Monday, 28 February 2011
Saturday, 26 February 2011
police boss need to settle down
while armed robbers have returned to lagos street with more than twenty armed robbery cases recorded in the statein febuary, the new commissoner of police in the state yakubu Alkali is still paying coutersy visits to other security agencies in the state. we hope that these visits will come to anb end sooon and the security shiefs in the state will get down to business of protecting lives and property in the state
aolso with the genberal election just around the corner , lagosians need to be assured that the police will match the violence that might erupt by thugs anbd pary loyalists.
Most lagasians interviewed said they will rather stay indoors on election day consideing the desperation of the politicians to seize power at all cousrs.
" there is bound to be violence consideing the desperation of our politicians, the PDP wants to take over lagos, and the ACN wants to take over Abuja , one can percieve the desperation but it is sad that they are not taking the needs of the common man into consideration, they want political power not to enrich the poor but to continue in power foir thier selfish reasons" said mohammed Bayeh, banker in lagos .
armed robbers have returnrd to lagos and in the last one month they ro=bed us, specifally on valentine night when i was sleeping with my husband , our house a t alade street was broken into , and three other houses , imcluding pressing press, the plice showed up, they stole more than two hundred thousand naira, handsets, jewwlry and other household goods the commissioner of police shpuild beef up security so that we can at leat live inb peace in in our neighourhood. since the incident, some of the printing presses have not started work"said Charity, a housewife at Alade street shomolu.
the spokes person for the command smauel jinadu said the police is not aware of the robbery but promised that the new CP is up to the task of protecting lives and property in the state.
aolso with the genberal election just around the corner , lagosians need to be assured that the police will match the violence that might erupt by thugs anbd pary loyalists.
Most lagasians interviewed said they will rather stay indoors on election day consideing the desperation of the politicians to seize power at all cousrs.
" there is bound to be violence consideing the desperation of our politicians, the PDP wants to take over lagos, and the ACN wants to take over Abuja , one can percieve the desperation but it is sad that they are not taking the needs of the common man into consideration, they want political power not to enrich the poor but to continue in power foir thier selfish reasons" said mohammed Bayeh, banker in lagos .
armed robbers have returnrd to lagos and in the last one month they ro=bed us, specifally on valentine night when i was sleeping with my husband , our house a t alade street was broken into , and three other houses , imcluding pressing press, the plice showed up, they stole more than two hundred thousand naira, handsets, jewwlry and other household goods the commissioner of police shpuild beef up security so that we can at leat live inb peace in in our neighourhood. since the incident, some of the printing presses have not started work"said Charity, a housewife at Alade street shomolu.
the spokes person for the command smauel jinadu said the police is not aware of the robbery but promised that the new CP is up to the task of protecting lives and property in the state.
we raped and butchered a prostitute
November 21, 2010 05:57PM |  print  email   |
three men who allegedly killed a commercial sex worke said they were lured by mystical power to commit the crime
Olajide Alaka, 18; Saheed Ajoh, 22; and Ayodele Onojobi, 21, were arrested in connection with the death of the lady, who worked at Raji Tonnettte Hotel and Suites, Ikotun, on October 24. According to the police, Messrs Alaka and Onajobi allegedly lured the deceased, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, to the said hotel after paying her N4000 for sex. Unknown to the deceased, the suspects had ulterior motives for inviting her to the hotel. The duo confessed that they were hired by one Mr Friday and one Mr Ajoh to kill the lady and remove her wrists. And so, after having sex with her, and while she was fast asleep, they pounced on her and slit her throat, and then went on to cut her wrists. They ran away after committing the acts but they were arrested on November 10 after police officers from the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) launched a manhunt for them.
How they did it
The suspects said that Mr Friday charmed them to do the job. Mr Alaka said that he was the one who slit the prostitute’s throat with a cutlass and also cut off her wrist. “Last month, Saheed, a.k.a Nokia, called me that he has a plumbing job for me so I went to see him at his house at Number 9, Olarenwaju Street at Ikotun,” he said. “He told me that he wants me to get the hand of a woman for him, I was shocked and said, ‘who told you that I can kill, that I cannot kill even a goat’. He said I should do it and he will pay me well but I refused. Later, he called me to his house again and I met Friday there. Friday said he was the one who need the hand for something. So I went and told my friend Ayo about it we went together to see Friday and Saheed at Saheed’s house. Friday brought a hot drink and asked us to drink it. After drinking it, we did not know our selves again because it seems Friday used the drink to charm us. Everything he said, we will do. He agreed to pay us N60,000, and later gave us N13,000. Later he made us to swear to an oath and Saheed helped him in his shrine to do that we will not reveal the secret to anybody and if we do, we will die one day. We went to Aso Rock at Ikotun. It is a free place where women come to look for men, so Friday pointed to a girl that, that is the one we should kill.”
Mr Onajobi narrated his role in the crime. “Jide brought the prostitute to the hotel and I paid her N4000,” he said. “We sat downstairs in the hotel and drank some beer but later the lady asked us to go upstairs. We went upstairs and around 12:00am, I had sex with her on the bed. Jide was laying on the floor in the room with us and when the girl was fast asleep, Jide brought out a sharp cutlass and I held the lady down while Jide cut her throat with the cutlass. He also cut off the girl’s hand and put them in the nylon bag. Around 3:30am, we ran away from the hotel and we went to deliver the hands to Saheed who was waiting for us. We asked for the balance of our money and he said Friday has not brought it.”
Mr Ajoh on his part, confessed that Friday contracted him to get the lady’s hand but he said he was not paid anything. He also said he recruited the other two suspects and after they brought the wrists, he gave them to Mr Friday, who is now at large.
Faking in the name of God
five pastors are inb the police net for allegedly impersonating military officers.
The pastors, identified as Macrran Ransome, Al-Hassan Emmanuel, Raymond Bakeh,Sunday Ofordu, and Robison Igbarumah, were arrested by officers from the Arakah military barracks, Apapa, on March 1.
The suspects said they joined the military chaplaincy through a non-profit organization called GO ARMY, a humanitarian organization which empowers local pastors to enhance their ministry and serve humanity.
Three of the suspects bear the rank of lieutenant colonel, one a major-general and another captain.
The Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said investigations revealed that the suspects are civilians who used the NGO to extort money from innocent citizens.
