There was pandemonium at Obanikoro area of Lagos State, South West Nigeria today when soldiers clashed with policemen who were trying to stop the soldiers from using the BRT lane.Men of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental Offences (Enforcement Unit) had stormed the BRT lane on the order from the state government to enforce the ban on motorists using the BRT lane.
P.M.NEWS reporter who witnessed the scene observed that over 95 percent of BRT lane violators were soldiers who displayed brazen act of lawlessness and challenged the policemen who stopped them and wanted to tow their vehicles for violating the laws of the state.
Trouble started when a female soldier and a Lance Corporal in separate vehicles drove on the BRT lane and were stopped by the police. The soldiers knew the police were enforcing the ban on use of the BRT lanes when they intentionally took the lane.
The police officers attempted to tow the female soldier’s vehicle but were resisted while the soldier pleaded with the cops.
While that was going on, the female soldier who drove in a car with registration number SD 754 KJA attempted to drive away the car by force but unknown to her, an iron spike was placed in front of the car’s tyre while the vehicle climbed it and one of the tyres got punctured.
As the car was being towed out of the BRT lane, the other soldier, whose car’s registration number KE 507 EKY came out of his car and successfully concealed his identity by removing the name tag on his uniform.
He insulted the police officers and dared anyone to tow his vehicle. Because of his rudeness, the policemen who had earlier allowed almost 10 vehicles being driven by soldiers who violated the use of the BRT lane to go, decided to tow the Lance Corporal’s vehicle.
The Lance Corporal headbutted a police officer who was trying to drive his car away. He seriously manhandled the cop, while the police team leader tried to calm him down and restrained his men from retaliating.
The policemen still insisted on towing the vehicle but the Lance Corporal slapped and brutalised the police officers while the policemen kept their cool.
As they struggled with the Lance Corporal, some area boys who were in support of the soldier suddenly went wild, but the police succeeded in arresting some of them who were hauled into the Black Maria. In a sudden twist, the Lance Corporal suddenly feigned being unconscious and collapsed without being touched. He was taken to the road side.
This enraged other soldiers who arrived the scene and clashed with the cops.
A police officer shot tear gas into the air and there was pandemonium in the area as people ran for safety. The Obanikoro Bus stop was deserted.
Rumour immediately started spreading that the police had killed a soldier and that soldiers were on a revenge mission.
The soldiers at the scene of the incident vandalised one of the police towing vans and battered the driver of one of the police vehicles but the police rescued him from the scene and took him to a hospital.
Several policemen at the scene fled sensing danger while only a few remained.
A Divisional Police Officer, DPO, who came to maintain peace ran for his life when he saw the soldiers who had gone to reinforce. People ran while banks in the area and some companies shut their gates as they sensed danger.
As the situation was being brought under control, the Lance Corporal, who pretended to have fainted returned to pick his car.
As he was doing that, a large number of armed soldiers were spotted approaching the scene. The remaining policemen at the scene had to beat a retreat to avert more trouble while they abandoned one of their towing vans on the BRT lane.
As the soldiers approached, passers-by had to run to safety to avoid stray bullet hitting them, though, there was no exchange of gun shots.
Earlier, some soldiers had violated the ban on use of the BRT lane and were able to get out of trouble by force. One of such offenders was Tope Awopetu, a staff sergeant and a brigadier, whose name could not be ascertained by our correspondent.
A police car driven by a sergeant was towed by the taskforce. A customs vehicle was also impounded for using the BRT lane while a Superintendent of Police, who claimed to be a lawyer, had his car towed for using the BRT lane.
Also, vehicle belonging to the Lagos Central Business District, CBD, Enforcement unit with registration number LA 23 CBD was towed for using the BRT lane, among others.
The Lagos State Government had decided to enforce the ban on use of BRT lane because of the lawlessness of motorists who take the BRT lane whenever there is mild traffic gridlock on Ikorodu road.
It was gathered that Governor Babatunde Fashola had gotten wind of the clash between the soldiers and the policemen  and had contacted the relevant military authorities to immediately call their men to order. This is to avert a bloody clash like the one in Badagry last month during which a soldier was killed and his colleagues retaliated by killing the Badagry DPO, DCO and other cops.

 
The Central Bank of Nigeria has received bids for four of the banks rescued in a $4bn bail-out last year, CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, told CNBC Africa television on Monday.


Sanusi said two foreign institutions were involved in the bidding process, adding that several local banks and private equity firms in partnership with foreign banks were also in the race.


”The advisers have finished analysing bids already received for four of the banks. We expect the bids for the others to have been completed by the end of this month,” Sanusi said.


The CBN was selling stakes in the 10 banks it rescued last year, when it fired top managers and injected N620bn of capital to ease a debt crisis that threatened to cripple the financial system.


Standard Bank Group Limited, FirstRand Limited and Old Mutual Plc, three of the largest financial institutions in South Africa, had said in January that they might be interested in buying stakes in the banks.


