Woman uses schoolgirls as sex slaves – Police

The police in Lagos State have arrested a 32-year-old woman, Chinoso Okonkwo, for allegedly using pupils of some secondary schools in the Ikate, Surulere area, as commercial sex workers.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Okonkwo was arrested on Wednesday after residents gave the police a tip-off that some teenage schoolgirls were being taken to a hotel in the area – Sunderland Hotel – for sex during school hours.

Our correspondents gathered that Okonkwo allegedly worked with a syndicate which usually went to the school to lure the victims out during school hours.The girls reportedly always removed their school uniforms and put on clothes provided by the syndicate.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Okonkwo also allegedly posed as a nurse to deceive her victims.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect, said investigation was ongoing into the matter.

He said, “Detectives arrested her on Wednesday. Her mode of operation is to target some secondary schools in the area. She, together with her cohorts, would go to the schools and get the girls to a hotel. The hotel is located in Ikate, Surulere. She would change their clothes and use them as sex slaves.

“She would keep the girls in the hotel until the school closing time and make them change back into their uniforms. Investigation is still ongoing, and we will extend it to the hotel and the schools which are involved. We want to see whether there is connivance between the suspect and the school authorities.”

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Okonkwo, a mother of two, said she was based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where she worked as a trader.

She added that she sometimes came to Lagos to work as a sex worker.

Okonkwo, however, denied knowing any of the schoolgirls, saying she only worked in the hotel as a commercial sex worker to raise money for her business in Port Harcourt.

She said, “I am a widow with two children. They are both in a boarding school in Port Harcourt. I live in Port Harcourt, but I sometimes come to Lagos to sleep with men at the hotel. I came to Lagos to find a means of livelihood.

“I use Sunderland Hotel in Surulere. When I was arrested by the police, I saw three girls, probably aged 10 or 12, who claimed I usually picked them from school to the hotel.

“I don’t know any of them. In fact, let the police visit the hotel for investigation. I have never seen them before. I meet men for sex and they give me money. I use the money to buy clothes and take them to Port Harcourt to sell. I have been in this job for a long time. I am a familiar face at the hotel. I do this for a living.”

Clearing Lagos, Ogun of murderous militants

IT is no longer contestable that insecurity is high on the list of crises plaguing Nigeria presently. It has rendered many communities, including hitherto safe ones, vulnerable to attacks from criminal gangs, terrorists and militants. In the past few weeks, Niger Delta militants have taken advantage of the loophole in the security system to spread their nefarious activities to Lagos and Ogun communities, maiming, raping, kidnapping and killing scores of people. In a deadly attack on Ikorodu villages in Lagos, suspected militants killed between 20 and 50 people. The Nigerian government should do its primary duty and protect lives and property of citizens.

 The tears of the victims are still fresh. Media reports state that attacks on Totowu, Imoshe, Ishefun, Igando and other coastal communities in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State and Alimoso LGA of Lagos by petroleum pipeline vandals and armed robbers, have caused thousands of residents to desert their homes and business premises. Worse, some vandals, claiming to be Niger Delta militants, have vowed to sack more communities until their detained members are released. This is a direct challenge to the state. It’s an aberration. We believe that no serious government will continue to tolerate a parallel government within its territory.

In Ikorodu, the militants reportedly beheaded a commercial motorcyclist during their savage attacks on 18 villages, including Elepete, Ajegunle, Ereko, Igbo Olomu and Magbon. The militants, on the pretext of demanding the corpses of their colleagues killed by security agents, opened fire on vigilantes in Ola Imam. A survivor recounted, “I was just driving in without knowing what was happening. But at a point, I saw a motorcyclist on the ground in a pool of blood. He was dead. I continued. Suddenly, I saw a group of men with guns. They opened fire on me and followed me with gunshots.” This depicts the failure of Nigeria’s centralised security architecture, in which the police are far removed from local crime scenes.In Arepo, Ibafo and Mowe, in Obafemi-Owode LGA of Ogun State, the activities of the militants have become a nightmare for residents. Entering through the waterways at Ibafo and Arepo, they rape, rob, collect ransom and kill with impunity. In Ibafo, daring and well-armed militants engaged police and Nigerian Army troops in a gun duel in broad daylight during the visit of Yetunde Onanuga, the deputy governor of the state, to assess the damage done to petroleum pipelines.

