₦airaland Forum

Ademola47:
The Punch

In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, a victim of the October 20, 2020 #EndSARS shooting, Nicholas Okpe, recounts his experience at the Lekki tollgate one year after

Why did you take part in the #EndSARS protests last year?

What grabbed my attention was the five-for-five demands by protesters at the Lekki tollgate. The protest was to end police brutality which resonated with me. We have all been victims of police brutality and extortion and bad governance. The protests were against bad governance and corruption too.

When did you join the protest?

I started from the first day. The protests were not violent. There was food, water and everything. Ice cream and meat pie were given freely and it was well organised. We blocked the Lekki tollgate in protest but left that alternative route for motorists to use.

When did things turn ugly?

While on the protest ground on October 20, we received information that soldiers were coming to chase us away around 4pm. We resolved that when they arrive, we would not fight but only sit on the floor, wave the flag and sing the national anthem. The soldiers did not come at 4pm but around 6.45pm, we started to hear sporadic gunshots. That was when we discovered that it was the Nigerian Army. We then decided to sit on the floor. We assumed that if we waved the flag and sang the national anthem, they would decide not to shoot us but only ask us to leave but all of a sudden, they started shooting at us. Some people died while some were injured. I was shot and I was rushed to a hospital.



Were you given treatment?

On getting to the first hospital, I was given first aid and given honey but the blood that was supposed to come out began storing up in my stomach. On getting to the general hospital, there were no doctors. Then I was transferred to another hospital but no one attended to me. I was then directed to Grandville Trauma Centre where the doctor had opened his hospital for #EndSARS victims to be admitted. On getting there, I was admitted and they started treating me immediately. I was given oxygen, a pipe was fixed into my body to help me pass urine, and I was put on drip. The next morning I was wheeled into the theatre and a surgery was conducted on my thighs. They said they didn’t have a specialist that could continue some of the treatment. They said LASUTH could do it so I was transferred there but was first taken to Lagoon Hospital. At LASUTH, an X-ray was carried out and all the necessary treatments were given to me. The bullet that pierced my right chest didn’t touch any vessels. The doctors were stunned. As I was lying down facing up, the bullet began to drop until it went to my back and began to shoot out. They did another surgery for me. I told them I wanted the bullet and they said they would give me. People around me took photos of the bullet. I didn’t have a photo because I was not using a phone that had a camera. I was discharged November 8, 2020. I demanded for the bullet but they refused to give me till date.

Did you attend the judicial panel of inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government?

I have been going to the panel. They gave judgment on Monday, October 18, 2021 but no compensation was given to any of us that the military shot. No compensation was given to any Lekki victim. The only people given compensation were victims of police brutality and others who were victims of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and whose husbands or brothers were killed over the years. But the Lekki one continued. The soldiers’ shooting was not handled well at all by the panel. I was told that it was because the soldiers refused to come for further hearings after the Lagos State Government denied inviting them to the Lekki tollgate that the soldiers got annoyed and stopped coming. The panel believed that since the soldiers refused to come, a judgment could not be given against them but the police kept coming to the panel.

How have you been coping with your injuries?

I still remember the trauma. Sometimes I get forgetful. Also, the hole in my chest is still there. I still have pains in my body. People borrowed money to help me and I cannot pay back because there is no compensation. This is another trauma and I am getting frustrated. A frustrated man can do the unthinkable.

I am a driver. I moved to Lagos nearly 20 years ago. I started driving in my state in Benue. I am married with two children. After the incident, they moved to the village. I was supposed to move with them but when the panel was set up, I said they should go while would I stay back and submit and defend my petition. I was hoping that once they compensate me, I would be able to continue with life. But they have denied me any compensation. How do I go about it? Should I steal to survive after all that I have witnessed in the arms of the Nigerian Army?

As I am I cannot lift myself easily. I cannot life a bucket of water. I usually seek assistance from my neighbours. It is people that give me little money here and there.

One year after the protests, do you think the demands for police reforms have been met?

