A section of the Osun State High Court located in Ayeso area of Ilesha has been set ablaze by some unknown persons.
A witness told Channels Television that the incident occurred in the early hours of Monday, resulting to destruction of valuable documents in Court One.
It was also gathered that the security men on duty were tied up, while one of the guards was injured with a machete by the perpetrators as they tried to gain access into the court premises.
The Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Adepele-Ojo, who visited the scene to assess the level of damage done, declined granting interviews on the incident.
However, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ilesha branch, Ebenezer Ogunfunminiyi, who was on the entourage of the Chief Judge condemned the attack on the court of law.
Mr Ogunfunminiyi stressed that the lawyers would henceforth boycott the court, claiming that it was obvious that their lives were in danger.
He noted that efforts were in top gear to reach Governor Rauf Aregbesola and make him see the need for adequate security of lives of workers in the court.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Folasade Odoro, who confirmed the incident, said that the force has fortified the premises of the court with more security personnel.
She also assured the public that the police had begun investigation to nab the perpetrators of the act.
“The police are fully aware of the incident and when we were called upon, we responded swiftly to the scene of the incident and ensured that the fire did not go beyond where it had destroyed.
“Also, we sent men to the place for adequate security and beef up all entries to the court premises.
“Right now we do not have any suspects but one thing we are certain about is that investigation is ongoing and we will surely get the people who are behind this incident.
“We have many of our men stationed there right now including mobile policemen to beef up the security and as we proceed with hour investigation, we will surely apprehend the culprits,” Odoro stated.
The ongoing River State re-run election is experiencing violence and ballot snatching, report says.
It was reported that there are no ballot boxes in PU32/11/13/012, Ulakwo Ward, Etche LGA. Voters are casting their votes into sack bags
But an observer group, the Independent Service Delivery and Monitoring Group (ISDMG which deployed obervers and election monitor to the election said the ballot boxes were snatched by hoodlums but voters in the area insisted on going ahead with the election.
According to ISDMG Director Communications/Team Leader, Faith Nwadishi the INEC deployed election material to the polling unit just like in every other polling unit but the ballot boexes were snatched by hoodlums.
There were also reports of bombing in Bera, Gokana Local Government Area of the State.
It was also gathered that militants blocked Asari Toru waterways.
Hoodlums, commonly known as area boys, on Wednesday disrupted medical activities at the Ogun State Hospital, Ifo, in Ifo local government area for almost one hour.
The attackers stormed the hospital when some commercial motorcyclists were brought in to receive medical attention following a crash which occurred at Papalanto along Abeokuta-Lagos Road.
On arrival with the ?victims, the area boys were asked to obtained cards for the patients, but they revolted, insisting that the victims must be attended to immediately before obtaining hospital cards.
Shortly after, they began to beat up some of the hospital staff, just as many of the workers hurriedly abandoned their duty posts to avoid being attacked.
A staff of the hospital, while narrating their ordeal, said the area boys wanted all the accident victims to be treated the same time even though there was only one doctor on duty.
Pandemonium broke out at the hospital as the invaders threatened to set the hospital ablaze.
They were stopped by a team of police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, arrived the hospital to deposit a corpse.
Some of the hoodlums were arrested and taken away, but later released after few hours, a witness said.
When contacted, the Medical Director of the hospital, Taofeek Somade, confirmed the incident, saying the quick intervention of the police saved the situation.
Mr. Somade said the hoodlums were arrested and whisked away by the police.
Similarly, Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the attack.
When Raymond Amosu paddled his family to safety in the midnight of November 9th, he steadied the canoe, turned and cast a last look at what used to be home. Tongues of fire licked away, furiously, at the three bedroom enclosure where he had married his wife, Okelusi, and raised eight children.
His eyes watered.
“I did not remove anything except my fishing nets,” Mr. Amosu, 48, a fisherman, said.
In the early hours of November 9, a gang of boys with reported ties to the powerful Elegushi chieftaincy family, entered Otodo Gbame community – a peaceful fishing settlement on the edge of the Lagos Lagoon in Lekki Phase I, made up predominantly of Eguns and other ethnic minorities in Lagos – and began setting fire to houses in the community.