The government should no longer toy with this trend of violence in these communities. Although the acting Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has deployed the Tactical Operations Unit, comprising the Police Mobile Force, Counter-terrorism Unit and Air Surveillance Team to Arepo and Ibafo, the measure is not working. Militants are still ruling the roost despite the deployment. The security teams are obviously not doing much to rein in the brutal criminals. Real, sustained action is needed to recover these places from these hoodlums.

Yet, this is not a new security quagmire. Militants moonlighting as robbers and kidnappers, have terrorised several Lagos and Ogun communities for a long time. But having gained the upper hand in their contest with the security agents in the Niger Delta, where they have resorted to bombing oil and gas installations again after a brief lull, they have fanned out to Lagos and Ogun. Though the state authorities noticed the pattern, they did nothing concrete to quickly curb the militancy.

 As a result, about 100 gunmen suspected to be militants confidently laid siege to Fatoki community in Igando, Lagos State, last week, in a three-day rampage. They started by kidnapping and later, graduated to other serious crimes. Similarly in Fakale, Sagamu, Ogun State, local gangsters celebrating their first anniversary on July 7, killed 11 people. The simple truth is that most Nigerian communities are defenceless, as the government lacks a coherent strategy to confront criminals.

Even the security agents are sometimes easy prey. According to media reports, nine Department of State Services officers are still missing after they were attacked by pipeline vandals in Arepo in 2015. Suspected militants kidnapped three female pupils of Babington Secondary School in Ikorodu last February, though they were later rescued. The government needs to urgently respond to this emergency in Lagos and Ogun states. Criminals will always try to supplant the state, but a state that is alive to its responsibilities will beat them to a retreat. The April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing in the United States is a classic case of state efficiency. Within hours of its occurrence, the police, after locking down the area, had arrested one of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, while the other suspect died during the hunt.

But for now, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has not demonstrated the urgency, or devised the strategy needed to deal with the militants. The present security arrangement needs urgent tinkering, starting with a massive redeployment of security agents who are conversant with operations in the creeks. The local communities should be recruited for intelligence, and state agents should stop the extrajudicial killings that have turned them into objects of hate. The government should initiate a comprehensive training programme for security agents to school them in the art and science of counter-insurgency. Too many communities are awash with tears now; there must be a government plan to deploy more security personnel there before a total breakdown of law and order occurs. The key to success is intelligence, an area where the police and the DSS have failed so far. The IG should withdraw the officers posted to secure wealthy individuals and send them to the field. Also, the IG should map out a plan to drastically reduce the number of small arms in the society.

Nigeria is under security threat from several fronts: the Boko Haram Islamic terror in the North-East; murderous Fulani herdsmen in the South; Niger Delta militants bombing oil infrastructure, kidnapping and killing in the South-South zone are signs of a failing state. Therefore, we urge Buhari and his security chiefs to roll up their sleeves and get down to the task of securing the troubled communities in Lagos and Ogun states.

Abia crisis: Assembly passes vote of confidence on gov Ikpeazu

Despite the political impasse in Abia State and near breakdown of law and

order due to political distractions over the controversial judgment of

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Abia State

House of Assembly has passed a vote of confidence on governor Okezie

Ikpeazu, saying he remained the best man for the job

The House at plenary last Tuesday, passed a vote of implicit confidence on

the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, after a motion moved by the member

representing Obingwa West State Constituency and Chairman, House Committee

on Public Petitions, Hon. Thomos Nkoro.
A statement issued on Thursday by the Chief Press Secretary to the

governor, Enyinnaya Appolos, said in moving the motion, Nkoro said it has

become absolutely necessary in view of the political turmoil that has

enveloped the state, which has hitherto, thrown the entire Abia in

confusion, since the ruling by court of first instance.

