Truck kills robber while raiding passengers in Lagos (Graphic Warning)

A suspected robber has been crushed to death by a truck at the Ojo Lowo bus stop in the Ijanikin area of Lagos State, while allegedly attacking some bus passengers.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspect, whose name had yet to be ascertained, along with other hoodlums, had at about 10.30pm on Friday stood at the bus stop to waylay bus passengers.

Our correspondent gathered that while the robbery was on, a police patrol team from the Ijanikin division came to the area which made the robbers flee in different directions.

It was learnt that an oncoming truck crushed one of the hoodlums and he died on the spot.

Apart from the deceased, another hoodlum, identified as Bassey Eyo, was arrested by the police while other members of the gang fled the scene.

A police source told our correspondent that 22-year-old Eyo and his gang members were notorious in the area for traffic robbery.

He said, “It was a distress call from the affected motorists that alerted the police to the robbery operation. When the hoodlums sighted the police patrol, they fled, and one of them was knocked down by the truck. His corpse has been deposited in the Badagry General Hospital morgue for an autopsy.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident.

“Effort is on to arrest other suspects and to recover their arms,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Zone 2 Police Command has also arrested a Niger Republic national, Yakubu Adamu, and another, Issa Musa, for allegedly burgling shops in the Lagos Island area and carting away women underwear said to be worth millions of naira.

Our correspondent learnt that 48-year-old Musa, a father of five from Borno State, and his accomplice, were caught in the act on Friday at about 4pm while burgling shops at the Idumota and Balogun markets.

It was gathered the the two suspects – who allegedly belonged to a seven-man gang – were arrested by the Zonal Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Onikan, Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that 10 bags of women underwear and an unregistered Toyota Corolla, which was said to be the gang’s operational vehicle, were recovered by police operatives.

The police said they also recovered two cutlasses, two chisels and one heavy cutter from the car.

The Zone 2 Police spokesperson, SP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the suspects would be charged to court at the end of investigation.

He said, “The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the zone, Abdulmajid Ali, has directed the Officer-In-Charge of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit to arrest other fleeing members of the gang and their receivers.

“The police are going to investigate and charge them to court. The arrest of the gang members was in response to a tip-off on the regular burglary of shops in the market.”

Culled from PUNCH.

Naira falls further to 414/dollar

"The naira fell to a new low of 414 against the United States dollar on Sunday amid the continued scarcity of foreign exchange in the country, with economic experts predicting further pressure in the forex market this week.

The development came five days after the Central Bank of Nigeria had banned nine commercial banks from the forex market for failing to remit the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s $2.334bn into the Treasury Single Account in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive last September.

The naira was sold for 414/dollar across some black market segments in Lagos and Abuja on Sunday. It hit an all-time low of 412 against the greenback at the parallel market on Friday, after closing at 409/dollar on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a day after the CBN banned the nine banks from the forex market, the local currency depreciated to 402/dollar, down from the 397 it closed against the greenback on Tuesday.

Forex dealers said the demand pressure on the dollar, mounted by summer travellers and parents paying schools fees of their children studying overseas, was exacerbated by the CBN’s forex ban on the nine lenders.

The currency dealers said the naira started falling after the CBN banned the lenders from forex transactions.

It first touched 400/dollar at the black market this month since the CBN floated the currency on the official interbank market in June.

At the interbank market, the naira closed at 314.95 on Friday, with traders saying interbank rates would ease this week when part of July’s budget allocation must have entered the banking system.

But experts said the naira would plunge further against the US dollar this week at the parallel market as forex supply remained a major challenge.

Forex traders said even though the CBN had continued to sell dollars daily on the interbank market, its efforts were considered weak and inadequate, Reuters reported.

The Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said, “There is nothing in the policy environment that will arrest the decline unless the central bank has increased capacity to supply the market, which unfortunately it doesn’t have. So, we should expect the naira to remain under pressure in the coming week.”

He said for the naira to stabilise, there must be a funding that the Federal Government or the CBN could access, such as a credit support from either the World Bank or a trading partner like China.

Chukwu said, “The decline of the naira against the dollar is beyond the recent suspension of some banks from the forex market. We have witnessed suspension of banks in the past, and it did not lead to any spike in exchange rate. The major challenge we have now is supply shortage. If that improves, naira will stabilise.”

He said the naira might hit a low of 420 to the dollar this week.

A currency analyst at Ecobank, Mr. Kunle Ezun, said the supply issue, ban on 41 items from the official forex market and activities of speculators would continue to push the value of the dollar up against the naira.

