₦airaland Forum

The torrential rainfall of almost eight hours on Monday evening claimed the life of a final year student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Akoko Southwest local government.

Sources said the deceased simply called ‘Doyin’, an Indigene of Ekiti state, was away to an unknown destination by heavy flood from a canal very close to her residence in the town.

Her landlord, Elemukona Ademola, who narrowly escaped the raging flood, said: “I had to climb cocoa tree when many people thought I had been carried away by the flood.’’

The landlord said he had made many efforts to curtail the erosion from the canal before.

At the scene of the incident, the Ondo State Commissioner for Agriculture and indigene of the town, Otunba Gboyega Adefarati paid a sympathy visit.

He warned his kinsmen from building houses very close to canal.

Adefarati equally cautioned those who are in the habit of blocking the drainages with refuse to desist from such act as this practice always lead to flooding.

The monarch of the town, Alale of Akungba, Oba Sunday Adeyeye Ajimo and another community leader the Seriki Muslimi of Akungba, Chief Seriki Awesu urged National Emergency Maintainance Agency (NEMA), Ondo state government, federal government and multinational organizations to come to the aids of victims in Akungba Akoko.

According to them, properties worth millions were destroyed in the community while roads, bridges and hotels with vehicles were badly damaged.

They appealed to their people to adhere strictly to town planning instruction and NEMA warning that those living very close to canals and rivers to quit during rainfall.

Already, the University Authorities have suspended lectures and tests earlier scheduled for Tuesday over the incident.

A statement signed by the Institution’s Acting Registrar,Opeolu Akinfemiwa however said all students should resume on Wednesday.

According to him: “The University is leaving no stone unturned in the quest to find the missing student.

“Divers and other volunteers have been sought to search the path of the river in a bid to find the missing under graduate.”

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Akungba Shakiru Ajibola, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Shakuru Ajibola, confirmed the incident and said three persons including a landlord of the house where the girl was carried away by flood were rescued.

He noted that divers were still looking for the undergraduate in the neighbouring rivers.

Already, many roads in Akokoland had become impassable as serious erosion had affected them especially Jubilee road, Hospital junction, Bankole road Ilepa Ikare, Okoja Awara road,Irun to Ojeka,Irun to Surulere to Oluta and Okeagbe to Afin to Eshe.

Two farmers, Bayo Boluwade and Alhaji Adebola Sarumi, appealed to government to shift emphasis from urban roads to rural roads in the state to improve their economy.

Luck has run out on a 29-year-old man, Victor Monday, one year after he started disguising as a prostitute to defraud men.

Monday was arrested by a police team from the Mushin Police Station around 12am on Ogunmokun Street while he was in female costume waiting for “a client” by the roadside.

He was initially apprehended for staying late outside without giving any genuine reason.


City Round learnt that it was not immediately known to the policemen that Monday, who adopted the name Joy to perpetrate the crime, is not a female.

He wore a wig, makeup and put on padded breasts. He was said to have been kept in the female cell until much later in the morning when a policeman on an inspection around the cell spotted him.

The cop reportedly noticed he had few strands of beards which aroused his suspicion. His real appearance was unravalled by the officer who searched through his body.

A police source told our correspondent that Monday blamed the act on joblessness, adding that the suspect targeted men in nightclubs within the state.

“His mode of operation was to go to clubs at night and look for men he would spend the night with while disguising like a woman. He would dance around to attract men to himself. Whoever is interested in spending the night with him would approach him.

“He would collect some money from his unsuspecting victim as part payment for his service and have fun on his bill. While they were drinking and wining, he would tell the man that he wanted to urinate and use that opportunity to run away. He said he made between N7,000 and N10,000 per night,” the source said.

In his statement, the suspect, who hails from Rivers State, said he was a stylist before he went into the crime in 2018. He said he was once arrested by the police for the same offence but his church members assisted in securing his bail.

He said, “I came to Lagos last year and was squatting around. When it was night, I would look for a hidden place to dress like a woman and go to any club to dance as a woman. Men who have feelings for me would give me money, but I don’t follow them to hotels. I managed to run away.

“At times, I made N8,000 per day. I was going to a nightclub on September 15 when police arrested me. I told them my name is Joy, but later one of them discovered that I am a man. I do this because I don’t have a job.”

A police prosecutor, Inspector Koti Aondohemba, consequently brought the suspect before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court on four counts bordering on impersonation and fraud.

The offences, according to the police, contravene sections 168(d), 314 and 380 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The charges read in part, “That you, Victor Monday, on September 15, 2019, at 12.10am, on Ogunmokun Street, Akala area, Mushin, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did indecently act by presenting yourself as a woman in order to obtain money from members of the public, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 380 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.”

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The presiding magistrate, Mrs M. O. Tanimola, granted him bail in the sum of N80, 000 with one surety in the like sum. The case was adjourned till October 16, 2019 for mention.

Dear Nigerians, I wish to use this medium to wish every one of us a happy Independence Day. Indeed, it is a new dawn; a new month. Let us move forward into this new year with a renewed sense of commitment and involvement in nation building'.

'We the Nigerian youths, especially, need to be more deliberate and strategic in involving ourselves in organized efforts aimed at improving the state of our nation.

Nigeria needs to see and feel our positive impact in area such as politics, commerce, technology and more. Not just as consumers but, essentially, as headliners; change makers proffering solutions and actively working towards improving the state of the country as we see it now.

We need to reduce the crowd clamoring around entertainment; parading with certificates in file jackets along our streets; staring into the computers, telling long tales to unsuspecting foreigners; heading to social media to click the day away and let’s not forget the dreaded group that waits four years to aid in the disruption of election.

This season should see the end of the “lazy Nigerian youth”. Nigeria and her youth, look! Many of us (youths) are walking the talk already. You can find us in the construction sector, Sujimoto; the fashion sector, Ode luxury - Research! Education, oil and gas, technology, skincare, L’avyanna. Go see for yourself. It’s time to pick up relevant books and study. “The Richest Man in Babylon”; that should interest you. “The Secret”, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. I can’t overemphasize the need to develop a healthy reading culture.

The pursuit of personal development should make the top spot on our list of needs. It is not to late for us to know ourselves.To do this, we need to be closer to our God as individuals for then we will see the light. We need to be more spiritual than religious. For then we will walk in love and be friendly and more tolerant towards our neighbor(s) and for some of us, even towards our “family”. We ideally do not need to tolerate each other, we should love each other.

We need to decide today to seek deliberate change. First, for ourselves and then maybe next year, for our country. No greet thing just starts out great. They start small first. There is a natural process. The tree has to start from the seed. You are the seed; we are the seed. Sustainable change starts with you and I.

Will you join me? We are the giant of Africa. This is true. Many of us just can not see it. We need light ( theoretically and literally. Lol); we need all the light we can get. We need your unique gifts to come to light. No. Not the one you are only doing for the money.

Nigeria needs you to believe in yourself. Do you still know who you are? You are the giant of Africa. You’re a Nigerian. Believe it. It’s true. Nigeria needs you to know this. Meditate on this. I’ll drop my “golden pen” here, else this will turn into a book.

Happy Independence Day Nigerians, the Giants of Africa.