Wednesday, 23 March 2011

APAPA CULTISTS ARRESTED

By Patience Ogbo

March 23, 2011 12:05AM

The police in Lagos, yesterday, paraded four suspected cultists who allegedly terrorised residents when they engaged in a fight on March 19.

Osifo Emmanuel, 27, Kelvin Ehiro 32, and Tony Ekpo, are alleged to be members of the Aiye Confraternity in the Apapa area of the state; while Amechie Obodike, 25, confessed to be a member of the Eiye Cult also in Apapa.

The suspects were arrested on March 19 during a fracas between the rival cults at the POP Restaurant at Apapa. Witnesses said the cultists engaged one another with dangerous weapons like cutlasses and axes and terrorised residents of the area. The police were alerted, and the youth got arrested.

Their confessions

Mr Emmanuel is alleged to be a leader of the Aiye Cult. He said members of his cult had gone to relax at a popular drinking spot, called Malamido at Apapa, when members of the Eiye Cult attacked them with dangerous weapons. “I am a deejay at POP restaurant at Apapa, and I am a member of the Aiye Cult,” he said. “I graduated from the Polytechnic, Ibadan, and since I came back to Lagos, I have been doing deejay.

On Thursday last week, I was relaxing at the POP restaurant when I heard that our guys were attacked at Malamido. I rushed to the scene and I saw one of my friends, Ovie, in the pool of his own blood. Some people had stabbed him and I rushed him to the hospital. We later found out that the people who attacked that day were Eiye members. We left and on Saturday, I was in POP restaurant where I work and my friends were with me. So that was how police came and pick me up saying that we are planning to attack, so I don’t know anything.”

Mr Obodike also confessed to being a cultist. He said he was forced to join the Eiye cult last December, and was on his way with members of his cult to cause mayhem when he was arrested. “I am a auto mechanic at Apapa,” he said. “One of my friends called me that we should go to POP, he was carrying a cutlass. My friend’s name is Taju and he was the who introduced me to Eiye Cult. That Saturday, we were going to POP when we heard that something was happening and before we escaped, police came and arrested us. Taju ran away but before I could flee, the police held me and brought me to their station. I feel bad involving myself in this kind of thing.”

Police response

Patricia Amadin, spokesperson for the police, said the police is on the trail of the other suspected cultists, and urged members of the public to provide the police with useful information that will lead to the arrest of trouble makers in their community. “The case is under investigation and the suspects will be charged to court soon,” she said.

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Mushin cultists

By Patience ogbo

Residents of Mushin, in Lagos State, say they have lost confidence in the police and other security agencies in curbing gang wars in their community.

The residents registered their displeasure with security agencies in the state following the continuous attacks they have been exposed to from the different cult groups in their area. Barely one week after some youth, suspected to be members of a cult, the Eiye Confraternity, unleashed terror on residents of Elekoro area of Mushin, suspected cultists from the Black Axe Confraternity, on Wednesday, went on rampage in the Akala and Alakara areas of Mushin. The suspected cultists, numbering 15, and wearing black T-shirts, armed with cutlass and other dangerous weapons were seen stopping vehicles and molesting passengers. The residents, on sighting the youth, took to their heels. The suspected cultists, however, retreated when a police patrol van arrived the scene.

Reign of terror

A resident of Alakara, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused the government of shielding the cultists in the area. “Mushin is a place for terrorists and cultists,” he said. “These boys are terrorists and the government is not doing anything about them. The problem has many causes and it started with the NURTW members who are at loggerheads to control the motor parks in Mushin and at Fadeyi. Every day in Mushin, you will see these boys fighting each other, to get more power to control the motor parks. They killed one another and nothing happened. Some of the NURTW members have joined the Eiye Cult while others have joined the Black Axe Cult. Today the boys from the Black Axe moved from Fadeyi, on a revenge mission to Mushin because last week the Mushin boys, who are mostly Eiye Cult members, invaded Elekoro at Fadeyi and unleashed terror on the people. They are called the Akala boys from Mushin and they went on rampage because they felt cheated in a reconciliatory meeting held by the NURTW branch to settle the problem. The problem has it root in the NURTW motor parks and the endless fight is about who will control the parks. Some of the NURTW members are OPC members and they also belong to the black axe and the Eiye cults.”

Adeniran Ojo, a welder at Mushin ,said the security agencies are unable to curb the lawlessness of the suspected cultists. “It is a sad thing that these boys go on rampage as they feel in the Mushin and the government and the security in the area cannot do anything to stop them,” he said.