He said, “Sincerely, there is no major thing that one can expect in the parallel market. The only thing that could bring calm to the market is the supply of the US dollar. What we have in the market is basically demand and supply interplay.”

According to him, the volatility in the parallel market will continue as the importers of the banned 41 items have resorted to the market.

“A lot of people in the official market will want to actually maximise the gains on their dollar holding by channelling it through the parallel market,” Ezun said.

Culled from PUNCH.

Four World Bank Contract Officials Drown in Ekiti River (Graphic Warning)

World-Bank-officials Drown i EkitiFour persons, including a man believed to be the son of a World Bank contractor, have drowned in Egbe River in Egbe community of Gbonyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State

According to PUNCH, they were said to be working on a World Bank assessment mission to the river and had commenced work on Tuesday night.

The report stated that they were said to have come from Development Dams and Irrigation Scheme, Kaduna State.

Sources said they drowned after their boat capsized. The four occupants who didn’t wear jackets died, and the remaining three survived.

The chairman of Gbonyin Local Government Area, Folasade Akinrinmola mobilised local fishermen who retrieved the bodies of the dead.

Akinrinmola said that she was notified of the incident by the traditional ruler of the community.

“We immediately mobilised a rescue team and an ambulance and those wearing life jackets were rescued. The rescued people were the ones who told us that others were still in the water. Their bodies were later retrieved by the local fishermen.

We believe that they were there based on some of the proposals we had written on the dam and how it could be put to use; and we believe that the World Bank had started work on the river based on the call,” she said.

The bodies of the victims have been deposited at the mortuary in Ode-Ekiti, headquarters of the council area.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State Police Command, Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the incident, adding that “they must have come from the federal ministry, because dams are owned by the Federal Government. Their boat capsized; four of them died, while three survived”.

May their souls rest in peace

Infertility wreaks silent havoc in marriages, wives resort to infidelity

Five years was lost. Five years 41-year-old Efosa Ehiosu would never get back in his life.

The discussion about that dark phase of Ehiosu’s life that nearly drove him over the rocks, took place over an internet video chat but there was no doubt that part of his life still hurts him.

Ehiosu, a businessman based in Dublin, Ireland, explained in the chat with our correspondent, how he met his now ex-wife during a visit to Nigeria early in 2008

He said, “It was not long after I settled in Dublin. I just decided that it would be good if I could settle down and allow my wife to handle my business in Nigeria till she would come and join me here. I came down to Nigeria and I met my wife and we got married almost immediately.

“We had tried to have a child for about two years. Between that 2008, when we did a hurried traditional marriage, and 2010, I was constantly in Nigeria almost every two months to ensure she conceive and also because of my business.

“We tried as much as we could. For more than a year, there was nothing. But she later conceived in late 2010. I am an educated person so I knew some things about conception.

“When she told me, I tried to double-check by calculating the time of our last sexual contact and the number of weeks she said she was pregnant. It correlated and I praised God that I would soon become a father.”

But did he already have a suspicion for him to double-check? Ehiosu said no. According to him, he only did the cross-checking out of excitement and just because he wanted to be sure.

In 2011, Ehiosu’s wife put to bed.

Soon, he travelled back to Nigeria for the pomp and ceremony that came with the christening of his son, spending many weeks afterwards just to be with the newborn baby.

He said even after that, his visits to Nigeria became more frequent.

“My wife is Yoruba while I am Edo. There was no indication that she was getting any ‘action’ behind the scene. She did not come across as a sex-starved young woman, who could not hold herself for a few weeks before my next visit to Nigeria. I took great care of her and the baby and lavished them with gifts,” he said.

His family developed in love. He felt great because he had become a father. Or so he thought.

Fast-forward to 2015, things started heading downhill.

With his baritone voice, which he said was one of the features that his ex-wife fell in love with, Ehiosu said, “I noticed that as the child grew up, I was increasingly becoming a stranger. I called him ‘mummy’s boy’ because anytime I carried him, he was always crying. That was initially. But later, I started becoming concerned because almost every time I held him, he would scream and kick.

“It kept bothering me because it happened every single time. I was forced to ask my mother what could be wrong and she said, ‘Not to worry; the boy would get used to you as he grows’.

“How would I have a son I could not hold? When I had to tell my mother again that the problem still persisted, she sat me down and asked if I was sure I was the father. You can’t imagine how angry I was. She did not exactly support the marriage in the first place. She only grudgingly let go when I told her I was old enough to make my own decisions.”

But the seed of doubt had been sown in Ehiosu’s heart.

