21-Yr-Old Mother Of 5 Causes Stir Over 'Hunger' In Court Premises.

There was a mild drama at the premises of an Ikeja Magistrate Court, Monday, when a 21- year-old woman, Esther Odozi, a farmer, rolled on the ground and screamed that she and her children were at the verge of dying from hunger.

Odozi, who said she lives in Owanta village in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State, came to Lagos last week and because she didn’t have anywhere to sleep, slept at Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries where she begged for money to come to the old secretariat in Ikeja.

Odozi at the court premises, Monday. She said she was directed by an official of Human Rights Commission in her state to come to Lagos that she would get help.

According to her, she needed N200,000 for garri and melon business and would not leave Lagos until she got the money for the business.

Odozi who said she bore the five children to one Donald Ugbaja, a former police officer in Delta State, said she was left alone to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the children including twins after his death.

Odozi who brought out her breasts to demonstrate that she still had a child she was nursing, said she didn’t have any means to feed herself and her children. She said if the Governor of Lagos State could give her N200,000, she would start business with it.

Asked if she would like to be trained in any skill, she said no, adding that she just needs the money to start the business of garri and melon.

She appealed to the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to her aid, adding that she started having children when she was only 17 years old and that the father of her children drove her out after she had the fifth child.

Lagos State Polytechnic Graduate Raped To Death Three Days After Graduation.

A 21-year-old lady, identified as Nofisat, was raped and slaughtered to death by unknown assailants in her home at the Magbon area of Ogijo in Ogun State.

The incident happened on Wednesday at about 2p.m.
The victim had just earned her Higher National Diploma from the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu on Saturday, April 27 and was still in a celebratory mood when the suspected culprits stormed her residence and raped her to death.

Nofisat was said to be the only person at home as her mother a school teacher and her siblings had gone to school.

Neighbours said the victim’s mother came back from school and saw her naked in a pool of her own blood as the rapists were also said to have slit her throat.

It was gathered that the police have arrested two men said to reside in the same premises in connection with the brutal murder.

A postmortem examination that will help the police in the investigation has been stalled as the victim’s remains have since been buried according to Islamic rites at the Alaba Muslim Cemetery at Ogijo at about 3 p.m. on Thursday.

This is just sad. May she R.I.P

Governor Fashola Builds First Cable Bridge In West Africa.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde has completed the first cable bridge in Nigeria. The 1.358km bridge, which will link Ikoyi (Alexander Street) to Lekki (Admiralty Way), cost about N29 billion to build and a toll will be collected to recoup the investment. The link bridge was built by Julius Berger.

Pastor Caught By Wife Sleeping With Church Member During Counselling.

35-year-old Pastor Segun Fasina on Monday pleaded with an Orile-Agege Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his four-year-old marriage over wife’s alleged wayward life.

But his wife fired back in court, disclosing that Pastor Segun is an adulterous man and that she caught him in the act with a female church member, who came for counseling, on their matrimonial bed.

“My husband is adulterous. He counsels his church members at home, and I discovered that most of them are ladies. He was inside the room counseling a woman one day when I dashed in. 

“To my surprise, my husband and the woman were both naked in our bed. My husband beat me and threw me out of the house. When I reported the case to his father, the man said, I should not disturb his son."

Pastor Segun of No. 4 Moses St., Alagba, Orile-Agege, Lagos had told the court that his wife, Abosede, had lost her sense of dignity, and is now smoking and drinking alcohol. He also accused her of being a gossip and troublesome woman.

“My wife, Abosede, possesses all the bad habits one can think of. She was accused of stealing a phone in our house. I believed she actually stole it because of her behaviour. She goes to other co-tenants’ apartments to gossip. And whenever there is any fight in the house, my wife’s name is always mentioned.

“As a pastor, I have prayed for her deliverance from the evil acts but my effort was in vain,” he claimed.

Insisting that his wife must go for him to start afresh, Pastor Segun saud, “Since the marriage is childless, we owe ourselves nothing. So, I want the court to dissolve the union.”

Abosede however denied all the allegations and pleaded with the court not to allow her husband make a divorce at such a young age. 

