Lagos govt, police battle street hawkers, traffic robbers

For those salesmen vending assorted items in Lagos traffic, some hard times are just by the corner. The authorities in Lagos State say they will soon bare their fangs on street traders.
The sight of the slightest traffic jam on Lagos roads is, surely, a prayer answered for street hawkers. They surface from nowhere to cash in on the unpalatable experience for their own benefits. As long as the traffic lasts, the hawkers, young and old, male and female, lay siege to the road and freely sell their commodities. The heavier the gridlock, the happier they get.

In the traffic on any major road in Lagos, you see hawkers of every item, including machetes, knives, assorted alcoholic drinks, recharge cards, shoe racks, live chickens and such items.
For the Lagos State government and many residents, more worrisome are the several reports on the activities of persons who masquerade as hawkers and beggars during the day, especially in traffic, but whose sole aim is to perpetrate evil and rob unsuspecting motorists and commuters of their valuables.
Aside from the far-reaching implication of street trading in terms of accidents, which are fatal in most cases, street trading also affects the free flow of traffic in the metropolis as well as contradicts the environmental sanitation laws. Such hawkers and their customers litter the roads with waste, it was gathered.

The Lagos government has repeatedly vowed to rid the state of street trading by fully enforcing the provisions of the law restricting that kind of trade.

Section one of the Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003, restricts street trading and hawking in the metropolis. Sections seven and eight of the same law gives jurisdiction and power to the special court to order the seizure and public auction of items impounded from street traders. Section 10 of the law prescribes a N5000 fine or three months imprisonment upon conviction.
Despite several warnings by the government that the hawkers should be safety conscious, steer clear of the streets and ensure they seek for spaces in various markets designated for trading in the state, the act has continued unabated.

A young man in his early 20s, only identified as Chisom, was a popular sausage roll hawker around the 7UP/Tollgate area of Lagos. He bought a commercial yellow bus, commonly called danfo, in less than one year of selling in traffic. His swift success raised so many questions within his neighbourhood, but the new bus owner attributed his breakthrough to hard work and God’s favour. However, in a quick succession, there was a dramatic turnaround in Chisom’s story. He was paraded by the police on the television after he was allegedly caught during a robbery in the state.

Similarly, sometime in 2011, a young boy was caught in the dead hour of the night, using a digger to expand a pothole at Dopemu bus stop on the Lagos Abeokuta Expressway. A mobile police officer was said to have sighted the small boy while he was driving at the other side of the road to Oshodi. Upon the officer’s enquiry, the young boy explained that he was filling the road, but further checks by the curious policeman confirmed his suspicion that the boy was doing more harm to the already affected portion. The boy later confessed to be a hawker in traffic.                                                                                                                                             

Perturbed by the unhealthy development, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode recently said after an emergency Security Council Meeting, which he chaired, it had become evident that traffic crimes and robbery were mostly as a result of the menace of okada riders and street hawkers. He said his government would not allow a few notorious elements to cause a breakdown in law and order and upset the peace that the state had enjoyed over the years.
Ambode urged residents to cooperate with the government at all times, just as he warned them against the dangers of patronising street hawkers. He assured that the government was working hard to curtail their activities.

“The next hawker could be a robber or terrorist. You are now well advised. If we all cooperate and decide not to buy, gradually and collectively, the hawkers will not come to the highways and streets anymore. We have already hit the ground running. I’m deeply concerned about the issues that Lagosians are sending back to me, and the issues range from security issues, gridlock and the environment itself. Our roads will definitely become safer,” he stated.  Some days back in the wee hours of the day, operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos Police Command arrested three ex-convicts for traffic robbery in Oshodi. The robbery suspects – Adekunle Mustapha, 21, Popoola Olumide, 20, and Femi Amusa, 20 –  were arrested, following a tip off from their victim, Olasunkanmi Oyelakin, who alerted the police that his blackberry phone was stolen by the suspects during the early morning traffic around Bolade, Oshodi.