I keep hearing stories because I don’t go out as much as before but I see videos in social media of the police harassing innocent citizens. It is just a police thing. May be it is because they are not well paid. The police are give guns and are still underpaid while politicians are looting the treasury. If there was good governance, we would not have banditry and other issues currently bedevilling the country. Let the government do the needful before things get out of hand. I am supposed to still be in the hospital receiving medical care. I had thought that when I am compensated, I would go to the hospital to get medical attention but here I am.

Do you regret taking part in the protest given your ordeal?

Honestly, for my compensation not to be paid it hurts me but I will never back down because there are people whose lives were wasted. And if we stop this struggle, their spirit will never be happy. Forward ever, backward never. Until this country becomes great, we will continue the struggle. Nigeria is a blessed country with great potential but look at what it has become?

Police say they will not allow another protest. What do you think of this warning?

I heard the warnings. I even saw armoured cars parked there as if attackers are coming there. They are already portraying us badly. We are only coming there peacefully as we did the last time. Hoodlums hijacked the protests because security personnel started killing protesters and that was when everything scattered and things went out of hand

Will you join this fresh protest?

By the Grace of God, despite my ordeal, I will join the protest because we are not going there to make trouble but just to mark a one year anniversary to remember our fallen heroes who fought for the betterment of our country. What is the hope of our children if we don’t take action today?

Our intention is not for violence but just to mark the one year anniversary. We will carry placards and lay wreaths for those who died. What if I had died? Wouldn’t I have wanted to be honoured? So many victims of #EndSARS are still in detention. We will also speak on their behalf to demand their release.

fergie0o1:
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu did not order a crackdown on End SARS protests, the State Government insists.



Daily Post

BeeBeeOoh:
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/10/19/touts-responsible-for-hike-in-passport-fees-says-immigration-chief/

prof2007:
A Branch Manager with Wema Bank, Bamidele Ajala, has been shot by personnel of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (task force) in Oshodi area of the state. PUNCH Metro gathered that the officers shot the 39-year-old in the hand while they were fleeing with a yet-to-be-identified LT commercial bus driver, who bashed his car.

Our correspondent learnt that the driver crashed into Ajala’s vehicle around Oshodi, inward Airport Road, last Tuesday. After the crash, the banker said the driver claimed he lost control of the vehicle when some area boys working with task force officials dragged steering with him to force him to stop. In the process, the driver rammed into Ajala’s Honda Accord and damaged one of the back doors.

The 39-year-old said he wanted to take the driver to a police station to report the case, but the task force officials refused. Ajala said, “The driver said the area boys usually worked with the task force officials to track down drivers and that it was when they were dragging his steering with him and pepper-sprayed his face that he rammed into my car.

“I told the driver that somebody has to be responsible for the damage to my car. The area boys wore mufti and I held the driver because the damage to my car was too much. So, the real task force officials came, asked why I held the driver’s trousers and I told them I wanted to take him to the police station to make an entry of the accident.

“The task force officials said they would handle it and I handed over the driver to them. The officials called the area boys to drive the commercial bus and the driver away, but when I realised that they were trying to escape with the driver, I ran into my car and caught up with them.”

The Kogi State indigene said when he asked where they were taking the driver to, one of the task force officials shot his right hand and the tyres of his vehicles. The victim, while demanding justice, said the officials protected the bus driver to prevent him from making a report that would indict them.

He said, “I said the driver needed to fix my car, but one of the task force officials slapped my face; my mouth peeled and I started bleeding. The task force official also went toward my car and used his AK-47 to shoot the two tyres on the passenger’s side. At this point, a mob had gathered and in a bid to disperse them, he started shooting and one of the bullets hit my upper left hand. He did all these to prevent me from double-crossing them as I did when they were escaping with the driver and the bus.

“My shirts and inner wears were soaked with blood after being shot, but people rushed me to the Kupa Hospital on Ajao Estate, from where I was referred to the Airforce Hospital in Ikeja for further treatment. I want justice. The task force officials knew if I was able to take the commercial driver to the station, he would mention their names.”

