Robbers break warehouse with acid, steal N19m goods

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The suspects Photo: Affeez Hanafi

Afeez Hanafi

Luck has run out on four members of a robbery gang who allegedly break shops in the Alaba International Market, Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the modus operandi of the syndicate was to destroy padlocks of their target shops by pouring acid on them.

It was gathered that the suspects –Tochukwu Akorisa, Ndubuise Egwuatuonwu, Ifeanyi Eze and Aboi Rufus – had attacked a warehouse in the market, stealing 427 cartons of electric bulbs valued at N19.1m.

The shop owner was said to have reported the incident to the police, leading to the arrest of one Tona Nwenyi, who allegedly bought some of the goods from the suspects.

Our correspondent learnt that Nwenyi led the detectives attached to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police X-Squad to Akorisa, who reportedly coordinated the robbery operation.

A detective told PUNCH Metro that Nwenyi was caught at the point of selling the stolen goods.

“Akorisa subsequently led us to his accomplices. Two other persons, Tony Eme and Ejike Chinwoba, who bought the bulbs from the gang, had been arrested.

“We have recovered about 100 cartons out of the 427 cartons they made away with, which is worth N19.1m,” the source said.

Twenty-six-year-old Akorisa, confessed to the act, adding that he intended to use the proceeds of the robbery to give his ailing mother a medical attention.

He said, “I load goods in the market. But the money I earned was not enough for me to take care of my sick mother. I led the operation. We used acid to break the padlock of the warehouse. We went around 9.30pm on that day.”

Egwuatuonwu explained that it was Akorisa, who facilitated the sales of the loot, adding that he was promised N250,000 from the deal.

“But I have not got anything before the police arrested me,” he added.

Rufus said, “This is my first time. My house rent has expired and I had been living with my friends. I want to rent an apartment. I was thinking of how to get money when Tochukwu (Akorisa) suggested that we rob the warehouse. We stole only 150 cartons of bulbs.”

One of the receivers, Nwenyi, said he wanted to return the bulbs to Akorisa, having discovered they were stolen, when he was arrested.

Chinwomba said, “I bought 30 cartons from Tochukwu. I have paid for 15 cartons. I didn’t know the goods were stolen.”

Eme said he bought 15 cartons of the bulbs.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the command was on the trail of other fleeing suspects.

She said, “Four of the suspects, who stole the goods, and three of the receivers were arrested based on intelligence report. Effort is on to apprehend the fleeing ones and to recover the remaining stolen goods.”

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Gates donates $2m to Governors’ Forum

Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal

Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Bill Medlinda Gates Foundation on Thursday in Abuja, announced a new partnership, which they said was aimed at strengthening cross-state policies in Nigeria.
The policies, it was stated, would also strengthen financial resources that they said would benefit the poorest people in the country.
Chief Strategy Officer at the Gates Foundation, Mr. Mark Suzman, made the announcement at a press briefing.
He said the three-year $2m partnership will focus on domestic revenue challenge, with the aim of strengthening public financing for social programmes that Suzman said would benefit the poor.
The fund, he added, would also afford the NGF and the Gates Foundation to develop a road map for future collaboration in strengthening Primary Health Care in Nigeria that would unlock funding dedicated to the work.
Suzman said, “The Gates Foundation recognises how critical state leadership is to development in Nigeria.
“This is because two-thirds of social spending in Nigeria occurs at the sub national information exchange, collaboration on policy, and the work of executive governors in determining how best to ensure Federal and state policies work for Nigeria’s poorest.”
He told the gathering, which included governors, that Gates Foundation and NGF had previously partnered together on polio eradication in Nigeria, with notable success.
He said that there were still works to be done to finish the job on polio, and that the NGF was a critical partner in maintaining the country’s commitment to polio eradication.
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who spoke on behalf of the governors, assured the donors that the fund would be judiciously used.
He said he and his colleagues were happy that the NGF found worthy partners in the two organisations.
In his own remarks, the Director-General of the NGF, Mr. Asishana Okauru, noted that polio re-emerged in Nigeria this past summer after the country had been declared polio-free in 2015.
He attributed this to the occupation of a few local government areas in Borno State in North-East by some insurgents.

