The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Task force

  • Task force arrests fake journalist, 67 miscreants

    A man has been arrested by Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) operatives for allegedly posing as a journalist with Television Continental (TVC).

    The task force Chairman, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), in a statement, said  Soji Gboye, 36 from Ilaje in Ondo State, was arrested during an enforcement operations around Maryland and environs.

    Sixty-seven miscreants were also arrested and traders unauthorised places were dislodged.

    Egbeyemi said Gboye was arrested while obstructing the task force operatives from performing their duty.

    Gboye, he said, could not “properly identify” himself on interrogation.

    According to him, on being contacted, TVC management said the suspect was not its worker.

    He said the Commissioner of Police has directed that Gboye be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos Mainland, and others charged to court.

  • Task force arrests 67 miscreants

    The operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) have arrested 67 miscreants and impounded 75 motorcycles.

    A statement from its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Taofiq Adebayo quoted the Chairman of the agency, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP) as saying that it is battle ready to put an end to all environmental nuisances across the state.

    Egbeyemi said the impounded 75 motorcyclists were plying restricted routes around Oshodi.

    The 67 arrested miscreants, he said, were pick pockets and hoodlums caught smoking Indian helm along rail-way line under Oshodi bridge.

    He enjoined traders to stop selling or displaying wares on road, walkways and setbacks.

    Egbeyemi warned traders along Oshodi to Cappa to immediately move their wares off the road.

    He said the agency with the operatives of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) is ready to commence general enforcement of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Laws within Oshodi and its environs from today.

  • Task force dislodges traders, hawkers from Tinubu arcade

    The operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) led by the Chairman, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police and officials of Kick Against Indiscipline ‘KAI’ on Saturday dislodged street traders/hawkers around ‘Tinubu Monumental Arcade’ located at Lagos Island Local government area.

    The operation is in furtherance of the government’s promise to protect all monumental arcades from street traders/hawkers and other environmental nuisances.

    The government had said that many of these ‘Monumental Arcades’ were “primarily meant to preserve our cultural heritage and to serve as archives for academic research”, others were provided just for relaxation and were named after heroes of this country.

    The ‘Tinubu Arcade’ which was re-constructed by the present administration was named after Madam Efunroye Tinubu (1810 – 1887), a female aristocrat and a female trader during pre-colonial period in Nigeria.

    Egbeyemi said environmental nuisances particularly street trading/hawking around Tinubu Square and all other ‘Monumental Arcades’ provided by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is worrisome.

    He urged market leaders across the state to warn traders and hawkers to immediately stop displaying and selling wares besides and around all monumental arcades.

    He advised traders not to extend their trading activities beyond areas strictly earmarked for market by the government as anyone arrested selling on road setbacks and walkways would be charged to courts and have their wares confiscated.

    Meanwhile, the Task Force has relocated from Ikeja to Multi-purpose Agency complex, Bolade Oshodi opposite the Arena complex.

    According to government, the relocation which equally affected some other government agencies was meant to strengthen their operations.

    Other government agencies affected with the relocation exercise includes Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Kick against Indiscipline (KAI), Nigeria Legion, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Mobile Courts.

  • Okada riders injure task force driver

    Okada riders injure task force driver

    Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) surffered a huge loss in the hands of some commercial motorcyclists (okada riders) at the weekend in Apapa.

    The windscreens and headlight of four of its trucks and two Toyota Hilux vans were damaged by the okada riders, while its officials were trying to arrest those who did not participate in Saturday’s environmental sanitation.

    The agency’s driver was wounded on the head.

    Some okada riders were arrested over the incident.

    A statement by the task force’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Taofiq Adebayo, quoted the chairman, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP) as saying that the operatives impounded 27 motorcycles and arrested five Okada riders, described as Chadian and Nigerien.

    Egbeyemi urged Apapa residents to cooperate with the agency in sanitising the community.

