What is a city without crime? thisislagos descends into the Lagos underground to search out the baddest guys committing the craziest crimes in LasGidi.
Oil firm director bags 20 months imprisonment for fraud (Guardian)
A Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on Tuesday, convicted and sentenced the Managing Director of an oil company, Julian Ndubueze Ezeji and his company, Initial Energy Service Limited, Julian Ndubueze Ezeji, to 20 months imprisonment for fraud.
Justice Raliat Adebiyi convicted the defendant and the company in the 14-count charge filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
EFCC had arraigned the defendants for dishonestly converting to their personal use, several sums of monies and property of one Onyeka Okoye and Chikatina Petroleum Nigeria Limited being payment for 574,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
Their offence contradicted section 285(1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge when they were arraigned on March 4, 2016. Read more
Bamise: Lagos court told how bus samples were taken for forensic analysis (Guardian)
Justice Sherifat Sonaike of Lagos State High Court sitting in Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), was yesterday told how police conducted a forensic examination on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) bus, but that the report was not yet out.
A prosecution witness, Superintendent of Police (SP), Goddy Ihende, disclosed this during the ongoing trial of a BRT driver, Andrew Omninikoron, over alleged murder of a 22-year-old fashion designer, Oluwabamise Ayanwole.
While being cross-examined by the defendant’s counsel, Mr. Abayomi Omotubora, the witness told the court that they (Police) took samples from the bus for a DNA analysis. He noted that it takes time to get the result of the forensic analysis.
Ihende, the seventh prosecution witness, said that the defendant picked up the victim from Chevron Bus Stop, instead of the designated BRT Bus Stop.
He said: “In my earlier answer, I said the defendant was not supposed to pick a passenger that is not in the BRT Bus Stop, but he went ahead and did that because he didn’t want to remit the money into the Lagos State’s account.” Read more
Lagos: Naval officers detained for allegedly attacking police officers, stabbing ASP to death (Guardian)
Lagos State Police Command, on Sunday, confirmed the detention of two Naval officers, who were among the four officers that allegedly attacked an anti-robbery police patrol team in the Satellite Town area of Lagos State.
The officers were alleged to have stabbed one of the police officers identified as Abion Hezikel, who is an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) to death on Saturday, December 3, 2022.
It was alleged that the four Naval officers were riding on a motorcycle when they accosted a team of police officers on anti-robbery patrol within the Oluti area in Satellite town.
It is, however, not clear what led to their disagreement. The naval officers, who have been identified as S/NO. 20507 Onyekachi Egwumian, 27, S/NO. 16933 Ebube Growth, 28, and two others, who are currently at large, allegedly attacked the officers and in the process stabbed ASP Hezekiel in his chest with a jackknife as well as injured three others, who tried to mediate during the disagreement. Read more
Court remands man over alleged N72.5m fraud (Guardian)
Justice Mojisola Dada of Special Offences Court, Ikeja , Lagos, yesterday, remanded, a former member of the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), Peter Onoja, in a correctional centre, for allegedly stealing the sum of N72.5 million.
The judge remanded the defendant after he pleaded not guilty to a six-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft commission alleged that the defendant fraudulently converted the sum of N72.5million, property of NUFBTE to his personal use.
His alleged offence contradicts Section 287 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
The prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Anita Imo, told the court that the defendant committed the offences between February 2015 and August 2020 in Lagos.
Police told me to avoid some Lagos bus-stops – Robbery victim (Punch)
A resident of Lagos State, Mistura Olowu-Oyebayo, has narrated how some officers of the state Police Command allegedly warned her against alighting or stopping at some bus-stops in the state when she visited the Alapere Divisional Headquarters to report how she was brutalised and robbed around Tipper bus-stop, Ketu.
A bewildered Olowu-Oyebayo wondered why those expected to secure the lives and property of citizens would tell her to avoid some bus-stops – Ketu Tipper bus-stop, Church bus-stop, Toll Gate, Ogudu bus-stop, Glass House, including Kosofe area – adding that she was not in doubt that the police knew how deadly those bus-stops were and had done nothing to rid them of criminals.
Narrating her ordeal to our correspondent, Olowu-Oyebayo said she was returning from her office on the Island on Friday, November 25, and owing to the traffic on her way, the staff bus she boarded got to Tipper bus-stop, Ketu, around 8pm.