The court warned them to maintain the peace till May 10 when it would give judgement.

Photo: 25-Year-Old DJ Assasinated After Receiving A Phonecall In Lagos.

The residents of Bank Olemoh Street, Surulere, Lagos, were terrified on Monday when two gunmen shot dead Olamide George, a 25-year-old deejay.

According to eyewitnesses, the assassination was carried out at about 2pm while George was with friends under a tree, popularly known as Abe Igi.

It was learnt that just before his murder, George reportedly answered a phone call, and the caller requested to know where he was. George answered that he was at Abe Igi.

George’s father, Mr. Gbolahan George, said, “I was told that the assassins were four and were in Keke Maruwa (tricycle). They parked at the entrance of the street; two got down and walked to where Olamide was sitting with his friends. The one with the gun did not know him, so the other person who accompanied him pointed at Olamide.

“Immediately Olamide was identified, he was shot in the head and the chest.”

“I was called around 2:30pm and was told that my son’s body was at the morgue in Lagos University Teaching Hospital. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. I reported the case at Area C Police Command.”

Gbolahan George said his son was not of a dubious character.

“He is a DJ, and not a scammer. And he is very gentle and pleasant. He wanted to write JAMB and get into Lagos State University.

“Olamide was also about to wed his girlfriend, Yetunde Adeyeri, who is five months pregnant before his untimely death. And that was why I gave him N500,000 to rent a one-room self-contained apartment at Apapa Road.”

Our correspondent saw family members cleaning blood stains from Olamide’s Golf Volkswagen car with number plate, LND 879 AG.

The Chairman of CDA, Bank Olemoh Street, Mr. Wilson Ojei, said, “I know Lamide as an easy young man trying to survive. Nobody had any complaints about him except for the occasional youthful exuberance, which is common among other young men in the community. From indications, the attack was not from within the community; the assassins were outsiders.

“We have been instructed by the police to cut the tree at Abe Igi.”

The police spokesperson, Lagos State, Ms. Ngozi Braide confirmed the incident. She said, “The case was reported to Area C Police Command. We are investigating the killing and I can assure you that reasonable arrest has been made.”

Source: The Punch

Four Family Members Die On Daughter’s Graduation Day.

Friday is usually a special day many Muslim families look forward to, but to the members of the Bello family of Bayeku area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, Friday, April 6, 2013 will remain fresh in their memories for some time to come.

That was the day four members of the family and a neighbour died prematurely in an auto crash. A five months old baby of the family escaped the incident unhurt.

Prior to that day, the family had planned triple celebrations: their daughter’s graduation ceremony, car dedication of their son and the head of the family’s trip abroad.
The head of the family, popularly called Alhaji Bello, was a prominent figure in Bayeku following his sponsorship of many Muslim programmes including the recent turbanning of the first Imam of the community which took place the Sunday preceding his sudden death.

As part of the arrangements for the trip abroad, Alhaji Bello had placed a change of name notice in Vanguard which was published on the day of crash. The family had not even bought a copy of the paper before the accident occurred around 12noon at Agbowa-Ikosi area of Lagos State.

Five persons including the five month old baby were in one of the cars the family members were travelling in while two others were in another as they headed for the graduation ceremony of their daughter at a tertiary educational institution in Ogun State.

All the five persons in one car with the exception of the baby: Alhaji Bello, his daughter- in- law and her parents, together with a neighbour, died while the matriarch and her son in the other car survived.

An eye witness, Madam Kehinde Olufade, said the family had had a smooth journey until they approached a crater at Ikosi where motorists had to slow down. But due to the dilapidated nature of Agbowa road, a trailer left its own side of the road and faced the car Alhaji Bello was driving, forcing him to maneuver before a tipper rammed into him from behind. The car landed in a ditch.

