City & crime update
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“W
Taiwo Jimoh and Kunle Olayeni e are sleeping in the water with our children, wife and other family members. We have lost our dignity as human being through the water that has ravaged our market place which also serves as our abode,” these were the words of the Hausa residents in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State. The market which is situated along Lagos-Ibadan expressway falls under the Ifo local government and the traders, mostly from northern part of the country, said they lost their cows, money and properties following the opening of the Oyan Water Dam. According to Alhaji Gaida Muhammed, a meat seller, the flood caught them unawares, that they didn’t know that the government would open the dam so soon. He said: “We have lost everything we have laboured for to the flood; some residents and traders in the settlement lost the money they kept in their houses and some clothes. The most annoying part is that the economic activities in the market have been crippled because nobody wants to come into the flood to transact business.” Muhammed added: “Before the dam was opened, we were killing about 10 to 15 cows daily but now we hardly slaughter two because people don’t patronise us due to the flood in the market. Another trader, Mr. Ramat Muhammad, told our correspondent that the majority of them were sleeping when the whole settlement was over flooded by water. He recounted that they had been sleeping outside the market since because of the flooding; saying that some children had taken ill due to the mosquito bites and some waterborne diseases from the flood. “We have been outside our houses for about two weeks now, the flood has taken over the whole community but what annoyed us most was the recent visit of the state commissioner for environment who ordered us back into the flooded market to sleep there; he said that we were bringing disgrace to the state government for sleeping on the roadside,” he said. Ramat further said that sending them back into the water that had not dried up was very devastating to them, and that it is inhumane for the commissioner for environment to instruct them to move back into the flooded market. “As you can see we are complying with his directives, you can see some women taking their properties back into the flooded market alongside their children. We are paying tax to the state government, they did not provide a place for us to stay pending when the flood would dry up. We are being treated like leper in our fatherland.” Mrs. Khadijat Iliyasu said the way
SATURDAY, 15 OCTOBER 2016
We were forced to sleep outside for two weeks – Ogun flood victims
Flooded houses in Ifo Local Government Area PHOTO: Taiwo Jimoh
Ogun State Government treated them was very unfortunate. She said: “since we relocated to this present market from Oluwanishola Cow Market we have being paying our taxes, we have not benefited anything from the state government; they should consider us as partners in progress. Directly, we are creating jobs for teeming youths in various aspect in the market, so they should provide us a befitting place where we can do our business with pleasure and peace.” A trader who identified herself simply as Mrs. Kazeem said each time she walked in the water she spends huge sums of money to buy drugs to cure the waterborne diseases from the flood. “We don’t have another place to do our business; this is where I come to on a daily basis. About 40 cows, 20 rams had died since the market was over flooded, and each cow costs about something between N100, 000 and N200, 000. We have incurred debt of about N5million.” Meanwhile, reacting to the flooding, the Ogun State Government urged the affected residents to relocate from the areas. The Commissioner for Environment, Mr Bolaji Oyeleye, said in a statement that the government had hitherto carried out sensitisation and media campaign to warn residents about the impending flooding. Oyeleye, however, assured them that
the state will work in conjunction with the Federal Government and other related agencies to provide succour to the affected communities. The statement reads: "The Ogun State government wishes to draw the attention of the public to the recent river-flooding that has affected some areas in Ifo and Obafemi-Owode Local Government Areas namely Kara, Isheri, Denro, Akute, Wawa and Warewa. "This unfortunate incident is a direct consequence of the release of water from Oyan Dam by the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA) coupled with heavy flow of rivers that are
tributaries to Ogun River and failure of the affected residents to heed government's warnings. "Those living in the affected areas and other flood-prone areas along Ogun River are hereby advised to relocate to safer grounds to forestall loss of lives. "Residents are advised to imbibe good environmental practices such as: desisting from erecting buildings on flood planes/ run-off routes and the drainage channels in front of their premises. "Residents are equally advised to alert the State Government of any impending disaster that may arise from river flooding in these areas."
I stole to pay for surgery, says suspect
Igbeaku Orji Umuahia
A
suspect, Onyekachi Michael, 25, has confessed that he was sorry he had to rob saying it was his first attempt even as he said he had to rob to raise money for a surgery. He was among the over 20 suspects paraded yesterday by the Abia State Police Commissioner, Leye Oyebade. He confessed that he stole the laptop which he sold to his friend, Ifeanyi Okocha, a professional DJ at N15,000. According to him, he needed to raise N45,000 for surgery.
Okocha had said that he bought the laptop from Michael, not knowing that it was stolen. The Police also paraded one Samuel Okorie, who with other members of his three-man gang on October 1, 2016, at Lopkaukwu in Umunneochi local government area, robed, raped and killed one Mrs Anthonia Dike whom they trailed to Ofeme in Umuahia North local government area on September 29, 2016. The woman was said to be returning from Jos, probably on a business trip, when the incident occurred. Okorie said the other members of the gang were at
large. The Police Commissioner said that the gang raped all the occupants of the vehicle but shot Mrs Dike at the end of the orgy. Among the suspects were a 300-level undergraduate of political science from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Franklin Ukachukwu, who specialise in stealing household properties. He was arrested with his gang and the woman who buys the stolen items, Nwakala Adiele from Owahafor, Obingwa local government area. Items recovered include, Toyota Sienna with registration number AGL 676 DH, five fans, three TV sets including one Plasma TV,
two generator sets, CD players, among others, at Aba. Oyebade also paraded, six suspected vandals and a car snatching syndicate that specialises in snatching cars from Umuahia to Akwa Ibom State. He said that while three members of the gang were arrested, three others escaped. The Police recovered one Toyota Highlander Jeep with registration number JJJ 872 CX, one black Mercedes Benz car with registration No.AG 467 NEM, one AK 47 riffle with two magazines containing 31 rounds of live ammunition, one locally made revolver pistol, among others.