Police arrest ‘professional surety’ in Lagos

The Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday, paraded a 64-year-old man, accused of standing surety for many suspects.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said the suspect usually charged between N50,000 and N100,000 to stand surety.

The suspect, Ebere Agwu, was said to have been arrested while trying to effect bail for another suspect being detained at X Squad department at the command headquarters on August 7, 2013.

Braide said, “A suspect in detention at X Squad for allegedly defrauding a company of N35m, was given bail condition. One of the conditions was that his surety must provide a C of O. The suspect then presented Agwu as his surety. Agwu presented a C of O. The officer in charge of X Squad investigated and found out that the document presented was fake so Agwu was arrested.

“He confessed that he had used the document on numerous occasions and usually charged between N50,000 and N100,000 depending on the nature of the case. We believe that he is not acting alone. Investigations are ongoing and he will be charged to court soon.”

Agwu said he started the crime over 13 years ago.

When asked where he got the fake document, he said an employee at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, who is now deceased, helped him to get it

Describing his modus operandi, he said he only stood surety for people who had cases in Magistrate courts or were in police custody.

He said, “Once a person has been given bail conditions, lawyers or agents hire me for my services. I am very careful to restrict my activities to Magistrates courts because they are not very thorough. I stay away from High courts.

“Anytime I stand surety for someone, I make sure I go to the person’s house to get adequate information about the person. For example, in 2011, I helped one Mrs Clark, who was arrested by the Special Fraud Unit to secure bail. After I stood surety for her, I followed her to her house in Warri to verify her details.”

The suspect, who preferred to be referred to as a professional surety, said on some occasions, he used his original documents to effect bail for his clients.

“I don’t always use fake documents. I have a registered company and sometimes I use my tax clearance, utility bills and other documents to procure bail for people. Sometimes,if the bail condition states that the surety must be a senior civil servant, I will find another person to do it,” he said.

The Abia State indigene, who was not remorseful for his actions, said through his illegitimate business, he had sponsored four of his children through school while his fifth child was in his third year at a university.

He said he had been warned by his children to stop the illegitimate business but he continued because of his financial problems.

Police reopen 13-year-old murder case, set to exhume victims’ bodies

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammed Abubakar, has ordered the Lagos State Police Command’s Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) to reopened the 13-year-old alleged killings of four Igbo youths by policemen attached to Aguda part of Surulere in Lagos State in 2001.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed  that the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) had recently urged Abubakar to respond to the request of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, that he provides the Attorney General of Lagos with the outcome of investigation into the alleged extrajudicial execution of four youths in Lagos in 2001.
The four youths are Anthony Ezenwafor, Chukwuemeka Ezeofor, Izuchukwu Ezeama and Aloysius Osigwe.
The police boss, in response to NOPRIN pleas, has ordered that the Lagos State Police Command reopen the case.
“I have directed that the case be reopened. Justice must be done. Even if it means exhuming the remains of the victims, police will do that.
“We must get to the root of the killings and those culpable will be punished accordingly,” he said.
NOPRIN spokesman, Okechukwu Nwanguman, told our correspondent that by a letter dated March 12, signed on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation by one Ofulue L. N., an Assistant Director at the Federal Ministry of Justice, in response to an “application from Ekwulobia youths to do justice to four victims of extrajudicial execution by the police on July, 1, 2001, the police boss has responded in such a speed of lightening. This is something his predecessors could not do since 2001.”
AGF had requested the IGP to “kindly provide the Honourable Attorney General of Lagos State with the outcome of police investigation into the matter for further necessary action”.
Nwanguman said NOPRIN was worried that 13 years after this request, no known action was  taken by the past IGPs to ensure that necessary action was taken to ensure justice for the victims and for their indigent parents and kinsmen in Ekwulobia Youth Association, and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to account.
He recalled that on July 1, 2001, four members of Ekwulobia Youths Association in Lagos State, namely; Anthony Ezenwafor, Chukwuemeka Ezeofor, Izuchukwu Ezeama and Aloysius Osigwe were brutally murdered by trigger-happy policemen from Aguda Police Station, Lagos.
Nwanguman said: “Since then, members of Ekwulobia Youths Association and the indigent parents of the victims, represented by Mr. Akaraka Chinweike Ezeonara, have been undertaking relentless efforts to bring the killing of their members to the notice and attention of police authorities so that justice could be done.
But these efforts have been futile and met with alleged cover up by the police.”  According to him, the four youths were gunned down by trigger-happy policemen from Aguda Police Station on July 1, 2001, at No. 48, Olaitan Street, by Kilo Bus Stop, Surulere, Lagos State.
They were killed under the suspicious of the police that they were armed robbers working for their ex-boss, Chief Jude Okolie, whom they had earlier served before securing their own business independence.
Police investigation on the claim, on the previous activities of the killed four Ekwulobia youths revealed that they were not armed robbers as attested to by members and leadership of Ladipo Main Market, Mushin, Lagos State, who confirmed that the four youths were bona fide members of their market organisation.

