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30 Police detectives storm Lagos to unravel gruesome murder of  Police officer, abduction of others

Usman Alkali Baba, IGP

Exclusive by Owolola Adebola 

No fewer than thirty carefully selected homicide detectives drawn from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) arrived in Lagos Monday to investigate the remote causes of blood-letting activities that led to the loss of life of a police officer who died in the line of duty during an unprovoked attack by some heartless social miscreants at Elegbin community in Lagos.
The blood-thirsty hounds were also said to have been responsible for the sudden disappearance of twelve others whose whereabouts remain a mystery.
The arrival of the top-rated police officers was said to have the blessings of the Inspector General of Police who mandated the officers to carry out a discreet investigation with the view to fishing out those who were responsible for the dastardly act.
The office of the IGP  had earlier received a flurry of petitions in connection with the heart-shattering incident which occurred weeks back.
It was initially suspected that the casualty-ridden incident was the handiwork of some hoodlums who disguised as land grabbers.
Week-long checks by our correspondent revealed that some yet to be identified gangsters who were said to have armed themselves with guns, machetes, axes, charms and other dangerous weapons, penultimate week, pounced on some duty policemen stationed in the community to see to the smooth possession of a disputed land by one Adeoku family after which a competent court declared the family as the rightful owner of the landed property.
The clash was said to have raised unprecedented dust as people ran helter-skelter.
It was learnt that when the dust finally settled, the attackers, who reportedly rode in a convoy of unmarked vehicles,  reportedly killed a mobile police sergeant, identified as  Edison Fulman, with Force Number 500314.
Eye witness accounts have it that, the unsuspecting police officer was not only dispossessed of his rifle but as well made to pay with his life.
As his lifeless body was openly displayed on the street, his other colleagues who accompanied him to the scene were not equally spared as they sustained varying degrees of life-threatening injuries.
 “The colleagues of the slain policeman, numbering sixteen, were later placed on emergency admission from where they have since been recuperating”.
One of the petitioners to the office of the IGP, Chief Morof  Owonla,.during our investigation disclosed that over  13 of his workers were, against their wish, abducted by the hoodlums and ferried away through a deep sea to an unknown destination.
According to the visibly agitated businessman, the missing workers include the following: Ganiyu Ogunbakinde; Olumide Omoakin; Jamiu Osama; Azeez Oloye; Akeem; Taiwo; Dayo, Wasiu, whose surnames are not known.
He however added that others who escaped death by the whiskers were macheted by the unprovoked attackers.
“The others who were wounded in the clash were promptly rescued by men of the policemen attached to Ajangbadi Division.
It was feared that those said to have been abducted by the criminal elements may have been killed as some fishermen reportedly sighted headless bodies floating in the area.
Further checks revealed that one, Mrs. Omowunmi Adewale, a local caterer was caught unawares by the hoodlums who attempted to hack her to death.
Adewale told our correspondent that she works as a caterer at the site only for her to be suddenly attacked by armed thugs who were chanting war songs.

“One of them attempted hacking me with a cutlass. It was mother luck which saved my life for as some policemen arrived from a nearby division which made my attackers flee”.

In-depth investigations revealed that there had been a lingering tussle between one Adeoku family and another family over the legal ownership of hectares of land in the community.