An x-ray conducted on Ajala and sighted by PUNCH Metro showed a bullet in the victim’s left hand. A spokesperson for the task force, Raheem Gbadeyinka, said the task force did not operate in the area on the day of the incident.

“Not all policemen are part of the task force; there are some people who parade themselves as task force officials, but they are not. Regarding his case, it has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt that the policemen are actually task force men.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/fleeing-lagos-task-force-officers-shoot-banker-for-protesting-car-damage/

dre11:
https://punchng.com/buharis-scorecard-decidedly-not-good-enough/

vanbonattel:
The people running Nigeria has never owned any business in their lives. They are running Nigeria like a government office

When we told them to vote Peter Obi to save their lives, Someone With Very Brown Teeth Will Come Here And Scream Pandora Because They Want To continue Living In Denial Of Their Failed County. Who cares.

Kwanza:
…Our salaries have been stopped, affected journalists cry out



https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/10/apc-fails-to-pay-12-9m-newspaper-advert-debt-affected-journalists-cry-out/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

XXXXTENTACION:
No! Buhari zombies are exempted... Anytime you want to buy something just screenshot your online posts and show them how you have been supporting Buhari online and they will allow you walk away with any goods of your choice....

Xscape1993:
Nigeria my country.

fergie0o1:
Previous thread:
https://www.nairaland.com/6806462/police-brutalize-student-okene-force#106811284

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLeMJ-5t8Ak




Nigeria Police Force


Four Officers involved have been detained and facing orderly trial



*DSP William Ovye Aya*,
Police Public Relations Officer,
*For*: Commissioner of Police,
Kogi State Command

Buckeyemedia1:
Canada says your law enforcement agents are terrorist, then what are the citizens like you, law & abiding? Or you will tell them @ the embassy that no one from your family is in The Nigerian Police Force or any of its agencies? Then they will grant you a pass to enter Ontario?

uthlaw:
fashola is not responsible for ur state problem!

Residents in the South-South have sought Federal Government’s intervention in the ever-increasing cost of food items and cooking gas in the region.

The analysts who made the call in separate interviews, said government should stem the rising cost of the items through proper economic recovery plan and implementation.

They added that Nigerians should assist government in minimising the excesses of middlemen and market associations in hiking the prices of commodities.

The residents also identified the major factors contributing to cooking gas price hike in the nation to include lack of functional refinaries and off-takers for gas distribution.

On prices of food, they identified market forces, insecurity, farmer/headers clashes, insurgency, banditry, poor storage facilities and COVID-19 outbreak as causes of food price hike in the country.

Although the analysts appreciated current government’s efforts in solving the problem, they advised that the intervention should be urgent as food was one of the basic necessities of life.

A civil servant in Asaba, Mr Vincent Adeoye, said: ‘’Our challenge has become double in the sense that the cost of food items is high likewise that of cooking gas.

”How do we survive in this present situation when we buy a cup of beans for N150 and one kilogramme of cooking gas for N700?

”Our salaries cannot even feed our families, not to talk of paying school fees and rent. It is only God who helps us to survive.

”The present economy is making things too difficult for us and I will appeal to the government to come to our rescue.”

Also, Mrs Deborah Diai, a civil servant, said she had resorted to using charcoal for cooking since ‘’the price of domestic gas is now within the reach of the rich.”

”Three kilogrammes of gas does not last up to five days for me, because we are family of six,” she said.

The Chairman, Ika Liquified Petroleum Gas Dealers Association, Mr Onyeka Eze, said the increase in the price of domestic gas had affected the consumption of the product in the area.

According to him, before now, a kilogramme of gas sold for between N300 and N320, but in the last six months, the price had gone up to N650 a kilogramme.

”Before this increment, we dispense as much as 100 kilogrammes daily, but as at today, it takes us almost three days to sell 50 kilogrammes of it.