“Every day is a battle field and innocent lives are lost with goods and property worth millions of naira destroyed. Another thing that has made these cultist to be bold is that the AC government in the state use them as hoodlums and thugs during election, even after police have arrested them, the big shots in Alausa will call for their release because they use them during election. So what do you expect security officers to do, anytime the police arrest them, somebody will just call for their freedom, so Mushin will continue to boil and there is nothing anybody can do, the security will come after the boys have finished their evil work, so the residents do not know what to do again.

the mighty fire

By Patience Ogbo

March 9, 2011 02:29AM

Nine-year-old Chichi Njoku wants to go to school, but cannot afford to. The pale looking girl, armed with a dirty exercise book, a pencil and a tattered Macmillan textbook, is determined to keep abreast with her studies. Her classroom is a corner of her family’s tiny rusted zinc shanty house. The tattered and rusted zinc roofs of the shanty protects the family of ten from the scotching sun and the intermittent rains.

All due to the great fire

The girl is not in school like other children of her age as a result of the fire that levelled the Otto-Illogbo Slum last year. Chichi’s family lost everything to the mysterious fire. Her case typifies that of over 300 children living in the community. Life has been unbearable for the families living in the slum since the fire. Over two hundred houses were destroyed and more than 1500 residents rendered homeless. Businesses and property, valued at millions of naira, were also destroyed.

One year after the fire, the residents’ hope of starting afresh has been dashed as no assistance has come from the state government or any other organization to help them rebuild their lives and pick up the pieces of their past. Agbodimu Musbau, the Chairman of the community, said the residents are disheartened by the failure of the government to resettle them and provide relief materials. “After the fire, the next day we wrote an appeal letter to the governor calling for assistance,” he said. “Officials from LASEMA, Special Duties, and the Rural Development came to visit us, and delivered the government’s condolence. They said very soon the government will resettle us and provide relief materials. The officers visited us on two other occasions but up till now nothing has been provided as relief materials or aid to help us rebuild our lives.”

Mr. Musbau added that several visits by the executives of the slum to get the government to assist them have not yielded any result. “It is just the Star Clinic at Ebute-Metta that came to our aid,” he said. “We are citizens of Lagos and according to one of the MDGs, housing is one of the amenities that must be provided for the people before 2015. How can the government achieve that, when they are neglecting people living in the slum?”

Not voting

As a result of the development, most of the residents said they may not vote for any of the candidates in the forth-coming election. Paul Njoku, who lost his business to the fire, said residents have been living like animals and would not vote during the April polls. “My family lost more than N500, 000; money my wife was using for business,” he said. “I was a cloth merchant but I lost all my goods. One of my children got burnt in the fire and our house was completely razed. We have been living like animals since then ... we are suffering bitterly and it is sad that during the governorship debate our hope was further dashed when none of the governorship aspirants in the state even mentioned us. To them we do not exist, so why should we vote for them, when they do not know that we are existing.”

Another resident, who gave her name as Mama Bola said: “I was selling drinks and my business was booming, sometimes I used to make profit of more than N50, 000 per day but since the fire I have lost everything. There was time that I fell ill because of the troubles the fire caused. I was hospitalised and my children have not been going to school. So I am going to stay indoors that voting day because the government is not helping us.”

Effort to contact the state’s Commissioner for Rural Development, Lanre Balogun, were unsuccessful as calls made to his mobile phone went unanswered.

Detained by soldiers

By Patience Ogbo

February 18, 2011

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.

I am not a threat

By Patience Ogbo

A 20 year-old man, Promise Bassey, is in police custody for alleged assassination threat on the life of a middle aged man.

Mr. Bassey, from Calabar, Cross River State, said he masterminded the crime, with one Godstime, who is at large.

A written note to their victim, one Mr. Stanley, who resides in Festac Town, stated that they are “professional hired killers, men in red suit from Abuja.” In their letter, which has no date or address, they claimed they have been paid N3.5million to eliminate the victim, but stated that if the victim can pay them N2million, he will be spared.

A traumatised Mr. Stanley negotiated with the suspected assassins, for close to one month and they stepped down on their demand later, agreeing to collect N200,000.

Mr. Stanley however, went to the Festac Police Station and reported the incident. The police provided him with the marked notes which he was to pay to the suspects.

However, when Mr. Bassey went to pick up the money from the Festac First Gate junction, the police who had already placed men in strategic positions swooped on him.

Mr. Bassey said his desperation to get money for his late mother’s burial, made him to commit the crime.

“I work at Chisco Motors Ltd., at Maza Maza, as a loader. Since I came to Lagos in 2008, I have not made enough money for me to start life on my own. Where I am staying at Maza Maza, belongs to one of my friends. You see, the money I make from my job is just N500 per day, so it is not enough. Last month, I got a message from home that my mother died. I did not know what to do, because I do not have enough money and my sisters said I must bring money for the burial.

“One day, I was discussing my money problem with Mr. Godstime, one of my friends, and he was the one who came up with the idea, that we should write the letter that we are hired killers. Our aim is to just get money, not that we want to kill anybody. It is not as if we knew Mr. Stanley before.

“Mr. Godstime said a lot of rich people live in Festac, and that was how we just went to one of the houses on 6th Avenue. We picked one of the houses and Mr. Godstime was the one who wrote the letter which we dropped with the gate man of the house we chose. I was surprised the next day that Mr. Stanley called and said we should negotiate and that was how we agreed that he should drop N200,000 at Festac First Gate.”