Hon. Nkoro frowned at the conflicting reports emanating from the media and

the consequent bandwagon effect, saying it has instilled fear in investors

and Abians in general and thereby moved a motion of implicit confidence in

Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Ph.D., and the entire Government of Abia

and affirming that Abia has only one Government of Abia and affirming that

Abia has only one Government.
While making their contributions, members representing Bende North

constituency and Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe; Isiala Ngwa

South, Hon. Barr. Chukwendu Kanu; Umuahia East, Hon. Chukwudi Apugo; and

Obingwa East, Hon. Solomon Akpulonu enjoined all those involved in the

litigation to let go personal interest but consider the overall wellbeing

of Abians as this will not only impact negatively on Abians but will also

scare investors in the state.
They appealed to the parties to leverage on the governor's good

performance in the last one year to support him with brilliant ideas,

while also calling on them to bring their business to the state, with the

aim to move it forward.
The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike, appealed to investors

in the state, to carry on with their businesses, reiterating that the

House will make sure their businesses are not under any form of threat.

He equally used the medium to appeal to President Mohammed Buhari and the

International community to douse the situation, saying that the state will

abide by the rulings of the court when all the issues before it are

finally concluded.
The House therefore unanimously passed a vote of implicit confidence on

the Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, urging him to continue rendering his

remarkable and landmark services to Abia People.
The post Abia crisis: Assembly passes vote of confidence on gov Ikpeazu appeared first on Pointblank News .

Tax clearance forgery suit: Nwosu appeals judgment

One out of the three governorship contestants in Abia state, Mr Friday Nwanozie Nwosu has filed a notice of appeal over the judgment of the Federal High Court, Owerri, and sought an order of Court for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept his nominee for the position of deputy governor.
Nwosu, who was not deterred by the recent judgment of the Federal High Court in Owerri had in a notice of appeal on Suit no. FHC/OW/CS/191/2015, FHC/UM/CS/64/2015, FHC/CS/184/2015, filed at the Federal High Court, Owerri, between him as the (appellant),  PDP, INEC, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, as respondents.
He  sought seven reliefs namely: “An order setting aside the judgment and decision of the court delivered on July 8, 2016; an order granting the appellant necessary consequential order including an order for the plaintiff to be returned as the duly elected governor of Abia State and an order granting the reliefs sought by the appellant in the originating summons.”  He  accused Ikpeazu of submitting a forged tax certificate and declaring false information to the PDP and INEC. However, the Federal High Court, Owerri, presided over by Justice Lewis Allagoa, on July 8, ruled that Nwosu failed to prove a tax forgery case against Ikpeazu and dismissed the suit.
Others reliefs he is asking from the court include; an order directing INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued the third respondent (Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu) as the elected Governor of Abia State by virtue of the April 2015 governorship election held in Abia State, an order directing the second respondent (INEC) to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to plaintiff as the elected governor of Abia State and an order directing the INEC to issue a certificate of return to any person nominated and whose name is forwarded to INEC in writing under the hand and signature of the appellant.”
He also outlined 26 grounds of appeal and particulars of error on which the court occasioned a miscarriage of justice.
According to him: “The trial judge erred in law when he held that the plaintiff did not prove a tax forgery case against the third defendant, even when information on the face of the document speaks for themselves.
“The trial court failed to take into consideration that the offence of forgery is not limited to the maker of a document in question when he held that forgery was not proved because the third respondent was not the maker of the documents.
“Plaintiff’s case was based on two main flanks which were submission of documents that have false information and submission of forged documents to INEC, but the trial judge based his evaluation on only one plank.
“The court erred in law when he failed to resolve the issue of falsehood which the appellant serially raised,” Nwosu stated.

