Tag Archives: TAXI

Magnus Abe: Wike bought cars for PDP lawmakers but those in APC use taxis.

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Magnus Abe, senator representing Rivers south-east senatorial district, has alleged that lawmakers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Rivers state house of assembly take taxis to work.

Abe said while the state government bought vehicles for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislators, no provision was made for the six lawmakers of the APC.

He accused the administration of Nyesom Wike, the governor, of divisiveness, saying the action of the governor could lead to disunity in parliament.

Abe was speaking in Port Harcourt during a stakeholders’ meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

“Mr. President Sir, the Rivers state house of assembly has 32 members. Out of the 32 members, six are of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Only these six people take taxis to the assembly,” he said.

“All other members drive cars that were bought by the Rivers state government, and the governor tells us it is his personal contribution to the house and these other six people are not entitled.

“In an atmosphere of that nature, it is clear that there can be no unity because it is not the words that we say in the front of television cameras that will bring unity. It is the actions that we take when nobody is watching.”

Efforts made to reach Simeon Nwakaudu, spokesman of the governor, did not yield the desired result. He neither answered his call nor responded to a text message sent.

However, Abe also alleged that there was a “deliberate scheme” by the state authorities to prevent APC stakeholders from attending the meeting.

Abe, who is the chairman, senate committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said the publicity materials which the APC mounted in strategic places to welcome Osinbajo, were destroyed by PDP members.

“At the forum, people talked so much about unity. How we all are united and how what was happening in government house is the united position of all Rivers people,’ he said.

“But, Mr President Sir, let me say that unity is not what we say or do when the acting president of Nigeria is seated and all the television stations are tuned in to what we are doing, unity is what we do when the acting president is not there; when the cameras are not there.

“As a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria, I did not receive an invitation to the meeting. It was at the airport your own staff tried to give us invitation. That is not an act that will promote unity.

“We put up our banners to welcome you to this state, a leading member of PDP had the boldness to go and pull them down. We have reported the matter to the Police. We believe that action must be taken so that the impunity that existed before can no longer exist under this administration.

“I want to thank you for coming here today because if you did not come here, you will not have known that these numbers of Rivers people were shamelessly excluded from the forum.

“Let me use this opportunity to call on the federal government to take a very clear and decisive step to try to bring peace in Rivers State.”

First US Somali Lawmaker Gets ‘Islamophobic Threats’ In Taxi

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The first Somali-American lawmaker in the US has said she was subjected to “hateful” anti-Muslim threats from a taxi driver in Washington DC.

Minnesota Representative-elect Ilhan Omar said the cabbie threatened to remove her hijab during a confrontation on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old said the incident occurred just after she attended policy training at the White House.

Ms Omar, a Democrat, came to the US as a child from a refugee camp in Kenya.

She made history and national headlines last month when she defeated a Republican to gain a seat in Minnesota’s state house of representatives.

“On my way to our hotel, I got in a cab and became subjected to the most hateful, derogatory, Islamophobic, sexist taunts and threats I have ever experienced,” she wrote in a post on social media.

Ilhan Omar's Facebook post 

“The cabdriver called me ISIS [so-called Islamic State] and threatened to remove my hijab, I really wasn’t sure how this encounter would end as I attempted to rush out of his cab and retrieve my belongings.

“I am still shaken by this incident and can’t wrap my head around how bold being (sic) are becoming in displaying their hate toward Muslims.

“I pray for his humanity and for all those who harbor hate in their hearts.”

Read More: bbc

How I was duped inside Lagos taxi – Victim

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A victim of a three-man syndicate that specialises in swindling unsuspecting members of the public by pretending to have their goods seized by the Nigerian Customs has told the police how she was duped of N9,000.

Chiwenu Ibeh said she was going to Ojodu Berger from Ojota, in Lagos, when a taxi driver, in an ash-coloured Toyota Camry 1997 model with registration number SMK 886 DK, stopped at the bus stop to pick her.

“As he drove along, he picked another passenger on Kudirat Abiola Way,” said Mrs. Ibeh.

“We were still on Kudirat Abiola Way when the new passenger started a conversation in something like French language with the driver.”

Mrs. Ibeh said the driver then pleaded with her that he wants to take the new passenger to Custom’s Office on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, where his goods were seized.

“It was here that their story changed and I became the subject of their manipulation in connivance with a Customs agent and a pastor,” she said.

“Under the pretext that the four of us assist the man whose goods were trapped with the Customs over export duties, they brainwashed me into releasing my ATM card, led me to withdraw the last N9,000 from my account.

“After this, the pastor prayed for me and told me to go home and get more money my family kept at home.”

Mrs. Ibeh said the incident occurred last week.

“On Thursday, my husband and I were standing at the Maryland Bus Stop,” she continued.

“I saw the same Toyota Camry with same number plate and a new driver, but beside it was the former driver that lured me into fraud, pretending to be passenger.

“I alerted RRS officers stationed in Maryland and they arrested them.”

In a statement on Sunday, the police said they arrested the driver, Kenneth Umukoro, 36, and his accomplice, Uba Utokcha, 41.

The police said they also arrested two other suspects, Joseph Onuoha and Ikechukwu Okeke separately but in similar circumstances on Tuesday and Wednesday last week respectively.

Mr. Onuoha told interrogators that he belonged to a fraud syndicate led by one man simply identified as Toronto (who is now at large), who trained over 40 of them to go out daily in search of would-be victims, the police statement said.

“When we hit jackpot, we share it into five parts. Toronto takes two parts. Two of us in a team share two and we would share the remaining part to others,” the statement quoted Mr. Onuoha, 40, as saying.

“Presently, our office in Ajegunle has been busted by the police. Toronto as I was told has relocated to somewhere in Surulere. Whenever we have issues with the police, he comes around to secure our bail.”

Dolapo Badmus, the Police Public Relations Officer, said the police would not relent in their duties of making the state crime free and warned members of the public to be wary of suspicious dealings.

The police said the four suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti.

Meet Afghanistan’s Only Female Taxi Driver Who’s Getting Death Threats

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Sara Bahai’s decision to become Afghanistan’s only known female taxi driver has earned her alot of death threats..Bahai, now around 40 years old, had already spent much of her life defying taboos in Afghanistan, where women are widely regarded as inferior to men and discouraged from working outside the home.

According to AP,She never married, she said, because she had to support her parents and siblings and feared a husband would prevent her from working. With no children of her own she adopted two boys, now both in high school. When Taliban insurgents shot and killed her brother-in-law, she took in her sister and seven nieces and nephews. She now supports a dozen people.

To put food on the table, she drives around the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in a spotlessly clean yellow and white Toyota Corolla with sparkly woven seat covers and a good luck talisman in the front window.

“I receive threats from unknown callers who tell me to not drive in the city because I am a woman, because it is against Islam. Some tell me that if I continue to work as a taxi driver they will kill me,” she said.
“Male passengers are very jealous and often abuse me, but I don’t care what they think of me, I am not afraid. I will change the country with whatever ability I have to do so,” she said.

She got her driver’s license in 2002 and is also a mechanic. She earned a university degree in education and now teaches other women to drive so they can be more independent”