Metro

Lagos Flooding: Rescuers Recover Two Corpses, Save Nine

Published

3 years ago

September 13, 2022

Two persons lost their lives during the flood that submerged various communities in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State on Monday.

The Lagos Territorial Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, in a statement, said the flood caused by the torrential rainfall, swept the victims away in the Iyana Ipaja and Command areas of the state.

He said one of the victims, identified simply as Alfa, had escaped with his wife and four children, adding that he returned to his house to pick some items when the flood that submerged his house swept him away.

Farinloye said, “Two adult men were swept away at Iyana Ipaja and Command areas of Lagos State. A man simply known as Alfa was swept away as a result of heavy downpour that caused flooding that took over the whole communities of Ajayi Street, Olubodun Ifesowapo, Olubodun, Fafunwa, Ipaja West, and Tioluwani, in Alimosho LGA.

“The deceased was said to have initially escaped with his wife and four children but the man was said to have returned to his house to pick some items in the course of which he was swept off.”

However, two other persons with him escaped with the help of the community members.

He said, “The family of Alfa had been evacuated to a relative’s residence. While another adult man, who was said to have missed his steps on the Command Bridge, fell into the running water. But before help could reach him, he had been carried away.”

In another development, nine ladies were rescued when a one-storey building that was submerged started sinking on Akinwunmi Street, Mende, in the Maryland area of the state.

During a visit to the area, our correspondent observed that other buildings close to the building were also affected as landlords and residents in the affected houses were displaced.

It was also observed that the issue of flooding had been a reoccurring problem affecting residents in the community.

Speaking, a lady identified simply as Blessing, said she raised the alarm over the incident, adding that she took a video recording of the situation and sent it to her company, prompting her company’s safety manager to alert emergency responders.

Blessing said, “I forwarded a video to my office group telling them that the flood occurrence is the reason I could not come to work, because there was no place to pass. My office representative asked if I had been able to come out of the building, and I said no. So, the safety manager of my office alerted rescue agents to come down to Mende and we were rescued.

“However, we always have the area flooded once there is a heavy downpour. Around 6.00am, we heard a collapse, which happened to be the fence demarcating our building and an abandoned building.

“I initially thought it was thunder and lightning, it was when my neighbours started knocking on the door that I knew it was the fence of our building that collapsed. We were all standing on the staircase of the building when the rescue team swam from the outside to start taking us out.”

Also speaking to The PUNCH, a sister of one of the rescued victims, Tosin Ademuyiwa, said this was not the first time that such an incident would happen in the community.

She said, “Immediately the fence fell, the flooded water from the adjoining abandoned building entered our premises. We never expected the rescue team agents; we were only expecting a few guys to help us out of the building.

“The NEMAN officials backed two teenagers, Mohammed Amina, and the younger sister of Blessing, to safety. They were carried because they were scared of putting their legs in the flood, and we the adults were held by the hands, as we came out of the waterlogged area.”

The landlord of the building, Daniel Okereke, while refuting the claim that his building sunk, said this was the first time the flood happened in such magnitude in the community.

Okereke said, “This is not a normal occurrence, as this is the first time it is happening in this magnitude. Since I moved in here in 2008, it has never been like this. We were all shocked because I have never left my house from the balcony; my pregnant wife and I had to leave my house from the balcony with the use of a ladder because of how bad it was.”

Another landlord in the area, Sylvester Diugwu, said the flooding was caused because the canal had been blocked.

He said, “We have written to the government as regards the blockage of canal. As you see that bamboo tree, it grew inside that canal and blocked that place. Anytime there is rain blocking the area, there is no channel to locate the lagoon, so the whole rain comes onto the street.”

The spokesperson for the Mende Community, Olumide Ogunbowale, said, “Those people were not trapped because this is not the first time, it is just like normal Lagos natural disasters, which rescinds after the flooding.”

Reacting to the flooding in Mende, Farinloye said, “NEMA received a distressed alert on a sinking storey building where nine people are said to be trapped.

“The torrential rainfall, which lasted for about four hours in the early hours of the day, flooded lots of communities in Lagos State. The NEMA advance team upon close observations called for more reinforcement of personnel.

“The landlord of the building had used a ladder to escape, but NEMA questioned him for failure to contact emergency responders, but someone from one of the trapped victim’s offices contacted NEMA.

“The agencies on the ground now are LASEMA, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, and Police Disaster Management Unit. The rescue activities have commenced, and all the nine trapped ladies have been successfully rescued.”

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osnayintolu, and the Director, Lagos Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, also confirmed the incident.

PUNCH

Metro

Teacher In Police Net For Tying, Beating Pupil In Bauchi

Published

36 minutes ago

September 24, 2025

Editor

The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old Almajiri teacher, Lawal Nasiru, for allegedly assaulting one of his pupils in the Darazo Local Government Area of the state.

The victim, identified as 11-year-old Sa’id Sani, was reportedly tied with a heavy rope and beaten with a stick and thick cable, leaving him with multiple injuries.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He explained that the incident was reported to the Divisional Police Headquarters, Darazo, on September 22, 2025, by one Idris Mohammed, 50, of Gidan Waya, Darazo, who was accompanied by the injured minor.