The victim told the Police: “I was on my way to Ajah at about 6.30am; I saw Adekunle Mustapha pass by the bus I boarded. There was a traffic jam. As I brought out my phone, Mustapha took it from me through the bus window and ran away. I noticed that he had regrouped with his friends. I knew I couldn’t handle the three of them all alone, so I informed the RRS operatives, who followed me down to the place where he was arrested.”

Also, men of the RRS apprehended Timothy Ojomandu, 22, alleged to be a member of a three-man syndicate who attacks and robs law-abiding motorists around the Mile 2 area of the state. The suspect was recently caught in the act at about 7.30pm, by the policemen, who responded to a distress call made by a victim – the driver of a Mitsubishi Canter with registration number, FKJ 676 XF. But that was after the suspect and his gang members had successfully stolen one carton of cell battery from the truck that was fully loaded.

The lorry driver, Mr. Ajiboye Mogaji, who accompanied the suspect to the RRS Headquarters at Alausa, told the police that he sighted the suspect from the side mirror of his vehicle when he sneaked in through the back of the truck, but he pretended as if he didn’t see him.  Hear him: “While inside the truck, he passed one carton to his partner, who was moving beside the vehicle. I rushed down on motion. However, when his partner saw me alight from the vehicle, he absconded with that one carton but I held the suspect by his trousers when he wanted to jump down from the truck. Then, I shouted for help and the policemen from RRS, who were patrolling the area responded swiftly to the distress call.”

In the same vein, the RRS men on August 25, apprehended one Tijani Taofeek, 26, suspected to be a member of a gang that robs in traffic around Ojota. The operatives acted on incessant complaints from motorists and pedestrians plying the roads, many of whom had been victims of this criminal act on many occasions.

The suspect, who hails from Ogbomosho in Oyo State, said that he was a bus conductor, and that the income from his job was no longer sufficient for him.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Mr. Oluwatoyin Onisarotu, also warned that traders that did not abide by the state environmental sanitation law would henceforth be seriously dealt with.

In his words: “It is disheartening to see how our major roads and highways like Apapa – Oshodi Expressway, Ikorodu Road, Agege Motor Road, Victoria Island, Ikoyi – Obalende, Ojuelegba – Stadium, Surulere, Oyingbo, Carter Bridge, Idumota, Oshodi, Ketu, Mile 12, Third Mainland Bridge, Cele, Iyana-Ipaja, Agbado Oke-Odo, Airport Road, Ikeja, among others have been converted to illegal markets.”

Many residents of Lagos are also worried by the menace caused by some street traders, who display their wares close to the main road, especially at most of the busy bus stops. Their illegal activities usually lead to heavy traffic on the road, causing motorists untold agony.
Chairman of the State Task Force on Environmental and Other Special Offences (Enforcement Unit), Mr. Olubukola Abe, told newsmen in Lagos recently that activities of the hawkers actually added to traffic congestion on the highways.

“We are putting a searchlight on this trend and one way to do that is to ensure that we take pre-emptive measures to forestall this development,” he said.
Aside from the criminal aspect of street trading, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, warned of the possible health hazards of patronising such hawkers. He cited the recent arrest of five men who were caught by operatives of the RRS, selling adulterated plastic table water and coca-cola.
“The law on street trading also affects its patrons. People should stop patronising street hawkers,” the police boss warned.

Source:The Sun

How drunken gang member shot dead 9 DSS officials at Arepo —Agbara robbery kingpin

LAGOS—Leader of the dreaded gang of bank robbers which had been terrorising commercial banks in Lagos and Ogun states in military uniforms has disclosed that his gang never intended to kill nine officials of the Department of State Service, DSS, who went missing last September.

The suspect, identified as Kelly Fotor, an Ijaw native of Arugbo, Ondo State, was arrested last Saturday by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team, SIRT, at a wedding ceremony in Sapele, Delta State.

