News

Dowen College: Oromoni’s Family Alleges Delay Tactics, Cries For Justice

Published

2 years ago

June 26, 2022

The family of deceased 12-year-old Junior Secondary School (class two) student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, who was purportedly tortured to death by some senior students that wanted him initiated into a cult group, has raised the alarm that plots of delay tactics at coroner inquest are being hatched in some quarters to frustrate the family at seeking justice for their late son.

While appealing to Nigerians to keep faith with the family in the determination to secure justice for their deceased son, the Oromoni family indicted the representative of the Nigerian Bar Association in the court proceedings, one Bernard Onigah, who it claimed was being used to create confusion at every court sitting “just to ensure that the coroner never arrived at a conclusion to make its final report, based on findings and substantial evidence at its disposal.”

The deceased father, Mr. Stylvester Oromoni, who spoke with newsmen in Warri on Saturday, urged the leadership of the NBA to withdraw Onigah from the court proceedings “in order to allow the coroner to carry out its job diligently, so as to arrive at a conclusion in bringing out its report on the matter early enough.”

The family claimed that any attempt by the NBA leadership to continue to keep the person of Bernard Onigah, as its representative in the court, would be interpreted as complicity on the part of the body to frustrate the coroner proceedings, thereby prolonging its sittings in order to deny the family the justice craved over their son’s death.

While assuring that no amount of frustrations could make the family abandon the cause of justice for their son, Oromoni noted that “the family was determined to seek justice even if it’s going to take them another three decades.”

He said, “From the events of the past few weeks at the Coroner Inquest, we can draw a conclusion that some party in the case have resorted to using one Bernard Onigah, a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association in the matter, to buy more time by causing confusion and unnecessary set back at every of its sittings in order to delay its report and thereby frustrating the family.

“We, the members of the Oromoni family, hereby urge the leadership of the NBA to immediately withdraw its representative, Bernard Onigah from the coroner in order to assist in making the court draw conclusions based on findings and present its report appropriately.

“We wish to state categorically that failure of the NBA leadership to withdraw Bernard Onigah, from the panel after this passionate appeal would be interpreted as complicity on the part of its leadership to continue to frustrate the court proceedings through its representative, who had been causing confusion and dragging the court back.

“We are not unmindful of the fact that the NBA representatives just like other bodies were supposed to play an observer role in the inquest proceedings, but to our greatest surprise, the said Onigah has assumed the role of a defence counsel in the case by raising issues that tend to frustrate proceeding in order to buy time before the coroner.

“However, we want to appeal to Nigerians to keep the faith alive with the Oromini family and wish to thank everyone who stood by us during our trying period last year December when we lost our dear promising son, Sylvester Oromini Jnr, to the cold hand of death as a result of complications from the torture he received while in school.

“We assure everyone that we will continue to remain focused on the case and no amount of plots to frustrate or discourage us would succeed, as we are determined more than ever before to get justice for our late son even if it would take us another 30 years to achieve this, we are prepared.”

PUNCH

News

Three Suspected Pipeline Vandals Caught In Edo

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Editor

Photo of the vandalised pipeline

The Edo State Police Command has arrested three pipeline vandals in the Obazagbon community of the Orhiomwon Local Government Area.

The suspects include Jackson Aluche, aged 45; Oke Okoro, aged 30; and Oluchukwu Chukwuma, aged 18.

It was gathered that the incident occurred on April 14 at about 10:30 a.m.

When contacted by our correspondent, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, confirmed the incident.

He added that the suspects were caught siphoning crude oil and smashing a PAN Ocean Oil Corporation pipeline.

Nwabuzor noted that the suspects admitted to the crime, claiming that one AKA Doctor had hired them to carry out the deed and that they would be charged with court charges.

He said, “On April 14, 2024, at about 1030 a.m., the operatives of the State Criminal Investigation Department, while acting on credible intelligence, arrested three suspects, namely, Jackson Aluche, 45 years old; Oke Okoro, 30 years old; and Oluchukwu Chukwuma, 18 years old, at Obazagbon community in Orhiomwon Local Government Area of Edo State.

“They were caught breaking a crude oil pipeline for Pan Ocean Oil Corporation and siphoning crude oil. The suspects made statements and confessed to the crime, saying that they were employed by AKA Doctor to carry out the act. Suspects will soon be charged in court.”

News

Cultists Arrested For Invading Anambra Hotel With Charms

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Editor

No fewer than 11 members of a suspected cult group allegedly terrorising the people of Ihembosi community in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State have been arrested by operatives of the Zone 13 Police Headquarters, Ukpo, Anambra State.

The suspects were arrested for allegedly invading the premises of Las Vegas Hotels Limited at Ubahu village in the area.

About 12 other members of the group are said to be currently on the run as the police operatives are still trailing them.

According to a police source, who refused to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak for the agency, the arrest of the suspects was carried out on Monday, following a strongly worded petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Zone 13 Police Command, Godwin Aghaulor. The Zone 13 Police Command controls police formations in Anambra, Enugu and some parts of Ebonyi states.

Aghaulor, who confirmed the arrests of the suspects in his office, on Thursday, said the police would carry out discreet investigations into the matter to ascertain the motives behind the action, while a manhunt had been launched to apprehend the fleeing gangsters.

The Proprietor of Las Vegas Hotels Limited, Chief Omenife Onwuatu, had through his legal counsel, PJN Azubuike, petitioned the AIG seeking his intervention to curb the menace of the cultist group who he said went to the extreme of invading his hotel on March 10, 2024 with about 12 motorcycles, charms, cudgels, cutlasses, axes and other dangerous weapons and terrorised the owners, management and staff of the hotel, threatening to kill anyone at sight.