“These men were arrested for impersonation and unlawful possession of military kits. They were arrested by the military police, Nigerian Army, at Arakah Barracks, operating an illegal organisation called Go Army. They claimed to be army officers, wearing army kits, and their emblems look like that of the Nigerian Army, with fake identity cards,” Mr. Mba said.
The suspects alleged that Mr. Ransome is the brain behind the NGO. They claimed that they their love to preach the gospel made them to join the NGO whose 50 members paid a total of almost to N4 million to join.
Mr. Ransome, who is also referred to as the commander general and the chaplain lieutenant colonel, however said he started the NGO with the intention to propagate the gospel.
“I am the one who introduced the pastors to the NGO. This started in April, 2009. I was using the auditorium of my church called Apostolic Christian Chapel at Itire, as training centre for the pastors. The NGO is meant to enhance the pastors’ ministries so that they can serve humanity. We have close to 50 members and each person paid at less N2, 500 for the form. We collect membership fees which can be up to N70, 000.
Fake NGO
“I have forwarded the name of the NGO to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration but it has not been registered yet. I got the materials and kits from the market. I did not know that what I was doing is a crime,” said Mr. Ransome.
The illegal NGO was exposed when members suspected foul play and decided to approach the said Directorate for clarifications.
“I paid N2, 500 to obtain my form with the NGO. I also paid another N72, 000 to become a member. I did not know that this is a fake organization,” said Mr. Sunday.
Mr. Mba said: “It is only those in the military that can join the military chaplaincy. It is unlawful to be in possession of military items. They have in their possession identity cards bearing ranks similar to the military: colonel, and captain and major. This act is unlawful. They will be charged to court.”
cross dresser said he only wanted money
Ogunleye Idris, has been arrested by the police for parading himself as a woman.
Mr. Idris 19 allegedly dressed in a woman’s gown, a black waist belt, faked breasts by putting two sachet water, popularly known as “pure” water, in a brassiere. He also allegedly wore a black 14-inch wig and a gold-like earrings, pretending to be a female sex worker.
Luck ran out on him when one of his victims, an unidentified man who had invited him to a bar at Surulere, suspected his gender and raised an alarm. Other people in the bar held Mr. Idris hostage, stripped him of his clothes and alerted a police patrol van in the area who subsequently arrested him.
Adesanya Jinadu, the deputy spokesperson for the Lagos Police Command, confirmed the arrest.
“This young man, Ogunleye Idris, was arrested on January 15th, about 11.40pm where he has gone to a bar at Surulere to defraud an unidentified man,” he said.
“The man suspected that he was a man pretending to be a woman. Idris is in the habit of behaving like a woman and luring unsuspecting men. He has defrauding many men when luck finally ran out on him,” Mr. Jinadu said.
In need of money
Mr. Idris said he impersonated a woman because he was in dire need of money for his education.
“I went into this act just last month because I needed money. I have tried menial jobs but much was not coming from it. My desperation to get money for my JAMB and I wanted to buy a part time form to University of Lagos made me to impersonate. I am not a gay; people tell me that I look like a woman and I have a feminine voice, so I thought I could use what I have to get what I want. I got the female clothes, shoes and bags from the market at Isolo where I live. My intention is that when I get the money for my part time form and my JAMB, I will quit. This man was my third victim, and I have made N20,000 from this deal.
“I intended to stop and go into teaching when school resumes, because I wanted to go to the university to study Accountancy, because I am a very brilliant boy. I am the last of 10 children and my mother is dead. My father told me that he cannot sponsor my education and what my elder ones give me is not enough, so I was just doing this to help myself,” he said.
His operation method
“I just dial any number and when I hear a man’s voice, I will introduce myself as a woman to him and since I have a feminine voice, some of the men will call me back and arrange that we meet,” he said.
“I agree to meet them at night. There is an uncompleted building near my house and that is where I dress up. I put pure water on my chest and made them look like breast and used glue gum to paste the earrings on my ears. I put lips stick and make up like women do. But my first victim, I told him that I was a man after we got into the room. I explained everything to him that I needed money for my school, he took pity on me and gave me money. I have made N20,000 before I was caught. I feel bad about my ways; young men should not emulate me, and they should work hard and face their studies,” he said.
Mr. Jinadu said the suspect will be prosecuted.
“The suspect will be charged to court for offences ranging from obtaining money under false pretence, fraudulent conduct, and engaging in behaviour likely to cause breach of peace in the community,” he said.
Pastor killed for raping member's daughter
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A 56-year-old man, John Oromoro, is in police custody for allegedly killing his pastor, Ben Ojinaka.
The incident happened on Sunday, September 19th at Jakande Estate, Ajangbadi. Mr Oromoro said the pastor of Jesus Power Ministry, Benjamin Ojinaka, 45, allegedly raped his 15-year-old daughter in July this year. He said he went to confront the pastor on the allegation that it was his daughter that lured him to have sex with him when a fight ensued between them that led to the pastor’s death. “I be tanker driver,” he said. “The thing wey happen na since more than one month ago. My daughter, wen be the last born of my fourteen children get marine spirit. Pastor Ben come say him fit deliver her. Na me and pastor na we form the church together, so na so pastor come dey carry her go for deliverance.”
Scandal and death
Mr Oromoro stated that his daughter was eventually delivered of the ‘spirits’ but he noticed she kept going back to church after the deliverance. “Later my daughter come refused to go church; after I ask her many times, she come confessed say pastor Ben rape her for inside my house one day during deliverance,” he said. “I come vex, go meet pastor. Him come tell me make I forgive am say na devil work, I vex but I come forgive pastor.” He said he then heard rumours of the pastor claiming that his daughter lured him to have sex with him. “When I hear say pastor dey tell people say na my daughter rape am, I come go him house on Sunday go ask am say why him dey spoil my daughter name,” he said. “Him tell me to get out from him house , I come vex, we come dey fight. Na so people for the compound come separate us. As pastor dey run go tell police, na so him fall down.”
According to the wife of the deceased, Mr Ojinaka slumped after the fight and was rushed to a private hospital. “As him fall down, we pour water for him body but him no wake up,” said Mrs Ojinaka. “We carry am go private hospital and them refer us to General hospital for Badagry. When the doctor seem am for general hospital, them say pastor don die make we carry am go mortuary.” His corpse was subsequently taken to the mortuary at the General hospital, Isolo, Lagos.