Gun battle with Police and arrest

Vanguard gathered that the suspect, who was at the ceremony with some armed men, had a gun duel with the operatives which led to the killing of one of the policemen, while Fotor and  three of his colleagues, were arrested with bullet wounds.

It was gathered that the SIRT operatives, led by CSP, Abba Kyari, who had been on the trail of the gang, trailed Fotor to the wedding ceremony after their last operation at Agbara area of Ogun State where they robbed a bank and left three persons, including a pregnant woman, dead.

Fotor, who sustained a bullet wound during the  shootout, told Vanguard while he was being transported for treatment that he was the leader of the South South group of the gang.

He explained that the gang also had a Lagos leader who he identified as Ossy, adding that his gang was made up of 12 men, including himself, with bases in Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Ondo states.

Fotor also said his gang normally teamed up with their Lagos group for operations, disclosing to Vanguard that  he and his gang were formerly  into sea piracy before teaming up with Ossy.

According to him, Ossy is the leader of the pipeline vandals at Arepo and Ikorodu areas.

Lekki, Ikorodu, Festac and Agbara robbery operations

Fotor also said he and his men took part in the Lekki, Ikorodu, Festac and Agbra bank robberies, adding that they made N28 million from Agbara bank robbery.

“I and my group got N14 million share from the Agbara operation, while, Ossy and his group got N14 million. I left Lagos by waters that day after that operation with my men back to Igbokoda, Ondo State, where we shared the money and everyone got his share of the loot.

‘’It was Ossy’s men who usually pick out our targets. They were the ones who picked out all the targets, my job was to give support and my boat is very big and my boat boy is a professional and knows his way around the water very well,” he stated

When  Vanguard inquired who was the woman in the group, he explained that there   was no   woman in the gang.

He, however, said it was one of Ossy’s boys who normally dressed like a woman during operations.

How the DSS operatives were killed

On how they killed the nine DSS officials, Fotor told Vanguard that as commanders of the groups, he and Ossy never intended to kill the operatives when they were captured.

He explained that the operatives stormed their hideout wanting to rescue a woman who they abducted from Festac.

He explained further:  “ One of our boys who was heavily drunk met us while we were interrogating the suspects after we captured them and he opened fire on them.

‘’I was at their camp at Ikorodu when the DSS operatives were captured and they brought them before me and Ossy and they knelt down and we interrogated them, but that guy, he was Ossy’s man.  He was very drunk, walked in and without asking questions opened fire on all of them and killed them.  Neither myself nor Ossy ordered their killing, we never wanted to kill them,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered that Fotor and three other suspects arrested along with him have been transferred to Abuja, while SIRT operatives are still combing the area for other members of the gang.

Source:Vanguard

Mystery deaths: Man dies 11 months after wife’s controversial demise

■Wife allegedly killed by boyfriend
What would have caused the death of Chief Law­rence Ugochuk­wu Ifewulu just eleven months after the messy murder of his 35-year-old charming wife, Martha Ifeoma Ifewulu, who was gruesomely slaughtered in her home in the Oke-Afa area of Lagos, on December 1, 2014.

The late Chief Ifewulu died three weeks ago of some strange illness, but family members said he died of complications from hypertension and diabetes. Ac­cording to a source close to the family, the late Ifewulu had some blisters on his hand and legs giving reasons to suspect that he might have died of unnatural cir­cumstances. The death of Chief Ifewulu has left his four pretty children orphans.

A visit by Sunday Sun to the Ifewulu compound on Thursday showed that the gate to his house was securely locked with nobody in sight. While the controversy over the death of his wife raged last year, the late Ifewulu had come out openly to alleged that his late wife may have met her untimely death in the hands of her boyfriend, one Collins Nwafor, who he suspected could have done so to prevent her from divulging their evil plans to kill him(Ifewulu), dispose him of his assets and elope to Canada with his children.

