Metro

ECTS Staff Call For Sack Of MD Over Alleged Non Remittance Of Pension Contributions

Published

5 years ago

December 14, 2020

Editor

Staff of Edo City Transport Service, (ECTS), Monday, called for the sack and arrest of the Managing Director of the company, Mrs. Edugie Agbonlahor, over alleged ‘unfair treatment’ meted on them and refusal to remit their contributing pension funds to the appropriate quota.

The staff who loaded themselves into the company’s buses and drove off to the government house in a protest, said this single act may translate to them not knowing what the future holds for them.

Speaking with newsmen at the company’s premises at Ramat Park, Ikpoba Hill, Benin City, leader of the group, Mr. Abudu Briamah, also accused the MD of casualization of staff, non promotion of staff as and when due, and owing of workers salary for two months.

“Our contributions for pension retirement, she has been deducting it since 2017 but she refused to remit it to the body that is incharge and she is owing us over N360m. She should come and pay us.

“We are calling on the EFCC chairman, we are calling on the governor, we are calling on the Edo State Commissioner of Police to get her arrested.

“Why must she not remit our money to the body? She wants to kill us, she wants to kill our career”, he said.

“We are demanding for our November and December salary and we know that the state government normally pay the state civil servants November salary every on 22 to 24 every month, that is when its being paid but up till now, we have not received November salary, she refused to pay us November’s salary.

“She also refused to implement our minimum wage. Since January 24, to be precise, that is when Edo State started paying civil servants their minimum wage.

“From January till now, how many months is that? That is 12 months. We want the state government to pay us our arrears, to implement our minimum wage, to put an end to casualization of staff, we want them to be staffed, we want the staff to be promoted because since 2015 till now, she refused to promote workers“, he alleged.

He further accused the MD of the company of collecting bogus furniture allowance every three months.

“So, we are tired of the woman, the woman must go. Every three months she is collecting N500,000 as furniture allowance and in a year, that is N2m”, he said.

However, in a swift reaction, Managing Director, ECTS, Mrs. Edugie Agbonlahor, said that their claims were baseless adding that some of the staff were trying to run their own personal transport lines within the company and she kicked against it vehemently.

Edugie said she decided to put them on suspension to enable the Management carry out their investigations.

“I said the essence of this protest has nothing to do with the issues of pension.

“The issue is that some of them are on indefinite suspension because they want to run a private transport company within the organisation and when I found out, I issued them query, placed them on indefinite suspension while the investigation is going on. That is the essence of the protest”, she said.

She said it is also out of place for the staff to be protesting for two months salary arrears when the state government paid them for five months without working during the COVID19 pandemic.

Metro

Fake Madman Arrested For Cultivating Cannabis Farm In Anambra

Published

19 minutes ago

September 18, 2025

Editor

The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 43-year-old man, Patrick Ojele, for allegedly disguising himself as a mentally unstable person while secretly cultivating a cannabis farm in Awka, the state capital.

The Spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, Tochukwu Ikenga, stated in a press release on Thursday that operatives attached to the operations department arrested the suspect during a patrol along the Awka–Enugu Expressway, near Ngozika Estate, on Wednesday.

The statement read in part, “The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 43-year-old man, Patrick Ojele, who pretended to be mentally unstable while secretly cultivating a marijuana farm in Awka, the state capital.

“The police operatives attached to the Operations Department, Awka, nabbed the suspect on September 17, 2025, during a routine patrol along the Awka–Enugu Expressway near Ngozika Estate.

“He later led the team to the hidden farm, where large quantities of weeds suspected to be cannabis sativa were recovered.

“The Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, noted that the arrest reflects the Command’s renewed strategy of cutting off criminal supplies by targeting drug dealers who embolden cultists and violent offenders.”

According to him, the CP further directed that the suspect should be handed over to the Special Anti-Cultism Squad, Enugwu-Ukwu, for discreet investigation to trace his buyers and dismantle the wider distribution network.

The PUNCH had reported that the police command has arrested no fewer than 54 suspects, comprising 39 males and 15 females, for various offences ranging from kidnapping, cultism, hard drugs and banned substances.

Ikenga said the arrests were followed by coordinated raids by police operatives in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, and Ifitedunu, Dunukofia LGA, in separate raid operations.

According to him, the coordinated operations were in line with renewed strategies aimed at restoring sanity in the state and curbing the growing menace of crime among young people between 18 and 26 years.

