The Nation Newspaper

Tag: robbed

  • ‘I have never robbed in my life’

    ‘I have never robbed in my life’

    Two commercial motorcyclists’ otherwise called Okada who specialised in snatching handbags from women in Lagos have been arrested by police.

    The suspects are John Okechukwu (19) from Olomohu village in Delta State and Olamide Oyebanjo (25) from Ilaje in Ondo State.

    According to police, the suspects on motion snatched a handbag from a woman but luck ran against them as the people chase, arrested and handed them over to police.

    Okechukwu said: “I am a commercial motorcycle rider and resides around Boundary in Ajegunle area of Lagos. This man (pointing at Olamide) called me and asked me to take him from Orile to Surulere. It was when I saw people chasing us and shouting thieves! Thieves!! that I knew something was wrong and all efforts to explain that I was not one of them fell on deaf ears.

    “I did not know that he wanted to use me to escape. Both of us were arrested at the spot. You can ask Olamide whether I am one of them. I have never robbed in my life. Both of us were arrested at Shitta area in Surulere near Bode Thomas. You can ask him whether I was telling you the truth.”

    Oyebanjo confirmed that John is a commercial motorcycle rider and that he was the one who asked him to take him from Orile to Surulere.

    He said: “I was the one that stopped him and asked him to drop me at Shitta. I have already snatched the bag from one woman near Samson Police Station, Bode Thomas before I asked him to carry me. He did not know that I wanted to use him to escape. It was when I was arrested that he knew that I am a bag snatcher and I even told the mob that he was a mere commercial motorcyclist but they could not listen to me rather it made them to continue to beat me until I could no longer talk about him. I am the real thief.”

  • Youths who robbed our dead members disappointed us more than soldiers — Shi’ite member

    Youths who robbed our dead members disappointed us more than soldiers — Shi’ite member

    MANY have described last Saturday’s clash between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, otherwise known as the Shi’ite sect, and men of the Nigerian Army as an avoidable crisis. While some said the Chief of Army Staff ought to have changed his route to avoid the Shi’ite protesters, others said the Shi’ite members should have allowed the Army boss to pass.

    Be it as it may, the situation degenerated into a bloody clash between some soldiers and members of the Islamic group. The military explained that its action was meant to defend the Chief of Army Staff, who it said was the target of what it described as an assassination attempt. The Shi’ite group, on its part, saw the army’s action as premeditated genocide attack on them.

    It was reported that about 10 Shi’ite members were killed that Saturday afternoon before heavy fighting broke out late in the night until the early hours of Sunday between men of the army and members of the Islamic movement of Nigeria also known as Shiite, following the surrounding of the house of leader of the movement, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, by troops.

    The Nation gathered that the troops returned to El-Zakzaky’s residence in Gyallesu area of Zaria at about 11pm on that day to whisk their leader away. It was gathered that moves by the troops to arrest the leader of the movement were resisted by members. Residents of the area said heavy gunfire accompanied with chants by members of the movement were heard in the area for more than two hours in the night.

    But a security source said the troops were there to forestall what would have been a public disturbance the following day. He said there was a report to the effect that members of the Shi’ite sect had been mobilised from other states to protest what happened on Saturday, and their plan was to descend on innocent members of the public and cause destructions of public property.

    The military officer said the Army does not act irrationally without any intelligence information.

    But a member of the group, Mallam Abdullahi Usman, told our correspondent in Zaria that they thought they had seen worst of the military on that Saturday, not knowing they wåould come on a fresh attack later in the night.

    Usman said: “Having heard what happened in the afternoon, our brothers from other places like Kaduna and Kano came to visit our Sheikh, Sayyid Ibraheem Zakzaky. As for me, I live in Zaria, but I had already relocated to Hussainiya Baqiyya ahead of the Maolid that we were preparing for.

    “We were there, busy receiving our brothers from other cities. In fact, I could not sleep on time because of that. Later, when I got to sleep around 12 midnight, my sleep was suddenly interrupted by sound of gunshots. When I heard the first few gunshots, I thought it was security men that were on patrol. But when it continued at close range, I realised that there was trouble.

    “Let me tell you that what the military told the public, that there was exchange of fire with the sect members, was false. Because even me, I was nearly killed. I slept among my dead brothers, pretending to have been hit by the soldiers’ bullets too.