Mr. Amosu said he was asleep when his wife woke him around midnight with screams of ‘fire, fire.’
“All the people in the community woke up. They were putting fire everywhere. They destroyed everything,”
About 800 homes were affected in a massive destruction that rendered an estimated 10,000 people homeless, according to the Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), a non-governmental organisation that had worked extensively with the community people.
This destruction occurred barely a day after a Lagos court ordered the state government to immediately suspend its planned demolition of shanties along creeks and waterways in the state.
It also came one week after the state House of Assembly appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to reconsider the planned demolitions.
‘An ethnic clash’
On the evening of November 9, the Lagos State Government released a statement authored by the state’s Police Command attributing the “crisis” in the community to a clash between the Eguns and Yorubas.
Dolapo Badmos, the Public Relations Officer of the State Command of the Nigerian Police, said the “Egun community mainly made up of people from Republic of Benin,” occupied illegal shanties.
“We were alerted about the breakdown of law and order in the area and immediately went to check Otodogbami community, Ikate Lekki Phase 1, where there is a fight between the Benin-Yoruba communities fighting over the supremacy of the territory,” said Ms. Badmos, a superintendent of police.
“It’s an illegal settlement area, most of the structures there are shanties and because of a protracted dispute between themselves, they set fire on their different shanties. The Police moved into the area to restore peace.”
The community people, who said they are mostly from Badagry but have lived in Otodo Gbame for over a century, insisted the crisis was triggered by a group of youth, who with government backing, invaded their homes and unleashed violence on them.
Solomon Akojenu, chairman, Otodo Gbame community, said the youth were planted by those who wanted to evict them from the community.
“They have been coming to rent houses from us and we thought they were legal entities, not knowing that they have a mission for coming to the community,” Mr. Akojenu said.
“This week, they started padlocking people’s houses, extorting money from people forcefully.
“That was what took them to the house of a man called Jonas, where they went, padlocked the wife’s room and expected the woman to come and pay them N20,000. That’s what led to this clash. They went extorting money from people, that they should pay N5,000, N10,000, N20,000.
“After locking their houses, they said they are now the ones in charge, the landlords.”
At about 7.30 a.m., on November 8, Alfa Salako said he was on his way to his brother’s house when a group of boys, armed with machetes, marched into the community and headed to the Baale’s (traditional leader) house.
“Those people, they did not come to the Baale and say ‘this is what we heard, what is the problem? Can you find out somebody who did such a thing? No. They came to Baale’s place and began to break bottles and use machetes to slap people,” said Mr. Salako, 42.
On Thursday afternoon, the entire part of the community on land had been destroyed. Dozens of armed police officers kept watch as a backhoe pulled down the remaining structures that were still standing.
Those living on water were removing the zinc sheets on the roofs of their wooden homes and frantically packing their belongings into canoes.
“They told us to leave immediately because they are bringing speed boats to come and destroy everything,” said Francis Esisu.
In a statement on Thursday, JEI condemned the actions of the police and other private parties working on their behest.
“We decry the extremely false and misleading press release issued by the Nigerian Police Force in the late afternoon of 9 November 2016 that seeks to characterize the police’s actions as a ‘rescue,’ while announcing that the community in question will be taken over by the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and remaining structures will be demolished,” said Megan Chapman, the group’s co-founder.
“We note that there is absolutely no legal basis for eviction or taking over of land in the aftermath of either security or fire incident. We further note there have been no statutory or paper notices whatsoever served on any residents of Otodo Gbame.
“Rather, the police are acting completely outside the scope of the law and in overt disregard for a subsisting order of court. We call on all conscientious citizens concerned for democracy and rule of law to join in condemning this action.”
A DEATH BLOW
Over the past two years, the Otodo Gbame people had fought to remain in their community amidst threats of eviction from the Elegushi chieftaincy family and the government.