Badagry lynching: Police commiserate with families, gather evidence

A special  police team set up by the  Lagos State police command to investigate the lynching of two men Ifechukwudi Nwanikpor (25) and Kazeem Onayemi (26) by villagers from  the Tozukame  community in Ajara, Badagry, has begun gathering evidence against the suspects.

25year Ifechukwudi Nwanikpor, who was lynched in Badagry.

The team is said to be headed by a  former Officer -In-Charge of the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
Other officers are said to have been drawn from the State Intelligence Bureau as well as other police formations in the state.
A source, who requested anonymity said that the team was set up to carry out a thorough investigation of the lynching following the role the officers attached to the Badagry police station played while the victims were murdered in cold blood. Prior evidence showed that they did nothing but watch as both men were killed.
It was also gathered that the DPO of the Badagry police station has since been transferred  for calling the victims  armed robbers before an investigation was carried out.
A new DPO is expected at the station on Monday.
The special team has since visited the families of the deceased at Ajara  to commiserate with them and also take statements and exhibits of the daylight murder.
Last week, the policemen also visited the scene of the crime, where the victims were murdered and gathered the planks and other objects used by the villagers in the killing on July 21.
Arrests made
It was gathered that the team arrested about nine persons in connection with the murder including the traditional ruler of Agamathen, a ruler in Tozukame community.
Also, the police team arrested the station officer of the Badagry police station Inspector Adefemi Ashagbon  for his role in the lynching. All are said to be in custody at the State Command in Ikeja.
The deceased were killed and labelled armed robbers but video clips, which went viral on YouTube shows how they were framed and murdered in cold blood.
A second video clip also exposed the policemen identified as Inspector Adefemi Ashogbon, the station officer of the Badagry Police Station and one Sergeant John Sonayon as they stood and allowed the jungle justice; the video clip also shows a police van with  a team of policemen at the scene.
Narrating how his son was lynched, Samuel Nwanikpor said, “I was in Ghana when I heard about my son’s death. He is my first son and he died innocently. I was told that he went with Kazeem to see a Clearing Agent at Tozukame community in Badagry. They told me that Kazeem picked a quarrel with a boy over an undisclosed issue. The mother of the boy then raised alarm and started calling Kazeem and my son thieves.
“That was how the villagers came out and because their faces were strange in the community, they held on to them as the woman kept calling them thieves. I learnt that the head of the Vigilante group in the area called Ashirigbo was invited and he came with a gun and a handcuff and  handcuffed the boys together but as he was trying to put his local  gun into his trouser, the gun misfired and shot him in the stomach. He died instantly. His death infuriated the villagers and that was how they descended on these boys and started beating them.
“The Baale(traditional ruler)  came and saw them beating them and he encouraged them to continue to hit them with the planks and stick until they died. The police were invited and they too stood and watched while the villagers lynched them. The police went on to plant gun on them that they were armed robbers but nobody could say what they stole or whom they robbed. They were just murdered in cold blood. I’m devastated. This kind of thing don’t happen anywhere. I’m very glad that the video clips was available to  prove their innocence and how they were brutally murdered. It’s the only evidence that exposed their killers and it’s a shame the police did nothing to stop the lynching.,” Mr. Nwanikpor said.
Disappointed with the police
Tajudeen Onayemi, Kazeem’s 57-year-old father said he is disappointed with the police.
“It is sad enough that my only son was killed in cold blood and labelled an armed robber, which has been proven that he was not. I’m terribly sad because the police, who one should run to when in distress, are the same people, who stood and did nothing to stop the lynching. To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement.

Tajudeen Onayemi, father of the late Kazeem Onayemi.