    “Let me tell you, I cannot even say this is the number of brothers that the soldiers killed. They were so many. After lying down in the midst of the corpses of other brothers for hours, I became psychologically traumatised seeing soldiers killing unarmed citizens.

    “I don’t even know how I escaped from the scene after the soldiers had gone with Sheik (leader of the sect, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky).”

    Another member of the movement, Abdulmumin Giwa, told The Nation that residents of Zaria did worse than the soldiers who killed their brothers.

    He said: “We are consoled by the fact that our brothers who were killed by soldiers died as martyrs, and by Allah’s grace, paradise is their abode. But, residents of Zaria, particularly those around the area displayed lack of fear of God.

    “While our brothers were lying in the pool of their own blood, some youths resident in the area went there not on a mission to rescue the injured but to rob the dead. This is not something hidden. The video of how people robbed our dead colleagues has gone viral on the social media, particularly Facebook. This shows that there is no sympathy for the dead any longer.

    “Mind you, these are the people who live around the scene of the attack. They heard everything that transpired between our brothers and the soldiers. This is not even someone who died of a natural cause. They were killed by soldiers and some people did not even feel sorry for them. Instead, they were robbing them.

    “In fact, they were fighting themselves over the money, mobile phones and other valuables stolen from corpses of their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. This is even worse than the action of the soldiers who killed them. It is an indication that if those people had guns too, they won’t mind killing people to take their property.”

    When our correspondent visited Zaria on Wednesday, roads to El-Zakzaky’s residence in Gyallesu and the Hussainiyya remained blocked by soldiers, who also refused journalists access to the scenes.

    But Giwa alleged that troops had on Sunday morning set part of their leader’s residence ablaze and went back to level it to the ground after his (El-Zakzaky’s) arrest.

    In another development, Islamic Movement of Nigeria alleged that their members in the custodies of the army and the police were dying from absence of medical attention.

    The sect had stated categorically that one of its detained members had died after he was refused medical attention at the Gabasawa Police Station in Kaduna.

    A statement signed by the President, Media Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim Musa, and made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Thursday, reads: “It has come to the notice of the movement that severely injured persons in detention, including women and children, has been left without medical attention since last Saturday and this has aggravated their conditions.

    “Presently, one of such detained members of the movement has died as a result of being refused medical attention at the Gabasawa police station in Kaduna.

    “There are many other members of the Movement facing the same calamity at the Operation Yaki Station along Constitution Road, Kaduna, with another three hundred women in custody at Jaji Cantonment, apart from those detained in army barracks across Zaria.”

  • Perm Sec visits robbed herdsmen

    Perm Sec visits robbed herdsmen

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Permanent Secretary, Mr. John Chukwu has paid a condolence visit to Fulani herdsmen who were attacked by armed robbers in the Ketti-Pyakassa suburb of Abuja.

    Chukwu condemned the attack and urged the victims to be calm as security agencies were working round the clock to fish out the perpetrators.

    Unknown hoodlums attacked the Fulani community, killing seven persons.

    Chukwu also visited the National Hospital Abuja where three injured persons including a baby were  receiving treatment.

    He also called at the scene of the unfortunate incident in the company of some senior officials of the FCT Administration to commiserate with the victims.

    The Permanent Secretary during the visit directed that two other injured persons receiving treatment in a village hospital be immediately transferred to the Asokoro District Hospital for adequate medical care.

    Chukwu assured that the FCT Administration would pay all the medical bills of the injured persons being treated.

    He prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased persons who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident as well as for the quick recovery of the injured persons.

    While commending the police  for the prompt response, he called on them to hasten their investigations in order to bring to book all those culpable.

    Chukwu reiterated that the government would surely get to the root of the crime; stressing that the perpetrators would definitely be apprehended and prosecuted.

    He said, “The Health and Human Services Secretariat, the Area Council Services Secretariat and the FCT Emergency Management Department are hereby directed to immediately liaise with the National Hospital as well as the relations of the victims to pick all medical bills of the injured and sparing no cost in treating them.”

    He advised the victims to be calm, not to take the laws into their hands as the Security Agencies are already assiduously working to unravel all those behind it.

    Responding on behalf of the victims, the Ardon Fulanin Garki, Alhaji Kogi Salihu appreciated the sympathy visit by the high-powered delegation of the FCT Administration and promised to remain calm and law abiding.