In 2014, a prince from the royal family arrived the community to place a seven-day eviction notice.
The inhabitants headed to court. By 2015, the community had instituted, at least, two suits before the court – one over land ownership against the Elegushi family at the state high court and another over the destruction of over 250 of their houses in 2013 at the federal high court.
PREMIUM TIMES’ repeated requests to interview Saheed Elegushi, the traditional ruler of Ikate, met a brick wall. An aide to the king told this reporter to “be visiting and, maybe, one day the Oba will be in the mood to talk.”
But in an interview he granted the News Agency of Nigeria last year, Mr. Elegushi said the people at Otodo Gbame were not originally settled there.
“It is important to first and foremost know the facts,” Mr. Elegushi said.
“You, visit the place and assess the soil there. Does it look like a place that has been in existence for 300 years? All these people are squatters from Banana Island, and other transit places.
“Are you going to tell me that somebody would be somewhere for 300 years and there would be no proper structures (on ground)?”
On October 9, Governor Ambode ordered the demolition of illegal structures in waterfronts across the state and gave the inhabitants a seven-day ultimatum to vacate the areas.
According to the governor, such shanties are often used as hideouts by kidnappers and militants before using the waterways to move their victims to another location.
“You will see that most of the issues that we have with kidnappings are being brought up by those who are illegal settlers by the waterfront,” Mr. Ambode said while inspecting the Ilubirin Housing Scheme on Lagos Island.
“We will commence demolition of all the shanties around the creeks in Lagos State and around our waterways in the next seven days. I have given directives to that effect to the appropriate agencies.”
The governor’s directive triggered a wave of protests from waterfront residents who marched to the Government House to register their displeasure. But their calls for a retraction of the notice were ignored.
Earlier in the year, in March, over 100 slum dwellers in Otodo Gbame community besieged the Lagos State Government House protesting dredging and sand-filling activities near their homes.
Hoodlums on Wednesday night burnt down the house of a former lawmaker, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, in Akpabu community, Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It was learned that the development had caused panic in the community, as the incident was said to have happened less than 24 hours before an Appeal Court upheld the election of Sam Ogeh, the former lawmaker’s opponent in the March 19, 2016 State House of Assembly rerun election.
While Lloyd, who was the former Leader of the State House of Assembly contested on the platform of the All Progressives Alliance, Ogeh vied for the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
It was learnt that the hoodlums, who wore military camouflage, invaded Lloyd’s home at 8pm and set ablaze some aspects of his building.
A community source, Mr. Chijioke (surname withheld), disclosed that the arsonists invaded the community and caused anxiety with heavy gunfire.
Chijioke noted that the security quarters and the visitors’ lodge were burnt by the hoodlums, whose identity are yet unknown.
He said that property worth millions of naira at the guest house and in the security building were burnt.
The source further said it was the swift intervention of security operatives in the area that prevented the arsonists from attacking the main building.
The source said, “The building of former leader of Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, has been burnt by unknown persons. The security room and the boys’ quarters were burnt. They did not touch the main building.”
Meanwhile, Lloyd has confirmed the attack on his house. He said that a group of men in military camouflage invaded his house and set it ablaze.
He explained that he had earlier received a threat message by a person suspected to be a cult member before the arson.
Speaking on the matter, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Francis Odesanya, said the incident was caused by fire, adding that the main building was not burnt.
There was confusion on the Lagos Island on Friday when about 50 hoodlums, mostly teenagers, invaded five streets, where they killed a resident, Ade Busari, and looted several shops.
It was gathered that the hoodlums were armed with daggers and machetes during the attack.
It was learnt that Busari was killed around 2pm while going for an Islamic prayer.
Busari was reportedly killed on Odunfa Street.
Reporters gathered that the men, who were said to have mobilised from another part of the Lagos Island, vandalised vehicles parked by the roadside.
Policemen from the Adeniji Adele division and operatives of the Rapid Response Squad were said to have attempted to curtail the attack.
A resident on Odunfa Street, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our correspondent that Busari, who was married with children, was pursued by the armed hoodlums before being hacked to death.