    Those arrested are Belo Sheu, 17, Ali Don, 20, Aminu Ataru, 22, Musa Yahusa, 15, and Saliu Musa, 30.

    Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni has directed that those arrested be charged to court.

    “During the month of October, the agency arrested 1750 miscreants. 300 were screened out, while the remaining 1450 were charged to courts. 1105 motorcycles plying restricted routes across the state were impounded,” the statement said.

  • Task force arrests 11 in abandoned building

    Task force arrests 11 in abandoned building

    Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences has paraded 11 persons arrested from an abandoned building in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    Its chairman, Yinka Egbeyemi, said the eight women and three men, were arrested at the building owned by a late retired military officer.

    He said the operation was in line with the ongoing exercise of the Special Committee on Clean up Ikoyi and Victoria Island to dislodge miscreants and squatters from abandoned buildings in the area.

    Egbeyemi said residents in the area have raised series of complaints on the activities going on in the building especially at dusk.

    He added that when interrogated, all the suspects could not offer explanations on their means of livelihood.

    He added that all the suspects would be charged to court soon based on circumstantial evidence, just as he warned that the committee is resolute about its determination to rid Ikoyi and VI of abandoned buildings and miscreants.

    He emphasised that the next stop of the Clean Up committee is Lekki where all such infractions have been identified and would be cleared to restore the original master plan of the areas.

    He warned those living in abandoned building to relocate so as to avoid the wrath of the law.

    He said after the first visit, surveillance was placed on the building which is close to the Ikoyi Police Station and indicated that different questionable characters were still patronising the place and terrorising the residents, a development which spurred the Clean-up team to act.

    The paraded suspects including Ajoke Precious, Akaana Agateh, Agbo Elizabeth, Augustin Mary, Ajanjo Blessing, Mary Douglas, and Mati Dodi.

    The suspect while speaking with journalists claimed they all engage in menial jobs and were assisted by one military personnel named Salau to be staying in the building since they had accommodation issues.

    They all denied paying any rent to the said Salau who squats them, adding that they were only allowed to stay on compassionate ground pending when they would be able to arrange themselves.

    Douglas said she arrived in Lagos in January to stay with her uncle who has since relocated out of Lagos.

    She added that the necessity to make ends meet forced her to stay back and seek alternative accommodation means while she sells fairly used clothes at Obalende to cater for her needs.

  • FCT reactivates polio eradication task force

    In order to maintain the zero prevalence level of poliomyelitis in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the administration has reactivated the task force to tackle the disease. The task force has the brief to coordinate an immunisation programme to eradicate the disease.

    The FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye said this  while inaugurating the reactivated task force.

    Ajakaiye said the action was taken as a proactive measure to prevent any resurgence of the disease in any part of the Federal Capital Territory.

    He revealed that the administration has also approved the expansion of the task force membership in order to ensure sector-wide stakeholder participation.

    The Permanent Secretary said that this effort of the FCT Administration is geared towards strengthening Childhood Immunization Services across the 8,000 square kilometers of the Territory.

    According to the statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary Muhammad Sule, Ajakaiye insisted that Abuja must remain the pace setter for the 36 states of the federation to emulate and therefore urged members of the Task Team to work very hard to maintain the tempo.

    He stated that the FCT Administration would continue to provide all the necessary support to ensure that the programmes earmarked for the sustenance of the agenda are fully implemented.

    The Task Force’s terms of reference is to ensure effective leadership and coordination of all immunization activities by the FCT; prepare and regularly review/update a 12 month state plan for the intensification of Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization activities required interrupt/sustain interruption of wild poliovirus transmission.

    Other terms of reference are to ensure the formation of LGA inter-sectoral committees to coordinate planning and implementation of quality routine immunisation campaigns at LGA level; to oversee preparation of budgets for immunization activities, advocate for timely and adequate resource allocation and ensure judicious use of all funds allocation for these activities as well as coordinate the planning and execution of polio eradication supplemental immunisation activities amongst others.