He explained that he did not ask his then wife any question nor did he confront her with any question but simply told her that he needed to take his son for a DNA test which the young woman did not argue against.

The DNA test was conducted in Lagos in March 2014.

“My brother, I have heard and read this many times but did not imagine this could happen to me. My son – the boy I loved so much and lavished with gifts, that I could even swear resembled me – was not mine. Do you know how that feels?

“I felt like my wife had crushed my legs with a car and laughed in my face. Betrayal did not even come close to what I felt. I never imagined it in my wildest dream.”

The marriage never survived it.

Ehiosu said all he told the young woman, whom he has now divorced, was to take the child to the rightful owner.

“I don’t think she even knew that the child was not mine. She begged and sent her family to beg me also and they did.

“What I did not understand was why anybody would think I could remain in that marriage? She admitted she was afraid that if she did not give me a child soon then, I would send her packing because we had already been married for almost two years without her getting pregnant. That was why she decided to try it with someone else.”

While cases such as Ehiosu’s raise numerous questions and sometimes pity, it hits at the heart of the issue in a society where a marriage remains on a shaky foundation so far it has not produced “a fruit” – child.

In many African societies, infertility is still treated like a bad luck, or a situation inflicted by a malevolent force.

Sociologist, Monday Ahibogwu, explained that this age-long notion may have been the reason infertility still threatens the marriages of many Nigerian. He said it does not matter whether the couples concerned are educated or not.

“You must remember that you are a product of your environment. No man can function outside the understanding held by his environment.  No matter how educated people are, what have been ingrained in their mind since birth would remain so long,” he said.

Experts say this archaic understanding of infertility is why many women are forced to have extra-marital affairs to save their marriages.

Ahibogwu said some men, who already know they cannot conceive, may choose to keep quiet about it when their spouses bring an illegitimate child home.

“From a subjective point of view, what you don’t know cannot kill you. It is like eating a snake or dog meat without knowing. It is when you are told what you are eating that you start feeling terrible,” Ahibogwu said.

Incredibly, geneticist and founder of the DNA Center for Paternity Testing, Lagos, Dr. Abiodun Salami, said his experience in the last 14 years of practice in Nigeria shows that out of every 10 fathers, four are fending for a child that is not their own.

Salami is not alone in this line of thought, another DNA expert in Lagos, Dr Oyinwola Oni, corroborated the statistics that 40 per cent of men do not know they are not the biological fathers of their first child.

With this statistics, one can only assume  there is a generation of illegitimate children out there, many of whom would never know their true fathers.

For people like Ehiosu, one might say luck was on his side because he got to know the truth while the child was still three years old.

Ehiosu, our correspondent learnt, met his current wife, another Nigerian, in Dublin early in 2015. Now, they have a child. The current wife and daughter have now become Ehiosu’s world. If not for them, he said he might not have recovered from the trauma of knowing that a child he had thought was his, biologically belonged to someone else.

“The funny thing about this whole thing is that my current wife became pregnant soon after we met. I believe God has a way of teaching us great lessons and my ex-wife was my own bitter lesson,” he said."

Culled from PUNCH

Nigerian women and Europe’s sex trade

"TRAFFICKING for prostitution into Europe by Nigerians has reached a tipping point. In a newly-released report, the United Nations International Organisation for Migration warns that the trafficking of Nigerian women for prostitution is at a “crisis level.” The report, which covers the first six months of 2016, laments that gullible Nigerian girls – some with the help of their families – are being recruited at an increasing rate by criminal gangs for European sex markets. This is alarming; it is embarrassing for the nation.

The IOM investigation found that criminal gangs were exploiting the migration crisis in the Middle East to smuggle Nigerian girls into their sex slavery networks in Europe. It says that the pimps dangle tales of prosperity before the girls and their families, and convey them through migrant camps spread across West Africa. From there, they land in war-torn Libya, where they repeatedly suffer gross abuse. Eventually, they are taken to Europe. In reality, they are being sold for between £4,000 and £10,000, ending up there with debts of up to £40,000 that they have to repay by engaging in prostitution. This is a high-wire game of deception, which should be brought to an end.

Apart from being subjected to abuse, some die on the tortuous journey. Their major destinations are Britain, Spain and, especially, Italy. A flourishing sex trade has been in existence for decades between Nigeria and Italy, but now there is a sharp increase, with Delta and Edo states reportedly heavily involved. IOM officials say “Edo is the hub” of trafficking in Nigeria. It behoves the two state governments to act, and launch aggressive campaigns to dissuade prospective preys.