Eze urged the federal government to intervene in the continual increase of the price of domestic gas.

In Rivers, Mr Livingston Wechie, a civil rights crusader, urged the government to tackle the situation, saying, ‘’basically, there’s a tremendous hike in cost of living.

“While commodity prices are on the increase, wages and remunerations have remained static even when only a few percentage of the country’s population earn salaries.”

Wechie urged government to reconsider a proper economic recovery plan to ensure that basic commodities for daily survival took precedence over any other infrastructure.

He lamented that the price of domestic cooking gas had gone up from N3,500 to almost N10,000 for 12.5 kilogrammes.

He also attributed the high cost of foodstuffs in the country to the challenge of insecurity, farmer/headers clashes, insurgence and banditory.

Similarly, the President, Etche Farmers Cooperative Union, Mr Godwin Akandu, urged government to reinvigorate the economy by ensuring direct funding of farmers and strengthening security.

Meanwhile, Mr Sunil Umar, an Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) mini tank farm operator, attributed the current hike in prices of cooking gas to lack of functional refineries.

Umar said the situation was compounded because of lack of off-takers, to effectively distribute the huge quantity of gas produced by the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG).

According to him, the NLNG has always allocated to the Nigerian market as much as 450,000MPTA quantity of gas from 2015 till date.

Also speaking on the high cost of cooking gas, Mr Victor Ohwodiasa, Operations Controller, Department Petroleum Resources (DPR), Uyo, attributed the increase to deregulation of the sector and market forces.

“The gas market is deregulated and is driven by market forces; so the issue of demand and supply comes into play.

‘’Another reason is that there are some tariffs that were imputed by government recently; so that is why the price has jumped up.

‘’If we talk of gas penetration, gas availability and gas reliability, then something should be done about the price,” he said.

Ohwodiasa however said that government was working hard to intervene and stabilise the price of cooking gas.

A housewife in Uyo, Mrs Glory Inyang, said that the high cost of cooking gas had affected the feeding allowance given to her by her husband.

“I used to buy 12.5kg of cooking gas for N3,750, but today I have just bought the same quantity for N10, 000; this is on the high side,” she said.

Another housewife, Mrs Margaret Joseph, lamented that both the cooking gas and food items had become exorbitant at the same time, causing lot a lot of hardship to Nigerians.

Similarly, the Edo Chairman of the Grassroots Farmers Association of Niger-Delta, Chief Emmanuel Odigie, has identified insecurity, activities of market associations and bad roads as reasons for high cost of foodstuffs.

Odigie claimed that the farmers/herders clashes had made it almost impossible for most farmers to access their farms for fear of being killed or kidnapped.

He also attributed the high cost of food and other commodities to the lack of interest in agriculture on the part the youths.

‘’The youths in our state are not interested in agriculture. All they do is travel abroad for greener pasture wh8those left behind hunt for white-collar jobs.

“The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is also a major factor and as long as market associations exist, prices of foodstuffs and other agrucultural commodities will continue to rise,” he said .

Contributing, Dr Samuel Agoda, Agricultural Extension Officer, Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), Sapele, attributed the hike in prices of food to post harvest losses experienced by farmers.

“For the few farmers that are producing this period of insecurity, storage facilities is a major problem.

“Most of these crops go bad easily after harvest because of lack of storage facilities,” he said.

Agoda however noted that the federal government, through NSPRI, had developed series of post harvest technologies for farmers to store produce in the post harvest value chain.

Mynd44:
As posted on Twitter

Harrykn:
Life don hard.

Sonicroyel:
Dey dn shut down maybe this one na Mallam FX

TripleOh7:
That man, Odumosu and the Ajisebutu guy ehn, they be baba werey.

I pray the God of vengeance visits them and their families.

Sonicroyel:
Upon the hunting cbn has been doing ??.
These financial heads are just too clueless abeg

TripleOh7:
The most unfortunate part of all these is that nothing will happen to the policemen involved.

And some people think another election is what will save Nigeria?