    According to him, to give the desired impetus the assignment deserves, the reactivated and expanded Task Force would be chaired by himself, the FCT Permanent Secretary and the Executive Secretary of the FCT Primary Health Care Board would serve as the Secretary.

    Other members of the 35-Member Task Force include some officials of the FCT Administration, Traditional Rulers, Religious Organizations, Media, World Health Organization, UNICEF, European Union, Emergency Agencies as well as the FCT Area Councils’ officials.

    Speaking earlier, the Acting Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey Achu assured that the Secretariat is poised to sustain the zero status of the Federal Capital Territory in poliomyelitis.

    The inaugural meeting to appraise the previous achievements as well as hit the ground running on the new task ahead was held immediately after the inauguration.

     

  • Task force impounds 98 motorcycles, tricycles

    The Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit Task Force at the weekend impounded 98 motorcycles including tricycles at Rainbow Bus Stop in Mile 2, Lagos.

    A statement by the agency’s spokesman, Taofiq Adebayo, said the arrest was made by a squad led by the Task Force Chairman, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP).

    According to the statement, Egbeyemi disclosed that the operation was carried out “based on persistence petitions from members of the public around FESTAC and Mile 2 about criminal activities perpetrated by operators of both motorcycles and tricycles.

    It said: “The Chairman disclosed further that residents living around these areas complain that criminals use both motorcycles and tricycles to dislodge them of their valuable properties during the day-time and at night.

    “The residents have complained in the petition to the Task Force that they could no longer sleep with their two eyes closed.

    “A resident who refused to disclose his residential address within the estate, Alhaji Wasiu Olaniran, said it has become worrisome seeing these people using motorcycles and tricycles to perpetrate criminal activities around the area. He said they usually dispossess people of their valuables such as wallets, neck-chains and telephones.

    “Olaniran requested for regular raiding of the criminals around the area while commending the Chairman of the Lagos Task Force for his prompt intervention.

    “Another victim, who also retained her residential identity, Mrs. Ngosi Akpan, said these criminals riding on motorcycles cut her neck-chains and snatched her Samsung Galaxy phone while she was going home from work. She said she is a teacher in one of the schools around the area.”

    Egbeyemi said the agency would continue to impound and arrest violators of government policy on restricted routes across the state until owners and operators of both motorcycles and tricycles comply with the order as enshrined in the Lagos State Road Traffic Laws of 2012

    He noted that the government policy on restricted routes across the state was meant to protect lives residents including those of the owners and operators of motorcycles and tricycles as well as  their passengers’.

    The chairman, the statement noted, restated the agency’s readiness to confront head-on the ‘notorious’ motorcyclists and tricycle operators plying restricted routes at Apapa, Ikorodu, Mile 2, Agege, Lagos Island, Ido, Ebute-Metta, Ojuelegba, Fagba area at Iju, Airport Road and Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

    “Egbeyemi hinted that the government is currently working on providing the Agency with more protective equipment that would safe guard them from series of attacks while on duty”, the statement said.

    He, however, urged private power-bike operators, particularly companies’ dispatch-riders, to desist from engaging in commercial activities by carrying passengers on restricted routes across the state.

    Egbeyemi warned that erring riders will be arrested and charged to court and their power-bike impounded.

    The Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, is said to have directed that all those arrested should be charged to court and warned that the state will not spare anyone using motorcycles to perpetrate crime.

    In the same vein, the Chairman of the Motorcycle Riders and Owners Association of Lagos State (NAKOWA), Alhaji Sulaimon Raji Adesina said the association will partner with the Task Force by delegating some of its members to regularly be with the agency.

  • Why task force removes number-plates, by Lagos govt

    The Lagos State Government yesterday defended the action of its men in removing the number-plates of erring motorist instead of clamping or towing the vehicles.

    It also denied that officials of the Special Offences Task Force and Special Offences Tribunal (mobile court) were high-handed, describing the complainant against them on social media as hypocritical and manipulative.