The matter was adjudicated upon by Justice O. Oshodi of the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, who, after listening to the two parties, delivered judgment in favour of the Adeoku Family.
That was in the year  2013 which consequently led to a  possession order given by the court.
A pile of documents made available to our correspondent also indicated that a certificate of warrant of possession otherwise called Form ‘O’ was consequentially issued to the family of Adeoku to take legally, the possession of the expanse of land.
Subsequently, a team of 17 policemen drafted from the Zone 2 Police Headquarters, Lagos and the court sheriffs executed the warrant of possession on February 11, 2022.
It was in the course of taking repossession of the landed property by the victorious family that a spurious alarm signal was sent to the state authorities informing them that some persons suspected to be land grabbers had illegally stormed the quiet  Elegbin community to foment trouble.
The unsuspecting state government, it was gathered, wasted little or no time in dispatching a delegation led by the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Dr. Wale Ahmed, to Etegbin with the view to confirming, assessing, and report back their findings of the alleged invasion by hoodlums with the view to averting a breakdown of law and order.
Also on the entourage was the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Cornelius Ojelabi,
who, during the visit, had suggested that the parties to the tussle would be invited to a roundtable to resolve the matter amicably.
A concerned resident in the community had earlier hinted that some persons behind the bloody attack had actually raised the false signal to the state government after the possession of the landed property was taken on February 11, 2021, for which the State government officials visited.
The visitation made by the delegation was said to have apparently provided a leeway for the hoodlums to raise the bar of violence against the police officers and other law-abiding citizens, just as both economic and social activities were paralysed for several hours.
” The bloody clash took place after the delegates had departed”, a source revealed.
The gun-totting hoodlums, according to some residents who pleaded for anonymity, destroyed multi-million naira properties in the wake of the mayhem.
‘Some of the properties include hotels and filling stations, as they (the hoodlums) moved around the community with other dangerous weapons to harass and intimidate law-abiding residents and people perceived to be related to the victorious family.
Meanwhile,  a leading petitioner to the office of the Inspector General of Police, whose petition was routed through the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, Chief Owonla and who claimed his workers were illegally abducted and injured by the rampaging hoodlums, had pleaded with the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of the investigative department to order a high-level investigation into the incident with a view to arresting the perpetrators and their sponsors by bringing them to justice.
Owonla, in a chat with our correspondent, said he got ownership of his property through the judgment given in favour of his landlords, the Adeoku Family.
According to him:“It was quite a pathetic situation and with a heavy heart to lay my complaint concerning what happened to my workers and manager at Etegbin and the event that led to the gruesome murder of Sergeant Edison Fulman and so many of my workers that are missing and yet to be confirmed dead.
“The fact in issue was that my landlord from whom I derived my title to Etegbin property got a judgment in their favour which was fully guaranteed and confirmed with a certificate of warrant of possession, Form ‘O’ given in favour of  Adeoku Family of Etegbin in suit no ID/2370/94; CA/L/415/03  and BDM /6M/2009 dated 8th September 2013 and revalidation of possession to give credence to the judgment for the second time was carried out on Friday, February 11, 2022.
“Immediately after the possession, peace and tranquillity pervaded the village without let or hindrance and we have started enjoying peaceful possession since then.
“On Monday, February 14, 2022, my manager, who was at my gas station to oversee my real estate property, equally at Etegbin, briefed me adequately about the dastardly destruction of lives and properties and arson which took place that day in a high-level conspiracy and scheming orchestrated and executed by hired armed hoodlums led by the suspects, despite the peaceful possession given to us by a court of competent jurisdiction as the judgment creditors, to enjoy the fruit of our lawful possession.”
He added: ”The moment the suspects came into the village with hired armed thugs and hoodlums (including) dreaded cultists, they started shooting sporadically in scaring tactics to create panic and confusion in the relatively peaceful village and began to terrorise our workers and standby policemen from Zone 2 Police Command.`
“In the process, Sergeant Edison Fulman from Zone 2 Command dropped dead while many of our workers were missing but yet to be confirmed dead, and these among others include Ganiyu Ogunbakinde; Olumide Omoakin; Jamiu Osama; Azeez Oloye; Akeem; Taiwo; Dayo and Wasiu.”
Owonla claimed that one Shakiru and over 50 others were complicit in the matter, urging the police to “apprehend the culprits via conducting a wide-angle investigation into this report to know the degree of their complicity in crime and notoriety in criminality, lawlessness, extra-judicial conducts, conspiracy over time and to allow me unfettered access to my gas station and real estate property at Etegbin devoid of hired hoodlums attack, intimidation and harassment whatsoever”

