Aborisade decries armed robbery attacks, petitions IG

Human rights activist and lecturer at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Mr Femi Aborishade, has written a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Mohamed Abubakar, following persistent attacks on his residence by armed men.
It will be recalled that armed men suspected to be robbers attacked him and his family, on November 22, inflicting cuts on him and carting away belongings.
Aborisade who decried the persistent attacks said: “I hereby appeal to the Nigeria Police Force for protection on the ground of persistent vicious attacks by armed men. My family and I have been attacked twice, in barely one month – first, on 22 November at about or between 12.40 a.m. and 1.00 a.m., and the second on 29 December, 2012 at about or between the hours of 2.30 a.m. and 6.30 a.m.
 The second attack, according to him, “occurred on December 9, between the hours of 2.30a.m. and 6.30a.m. The two security officers on duty at the security unit at the end of my quarters obviously fled for safety. Within seconds, the attackers appeared to have overpowered the two polytechnic security officers. Though the armed attackers did not break the door into pieces to gain entry, unlike in the first time, intermittently, they were calling my name, saying ‘Femi jade,’ meaning ‘Femi come out.’ Their menacing presence was felt throughout the period stated.”
He added: “As soon as the attackers arrived on 29 December, I called the telephone number of the Chief Security Officer of The Polytechnic, Ibadan. The number did not go through. I called the telephone number of the Control Room of the Security Department. As soon as I told them that armed men were around attacking my family, the connection appeared lost.

Osun Police arrest suspected kidnap kingpin, syndicate member

The Osun State Police Command has arrested a renowned Muslim cleric, Hammed Adewumi, suspected to be the leader of a kidnap syndicate, whose operations brought palpable fear and tension to the people of the state in recent times, and another member known as Seun Ogunmusuru..
Before the arrest, the Nigerian Tribune learnt that residents of Osogbo, Ile-Ife, Ilesa, Modakeke, Ekiti, Ibadan and some other commercial cities in the South-West, had sent  Save-Our-Soul (SOS) messages to the Osun State Police Commissioner, CP Kalafite Adeyemi, to come to their rescue, with a view to bringing an end to the activities of Adewumi and his men, who had allegedly carried out several kidnap operations.
The Commissioner of Police, Mrs Kalafite Adeyemi, was reported to have acted on the strength of the information given, as she deployed men of the State Police Command to be on the trail of the hoodlums, who had turned the state to a fertile land for kidnap and robbery operations.
One of the gang members, Seun Ogunmusuru was reported to have been arrested on December 14 while Adewumi was nabbed on Saturday, December 22.
Ogunmusuru in his confessional statement was said to have given the names of other members of the gang as Ifeoluwa, Yinusa and  Adedeji Dada.
Before his arrest, Adewumi was a popular and highly respected Imam in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital and was also one of the Muslim leaders in the state. He had, however, told the police that he was arrested by God, not them, while he was yet to fully open up on his gang’s activities.
Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Osun State, Mrs Folasade Odoro, said that efforts were on to arrest others at large while those arrested were undergoing interrogations.

Cyber criminals swindle bank customers

DESPITE efforts by industry regulators and anti-fraud agencies, there seems to be no respite for fraud victims in the country as cyber crime perpetrators continue to swindle unsuspecting bank customers.
Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune showed that most of the frauds are perpetrated via internet. The fraudsters keep changing their strategies while bank customers keep falling victim to their ploy.
The fraudsters are currently exploiting the challenges some banks are facing since the cash-less policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pilot project took off in Lagos early in the year which is making them to migrate to electronic payment channels to limit the use of cash.
The cyber criminals, who have gone sophisticated hack into banks’ website and use their materials to swindle bank customers.
Recalling his ordeal with one of the fraudsters recently, an SME operator, Junaid Awoyemi, said he received a mail supposedly from his bank, stating that it was embarking on system upgrade to another server, advising him to follow its instructions in order to migrate.
According to him, he had completed the upgrade by supplying his account number and other vital information before a customer of his intervened, stressing that the bank later confirmed that the instruction did not originate from them.
Reacting to the heightened fraudster activities, the chairman, Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), Mr. Emmanuel Obaigbona, said increased awareness for all stakeholders was required in order to build the confidence of Nigerians in the e-payment system.
According to him, “while we have made considerable progress in the fight against e-fraud, we still have a long way to go in enlightening all stakeholders in the industry on e-payments fraud prevention.”
The CBN economic report for the first half of 2012 showed that there were 2,300 reported cases of attempted or successful fraud and forgery, involving N7.11 billion, compared with 1,393 cases, valued at N6.52 billion recorded at the end of the corresponding period of 2011.