‘’As soon as the car landed in the ditch, the tipper also lost control and fell on top of the car killing the four members of the family and their neighbour on the spot. The Bellos daughter-in-law, who was carrying her five months old baby at the time of incident, died while the baby miraculously survived”, the eye witness narrated

When the news of their demise filtered into their community, it unsettled residents. The community development association (CDA) wanted the victims buried before sunset in accordance with Muslim tradition, but some indigenes countered them, saying some rituals must be performed before the arrival of the corpses in the community as the death of the family members portended a bad omen.

#Throwback Photos : Margaret Thatcher's Visit To Lagos And Kano State In 1988.

Late Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher popularly known as the Iron Lady died of stroke on Monday 8^th April, 2013, was in Nigeria in January 8, 1988 visiting Lagos and Kano.

Here are some of the photos of her visit to the country which was then under the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

Continue for more photos…

Lightning Strikes Pupil Dead On Exam Day In Oworonsoki, Lagos State.

The family of a Senior Secondary School 3 female pupil of Muslim College Oworonsoki, Lagos,  has been thrown into mourning after lightning struck and killed 19-year-old Celestina Farotide, who was about to start her final examination the same morning.

The victim’s father was said to be in shock and disbelief and had refused to show up to collect the corpse, saying, “It cannot be my daughter”.

The aunt of the deceased, Christiana Idowu, who described her as gentle, quiet and respectful said she saw her corpse in the hospital after the family received an emergency call from one of Celestina’s friends.

An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity because she was not permitted to talk to journalists, said the incident occurred on Monday.

She said, “We had finished with the morning assembly, but some students were still coming in. Celestina had prepared her desk in readiness for the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination’s practical they were to have that morning.”

It was learnt that she later went to buy the food she would eat and when she was returning to her class in company with other students, tragedy struck.

The eyewitness said, “The lightning came in their direction and immediately three of the school girls fell down.

“Two of them rose up and ran and Celestina rose up too. Then the lighteningt struck the second time, and she (Celestine) fell finally on the floor and did not rise again.

‘She was immediately taken to the teachers’ staff room, where a teacher was asked to take her to the Gbagada General Hospital. It was there she was confirmed dead.”

The principal of the school was said to be away on a week-long conference in Makurdi when the incident happened but authorities of the school contacted Celestina’s grandmother at New Garage area of Lagos.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Education with her entourage were said to have visited the school on Tuesday morning.

A resident of the area, Mr. Kabiawu Babajide, who also claimed to be an alumnus of the school told our correspondent the lightning also wreaked havoc in the area.

The monarch of Oworonsoki land, Oba Bashir Oloruntodupefun, said the gods were angry because Oworosoki land had been desecrated by strangers and the government was taking over ancestral lands and selling them to non-indigenes.

He said, “It’s a pity the girl died. The circumstances surrounding her death are mysterious because the girl was never sick. From what happened, we can all see the gods are making demands.

“The shrines that should be used for sacrifices have been swept away in water. And the land we have is being sold by government officials to their friends and they send military men to threaten us.

“Government needs to give us our land back. The real Oworo is submerged in waters. We want them to help sand fill those places taken over by water because many cultural heritage has been lost. If this is done, evil will no longer occur.”

The Chairman of a community development association in the area, Chief Jelili Lawal, said, Celestina would be buried after necessary sacrifices and atonement had been made to appease the gods.

How Boko Haram Planned To Bomb Third Mainland Bridge.

THE security and intelligence community chiefs that talked about the vigilance that prevented the planned attack of Lagos three weeks ago failed to disclose to the public the magnitude of weapons the masterminds of the terror act had deployed for the failed operation and the main target, The Guardian’s inquiries have revealed.

The Guardian Intelligence Unit learned at the weekend from the authorities concerned that apart from the deadly weapons uncovered, the arrested attackers’ main target was the strategic Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

According to revelations at the weekend, the attackers surreptitiously conveyed the weapons to Lagos inside some of the numerous fuel tankers that ply major roads to Nigeria’s former capital and indeed Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre.

The Guardian learnt at the weekend that indeed the Federal and Lagos State authorities were quite startled that the masterminds of the planned terror act could pile up weapons of mass destruction in Lagos, generally considered the safest haven for investment at the moment in Nigeria.