The statement read, “On the 21st September, 2025, one Lawal Nasiru, aged 28 years, of Unguwar Jarmai, Darazo, criminally used a heavy rope to inhumanely tie the said Sa’id, an Almajiri boy, and further assaulted him with a stick and thick cable, causing various degrees of injuries to his hands and legs.”

“Upon receipt of the complaint, the Divisional Police Officer, SP Auwalu Ilu, led a team of operatives to the scene where the suspect was arrested. The victim was immediately taken to General Hospital, Darazo, for medical examination and treatment.”

Wakil noted that during interrogation, the suspect confessed to the act, claiming that the boy had attempted to flee from the school, and he tied him to prevent him from running away before his parents arrived.

“The minor also narrated how the suspect mercilessly confined him with a thick rope for a prolonged period,” the police spokesman added.

He said the Commissioner of Police, Sani-Omolori Aliyu, has directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Bauchi, for discreet investigation.

Wakil further assured that the suspect would be profiled and charged in court upon completion of investigations.

Metro

Abuja Court Jails Ex-legislative Aide For N120m Fraud

Published

15 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Jabi on Monday sentenced a former legislative aide and banker, Mr Goni Yilkan, to eight years in prison for obtaining N120.58 million by false pretence.

Justice F. E. Messiri found Yilkan guilty of a two-count employment scam charge, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission revealed in a statement issued via its X handle on Tuesday.

“Yilkan, who hails from Nguru, Yobe State, was found guilty on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act, and consequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment without option of fine,” the statement read.

According to EFCC, the convict was arraigned alongside one Mohammed Adamu in October 2023, following investigations into a petitioner’s claims of being defrauded by the convict.

One of the charges read: “That you, Mohammed Goni Yilkan, Mohammed Adamu and others at large between 3rd January 2020 and December 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory with intent to defraud obtained the sum of N120, 580, 550 (One Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira) from Mrs. Hindatu Bello under the false pretence that you had the capacity to secure jobs for her candidates in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”

In the course of the trial, EFCC said the petitioner explained that “Yilkan deceived her between 2020 and 2021 into believing that he had the capacity to secure employment slots in government agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“On this strength, the petitioner collected varying sums of money from over 60 jobseekers, amounting to N120,580,550.00 (One Hundred and Twenty Million, Five Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty Naira), which she allegedly remitted to the convict.”

However, the purported employment offers never materialised, prompting Bello to petition the EFCC.

The prosecution, led by Cosmas Ugwu, called six witnesses and tendered documentary evidence, while the defence, led by J.A. Oguche, presented two witnesses, including Yilkan himself.

In his judgment, Justice Messiri held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted Yilkan, but discharged and acquitted his co-defendant, Adamu.

The judge further sentenced Yilkan to eight years’ imprisonment without an option of fine.

Earlier, The PUNCH reported that the EFCC Ilorin Zonal Directorate arrested 28 suspected internet fraudsters in Kwara State.

The suspects, according to a statement on Monday, “were picked up in the early hours of Tuesday during sting operations carried out in Tanke, University Road, Oshin, and Agbabiaka areas of the state capital.”

Metro

Soldiers Who Sold Arms To Terrorists Sentenced To Death

Published

15 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

A special court-martial of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Borno State, has sentenced three soldiers to life imprisonment and another to 15 years for illegal arms deals carried out in connivance with police officers and terrorists.

The trial, presided over by Brigadier General Ugochukwu Unachukwu, acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division and Commander of Sector 1, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), took place at the Officers’ Mess of the Theatre Command Headquarters in Maiduguri.

Delivering judgment, Brigadier General Mohammed Abdullahi, president of the court-martial, pronounced Raphael Ameh, a sergeant; Ejiga Musa, a sergeant; and Patrick Ocheje, a lance corporal, guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Omitoye Rufus, a corporal, was however handed a 15-year jail term.

The soldiers were convicted of offences ranging from theft and unlawful dealing in ammunition to aiding the enemy, all punishable under the Armed Forces Act.

Ameh, who served as an armourer at the 7 Division Garrison, was found to have conspired with a deceased colleague to steal ammunition from the division’s armoury.

He worked with police officers to conceal weapons in bags of beans and smuggle them to Enugu and Ebonyi for criminals.

Abdullahi revealed that bank records linked Ameh to over 100 suspicious transactions between July 2022 and June 2024.

Musa, while serving as armourer of 195 Battalion, was discovered to have collaborated with Ocheje and police officers in selling an AK-47 rifle and large quantities of ammunition.

Records showed he collected more than ₦500,000 from the transactions before he was arrested while attempting to sell more ammunition.

Rufus was convicted for selling 40 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition to a police officer, while Ocheje, who was deployed at the forward operating base in Molai, was found guilty of diverting ammunition during communal clashes at the instigation of a police officer.

He also stole an AK-47 rifle belonging to a colleague.

The court held that their actions directly endangered military operations and national security, amounting to aiding the enemy.

Condemning the convicts, Abdullahi described them as “bad eggs” who betrayed the trust, discipline, and honour expected of soldiers in the fight against insurgency.

He restated the army’s zero-tolerance stance on the sale of arms or ammunition to adversaries “in whatever form or guise.”