“I have lost faith in life. I have lost faith in the Nigerian police. Where will I get another son from? I told the DPO  in Badagry that my son was not an armed robber. I can vouch for him. I was with him on Saturday, a day before he was killed and I gave him money for his upkeep. Somebody called me and said my son was with police that he was an armed robber and they have killed him with his friend but I said it was a lie that my son is not a thief.
“I went to the DPO and he told me my son was an armed robber but I told him he was mistaken. After running helter skelter without help from the police, I went to the Badagry morgue and I was told they dumped their corpses on the floor. I cried bitterly that my son’s blood will avenge his killing. I have not brought myself to watch the video of their lynching. I know if I watch it, I will faint. Kazeem was learning alumaco (aluminium fabricating) and was due to get his freedom (graduate) in December. He has a girlfriend he was serious with but they wasted my son’s bright life. He was extremely friendly and jovial and he loved Chelsea football club. He looked so much like I and I will continue to mourn him. Though I’m poor and not learned, I will fight for his justice. Kazeem will not die in vain,”  Onayemi said.
The families called for the transfer of all the policemen attached to the Badagry police station as they accused them of nepotism.
“Most of the policemen in Badagry police station are Egun from Ajara, Badagry. They hardly get transfer out of the station. They took sides with the villagers during the lynching because they are from the community. This is not acceptable and the CP has to transfer them and bring policemen, who are detribalised, people, who indeed are trained to protect lives and property so such thing do not happen again,” Nwanikpor said.

UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT DIE IN POLICE CELL

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An unidentified suspect has allegedly died while in police custody in Lagos State.

It was gathered that the suspect was arrested and detained at the Denton police station at Ebute-metta area of the state but allegedly died while in the cell.

It is not clear  what the said suspect was arrested for.
It is also not yet ascertained when the suspect was arrested   but a reliable police source stated that the death is causing ripple in the  police command  as the Commissioner of police , Mr. Umar Manko had summoned the Divisional Police Officer of the station over the death.

In a related development, officers of the Lagos State government have allegedly raided suspected street urchins in the Surulere local government  area of the state.

Eyewitnesses stated that more than twenty persons were hauled into  three  vehicles used as  mobile cell.

The vehicles had the inscription, Ministry of  Youth ,Sports and Social Development (MYSSD).

The eyewitnesses said the mobile cells  were crowded with people with the officials  seen last Friday moving from street to streets picking people mostly beggars  and forcing them into the vehicles which they locked with padlocks .

" I was going to work when I noticed the vehicles conveying people in a cell. The vehicles over overcrowded with people inside but the officers kept moving from street to street, along Akerele, Lawanson and Ogunlana drive. They were picking mostly beggars and persons  considered as wanderers . They kept the people in the overcrowded mobile  cell as they move from street to street. I heard them screaming for help".

The eyewitness added that the  state officers  frequently storm the area on routine raid .

" Some times you will just see the Rapid Respond Squad  policemen  raiding okada at Lawanson, they come here often to raid".

When contacted on the   arrest  of commercial motorcycle riders in Surulere area of the State , the Commissioner of police, Lagos State police command  Mr. Umar Manko stated that commercial motorcycle riders popularly refer to as Okada are banned from restricted streets and roads.

" The law banning okada riders from some routes  is there and the policemen are just enforcing it. We will continue to raid and arrest  them as long as they refuse to adhere to the law"  Mr. Manko said .

It is feared that the  Lagos State government may  "deport" persons raided in the state to other parts of the country as they did with the recent "deportation" of Igbos to Anambra state.

The said deportation has produced mixed reactions among Nigerians as the Igbo and human rights group condemned the action as they stated   the move was  discriminatory and an  abuse of fundamental human rights of Nigerians to live in any part of the country . Others however see the move as a welcome development in achieving the state's mega city status.

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Lagos State Government Official ,Land grabbers, hoodlums, sack Lagos community ..As women, children take to the streets

While many families across the world were felicitating and rejoicing during the last Eid-el-Fitri celebrations, that could not be said of residents of Ebute Iga Palapo community, near Ibeshe, in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State.

On a day their compatriots were winning and dining with their loved ones and cooling their heels during the two days holiday declared by the state’s government, men, women and children of the community took to the streets to protest alleged invasion of their community by suspected land grabbers,hoodlums and a particular staff of the Lagos State Land ministry Mr Onipede , a GRA!! Scheme officer attached to the seat of Government at Alausa Okeja and some policemen, making life unbearable for them.

It was reported that a couple of days before the holidays, about four suspected hoodlums allegedly invaded the community demolishing houses and beating occupants of affected structures.and also threatening to kill them as at last count, about eight women were  reportedly  wounded and currently hospitalized  over injuries sustained in the hands of the hoodlums ,police and suspected land grabbers.

