Why we made emergency landing at Lagos airport – Air Peace
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LAGOS: We hustle in the day, rob at night, homeless Lagos youths reveal activities
Due to its economic and socio- political importance in the country, Lagos State keeps attracting the highest migration of people from other states of the federation , a trend that has made it to have its fair share of security challenges. Investigation by Crime Guard has revealed that a good percentage of people who migrate to the acclaimed mega city, did not make effort to address accommodation issue before embarking on the journey. Majority of them, both males and females, live in the markets and other open spaces. In the day time, they go out to hustle and retire to places like Oshodi market, Ladipo market, Aswani, Agege market, Ojuelegba, Ijora Olopa, Ijora Badia, Ojota , among other at areas. They are also seen at railway lines, under bridges and on kerbs, at night .
Investigation has revealed that most of them are responsible for robbery attacks around the areas they pass the night, . They are also responsible for the attacks on workers and traders who leave their houses between 4.30 am and 5am, for their respective work and business places. Their targets are also stranded commuters at bus-stops at night, as well as motorists who are unfortunate to have their vehicles break down at night. Arrest Last week, the Lagos State Police Command arrested two different groups of these youths. Seven members of the first group had assisted owner of a 2016 Model Sienna to push his vehicle which was involved in a minor accident to somewhere considered safe near Charity bus- Stop, Oshodi, with a promise to come pick it the next day. Out of trust , the motorist dropped keys of the Sienna to one of the boys , Chibuike Ekwe.
However at midnight, Ekwe, and two others , drove the car to Coconut, in Apapa area of the state , where it was being dismantled with the intention of selling it in parts, when luck ran against them. Ekwe, in the interview, said he had never stolen all his life. He blamed his indulgence in his inability to resist the temptation , after the idea was sold to him by one of the boys. According to him , “ After pushing the vehicle to a safe place, some of the boys said if they were the ones with the keys , they would move it immediately to the East , and sell it, since the owner did not know me.. “ By 3am, I informed Dalinton Ohia and one other boy to accompany me to where the vehicle was parked and I drove it to Coconut, where one man named Container, dismantled it. He said it was easier to sell it in parts. While he was on it , some members of OPC accosted us and asked who owner of the car was. When we could not provide a convincing answer, Mr Container escaped, leaving me behind”. Asked where he lived and did for a living, he responded, “ I am a panel beater at Ladipo market. I hustle in the morning and sleep in the market at night, with other boys. I have never stolen before, this is my first time”. On his part, Darlington Ohia said, “
My role was to accompany him(Ekwe) to where the vehicle was parked. He did not tell me he was going to butcher it. He only said he was going to re park it at Toyota. When we got there the guard ( Danladi) refused him from carrying the vehicle. While Danladi was discussing with me, Ekwe drove the vehicle away. We went to Toyota where he claimed he was going to park it in a well lit place , but didn’t see him”.
For Yemi Joseph, Chinoso Isiguzo and Innocent Ikeaguru and Dalandi, they claimed to have only assisted owner of the vehicle to push it to a safe place till the next day when he (owner ) promised to pay them for their service, only to be arrested . Unfortunate for those who claimed to be innocent , no relative had come to effect their bail, as requested by the Police , since their arrest. Invasion For the second group of four boys , they attacked a driver whose vehicle broke down at Toyota bus-stops , too, last weekend. The vehicle conveying refrigerators and other electronics gadgets was vandalized and the goods carted away. The suspects are: Somto Chukwu, 22; Chibogu Nweke, 29; Ezekiel Egbe, 29 and Chikodi John, 24. Ezikiel who claims to be a vulcanizer at Ladipo market, Mushin, explained his role. He said , “ I had closed for the day and was going to watch foot ball match , when I saw two boys with refrigerators. They were taking them towards the canal. A friend who was with me, Sunday, said we should follow them so as to collect our share from the sale of the item, but I refused.
“ I went straight to the expressway where the boys said the vehicle conveying the goods broke down. I saw a big size refrigerator by the pavement of where the truck broke down. I took the refrigerator to Oshodi, where I used to sleep . Unfortunately for me, the person who saw when I was carrying it brought policemen to the shop at Oshodi where I sleep. “ We pay N100 to sleep there at night. We sleep at the veranda of shops at Oshodi.
Some people sleep inside the shops but their fee is higher. I only go to Ladipo to sleep if i don’t have N100 to pay for the night. I just came to Lagos from Anambra . My parents are dead and I am an only son”, he said in an emotional laden tone. Cry for help His partner in crime, Nweke, said, “ That night, driver of the truck ran to me to help him beg some boys that invaded his truck. He said they demanded for money from him but that he had only N1000 on him. He said the boys attacked him when he told them he had no money , collected his phone from him and that he had to run for his life. “ I went to meet the boys and they told me since the man was not ready to give them money, they would collect the goods. Some of them carried car battery, while others carried brand new Samsung refrigerators .
Those I saw with batteries were Chikodi and Ebere. “I followed them to the canal by the market where they met one aboki who told them to wait till morning before he would buy the goods. But they insisted they wanted to sell them then. At the end, aboki bought the two brand new refrigerators for N30,000. They sold the battery for N6000 and I was given N5,000. For Chikodi John, he said he got N4000 from the sales of the stolen items. On his part, Somto, claimed to be innocent.
