 Crime / Re: Ikoyi Prison: Where Innocents Are Jailed Criminals Recycled by samples129: 11:04am On Oct 23, 2019 |
Watch the moment Enugu state Governor Ifeanyi Uwguanyi had a heated argument with his wife in the government house,over constructing tippy taps for school children. log on to FB to watch http://startup-conference.com/58034//gFXTh/?sc=1&sc=1&l=1&ppy=5659815&i=5659815seguntijan:
In continuation of my previous post.
https://www.nairaland.com/5471090/ikoyi-prison-lagos-police-station
Investigative journalist ‘FISAYO SOYOMBO spent two weeks in detention — five days in a Police cell and eight as an inmate in Ikoyi Prison — to track corruption in Nigeria’s criminal justice system, beginning from the moment of arrest by the Police to the point of release by the prison. To experience the workings of the system in its raw state, Soyombo — adopting the pseudonym Ojo Olajumoke — feigned an offence for which he was arrested and detained in police custody, arraigned in court and eventually remanded in Prison. In the second of this three-part series, he exposes how the courts short-change the law, and the prisons are themselves a cesspool of the exact reasons for which they hold inmates.
Too many unforeseen obstacles had sprung up against me by the time I arrived at the gates of Ikoyi Prison, Ikoyi, Lagos, on July 12: I’d had my most tortuous night in the police cell; I had been messed up by the typically ruthless Friday evening Lagos traffic; I had arrived under the cover of darkness, which wasn’t the plan. Even the few things that went well would later come back to haunt me.
Proceedings were well underway at Court III when we stepped into the Chief Magistrate Court, Yaba, Lagos, after my extrajudicial detention for five consecutive days at Pedro Police Station, Shomolu. It was a little after noon — or thereabouts. A funny but very contentious matter was ongoing. The protagonist, a woman, was being tried for, allegedly, illegally selling a piece of land belonging to a former associate of hers. This woman — ostensibly in her late 50s or early 60s — claimed, vehemently so, that the complainant indeed owed her millions of naira in accumulation of unpaid earnings for executed projects. She sold the land because she had been instructed to, to defray the cost of her service, she said. But the prosecutor insisted otherwise, arguing that the sale was fraudulent. The woman, irritated and incandescent, embraced and perhaps enjoyed every window to have a go at the prosecutor. Once, the prosecutor got under her skin by scoffing at how two of her high-profile witnesses were deceased. “Excuse you!” the woman fired back in protest. “Are you suggesting I killed them? Is it my fault that you’ve been dragging me from one police station to another and from court to court for more than 10 years?”
The magistrate — a dark, soft-spoken, middle-aged man whose eyes often evaded the lens of his pair of glasses when talking — adjourned the matter, as expected. And after two or three other cases, mine was mentioned. His orders: remanded in prison custody, two sureties in like sum of N500,000 each, N150,000 to be paid into the Registrar’s account by each surety, sureties to be from father’s side of the family. Not long after, the court rose, to be followed by my preparations for a long and difficult journey to the prison.
PRISON WARDERS ASK FOR BRIBES RIGHT IN COURT
Before the authorities take my freedom away from me, the first thing they do is give me a final semblance of it by unfettering my hands from the handcuff, as is the custom. That was just before entering the dock. Minutes later, the same man who released the handcuff returns to hand me over to a policeman who, accompanied by Zainab Sodiq, the lady posing as my sister, leads me downstairs. First stop on the ground floor is the office of the prisons service. Manning it, comfortably sitting opposite the entrance, is a gun-wielding prison warder, legs waggling, whose shirt hangs loosely on the wall inside, leaving his trunk scantily covered by a singlet. Inside that office are three more warders. The next room is a holding cell — for momentarily detaining inmates until the arrival of the prisons bus that conveys them to Ikoyi. I expect to be led to the holding cell, but I am taken into the prisons office and encouraged to “take a seat”. What manner of magnanimity is this? I was wrong!
The three officers summon my sister. “You can have a look at that holding cell and see if it’s the kind of place a human being should stay,” one of them tells her with feigned sympathy. “Your brother can stay in our office but it will cost you N10,000.” My sister takes a moment to peep into the holding cell, then returns to bargain. The negotiating parties reach an agreement of N5,000, collected by the singlet-donning warder.
Money in the bag, the warders’ initial measured disposition turns happy-go-lucky; I notice the ease with which they regale one another with tales of similarly shady financial dealings. “The day Naira Marley was billed to be taken to prison, I was on this chair making cool money,” says one of them. “I made some good money, I won’t lie. Transfers were just going up and down.” Naira Marley, the hip hop artiste whose original name is Azeez Fashola, had been arraigned at a Federal High Court in Lagos on May 20 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on 11 counts of alleged Internet and credit card fraud.
A second warder describes how he facilitated the payment of N300,000 to a senior colleague of his in Abuja, by a man who wanted to ‘smuggle’ all his three children into the employ of the Nigerian Prisons Service (recently renamed the Nigerian Correctional Service) during a recruitment “some years ago”. Though unqualified, all three were eventually employed by the service. It suddenly dawns on the warder that an ongoing promotion exercise in the prisons service offers him fresh opportunity for corrupt enrichment. “Let me quickly call the man; he may be interested in a deal to facilitate his children’s promotion,” he adds, running his hand through his breast pocket for his phone.
‘IF YOU HAVE YOUR MONEY, YOU CAN NEVER SUFFER IN PRISON’
Seeing the lack of restraint with which they discuss acts of bribery and corruption, I approach them for guidance on the allocation of accommodation in prison. Apparently, it’s a high-wire fraud involving prison officials in court and those in the yard proper.
“You can get a cell for N30,000,” one of the warders tells me. “You can also get for N100,000 or N150,000. You can even get a N1.5million cell.”
