₦airaland Forum

Even before the firstre enlisted, controversy appears to be trailing the ongoing police recruitment exercise in which the Federal Government proposes to hire an additional 10, 000 officers and men to beef up the civil force to enhance security of lives and property across Nigeria.

This is coming on the heels of the alleged insistence of some northern power brokers that the recruitment of 7 ,500 constables, pencilled down for the exercise be based on local governments instead of states.

Sources within the Police Service Commission (PSC ) told New Telegraph that many members of the Commission , especially from the southern part of the country , are furious over the move which will give more men to the north than to the south.

It was gathered that the move to use local governments instead of states is spearheaded by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF ), Engr . Babachir Lawal , and the Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen . AbdurahmanDambazzau .

By the allocation of the position , each local government will produce 10 constables in the 7,500 slots allocated for the Constable cadre . In the ASP cadre, each state has been allocated 12 slots each. That is the same case with the rank of Inspectors and Specialists, where allocations were made based on states.
There are provisions for 500 ASPs , 500 Inspectors and 1 , 500 specialists like engineers, medicals , communications etc .

New Telegraph gathered that the issue of recruitment of constables, which has a total of 7 ,500 has been a major sour point for the PSC and all stakeholders in the recruitment exercise as the south fought vehemently to have it done state by state. But the North , led by the two top officers in the President Muhammadu Buhari administration insisted on local government as the basis for the recruitment. The battle was taken to the Senate Committee on Police Affairs , where the position of the South was defeated.
“On the day the matter got to the Senate, sadly most of the senators , who would have opposed the move, did not attend the committee hearing.

Thus, we were left with no option than to accept the superior number of the North. That was how we lost out ,” said a source privy to the meeting. It was further gathered that before the committee ratified the local government model, many state governors and senators in the South were contacted on the implications of the model.

But most of them did not lift a finger. Even some very high ranking senators from the South-East in particular, who were contacted , considering the disadvantage of local governments in the zone and those from the South -South were not present on the meeting day.

It was gathered that efforts by the Chairman of the PSC, Sir Mike Okiro, and other members of the Commission from the South to stick to the state by state policy in line with Federal Character hit the rocks.
A former governor in the South- East, who spoke with New Telegraph on the matter , lamented the poor attitude of legislators and governors of the region to such issues.

According to him, “What the development means is that Kano and Jigawa states, with a combined total of about 70 local governments, would have almost the same number of representation with the South- East, which has only 95 local governments. We have constantly told the South- East representatives, be it governors, Senators or House of Representatives ’ members to be alive to their responsibilities. But that appears not to be the case.

“The Nigerian Police Force is an important institution . In the next 30 years , people will be complaining that there is no Inspector - General of Police of Igbo extraction . The foundations are what are laid today.

When you are nonchalant to the recruitment process, how would you think of an IGP when you are outnumbered from the beginning ?”
It was further learnt that even with their nonchalance, a governor in the South - East recently submitted 13 names of people he wanted in the ASP cadre, to the chagrin of members of the PSC.
“We wonder where he was when the whole uproar was going on . He did as if it did not concern him when he was informed . He brought 13 names when the state only needed only 12 names.

That means he is the only one that would fill the slot for his state, ” said a source within the Commission. Another governor from the South -South , whose state is poor in local government numbers , was also informed about the danger. He promised to act, but did not.

The former governor added that he was disgusted by the attitude of those who call themselves Igbo leaders. “Can you imagine that in a serious matter of this nature , none of Ohanaeze , Aka Ikenga, governors, senators or even members of the House of Representatives or Houses of Assembly has spoken out ?
They are keeping quiet, only to start lamenting in future. ” By the arrangement on local government basis based on 10 per local government, it means that on zonal basis, the North - West would get 1 ,850 officers; North-East – 1,110 slots; North Central including the FCT – 1,200; South-West - 1,370; South-South – 1,230 while South-East would get 950 officers.

But that is not the only problem the PSC is battling now. New Telegraph was informed that members of the Commission are not happy with the way the recent retirement of Deputy Inspectors - General of Police (DIGs), and Assistant Inspectors - General of Police (AIGs ) was conducted . It was learnt that rather than emanating from the PSC , the retirement of the 21 senior police officers emanated from the Presidency.

Last week , there were rumours that the IGP, Ibrahim Idris had demanded the resignation of all officers above him from the presidency . They were retired last week . Their retirements paved the way for the appointment of seven new DIGs on Monday.