Onwuatu, who is also the Chairman of Ubahu village, had earlier warned the group to stop performing rituals in front of the stream in the area and to relocate their shrine to its base but his warning did not go down well with the suspects whom he simply identified as “idol worshippers, who earn their living through rituals.”

In the petition dated April 16, 2024, entitled, “Threat to life, cultism, terrorism, ritualism, threat of arson, conspiracy, forcible entry, trial by ordeal, assault, malicious damage and conduct likely to cause breach of peace,” the hotel proprietor lamented that during the invasion, the suspects forced open his hotel gate and deposited the charms at the entrance and premises of the hotel.

The petition read in part, “They chanted war songs, threatened to burn down the hotel and its premises, performed so many incantations and rituals in front of the hotel and its premises and passed death sentences on the owners and occupants of our client and thereafter escaped.”

“Before the invasion, the suspects had earlier in the day unlawfully assembled themselves in various locations in the town where they organised and planned the invasion, assembled their weapons, demonstrated their charms, chanted war songs and passed death sentences on the leadership of the community before setting out to invade the hotel premises which they variously threatened to burn down.”

The petition noted that to make matters worse, the suspects captured their atrocities in a video and sent in to the internet in order to display their impunity, intimidate the operators and customers of the hotel and put extreme fear in them to force them to abandon the premises or come and negotiate with them.

“The negative effect of this is that the Managing Director of the hotel, other directors, managers and staff, as well as the customers, were thrown into extreme fear for their dear lives. While the customers of the hotel at the time of the incident hurriedly checked out, others who heard or saw the incident completely avoided the hotel and cancelled their bookings and the Goodwill of the hotel proprietor and her fortune were maliciously destroyed and damaged,” it stated.

The petitioner therefore requested the AIG to use his good offices to apprehend all the members of the gang and recover their tools and implements to bring them to book and nip in the bud their plans to kill the hotel operators and leaders of the community and burn down the premises of Las Vegas Hotels Limited.

As of Monday, the day the suspects were arrested, pleas by counsel for the suspects, Ibuchi Ewuzue for the police to release the suspects on bail were turned down as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Zonal Criminal Investigations Department, was said to have ordered that the suspects should remain in detention until after investigations.
PUNCH

News

LASTMA, Viju Officials Clash Leaves 10 Injured

Published

9 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Editor

There was pandemonium, on Tuesday, after a fight broke out among some officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and those of Viju Company at the Oba Akran Avenue area of Ikeja, the state capital.

It was gathered that the incident occurred at midnight, resulting in multiple injuries to victims.

It was also learnt that one of the Viju Company’s motorboys had been shot, while others sustained hand stab wounds.

A video sent to our correspondent showed injured victims with blood on the hands, faces, and clothing of the LASTMA officials and Viju workers.

Speaking with The PUNCH, a driver at Viju, simply identified as Seyi, stated that soldiers, LASTMA officials, and touts came to impound their trucks at midnight and, in the process, stabbed his hand when he decided to fight back.

“We were sleeping on top of the truck, and we were not aware of anything. Some boys were just shouting that they were already parking the vehicles. We approached them and asked why they would be impounding vehicles at odd hours. LASTMA officials, soldiers, and touts who came were up to 100. When I decided to fight back, they used an axe to stab my back. I was surprised that soldiers came for such an operation.”

Another Viju official, Issa Tijani, said they had threatened to send the arrested individuals to Kirikiri Prison, adding that they must pay N700,000 to free their vehicles.

He said, “They did not just raid Viju Company but also the whole neighbourhood. I wonder how they were sure that the people who were involved were the staff members of Viju. The issue on the ground currently is that they told them that they would carry all those guys to Kirikiri Prison for no reason because, firstly, they are not sure if they are the ones. Also, they told them to come and bail their vehicles for N700,000, which I think is not fair, and it is suspicious that they came at midnight. They also broke a bottle on my head

A driver at Viju Company, Ismalia Asuma said, “I did not do anything for the LASTMA officials. We were sleeping on top of trucks when they came to raid. They came with soldiers, the task force, and ‘agberos’ (touts) to attack them. They even shot me in the back because I did not do anything.”

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer, LASTMA, Adebayo Taofeeq, said the residents filed a petition complaining about Viju trucks impeding the road, adding that 54 vehicles were impounded in the area around 12 a.m.

“We received a petition from the residents about the Viju milk truck drivers blocking the road left and right and turning the dual lane into one lane. We even wrote a petition to the Lagos State Parking Authority. We acted on the direction of the Honourable Special Adviser on Transportation, Sola Giwa. By getting there on April 23 by midnight, we were able to remove 54 trucks.”

He added that some miscreants attacked the agency officials and that five individuals were arrested.

“After we completed that assignment, they went ahead to mobilise miscreants from the Agege area, and as a result of that, they injured seven of our officials. Our men did not use guns at all; the only thing we used was teargas, and we do not know if the task force people were present there.

“While LASTMA operational vehicles were vandalised, 54 Viju milk trucks were evacuated during the enforcement operations. The police, working alongside LASTMA, arrested five of these individuals (Falomo Oluwafemi, Afeniyi Stephen, Olamide Adekunle, Chukwu Guaja Eze, and Adeshina Sulaimon) and seized various weapons, including broken bottles, iron rods, charms, knives, and cutlasses.

“The injured LASTMA officers were promptly taken to the hospital for medical attention. Hon. Sola Giwa, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, stated that the arrested individuals would be prosecuted by the government as a deterrent to others.”

All efforts to get the reaction of the Director, Press and Public Affairs, Lagos State Taskforce, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, proved abortive, as he did not respond to calls and messages sent to his phone as of the time of filing this.