Police officers from the Ilemba Hausa Police Station arrested Mr Oromoro and the case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department at Panti, Yaba. Homicide detectives at Panti said investigation into the case has began. Frank Mba, the Lagos Police Command Spokesperson, advised resident to shun violence and embrace peace.fustration, anger and murder in lagos
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It was hard for Julius Sossu, 45, to believe that he now faced prosecution and could possibly pay with his own life, for stabbing his landlord to death.
“I no know the thing I dey do at that moment. I no know why I dey carry knife.” Apparently, the full weight of his action had dawned on him as he was paraded by the police over the death of his landlord, whom he had stabbed for giving him a deadline of September ending to quit his accommodation at Morogbo area of Ikorodu.
Also, on September 21, a 56-year-old man, John Oromoro, was arrested by officers from the Ilemba Hausa Police Station for allegedly killing his pastor, Benjamin Ojinaka. Mr Oromoro said his pastor raped his 15-year-old daughter. The incident happened at Jakande estate at Ajangbadi area of the state after a fight between Mr Oromoro and the pastor.
A more gruesome case is that of Josephine Chukwu Okafor, a 40-year-old mother of two who died when her assailant, Marcel Manukwem, allegedly attacked her with a sharp instrument at their Akinwumi Street residence in Itire, on August 22.
According to some other residents, Mr Manukwem threw Mrs Okafor down their three-storey apartment after he had sexually assaulted her. Mrs Okafor was a close friend of Mr Manukwem’s mother and had once lived with them with her two children - a boy and a girl. But on that fateful day, Mrs Okafor was said to have visited the family about 4pm, but met only Mr Manukwem at home.
Mr Manukwen, after the incident, claimed he suffered temporary insanity. He said something beyond his power came over him and made him kill Mrs Okafor. “I was at home when she knocked and I do not know what later happened. All I know is that we have depression problem in my family and several times I have visited a psychiatric for help. People said I killed her but I don’t know what came over me. I was running naked on the street that day and when the police arrested me, they said I killed my mother’s best friend,” he said.
More than five persons have been paraded by the Lagos State police command for alleged homicide from July till date. The growing cases of domestic violence in the city of Lagos have been blamed on the breakdown of social values and the effect of poverty in the country.
Frustration as a factor
According to Charles Umeh, a psychologist at the University of Lagos, the resort to violence in homes or among neighbours can be attributed to a number of factors, which range from increasing financial difficulty to stress and sexual incompatibility in the case of husband and wife.
“In most cases of domestic violence, sexual incompatibility could be responsible, although other reasons are usually adduced when other people get involved in such matters,” he said.
With regard to neighbours who resort to violence to settle scores, Dr Umeh said, “You find that such people have personality incompatibility but are forced by circumstance to live together. Such frustrating situations make them take to violence as a way to ventilate what they feel inside. And before you know it, they have done what they would later regret and attribute to external locus of control.”
This, Mr Umeh said, is common among Africans who see every reason to blame their actions on the devil or other external causes.
“If it is due to insanity, there have to be elements that are associated with that, but what you find is that people that plead insanity to such crimes are normal, but are only driven by factors such as frustration, lack of confidence or factors that render them insecure.”
Ignorance contributes
Benjamin Odeh, a lawyer with Project Alert, a non-profit outfit in Lagos which seeks justice for abused women and girls, said violence of any kind should be condemned.
“What usually causes violence, be it domestic, involving people in the same household or on a larger scale, is condemnable. This is a criminal issue which to a large extent can be traced to social and economic factors. The Domestic Violence law of 2007, Section 1, says nobody shall commit any act of violence and this law protects everybody, be it men, women, girls, boys, and domestic staff,” said Mr Odeh.
He added that the reason for the increase in violence is largely because people do not know their rights, and so cases that could pose potential danger or likely to snowball into violence are often ignored until they happen.
“Violence has assumed this level because people do not know their rights. They do not know where to go for help. People should be educated on their rights; campaign and enlightenment of the public on their right will go a long way in helping abused people to seek redress when their rights are violated,” said Mr Odeh.
Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, while parading one of the suspects, said the police is worried about the increasing cases of violence in the state. He wondered why issues that could be resolved through dialogue would degenerate into violence.
“People should shun violence and embrace peace,” he said.
army detain journalist
February 18, 2011 09:01AM | print email |
Waking up fresh from my Valentine’s night, I learnt that the Mammy Market at the Ikeja Army Cantonment had been gutted by fire with about 100 shops destroyed. I decided to go and do a story about how the traders would cope after the fire incident. That was February 15, 2011; a day I will never forget.
I strolled into the cantonment at about 11.05am and was directed to the scene of the fire. I saw some of the traders, mostly women, trying to salvage what was left of their goods. One was already telling me how she had lost her grocery store business to the fire; 13 crates of soft drinks, cash and other valuables like generator set and coolers. “What will you do now, madam?” I ask. “I will start selling pure (sachet) water by the road side until I can raise money to build my shop, or get another shop elsewhere. Please tell the army to come to our aid o. They may want to build the shops and give it out to the highest bidders or family members,” she said, and quickly posed by her wrecked shop for a photograph. “Aunty, please snap me let them see me that I am one of the traders that our shop got burnt,” I obliged her.
Not too far from this woman was another food vendor, popularly called Iya Calabar. She was gazing woefully at the ruins that was now her shop. I went to her, and there and then two men walked up to me and told me to follow them to their office. “Who are you?,” I asked the two officers in mufti. They said: “We are army, just follow us and explain yourself in our office.” When we got to their office, a military post, I saw officers torturing two young boys they said had stolen handsets at the market. “Madam who are you? Why are you snapping [photographs] and talking to people in the market?,” one of them asked. I introduced myself and showed them my identity card.
One of the soldiers called a number on his mobile phone, and another officer who identified himself as the commander of the cantonment spoke with me on the phone, saying I would be made to wait for him. He added that I was not authorised to take pictures or write any story about the army and that I would be held until he came back from an event. The other soldiers seized my camera, put me in a vehicle, and we drove to the military police station in the cantonment. The soldiers in the vehicle with me collected my phones.