Having accused his wife of infidelity, Ifewulu had spoken to Sunday Sun, substantiating his suspicion. His words: “I had no two persons I hold as prime suspects. I am not having any doubt or maybe suspecting any two or three people. Even if he (Nwafor) did not execute it by himself, he sent some people to carry out the operation. I am quite sure of who killed my wife; he is responsible. This is beyond suspicion.

This guy went as far as telling me that he had been dating my wife for two years. He went as far as telling me that if they kill me, they would sell my house and then he would take her and the kids to Canada. After all he told me about all that had been transpiring between my wife and himself, he expected me to divorce my wife but I did not do so. He would have thought that so many things were hidden and that if I should con­tinue to live with my wife, she would tell me all and he would not be safe any more.”

The said Nwafor was accused to have been cited in a picture he took with late Ifeoma where he added the comment, “Perfect match”.
Late Ifewulu had claimed that his late wife had confessed to the illicit affair with Nwafor, in a rather repentant manner which called for his forgiving heart.

At the instance of the murder of late Ifeoma that black after­noon, Nwafor allegedly fled for his dear life so as not to be ap­prehended by the police who had come for him at his residence which was only a mile away from that of the Ifewulus.
Further findings had revealed that late Ifeoma had, on several occasions, sent the two maids living with the family to deliver both food and money to her to-be suspected killer.

On the fateful day of the incident on December 1, the corpse of late Ifeoma was discovered by her maid who had just come back from school with the children at 3.30pm. As they got into the house through the rear staircase, the maid and the children were confronted by the sight of blood splashed all over the floor, and flowing freely down the stairs. The maid tip-toed upstairs, wondering where the blood had come from. It was then that she and the children saw the dead body of Ifeoma sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood.

The maid raised the alarm that attracted the attention of their female neighbour. The sight of Ifeoma with the silky-soft skin of her throat hideously slashed with a knife as one would do to a goat was gut-wrenching. The female neighbour equally screamed upon sighting the corpse. It was long sustained for help that brought other neighbours from nearby house rushing into the compound to know what was amiss. They too were shocked to the marrow.

While still sobbing, the female neighbour called Ifewulu on the phone, and frantically urged him to rush back home immediately, but the neighbour kept him in the dark about the death of his wife. All the way home, Ifewulu wondered what could have hap­pened. It was when Ifewulu got home at 5.00pm that he was told about the murder of his wife. Soon after the chairman of the estate called the DPO of Ejigbo Police Division and informed him about the incident, and the police rushed to the scene within 30 minutes.

Since the demise of Ifeoma, nothing has been heard about Nwafor, excerpt that he spoke from his hide-out to a media house (not Sunday Sun).

Nwafor’s confession
“I am Collins Nwafor , 39, from Umuawulu in Awka South L.G.A, Anambra State. I read Marketing at the IMT, Enugu. I left school in 1999 and served in Edo State in 2010. After that, I proceeded to Port-Harcourt where I started life as a clearing agent with Chapman Resources.
From there, I went to South Africa where I stayed for about four years deal­ing on telephone accessories. I came back to Nigeria in 2011 and later proceeded to Europe, Germany and Norway where I spent about two years. I came back in September 2012.

On June 13, 2013, I met Mrs. Ifeoma Ifewulu at her shop in Ago Palace Way, Lagos. I was passing through the Mall on that street, I saw people promoting their goods in the shop and both of us watched them after which we exchanged numbers.

From there, we started exchanging calls and we became intimate friends. The first time we made love was in her car, a green Honda Baby Boy, after she dropped me in front of my house. We were there till 12 midnight and I asked if she was married but she did not reply. Later, she spent a weekend with me and when I insisted on knowing her marital status, she told me that her husband is a big man but she wanted to feel good.

She said she needed company and that she had two boys and two girls. From then, our love blossomed. After sometime, she told me that her husband’s birthday was in August, I advised her how to commemorate it with him, buy food and take the kids to his office as a surprise which she did and she later told me that her husband appreciated it. We continued our relationship till December when she even spent the Christmas with me after her husband bought a Toyota Corolla for her.
I also discovered that she had many other boyfriends.