He alleged that Busari was killed by one of the gang’s leaders identified as Azeez, alias Small Zego.
He said, “The boys got to the area around 2pm and began to loot some of the shops. Most traders quickly locked their shops and ran home. The hoodlums did not have guns; but they had daggers and machetes.
“The victim was going to pray in a mosque. As he passed by them, one of the robbers shouted, ‘That’s him. He is one of them.’ They encircled Busari and began to cut him with machetes. One of the gang’s leaders, Azeez, alias Small Zego, brought out a knife and stabbed him to death. The police later came to remove his corpse. There is still tension in the area.”
An Islamic cleric on Massey Street said the police brought four tanks to the area on Saturday.
He said, “People have refused to come to their shops today (Saturday) as a result of the robbery and the death. I could not go for my Islamic prayers on Friday as a result of the tension. But the police brought four tanks to Odunfa on Saturday and peace is gradually returning.”
A trader, who claimed he was stabbed by the hoodlums, said, “I was about locking my shop when the robbers got to my street. One of them stabbed me in the hand because I did not want them to loot my shop. There was a crowd of gangsters; it was as if they were on a rally. They wore only shirts and jean trousers. They vandalised any vehicle and tricycle they found by the roadside. It was after they had looted about three streets that the police brought the tanks.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said three suspects were arrested during the attack, adding that they had been charged to court.
She said, “Hoodlums engaged one another in a fight on those streets. They damaged seven vehicles. Three suspects – Komeji Idris, Ola Saka and Ishola Adams – were arrested and they were arraigned in court on Friday.
“They have been remanded at the Ikoyi prison. The police do not have any record of death. However, the family of the deceased can come forward to file a report to assist police investigations. The command is on the trail of other suspects and order has returned to the area now.”
The Oyo State Police Command on Wednesday said one person was killed when hoodlums clashed in Oja’ba area of Ibadan.
However, some of the residents of the area claimed six persons were killed during the clash.
Trouble began on Tuesday evening when a group named Idowu Boys, with support from Zaccheus Boys, threatened to attack an unnamed group.
A resident of the area said Idowu Boys and the unnamed group had engaged in a deadly street fight in the past.
The source said, “Idowu Boys said they had an unfinished business with the other group after a recent clash. The members said they would attack the group after joining forces with Zaccheus Boys on Tuesday evening, so there was commotion in the area. We had to close our shops and stayed indoors because of what happened in the past.
“From what I heard, Idowu Boys said the other group killed one of their members recently and that they were prepared to take their revenge on them. They ambushed them around Gege, leading to a fight that left three dead. We later heard that six persons eventually died in the clash.”
Another eyewitness said the hoodlums initially fought with broken bottles and sticks, but resorted to the use of guns and other weapons as the fight progressed.
The Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said police had restored calm in the area.
He said, “Only one person died. The Commissioner of Police has ordered a 24-hour security coverage of the affected areas with a view to protecting lives and property. Some arrests have been made. Normalcy has returned.”
A worker with the Lagos State Waste Management Agency, Oluwaseun Thomas, is currently on admission at a private hospital on the Lagos Island, after hoodlums stabbed him in the eye for allegedly reporting their activities to the police.
Thomas was said to have been beaten up by the hoodlums, before they stabbed him in the eye.
Punch Metro learnt that Thomas, whose work area was Oja Oba Market on Dosumu Street, was initially rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba, to remove the hoodlums’ knife which was left in his head, before being taken to a private hospital for further treatment.
It was gathered that Thomas had supplied information, through a community leader in the area, to the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, that hoodlums kept weapons in a hideout in the market.
The SARS policemen were said to have stormed the market, and recovered the weapons, including cutlasses, knives and guns, but they were unable to arrest the hoodlums.
On Thursday, January 21, 2016, at about 9pm, Thomas, who was on a night duty, was clearing some refuse in the market when the hoodlums attacked him.Apart from Thomas, some other workers of the agency at the market were also attacked.