He said “ I am just suffering for what I know nothing about . I was arrested because I sleep in the same place ( Ladipo market ) with them. I was sleeping when the policemen stormed the place and picked me . We sleep inside an empty container in the market” he said. Like others who claimed innocence, none had come to secure his bail from Police custody since his arrest. The suspects who were among those paraded by the Commissioner of Police, CO Hakeem Odumosu, would be charged to court soon, according to him.
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Labour shuts NSITF head office over staff salary cut
Labour shuts NSITF head office over staff salary cut
Members of the organised labour, on Friday, protested and shut down the headquarters of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) over alleged cut of workers’ salaries in the agency by the management of the fund.
The aggrieved protesters, led by the President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo and executive members of the Association of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFE), started their demonstrations at about 11:00am.
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Armed with placards with various inscriptions, the protesters alleged that the management led by Mrs Maureen Allagoa, the Managing Director of the Fund, had made deductions of consequential taxes from their salaries to the tune of N2.1bn which were not remitted.
Addressing the protesters, Osifo said the protest and subsequent shutdown of the Fund became imperative after efforts made by the leadership of ASSBIFE to resolve the issue amicably with the management failed.
The protesters urged President Bola Tinubu to sack the MD of the agency with immediate effect to avert “looming crises” in the Fund and called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe their claims.
Both the MD of the Fund, Mrs Allagoa and spokesman of the Fund, Mr Godson Nwachukwu could not be reached for comments at the time of filing this report.
Labour shuts NSITF head office over staff salary cut
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How ex-Head of Service Oyo-Ita diverted N3bn public funds to private firms
How ex-Head of Service Oyo-Ita diverted N3bn public funds to private firms
Hamma Bello, the eighth prosecution witness in the trial of Winifred Oyo-Ita, a former Head of Service of the Federation, has narrated how N3 billion was diverted to private companies.
The witness stated this while testifying before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday about how the defendant and her subordinates diverted public funds into their private companies.
Oyo-Ita, the first defendant, is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, along with her special assistants; Ugbong Effiok (seventh defendant) and Garba Umar (fourth defendant).
Others are six companies: Frontline Ace Global Services Limited, Asanaya Projects Limited, Slopes International Limited, U and U Global Services Ltd, Prince Mega Logistics Ltd, and Good Deal Investments, on 18 counts bordering on misappropriation, official corruption, money laundering, and criminal diversion of funds to the tune of over N3 billion.
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The witness, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Faruk Abdullahi, and H.M. Mohammed, told the court that Oyo-Ita used Slopes International Limited and Good Deal Investments Limited – fifth and sixth defendants respectively, to fraudulently award government contracts to herself through the fourth defendant, Umar.
The first entry transaction of Good Deal Investment Limited. in February 2019 showed that N42,748,201.47 was paid into its Zenith Bank account.
Umar, the witness said, incorporated the company with Oyo-Ita’s full knowledge.
“We called for the account statements of these two companies, and upon analysing them, we realised he (Umar) was paid several sums of money from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, where he is an employee.
“And upon interviewing the fourth defendant, he admitted that he was also a contractor. He also admitted to have paid the first defendant on several occasions from the proceeds of the transaction,” the witness said.
On April 27, 2019, the witness disclosed that a transfer of N20, 2027, 142 was made in the name of Ibrahim Madu to the Zenith Bank account of Asanaya Projects Limited.
The mandate card of the account bears the signature and photo of the seventh defendant, Effiok.
Investigation, according to the witness, also revealed that the seventh defendant incorporated Asanaya Projects Limited in his name with the knowledge of the first defendant and that approvals were granted and payments made to the seventh defendant either through his personal account or to the account of the company.
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The witness said, “The seventh defendant, upon interview, confirmed he had never travelled for most of the funds he received and that the first defendant was aware of and benefitted on several occasions from the funds. The account of U and U Global Services Limited was also opened by the seventh defendant.
“In summary, from 2015 to 2018, U and U Global Limited received several payments in the form of Duty Tour Allowances and estacodes. Sometimes, payments from the federal government were made directly to the account, for instance, on March 24, 2016, he received N40, 313, 453. 58. This particular payment was from the federal government.”
Further in his testimony, the witness stated that, “Exhibit O is the Fidelity Bank account of Prince Mega Logistics Ltd. On March 27, 2018, and April 6, 2018, there were four entries, N4, 950 000; N3,946,000, N4,676,000 and N1,478,000, from Thomson Titus Okure, who used to be a colleague of the seventh defendant in the Account Department.
“There were also outward payments to Ignom, Minaro Blessing, Winifred Oyo-Ita, Olarenwaju Godman Olushola and the seventh defendant is the sole signatory of this account.”
Speaking further, he said, “I also want to add that we invited the first, second and seventh defendant at different times to our office and interviewed them. In the case of the first defendant, we printed chats from her phone and saw conversations she had with contractors, subordinates, and permanent secretaries. She also voluntarily made a statement to the EFCC.”
The matter was adjourned till April 30, 2024.
(SAHARAREPORTERS)
How ex-Head of Service Oyo-Ita diverted N3bn public funds to private firms
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Why we made emergency landing at Lagos airport – Air Peace
A statement by Stanley Olisa, the airline’s Corporate Communications Lead, explained that some minutes before landing, the Captain noticed a fire warning indicator in the cockpit.
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