    Salihu said, “We are really glad that the FCT Administration leadership has promptly responded to our plight because this is indeed a time of need,”

    He prayed for the guidance and the well being of President Muhammadu Buhari to continue to steer the affairs of the country as this ‘uncommon’ visit demonstrates the change mantra of the Federal Government.

    In order to further calm down nerves and maintain peace in the FCT Chukwu has had an emergency meeting with some leaders of the victims of the armed robbery attack in Pyakassa to avoid any reprisal.

    The Permanent Secretary, who had the emergency meeting in his office, emphasized the need to maintain law and order, assuring that the perpetrators would definitely be apprehended and therefore nobody should take the laws into their hands.

    Chukwu reiterated that the Police and other security agencies in the Federal Capital Territory are on top of the situation.

    Meanwhile, The Permanent Secretary has directed the Area Council Services Secretariat to organise stakeholders meeting with the herdsmen dwelling in and around the Federal Capital City, Abuja scheduled for next week.

    According to him, the main issue to be discussed at the meeting is on how to permanently put a stop to the knotty cases of grazing of cattle within the City Centre.

    He affirmed that after the stakeholders meeting, the FCT Administration would have reached an understanding on how to permanently solve the problem of grazing cattle in the city centre.

    He remarked that this would be an enlarged meeting between the FCT Administration and the Fulani herdsmen as well as their leaders in the Federal Capital Territory.

    The Permanent Secretary insisted that grazing of cattle in the city centre and along the Airport Expressway must be stopped because there are designated grazing areas in Paikon-Kore, in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the Territory, which according to him, is underutilized.

     

  • How I was robbed by a man who asked to rent my flat —CBN director

    The Project Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Entrepreneurship Development Centre, North Central Zone, Prof. Tyoor Terhemba, has narrated how he was robbed of N8 million.

    Terhemen told newsmen in Makurdi that two weeks ago, he received a call from a man who identified himself as Chief Adelaja, indicating interest in renting one of his properties at Welfare Quarters, Makurdi.

    He said on Monday, at about 6 pm, he picked the said Chief Adefala at Welfare Quarters junction and drove with him in his vehicle to the two-bedroom flat to have a view of same.

    According to the victim, when they arrived the building, he opened the flat for Adelaja to inspect and left to ease himself. But by the time he returned, the door to the flat was locked and Adelaja was nowhere to be found.

    “I became confused and curious and immediately went to the boot of my car only to discover that the N8 million I kept there had gone,” he said.

    He said he put a call to the phone number Adelaja had given him but it had been switched off since then.

    He said he had written a petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 4 Head quarters in Makurdi after he discovered that the suspect had lived in Apir with another landlord.

  • How we robbed nursing mother, by suspect

    How we robbed nursing mother, by suspect

    A 29-year-old man has told the police how his gang robbed a nursing mother with the aid of her driver.

    Solomon Ugorji told Lagos State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives that they robbed the woman the day she returned from America.

    He, Obinna, the  driver, who is said to be at large and Obiano Cosmos are said to have attacked a lounge in Victory Garden City (VGC) on May 16.

    Ugorji, who claims to be from Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, said he was an undergraduate at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), studying Public Administration, but could not continue after 200 level because of financial problem.

    He said: “I worked as security guard to Stoke and Caldwell Engineering Services Limited, a company that was into general procurement, maintenance and manpower training at Kilometre 23, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ajah, Lagos. I worked there for over two years on N40,000 per month.

    I live at Majek in Balogun Estate along the expressway. The owner of the company, a woman, travelled to the United States of America (USA) for child delivery.

    “On May 16, her driver, Obinna, (at large), told us that the madam would be coming back on Friday or Saturday with hard currency. He asked that we hatch a plan to rob the woman at a roundabout. He later asked us to go to the airport from VGC Roundabout by 7pm if we did not see her there. When the driver got to the roundabout, he stopped for the woman to buy fruits for her workers. The woman asked Obinna why he stopped without her order.

    “The woman wound down and bought some fruits. As she wanted to wind up the glass, with our gun, we ordered her driver to reverse towards the toll gate. When we got near the toll gate, there was heavy traffic jam, so we ordered the driver to head towards Ajah. We warned her not to shout. When we got to Eleganza, there was a traffic jam again. The woman held my knife and it wounded her. She kicked the car door and it opened and hit an oncoming vehicle and both of us fell down.”

