metro

Hypertensive man dies as bribe-chasing LASTMAmen seize vehicle

Published

2 years ago

July 25, 2022

The family of a Bureau De Change operator, Modibo Usman, has been thrown into mourning after he died from shock following an encounter with two officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority in the Surulere area of Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Modibo, who was hypertensive, was being conveyed by his son, Mustapha, to the Foremost Radiology Consultant Hospital on Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, to obtain a test result for his daughter, Ummu, when he had the encounter with the officers.

Mustapha, while speaking to our correspondent on Sunday, said his father also had an appointment with his doctor at the Living Heart Hospital in the Lekki area of the state on the same day.

He said when the two officers stopped him for allegedly disobeying traffic light, his father pleaded that he was on his way for a medical emergency but the officers ignored him.

He alleged that the officers demanded a N50,000 bribe to release the vehicle.

Mustapha said, “My father and I kept pleading with them but the officers refused. My father was even crying and telling them that he had a medical emergency but they said that is what people usually say.

“The two officers ordered us to go to the back seat and they sat at the front and started driving us to the Foremost Radiology Consultant Hospital. My father continued crying that he was in an emergency; they then demanded N50,000 to release us.

“But when we got to the hospital, we quickly rushed to get the test result to show them so we could continue our journey to see his doctor at Lekki but the officers and the vehicle were nowhere to be found when we returned.

“Instantly, my dad suffered a shock and collapsed. I quickly alerted the nurses where we picked my sister’s result and they rushed to attend to him and confirmed him dead.

READ ALSO:

“When I rushed to the LASTMA office to inform the officers that what they did had caused my father’s death, they started saying I could take the vehicle but I left it there and called our relative, Mrs Yosi Yaduma, to inform her about what happened.”

Yaduma said she reported the case at the Area C Command in Surulere, adding that the two officers were arrested and the case transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.

Lamenting that the bereaved family had been clamouring for justice, Yaduma said Modibo, who was the breadwinner of his family, was survived by two wives and 11 children.

She said, “The incident happened on Friday. Alhaji Modibo was a Bureau De Change operator who was hypertensive. He told the officers that he was going to a hospital, even if he had broken the rule, in cases of emergency, rules can be broken.

“He even pleaded with them that he wanted to get the results of his daughter suffering from Down Syndrome, and from there, he would be going to the Living Heart Hospital in Lekki to see his doctor but the officers demanded a bribe of N50,000.

“The shock of the whole incident made Alhaji Modibo suffer an attack that made him collapse at the front of the hospital. That was how he died.

“After Mustapha informed me, I told one of the nurses to assist us with an ambulance and they conveyed his corpse to the 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Yaba, where he was also confirmed dead and his body deposited in a mortuary.

“Yesterday, the police called to inform me that the two LASTMA officers had been apprehended. Alhaji Madibo has been buried in accordance with Islamic rites but we want justice.”

An official of the facility where Modibo collapsed and died, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “His death was as a result of cardiac arrest. He was vomiting and his condition changed. We called a consultant to resuscitate him but all was to no avail and the patient was pronounced dead. A lot of people witnessed the incident. They only came to pick up a result at our diagnostic centre.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident, adding that investigation was ongoing.

The spokesperson for LASTMA, Olumide Filade, said the victim was not in an emergency at the time of the traffic light violation.

He said, “We are not aware of any case of bribery; it was not an emergency. The driver of the vehicle who happened to be Baba’s (Madibo) son violated the traffic light and the vehicle was impounded.

“We are in possession of a video of the violation and where Baba agreed that the officers should drop them at the Foremost Diagnostics. After dropping Baba and his son, the officers told him to instruct his son to follow them so he could know where the vehicle was, but Baba said his son did not know anywhere in Lagos.

“He said they would come later. But while they were at the Foremost Diagnostics, maybe Baba had a crisis and he passed on. Thereafter, the case was reported at Area C, from where it was transferred to the SCID, Yaba.”

LASTMA has been in the eye of the storm over alleged extortion of motorists through traffic lights.

A recent investigation by PUNCH Metro showed some men of the agency worked in connivance with the police.

The agency had promised to probe officers deployed in the Berger-Isheri area, who were implicated in the investigation by our correspondent.

Three weeks after, the outcome of the probe had yet to be revealed.

Related Topics:Hypertensive man LASTMA Vehicle

Up Next

SERAP Sues INEC for Failing to Prosecute Ekiti Vote Buyers

Don't Miss

Kaduna Train: How Ransom Blockade Triggered Hostage Beating Video

metro

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

Published

11 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

READ ALSO:

According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

metro

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

Published

11 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

READ ALSO:

“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

metro

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

Published

11 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

READ ALSO:

He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.