Those affected were AIGs Bala A. Hassan , AIG Zone 2; Yahaya Garba Ardo ; Irmiya F Yarima , AIG Zone 9 ; Danladi Y Mshebwala ; Tambari Y. Mohammed , AIG Zone 10 and Bala Magaji Nasarawa, AIG Zone 7 , Abuja . Others are Musa Abdulsalam, Adisa Bolanta, AIG Zone 6 ; Mohammed J Gana, Umaru Abubakar Manko, AIG Zone 2, Lagos; Lawal Tanko, AIG Zone 8 and Olufemi A . Adenaike , AIG in charge of Training .
Also retired are AIG Johnson A Ogunsakin, Adenrele T . Shinaba, Commandant Police College , Kano, James O . Caulcrick, Olufefemi David Ogumbayode , Edgar T Nanakumo, AIG in charge of Works, Kalafite H. Adeyemi , Patrick D Dokumor , Mbu Joseph Mbu and AIG Sabo Ibrahim Ringim. But the rumour of a disagreement with the PSC was quickly dismissed.

New Telegraph was informed that Okiro only received a call from a top aide of the president, who informed him that the affected police officers were retired by the president . A source in the commission said it was a dispirited Okiro, who then ordered the issuing of a statement by the PSC to that effect. “ We have never experienced what is happening now. It is terrible. The retired police officers even pledged to work with the new IGP, even though he was third from bottom on the list of AIGs, but he insisted on their going.

The PSC was only informed about their retirement. The Police Force is being destroyed now because we retired the best we had at the head ,” said the source. It was gathered that the battle for the IGP favoured DIG Femi Adenaike from Ogun State. Senator Sam Egwu, representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, has suggested that the pending police recruitment in Nigeria should be based on the population, rather than on local government basis.

Egwu was reacting to the raging controversy on the appropriate model to be adopted in the police recruitment scheme. He said that the most appropriate model should be on state basis because that would give fair and equitable representation to all the states of the federation.

However, the lawmaker, on a second option, argued that since representation in the Senate was based on state and that of the House of Representatives, on population, a middle point should be taken, which is on the basis of federal constituencies or population.

He said that the insistence of some northern political leaders that the recruitment of 7,500 constables be based on local governments instead of states was not fair and justifiable. Egwu said: “I do not support the recruitment to be done on local government basis because it is not justifiable and equitable. I believe in fairness; if they want fairness , they should do it based on state basis. This will give equality and equitability in the sharing.

“However , the next option is to adopt federal constituency basis; at least it is better than the local government option. The South - East is usually the worst hit in all these things , because we have few number of local government areas in the zone.

“The House of Representatives is based on population. So, if they cannot rely on state representation in the police recruitment, let them go by federal constituency because it is definitely better than the local government basis so that one part of the country will not overwhelmingly dominate the other.”

By Vincent Ujumadu

AWKA— The Divisional Police Officer for Ajali in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State (names withheld) had one of his ears chopped off and was stripped naked for attempting to arrest members of a notorious robbery gang.

The said DPO had led his team to the den of the nine-man gang that had been terrorising Nanka, also in Orumba North, for years.

Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Awkuzu Okechukwu, said that following a raid on Nanka community, Ifedilichukwu Nwankwo, Chidi Nwankwo and Udoye Kenechukwu were arrested after previous attempts by the police from Force CID, Abuja, and Zone 9 Headquarters, Umuahia, to arrest them failed.

Parading members of the gang at the headquarters of the State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Awkuzu Okechukwu said: “A team led by the DPO was ambushed at Nanka by the gang, when they went to effect the arrest.

“The DPO was robbed of his handset and money. He was stripped naked and one of his ears chopped off. His official uniform was equally torn to shreds. The gang also burnt down a police Hilux SUV.”
The police image maker added that the DPO, who narrowly escaped death, is currently receiving treatment in a hospital.

According to the PPRO, several cases of armed robbery, kidnapping, rape and assassination, were traced to the gang He added that it was for that reason that the police detectives mobilised men to arrest the suspects at Nanka.

Okechukwu said that it was Nwankwo’s gang that also killed one Okechukwu Udezuka of Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area and one Ebuka at Tarzan area of Nkpor, near Onitsha, in February 2, 2014.

He added that in the course of investigation of the deaths, two suspects, Emmanuel Nwabudu and Chogozie Nweke, confessed that Ifedilichukwu Nwankwo and his gang killed the victims.

He said that every attempt by the police to arrest members of the gang since then had not been successful until the attempt by the DPO. He said with the arrest, Nanka community had been liberated.

lalasticlala

A police source said Princess, who did not give any tangible reason for her failure to appear in court, started making faces at the young magistrate, hoping that the man might be carried away by her beauty.

The seeming unending culture of secret recruitment that is going on with unfaltering energy and determination in some of the federal Ministries and government financial agencies under the guise of replacement or otherwise is eroding the integrity of Buhari’s administration, it’s further exposing our country’s leaders lack of commitment to the plight of the masses who overwhelmingly voted for them into power.

We expected Buhari to take a very serious measures But it has been followed by another secret recruitment made by the Federal Inland Revenue services.