    Ugorji said when he attempted to escape, some passersby pursued, arrested and beat him up before handing him over to the police. “I told the police that I am an armed robber and not a kidnapper. Our plan was to take her money only,” he added.

    The suspect said he recommended Obinna to the woman and advised her to increase his monthly salary from N25,000 to N50,000.

    “The other guy called Cosmos was holding a hammer which people mistook for gun. I was living with Obinna because I had problem of paying my house rent at Ajuwe, Ajah. We were all armed robbers but we did not operate with real gun. We used hammer as gun due to its shape,” he added.

     

  • Woman robbed inside Keke Marwa

    Woman robbed inside Keke Marwa

    One man has been arrested by the police for allegedly robbing a woman inside a tricycle (aka Keke Marwa).

    She was attacked by a robber who pretended to be a passenger, at Guinness Bus stop on Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja.

    They were coming from the nearby Ashade Market, Agege.

    The robber reportedly ordered the woman to surrender her belongings at gunpoint.

    The robber also slapped the tricycle driver and ordered him to surrender his key.

    Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives arrested the tricycle driver, Sodiq Adefowope (27), who confessed working with the robber whose name he gave as Moruf. While parading Adefowope yesterday, police described Moruf as the leader of the tricycle riders’ robbery gang.

    According to the police, the gang terrorises passengers in the night and robs them of their valuables.

    The police said: “The woman boarded a tricycle at Ashade Market, and going to her destination (withheld for security reasons) when all of a sudden the Keke Marwa rider stopped for the first passenger to alight but to her greatest surprise, the passenger instead of alighting started threatening the woman with short gun and ordered her to surrender her bag containing huge sum of money.

    “Having obliged by surrendering her bag, the robber slapped the Keke Marwa rider and ordered him to go to the back seat which he complied; the woman did not know that they are of the same gang.”

    Adefowope, who hails from Oro in Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State confirmed that Moruf is a member of his gang.

    He said: “But, to be frank with you, I did not know that Moruf will strike because he was telling me about their exploits the day before. I would not have carried him if I knew that he had the intention to rob the woman. But I blame myself because I know that a criminal can strike anytime and anywhere unless he is not a real criminal, which was my miscalculation.

    “The game is up; there is no need to hide anything. When we reached Guinness Bus stop, Moruf attacked the woman with a locally made gun and carried her bag. Before he escaped, he took over my Keke Marwa steering and started the Keke Marwa. I was dumbfounded because I never expected it.

    “Since I did not have alternative, I cooperated with him for the robbery operation to be successful but see what is happening now, he has escaped, I am the only one suffering.

    “If I am released, I will be careful in life because it was carelessness and carefree life style that put me into this mess.”

     

     

     

     

  • Hotel guests robbed in Aba

    About 10 robbers at the weekend in Aba, Abia State, attacked one of the hotels in the commercial city, stealing valuables and money.

    They also stole an unspecified amount of cash from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) on the premises.

    Although information about the incident was sketchy, The Nation learnt that the incident occurred about 4 am on Saturday.

    A source, who confirmed the incident, said none of the guests was injured.

    The source said the bandits fled the scene before the police arrived.

    Two suspected robbers were arrested by a vigilance group in Aba.

    They were said to have been arrested after they allegedly robbed a hotel on the Aba-Owerri Road, Aba.

    One of the suspects was said to have died before they were handed over to the police.

  • How police sergeant,colleagues ‘robbed’ this man of N.28m

    How police sergeant,colleagues ‘robbed’ this man of N.28m

    Like a scene out of a gangster movie, a man Dr Babatunde Oloyede has been ‘robbed’ of the sum of N280,000 by a team of policemen led by a sergeant, who had arrested him under the flyover bridge at Ojuelegba, Lagos on allegation of committing crime.   Asst. Editor, SINA FADARE reports.

    March 18, 2014 is a day Dr Babatunde Oloyede a Nigerian working as an expatriate in Costa Rica will remember for the rest of his life. It was the day a team from the Nigeria Police accosted him under the flyover bridge at Ojuelegba in Lagos and ‘robbed’ him at gunpoint of the sum of N280,000.

    It was a day that began on a promising note but ended badly when he was rough handled by a man who he initially thought was a hoodlum but later identified as Sergeant Eshue Augustine with police no 247516.

    Oloyede who had just returned from Costa Rica where he was residing with his family and was going to the church on this faithful day was shocked that he could be accused of being a criminal by Augustine in broad day light even when nothing incriminating was found on him. Sergeant Augustine later dragged him to his other colleagues seated in a yellow painted commercial bus parked somewhere under the bridge.