“It was around five minutes to eight (7:55pm) that I alighted at the bus-stop and I waited for other people to join me as I usually do so that we could move together. I saw two guys at the front and somehow I became suspicious. I asked those we were walking down together if they weren’t suspicious of the two men at our front, but they dismissed my fears and we continued walking. Read more
How I lost N2m to investment scam – Businesswoman (Punch)
A businesswoman, Omotola Oyewole, has told an Ogba Magistrate’s Court how she lost the sum of N2m to an investment scam.
Oyewole spoke on Monday while giving evidence in the trial of a defendant, Abayomi Owolabi, before Magistrate L.A. Owolabi.
It was gathered that the complainant and Abayomi were friends before the incident happened in June 2022.
Oyewole said, “He (Abayomi) said he was an investment banker with Multibank Group. I would hear him have conversations on phone with people that he would give them their returns. Sometimes, he would also try to convince others to invest. He would tell me to invest also but Iwas hesitant at first. But whenever I was with him, he would receive calls and talk about the investment. That was what made me trust him. Read more
2 arraigned for child marriage, defilement (Punch)
Two men were on Monday arraigned before the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos State, for allegedly engaging in child marriage and defilement.
One of the defendants, Henry Onyekwere, was said to have conspired with others still at large to marry off a 16-year-old girl (name withheld) to the second defendant, Awele Odigo.
A customary marriage rite was performed in August 2019 between the minor and Odigo on Musbau Ashafa Street, off Agbe Road, Abule Egba, Lagos.
This was after the age of the minor was allegedly falsely declared in an affidavit at a magistrate’s court in Ogba on June 30, 2021. Read more
Ex-convict bags 5-year jail for selling marijuana (Punch)
A 20-year-old ex-convict, Wasiu Tajudeen, was on Monday sentenced to five-year imprisonment by a Lagos Federal High Court sitting for dealing in 200 grams of cannabis sativa, aka marijuana.
Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa handed down the sentence after Tajudeen pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful dealing in the drug.
The charge was preferred against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The prosecutor, Mr Lambert Nor, had told the court that the convict was arrested with the banned drug on July 2, 2022, at Abule-Odu Egbeda, Lagos State. Read more
Rape victim seeks Lagos bishop’s prosecution, tackles police (Punch)
One of the ladies who accused the founder of a Lagos-based church, identified as Bishop Daniels, of rape, has lamented the delay in the prosecution of the suspect.
The victim said seven months after the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, commenced investigation into the matter, nothing had happened.
PUNCH Metro had reported that an assistant female pastor accused Bishop Daniels, who is married with children, of raping her on two separate occasions at his house in the Lekki area of the state.
The victim said Bishop Daniels summoned her to his house on the claim that she committed an offence, adding that when she got there, the cleric, who was the only one at home, allegedly raped her. Read more
Lagos father remanded for raping teenage daughter (Punch)
A 52-year-old man, Emmanuel Orekoya, has been arraigned before an Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court for allegedly having carnal knowledge of his 17-year-old daughter.
The defendant was arraigned on two counts of unlawfully inserting his finger into the minor’s private parts and having carnal knowledge of her.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Osagiede Orobosa, told the court that the accused committed the crime sometime in 2017 at his residence on Jacob Adeleye Street, Odo-Eran, Itire, Lagos State.
The charges read in part, “That you, Emmanuel Orekoya, of Jacob Adeleye Street, Odo-Eran, Itire, within the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully have carnal knowledge of your daughter (name withheld) by inserting your manhood into her private parts, sometime in 2017, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.” Read more
NDLEA to arraign teenager for drug trafficking (Punch)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Friday filed drug trafficking charges against a teenager, Abdullahi Aliyu, before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Aliyu, 19, was said to have been allegedly caught in possession of 1.2kg of Tramadol, 32g of Rophynol and 2kg of Diazepam, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The prosecuting counsel for the NDLEA, Mr Lambert Nor, wrote in the charge sheet that Aliyu committed the offence on October 13 in the Alaba Rago market area of Ojo, Lagos State.