Buhari’s handling of the C.B.N secret recruitment with kid gloves was the motive that encourages Federal Inland Revenue Services to hire staff secretly, and it will continue to be the motive for perpetrating this illegal act at the expense of competent qualified Nigerians.


Abbas Datti

lalasticlala

The police in Lagos State have launched a
manhunt for a woman, Amaka Ogua, for allegedly
selling the unborn child of her younger sister,
Nkechi, for N100,000 in the Mile 2 area of the
state.

A strange tree growing in Thailand appears to bear fruit in the exact shape of a young woman - and it’s baffling the internet.

But while many are amazed by the shape of the green fruits, others are less convinced by the confusing footage.

In Buddhist mythology, a tree known as the Nariphon bears the fruit of young female creatures and is said to grow in the mythical forest called Himaphan.

The story goes that Buddhist God Indra built a home in the forest for his wife Vessantara and his two children.

But when Vessantara went out into the forest to collect food, she was in danger of being attacked by terrifying male creatures.

Indra then created 12 special Nariphon trees which would bear fruit in his wife’s image to distract the creatures while she picked her own food.

The men would take these fruits back to their homes and after making love to them would sleep for four months, and lose their powers.

According to Thai folklore, after Indra and his wife died, the trees continued to bear fruit.

There are rumoured to be two Nariphon pods in a Buddhist temple near Bangkok
Gifts inspired by the Nariphon girls are now sold widely throughout Thailand, leading to many hoaxes.

lalasticlala

Leaders of organized labor in Ondo State have begun receiving short text messages (SMS) posing ‘threats’ to their lives a few days after suspending the thirty-day strike embarked upon by government workers in the State, SaharaReporters has learned.

Impeccable sources confirmed this latest information to our correspondent in Akure on Sunday, saying that the ‘threat messages’ had been rolling in some days after labor leaders announced the suspension of the one-month strike last Thursday.

One of these sources that spoke with SaharaReporters and pleaded anonymity disclosed that some who sent the messages also threatened to attack and destroy personal properties that belonged to the organized labor leaders in the State.

The source further disclosed that the content of the messages appeared to be from aggrieved workers who felt that the leaders of organized labor had compromised with the government in calling off the thirty-day old strike which paralyzed economic activities.

“No matter the content of the messages, our concern is the threat posed to the lives and properties of these labor leaders who acted both in the rain and sun.

“And it was to ensure that the State government paid the accumulated salaries of these civil servants who had been at home for a good thirty days.

“The case at hand is like a servant threatening to kill his leader, and this is bad especially in this society in which we live.

“I don’t know why someone whose rights you are fighting for would be threatening to deal decisively with you,” an angry source told our correspondent on Sunday evening.

Another source in the workforce of the State who spoke with SaharaReporters wanted an investigation into the content of the messages but also criticized the labor leaders for accepting the payment of just one month's salary for the mainstream civil servants.

This same source who later spoke in an exclusive phone chat with our correspondent asserted that the workers would not have gone on strike if they had known the labor leaders would negotiate for one month's worth of salary payments with the State government.

“I felt that they [labor leaders] didn’t win any battle as being claimed by them because they only reached an agreement with the government on paying one month out of the five months' accumulated salaries owed to the workers.

“Don’t forget, we started this strike around June 1 and had a marathon protest calling for the full payment of our salaries, and in the long run of the industrial dispute, the strike entered its sixth month [of unpaid salaries], but unfortunately only one month was paid," one source told our correspondent.

The source further challenged the labor leaders to thoroughly explain to the civil servants the rationale for sharing the payment of the reduced salaries.

“So, let the labor leaders tell us the essence of the strike when the mainstream civil servants in the State, including primary school teachers, are to receive one month's salaries, while staff of the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC) would get three months' salaries for February, March and April.

“My brother, there is lot of cheating in the payment of these salaries which the State government would embark on as from Monday because it’s a way of causing division among the workers,” he said.

However, some teachers have been kicking against the unfavorable payment and asked the State government to consider them more than other workers in the State due to the stressful nature of their jobs.

SaharaReporters gathered that many of these labor leaders are now living in ‘fear’ just as civil servants in the State have been directed to return to their duty posts after marathon negotiations with the State government over their salaries.

One of the labor leaders who confirmed the receipt of the threat messages to a SaharaReporters correspondent stated that some of the messages were life-threatening and came from influential civil servants in the State.

“Some of them, mostly influential civil servants, have been sending us threat messages while others who could not hide their ugly faces have been deliberately challenging us to ask why we negotiated one month out of the five months' owed to them.

“Sadly enough, one of them confronted me in the church today [Sunday] and asked how much we received for sitting and food allowance for the four days' marathon negotiations that triggered the one-month salary payment for mainstream civil servants,” the source disclosed to our correspondent.