The officer in charge of the station ordered that I should write a statement, but I refused. They later took me to the commander‘s office where I was made to wait indefinitely. The commander came back at about 3.45pm and I was ushered into his office. “Who are you? I am Brig. Gen. S.N. Muazu,” he said. I learnt later he is the commander of the 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment. I introduced myself and he went on to tell me how unethical and unprofessional I had been. “I am ordering you to apologise for trespassing and for not going through the normal process to get your story,” he said. “This is a restricted area and you came in without permission, so you must apologise or you will be prosecuted.”
I said: “Telling me to apologise is like saying I should deny that I am a journalist. I can’t do that sir, I cannot apologise sir.” “Then we will prosecute you,” he said angrily. I reluctantly said “I am sorry.” “You must put it in writing,” he replied. “You should be grateful that it is not the police. They would have planted one exhibit on you and charged you for one offence. Do you think you have a good lawyer in your office that will bail you? You will just rot in the cell; your colleagues will write and write but nothing will come out of it.” “If you want me to apologise in writing then I am doing it under duress,” I said. “I don’t care,” he responded. “It’s either you write it or you will be sorry. By the time we handle you, you will write two fullscap sheets without knowing it. If you like yourself just write and sign.”
I ended up writing an apology letter to him. “You are missing the point you must write that you were not authorised to do the story,” he insisted. I wrote the letter more than five times before he finally accepted it. When I finished writing the letter, he ordered that I should be released, but the soldiers made sure that they deleted all the pictures and recording I had on the fire incident. They handed me my phones and camera. “Sign here and book out your property,” one of them said. But when I looked at my Blackberry phone, my scroll key was missing. I had more than 20 missed calls. I walked out of the station at about 4.30pm.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
on a normal day, Alade street at shomolu, is known for its usual noise as a result of the printing press in virtually all the houses on the street. The residents however have cause for concern as the incessant robbery cases in the area have put them and their businesses in danger . the residents therefore call on the police to beef up security in their area. This follows spates of robbery on February 14th where residents were robbed and beaten by a twelve man dared devil armed robbery gang.
the residents were about 2.00am sleeping when the armed men who came in a white car stormed the street robbing and beating up everybody they could lay their hands on..
residnts who shared rhier ordeaklk in the habnd of the robbers said some of tge gang were handing the road while other members allegedly moved from house to house. Four houses were targeted by the armed robbers, and at the end of the incident, the robbers have successfully stolen over N200,000, laptops, handsets, jewwelry and other household materials
“ the houses they attacked are number 7,9,11, and 12 “ said a resident who identified himself as Salami akin an operator in a printing press on number 11
They came into our printing press we were working late night that was about 2.00am and they ordered us to bring out all our money and handsets , they started beating us we were like seven men working but the gang of armed robbers were caring sophisticated guns, they broke our gate and the doors and they collect three phones, one laptop and other valuables including money, they beat us very well when they saw that we did not have enough money”Mr. Akin said
Other residents in the apartment were also robbed of cash and valuables.
A 65 years old woman who preferred that her not should not be in print said the armed robbers threatened to kill her grandson if she did not bring out the money she was hiding.
“ they stormed my room, I was sleeping with my children and they woke us up, one of them said “mama bring out the money” and I said I do not have money they said “ when we kill you grandson you will bring out money” that was how my daughter gave them money N15,000, and they collected her phones, so it was a traumatic experience, they also robbed three of our neighbours ;in the other houses they attacked on the street, they collect N20,000, 10,000, phones and laptop, they used the butt of their gun to hit one of the men who told them he did not have any money” she said.
A trader in house 9 Cynthia Odoh said “the armed robbers broke into our apartment and they beat my husband . they collected our jewelleries and money, three of them were in the room with us raiding the room and the others were outside, they were not masked at all, in house 12, they collected N160,000, and handsets, from a printing press, the printing press has not open their shop since then , it was after the robbers have gone that the police came they just patrolled for a while and they left.”Mrs Odo said
the residents were about 2.00am sleeping when the armed men who came in a white car stormed the street robbing and beating up everybody they could lay their hands on..
residnts who shared rhier ordeaklk in the habnd of the robbers said some of tge gang were handing the road while other members allegedly moved from house to house. Four houses were targeted by the armed robbers, and at the end of the incident, the robbers have successfully stolen over N200,000, laptops, handsets, jewwelry and other household materials
“ the houses they attacked are number 7,9,11, and 12 “ said a resident who identified himself as Salami akin an operator in a printing press on number 11
They came into our printing press we were working late night that was about 2.00am and they ordered us to bring out all our money and handsets , they started beating us we were like seven men working but the gang of armed robbers were caring sophisticated guns, they broke our gate and the doors and they collect three phones, one laptop and other valuables including money, they beat us very well when they saw that we did not have enough money”Mr. Akin said
Other residents in the apartment were also robbed of cash and valuables.
A 65 years old woman who preferred that her not should not be in print said the armed robbers threatened to kill her grandson if she did not bring out the money she was hiding.
“ they stormed my room, I was sleeping with my children and they woke us up, one of them said “mama bring out the money” and I said I do not have money they said “ when we kill you grandson you will bring out money” that was how my daughter gave them money N15,000, and they collected her phones, so it was a traumatic experience, they also robbed three of our neighbours ;in the other houses they attacked on the street, they collect N20,000, 10,000, phones and laptop, they used the butt of their gun to hit one of the men who told them he did not have any money” she said.
A trader in house 9 Cynthia Odoh said “the armed robbers broke into our apartment and they beat my husband . they collected our jewelleries and money, three of them were in the room with us raiding the room and the others were outside, they were not masked at all, in house 12, they collected N160,000, and handsets, from a printing press, the printing press has not open their shop since then , it was after the robbers have gone that the police came they just patrolled for a while and they left.”Mrs Odo said
police brutality
A 49 years old man Afuwape Sunday has called on the commissioner of police in Lagos state to take investigate officers of the Shagamu Road police station at Ikorodu.
Mr. Sunday said this was necessary following the abuse of power and constant intimidation and harassment residents of Ikorodu face in the hands of the officers.
Specifically he mentioned his ordeal in the hands of two officers of the station simply identified as inspector Ojo and officer Makia who he alleged brutalized him and illegally detained him in their station on December 1st.