“A million and five hundred thousand?” I protest.
“Of course!” he insists. “When Ayodele Fayose was remanded in Ikoyi Prison, what kind of cell did you think he stayed in?” Fayose, the immediate past former Governor of Ekiti State, was remanded at Ikoyi Prison in October 2018 at the start of his N2.2billion fraud trial initiated by the EFCC.
Another warder cuts in. “Don’t worry, you can never suffer in the prison yard,” he says. “As long as you have your money.”
Patience, a third urges me. “The warders at the prison have warned us off striking deals with inmates while still in court,” he explains. “They’ve told us to leave them to push their own deals when the inmates get to the prison. So, when we get there, we will hand you over to the warders you will negotiate with.”
https://www.thecable.ng/undercover-investigation-ii-drug-abuse-sodomy-bribery-pimping-the-cash-and-carry-operations-of-ikoyi-prisons/amp |
| Crime / Re: Graphic: Innoson's Lawyer Attacked By Assassins by samples129: 11:01am On Oct 23, 2019 |
Watch the moment Enugu state Governor Ifeanyi Uwguanyi had a heated argument with his wife in the government house,over constructing tippy taps for school children. log on to FB to watch http://startup-conference.com/58034//gFXTh/?sc=1&sc=1&l=1&ppy=5659815&i=5659815Upritman:
Information Parrot Nigeria
The lawyer to the Chief Executive Officer of Innoson Motors, Innocent Chukwuma, Prof McCarthy Mbadugha has been attacked by armed men suspected to be assassins.
Information Parrot Nigeria gathered that attack occurred after series of complains from the victim about constant threats to his life.
He was reportedly brutally attacked on Tuesday by the assassins in his chamber and left to bleed to death.
However, help came to his way as he was later rescued and taken to an undisclosed hospital where he is currently recuperating.
It may interest you to note that Prof.Mbadugha has won over six cases in the Innoson vs GTB legal tussle. Some close associates trace the attack to the legal tussle.
(c) https://infoparrotng.com/graphic-innosons-lawyer-attacked-by-assassins/ |
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| Politics / Re: Senator Kabiru Says ‘osinbajo Is Tribalistic’. Read More At: Https://naijapalab by samples129: 10:57am On Oct 23, 2019 |
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| Politics / Re: Governor Wike About To Flag Off Rumuokoro Flyover In Rivers State(pictures) by samples129: 10:56am On Oct 23, 2019 |
Watch the moment Enugu state Governor Ifeanyi Uwguanyi had a heated argument with his wife in the government house,over constructing tippy taps for school children. log on to FB to watch http://startup-conference.com/58034//gFXTh/?sc=1&sc=1&l=1&ppy=5659815&i=5659815Englov:
Heavy preparations is ongoing as Governor of Rivers State His Excellence Nyenso Ezebunwa Wike is about to flag off the flyover at Rumuokoro Roundabout.
This project is to be handled by a well known contractor Julius Berger. This project is meant to ease off the long traffic experienced by motorists in the area.
I will update you guys with the latest as the program unfolds...
Cheers! 1 Like 1 Share |
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| Politics / Re: Aisha Usman: Obono–Obla Panel Stole $30,000 From My Residence – PEF GM Tells IGP by samples129: 10:29pm On Jul 23, 2019 |
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| Education / Re: What Is The Meaning Of Sco Pa Tu Manaa? by samples129: 10:04pm On Jul 23, 2019 |
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| Crime / Re: South Georgia Mom Charged For Murder As Her Baby Falls, Dies While Fighting by samples129: 9:52pm On Jul 23, 2019 |
1 Like |
| Health / Re: 100 Level ABSU Student Slumped And Died On Her Way To Exam (Photo) by samples129: 9:44pm On Jul 23, 2019 |
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| Celebrities / Re: Air Peace Plane Crash Lands At The Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos (photos) by samples129: 9:32pm On Jul 23, 2019 |
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| Foreign Affairs / Re: Leave The US If You Are Not Happy - Trump To Congresswomen Of Foreign Descent by samples129: 9:24pm On Jul 15, 2019 |
EmagNig:
You can leave - Those were the exact offensive words President Donald Trump used against four Democrats he targeted with racial invective on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in a video we sighted at the White House on Monday, Trump said:
“‘If you’re not happy here, then you can leave.”
Earlier, the president accused the congresswomen of “spewing” “racist hatred” – precisely the offence of which he has been widely accused.
The president wrote:
“When will the Radical Left Congresswomen apologize to our Country, the people of Israel and even to the Office of the President, for the foul language they have used, and the terrible things they have said. So many people are angry at them [and] their horrible [and] disgusting actions!”
He added:
“If Democrats want to unite around the foul language [and] racist hatred spewed from the mouths and actions of these very unpopular [and] unrepresentative Congresswomen, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
The tweets reflected others Trump sent on Sunday amid the storm created by his initial demand that the unnamed congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime[-]infested places from which they came”.
The targets of Trump’s ire were Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York; Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan; Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts; and Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota.
Watch The Video
https://lailasnews.com/you-can-leave-if-you-hate-the-us-trump-to-congresswomen/
Video of a middle aged African nursing mother being dragged out of her home alongside her infant child by US Immigration authorities during ICE Raids,log in with FB to watch http://josetobar.com/54627//NkLBT/?sc=1&sc=1&l=1&ppy=5659815&i=5659815 1 Like |
| Foreign Affairs / Re: Leave The US If You Are Not Happy - Trump To Congresswomen Of Foreign Descent by samples129: 9:21pm On Jul 15, 2019 |
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| Politics / Re: Deportation Of Foreigners Living Illegally In Nigeria To Commence Soon by samples129: 7:49pm On Jul 15, 2019 |
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