BusinessDay 22 Mar 2018

32
How we formed robbery gang
in Kirikiri Prison - Suspects
JOSHUA BASSEY
BUSINESS DAY
CITYFile
L-R: (front row) Moses Uwadia,
supervisor, logistics, BusinessDay;
Bolaji Salami, VIO 2;
Solawon Joshua, zonal head
of VIS, Wharf zone; Musa
Hammed, VIO; Ugochukwu
Kevin, head, logistics, BusinessDay,
and other members
of BusinessDay logistics, at
the Vehicle Inspection Service
(VIS) safety campaign week
with the theme, Employing
Technology to Enhance Compliance
and Safety on Our
Roads, held at BusinessDay,
Apapa, Lagos.
Pic by Pius Okeosisi
Two of the robbery suspects arrested
by the operatives of Rapid
Response Squad (RRS) of the
Lagos State police command for
killing a Taxi driver and snatching
his vehicle have narrated how they
formed a robbery gang while serving their
terms in Kirikiri Prison, Lagos.
The suspects confessed that they became
friends while in the prison where
they exchanged telephone numbers, and
subsequently reconnected after they left
the prison.
The duo, Simon Tyozemda (27) from
Benue State and Lucky Friday (24) from
Delta State were arrested on March 14,
2018 with two long knives inside a UBER
operated cab, a Toyota Camry Saloon with
the registration number APP 145 EE, which
they had planned to kill its driver and steal.
The gang leader, Simon had through his
girlfriend’s UBER app ordered a taxi at past
11:00 pm last week. The suspects’ plan, according
to the police, was to lure the driver
of the Toyota Camry to a desolate location,
kill the driver and take away his vehicle.
Plateau killings: Group wants aerial surveillance of communities
As more communities in Plateau
come under attacks, a religious
group, Jamaatul Nasirul Islam
(JNI), has made case for aerial
surveillance on flash points to check continued
loss of lives and properties.
Several rural communities in Bassa,
Bokkos, Riyom and Barkin-Ladi local governments
of Plateau have been attacked
by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the last
two months.
According to Terna Tyopev, spokesman
of the police command in Plateau,
several people have been killed by invaders
who burnt villages and looted food,
livestock and other property.
Reacting to the violence on behalf of
JNI, Kalid Aliyu, the general secretary,
The suspects were said to be taking
the driver to a lonely place on Lekki -Epe
Expressway, Lagos, when their vehicle
was stopped by RRS officers for a stop
and search. The officers noticed one of the
suspects seated at the back of the vehicle
hiding a long knife.
Further police investigations revealed
that the duo ex-convicts who were released
between December 2017 and January, 2018,
from Kirikiri prison sometime in February,
2018, in a similar manner snatched a Toyota
Corolla with the registration number, FST
663 EZ along Badore Road, Ajah at about
2:00 a.m. after killing its driver.
The suspects had after snatching the
Toyota Corolla, sold it to one Mohammed
Usman for N350,000:00. Mohammed had
only paid N100,000 and was to move the
vehicle to Jigawa when RRS Decoy Team
arrested him.
According to Simon, an erstwhile
security guard turned stylist in Badore “I
met my colleague, Lucky Friday in Kirikiri
prison. We became friends and when I
was released I gave him the number of my
brother for him to call me.
When he was released, I promised him
called on the Federal and Plateau Governments
to pay special attention to vulnerable
communities.
Describing the attacks as ‘embarrassing’,
he said that the premeditated killings
of innocent Nigerians and destruction of
properties in rural communities in Plateau
should not be allowed to continue.
“From what we have heard, the destruction
has been very massive with
many people and livestock killed, while
150 houses have been burnt. This is very
disheartening.
“We have also heard that many people
have been displaced from their ancestral
homes and left on the streets. The JNI
condemns this heinous crime in very
strong terms”.
I was going to assist him to resettle. Since
then, we have been working and operating
together”.
“Our first operation was where we killed
the driver of the Toyota Corrolla. He was
a Taxify driver. I stabbed the guy in the
stomach twice and I dropped him off the
vehicle on the road in Badore, Ajah at after
2:00am. We threw away the knives and
bought new ones for the fresh operation
we were arrested for”, he added.
He continued “before killing him, I
placed the order to Taxify cab to pick us
up at Lambasa, Lekki at past 11:00 pm.
Our destination was Abraham Adesanya
Estate but we needed a desolate location
to snatch the vehicle from the driver.
It was the same business that took me
to kirikiri prison. I was introduced into it
by Michael. Unfortunately for me, I was
arrested while Michael escaped. I spent
four months behind bars. It is sad I’m being
arrested again over the same business”.
Also arrested along with the suspects
were the middle man who introduced the
gang to the buyer of the Toyota Corolla,
John Thankgod (25) and the buyer of the
car, Mohammed Usman (41).
The religious group challenged the
Plateau and Federal Governments, as
well as security agencies, to wake up to
their responsibilities of securing lives and
properties, noting that human lives were
sacred and deserved respect.
“The security agencies should never
take sides with any of the warring parties.
The rules of engagement must remain
their watchword,” the group warned.
It also called for urgent proactive
measures to end the killings and urged
community leaders to be vigilant so as
to fish out trouble makers in their midst.
It emphasised the need for Nigerians to
accept each other and live peacefully, and
pleaded with government to provide relief
materials to victims of the attacks.
Thursday 22 March 2018
FG plans N18bn pollution
treatment plant in Kano
ADEOLA AJAKAIYE, Kano
The Federal Government is to construct
a secondary treatment plant
in Kano at the cost of N18 billion to
curb environmental pollution.
Kano State commissioner for environment,
Ali Makoda, disclosed this while
monitoring the plants at Sharada area of
the state. He said that the state government
was also tackling environmental
issues in many parts of the state.
Makoda called on the residents of the
area to exercise patience for the plan
to unfold, adding that construction on
the project would come in three phases
in order to curtail the bad odour being
experienced by the residents of the area.
The commissioner said the state
government had directed industries in
the state to provide a primary treatment
plant, to be connected to the secondary
plant.
Zubairu Muhammed, a resident of
the area, said the discharge from the
industries was a source of concern to
the people. He explained that the waste
discharged, especially in the evening by
the industries in the area, usually left
the residents sleepless due to the odour
emanating from it.
Muhammed implored the state government
to assist them by following up
on the Federal Government’s efforts to
find solution to the problem.
Residents of Sharada, Tukuntawa and
Shagari quarters surrounded by industries
and tanneries, all decried the terrible
odour from the industries.
LWC appoints water
ambassadors
Muminu Badmus, managing
director, Lagos Water Corporation
(LWC), says members of
Lagos State Children’s Parliament are to
act as ambassadors for the corporation.
Badmus said at a news conference on
Tuesday that children have been hugely
affected by the ongoing global water crisis
and the agency considers it imperative
that they come first in the efforts to solve
water crisis in the state.
This comes as the corporation joins
the rest of the world today, to mark this
year’s World Water Day, themed ‘nature
for water’.
Represented by Deji Johnson, the chief
operating officer of the LWC, Badmus said
“we brought the children in to act as our
watchdogs to alert us on water-related
issues. As ambassadors, we want them to
help the corporation encourage people to
connect to public water.
“They are also to tell their parents and
peers to imbibe the habit of conserving
water, among others things.”
The managing director said that the
children would also serve as a means
of getting feedbacks on how water consumers
feel about the corporation and
its services.