After stabbing him in the eye through the side of his head, the hoodlums abandoned the LAWMA worker by the roadside with the knife stuck in his eye.Residents, who alerted the police at the Adeniji Adele division, were said to have also rushed him to LUTH.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro, a resident, Saheed Alatise, said he initially thought the hoodlums came to extort money from the LAWMA workers.
He said, “The hoodlums got information that some LAWMA workers gave the police information on the location of their weapons.
“It was not only Seun (Thomas) that they attacked. They stabbed other LAWMA workers who were rushed to the Lagos Island General Hospital for treatment as well.“However, they focused on Thomas as they threw him to the ground and punched him. They brought out knives and stabbed him, leaving one of the knives in his eye.”
Our correspondent gathered that a LAWMA driver, identified simply as Suraju, and one Azeez Taofeeq, were among those who sustained injuries.
Another eyewitness, identified only as Alao, said,
“The hoodlums were about 10 men. They were led by Agoro, Matanmi and Marcus. Thomas had informed the police about their criminal activities in the market. That was why the hoodlums came after him.”
A woman, who is a community leader, but spoke on condition of anonymity, said the attack on the LAWMA worker was successful partly because he put on his earphones on the night of the incident.
She said, “Thomas just finished secondary school and he is looking for money to start his university education.
“His father is late, and the boy is just struggling. His offence was that he hinted us that hoodlums were hiding guns in the market
“After that police operation, they came after him. What made the attack successful was that he had earphones on and did not hear the commotion when the hoodlums stormed the market. The knife has been removed, but he is still in a coma.”
Thomas could not speak with PUNCH Metro due to his condition. Doctors at the hospital said he was still unconscious.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, also confirmed the incident, adding that the police were waiting for the complainant to give a lead on the arrest of the hoodlums.
She said, “The matter was reported on that day and the police gave the victim a medical paper to go to the hospital and treat himself. However, he has not turned up since then to allow the police follow up the case.“The police have been calling him to provide a statement that will lead us to make an arrest, but we have not seen him. We assume he is no longer interested in pursuing the matter.”
Some hoodlums have invaded Iya Agan Street on Old Apapa Road in the Ebute-Meta area of Lagos State, killing a 23-year-old, identified only as Dada.
It was learnt that the hoodlums, who wielded guns and cutlasses, asked residents not to panic while they slaughtered Dada, alias Ratio, saying they (hoodlums) did not come for innocent lives.
The 23-year-old, whose family members or address, had yet to be known, was killed around 5.30pm on Friday in the area.
It was learnt that anxious residents, however, contacted the vigilance group in the area, which in turn contacted the Iponri Police Division.
It was gathered that when policemen arrived at the scene, Dada’s corpse was recovered, but the hoodlums had fled.
On Monday, some of the residents said they wanted to flee when they heard the gunshots, but the hoodlums calmed them down, saying they only trailed a rival member to the area, and they had no plan to unleash terror on anyone.
A shop owner, who gave his name only as Abimbola, said the attackers came in two tricycles, otherwise known as Keke Marwa.
He said,the gunshots did not have effect, they slaughtered him with a cutlass.”
A resident, who declined to mention her name, said Dada was known to be moving with the Fagbayimu Boys, adding that rival hoodlums, trailed him to the area.
She said, “Those hoodlums had come on Tuesday to attack a shop owner and collected his phones and money. So, when we saw them again on Friday, we were afraid. But they said they knew the person they were looking for.
“Minutes later, they found Dada and started shooting at him. There was a man who came to repair his car at a mechanic workshop at that time, he left his car and climbed a fence in fear. But the hoodlums continued to assure
people around the scene that they should not run.
“ I do not know the deceased’s family members, but he was usually seen with the Fagabayimu Boys. When we told the man on the fence that the hoodlums had gone and he should come down, he refused.”
One of the executives of the vigilance group, Mr. Ishola Agbodemu, said one of the hoodlums, identified only as Ayo, was caught on Saturday and handed over to the Anti-Robbery Section of the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.