“on December 1st 2010 ,my younger brother’s tenant one Ahmed who my brother evicted from a one room apartment told us to go with him to his brother’s place where he will be keeping his belongings because he wanted us to believe that he was truly leaving the house for good. We followed him and he led my brother and I to the Shagamu Road police station at Ikorodu, we followed him because we thought his brother is a police officer.
But we were surprised when we entered the station we saw two officers , one inspector ojo and officer Makia and they started scolding us. I identified myself as an assistant senior Man “O”war (ASM) Commander serving with the Ikorodu west local council development area and my brother an ICPC officer but the two officers started maltreating us, they slapped me collected my walkie talkie and dragged me to their counter, where they used a big stick to head my head which caused bleeding and swelling., they also destroyed my wrist watch.” Mr. Sunday said
Mr. Sunday added that he was locked up in the cell “I was locked up in the cell on the order of inspector ojo from 10.00am to 2.30pm with all sorts of beating, when they later brought me out , the officers forced me to write a statement but I refused and this made them to gave me another series of beating”.
Mr. Sunday petitioned the office of the Public Defender (OPD) in the state and on December 15th, a hearing on the issue was set up at Ikorodu office of the OPD and the two indicted officers, inspector Ojo and officer Makia were invited but they did not show up.
A lawyer attached to the case who requested anonymity said “we wrote a letter to the police to release the officers for the hearing but they did not show up claiming that they were not released to come for the hearing. We later approached the commissioner of police, and he has been very helpful and he minutes a letter to the police Anti-vice unit to investigate the matter.”
When contacted, the spokes person for the Lagos state police command said
“If you look at the letter from the OPD, you will find out that it is full of a lot of aberration and inconsistencies. The letter was defective in the sense that it was addressed to the Divisional police officer and the commissioner was copied but this is not the proper channel because the DPO cannot authorize officers to attend a hearing.
Also the police have its internal mechanism of investigating officers and we are a federal government agency and the OPD is a state agency and we are not in conflict with each other. If the lawyer said the Commissioner of Police has ordered that the Anti-vice unit which is also the X quad unit is investigating the case then it will amount to unnecessary duplication of efforts so if the lawyer said the Commissioner of Police has ordered the investigation, then there should be no problem”Mr. Mba said.
When contacted if the OPD will go on with its hearing on the case, the lawyer refused to make comments on further hearing on the case
“This whole issue has gotten to my superiors in the office and I cannot comment on it again without their authorization, so please I cannot say anything on this
security is for all
private security companies in the country will soon take over the security of some states in the country if v the federal government divests the policing of certain cities in other to allow for effective policing of the country.
The National Security Adviser; General Owoye Andrew Azazi at a one day security summit organized by J.K. Randle Professional Services in collaboration with the office of the national security adviser.
The security submit held at the Eko Hotel and Suites at Victoria Island in Lagos has the theme “ Security and Risk Management on land , in the Air and at Sea.”
The submit is aimed at addressing the concerns and challenges regarding security of lives and property and investment. Mr. Azazi said some cities can employ private security companies to collaborate effectively with the police in checking crime waves in the cities
“Private security should be organized in big cities like we have in Durban South Africa, we can encourage that while we work on our police to effectively collaborate with the police and also help in checking crimes”
Mr. Azazi also emphasized the need for government to address the fundamentals of governance stating that poverty, unemployment and corruption are indices that impede security of lives and property in the country.
“Security is the relative absent of fear and national security is the defense of the nation and for us to have effective security to me, is for us to begin to look at the quality of lives in an environment which to me is now more important than the invasion from other countries. Whatever it takes to make the human lives better and progressive is security. National security involves planning and the vision 2010 is a blue print that if adopted would help us because it contains the ingredients of progress and should be implemented.”
Mr. Azazi calls for a collective efforts toward security for the nation emphasizing that security challenges have ethical, traditional, religious colourations and they are taking dangerous trends like the Boko Haram sect and the new trend in bombing.
“For security to be addressed issues like poverty, corruption, unemployment and other elements of governance should be looked at.”he added
On the issue of the bombings in jos and at the Mogadishu barracks in Abuja, Mr. Azazi said the police is on the trail of the perpetrators. He also added that his office will take up the issue of national database creation seriously.
“concerning the October 1st bombing in Abuja, we have arrested some suspects and they are being prosecuted we are on the trail of those behind the jos and the Mogadishu barrack bombings; there is need for a national database , and our sim card registration, the voters’ registration and other registrations in the country can be integrated into a national database ; from my office we will begin to do something about it “ Mr. Azazi said
The event which was well attended by participants from both the public and private sectors has speakers like Joseph Olusegun Ajanalekoko, the president of the Association of professional bodies, chief Mrs. Onikepo Oshodi president of the cosmopolitan club, Fola Arthur Worrey the Managing Director of the Lagos state security Trust Fund among others.
Mr. Worrey stated that the police should be properly funded like INEC and other security agencies are subsumed under the police. He also said political responsibility for security of lives and property lies with the president and incentives and blame for security failure should be borne by the president.
“we must identify who the constitution says is responsible for the security of lives and property and we must use the ballot boxes to check them; there is need for effective policing all the time and we must move away from reactional policing to everyday effective everyday policing of life and property.
Since most states now bear the burden of security in their states, more allocation for the police in the Federal government budget and the constitution should be amended so that the state and local government have more money to invest in security so to further localize the process”Mr. Worrey said.
immunize your child
Lagosians have been called upon to bring out their children for the first round of the 2011 National Immunization Plus Days. (NIPDs)
The commissioner of health in the state Jide Idris in a press briefing on Wednesday said the first round of the exercise is schedule for January 27th-Janurry 30th.
Dr. Idris said health workers will be going from house to house to give polio immunization to children between 0-59 months in the state and advised parents and guardians to ensure that their children and wards are immunized.
“The importance of immunization within the healthcare delivery system cannot be overemphasized. Immunization remains the most cost effective strategy in disease prevention and health promoting services
My appeal goes to every parent and caregiver to ensure that all their children receive polio vaccines when our health workers come knocking between January 27th-30 2011. This is the first round of the 2011 National Immunization Plus Days(NIPDs) the second round is in February. The immunization is easy; it takes only two drops of the vaccine, the service is free, the vaccine is safe and effective”Dr. Idris said.