Metro

JUST IN: 6 More Deaths Confirmed In Afriland Towers Fire

Published

5 hours ago

September 18, 2025

Editor

The death toll from the tragic fire at Afriland Towers Fire on Broad Street, Lagos Island, has climbed to 10, following confirmation that six employees of United Capital Plc died in the inferno.

LEADERSHIP reports that the six-storey commercial building was engulfed in flames on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, after a fire reportedly broke out in the inverter room located in the basement around 1:30 p.m. Thick smoke filled the building, sending panic among occupants, with some seen attempting desperate escapes through windows using a ladder as emergency responders battled the blaze.

United Capital, a financial and investment services firm that occupied the 3rd and 4th floors of the building, announced the deaths of six of its staff members in a statement released Thursday morning.

“It is with profound grief that the Management and Staff of United Capital Plc announce the passing of six of our dear colleagues, following the tragic fire at Afriland Towers on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

“Our departed colleagues were an integral part of our company and family. Their painful loss leaves an immeasurable void. We extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences to their families, friends, and loved ones, and we continue to hold them in our thoughts and prayers, as well as provide all the support we can to them during this most difficult time.

“We are making preparations for an appropriate memorial service to honour their lives and mark their passing with dignity and solemnity. We thank the emergency services and all those who responded for their valiant assistance at the time of the incident.

“In this moment of untold grief, we stand together in solidarity, drawing strength from one another as we navigate this period. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.”

This latest confirmation came just hours after the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) disclosed that four of its senior staff also died in the incident, bringing the total number of confirmed fatalities to 10.

Emergency responders, including officials of the Federal Fire Service and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, rescued at least nine people during the operation. Five were successfully revived, while four remained unconscious.

The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service said in a statement on Tuesday, “A total of nine victims have been rescued. Five individuals have been resuscitated. Several others escaped unhurt, while efforts are ongoing to revive the remaining four.”

Although emergency agencies were yet to release an official casualty figure, eyewitnesses and company insiders had earlier claimed that “not everyone made it out alive.”

Attempts to reach the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, the National Emergency Management Agency, and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency for an update were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.

Metro

Teacher Bags 14 Years Imprisonment For Sexually Abusing Seven-yr-old

Published

17 hours ago

September 17, 2025

Editor

Lady-justice
Justice Rahman Oshodi of a Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a 61-year-old teacher, Igwe Ngozi, to 14 years imprisonment for sexual assault of a seven-year-old child.

The judge sentenced and convicted Ngozi after finding him guilty as he pleaded to an amended one-count charge brought against him by the state government.

The charge bordered on sexual assault by penetration.

The prosecution alleged that the defendant, on or about February 2019 at Linsey Nursery and Primary School at Igbo-Efon Alpha Beach Road, Lekki, Lagos, attempted to assault a seven-year-old girl by penetrating her vagina with his finger.

His offence is contrary to the provision of Section 262 C.17, Vol. 3 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
However, Ngozi was initially charged with one count of sexual assault by penetration, which is punishable by life imprisonment, but approached the prosecution for a plea bargain.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charge when he was initially arraigned sometime in February 2019.

The victim’s mother (PW1) testified that the incident occurred one day when she observed that her daughter’s pants were messy and that she had been complaining of lower abdominal pain.

She told the court that her daughter said her class teacher had been inserting his finger into her vagina, and that each time he did that, she became scared and sometimes screamed.

The state counsel, S.O. Dada, informed the court on June 16, 2025, and filed on June 19, 2025, that Ngozi had agreed to a plea bargain agreement, which necessitated the amended charge of attempted sexual assault by penetration.

He was therefore re-arraigned on July 17, 2025, and he pleaded guilty.

While delivering judgment yesterday, Justice Oshodi held that he was satisfied that the convict was competent to enter the plea bargain agreement.

The judge held that, “The first charge is punishable by life imprisonment. However, through the plea bargain process, you have pleaded guilty to this lesser charge, and I am bound to sentence you according to the agreed terms.”

“As a class teacher, you were supposed to protect the child, but unfortunately abused a seven-year-old child, causing physiological trauma to the victim.”

“Igwe Ngozi, I have considered your breach of trust as a teacher and the trauma inflicted upon her; I find the maximum sentence appropriate.”

The court therefore found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment. The court ordered that the sentence should begin from the date he was remanded in custody.

The judge also held that the convict should be registered as a sex offender in furtherance of Sections 33 and 38 of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law of Lagos State 2021, and also serve his sentence in the place he has been held during his trial.