According to the IOM, 3,600 Nigerian women reached Italy between January and June, nearly four times the figure for 2014, and double the figure in the first half of 2015. At this rate, the final tally for 2016 might surpass the 5,633 recorded in 2015. “What we have seen this year is a crisis, it is absolutely unprecedented and is the most significant increase in the number of Nigerian women arriving in Italy for 10 years,” says Simona Moscarelli, anti-trafficking expert at the IOM. “Our indicators are the majority of these women are being deliberately brought in for sexual exploitation purposes.”

The situation is equally terrible in Britain. Kevin Hyland, head of the United Kingdom Anti-Slavery Commission, says Nigerians constitute the majority of the 13,000 modern slaves there. “The rise in the numbers is staggering. Nigerian women and girls are enslaved and sexually exploited here in the UK,” Hyland says. His lamentation resonates with Nigerians. Even at home, prostitution, described as the “world’s oldest profession,” presents a long-standing conundrum. In spite of the seemingly official unwillingness to admit the magnitude of the problem, prostitution is deep-rooted in our communities.

While some of the teenagers are being lured into this depraved life, there are many women who willingly subject themselves to such indignity on the grounds that they want to make ends meet. Their predicament is being blamed on the worsening economic condition. As a result, they dive headlong into prostitution. This is an infantile dream, a hoax being perpetrated by vicious manipulators.

In truth, most of the filthy lucre being made in the global sex trade is being shared by the vicious criminal operators. In Britain, the Office for National Statistics’ computation in 2009 – the first time prostitution income was factored into the GDP – arrived at a figure of £5.3 billion a year. The latest figure from a research by Urban Institute, an American think tank, puts the number of prostitutes worldwide at 42 million. Urban says the global sex trade generates $186 billion, with criminals living large off the proceeds of a trade that is still an offence in many parts of the world. According to TheRichest.com, prostitution is one of the largest and most profitable industries in the United States for criminal gangs.

So, what to do? First, strengthen the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, the Nigerian Immigration Service and other border agencies. The government has to infiltrate the sex network groups smuggling girls out of Nigeria. The routes might be many, but the government agents should familiarise themselves with them and curb the activities of the human traffickers before they leave our shores. It is a huge task that will need modern technology, intelligence and information, but the government should not succumb to the gangs profiting from the illicit trade.

NAPTIP is making slow strides. It has to make examples of suspects by prosecuting them and deterring others. For instance, a new law in France imposes a fine of $4,000 on those soliciting sex from prostitutes. In some jurisdictions, prostitution is punishable by a fine, and it is said to be illegal in 109 countries. However, the law alone cannot tackle the scourge. The internet age has even made it more difficult for the law to achieve its aim. Instead of walking the streets in search of customers, sex workers now use online media to negotiate with clients. This way, they evade the long arm of the law.

To redress the dilemma, several countries are adopting the Nordic Model, which was pioneered by Sweden in 1999. The model makes it a crime for the buyer of sex only, not the seller. Iceland, Canada, Norway and Northern Ireland are in this category, while prostitution is highly-regulated in The Netherlands, Poland and Austria. In Switzerland, sex workers must register, undergo mandatory weekly health check-ups and obtain a certificate.

Our government has to do more to sensitise the populace about the dangers of prostitution. We need to put our girls in school and establish programmes that can wean them off the streets. The state governments concerned should establish their own anti-human trafficking agencies, while NGOs should join the crusade in earnest through incentives and well-defined programmes."

Culled from PUNCH.

EFCC arrests man for duping ‘wife’ of N6.7m

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has arrested one Chike Nnaemeka, for allegedly tricking an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps into marrying him and paying for the wedding.

Nnaemeka, aka Dr. Justified, was said to have duped his victim, Nkechi Ani, of N6.7m.

The EFCC, in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said Nnaemeka, who claimed to be a gynaecologist, allegedly collected the sum under different requests. The victim was reportedly introduced to him by one of her classmates at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State.

The suspect was also said to have tricked Ani into marrying him and they were joined in a traditional wedding on June 6, 2015, without informing her that he was married with three children.

In her petition, the complainant said, ‘‘During the wedding preparation, Justified brought up so many stories bordering on cultural issues that I or anyone from my family is not supposed to visit his home town until after my marriage. He also said that the tradition of his place as a lone prince demanded that I sponsored every financial aspect of the traditional marriage, but that he would refund me to the last one naira I spent.”

According to the commission, the suspect continued to deceive his victim and even claimed to have property that both Zenith Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc were purportedly interested in buying.

The suspect was said to have shown the complainant some documents of the property, and requested her to raise some money to enable him to complete the process.