It was also reported that before the hoodlums departed the community, they threatened to carry out more demolition in the community before long. Some of the residents later told this  writer that the hoodlums, who were believed to have been sent by a self-acclaimed Staff of the Government Ministry, still issued warning to the residents of a much more frightening attack on them if they did not do their wish. Hence, the Save Our Soul protest staged by the community during the week.

During the hoodlums’ invasion, it was reported that about 11 buildings were destroyed while property worth millions of naira were also destroyed. In a petition, signed by 40 landlords of the community and sent to the Inspector General of Police, the Lagos State governor, the state’s police commissioner and made available to this reporter it was alleged that one Saheed, Onipede who claimed to be an agent of the state’s government, had in April 2012, approached and invaded the community where he and his boys allegedly marked all buildings there for destruction on the pretext that the land in question was illegally acquired by the landlords.

The petition read in parts, “In August 2012 without prior notice, apart from the verbal one by Saheed, he came with two armed policemen and four fierce-looking thugs  armed with sledge hammers  and demolished some buildings. He later threatened others whose building were not affected by this initial demolition that he would come back to demolish more buildings except we come to see and ‘settle’ with him.” The said Saheed had reportedly demanded six million naira from each of the house owners.

All house owners shortly after the agent’s mark on the property approached the family who sold the lands to them. It was reported that the land owners asked the confused landlords to negotiate with the agent, claiming that they could do nothing to help them.

A twist was, however, added to the whole story when one Mr Ayeni appeared from the blues to claim that the land actually belonged to the late T. O. S Benson. The said Ayeni with all valid documents to the land, claimed that he represents the socialite’s family on the matter, a story reportedly later confirmed by the landlords. Ayeni, who had long been away from the country while the said Asajon family sold the lands to the people, reportedly approached the Ipakodo Police Station to prevent the hoodlums from invading the property again. Some of them were detain icluding Saheed Onipede and later released after they had promised not to encroach on the Land again.

A naval personnel who is also a landlord in the area, Mr. Sunday Igho, was first to speak on their experience in the hands of the suspected land grabbers and armed hoodlums. According to Igho, “The hoodlums have made lives worthless for us all and our depend ants. My aged mother was almost killed with fear when the hoodlums started demolishing houses and beating anyone that attempted to stand in their way,” Igho said.

Another visibly shaken landlord, Mr. Akeem Esivue narrated how he and his family had been living in fear and unable to go out of the community for fear of being attacked. Esivue claimed that his and other children in the community now found it hard to attend schools because of the perpetual presence of the hoodlums in the community, wielding dangerous weapons.

An Islamic cleric, Alufa Ismail Akewula, another landlord in the area, told this re[prter that his family has been thrown into untold hardship by the hoodlums. Alfa Akewula claimed that his means of livelihood in Ebute Metta, Lagos, now suffer as he is unable to go out of the community since the invasion of the hoodlums.

A housewife in the community, who craved anonymity, also told Saturday Mirror that her husband was critically injured while struggling with the land grabbers from demolishing their house. In the words of the woman, “It all happened like one was in a dream. We were relaxing in front of our house one afternoon when about four hoodlums and two policemen stormed the community demolishing any building on sight. While my husband got up to prevent them from touching our house, one of the thugs just smashed a hammer on his shoulders and my husband has been in the hospital since then,” she said.

In a telephone chat with the said Saheed, he denied ever sending ay hoodlum to beat residents if the community. According to Saheed, residents of the community had refused to act on several government’s approaches that they be integrated into the state’s housing policy scheme which he claimed he oversees. His words, “How on earth would anyone send thugs to attack women and innocent children? This claim must be the figment in the imagination of its peddlers,” he said.

In his own comment, Mr Ayeni, who claimed he already had a fruitful discussion with the landlords, maintained that the family that sold the land to them erred ab initio because the land did not belong to the family, but his late principal.

When this reporter visited the  Ipakodo Station a Policeman on duty confirmed the Story .The man even said thre case has been transferred to the zone11 police Command at Onikasn .
Meanwhile ,an  official petition has been sent to the Lagos State Government to save them from the activities of Saheed Onipede and his hired thugs.

Husband b Slaughters wife

This is another epic reason why women must run away from any iota of unending abusive relationship or else it is a point of no return. Try to work things out but if push comes to shove, remember the first law of nature, law of self preservation, Love thyself first!

According to friends of the late woman. Endurance and Isaac were married for four years and had one child together. They also ran a business together, an education consulting firm. Sometime last year, Endurance found out that her husband was having an affair with one of their employees and this caused serious problems between them. Endurance eventually moved out of her matrimonial home with her 2 year old daughter.