This labor leader further disclosed that the issue had already been reported to security agencies in the State.

A SaharaReporters correspondent reported that many of the civil servants are now prepared to resume their normal government work and activities on Monday after an assurance from the State government to offset their salaries.

The State government and the organized labor leaders reached a striking-balance last Thursday to reduce the salaries of the civil servants from the demand of five months to one month in exchange for workers’ resumption of work.

Members of a threeman gang have told the police in Akwa Ibom State that they could not remember the number of women they had raped.

It was learnt that Victoria, who had been kept in government’s custody, was raped while her mother was bedridden.

THE Vice-chairman of Gbagi branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Oyo State branch, Alhaji Saheed Tijani aka ‘Omo Olomo’, has been arrested by the Oyo State police command for raping a 28-year-old woman.

The suspect and his cohorts allegedly abducted the victim, Abosede, around 9 pm on Monday, April 4, 2016, while returning home from work.

The state Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade disclosed this while parading the suspect and others at the command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan on Friday.

According to the police boss, the victim was subdued by the ferocious men who threatened her with a knife, despite her cries for help.

“Having successfully threatened her to submission, she was abducted in the most brazen, commando-like manner and forcibly taken to an hotel where she was drugged and subsequently mercilessly raped till the next day. Soon, the suspect and his accomplice went underground to evade arrest.

“Consequent upon the report made to police, the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the command commenced a manhunt for the suspects. After several days of diligent investigation, the rapist was arrested in his hideout somewhere in Ibadan. The suspect has since confessed to the crime,” the police boss said.

Oyebade said investigation revealed that Omo Olomo, until his arrest, was a pain in the neck of innocent citizens, especially women who he has raped in the past.

“The suspect’s illicit sexual escapade was known to many in the Iwo road area, but the victims could not report due to stigmatization and fear of attack by the suspect who was dreaded. This has also earned him suspension from the union on many occasions.”

While speaking with The Nation, Omo Olomo denied raping Abosede. He maintained that the sex was consensual and based on mutual agreement between him and Abosede.

“We are friends and we are having an affair. I did not rape her, she agreed to do it and I give her money whenever we have sex. I am surprised with this allegation she levelled against me,” Omo Olomo said.

However, Abosede insisted that she never met Omo Olomo before the alleged rape took place, maintaining that she was never the suspect’s friend.

“He raped me and warned me not to report him to anybody. He said he would kill me if I did. But I summoned courage and reported him to the police. I have two kids now and my husband has chased me out of the house because of the incident.”

Meanwhile, in a related development, the police boss said the command also recovered seven vehicles, which were stolen at gun point from the owners across the state.

The vehicles recovered are: a blue Honda Accord car with reg. No. KSF 765 BlackBerry, A wine Toyota Corolla car with rg no. AAA 591 DW, one Toyota Camry with reg no JJJ 796 EA, Toyota Matrix with reg no FST 929 EC, Toyota Camry with rg no LSD 659 DR, one unregistered wine Toyota Camry car and Toyota Camry car with reg no KRD 92 DU.

Starlet50:
Datz d power of konji...

Eric Dumo

Ibrahim Bala, five, ran around the premises in company with other children as they engaged each other in a game of hide and seek. Naive and harmless, the little boy jumped about with utmost joy as the play increased in momentum. His charm was infectious.

But the toddler could have been in a different situation now if not for share luck. Last Sunday, his father, Yusuf, used him as collateral for a bag of 50 kilogram rice at a popular market in Kano after being unable to provide for his family anymore. The middle-aged man after agreeing price with the seller, Alhaji Suleiman Bagudu, had left his son behind and went away with the bag of rice to fetch the money he claimed to have forgotten at home. Six hours without a sign of him, the worried trader traced Yusuf all the way to his house in the Koki, Dala Local Government Area of the state, through the help of his little son. Bagudu arrived to the sight of the household feasting on hot plates of rice.

“I am ashamed I had to go that far to get food for my family but if I hadn’t come up with that trick that day, I don’t know what would have happened to us or how we would have been able to withstand the hunger,” Bala said earlier in the week when one of our correspondents visited the family’s home in a densely populated part of the city. “I have sold almost everything I have to sustain my family. Things are getting hard by the day; taking care of them is not easy for me anymore. It is not as if I don’t love my son or plan to do him evil, I left him at the market because I knew as a brilliant boy, he would be able to lead the owner of the rice to our house if they didn’t see me after some time. I am so sorry for committing this act, it is hunger that drove me into it,” he said, as neighbours, uncomfortable at the sight of our correspondent, prevented any further interaction.

Frightening as it sounds, Bala is not the only one to have turned to weird and unconventional methods to escape hunger and lack these days – individuals and even families across the country are embracing these new tactics to weather the storm, too.

