“This unfortunate incident underscores LASTMA’s resolute commitment to preserving lives and ensuring safety on Lagos roads through proactive interventions and collaborative engagements with emergency response agencies,” he said.
For many years, security personnel deployed in the Niger Delta to guard oil installations and stop crude oil bunkering had turned themselves into oil bandits in collusion with some International Oil Companies, IOCs, government officials and oil bunkers.
They all blamed community folks and minor bunkers for illegally refining crude with amateur technology in the creeks.
There was nobody to speak out for the endangered communities until the Minister of State for Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Dr. Mele Kyari, under immense pressure from President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop the increasing oil theft, thought out of the box.
Sylva and Kyari had been in contact separately and mutually with the former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, for more than a year over the worsening theft.
Their discussions convinced the duo that he could be a magic wand, but each time Tompolo’s name came up in Aso Villa, and private meetings, some top security officials pooh-poohed the idea.
It was easy for Buhari, who, in 2016, canceled a “no cure no pay” contract that Global West, a company in which Tompolo served, as a technical partner, without a lucid understanding of the surrounding intrigues, to agree with the naysayers.
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However, with each passing day in their discussions and intelligence from Tompolo on the connivance of security and industry officials without which the massive thieving would not be possible, Sylva and Kyari approached Buhari with accessible facts.
They did not find it difficult getting the buy-in of the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, who already had the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief to confront the situation head-on and bring the perpetrators to book.
Finally, a converted President approved the hiring of Tompolo, especially as the private surveillance contractors, who had been on the job, in the last few years, had done little
The trio of Irabor, Sylva, and Kyari are together, ever since, in the battle.
Tompolo’s engagement by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) triggered quite some controversy, but Sylva and Kyari were unmoved by the many distractions.
What was clear to them was that the illegal bunkering points had to be discovered and clamped; conspiring security and industry officials also had to be identified and disciplined, and the entire surveillance system overhauled for oil production to pick up once again.
Sunday Vanguard learned that some top security officials serving in Lagos and Abuja were part of the oil-bunkering consortium with their foot soldiers in the oil-rich region.
The oil cabal allegedly sponsored a campaign of calumny against Tompolo, recruiting some youths to protest against the ex-militant leader handling pipeline surveillance contracts in their areas.
It was not surprising when the former militant leader, who boasted that he knows the in-and-out of all the creeks in the Niger Delta, started making startling discoveries, less than a month, after his company, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL, was engaged.
Working with selected security officials, Tompolo’s men uncovered large-scale and sophisticated oil theft machinery going on in the deep swamps at Yokri, close to the Forcados Terminal.
Alleged money laundering: Court temporarily freezes 21 bank accounts, orders holders’ arrest
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday ordered the temporary freezing of 21 bank accounts domiciled in some commercial banks and directed the arrest of the account holders by the police.
Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order after counsel for the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police, Ibrahim Mohammed, moved a motion ex-parte to the effect.
Justice Nwite also granted the “order directing the banks to issue details of the account package(s) and to place a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts, disable the ATMs while allowing inflow into the said accounts” pending the conclusion of the investigation.
“I have listened to the submission of the learner counsel for the applicant and gone through the affidavit evidence.
“I am of the view that the motion ex-parte is meritorious.
“The application is hereby granted except that the period of the investigation can only last for a period of 90 days,” Justice Nwite said.
The judge adjourned the matter until April 3 for mention.
The banks are Access Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Ltd, Wema Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Union Bank Plc, Guarantee Trust Bank Ltd, United Bank of Africa Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, First Monument Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc, TAJ Bank Plc and Keystone Bank Plc.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while the I-G is the applicant in the motion ex-parte marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1965/V/2024, the 13 banks are sued as 1st to 13 defendants respectively.
The I-G, in the motion filed by Mohammed, sought an interim order directing the listed “banks to freeze the accounts mentioned in the schedule attached to this summon pending investigation and prosecution of this case.
“An order directing the banks to issue details of the account package(s) and to place a Post-No-Debit (PND) on the accounts, disable the ATM while allowing inflow into the said account as from the date of this court order.
Youths beat Osun monarch for appointing Imam on disputed community
The crisis erupted in the Hallelujah community in Egbedore local government area of Osun State on Friday, as enraged residents beat the newly installed Ajeniju of Hallelujah, Oba Jelili Olaiya while attempting to conduct jumat service in the area.
The Ajeniju, who was installed by the Timi of Ede a few months ago, against the will of the Ido-Osun community, was beaten to a pulp by angry youths, saying he had no right to install a chief Imam in the community.
It was gathered that the monarch had last week turbaned one Ahmad Tijjani as Chief Imam of the Hallelujah community, but while gathering some people at his palace to observe jumat prayer, some youth allegedly from Ido-Osun invaded the palace and disrupted the exercise.
Some of the aggrieved youths while shouting at the monarch queried his authority to install and conduct jumat prayer in a domain belonging to a separate monarch.
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The mob beat the monarch seriously and vandalised the palace before security operatives could intervene in the situation.
A security source who pleaded anonymity disclosed that it took the intervention of security operatives to rescue the monarch from the scene.
“The situation escalated, resulting in the vandalization of the palace and a physical attack on Ajenifuja of Hallelujah, who sustained serious injuries. He has since been taken to the State CID for further investigation and safety”, said the source.
However, another source in the community disclosed that the monarch has been taken to the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo for treatment.
Confirming the incident, the Special Adviser to Governor Ademola Adeleke on Security, Hon. Samuel Ojo said he will not comment on the incident pending the outcome of an investigation on the matter.
Lagos commuter bus summersaults, LASTMA rescues 8 injured passengers
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has rescued eight injured passengers involved in an accident at Hammadiya inward Abule-Egba.
The LASTMA General Manager, Mr Olalekan Bakare-Oki, confirmed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
The statement was signed by Mr Taofiq Adebayo, Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, LASTMA.
Bakare-Oki said the road traffic incident which involved a commercial long bus, popularly referred to as ‘Molue,’ at Hammadiya inward Abule-Egba, caused severe injuries and significant disruption to traffic.
“The accident was triggered when the vehicle, registered as KTU 801 XM, lost control at excessive speed, reportedly due to driver impatience.
“In an attempt to avoid colliding with another LT commercial bus and pedestrians awaiting transport at the roadside, the driver veered sharply, resulting in the bus crashing into the expressway median and overturning.
“Several passengers sustained injuries, while others escaped through the bus’s windows,” he said.
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He said that officers from LASTMA promptly arrived at the scene, executed a well-coordinated and efficient rescue operation.
“Eight individuals, including five males and three females, suffered varying degrees of injuries. Among the injured was the bus driver, who sustained a fractured left arm.
“All victims were immediately handed over to LASAMBUS medical personnel and transported to the General Hospital at Ile-Epo for urgent medical attention,” he said.
Bakare-Oki said to ensure the free flow of traffic and public safety, LASTMA’s Response Unit was swiftly mobilised to oversee the removal of the overturned vehicle.
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