    According to Oloyede in a petition to the police and a human rights advocacy group, ‘Citizen Right Empowerment Initiative’, alleged that  Augustine with his other colleagues   Stg. Mohammed Yahaya with police no 356567, not only threatened to send him to Kirikiri prisons, but said they are ready to set him free if he could part away with N500,000.

    “I thought l was in the hand of armed robbers because Augustine who first accosted me was in mufti, until l was dragged to the Danfo bus where a driver was permanently on the wheel and was asked to drive me to Kirikiri if l did not cooperate with them. I was scared with the way they were cocking their guns as another police officer who put on a pull over to cover his identity also came over to tell me that the best way for me was to cooperate because l may not get to Kirikiri before my life would be terminated. This forced me to agree to play ball.

    “At this point my wallet was thoroughly searched by Augustine who found nothing inside apart from my Bible, cheque book and documents relating to my family. When he saw these documents he was enraged, shouting that they are forged documents and that if the I.G monitoring team should see me, l may spend 24 years behind bars and that there is no lawyer that can bail me out of this crisis unless l cooperated with him,” he lamented

    At this point, Oloyede’s two phones had been confiscated and he was led to the nearest ATM  to collect the  said amount but he resisted, insisting  that he cannot give them the half a million being demanded for because the money in his account was intended to be used for his ticket back to his base in Costa Rica.

    Augustine was more enraged and he later introduced Yahaya as a police commissioner who can determine his case and fate and that the ealier he cooperated with him the better it would be.

    “At this point l told them that l can only withdraw N280, 000 from my account and that this could only be done across the counter. They forced me into the Danfo vehicle and the driver who must have been working for them did not utter a word, he was told to drive to the nearest Guarantee Trust Bank, GTB at Bode Thomas, Oba Akran way Surulere.

    “At the bank, Stg. Augustine followed me inside and warned that l should not discuss with anybody while the two others and the driver of the Danfo bus were outside the bank. Immediately l withdrew N280, 000, we both went out and he said l should follow him to a corner where he collected the money. When he did, I then asked for my phones which had been seized and they were given to me with a warning that l should not receive any call or call anybody till they will drop me off.

    “Later they took me round for a while before we got to (Lagos) Island under the bridge by the lake side, they said l should get out of the bus, when l complained that after all, l had settled them and l don’t know anywhere around this place, Augustine then got out of the bus and Yahaya assured me that  he will drop me off at Ojuelegba with a warning that if l make any attempt to report the case anywhere, they will deny it, frustrate me and my life will be wasted because this is the business they are doing for a living.” he said

    Oloyede trauma did not end there; he later reported the case to a non Governmental Organisation, ‘Citizen Right Empowerment Initiative’ who advised him to contact a lawyer and then report the case to police authority.  Three days after the incident he reported the case to the IG monitoring team  at Kam Salem, House, Obalende where Superintendent  Gbenga attended to him.

    Gbenga eventually caught Augustine and his cohorts in the act at Ojuelegba when they wanted to ‘rob’ another victim,  a manager with Nigeria Football Federation, NFF; Gbenga intervened and took all of them to Obalende. He later confirmed that they are not armed robbers as he initially envisaged. It was at Obalende that the case was officially reported to the Provost Marshall.

    ‘After interrogation and Augustine who initially denied ever seeing me before now confessed that he actually searched me but vehemently denied that he collected any money from me.  Later after we left their office he charged at me that since he had warned me not to report the case and I was proving too stubborn, he will tell me that nothing will come out of the investigation and l am going to be the loser because he will terminate my life, no matter the involvement of any lawyer and that if l like l should engage the service of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, (SAN)”

    As predicted by Stg. Augustine, nothing came out of the Provost Marshal’s office as all of them decided to frustrate Oloyede by blaming him why for not raising an  alarm when the officers were dealing with him.

    “Despite the fact that the police authority went to the bank to collect the CCTV camera and said Augustine was identified inside the banking hall that day by one Inspector Garuba Mohammed, they still blamed me for not shouting while inside the bank, even if Augustine was ready to shoot me as  l claimed”

    When The Nation went to Ojuelegba to verifying the veracity of Oloyede’s claim, it was discovered that Augustine and his colleagues, Yahaya are so popular among the drivers and hawkers under the bridge to the extent that Yahaya was being referred to as a police commissioner.