For example, a middle-aged woman in Ibadan, Oyo State, according to unconfirmed reports, had used her seven-year-old daughter as deposit for a bowl of cassava flake known in local parlance as garri six weeks ago. Hit by pang of hunger, the woman like Bala, had tricked the seller into believing that she forgot the money at home and would rush to fetch it while her innocent child stayed back. By the time the girl led the trader to their house hours later, the widow and her two remaining children were already feasting on the item. The seller quietly walked away in shock after finding out the motive behind the strange behaviour.

Even with these almost unbelievable stories, the survival tactics adopted these days go beyond mere using of biological children as collateral – the practice appears to be assuming different and in fact scarier dimensions by the day.

A drinking joint operator in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Ibiba Dakoru, told our correspondent during a telephone conversation in the course of the week that some customers now plead with her to convert drinks bought for them by friends into money so that they purchase food items with it.

According to her, customers in this category would only drink around one or two from about four or more bottles bought for them by buoyant friends while pleading with her to convert the rest to money. She said she started witnessing the trend among her customers three weeks ago.

“It came as a big shock to me when some of my customers started asking me to convert some bottles of beer bought for them into money so that they can use it to eat and also take care of petty responsibilities at home. If for example they are given four bottles, they would only drink one or two and beg me to please bear with them and give them the rest as cash.

Even though I want to make sales, I cannot deny any person such request especially when it is to take care of feeding. I am already used to this type of thing from customers now,” she said.

A food vendor in the Mile 12 area of Lagos simply known as Iya Mubarak, told Saturday PUNCH that pleas for credits by customers had increased significantly over the last few weeks so much so that her once thriving business is now under severe threat.
According to her, apart from owing debts running into thousands of naira, many customers now use some of their valuable items like mobile phones, shoes, wristwatches and even expensive fabric materials to stand as deposits for meals pending when they’ll be able to offset their bills with her.

“I was shocked when one of my very loyal customers came to me that he and his family didn’t have anything to eat for the weekend and that he wanted to leave one of his expensive native attire with me as deposit for food pending when he’d be able to raise money to pay me. I felt like crying at that point because this is a man that paid me cash every time he came around no matter the amount of the food he bought.

“There are other customers who would beg me to hold on to their mobile phones in exchange for food so that they can collect them when they settle me. In fact, the items people offer me for a plate of food these days breaks my heart but as a good Muslim, I cannot accept those items. All I do is give such people the little food I can and ask them not to bother about the money. I do this for only those customers I have known for a long time and whom I know fell into hard times.

“However, I must confess that this is really affecting my business because it is what is supposed to give me profit that I give out to my loyal customers who come to me for food on credit. It has not been funny at all,” she said.

In recent weeks, Mr. Bayo Aluko, a public relations executive at a leading communications agency in Ikeja, Lagos, has had to part with various sums of money as handouts to people especially on Sundays when he visits his mother at their family home in the Ikorodu area of the city.

Apart from the regular financial assistance to some old time friends and even elderly neighbours around the place who would immediately come into the family compound on sighting his vehicle or noticing his presence, his mother, a retired civil servant, also gives them free meals during such unsolicited visits.

“It’s always a full house whenever I visit my mother every Sunday at our family home in Ikorodu. For some of our neighbours and old time friends, it is always an opportunity for them to eat free lunch. In fact, many of these people would hang around the house once it’s 2:00pm because they know that is about the time I visit my mother. Even when I don’t visit with my car, they still have a way of finding out that I am around and come into our compound for the usual stuff.

“But what can you do? People are hungry and want to utilise any given opportunity to survive. Even though I am also managing to sustain myself and family, I cannot stand the sight of these guys staying hungry when I could at least do something for them. In fact, there are some Sundays I hand out nothing less than N5, 000 to many of these people. What some of them are facing is better imagined than said. On few occasions I am not able to visit; my mother tells me that some still come to eat lunch at her place after pretending to have an appointment with me there. It is a very serious situation,” he said.

Confronted with crushing hunger and stark deprivation, putting food on the table has become increasingly tough for many families and individuals in recent weeks, especially with the economy showing no signs of improving. In many states of the federation, government employees are owed months of salaries while in the private sector, job losses have been the order of the day. As a result, three square meals have become almost a luxury many can no longer afford.

“I had to sublet one of the rooms in my flat recently just to raise some money to survive with my family. The caretaker of the house is not aware of this; the arrangement is just between me and the young man who rented the room. Since losing my job last year, I have yet to get anything tangible to do. My wife also does not work anymore, so survival has been very difficult. At least with the little money the guy paid, we have bought enough foodstuff in the house that would last us for some time. I fear hunger and I don’t want my family to experience it at all,” a former bank worker who resides in the Alapere area of Lagos, Tola Adedeji, told our correspondent during a chance meeting at a football viewing centre earlier in the week. Lack has driven him into devising a new survival tactics.