On Saturday morning April 13th, Isaac’s friend, a guy named Stanley came to pick Endurance from her office, saying that her in-laws (mother-in-law and sister-in-law) were waiting for her at her husband’s house and wanted to resolve some issues with her. Endurance went with Stanley.

Endurance Ajisegiri’s family got a call on Sunday April 14th from her husband, Isaac Ajisegiri, informing them that she had died at their home in the Shasha area of Lagos the previous day and he had taken her corpse to the mortuary. Endurance’s family immediately called the police.

The following day, her corpse was deposited at Crystal Hospital by Isaac. Her throat had been slit with a knife from inside her kitchen. Isaac told police that endurance killed herself with the knife after a serious argument. Isaac, his mother and sister (who slept in the house that night) are now in police custody. Stanley is no where to be found. The case is being handled by the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department.

Court Jails Peadophile in Ado Ekiti ,Ekiti State of Nigeria

He goes by the name Innocent Eze, but he could not prove his innocence before an Ado-Ekiti High Court, which found him guilty of defiling a 12-year-old girl and consequently sentenced him to eight years imprisonment.

The convict was sentenced to one year imprisonment for indecent assault, while he bagged seven years jail term for defilement, under a two count charge. The eight years will run concurrently.

The plea by Eze’s lawyer for the court to temper justice with mercy drew flak from the presiding judge, Justice Adekanye Ogunmoye, who described the crime as barbaric.

His words, “It’s unfortunate that a 12-year-old girl would have been sexually defiled as was done to the victim in this case. It is more unfortunate that the matter came to the public domain.

“The convict by his act had succeeded in placing a stigma on the person of the victim, which may take a long time to erase. Then trauma suffered by the victim is definitely such as would take a longer time to forget.

“The act of the convict is not such as should be encouraged. This is definitely a barbaric act and the sentence must be such as would serve as deterrent to the convict and others who still harbour similar tendencies.”

The judge was not alone in condemning the crime committed by Eze, which the Wife of the Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, described as “abhorrent.”

Until he found another abode behind bars, Eze, an indigene of Nsukka, in Enugu State, resided in Ayegunle Street, Ijan-Ekiti, Ekiti State, where his perverted libido landed him in trouble.

Reacting to the judgment in a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Akin Oyedele, the governor’s wife said it was a major victory for her crusade against sexual and child abuse.

She expressed the hope that it would serve as deterrent to other paedophiles and perverts on the prowl that Ekiti State would not be a haven for sexual offenders.

The First Lady said, “Although it’s not capable of eliminating the scars, but it will at least heal the wound of the victim with tender heart and others like her that have been sexually violated and traumatised.

“It’s victory for all caring parents, individuals, groups and civil society organisations that have joined me in campaigning against every form of child abuse. I salute the courage of the trial judge for the decision.

“The judgment will further promote the Child Right Act and the Gender-based Violence (Prohibition) Law, which are very dear to this administration. Let me reiterate that we will not allow our children to become preys in the hands of people who don’t have moral scruples.”

The governor’s wife also advised parents to be wary of the kind of errands they send their young girls, stressing that experience had shown that young girls fall prey to predatory people when running errands.

She urged parents to protect their young daughters against abuse by monitoring their relationship with so-called family friends, uncles, neighbours, teachers, school proprietors and guardians.

Women who are separated from their husbands were also advised to think twice before entrusting their young girls in care of their fathers, judging by several reported cases of incest involving unscrupulous fathers and their vulnerable teenage daughters.

She said, “The government has played its part by putting necessary laws in place to enforce the rights of women and children and to protect them from abuse. It is incumbent upon the citizens to rally behind the government to stamp this social malaise out of our land.”

Erelu Bisi Fayemi used the opportunity to encourage children and women to speak out and seek lawful redress anytime their rights were violated, while she admonished perpetrators to turn a new leaf.

According to the court, the convict had on August 31, 2011, in Ijan-Ekiti, pounced on the young girl after assisting him to fetch water from a neighbourhood well and dragged her inside his apartment where he sexually violated her.

The victim was said to have earlier rejected love advances from Eze, while he also turned down his plea to assist him to take his filled bucket inside his room before he seized her.

He had stuffed a handkerchief in the traumatised girl’s private part when blood started oozing out after the act and later gave her N100 to “buy drugs.”

Testifying before the court, a doctor attached to the General Hospital, Ijan Ekiti, confirmed that the otherwise innocent girl’s hymen had been “traumatized, with laceration along the vaginal wall.”