Dr. Idris added that the immunization will be administered to children 0-5 years irrespective of their previous immunization status
“The campaign would involve house to house, transit and fixed post teams. Children at homes, markets churches, mosques, car parks and social event venues would be specifically targeted. The house to house and transit component s of these teams will administer only OPV to children aged 0-59months irrespective of their immunization status”Dr. Idris said
“Lagos is free of Polio”.
Efforts by the government to eradicate polio in the country seems to be yielding results as statistics released by the ministry of health in the state shows that the state did not record any outbreak of polio in 2010. Dr. Idris attributed the success to government commitment and determination to “exit” the country from the “PAIN CLUB” which is a name for countries considered to be the major exporters of Polio to the world.
“Various state governments are exercising leadership in this campaign galvanising action from all stakeholders especially our traditional and religious leaders. All of these efforts at the national, state and local government levels have led to the lowest outbreak of polio in the country in the last five years.
Whereas 388 cases of Wild Polio various (WPV) spread across 27 states were recorded in Nigeria in 2009, comparative figures for 2011 was 18 WPV cases spread across only 7 states. It is great significance that Lagos state recorded its last outbreak in 2009 meaning that there has been no case recorded since then to date i.e. in 2010”Dr.Idris said
Korir Charlies the World Health Organization (WHO) coordinator in the state said there is active tracking of polio cases is in place in the state to ensure that persons with paralysis which can result to polio are promptly isolated and treated.
“we can confidently say that Lagos state did not record any case of polio outbreak in 2010 because there is an active surveillance in the state, where people are on ground in the wards and other areas looking for children under the age of 15 who come down with paralysis since any child who comes down with polio is expected to come down with paralysis
The whole year 2010 we have a total of 262 children across Lagos who came down with paralysis for reasons other than polio. In such cases, all those cases are collected and samples are taken to the laboratory and because of this, polio cases can easily be isolated .So we can confidently say that the progress that is being made is true “Mr. Charlies said.
Immunization Plus days campaigns has been carried out since 2006 as one of the strategies for improving immunization activities. National Immunization Plus days (NIPDs) are special days set aside to immunize children 0-59months with two drops of potent Oral Polio Virus irrespective of their previous immunization status. Despite government recorded successes, cultural and religious barriers have been said to have impeded people from bringing out their children to be immunized.
bank syndicate steals customers N75million
By Patience Ogbo
Seven staff of bank PHB are in the police custody for allegedly defrauding the bank of N75million.
The suspects include Idowu Makunjuola, Akinwale Olugbemi an administrative manager, Ajunwa Solomion, Peter Tarie, Isacc Ukpe , Kehinde Aiyebodofor and Gabriel Onigboke.
Also arrested in connection with the fraud are Abiola Ologodade, Bode Olofin and Ajayi Abayomi suspected to be the brain behind the fraud.
The suspects were arrested by officers of the State Criminal investigation department Panti Yaba on January 28th following complaint by the bank .
Police spokes person Samuel Jinadu said the suspects were able to hack into the accounts of the customers with a device called Key logger.
According to the police, a keg logger popularly known as an extractor is used by fraudsters to access the passwords of customers and other bank transactions illegally and at their convenience, they can withdraw huge sum from such accounts.
“the kingpin of this syndicate is Ajayi Abayomi an ex staff of the new generation bank, from our investigations, they specialise in hacking into the account of the bank with the use of a device called keg logger,
Ajayi has an insider in the bank who he gives the key logger to, and he also recruited some beneficiaries who opened accounts with the bank, when the insider studies the modus operandi of the bank and when no one is noticing, the insider will insert the keg logger into the desktops of the staff and there extract information from the desktops, they successful withdrew N75million the management of the bank noticed that a huge sum was siphoned and they reported to the police.”Mr. Jinadu a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) said
Mr. Abayomi however denied the allegation, “I don’t know anything about this crime, the police is trying to rope me in ; I got the key logger through a parcel for some people in the bank, so I don’t know anything about the money “He said.
Mr. Olugbemi the administrative manager of the bank also said he is innocent.
“I am the admin manager at the Surulere branch of the bank, that day, 21st of January, one Isaac, who works with our maintenance department came to me with a device, he asked me to charge it for him, on my desktop, I went to see our manger and before I came back, I called Isaac to come and collect the device that I was going to the local government council,
shortly after, our corporate auditor called me and asked me about the device I told him that I was charging it so they said I should follow them to Panti that I will explain myself there, it was when we got to Panti that I saw the other suspects; there is one man called Alake, who allegedly masterminded this fraud, he can explain better. But as for me, they just asked me to charge the device I never knew it was used for fraud” said Mr. Olugbemi.
Mr. Ukpe, a maintenance officer with the head office of the bank said the fraud was well planned.
“it was Abayomi that came to me around 15th of December and discussed the keg logger with me , he told me to contact somebody working in the bank and I contacted Akin, it was Abayomi and I that went to Akin to give him the device at their Bode Thomas branch at Surulere, so the fraud was well planned, Abayomi told him to insert the device and he should leave everything to him; we were to get certain percentage if the deal succeeded but now I feel bad about my role in the fraud”Mr. Ukpe said.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Ethnic-Tension Between Yoruba & Hausa/Fulani In Lagos Metropolis After Violence Reports Say, Written By Ben Ezeamalu & Patience Ogbo
Ethnic-Tension Between Yoruba & Hausa/Fulani In Lagos Metropolis After Violence Reports Say Written By
Ben Ezeamalu & Patience Ogbo
Relative peace appears to have returned to the Marine Beach area of Apapa, Lagos, after Wednesday’s ethnic lash between some Hausa and Yoruba youth.
About three police vans belonging to the Rapid Response Squad, Lagos Police Command, were parked, Thursday, under the bridge linking Ijora to Marine Beach, the site of the clash; while armed police officers patrolled the area.
A police officer in one of the patrol vans declined to make any comment, saying the area commander was the only one to talk about the incident.
“We are here to apprehend any trouble maker and make sure nothing happens again,” said the police officer.
Pieces of broken bottles and smashed vehicle windshields littered the ground; the reminder of the fight which left at least three people, including a call centre operator, popularly known as Alfa, dead; and several others injured.
According to a source who did not want to be named, the police arrived yesterday after the clash and had been patrolling the area since then.
Ethnic tension
The source said that the fight started after a collision between two commercial motorcyclists, each belonging to the different ethnic groups.