According to findings by Saturday PUNCH, part of the new strategy people now also adopt to overcome hunger in many parts of the country today is by sending text messages to people they know to solicit financial assistance. Some who are bold enough openly beg for money to eat while others simply pay unannounced visits to friends at periods they know they are likely to meet such individuals and families dining.

“If I show you the number of messages I have on my phone from people I barely know begging me for financial assistance, you’ll be shocked,” Charles Edafe, a businessman based in Warri, Delta State, told our correspondent during a telephone conversation earlier in the week. “Some of them are church members while others are people who I have known not too long ago in the area where I live and mostly the reason a lot of them give for the request is to take care of feeding and other related needs. Business is not thriving the way it used to in the past, there isn’t much help I can render to anyone at this time because I am also managing the little resources at my disposal,” he added.

Also, the rising trend has equally seen individuals attending parties and other social gatherings where there are plenty to eat and drink without being invited.

Once able to smuggle themselves into such venues, individuals in this bizarre survival practice stuff as much food as they can lay their hands on into polythene bags and even sacks to take home to eat with their families.

Smart young men now leverage on the crowd at such social events to make brisk money and also combat hunger. While some turn emergency praise singers, hailing and flocking around people for a token at such gathering, others simply think outside the box, parking and watching over vehicles in return for financial reward. Most of what they make from such smart concepts goes into taking care of food and other basic needs.

In Kwara State for instance, theft of cooked food especially the ones still on fire is now a common feature.

The incident which had become widespread in areas where there are no perimeter fencing, has left many residents of the state, especially Ilorin, the capital, in panic and confusion. It is a trend never previously seen in the ancient city.

“People would devise means to survive any situation,” sociologist, Dapo Bodunde, pointed during a chat with Saturday PUNCH. “What we are seeing now is a clear case of natural selection, survival of the fittest if you like. In any society where the leaders are not committed to the welfare of the people, these types of things are certain to abound. Look at the country today, nothing appears to be working. The implication of this chaotic system is that hunger and crime are certain to be a regular feature. In the bid to put food on the table by all means, citizens are of course going to adopt all sorts of strategies including selling belongings, borrowing, begging and even stealing in some cases.

“I think government at every level must quickly come up with ideas on how to tackle some of these problems. When people are hungry, they can resort to extreme measures to address their needs. Some of the steps such people could take may harm the society at the end, so their case is not something anybody can wish away. Our leaders must urgently improve the welfare of the masses before this leads to bigger problems for the society,” he said.

Economist, Chidi Nweze, identifies one of the major factors fuelling the spate of hunger across most parts of the country as a result of the stagnation of the economy and short flow of cash in the system.
The rising rate of unemployment, he also reckons, is another dimension to the problem.

“We don’t need rocket science to explain the reason behind the level of hunger in the country. The economy is yet to pick up and as a result, there is short flow of cash in the system, meaning that the money in circulation is not trickling down the chain system the way it should. Even though the budget had been passed into law, implementation has not really taken effect.

“So, until this, in addition to problems like unemployment, is addressed, many households might continue to experience hunger and lack. The truth is that until you deal with the factors fuelling these problems, nothing significant would change,” he said.

The new bizarre trend sweeping across the country appears to be a respecter of no man or woman as the crave for food continues to drive individuals into adopting all sorts of measures. On June 23, 2016, for example, a policeman was shot in the leg and left hospitalised after soldiers and police officers engaged in a scuffle over rice meant for Internally Displaced Persons at the Government House, Maiduguri, Borno State. Reports say things turned violent when the soldiers, deployed to maintain law and order at the place, tried to fill their vehicles with several bags of food items. Unwilling to allow the diversion take place, police officers who were in charge of distributing the rice resisted attempts by the soldiers to have their way.

According to Bodunde, the shameful incident further highlights the problem of hunger in the country and how far people can go these days to fill their stomachs.

“The shameful conduct of our uniformed men in Borno last week over bags of rice meant for IDPs is a stark reminder of the level of hunger that prevails in the land. If soldiers and policemen can openly embarrass themselves over food, what then do you expect of ordinary citizens who do not even have a source of income?

“As a society, we would be committing a big mistake to overlook this disturbing trend. If a growing number of people now sell their belongings and even resort to crazy survival tactics to beat hunger, then the society must not wave this off. It is a serious issue that calls for urgent attention,” she said.

Jesusegun Alagbe

Two months after Mojeed Ogooluwa, 34, was sacked from his job as the Financial Secretary of the Tricycle Operators Association in Ketu, Lagos, he did not think of something else than to take to robbery.

The Oyo State indigene, who is married with two children, said hunger and frustration led him to joining a robbery gang who specialised in robbing people of their cars and other possessions.