My investigation showed that I was the fourth in the series of boyfriends she had. Nevertheless, we continued our relationship till April when her mother died”. other boyfriends. My investigation
In his confession, Nwafor dissociated himself from the murder of his concu­bine while pointing an accusing finger at a wealthy and influential Clear­ing and Forwarding Agent (name withheld) who he claimed was crushing after Ifeoma and had always enticed her with money.

Despite that facts had emerged on the demise of mother of four kids in broad day light, her hus­band too, Chief, died on Friday, October 30. The controversy behind the death in the family of the Ifewulus remains what may have left all with a rhetor­ical questioning — Who killed Ifeoma? How and why did Chief Ifewulu die almost a year after the controversial death of his beloved wife?

As if Christmas seasons are meant to be horrible and dark moments for them, the four bereaved children of the late cou­ple – Chidera, Ugochuchukwu, Mesioma and Onyinyechi – are still counting the irreparable loss of their parents.

A lady who simply introduced herself as a niece to late Chief Ifewulu, told our correspondent that Ifewulu died as a result of acute diabetes and hypertension. “He was sick and you know he has been diabetic and hyperten­sive. A week before his death, his sugar level rose to 300mg while his BP rose to about 180 mg. When we rushed him to the hospital, doctors tried to control the BP and sugar level but they couldn’t and that was how we decided to rush him to another hospital but he died on the way.

She also revealed that late Ifewulu had been sick since he married Ifeoma, and his health condition aggravated when his wife died.
The four children of the de­ceased are reportedly at present in the custody of a relation, Ngo­zi, while the wake keep has been slated for December 3, 2015 and his burial for January 7-9, 2016.
Source:The Sun

I went into robbery because my salary can’t take care of my 2 wives and 3 children, graduate teacher tells police

Nemesis has finally caught up with five Fulani men suspected to be members of a notorious kidnapping and armed robbery gang who for years had terrorized Oke­ho and Iganna communities, in Iwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State and environs.

The suspects were arrested following re­ports of armed robbery and kidnapping of notable figures by hoodlums who were said to be armed with high calibre rifles.

They were identified as Abdullahi Mo­hammed, 35, Abubakar Abubakar, 28, Damanya Gambo, 30, Usman Idris, Usman Saidu, 30, Hassan Maikudi, 30, who alleg­edly led the gang to kidnap his own father and collected a ransom of N1.5million before releasing him. Others were said to have fled into the bush as the N200,000 and several charms used in evading arrest were recovered from the suspects when police swooped on them.

On their arrest, Saturday Sun learnt that the Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase deployed the Special Intelligence Response Team, SIRT, to Oyo State, to track and apprehend the culprits. The team on arriving Okeho and Iganna com­munities, went undercover for two weeks gathering intelligence from locals, before swooping on five members of the gang.

Most victims of the suspects were rich cattle traders residing within Iwajowa LGA and traders plying the route for business in the neighbouring Benin Republic.
At the police station, one of the sus­pects, Mohammad Abudulahi, a Fulani from Kwara State, who is also a graduate of Mathematics, married to two wives and has three children, said that it was his quest to be a rich man that landed him into crime.

He explained that after graduating from the university that he managed to secure a teaching job where he earned just N15,000 monthly, which he said was too poor for him. “Before I was arrested, I was a teacher and I quit my job because I wanted to join the Nigerian Army. I applied but I wasn’t admitted. I obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) from Kwara State Poly­technic in Mathematics and Statistics in 2005 and I went further to obtain a BSc in Mathematics from Kwara State University and I graduated in 2009, before proceeding for National Youth Service. I started work­ing in 2011. I got a job at a private second­ary school in Okeho.

