The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ring road

  • Police begins manhunt for ritual killers in Edo

    Edo State Police Command has commence search for alleged ritual killers operating along the Upper Siluko axis in Egor local government area.

    In January this year, commercial bike riders had protested the killing of their colleagues inside a forest located in a boundary between Ogheghe and Egbaen villages.

    The protest by the Okada rider was occasioned by the discovery of a dead body inside the bush and the miraculous escape of one bike rider from his killers.

    It was gathered that the recent search for the alleged ritual killers followed a fella audio message that has gone viral narrating how the wife of her nephew escaped from the ritual killers.

    The female who did not state her name accused policemen at the Evbuotubu Police station of not showing any seriousness in pursuing the killers.

    She said the victim boarded a bus from Ekenwan barracks to Ring Road and was touched by white handkerchief by two supposed passengers in the bus after which she became unconscious.

    The voice said the woman was later rescued at the Upper Siluko axis after missing for five days.

    Read Also: Police detain monarch, four others for alleged kidnapping

    She said the victim told them that the ritual killers took two of them inside the bus to a bush and tied them down after shaving the hair on their head.

    “My brother’s wife said the people killed two women in her presence by cutting their neck. She said they were stark naked.

    “She told us that she was released from the camp naked after their supposed leader asked that she should be released.

    “Some people she met on the way thought she was a mad woman because she was naked. It was a old woman she met at a farm that gave her clothes and took her to where she made calls to the sister of her husband.

    “The husband reported to the police but the police have gone to see the woman at the hospital. The IPO said the woman should come to give statement after she has recovered.”

    Edo State Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, could not be reached for comments but a top police source said a team has been set up to unravel the ritual killers.

    The source,”We are aware of the audio message. Our team are working on it to verify the claims. We will let the world know about our findings.”

  • Southeast governors to build ring road to connect South East states

    South East Governors have undertaken to construct a ring road that will cover a total area of four hundred and thirty kilometers.

    Addressing journalists at the end  of  one day meeting of the Governors in Enugu, chairman of the forum and governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, said the ring road would connect all the states of the South East with a view to promoting economic development of the south easts states and for  ease of transportation system in the region.

    Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, his counterpart in Ebonyi and Abia States, Dave Umahi and Okezie Ikpeazu were present at the meeting while Imo State Governor, Rocha’s Okorocha was represented by his deputy Prince Eze Madumere.

    Umahia further hinted that they took presentation for gas Pipelines in the South East and advised the consultants to follow up details of implementation especially as it relates to right of way.

    The Ebonyi State governor further told newsmen that the meeting which lasted for several hours commended presentation on Aba Independent Power Project by Prof. Bart Nnaji and asked him to liaise with the Secretariat for further implementation with the presidency.

    According to him, the forum directed the five South East States Chairmen of traditional Rulers Council to be invited for amicable resolution of their crisis in their next meeting .

    On the burial of the former Vice President of the country, Dr Alex Ekwueme, Umahi said they expressed deep appreciation to the governors and people of the South East for the able way they worked together to give the icon a befitting burial.

    “ the south East Governors Forum at its meeting discussed extensively on possible strategies to economic development of the south East  and at the end of the meeting resolved as follows

    “: to undertake the construction of ring road covering a total area of 430kms, that would connect all the states of the south east , to promote economic development of the south east States and for ease of transportation system in the region” he said.

     

     

  • Murder: I didn’t kill my husband, wife tells court

    Murder: I didn’t kill my husband, wife tells court

    In dramatic twist, an Ibadan-based Lawyer, Mrs Yewande Oyediran  who was accused of stabbing her husband to death has denied the charges levelled against her at an Oyo State High Court, Ring Road, on Monday.

    Mrs. Oyediran, who was alleged to have killed her late husband, Lowo Oyediran, a France-based Businessman, told the court that she had a scuffle with her husband on February 2, 2017 and in the process the late husband threatened her with a knife.

    Led in evidence by her lead Counsel, Mr. Leye Adepoju, during the Examination-in-chief, she narrated how her late husband met his untimely death on the fateful day.

    Her Words: ”We had earlier had a scuffle in which my late husband beat me up and it was settled by our landlord and his wife and my husband had gone for treatment in a neighbourhood hospital, after I had inflicted some cuts on him, because he had pressed me on the bed and continually hit on me.

    “This was the aftermath of a phone call I received from a woman on that night who had earlier claimed that he had a child for my husband. My husband has confirmed it and we have quarreled over it, but has settled the issue since she first called me on July 7, 2015.

    ”However, after some few hours, he became angry again and started hitting me with a plank. He was angry about the wounds and threatened to retaliate. I managed to escape and he still followed me outside with a knife and pressed me to our Landlord’s car.

    ”Later, I felt that I have been able to push him off me, only to later realise that it was actually our landlord that had helped me out of his grips.

    ”I rushed to our landlord’s flat and once inside, i turned to see what was going on behind me, only to see my husband coming after me. Suddenly, I saw him falling on his back as he tried to climb the steps to the apartment.

    ”I rushed back after him and tried to pull him up only to see blood gushing out of his neck. I quickly shouted for help and the landlord and his wife together with his son and a Doctor whose clinic was on our street, tried to apply first aid”.

    ”My landlady told me my Landlord to take my husband to the hospital, but he declined saying that there was blood on his car and so needed to wash it before he can take it out.

    ”My landlord and I went to our neighbour, Mrs Olubunmi Onipede, to help me take him to the hospital, but she refused too, saying that I earlier insulted her when she came to intervene in the earlier scuffle.