His first operation after joining the gang would be to rob a woman on March 8, 2016, identified as Mrs. Iyiola Shola — a civil servant — of her car, money, jewellery, mobile phone and laptop.

Recalling the incident, Shola, 37, said she was sleeping in her room with her children when Ogooluwa and his gang climbed her house’s fence and broke into her apartment.

She said she later went into fasting and prayers after reporting the incident to the police, adding that she was hopeful that the police would recover her car and arrest the robbers.

Two months later, she said she got a call from her husband, informing her that her Toyota Camry had been found in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while two of the robbers had been arrested by the operatives of the Special Intelligence Response Team.

Shola said, “I was in the room with my kids sleeping when about five armed men burst into my room and pointed a gun at me and started asking for money.

“I told them I had money in my handbag which I left on the dining table. Two of them took me downstairs, while others ransacked my room. When we got to the sitting room, I saw my younger sister already lying down. One of them picked up my car key and asked for the key to the gate and I gave it to him.

“They packed themselves into my car and shot rapidly into the air before leaving. After a short while, they drove back again; it was as if they left something behind. One of them jumped out of my car, picked up a few items and they left again.

“After a short while, a police patrol team showed up in my compound and said our neighbours called them that there was robbery in my house. I told them what happened and gave them details of my car. They went on air and radioed the theft of my car before leaving.
“I felt helpless and decided to pray. I trusted in God to get back my car for me. I fasted, prayed and held vigils and God has finally answered me.”

A police source told Saturday PUNCH that the robbery suspects were arrested when a team of IRT operatives trailing a notorious gang of robbers that specialised in car snatching within Lagos and Ogun states, stormed the gang’s hideout in Ketu Tipper Garage in Lagos and arrested Ogooluwa and his gang member, Toheeb Waheed.

“When we asked where they kept the woman’s car, they told us that they were intercepted by policemen from Ogun State on their way to Ilorin, where they wanted to sell the car. The police killed one of the members of the gang and recovered the car. We followed on that information and found the car at the Ogun State Police Command where it was parked,” he said.

Confessing to the crime, Ogooluwa said he went into robbery because he couldn’t pay his two children’s school fees after losing his job as an executive member of the Tricycle Operators Association in Ketu, Lagos and things became difficult for him.
He said he used to earn around N40,000 while on the job.

He said, “I was an executive member of the Tricycle Operators Association in the Ikosi Isheri Unit, Ketu, Lagos and I held the post of a financial secretary. We are affiliated to the National Union of Road Transport workers and my job was to monitor the movement of tricycles around Ketu and to make sure there was free flow of traffic.

“I used to earn N5,000 weekly and by the end of the month, I earned another N20,000. But in January, 2016, I was relieved of the job and when it was time for me to pay my children’s school fees, I could not pay again. I became frustrated.”

The “frustration” was what led him to ganging up with friends and robbing people of their cars and other possessions.

“I met one Agu and Mutiu at a smoking joint in the Ketu area of Lagos and they started talking about robbing cars from a house. I told them that I was a good driver and would work for them if they would accept me,” he said, adding, “We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet by night.”

Ogooluwa added, “We met at Ketu Bus stop that night and I saw four boys — Agu, Lekan Tesax, Yahoo Foreign and Mutiu. They told me that the house where they wanted to snatch the car from was very close by and we went by foot. I didn’t know the name of the street; it was Agu and Mutiu who took us to the house.

“Three of us had guns, but I didn’t have any since I was new in the gang. Time was around 1am when we invaded the house through the fence and broke the door, two of us who had guns entered into the house while I waited outside.

“After a while, they came out, having collected the key of a Toyota Camry from the lady resident and we all drove out in it. On our way, we intercepted another car, a Toyota Corolla, on CMD Road, Shangisha area and we snatched it from its owner. From that point, we proceeded onto the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and we were heading towards Ilorin, Kwara State to sell the vehicles to our buyers there.”

On their journey to Ilorin, the gang stopped by to eat and that was the end of the road for them.

“On our way, we stopped to buy something to eat when the police attacked us. They shot at us and we all ran into the bush, but the bullet hit Mutiu on his abdomen and we abandoned him. The police followed us. That was when I was arrested,” he said.

The police said investigations were on to arrest other members of the gang and bring them to book.

The Department of State Services (DSS) says it has arrested some suspected Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militants.

The DSS said this in a statement on Friday.
The ‘Avengers’ are the militant group responsible for recent attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta.

According to the secret police, one Selky Torughedi, a suspected member of NDA and associate of Tompolo, was arrested for planning to assassinate a serving military officer in Kaduna state.

It said another suspected member of the NDA was arrested while planning to carry out attacks on oil installations.