The complainant allegedly transferred some amounts to the suspect, after being assured that he would refund her.

But on December 23, 2015, the suspect allegedly left the house on the pretext that he was going to sign the agreement papers with the banks to finalise the transaction.  Ani  also alleged that the suspect stole the sum of $3000 belonging to her boss.

“Meanwhile, investigation has revealed that the suspect, who is married to another woman who had three children for him, also lied that his mother passed on some years back. The suspect will soon be charged to court, after investigation is concluded,” the statement added."

Culled from PUNCH.

Prophet offered me N6,000 to kidnap sisters – Suspect

Olaleye Aluko and Adewale Ogungbemi

A 35-year-old barber, Uche Emeroha, and a prophet, Kenneth Alozie, were paraded by the police on Thursday for allegedly abducting two sisters, who were returning from a summer class in the Igando area of Lagos State.

Emeroha said Prophet Alozie allegedly promised to pay him N6,000 if he could abduct and bring two children to his church, Hope in God Healing Ministry in the Agboroko area, Iyana Iba.

PUNCH Metro had reported on Thursday that two sisters – Jumia, six, and four-year-old Ayomide – were abducted on Olorunfemi Street in the Igando area while returning from the summer class around 2pm on Tuesday.

It had been reported that the children, whose mother is a widow, were rescued by police operatives from the Igando division around 7pm on Wednesday and two suspected abductors were arrested.

Our correspondents learnt that Emeroha, after allegedly abducting the girls on their way back home, had handed them over to a woman identified as Mama Chioma, who then took them to Alozie’s church.

According to the police, Emeroha was the first suspect to be arrested and he, thereafter, led operatives to the hideout, where Alozie had hidden the girls.

Alozie, who claimed to be a prophet, was also arrested.

It was gathered that Mama Chioma was still on the run.

Speaking to PUNCH Metro at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, on Thursday, Emeroha said when he went to Alozie’s church for counselling, the prophet promised to fortify him with a charm, so that he (Emeroha) could be bringing stolen children to the church.

He said, “I am not married. I did not know the girls before that day. I worked as a barber on that street. One woman, Mama Chioma, was the one who introduced me to the prophet. She collected my phone number from my girlfriend. She took me to the prophet for counselling. I think she and the prophet worked together.

“When I met the prophet on Tuesday, he asked me to abduct some children. He promised to do some charms for me so that I would not be caught and he promised to pay me N6,000. That was the first time I would run such errand.

“When I came back to the area, I saw the girls returning home. I accosted them and lied that their mother asked me to buy some soft drinks for them. They did not struggle with me. I carried the younger one and held the hand of her sister. Mama Chioma was already waiting at Akesan bus stop to receive them. I recently moved to the area to work as a barber. I was living in Abuja.”

Alozie, however, denied sending Emeroha on the errand, saying he only prayed for the barber during the counselling.

He said, “I did not know him before that Tuesday. Mama Chioma is my member. She usually brings people, who have one problem or the other to me, so that I could pray for them. I am not a herbalist.

“I was at home on Tuesday when the woman brought this man. I counselled and prayed for him. I only wanted to solve his problems. Later on Tuesday when Mama Chioma brought the girls, she said they were Emeroha’s children and his wife had abandoned him because of his challenges.”

The older girl, Jumia, told PUNCH Metro that Mama Chioma took her and her sister to an unfamiliar house, gave them food and plaited their hair.

She said, “The man, who took us away, said mummy asked him to buy some drinks for us. He later gave us to one woman. The woman took us on a bus to a place. She put us in one house and gave us food. She gave us rice and soup.

“She later carried us to one man’s place. She also plaited our hair. Later, the police came and carried us to the station. The police now took us back to mummy.”

The mother of the rescued girls, who identified herself as Iya Ayo, said it was a boy in the area who caught a glimpse of Emeroha escaping with the girls.

She said, “My children were found around 6pm in the Agboroko community, towards Okoko. I thanked the God of Christ Apostolic Church. When I initially discovered that my children were abducted while returning home, I searched the whole area trying to trace them.

“I usually grill corn in the area since the death of my husband three years ago. It was a boy in our area who caught a glimpse of the barber escaping with the girls. I also thank the police for their efforts.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspects, said the police were on the trail of Mama Chioma, who was believed to have other victims in her custody.

He said, “The woman is also known as chairlady. She is being hunted now. We are going to find out if she does not have other victims. But we have the two suspects – the barber and the prophet – with us. The police want parents to take more proper care of their children to avoid them falling preys to abductors. Investigation is ongoing.”

Culled from PUNCH.