It was learnt that the Lagos State authorities, including the governor, were shown the illegal arms that the security and intelligence community’s interagency co-operation confiscated recently. “They were shocked, really shocked when they were shown the level of organisational capacity of the evil ones that planned to attack Lagos…” a top source disclosed last week.

In a related development, security chiefs that briefed the National Assembly top-shots last week about the reality of the planned attack of Lagos reportedly told the federal legislators that indeed the attackers had planned to attack Lagos to cripple the economy. Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. Former Head of State, the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed, had in 1976 recognised the strategic importance of Lagos even while he was announcing the creation of Nigeria’s new capital Abuja then.

His words in a national broadcast to the nation on January 3, 1976: “…Lagos will, in the foreseeable future, remain the nation’s commercial capital and one of its nerve centres. But in terms of servicing the present infrastructure alone, the committed amount of money and effort required will be such that Lagos State will not be ready to cope.

“It will even be unfair to expect the state to bear this heavy burden on its own. It is therefore necessary for the Federal Government to continue to sustain the substantial investment in the area. The port facilities and other economic activities in the Lagos area have to be expanded.

“There is need in the circumstances for the Federal Government to maintain a special defence and security arrangement in Lagos which will henceforth be designated a special area. These arrangements will be carefully worked out and written into the new constitution. Kaduna and Port Harcourt are to be accorded similar status and designated as Special Areas…”

The Guardian Intelligence Unit learnt that the security chiefs told the federal legislators and their presiding officers that some of the attackers captured had hinted that the plan of attack on Lagos was deliberate: to cripple the nerve centre of Nigeria’s commerce and industry, a city that plays host to the international air and sea ports so that Nigeria’s economy could collapse.

It was said that the insurgents had reasoned that since they had successfully crippled business operations in the North, there should be federal character spread of the destruction, as even the East and South-South geo-political zones too have been negatively affected by the insurgency and kidnapping. The federal legislators were said to have been alarmed by a revelation about the sense of urgency of the insurgents to hit Lagos “just to make Nigeria ungovernable for the present administration”, as it was revealed.

It was not clear at press time whether the Federal Government’s planned amnesty programme for Boko Haram insurgents has been partly influenced by the confirmed incursion to the unofficial commercial capital that makes the money that Abuja spends. It is on record that as critics of Washington DC often say, “New York makes the money that Washington spends”, so it is with Lagos that consumes about 60 per cent of the fuel that PPMC/PPPRC imports and the rest of the country shares the remaining 40 per cent.

The Guardian was told that the implications of targeting the very strategic Lagos Third Mainland Bridge have been worrisome to authorities at all levels. This is part of the reasons for the concerns in Abuja and Lagos.

The Third Mainland Bridge is the longest of the three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the mainland. The other two are the Eko and Carter Bridges. It is the longest bridge in Africa. The Third Mainland Bridge is a vital artery of the network of federal highways and commands high patronage in Lagos Municipal Area, as it connects two of the Lagos State’s commercial hubs, Victoria Island and Ikeja.

The bridge, which has about 350,000 daily users, is also a vital link to Lekki, Ajah and Epe communities. Midway through the bridge, there is a link to Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba. The bridge starts really from Oworonsoki, which is linked to the Oshodi–Apapa Expressway and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and ends at the Adeniji Adele Interchange on Lagos Island. Built by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, the bridge was commissioned by former Military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990 and it measures about 11.8 km in length.

The bridge posts huge economic relevance to the country as it saves commuters who shuttle between two of the Lagos State commercial hubs, Victoria Island and Ikeja, a lot of man-hours. It was said that the last repair of the important bridge cost the nation N1.055 billion.

It is feared that if Lagos Third Mainland Bridge is destroyed, Lagos and indeed Nigeria, are destroyed. It was estimated that the cache of arms seized from the insurgents about three weeks ago when it was reported that Boko Haram entered Lagos was capable of wreaking havoc on the vital bridge in the heart of Lagos.

Source: The Guardian

Why Boko Haram targets Lagos.