“I taught Physics and Mathematics and I earned N15000 monthly. I was very popular among most residents of the area especially people of my tribe. I grew up in that area with my parents and siblings. I was also staying there with my wives and children. Though most of my friends who knew I was well educated, knew I wasn’t making enough money from my job.

“Few years ago, two of them, Daman­ya and Abubakar, approached me with an idea, that since I was highly respected and well known in the community, that I could always make good money for myself, by giving them information about rich people residing in the community. I asked what they needed to do with such information, they said in most cases they will either rob or kidnap such persons.

I told them that I can’t do such because my eyes are very bad, and I could barely see at night. Damanya told me that all they needed was for me to always look out for potential tar­gets and when it is identified, in the case of kidnapping I will be on ground to gather intelligence from relatives of the victims. In other cases, he said I will have to trail and give them information on persons they want to rob,” he narrated.

Recounting some of their exploits, Abudulahi said his job of intelligence gath­ering led to several successful robberies and kidnappings. “We did a couple of jobs. I gave them information when they wanted to rob a cattle rearer after he has sold cattle. I informed them when the man came home and I followed him secretly until he mount­ed a motorcycle. I gave them that informa­tion, and by evening news went round that the man had been robbed and the money he made from the sale of his cattle was carted away. In that operation, I got N40,000 as my share of the loot.

There were several other times, when they blocked the highway leading to the border and robbed traders going for busi­ness across the border and dispossess them of their monies. When they returned, they will bring my own share; this is because they don’t want me to tell anyone who car­ried out those operations.

“There were several operations we did together and I usually get my share but last month they went and kidnapped on Alhaji Maikudi, who is a rich cattle rearer. It was his son, Hassan, who brought the job and I don’t know what his reason was. Hassan is also my friend, but he works with his fa­ther has a herdsman and they have several cows. He gave the information to Danma­yan and they kidnapped his father and took him into the bush and kept him there for one week before a N1.5million was paid as ransom before he was released. During the operation, I was in the community moni­toring what was happening.

I was attending meetings and I took part in planning how we will go and look for Alhaji Maikudi. My father also took part in the search. He was also in the bush looking for Alhaji.
“Some of my gang members were also with them and they were always relaying information to those keeping Alhaji. On my part, I was always giving them information about any plan that was to be carried out in the community. At the end, Hassan ensured that the sum of N1.5million was paid as ran­som after some of his father’s cattles were sold.

He got N700,000 as his own share, while, I, Abubakar, Damanya and Saidu, got N200, 000 each. I had barely spent my own money when I was arrested by the po­lice. I was picked up in a bar, where I had gone to have some drinks. The policemen were also in the bar drinking and I didn’t know that they were policemen. I liked the way they were seated and offered to buy them some drinks, but before I knew what was happening, I was arrested and whisked away. I thought the policemen were from Ibadan on routine raid and I threatened to call my lawyer, it was when I got here that I realised that I was in a deep mess. I told the police the role I played and took them to my house and handed over my N200, 000 share of the ransom.”

Another suspect, Abubakar Abubkar, also a Fulani, from Kwara State, confessed he had received N80,000 from the gang. He said: “Whenever they go for an opera­tion they usually give me my share. It was Damanya who would instruct Abdulahi to bring the money to me. I am not into the business full time. I have my own business and I sell telephone accessories and every­one within our community knows me very well. The only job I played active role was the kidnap of Alhaji Maikudi.
It was his son, Hassan brought the deal to Damanya and they did all the prepara­tions.

Before the man was abducted, Has­san was the one who monitored the road and informed us when his father left the house and was headed to the mosque, where he was waylaid and abducted. I was also part of the search team that went into the bush to look for the man and I was al­ways sending information to my colleagues keeping the man as we were moving.

After the operation, I learnt, I had a share of N200,000, but I didn’t get it before I was arrested. The police, I don’t know where they came from, stormed my house with a young man from our town. Though, he is not a member of our gang, he knew me very well and they arrested me. I told them all I knew and I led them to arrest oth­ers involved.”
Source:The Sun