    Speaking to The Nation on condition of anonymity, a driver who is an executive member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW in Lagos State said Augustine and his colleagues have constituted themselves into a powerful clique to the extent that anybody who reports them could be killed.

    “As you know they cannot be operating under this bridge in the last two years without having a godfather in their office. At times some of their victims thought they were armed robbers because most of the time they were in mufti. Can you believe that they paid some of the Danfo drivers that they are using on a full booking everyday” he lamented

    At the office of the Lagos State Police Public Relation Officer, PPRO, the Deputy PPRO, Assistant Superintendent Lelma Kolle told The Nation he had once been a victim of such assault under Ojuelegba bridge when he was working at Apapa.

    According to him the man who accosted him was dressed in mufti and he concluded he was one of those hoodlums who operate under police cover to perpetrate evil. “when the guy demanded to know what was inside my bag, l gave it to him and he asked me to open it, when l did, he saw my uniform and said so you are an officer, why didn’t you identify yourself earlier, in annoyance and because l was getting late l just left the scene.”

    At Kam Salem House in Obalende, The Nation met a brick wall as our correspondent was not allowed to see the Provost Marshal who was in charge of Oloyede’s case. However a police Inspector said “the more you look, the less you see when you are talking about disciplining police officers who took bribe here, because a lot of intrigues and deceits are involved.”

    He confessed that a lot of people have been victims of Augustine and his colleagues who also make a lot of returns to some top officers. That is why they are always confident that any case you brought against them will be thrown into the trash bin. But as l used to tell them, God is watching”

    It is obvious that Dr Oloyede who is a PhD  holder has been frustrated and he could not travel to his family in Costa Rica, neither can he sleep with all eye closed as Augustine has promised to waste his life.

    “l am a frustrated man now because my family has been sent away from Costa Rica because l was supposed to be there to renew my contract, but this is not possible and to make matters worse l cannot send money to them due to my account that is in red. I cannot believe that this is what Nigeria that l left almost twenty years ago has turned to,” he lamented.

  • ‘Politics has robbed Edo of oil revenue’

    ‘Politics has robbed Edo of oil revenue’

    Samson Raphael Osagie is the APC member representing Uhunmwonde/Orhionmwon Federal Constituency and the Minority Whip of the House of Representatives. He spoke with Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia on the challenges facing the Niger Delta Ministry, his obligations and abandoned constituency projects and why he believes he should be the next senator representing Edo South at the  Senate come 2015 after spending almost 16 years as a lawmaker in the state and National Assembly. Excerpts:

    Some of the constituency projects you reportedly initiated have packed up. A typical case is the borehole project in your community, Uruokhuosa in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area. Please tell us what went wrong?

    Because of lack of maintenance, the borehole is not working as at today but I can tell you that when it was commissioned, it was in a good working condition. I mean the citizens really appreciated it. I had to take the responsibility of maintaining it by providing diesel to run it for up to four years. As at 2006, I wrote the local government council at Ehor to take it over. I think what the council did was to buy diesel once. I tried to engage the community to take it over for maintenance – servicing it and buying diesel. It was just one of the many that I initiated in the locality as a constituency project and it was going to be difficult for me to continue to maintain them on a personal level on a permanent basis. Even when I advanced money to community leaders for this purpose, it was mismanaged and that is why the borehole is in the state it has found itself today. So the borehole I sank as a member of the Edo State Assembly has finally packed up. I have boreholes in two communities near Uruokhuosa. For one of them, the community took the responsibility for the borehole maintenance and employed somebody for the purpose and I can tell you that apart from my initial support they have never called me for maintenance. So for Uruokhuosa, at the time the borehole came, the community which is my father’s community had no water. So it was their felt need at the time. It still is. I have personally spent money to sink three additional boreholes in the community with support from Benin-Owina River Development Authority to no avail. I am working on a fourth one.

    Cast your mind back to the Benin Abraka road project which is very critical to your constituency. You have been in the National Assembly for over half a decade and your predecessor glossed over the bad state of the road. What efforts have you made to get this road rehabilitated? At a time we heard contract was awarded but as we speak work is yet to commence on the road project. What is really the situation on the road?