“The Yoruba rider beat up the Hausa one, who went and mobilised his people. They came back with broken bottles, machetes, and daggers,” said the source.
The ensuing fight immediately degenerated into an ethnic one, with the youth who were present identifying with their tribe and joining in the fight.
Other reports traced the origin of the fight to an argument between two men at an Indian hemp spot in the area.
A resident of Ijora Oloye, who identified himself as Kazeem, said the peace “foisted” in the area by the presence of police officers will not last.
“Do you think the Yorubas will just fold their hands? Now everything looks normal, but wait until the police leaves, you will see they will revenge,” said Mr. Kazeem.
One of many clashes
It was gathered that the incident was the third clash in recent times between the youth of the two ethnic groups in the area, which has a high population of Hausa youth working in the various oil depots.
Musa Ibrahim, a trader under the bridge at Ijora, said he lost close to a million naira during the fracas.
“I have been doing business with these Yoruba people and I have never fought with any one of them, even when Hausa people want to attack Yoruba people, I used to stop them; but look at what they have done to me. I am now left with nothing,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
Touts are to blame
Traders in the area blamed the clash on the touts who live and work under the bridge.
“There are nothing like Hausa and Yoruba people fighting. The fight was between touts who just want to cause trouble in the area. Thank God the police came on time, the clash would have been worst; even school children were rescued by the police, because some people wanted to kill them,” said a trader who identified himself as Mr. Eze.
“Government must send all these touts and hoodlums away from Ijora. If not, maybe the next time the situation will be terrible,” he said.
Though business is gradually returning to normal in the area, the petrol tanker drivers have refused to load fuel from the two depots close to the troubled spot. They said they will not return to work until the government brings the perpetrators of the clash to book.
“Several of our tankers were destroyed, and our men were injured. What is our business with the touts? We do not know anything, and look at the way they destroyed our tankers,” said Taofeek Korodo, the Lagos Zonal Financial Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers.
“We are peace-loving and will not want trouble. We have only taken measure to forestall a repeat of what happened, because we do not want our drivers to be killed and our tankers destroyed. So, we have asked our drivers from the two depots close to the clash to suspend the lifting of products for now until we are through with our investigations,” Mr. Korodo said.
Link: http://234next. com/csp/cms/ sites/Next/ News/Metro/ 5588569-147/ story.csp
Ben Ezeamalu & Patience OgboRelative peace appears to have returned to the Marine Beach area of Apapa, Lagos, after Wednesday’s ethnic lash between some Hausa and Yoruba youth.
About three police vans belonging to the Rapid Response Squad, Lagos Police Command, were parked, Thursday, under the bridge linking Ijora to Marine Beach, the site of the clash; while armed police officers patrolled the area.
A police officer in one of the patrol vans declined to make any comment, saying the area commander was the only one to talk about the incident.
“We are here to apprehend any trouble maker and make sure nothing happens again,” said the police officer.
Pieces of broken bottles and smashed vehicle windshields littered the ground; the reminder of the fight which left at least three people, including a call centre operator, popularly known as Alfa, dead; and several others injured.
According to a source who did not want to be named, the police arrived yesterday after the clash and had been patrolling the area since then.
Ethnic tension
The source said that the fight started after a collision between two commercial motorcyclists, each belonging to the different ethnic groups.
“The Yoruba rider beat up the Hausa one, who went and mobilised his people. They came back with broken bottles, machetes, and daggers,” said the source.
The ensuing fight immediately degenerated into an ethnic one, with the youth who were present identifying with their tribe and joining in the fight.
Other reports traced the origin of the fight to an argument between two men at an Indian hemp spot in the area.
A resident of Ijora Oloye, who identified himself as Kazeem, said the peace “foisted” in the area by the presence of police officers will not last.
“Do you think the Yorubas will just fold their hands? Now everything looks normal, but wait until the police leaves, you will see they will revenge,” said Mr. Kazeem.
One of many clashes
It was gathered that the incident was the third clash in recent times between the youth of the two ethnic groups in the area, which has a high population of Hausa youth working in the various oil depots.
Musa Ibrahim, a trader under the bridge at Ijora, said he lost close to a million naira during the fracas.
“I have been doing business with these Yoruba people and I have never fought with any one of them, even when Hausa people want to attack Yoruba people, I used to stop them; but look at what they have done to me. I am now left with nothing,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
Touts are to blame
Traders in the area blamed the clash on the touts who live and work under the bridge.
“There are nothing like Hausa and Yoruba people fighting. The fight was between touts who just want to cause trouble in the area. Thank God the police came on time, the clash would have been worst; even school children were rescued by the police, because some people wanted to kill them,” said a trader who identified himself as Mr. Eze.
“Government must send all these touts and hoodlums away from Ijora. If not, maybe the next time the situation will be terrible,” he said.
Though business is gradually returning to normal in the area, the petrol tanker drivers have refused to load fuel from the two depots close to the troubled spot. They said they will not return to work until the government brings the perpetrators of the clash to book.
“Several of our tankers were destroyed, and our men were injured. What is our business with the touts? We do not know anything, and look at the way they destroyed our tankers,” said Taofeek Korodo, the Lagos Zonal Financial Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers.
“We are peace-loving and will not want trouble. We have only taken measure to forestall a repeat of what happened, because we do not want our drivers to be killed and our tankers destroyed. So, we have asked our drivers from the two depots close to the clash to suspend the lifting of products for now until we are through with our investigations,” Mr. Korodo said.
Link: http://234next. com/csp/cms/ sites/Next/ News/Metro/ 5588569-147/ story.csp
Online scams create "Yahoo! millionaires"
In Lagos, where scamming is an art, the quickest path to wealth for the cyber-generation runs through a computer screen.
(FORTUNE Magazine) - Akin is, like many things in cyberspace, an alias. In real life he's 14. He wears Adidas sneakers, a Rolex Submariner watch, and a kilo of gold around his neck.
Akin, who lives in Lagos, is one of a new generation of entrepreneurs that has emerged in this city of 15 million, Nigeria's largest. His mother makes $30 a month as a cleaner, his father about the same hustling at bus stations. But Akin has made it big working long days at Internet cafes and is now the main provider for his family and legions of relatives.
Call him a "Yahoo! millionaire."