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Father rapes daughter ‘almost daily’ for 14 years, jailed, see video

A father who raped his daughter ‘almost daily’ from the age of four has been jailed for 14 years.
He was caught out when his wife found a video of him sexually abusing the girl in their bedroom.
Metro UK reports that the man, who is in his 30s but cannot be named to protect the girl’s identity, abused the girl over a three-year period until his wife found the footage on his phone.
She contacted police and he was arrested on suspicion of rape. He initially tried to claim the man in the video wasn’t him but later admitted what he’d done.
He was jailed for 14 years at Warwick Crown Court after he admitted rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration and taking indecent images of the girl.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: ‘I must sentence you for the gravest of sexual offences against that young child.
“This behaviour was remarkably regular, taking place almost daily. There have been rape, upon rape, upon rape from the age of four.
“It is one of the most grave cases of child rape this court has ever had to consider, and I am entitled to infer you recorded this abuse on more than the one occasion for your own terrible purposes.
“You protected yourself by telling her not to tell anyone and, terrified, she kept your terrible secret. There is no psychological assessment of her, but there doesn’t need to be.
“A child of this age, exposed to routine rapes by her father, will in the future be suffering severely psychologically. Her memories will be affected for her whole life.
“I turn to the psychiatric report on you. This report, in my view fails to take into account that this was very long-term offending.”

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Ex-UNILAG beggar becomes lawyer, thanks PUNCH

Abdulsalam Idowu

Ade Adesomoju, Abuja

A former street beggar, Mr. Abdulsalam Idowu, heaved a sigh of fulfilment of a life ambition as he was called to the bar to start practising as a lawyer in Nigeria on Wednesday.

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Idowu, who defied all odds, to bag his law degree from the University of Lagos in 2015, had proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, where he emerged successful in the August/September 2016 final bar examinations conducted at the end of the one-year programme.

The new wig, who engaged in street begging to fund his primary and secondary education,  was among the 4,225 graduates of the Nigerian Law School called to the bar in Abuja on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Having lost his mother at about age three, crippled by a disease that befell him thereafter and left with a father and relatives who had no interest in his future, Idowu started begging at age eight in Erin Ile, Kwara State, to see himself through his primary and secondary school education.

Against all odds, the 37-year-old had earlier in 2011 obtained a degree in Political Science from the same University of Lagos.

Not satisfied without a Law degree, he struggled to secure admission to study Law while in the final year of the first degree programme.

Idowu spoke with our correspondent on Wednesday at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, venue of the two-day call-to-bar ceremony.

He said, “I was not satisfied when they gave me admission to study Political Science because I have always wanted to be a lawyer.

“So, I struggled to get admission to study Law. I got the admission when I was in my final year, writing my final project for the Political Science degree.”

He narrated how he began to beg for alms to enable him to get education, a sojourn which he said landed him in Lagos, where he was able to raise money to complete secondary school and later got admission to the University of Lagos.

He said, “It was sometimes in 1987, I was about eight years old in the public kindergarten school. All my mates were promoted to primary one but I was not promoted.

“I asked why because I attended classes and sat for exams. I was then told that I was not a registered pupil but they only allowed me to attend classes and take exams.

“That day I felt very sad and on getting home I called everybody, including my father and aged paternal grandmother, whom I was staying with, because I was very angry.

“I told them that I wanted to be registered in school but they said there was no money and that there was no way I could cope in school because of my condition. But I insisted that they must register me and that they should not bother about paying my fees.

“They registered me and as soon as they did, I took to the street begging for alms to meet some financial demands that came up.

“When I gained admission in 1993, I could not afford N520 school fees but I had been hearing the story of Lagos State that one could make money in Lagos State. So, one day I was begging in Offa, Kwara State, then I said why shouldn’t I join a train to Lagos and perhaps I could make money to pay for the fees, buy a uniform and get my locker. So, I joined the train to Ido terminus in Lagos. I started begging. I stayed with some people under the bridge and I was begging in some areas including Idumota.”

He said he was travelling to and fro Lagos to raise money which he used to settle his fees till he got to the final class when he was supposed to write his O’Level West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations which he could not raise money for.

He later relocated to Lagos fully where he was able to raise enough money through his begging business to sit for the WASSCE as a beggar and passed after two attempts.

He subsequently gained admission to UNILAG with the intention of continuing his alms begging business to raise money to continue his education.

He had just N39,000 as savings from  his begging business when he got admission.

But he exhausted the money after completing his first semester registration.

He was however lucky that  some compassionate Nigerians and organisations decided to sponsor him after reading his story in The PUNCH.

Speaking with our correspondent on Wednesday, he attributed the inspiration which drove him to bagging two degrees as “God’s miracle”.

“I thank God because if not for Him and those He used to come to my aid, I can be nowhere now,” he added.

He said his immediate plan was to get a job in a law firm.

“I wish to set up my law firm later and in the nearest future I want to become a judge,” Idowu said.

He thanked The PUNCH and other Nigerians, such as a judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, Alhaja Osonaike, Alhaja Fowosere, Alhaja S.O Yusuf, Mrs. Comfort Obi and wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Bukola- Saraki, for helping him to achieve his life ambition.

He also thanked those he referred to as “responsible fathers” such as Mr. Peace Emokaro, Pastor Adewuyi, Alhaji Olajobi, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, Prof. Tolu Odugbemi and  the late Prof. Tokunbo Sofoluwe for the supports he received from them.

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