Fidelity Bank Plc and Ecobank Nigeria Plc, according to Bloomberg, also said they wanted to buy Afribank Plc.


Sanusi had also said he expected at least three international lenders, a number of private-equity firms and local lenders to submit offers by mid-July.


Speaking on the fate of the rescued banks, the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, CBN, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, had earlier said that the establishment of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria would further aid the recovery process of the sector because it would provide the confidence that the bad loans of the banks would be taken care of.


He was quoted as saying, ”We must understand how badly these banks were managed by the former management. It was only the entry of CBN‘s new management that enabled the CBN to see the true state of these banks.


”Nevertheless, because several of the banks are now being managed more professionally, they have started turning profit. But it will take some time and further recapitalisation in order to bring them to the ideal state. That is what the mergers and acquisitions are all about.”

The Federal Capital Territory Ministerial Task Force on Sunday arrested a retired director in one of the federal ministries for allegedly patronising a commercial sex worker on a street in Abuja.


The task force was constituted by the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Muhammed, to clear Abuja’s streets of commercial sex workers, after the expiration of the ultimatum given to them to quit the city or face prosecution.


Also arrested along with the director were 60 commercial sex workers, who were picked up at different spots in the city during a major raid that lasted about five hours, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.


During the exercise, the team raided areas such as Lagos Street in Garki 11, Rita Lori, Gimbia Street, Ibiza and Wuse Zone 4, especially opposite Sheraton Hotel, as well as Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse 2, among others.


The retired director was arrested on Gimbia Street, Garki 11, where he was allegedly sighted negotiating with a call girl for about five minutes.


NAN reports that as he was negotiating with the commercial sex worker, he had no idea that members of the task force were standing in front of his Toyota RAV4 Jeep, which had tinted glass.


Upon his arrest, the unnamed man claimed that the lady was his daughter. At Wuse Police Station, he changed the story, claiming that she was his fiancee.


He was, however, furious at the police station and accused the FCT Minister of going beyond his limits.


“When I was a director, I knew Bala (FCT minister) then. He was a deputy director. How come now he wants to decide how we live our social life in the FCT?


“Bala should concentrate on the Abuja Master Plan and forget about the sexual lives of residents,” he said.


However, there was a twist to his fate when he attempted to call his wife on the telephone to contact his lawyer.


Commercial sex workers, who were listening to his conversation on the phone, interjected, shouting, “Madam, no mind your husband, na asewo he come look for wey dem arrest am.”


His wife immediately terminated the call, NAN reports.


One of the call girls, who gave her name as Kemi, an indigene of Kogi, told journalists that she had contacted a senator, whom she described as her “regular customer.” She said he had expressed readiness to secure her freedom.


But immediately she told the senator to hurry up because journalists were interviewing her, he switched off his phone.


NAN reports that relatives of the detained prostitutes, who flooded Wuse Police Station, instantly withdrew to the main entrance of the Wuse General Hospital on sighting journalists covering the spectacle.


Most pathetic among the arrested call girls were three pregnant ladies. They were said to be carrying pregnancies between two and four months old.


They lamented that their boyfriends denied the pregnancies leaving them with no option than to fend for themselves and their unborn babies.


The ladies were dragged before the Abuja Environmental Mobile Court but the presiding judge granted them bail as first-time offenders.


He warned warning that he might not be so lenient the second time they were caught and brought before the court.


The 60 ladies, however, expressed their willingness to be rehabilitated and trained by the FCT minister. They also filled rehabilitation forms, while promising to quit the trade.

The Adesida Royal family has kicked against the new process of selecting the Deji of Akure as it rejected the names of the head and the secretary elected to liaise with the the Ojijiogun Ruling House and the state government


The family, at a press conference in Akure on Saturday by its secretary, Mr. Adejare Adesida, said they were not part of the meeting that produced the head and the secretary of the Ojijiogun Ruling House.


They, therefore, urged the Akure South Local Government and the Ondo State Government to disregard the representatives and order the conduct of a fresh selection that would involve the three families that make up the ruling house.


The ruling house, comprising Faturoti, Arosoye and Adesida, has been asked to produce the next candidate for the stool of the Deji after the deposition of Mr. Oluwadare Adesina, who is from the Osupa Ruling House.


A new head of the Ojijiogun Royal House and the secretry, who will present the list of shortlisted candidates to the kingmakers, were elected on Friday.


The all-embracing meeting produced Mr. Victor Adegoroye as the head of the ruling house, while Mr. Soladoye Arosoye was made the secretary in compliance with the directive of the Akure South Local Government on the matter,


But Adesida said the meeting, where such decision ought to have been taken did not hold as only the Adesida family was present at the Akure town hall, where the meeting was supposed to have been held.


He described as fraudulent, allegations that the Adesida family was part of the meeting because “the meeting was only attended by the Faturoti and Arosoye, leaving out the Adesida, which is the largest of the ruling house.”