“In a bid to stem the activities of vandals in the Niger Delta, this service effected the arrest of Selky Kile Torughedi, on 17th June, 2016, in Calabar, Cross River state,”the DSS said in the statement issued by Tony Opuiyo, its agent
“Torughedi is an ex-militant and suspected member of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), and was arrested for planning to assassinate one MB Yahaya, a serving military officer.

“Torughedi, who is a close associate of Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), had already conducted surveillance at the residence of Yahaya in Kaduna, preparatory to his plot when he was intercepted. He is also fingered as a sponsor of pipeline vandalism in some states in the south-south region. Suspect is currently assisting the service, with critical leads.”

He said that in a related operation, the service arrested one Christian Oluba aka Sensor, another suspected militant with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).

“Sensor was arrested while perfecting plans to carry out explosive attacks on critical oil and gas pipelines, including critical storage points,” he said.

Also “arrested” was a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who was planning, alongside his colleagues, to carry out attacks on the Computer Village in Lagos.

“Meanwhile, sequel to increasing threat posed to public peace by the activities of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), this Service arrested one Chidiebere Onwudiwe, a graduate of Mechanical and chemical engineering and known member of IPOB, on 22nd June, 2016.

“Onwudiwe and his associates within and outside the country were planning to carry out coordinated attacks against religious bodies/edifices, police-check points and the computer village in Ikeja, Lagos state, with Improvised Explosive devices (IEDS). The suspect was apprehended while making logistics supplies for their nefarious plan.”

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are interrogating a South Africa based evangelist over 165kgs of narcotics drugs seized at Apapa Seaport, Lagos. The 92kgs of methamphetamine and 73kgs of ephedrine were detected inside two containers of foodstuff meant for export to South Africa. The arrest and seizure is a product on intense undercover operation by the NDLEA. The estimated street value of the drugs is 1.4 billion naira.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd.) said that the seizure has significant influence on the campaign against narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

In his words, "this is a product of careful planning and meticulous tracking of narcotic drugs movement. The consignments were closely monitored by our undercover agents and intercepted at Apapa Seaport, Lagos following the detection of narcotics by NDLEA sniffer dogs during screening operation. This will definitely have a positive influence on Nigeria's drug control efforts".'

The NDLEA boss added that the Agency will remain meticulous in detecting drugs and prosecuting offenders. "I am very happy with the success recorded in this operation. The Agency will remain painstaking and professional in the fight against illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse. We hope to unmask the drug syndicate behind this shipment and make more arrests soon," Abdallah promised.

The drugs were hidden inside packs of melon concealed in foodstuff and cosmetics such as Gari (cassava flakes), noodles, Knorr and Maggi food seasoning, yam powder, Malt drinks, pepper, Milk, Herbal Hair Cream and Golden Morn cereals. Other items in the container are Damatol Hair Cream, bags of Melon, Kegs of palm oil, Beans, Biscuits, Sardine and Cartons of Orijin bitters.

During examination of the containers marked MSKU 388274-1 and MSKU 424717-0; anti-narcotic officials detected 20kg of Methamphetamine and 50kg of Ephedrine inside the first container and 72Kg of Methamphetamine and 23Kg of Ephedrine in the second container. The total weight of the drugs is 165kgs.

Officers successfully traced the illicit consignment to a fifty-two year old man who claimed to be an evangelist by name John Vincent Arinze who was arrested in his hotel room in Lagos. A Mercedes Benz Jeep belonging to him was also impounded at the time of arrest. The suspect hails from Ara village, Nise in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State. John who had lived in South Africa for over a decade accepted ownership of the illicit shipment.

The suspect in his statement said that he made a big mistake by taking over the business of his late wife. "I am an evangelist living in Durban South Africa. My late wife was into drug trafficking before she died a few years ago. I made a mistake venturing into her business. It is all my fault," he stated.
He will soon be charged to court.


Ofoyeju Mitchell
Head, Public Affairs
08034088136

Oil prices dropped more than three per cent yesterday due to return of Nigerian and Canadian crude output from outages and as traders booked profits at the end of the best quarter in seven years.

According to Reuters, the market soared more than 25 per cent in the second quarter, as part of an 85 per cent rebound since hitting 12-year lows early this year, as unplanned production cuts from Canada to Nigeria eased the glut that prompted the worst price rout in a generation.

However, production in Nigeria has risen to about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.6 million, due to repairs and a lack of new major attacks on pipelines in the Delta region, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said.

Resurgent Nigerian supply will put pressure on prices, Goldman Sachs said, adding that outages caused by Canadian wildfires would virtually end by September.

OPEC’s oil output rose in June to its highest in recent history, a Reuters’ survey showed, as Nigeria’s output partially recovers from militant attacks and Iran and Gulf members boost supplies.

Brent futures for August delivery, which expired yesterday, settled down 93 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $49.68 a barrel. The more active Brent contract for September delivery settled at $49.71, down 3.1 percent.