Akin buys things online - laptops, BlackBerries, cameras, flat-screen TVs - using stolen credit cards and aliases. He has the loot shipped via FedEx or DHL to safe houses in Europe, where it is received by friends, then shipped on to Lagos to be sold on the black market. (He figures Americans are too smart to sell a camera on eBay to a buyer with an address in Nigeria.)
Akin's main office is an Internet cafe in the Ikeja section of Lagos. He spends up to ten hours a day there, seven days a week, huddled over one of 50 computers, working his scams.
And he's not alone: The cafe is crowded most of the time with other teenagers, like Akin, working for a "chairman" who buys the computer time and hires them to extract e-mail addresses and credit card information from the thin air of cyberspace. Akin's chairman, who is computer illiterate, gets a 60 percent cut and reserves another 20 percent to pay off law enforcement officials who come around or teachers who complain when the boys cut school. That still puts plenty of cash in Akin's pocket.
A sign at the door of the cafe reads, WE DO NOT TOLERATE SCAMS IN THIS PLACE. DO NOT USE E-MAIL EXTRACTORS OR SEND MULTIPLE MAILS OR HACK CREDIT CARDS. YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER TO THE POLICE. NO 419 ACTIVITY IN THIS CAFE. The sign is a joke; 419 activity, which refers to the section of the Nigerian law dealing with obtaining things by trickery, is a national pastime. There are no coherent laws relating to e-scams, the police are mostly computer illiterate, and penalties for financial crimes are light.
"What do you want me to do?" Akin asks in pidgin English, explaining why he turned to a life of Internet crime. "It is my God-given talent. Our politicians, they do their own; me, I'm doing my own. I feed my family - my sister, my mother, my popsie. Man must survive."
The scams perpetrated by Akin and his comrades are many and varied: moneygram interceptions, Western Union hijackings, check laundering, identity theft, and outright begging, with tall tales of dying relatives and large sums of money in search of safe haven. One popular online fraud often practiced by women (or boys pretending to be women) involves separating lonely men from their money.
Attempts to speak to government officials about Internet crime were futile. They all claimed ignorance of such scams; some laughed it off as Western propaganda.
But last November the Economic Fraud and Financial Crimes Commission won a high-profile case that had dragged on for years against Emmanuel Nwude, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years for bilking a Brazilian bank out of $242 million using an Internet scam involving phony bank drafts. The commission is also pursuing a case against 419 kingpin Fred Ajudua, a lawyer and businessman accused of using the Internet to steal $1 million from a victim in Germany.
Some officials, who asked not be identified, said young people are drawn to Internet crime as a way of getting back at a society that has no plans for them. Others see it as a form of reparation for the sins of the West.
Or as Akin puts it, "White people are too gullible. They are rich, and whatever I gyp them out of is small change to them."
Editor's note: The term "Yahoo Millionaire" is frequently used by scammers in Nigeria. They are not affiliated in any way with Yahoo! the company.
Akin, who lives in Lagos, is one of a new generation of entrepreneurs that has emerged in this city of 15 million, Nigeria's largest. His mother makes $30 a month as a cleaner, his father about the same hustling at bus stations. But Akin has made it big working long days at Internet cafes and is now the main provider for his family and legions of relatives.
Akin buys things online - laptops, BlackBerries, cameras, flat-screen TVs - using stolen credit cards and aliases. He has the loot shipped via FedEx or DHL to safe houses in Europe, where it is received by friends, then shipped on to Lagos to be sold on the black market. (He figures Americans are too smart to sell a camera on eBay to a buyer with an address in Nigeria.)
Akin's main office is an Internet cafe in the Ikeja section of Lagos. He spends up to ten hours a day there, seven days a week, huddled over one of 50 computers, working his scams.
And he's not alone: The cafe is crowded most of the time with other teenagers, like Akin, working for a "chairman" who buys the computer time and hires them to extract e-mail addresses and credit card information from the thin air of cyberspace. Akin's chairman, who is computer illiterate, gets a 60 percent cut and reserves another 20 percent to pay off law enforcement officials who come around or teachers who complain when the boys cut school. That still puts plenty of cash in Akin's pocket.
A sign at the door of the cafe reads, WE DO NOT TOLERATE SCAMS IN THIS PLACE. DO NOT USE E-MAIL EXTRACTORS OR SEND MULTIPLE MAILS OR HACK CREDIT CARDS. YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER TO THE POLICE. NO 419 ACTIVITY IN THIS CAFE. The sign is a joke; 419 activity, which refers to the section of the Nigerian law dealing with obtaining things by trickery, is a national pastime. There are no coherent laws relating to e-scams, the police are mostly computer illiterate, and penalties for financial crimes are light.
No penalties for breaking the law
"The deterrent factor is not there at all," says Thomas Oli, a Lagos lawyer, citing the case of a former police inspector general who was convicted of stealing more than $100 million and got only six months in jail."What do you want me to do?" Akin asks in pidgin English, explaining why he turned to a life of Internet crime. "It is my God-given talent. Our politicians, they do their own; me, I'm doing my own. I feed my family - my sister, my mother, my popsie. Man must survive."
The scams perpetrated by Akin and his comrades are many and varied: moneygram interceptions, Western Union hijackings, check laundering, identity theft, and outright begging, with tall tales of dying relatives and large sums of money in search of safe haven. One popular online fraud often practiced by women (or boys pretending to be women) involves separating lonely men from their money.
Attempts to speak to government officials about Internet crime were futile. They all claimed ignorance of such scams; some laughed it off as Western propaganda.
But last November the Economic Fraud and Financial Crimes Commission won a high-profile case that had dragged on for years against Emmanuel Nwude, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years for bilking a Brazilian bank out of $242 million using an Internet scam involving phony bank drafts. The commission is also pursuing a case against 419 kingpin Fred Ajudua, a lawyer and businessman accused of using the Internet to steal $1 million from a victim in Germany.
Some officials, who asked not be identified, said young people are drawn to Internet crime as a way of getting back at a society that has no plans for them. Others see it as a form of reparation for the sins of the West.
Or as Akin puts it, "White people are too gullible. They are rich, and whatever I gyp them out of is small change to them."
Editor's note: The term "Yahoo Millionaire" is frequently used by scammers in Nigeria. They are not affiliated in any way with Yahoo! the company.
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