    I initiated the Benin – Abraka road with a colleague of mine when I was on the committee on Niger Delta Affairs; when the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was created. It was on the same day we initiated the development of the Gelegele seaport. We decided to include the development of the seaport in the first budget of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. But before the budget was concluded, I sought the consent of my colleague to quickly include the expansion of the Benin-Abraka road. I did this because I feared if at the end of the day the Government failed to execute the project, we would not have lost out completely. And I was justified at the end of one year. We put N500 million for the seaport and I asked for a N100 million for the design of the dualization of the Benin – Abraka road. At the end of the year, the Ministry said the seaport was outside their purview. Instead, they wanted to design the road. Luckily for us, the following year, Orhionmwon got a Minister in Chris Ogiemwonyi and I went to him and told him all about the road. He was Minister of State for Works. Shortly after his appointment I left the PDP for the ACN and with his intervention, contract for the road was awarded. The problem with the road is that the Ministry of Niger Delta is almost a failed ministry. I have written severally to them because they have refused to mobilise the contractors to site. Its even more painful that late President Yar’Adua created the ministry and the amnesty programme to douse the tension in the Niger Delta and the Presidency is now headed by a Niger Deltan, yet the ministry is not being properly funded. They fund the amnesty office rather than the ministry which mandate is to carry out development project in the Niger Delta region. As at today you can’t point vividly to the achievements of that ministry.

    What guarantees are there that the plight of the Benin-Abraka road would not be replicated on the Benin-Akure-Ifon?

    The Benin-Akure-Ifon road is under the Federal Ministry of Works. And I think its situation will be different because the current Minister is from Edo. In the case of the Abraka road, it was not directly under Ogiemwonyi’s ministry but the Niger Delta. So he needed to beg his colleague minister for the contract to be awarded. Continuing with the job when he has left office became a problem. Do you know that this road was on the 2012 budget of this same Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs for the sum of N1billion. The man just refused to fund or award the contract. Orubebe was Minister for Niger Delta then. He just refused and I discussed with him before saying I have this project. So the point I am trying to make it that lack of funding is what is defeating our projects and that is why you have a lot of abandoned projects all over the place. I had to approach the Minister for Works and his initial commitment and the flag off thereafter is an indication that this is one road that will not go the same way like the Benin – Abraka road.

    I presume that every Nigerian who is part of your constituency should elicit your concern or rather sympathy or empathy. In 2011, Engineer Ayo Omorogbe was shot and killed as he aspired to contest the seat of House of Representatives which you now occupy. Have you by any chance extended an olive branch to his family ever since?

    Before he died, I recall recommending him for appointment into the NDDC. And when he was going to marry I was called and I attended the marriage. When he had a baby I recall he came to me and I also gave him some money, thank God it was a cheque. It is still a painful thing until today. His death is as painful as my being fingered in the allegation. I find it curious each time I think about it, how I could possibly go to the family and give assistance. Because if a man I assisted so much, I could be fingered during his death, of what significance would my intervention – how will my intention to assist the family be interpreted? It will be misconstrued. It’s a very painful thing and there is nothing I could have done in the circumstance. Although some of the family members have come to apologise to me because they now know the truth. But that does not mean that it is not one matter that I feel worried and concerned about.

    You once raised the issue of a Nigerian who was killed in Spain at the National Assembly. Was it because he was a member of your constituency?

    Let me say that as we speak the recognition and the awareness that we now have about the role of government in the welfare of citizens, especially those abroad, can be traced to that motion I moved in July 2007, barely one month I was elected into office. Osamuyi Aikpifanyi was a member of my constituency in the first place. He was a Nigerian from Edo State. He was one of those youths who left Nigeria to overseas in search of greener pastures. He died at the point of deportation. The impetus I had to take up his matter in the National Assembly was the circumstances surrounding his death. My investigations was that he was to be deported in a very dehumanising condition. He was not a thief but was alleged to have violated immigration regulations and was to be deported. He was put in a sack and it would have been better to put him in prison. They were going to carry him as a cargo and he died. Cognizance of the fact that there are many of our people living abroad, I used the motion to draw national attention to this incident to show to the world that we are an endangered species.

    Are you disturbed about the lingering crisis on the Edo/Delta border, involving Iguelaba/Jesse residents? What have you done in this regard?