    In a statement jointly issued by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem and the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the government said it was within traffic law enforcers’ duty to identify offenders, book and by them according to the peculiarities of their offences.

    It said the new method being adopted by the task force, particularly for illegal parking of vehicles or obstruction of traffic involves capturing the offence on video, removing the number-plates of the erring vehicles and putting a branded sticker on the windshield of the car. The sticker, the statement added, is to inform the erring motorists their offences and invite them for trail at the Special Offences Mobile Court which may sit at any proximate local government office or at the special task force office at Alausa in Ikeja.

    The task force, it said, derives its mandate under the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of 2012 and the Special Offences Court established by the Special Offences Court Law Cap S8 Laws of Lagos State 2015.

    “The technique that has been adopted by the task force is in line with international best practices which prefers issuance of tickets to erring offenders over clamp downs or towing of vehicles that do not only cost both the government and erring drivers money but also clogs public spaces where such vehicles would have been kept,” the statement said.

    It said when the offender comes for trial, he is usually presented with a video evidence before he is charged by the magistrate. A fine or a community service is imposed if the offender pleads guilty, the commissioner said, adding that he chooses to enter a defence and has no counsel, he will be entitled to the free services of a lawyer from the Office of the Public Defender (OPD).

    The essence of this exercise, the statement note, is not to engage in unwholesome revenue drive “as being alleged, but to check violations of the traffic laws. It said: “This is why community service is often preferred for the offenders so that they can become advocates of the laws which seek to bring sanity to Lagos State roads and instil a sense of responsibility in drivers and car owners, particularly the elites who think they are above the law.”

    The statement warned that it is illegal to park on the kerb or walkways or outside the premises where a motorist came to transact business in a manner that either obstructs traffic or constricts public space.

    The penalty, it said, is N20, 000 fine or a community service after a documentary evidence has been shown to the offender.

  • Task force arrests 40 at Oshodi

    Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences has arrested 40 miscreants and hoodlums at Oshodi.

    A statement by the agency’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Adebayo Taofiq, said the suspects comprised 39 men and one woman.

    He said the Commissioner of Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, has directed the task force chairman, Olayinka Egbeyemi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), to arraign the suspects before the Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Court at Ogba, Lagos.

    Egbeyemi said Owoseni has directed regular raiding of black spots in the state particularly at Oshodi.

    A suspect, who identified himself as Tajudeen Adeboye (mechanic) allegedly, told the task force that he was invited to Lagos by a friend, Jelili.

    According to the task force, “he said it was when he got to Oshodi that Jelili and his other gang members lured him into joining them to be picking pockets of innocent members of the public.

    “He said in a day he and his gang make at least N10,000 to N20,000 on the average, saying it depends on what they found inside any bag or purse they snatched or telephone.

    “He, however, said all telephone and other properties snatched like necklace, wrist watches, etc were sold at cheap prices to their customers who come to them every night”, he said.

  • Task Force, NSCDC meet in Bayelsa to end militancy

    Task Force, NSCDC meet in Bayelsa to end militancy

    •We’ll protect innocent citizens, says ODS chief

    A team of the new Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe (ODS), met with the officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at the weekend in renewed partnership to end militancy and pipeline vandalism in Niger Delta.

    The ODS Commander, Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, led the think-tank of the OPS to the headquarters of Bayelsa State NSCDC in Yenagoa, the state capital, where they met with the state Commandant, Desmond Agu, and his officers.

    The ODS team at the meeting, which took place in Agu’s office, comprised its land, air and sea component commanders, heads of operation and support services.

    Okojie said the meeting was at his instance to formally intimate NSCDC about the termination of Operation Pulo Shield (OPS) and the take-off of ODS.

    The ODS commander said though he was drafted from the Navy to command the ODS, the outfit remained a multi-agency operation involving the key security agencies in the country.

    He said ODS has the mandate to guarantee security in the Niger Delta to attract investments, job opportunities and development to the area.