He said, “We are surprised to hear that we held a meeting, people know us to be straightforward, we did not hold any meeting, we did not appoint anybody, the meeting was supposed to hold at the town hall by 12pm on Friday and before the time, we learnt that some people had been appointed as head and secretary.


“It was a complete lie and an act of indiscipline, the Adesida royal family is not part of the meeting, we have written to Akure South Local Government that we are not part of the selection process, the names of those said to have attended the meeting from the Adesida family were forged.


“The largest part of the ruling house has been left out, the meeting is an illegal meeting, the local government should intervene and invite the three families to conduct the election of the head and the secretary.”


It will be recalled that the stool of the Deji of Akure became vacant following the deposition of the former occupier, Adesina, by the state government on Thursday, June 10, 2010 after a brawl with his estranged wife, Bolanle.

Ondo govt removes Akure king

June 10, 2010 06:17PM
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(The Ondo State government has deposed the embattled Deji of Akure, Oluwadare Adesina Adepoju, three weeks after the monarch engaged in a fight with one of his wives.

Mr. Adesina had, on May 31, led a group of people to assault Bolanle Adesina at her house in Akure, an act which has been widely criticised by Akure indigenes and human rights groups across the country.
Following the incident, Akure kingmakers, on Sunday, declared Mr. Adesina unworthy of the throne.

The state government announced the removal of the monarch after its weekly executive council meeting in Akure, the state’s capital.

Yesterday, the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonoya Onovo, ordered an investigation of the matter and asked the state police command to charge the king to court for assault.)

Why I fought my wife in public –Deji of Akure •As Ondo council of obas suspends him •His days are numbered –Lisa

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Written by Yinka Oladoyinbo
Friday, 04 June 2010
THE embattled Deji of Akure, Oba Oluwadare Adesina, on Thursday, broke his silence on his involvement in a street fight with one of his wives, Bolanle, accusing her of infidelity and being a psychiatric patient.

Adesina also accused his estranged wife of being unreliable and a pathological liar who always fought with other occupants of the palace, adding that she had been impersonating him to dupe governors of huge sums of money.

The monarch, in a statement personally signed by him, alleged that the event of Sunday was meant to be a traditional rite to formally remove her as an Olori and to stop her from dressing as one.

According to him, the development angered her, because she did not want to be stripped of her status and resorted to vandalising his vehicle.

“Miss Bolanle Fadeyi was an Olori until about nine months ago. During the relationship, she proved to be unreliable, unfaithful and a pathological liar. She is wild, very promiscuous and engages in physical fights with every resident in the palace. She is a terror and became an embarrassment to the royal house of the Deji of Akure.

“The final straw was the termination of six months pregnancy as she was not sure of its paternity and that of her two other children for that matter. Consequently, she left, claiming that she wanted to live outside the palace as the rules and regulations were too stringent for her,” the statement read.

Adesina added that his estranged wife had continued to parade herself as an olori to the extent of defrauding people, including state governors, of money, claiming that he (Adesina) sent her.

The monarch said the accounts of the incident, as presented by Bolanle, were not correct as she was mentally ill.

Meanwhile, the Ondo State Council of Obas, on Thursday, suspended Oba Adesina from the council, following the alleged shameful street fight that he was involved in on Sunday.

The chairman of the council, the Olowo of Owo, Oba Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi, while condemning the act, also dissociated the council from it.

According to a statement signed by the chairman after the meeting of the chieftaincy committee of the council, the decision to suspend Adesina from the council was taken after the examination of the available evidences.

Olateru-Olagbegi said the committee examined all available evidence and materials on the issue, including reports from newspapers, petition written to the council, the press releases from the Deji and other independent investigations on the issue.

The council observed that the incident was an unfortunate one, adding that such incident was strange to the sacred and exalted royal stools in the state.

Also, the Lisa of Akure, High Chief Folorunso David, has said that the days of  Oba Adesina were numbered in the palace.

Reacting to an allegation by the embattled monarch that he (Lisa) connived with Olori Bolanle to wage a press war against him, David challenged the monarch to address issues at hand rather than attacking personality.

High Chief David said the monarch was talking rubbish, as he had failed to justify his conduct, which was an abomination in the culture and tradition of the town.

Meanwhile, the state police command, on Thursday, said the case involving Oba Adesina was a criminal case and was being investigated by the command.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Alhaji Adeniran Aremu, in a statement,  said the state commissioner of police had set up a team which had already submitted its interim report on the incident.

The command, however, said it had uncovered a plot by some dissidents to foment trouble in Akure, warning that those planning to cause breach of public peace or protest in respect of the incident should refrain from doing so.

Also, the Ondo State government has said that it was disturbed by the public outcry that greeted the event from within and outside the state.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Sule Akinsuyi, however, said the government was still studying the situation, as appropriate authorities were compiling their findings.