    The issue of Iguelaba/Jesse crises and the problem of oil well in Edo being credited to Delta State or any other for that matter has been on for quite a while. I recall that the two state governments have engaged each other over the issue, however it goes down to the politics of oil exploration. The worrisome aspect of it is that oil flow stations are located in Delta State whereas the oil wells are located in Edo. It is basically technological; this politics I talk about as oil companies tell you that the they cannot site flow stations here in Edo because the quantity of oil is not enough compared to Delta so they are forced to transport them, using pipelines there. Now the policies of the revenue is different. This is supposed to be part of the duties of the Revenue Mobilization and Final Commissioner. Unfortunately, states are not their brothers’ keeper. In the past, it used to be that in order to decline your oil revenue, you must be influential. Recall the episode between Cross Rivers and Akwa-Ibom and how the four lost over 76 oil wells, making Akwa-Ibom the richest state in Nigeria today.There are several issues involving Deltans and Edolites who have lived together and have lived peacefully.

    I believe Delta people in the locality must respect existing traditional boundary lines. This is the key to resolving the crisis. The point I am making is that we must have a defined boundary between Edo and Delta. The crises has become endemic and encroachment is persistent because of the oil revenue. The National Boundary Commission has done a lot in this regard but the parties are not accepting and abiding with the decisions reached. What is needed in for all stakeholders to agree on the way forward.

    Some are of the opinion that having been in politics as a lawmaker for 16 years by 2015 you should aspire to serve as governor not as a senator. What is your take on this?

    I believe that God gives power and if you look at the history of how people emerge as governors, it is either they were not prepared for it or by divine providence. I am not averse to becoming Governor of Edo State but right now it is not my ambition, I can’t tell about the future. At this time, I will be more comfortable crowning my legislative career as a Senator. I have had the rare privilege among the lot since 1999 among all those we started together of being the only one in Edo South Senatorial district still making laws for our people. I believe it is not a bad idea to advance this career to the highest level, more so when I have become so experienced in the parliament. If I get to the Senate I will get precedence over a number of persons who will come and meet me there; even former governors in terms of law-making. Because I am not just a member of the House of Representatives, I am a Principal Officer of the House. And that comes with a lot of advantages for my constituency. One, given the experience and ranking, I would have more privileges of becoming a committee chairman or a Principal Officer that can attract more development to my constituency. I have attributed more development in the last three years as a Principal Officer than the previous twelve years at the State House of Assembly and the House of Representatives as a legislature. That is the truth, it is politics of the parliament. So it is to the advantage of my Senatorial District that among the lot asking for it, there is none that has my record. Some may have served three tenures in the House of Representatives but to the extent that they were not part of the Leadership cadre of the House, they cannot have the same kind of experience and expertise that I have.

    Many of your opponents say your district in the Benin zone has produced two Senators in Danjuma and Owie and that it is the turn of old Oredo/Egor/Ikpoba Okha, this time around. Do you agree?

    Democracy does not discriminate against the constitutional right of any citizen to contest for a public office. You cannot say that because my forefather was a senator, I cannot aspire to be a senator. In America, from where we copied our democracy, the Bush family, a father and a son were Presidents of the United States. The point I want to make is that it was coincidental that Daisy Danjuma and Senator Roland Owie were Senators and hailed from Uhumwonde. There was no time Edo South people sat down and decided that Uhunmwonde should produce the Senator. There was no time they also decided that Uzamere should be Senator. Otherwise, the time Uzamere left Oredo for Ovia, he would have lost it. He would have become unqualified. While opponents will like to use that as a point against me, my message to Edo South people is we cannot sacrifice merit on the altar of zoning otherwise you will produce morons, mediocre, at the expense of excellence. So I am qualified, I have all it takes. I am more experienced to be the Senator for Edo South in 2015. I am yet to hear those who are aspiring say, they are more qualified than me.

  • Joel Obi robbed in Italy

    Joel Obi robbed in Italy

    Super Eagles midfielder Joel Obi’s home in Milan has been burgled.

    The Inter Milan midfielder fell victim to burglars in Milan, according to reports on Friday.

    Obi discovered the infraction upon returning home in the early hours of Friday morning, according to a report from the ANSA news agency.

    The report did not however say which items were taken by the burglars.

    Inter Milan qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday thanks to a 3-0 away victory over Cluj for a 5-0 aggregate win over the Romanians.

    In Serie A the Nerazzurri sit in fifth place on 43 points, 12 behind leaders Juve and one adrift of AC Milan ahead of the city derby on Sunday.

    Obi has not enjoyed national team action for a while due to his recurring injury.