    ” Eventually, she agreed to take us to the hospital later I have promised to fuel her car the next day, because she had told us she didn’t have fuel in her car.

    ”While on our way to the University Teaching Hospital, UCH, as advised by the Doctor inside our compound, our neighbour, stopped at the hospital on our street claiming that we needed to collect a referral, but the Nurse on duty, said we didn’t need one and I also heard the voice of the Doctor in the back ground telling her we didn’t need one, but that we should rush to UCH.

    ”We proceeded towards the hospital only for her to take Akobo Road, when we got to General Gas Road, instead of the Iwo Road that is shorter, I asked why she was taking the route, but she replied that we must take him to the nearest hospital because it was an emergence case.

    ”At that time,  I still kept calling my husband, ”lowo”, ”lowo” and he was nodding to me even though his eyes were closed.

    In response to an earlier statement made by her neighbour, she told the court that it was actually her that was screaming and calling for help when her husband slumped and not the husband himself as claimed by the witness.

    When her lead Defense Counsel asked her point-blank whether she killed her husband, she became emotional and said, ”I did not kill my husband. I love my husband, even if we quarrel, it won’t be to the point of death”.

    However, she admitted when asked by the Prosecuting Counsel, Mr.S.S. Akinyele that it was the offending phone call from her husband’s lover that precipitated the scuffle between her and her husband that fateful night.

    The Presiding Judge, who is also the Chief Judge of Oyo State, after conferring with both legal teams, instructed that the Defense legal team should file and serve its written address on the Prosecuting team on or before June 19, 2017, while the prosecuting team should respond by July 4, 2017, with the response of the  defense slated for July 10, 2017, which has been set aside for adoption by the court.

     

  • 73.2km ring road to tame Lagos traffic, says Fed Govt

    73.2km ring road to tame Lagos traffic, says Fed Govt

    •Works Minister decries paltry budgetary allocation

    IF the Federal Government keeps its promise, the unending gridlock triggered by articulated vehicles on Lagos roads would soon end.

    Works Minister Mike Onolememen said the intractable traffic in the nation’s commercial and industrial hub is giving the government priority concern.

    According to him, plans have been concluded to build a 73.2-kilometre outer ring road to reduce the chaotic traffic situation being experienced within the Lagos metropolis.

    Onolememen made the revelation at a hearing entitled: “Urgent need to address the near-total collapse of federal roads across the country, a Bill for an Act to provide for the maintenance of public infrastructure, 2011 and for other matters connected therewith.” The forum was organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Works, chaired by Ogbuefi Ozomgachi.

    The minister said the ring road, when completed, will be dedicated mainly to trucks and fuel tankers originating from the ports and tank farms.

    He said the articulated vehicles would be compelled to ply the designated route to reduce gridlock on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.

    The miniser also told the committee that the federal, Lagos and Ogun state governments are collaborating on the implementation of the project.

    Onolememen said the project has been divided into two sections; the first being the Tin Can Island-Igando-Lagos/Otta road interchange-Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, and the the Lekki-Ikorodu-Ijebu Ode on Sagamu/Benin Expressway as the second.

    The minister told the committee that N500 billion would be required between now and the year 2015 to fix road infrastructure, adding that his ministry has started the implementation of “Operation Safe Passage on Federal Highways.”

    Under the scheme, the failed sections on major roads across the country would be fixed to ameliorate the traffic headaches during the Yuletide.

    He decried the budgetary allocation of N100 billion for the development of roads.

    The minister said: “The average budget of about N100 billion for road development is grossly inadequate for the nation’s 35,000-kilometre federal road network and for a country that budgets N300 billion and N150 billion for its Central Bank and deposit insurance corporation respectively.

    “The finance of road projects has been through fluctuating budgetary provisions which have proved inadequate to fund the projects.

    “For example, the amount being owed on Interim Certificate for the Lagos-Otta highway is about N1.74 billion, yet only N742.5 million was provided in the 2012 Appropriation Act.”

    He attributed the inadequate provision of funds to delay and abandonment of projects across the country.

    Onolememen said: “From past experience, budget provisions are not fully released. In 2011, out of a budgetary provision of N130 billion for highway projects, only N88.7 billion was released with a shortfall of N41.3billion.

    “And in 2012, out the total budgetary provision of N143 billion, only N110 billion was released. The ministry is therefore recommending alternative ways of funding highway infrastructure by the Federal Government.”

    In his earlier remarks, House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by Minority Whip Samson Osagie, described as “horrendous” the deplorable state of roads in the country, adding that there is an urgent need to repair them.

    Ozomgbachi noted: “The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) statistics for accidents in the first half of 2012 puts the figure at 1,936 fatalities and substantial part of it attributable to the poor state of our roads.

    “The truth must be told, the condition of our roads is alarming and statistics attest to that and between 1999 till date about N4.414 trillion has been appropriated to the road sector.

    “And yet out of about 34,400-kilometre of Federal Road network only about 35 per cent is paved and substantial percentage of it in varying degree of distress and or pot- holes ridden.”

    “In a country of about 160 million people with an approximate land area of 910,768 square kilometer in which over 90 per cent of the passengers and freight movement are done by road due to almost non-functional water-ways and rail-based transportation, the situation assumes even a status of national emergency.”

     

    “The debilitating effects on national economy and loss of lives and properties arising from road accidents and armed banditry arising from the poor state of our road network evokes a sense of national outrage and mourning.