More facts emerged yesterday on the plot by Boko Haram to bomb Lagos. The main reason for the planned attack on Lagos, the “commercial nerve centre of Nigeria,” is its booming economy. The motive is simple: Attack Lagos and Nigeria grinds to a halt. One of the service chiefs reportedly confirmed at the Executive Session held with the Senate last Wednesday on the state of insecurity in the country that the threat to bomb Lagos was real.

He listed five reasons for the plot. The sect, it was gathered, reckons that the economy of the North is already in ruins with the incessant bombing of its major commercial cities including Kano, Kaduna and Maiduguri in Borno State. Kano is no longer the thriving commercial nerve centre of the North, while the Joint Task Force (JTF) occupies every 10 kilometres in Maiduguri, making commercial activities difficult.

Kaduna is also worse off as some bombings have shattered the peace and trust which hitherto existed among the different tribes in the city. The spate of bombings, they argued, has almost crippled commercial activities in the North as investors no longer look towards that region. Moreover, it was assumed that it would take more than 50 years for the North to bounce back economically.

While the bombings have heightened insecurity in the region, the economy of the South, symbolized by Lagos State, continues to boom. To ensure “balance,” the sect reckons that the South should also “taste and feel what is happening in the North. A National Assembly source told Daily Sun that the only target in the South is Lagos State which is believed to be the “honey pot of Nigeria. Bomb Lagos and the economy of the entire South would collapse.”

Recall that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Admiral Sa’ad Ola Ibrahim, Lt. Gen Azubuike Ihejirika (Army), Vice Admiral Ezeoba Dele (Navy), Air Marshal Alex Badeh (Air Force), and Mr. Ita Ekpeyong of the Department of State Security (DSS), took turns to brief the Senate behind closed doors last Wednesday.

The meeting lasted five and a half hours after which the Senate urged the security agencies to do more in addressing the spate of insecurity in the country. Senate reportedly convened the meeting with the service chiefs after some members suspected to be members of Boko Haram were arrested in Lagos.

Also recall that the DSS had late last month and with the co-operation of the military, arrested a Chadian suspect with two AK 47 rifles and suspected Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The arrest also led to the rounding up and deportation of about 100 aliens.

Source: Daily Sun

Photo: Man Thrown Down 2-Storey Building By Angry In-Laws For Beating His Wife

A young man, Ejike Igwekile, has been thrown down from a two-storey building at 7 Rev Adegoke street Canal Estate, Okota, Lagos by his angry in-laws at Okota, Lagos. Ejike’s sin is that he allegedly beat his wife, Nkiru, 27, from Delta State, and she ran away with their only daughter to her parents’ house at 4, Iworo street, Orile Coker, Lagos, barely a year after they got married.According to Igwekile, who is from Okija in Anambra State, southeast Nigeria, sometime this year they had a little quarrel and Nkiru took their only daughter to her parents’ house when he left for his business. He said trouble started when their baby fell sick and his wife phoned him to bring money so that she could take her to a hospital for treatment.

He said he ignored them and insisted that Nkiru should come back to his house with the baby so that he would take her to a hospital. After he refused to send the money, his mother in-law, Patricia Philip, 53, allegedly went to Ejike’s house at Okota to pack her daughter’s property to end the marriage. He said when he resisted, Patricia immediately contacted her son, Charles who allegedly came with two other suspects and descended him, beat him mercilessly after which they threw him down the two-storey building. Although he survived the fall, he was rushed to a hospital where he is being treated.

He broke his head and legs and cannot walk properly as a result of injuries he sustained during the fall. Patricia was arrested by the police at Okota division and charged to court, while Charles and the two other accomplices are on the run. Patricia denied the allegation and told the police that it was during the scuffle that Igwekile jumped and fell from the building.

She was charged with conspiracy and attempted murder under the Criminal Code, before the presiding Magistrate, Mrs Abegunde Davies. When she was arraigned, she pleaded not guilty to the charge. The court granted her bail in the sum of N250,000 with two sureties in like sum. She was remanded in prison custody pending when she will fulfill her bail condition.

The matter was adjourned till 11 April, 2013. 

Do you think the in-laws did right or over -reacted?