The police also paraded one Mr. Uzochukwu as an accomplice in the crime. He however, denied the allegation.

“I do not know anything about this crime. I was just passing by, when I saw Promise picking up an envelope. Since he is my colleague at Chisco, I told asked him what he was doing. As we were talking, the police just jumped on us and arrested us. It was when we went to the station that I knew what was going on. God will vindicate me.”

The spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Frank Mba, who paraded the suspects at the Oduduwa Police Station, advised Lagosians to always report any threat to their lives to the police.

“These men were arrested on March 26th. We advise Lagosians to always report cases of threat to life to the police. One of the suspects is still at large but we are on his trail. The case will be transfered to court as soon as we are through with the investigation.”

Thursday, 17 March 2011

kidnapping will reduce with scentific methods-----by Patience Ogbo

Security experts in a three day national workshop on security in Lagos stated
that the police force efforts in crime detection and prevention will
not yield the necessary results if security organizations do not
adopt scientific method in crime fighting.
The National workshop on Security and Emergency preparedness
procedures against
kidnap-hostage extortion at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

A security expert from Canada,Samuel Amoua stated " if Nigeria must
tackle kidnapping and other violent crimes, she must go scientific as
some other parts of the world."

The Inspector-General of police (IGP) Hafiz Ringim who was
represented by the Assistant Inspector General of police (AIG) in
charge of Zone 2 Onikan Lagos Suleiman Fakia in a speech at the
conference stated that the politicians are responsible for the
proliferation of arms and ammunition in the country. he stated that
some of the weapons recovered from suspected kidnappers were traced to
politicians.
"the politicians bought the weapons for political thugs for
intimidation, harassment of political opponents and rigging of elections.
To fight kidnapping headlong, struggle for ascendancy cum succession to
political positions should cease to be a do-or-die affairs. It is incontestable
that some of the weapons used in kidnapping have been traced to those
bought for

political thugs.These weapons are not mopped up by the politicians
after the elections. This
should be adequately checked by the federal, state and local governments. There
must be political will to deal decisively with any politician seen harbouring
thugs."Mr.Ringim said

The police boss stated that credible candidates should be encouraged
to join politics
“Political positions should be made less attractive to discourage people seeing
it an avenue for amassing wealth. Honouring men and women, whose source of
wealth is questionable should be totally discouraged,
government at all levels are advised to check the way their employees
amass property to
discourage corruption, also traditional rulers should not celebrate corrupt
persons with Chieftaincy titles."

Mr. Ringim reiterated the need for cooperation amongst all security
agencies stressing that they should network in ensuring national
security.

He urged government to ensure that all legislation against kidnapping were
enforced without fear or favour,as this will serve as deterrent to others.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Humphrey Abah represented by a
Deputy Director in the Ministry, John Olawale said that as part of
measures against kidnapping and other crimes, the federal government
approved the installation of CCTV cameras in strategic areas in
Lagos, Abuja and Niger Delta.

“The federal government has approved a police University in Nigeria,
which would

commerce its academic programmes that will not only help reduce incidence of
kidnapping but will also enhance capacity of citizens to help
government and law

enforcement agencies detect, prevent and resolve cases successfully," Mr. Abah
said.

Wednesday, 9 March 2011

cultist terrorise community by patience ogbo

Cultist Kill One, Injured Others in Lagos

Suspected members of a notorious secret cult on Tuesday raided Alasia area of Ijanikin, Lagos State and at the end of the attack one person was shot dead while a yet to be ascertained number of persons were injured.

Witnesses alleged that the incident occurred around 9.30pm when most football fans were watching the UEFA League match between Barcelona FC and Arsenal Fc.

According to some of the witnesses, the assailants cornered their victim infront of a drinking joint located along Mission street, Alasia, Ijanikin and immediately pumped bullets into him, ripping part of his abdomen open.

“Immediately after they discovered that their mission had been accomplished, the hoodlums took to their heels and scaring other toad users in the process” the witness alleged.

Though, report as to why the deceased was killed could not be ascertained as at the time this report was filed but, eye witnesses said the death is one too many and call on the police to take action or face mass protest watating that this death is the third in a roll of such attacks within a period of two months.

"The first was said to had occurred while the youths in the area were organizing a street carnival, while the second person was allegedly gunned down barely weeks after the firs attack"said the source who requested anonimity.

Though, the identities of the deceased and injured persons could not be confirmed as the police in the area maintained a sealed lips over the attack.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ijanikin Police Station, Chief Superintedent of Police (CSP), Mustapa denied any such attack, even though, the lifeless body of the deceased was still in front of the police station as at the time of the visit.

Another source alleged that the police at Ijanikin were demanding the some of N6000 from the family of the deceased before they would take the body to the morgue, a demand which angered the youth in the community and they threatened to burn down the station if nothing is done to halt the trend in thier commmunity