I’m pro-Biafra –Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka  has, again, explained his support for Biafran agitators.
Soyinka said the Igbo people have been so wronged that they have no choice than to consider opting out of Nigeria.
Prof. Soyinka  spoke on Al Jazeera, yesterday where he shed light on his support for Biafra agitators.
“I am very much pro- Biafra because I recognise that the Igbo have been wronged desperately.
“They have been brutalised in a way that justifies their feeling that they were not part of the nation.
“Let me also say this, Biafrans are not entirely innocent in this affair. They were not, but the unleashing of such venom, such devastation on them as a people, was sufficient to justify their decision not to be part of the nation.
“I was pro-Biafran in the sense that I felt that they needed justice.”
Soyinka denied he was a troublemaker, especially in the Biafran crisis, but added, “I grew up in certain circumstances being very conscious politically, in this very Abeokuta; my mother was involved in the politics, my aunt, Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a leader…
“I grew up among political arguments on issues that concern humanity and I find that basically gravitated towards recognising the basic worth of human beings.
“Something I disagree when they call me a patriot because I don’t agitate on some certain entity called a nation; I agitate on humanity.”
He criticised the removal of History and teaching of the Biafran crisis in schools.
“Officials do not want to confront their own history, especially the history in the making of which they feel uncomfortable but, if you do not confront your past, you are going to mess up your future.”
On Boko Haram and the breakup of Nigeria, he said ironically, Boko Haram might be part of the reasons Nigeria may stay together.
Soyinka said a few years ago, he would have agreed that Nigeria would break, but, now that a section of the country is in trouble, there is some kind of pulling together. He added that the conscience of many Nigerian has been awakened such that they cannot abandon that section of the country.
He urged Nigerians to recognise the plurality of Nigeria, how it came together and begin to devise and adopt a method of governance which cannot only be of massive decentralisation. “That way, we can stay together. If we continue to have a centralist government, then, Nigeria is on the brink.”

Igbo leaders converge on Owerri, call on their people to think home

The Igbo yesterday re-examined themselves and resolved to think home so as to develop the Igbo nation.
Igbo leaders who gathered in Owerri, Imo State capital to take this decision reasoned that the state of the nation today makes it imperative for the people to look inwards to build Igboland.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo made this possible as it called out the government and traditional institutions of the South-East states to a think-tank in Owerri tagged Igbo Unity Forum.
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in his welcome speech said the Igbo group has been striving to be the mouth-piece of the people of the region without success. He was, therefore, excited that they had succeed in closing ranks in order to move the race forward.
“We have never had it like this in coming together to proffer solutions to Igbo problems,” Igariwey said.
He noted that the Igbo are very adventurous and great achievers, pointing out that the Igbo contributed over 30 per cent of the development of Lagos and have helped in developing Abuja too.
The president general of Ohanaeze therefore, called on the Igbo to now think home to replicate those things they have done in Lagos and Abuja in Igboland.
Also, former governor of old Anambra State who was the chairman of the occasion, Senator  Jim Nwobodo, called on successful businessmen of Igbo extraction to start investing at home in order to create employment opportunities for Igbo youths.
Similarly, Prof. Anya O. Anya who was the guest lecturer at the occasion called on Ndigbo to rise up, saying that the time has come for them to re-recover themselves if they must survive in the current precarious times in the country.
Igbo leaders who attended the event are: Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mrs. Cecilia Ezilo, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, former Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe, Rear Admiral Allison Madueke.
Others are Prof. Anya O. Anya, former chairman of Police Service Commission, Chief Simeon Okeke, MTN and Diamond Bank Chairman, Chief Pascal Dozie, President General  of Ohanaeze, Chief Gary Enwo- Igariwey, former Anambra governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife,  Chief Jim Nwobodo, Amb. George Obizor, Col. Joe Achuzie and many traditional rulers from the South East, among others.

Impeachment: Senate faults APC

The Senate, yesterday, lampooned the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), over comments credited to it that there was a purported plan to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Senate said APC leadership had all the opportunity to cross-check what actually happened at the executive session on Tuesday from its members in attendance.
In a statement by its spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Senate said the comments credited to the National Secretary of the party, Mai Bala Buni, on the falsehood being spread by an online media merely gave credibility to a news item which members of the public had disregarded, knowing the reputation of the source.
“We expected the party to at least explore all the options open to it to verify that piece of fabrication which is only the figment of the imagination of the writers and their sponsors. It should be clear to the APC leadership that if there is any truth to that story, it should have been credited to a particular senator who was at the executive session.
“It is evident from our proceedings of yesterday (Wednesday) that the Senate itself was shocked that such a fabrication which constitute a breach of the privileges of the senators was published and that was why we mandated our committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the source and circumstances leading to the emergence of such a fabrication,” he said.
He urged the party to always find out the truth about any statement, issue or development in the National Assembly before taking a public position as the comment by the party could further create tension and give a wrong impression, particularly when it is not founded on genuine or factual ground.
“We will like to assure the party that the Senate as an institution values the present democracy in our country and will not do anything that will undermine or weaken the system,” Abdullahi said.