The five counts filed against the teenager border on “illegal peddling of restricted narcotics,” which according to Nor, “contravened the provisions of Section 11(c) of the NDLEA Act Caps N30 Law of the Federation 2004.” Read more
Police arraign cryptocurrency marketer over alleged N51.7m fraud (Punch)
The Lagos State Police have arraigned a cryptocurrency marketer, Temitope Longe, before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos for allegedly obtaining the sum of N51,789,222 by false pretence and fraud.
Longe was docked before Justice Tijjani Ringim on the alleged offences by the officers of the Police Special Fraud Unit Ikoyi, Lagos.
The PSFU’s prosecutor, Mr Justin Enang, told the court that the cryptocurrency operator and others now at large, committed the offences in Lagos sometime in 2017.
Enang told the court that the defendant fraudulently obtained the sum of N25,894,711 from one Dr. Abiodun Adefunrin with false pretence of investing the same in cryptocurrencies and forex trading. Read more
Woman allegedly sponsors boyfriend’s UK trip with stolen funds (Punch)
A 27-year-old woman, Busayo Alagbe, has been arraigned before the Yaba Magistrates’ Court, Lagos State, for allegedly forging bank documents and robbing her employer, Bridgeway Ventures, of N4.5m in the state.
Alagbe was charged with three counts bordering on the conversion of employer funds, stealing and forgery.
The prosecutor, Godwin Oriabure, said the defendant committed the crime between July and November 2022, in the Gbagada area of the state, adding that during interrogation, she confessed to have used the stolen money to sponsor her boyfriend’s travelling expenses to the United Kingdom.
Oriabure told the court that the offence was contrary to and punishable under Section 287(b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. Read more
Lagos community laments hoodlums’ attacks (Punch)
Landlords and residents of Amoo, Agbotikuyo, and Adealu streets, in the Orile-Agege area of Lagos State, have cried out for help due to increased attacks by hoodlums terrorising them in their community.
PUNCH Metro gathered from the residents that the hoodlums usually barricade various streets to extort money from motorists and commercial motorcycle operators in the community.
Our correspondent also learnt that on some occasions, the hoodlums, while creating tension in the community, allegedly break into shops to steal goods from business owners.
A resident of Alhaji Oladapo Street, Olanipekun Ajani, said the miscreants were in the habit of barricading access roads to demand money from commercial transport workers at night. Read more
Cultists shoot ex-student dead in Yabatech, suspect nabbed (Punch)
Suspected cultists on Wednesday shot a yet-to-be-identified ex-student of the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State, dead on the premises of the school.
PUNCH Metro gathered that undergraduates were celebrating their students’ week when the suspects shot the victim dead.
The attack which created tension in the school made students and other persons present at the scene of the shooting scamper to safety over fear of being struck down by a bullet.
In a trending video clip observed by our correspondent, three students were seen carrying the corpse of the victim away from the scene. Read more
13 workers allegedly steal N92m diesel in Lagos (Punch)
Thirteen workers of an oil firm were on Monday brought before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court, Ikeja, Lagos State, for allegedly stealing diesel worth N92m from the NASCON Allied Industries Plc in the state.
The defendants are also facing allegations of forging the company’s document to sell the stolen oil.
The defendants were arraigned on Tuesday, November 13, 2019, on four counts bordering on conspiracy, stealing, and forgery before Magistrate A.F Akinyemi.
The charges read in part, “That you, Lere Oseni, Mutiu Adegboye, Ahmed Muritala, Jonathan Igbokwe, Mukaila Garuba, Sagir Mohammed, Folashade Opasanya, Adeyoloye Taiwo, Saidi Ayaniyi, Babangida Suleiman, and others now at large, on the same date and place, in the aforesaid Magisterial District, did steal some quantities of diesel product valued N92.3m, property of one the NASCON Allied Industries Plc.” Read more
Lagos court orders arrest of ponzi scheme operator (Punch)
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State on Thursday ordered the arrest of a ponzi scheme operator, Victoria Imase-Regal, over alleged N36.45m fraud.
Justice Tijani Ringim issued the bench warrant against the Ponzi scheme operator following a request made by the prosecutor, Justin Enang, from the Police Special Fraud Unit, Lagos.
The PSFU charged the defendant alongside her four companies on seven-count of conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence and issuance of dud cheques.
The police alleged that Imase-Regal used her companies to defraud victims on the false pretence of giving them multiple returns on investment. Read more
– Compiled by Opeyemi Ajao