Mob shut Tin Can Island port

A mob on Monday paralysed all economic activities at the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos , following an accident by a  hit and run driver, which resulted in the instant death of a woman, who is a port operator.
The early morning incident, according to eyewitnesses occurred after a trailer which took one-way traffic in the port’s access road was attempting to escape arrest by law enforcement agents.
“None of us was able to take the number plate of the trailer. We were all interested in the condition of the woman. Unfortunately, she died, before anyone could lift a finger” indicated an eye witness, who pleaded for anonymity.
The death of the victim, who the Nigerian Tribune learnt, was ‘a port operator’, especially one of those people who engage in illegal hawking of items around the port’s gate however ignited pandemonium as a crowd, consisting mostly of  her colleagues took the opportunity to create bonfires, even as the more violent ones allegedly threatened to burn down the port.
The eyewitnesses also confirmed that, but for the timely intervention of the anti-riot policemen, the indicated threat would probably have been carried out.
“There would have been real trouble for the port, but for the timely intervention of the combined team of the ordinary policemen, anti- riot policemen, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), who came in large numbers to restore sanity,” indicated an eyewitness who simply gave his name as Nnamdi Okafor, stressing that a group of hoodlums almost cashed  in on the development to rob innocent passersby of their phones and other valuables, before sanity was finally restored.
Confirming the incident, spokesman for the port, Mr  Ola Adesanya said while the port genuinely sympathised with the deceased and his colleagues, the management was however not convinced that the best reaction was to vent their anger on the port, stressing that the offending trailer had nothing to do with the port.
“It was not a Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) vehicle. It was not carrying any container at the time the driver was taking one-way. As a matter of fact, it practically had nothing to do with port, other than that it was within the port area. So why would the port bear the brunt of such violent reaction?” he asked, praising the law enforcement agents, for their timely responses.
When the Nigerian Tribune arrived at the scene, it also observed smoldering bon-fires being put off by some policemen and NPA security officers, while most of those who had arrived the port for normal businesses were seen, hurriedly departing the port areas, in fear that trouble might not be finally fully averted.

Kano NDLEA arrests husband, wife with 75 bags of cannabis sativa •NDLEA uncovers new drug trafficking strategies

THE Kano State command of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) has arrested a husband and wife for  being in possession of over 75 bags of dry leaves, suspected to be cannabis sativa.
Disclosing this on Monday, in Kano, the state commander of the narcotic agency, Alhaji Garba Ahmadu, said the woman  Hajiya Fatima Jimoh, 40 and her husband, Folorunso Jimoh, were arrested with  the exhibits weighing about 757.5 kilogrammes  at two warehouses owned by the suspect, located at the different parts of Kano metropolis.
According to him, Hajiya Fatima was nabbed at their residence in Dandishe, Dala Local Government Area of the ancient commercial city.
His words: “She was arrested alongside her husband, Folorunso, who denied knowledge of his wife’s illegal business, saying, “I do not know she is into this kind of business. I am not aware of her involvement in drug trafficking. I just came back from a journey before I was arrested by NDLEA officials.”
 However, Fatima, who confessed to have been dealing in cannabis sativa for long, corroborated her husband’s claims saying, “Honestly, my husband is not aware of this business. He is not into it with me. I do not bring it to the house and he has not in anyway gotten involved in it.”
The state NDLE’s boss added  who warned drug peddlers, traffickers and abusers to pack out of Kano saying  the suspect.
Meanwhile, The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ahmadu Giade,  has said that the Agency has uncovered new strategies employed drug traffickers in evading arrest.
This followed the arrest of two suspected drug couriers, who tested positive for drug ingestion, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA)  Lagos.
A press statement obtained by the Nigerian Tribune, on Sunday, from the Spokesman of the agency, Mr Mitchel Ofoyeju, said one of the suspects was found to have allegedly ingested narcotics while on transit at an airport in Brazil, while the second suspect was caught en route Cameroon where he was to connect another flight to Frankfurt.
 Giade, however, attributed the arrests to effective proactive measures by the NDLE, saying, “drug traffickers are full of surprises but we are prepared to counter their plans. One of the suspects ingested the drug at the toilet while on transit at the airport in Brazil and the second suspect who was going to Germany decided to first book his flight to Cameroon just to divert attention of officers. These are strategies of evading arrest but we are poised to nip their tricks in the bud,” the NDLEA boss assured.
Also, NDLEA commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr Hamza Umar gave the names of the suspects as Dickson Daniel Chinedu, 34 years old and Okeke Joseph Chukwunwike, 30 years old.
According to Hamza, “Dickson arrived on a KLM flight on his way from Trinidad and Tobago and tested positive to drug ingestion. He concealed 980 grammes of cocaine while Okeke ingested 1.170kg of cocaine and 335 grammes of heroin, and was to board a Cameroon airline flight to Cameroon. The total weight of the drugs found in their possession is 2.485kg”.
Dickson and Okeke hail from Abia and Anambra States, respectively.
Meanwhile, the release quoted Dickson Daniel Chinedu claiming  to have secured admission at Trinidad and Tobago.
 In his words, “I had just been given admission at the University of Southern Caribbean. I have been working in Trinidad for the past five months. My savings was not enough for my studies and I called a friend in Brazil to help me with 2,000 dollars. He said that he wanted me to transit Brazil on my way to Lagos that he will give me 3,800 dollars. In fact, he made all my travel arrangement. When I got to Brazil while on transit, he gave me the drugs and assured me that everything will be fine. I agreed to smuggle the drugs because of my education. I could not swallow everything so he left with the remaining wraps”.

44 dead, 398 injured in road mishap in Nasarawa

NO fewer than 44 persons were feared dead, while 398 sustained injuries in different road accidents in Nasarawa  State, between January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012.
According to the statistic obtained by the Nigerian Tribune, on Monday, in Lafia, the state capital, from the state Sector  Command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the total road crashes during the period was 181 which involved 218 vehicles of different models.
The statistic further showed that the total casualty was  442 people out of which 44 persons were feared dead, while 398 others sustained various injurious.
The state Sector Commander Francis Udoma, therefore, admonished road users to respect the traffic rules and limit their speed in year 2013 with a view to reducing road accidents in the state.