came to remove the gates. It is not going to be easy for us to start all over again because there is no capital for us to do so. Where do we go from here? The government should at least, give us some compensation.”

    He said the Plaza and the Access Bank in the same road were also served quit notice, adding that activities were still going on there. In the Plaza, many shops were bustling with activities; others were locked.

    A trader said the notice did not affect activities in the market because their issue had been resolved.

    “We were served a two-day notice and a seven-day notice. But we have presented our papers to them and we have no more issue with them”, he said.

  • ‘Why Abia residents protested’

    ‘Why Abia residents protested’

    More light has been shed on the protests in Abia State following the Appeal Court ruling on December 31 nullifying the victory of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu at the governorship polls.

    On January 2, former Senate President Adolphus Wabara and other leaders headed a huge protest in Aba, commercial seat of the region, grounding activities there.

    Two days later women in black clothes took their turn, marching through the city and halting much of its boisterous life.

    The following day another group of protesters, from the Aba Reunion, did the same.

    All the protesters denounced the appellate court judgment, which also ordered that Mr Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance Party (APGA) be immediately sworn in.

    “The aim [of the protests] is to dramatise our anger over the Appeal Court’s ruling so that the entire world will know that injustice has been done to the people of Aba,” said Mr Godwin Adindu, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ikpeazu.

    Adindu added, though, that the protesters were “conducting themselves within the ambit of the law”.

    The governor’s chief scribe explained that the demonstrators could not understand why the appellate court judges glossed over the fact that they ought to have allowed Governor Ikpeazu to explore the usual 14-day window within which to appeal the ruling, if he so chose.

    He said it would have been fair for the court to order a re-run in the three councils where electoral irregularities were said to have been perpetrated.

    Moreover, said Adindu, voters in those three councils comprising Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa constituting one-third of the state electorate, were, by the Appeal Court’s ruling, practically disenfranchised, including the governor himself who hails from the area.

    Other worries in Ikpeazu’s camp included the reported invasion by State Security Service and army personnel of the Aba home of Mr Eziuche Ubani, the state Commissioner for Works, on the allegation that he was stockpiling arms.

    After what was said to be a thorough search of the commissioner’s home, including the ceiling and wardrobe, the SSS officers reported that nothing incriminating was found.

    Adindu said the people were looking forward to the Supreme Court judgment with confidence, so that Governor Ikpeazu, who has since started rehabilitating the state’s collapsed infrastructure, among other prime commitments, would not be distracted.

    The CPS said work was ongoing at 47 sites including two bridges, adding that former President Olusegun Obasanjo inaugurated three completed roads.