He said, “The hoodlums wanted to start reprisals in our area, but we brought out vigilance group members to apprehend them. On Saturday, one of the suspects, Ayo, was caught with weapons. They were actually three, but we caught one of them.
“He is at the SDCI, and the police are interrogating him.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos,confirmed the killing.
She added that investigation was ongoing into the incident.
The Executive publisher of Prime Magazine, a Badagry based publication, Yomi Olomofe was on Thursday June 25th beaten to a pulp by hoodlums suspected to be smugglers for allegedly reporting their illicit activities in Badagry, Lagos state Narrating his ordeal to Vanguard, Mr Olomofe said
“I was with another colleague of mine on a visit to the command, when some smugglers, who claimed that journalists have been writing negative stories about them, pounced on me. While beating me, they threatened to kill me so as to serve as deterrent to journalists writing stories about them. I was there with the correspondent of Tide Newspaper, thank God a friend from Rotary Club came to take me away, I would have been dead, because I was left there almost lifeless. These hoodlums are not unknown. They are known to everybody, but they are above the law. They even told me that they have killed many people and nothing happened” he said
He said his life is in danger. See another photo below…
The issuance of Certificate of Return to lawmakers-elect in Osun State was almost marred by violence on Monday, as some hoodlums attacked a lawmaker-elect from Ife East Constituency, Mr. Akinwole Akinwale.
The lawmaker-elect was about leaving the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission when some miscreants waylaid him and prevented him from leaving the venue. Reporters observed that there was a brief fight at the gate of the INEC, but the crisis was quickly resolved.
Akinwole later told our correspondent on the telephone that those who attacked him were sent by a former commissioner from Ife.
He said that he had been told that he would not be allowed to collect the Certificate of Return but he did not take the warning seriously.
He said, “I was attacked by some boys who said that the former commissioner had said I should not be allowed to take the certificate. I was told he asked them to shoot me if I insisted on collecting it.
“I was attacked while coming out of the INEC office and they tore my clothes. The policemen who were there tried to rescue me and I was ferried out of the place in the Speaker’s car.”
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola, advised the lawmakers-elect to set aside their political differences and work together to move the state forward.
The REC urged the legislators-elect not to betray the trust reposed in them by the electorate who voted for them.
Responding, lawmakers-elect said they were ready to work for the development of the state, irrespective of their party affiliation.
The Deputy Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Mr. Akintunde Adegboye, who spoke on behalf of the 24 lawmakers elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, lauded the Speaker, Mr. Najem Salam, for the way he had led the assembly for the past four years.
The PDP lawmaker-elect from Ife Central, Mr. Oladejo Makinde, lauded the INEC for being fair in the conduct of the election. He said that the lawmakers-elect were friends and would unite to move the state forward.
Sporadic shootings was witnessed around 10:30am Saturday in Ozuaha community in Ikwerre Local Government Area. Thugs who had barricaded the road into the town, opened fire on a team of policemen and military police escorting Corps members to their polling unit.
The gun duel which lasted for about 25 minutes, has since left the town looking like a ghostyard. According to a police officer who helped brought the situation under control, the armed thugs advanced towards Ubima, hometown of governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi.
As a result of the development, the corpers and electoral materials were kept in several buses, preparing to leave the community. Our correspondent who arrived the area 5 minutes after the gun duel, saw pieces of shattered ballot boxes on the major road leading into the town. Tension was still very high when our correspondent left the area 30 minutes later.
INEC has said hoodlums forcibly snatched about 14,000 Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) from officials of the commission during the collection exercise in Rivers State.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mrs. Gesila Khan, made the disclosure while speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt on Friday. She said some of the cards were stolen from local government collection centres where the PVCs were deposited at the close of the collection exercise to enable the rightful owners pick them up at their own time before the elections.
Khan also said over 50,000 PVCs would be distributed to their owners before the general election, adding that more than 80 per cent of the registered voters in the state have collected their PVCs. She stated that her office received 2,990,056 PVCs and distributed 1,869,379.