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Headlines

Beyond Lagos: The untold realities of Nigeria’s Eastern corridor seaports

Monday Discourse with  Ibrahim Nasiru
When the World Bank and S&P Global recently released the 2025 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI), the headlines understandably erupted in celebration.
For Tin Can Island and Apapa to land in the global Top 20 for performance gains is undoubtedly a historic milestone.
Yet, for seasoned maritime analysts and industry stakeholders, a glaring question remains: what about the rest of Nigeria’s coastlines?
While the satellite data accurately captures a localized turnaround in the Lagos pilotage districts, it simultaneously masks a stark regional imbalance.
The narrative of Nigerian maritime modernization cannot begin and end in Lagos.
 To truly turn the tide, the conversation must expand to the Eastern Corridor encompassing Onne Port, Port Harcourt Port, Calabar Port, and Warri Port.
The fundamental issue is that the World Bank’s CPPI relies strictly on automated vessel AIS data tracking.
It registers a win when ship turnaround times shrink at a berth, but it completely shuts out the structural and geographical deficiencies that prevent large vessels from even sailing into Eastern waters in the first place.
Modern deep sea shipping lines require drafts starting at 15 meters.
While multi-billion naira investments and natural depths allow Lagos and the expanding Lekki Deep Sea Port to receive mega-vessels, Calabar Port remains severely hindered by an un-dredged channel hovering around a shallow 6 to 7 meters.
Port Harcourt suffers from similar shallow constraints. Without aggressive, patriotic capital dredging projects, the devils in the details ensure that these regional Ports remain underutilized, regardless of how much digitization is deployed on paper.
It is easy for policymakers to announce massive financial interventions.
Critics are entirely right to point out that the Federal Government’s massive Port modernization plans must yield measurable metrics on the ground, not just political headlines.
However, recent data shows that commercial viability is waiting to be unlocked.
In overall cargo throughput metrics, Onne Port has consistently proven that the Eastern flank possesses massive economic power when given the operational room to breathe.
The roadmap for greenfield developments like the Ibom deep seaport and others exists, but real execution under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework will be the ultimate judge of these investments.
The current operational reality forces an unnatural economic bottleneck.
 Importers in the South-East and South-South regions frequently clear their goods in Lagos, only to transport them across hundreds of kilometers of volatile highways back to Eastern markets.
This layout drives up logistics expenses, completely wiping out the macro efficiencies celebrated in recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) trade surplus figures.
The next institutional hurdle for the Managing Director of the NPA, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, is the implementation of a unified, cooperative Port development strategy.
This requires more than just launching an electronic call-up system; it demands a deliberate re-alignment of tariff structures that actively incentivizes shipping consortia to divert traffic to regional hubs.
Ultimately, a Port system is only as strong as its weakest link. Celebrating the World Bank validation of Apapa and Tin Can is fair, but treating it as a nationwide victory is premature.
Until the institutional bottlenecks, channel depths, and security challenges of the Eastern Corridor seaports are solved with the same urgency applied to Lagos, Nigeria’s maritime sector will continue running on half its cylinders.
True maritime competitiveness is not won by building an elite logistics island in one state, but by unlocking the full economic potentials of the nation’s entire coastline.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja
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Features

Beyond Lagos ports: Why NPA should position Eastern ports for global recognition

Chief Nasiru Ibrahim

Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru focuses on why government should look beyond Lagos ports and position Eastern ports for global recognition.

Our feature last week on the World Bank Top 20 ranking for Tin Can and Apapa Ports sparked an intense industry debate.

The biggest question raised: What about the rest of Nigeria’s coastlines?

Dropping tomorrow morning, June 29th, 2026,we go beyond the Lagos headlines to break down the hidden operational realities of Nigeria’s Eastern Ports.

Don’t miss “Beyond Lagos: The Untold Realities of Nigeria’s Eastern Corridor Seaports”

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Headlines

NIMASA unveils digital portal to fast track Seafarers’ discharge book processing

Gloria Odion, Maritime Reporter

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has intensified its digital transformation drive with the launch of an electronic Seafarer Discharge Book Management Portal, a platform designed to eliminate bureaucratic delays and automate the application, verification and issuance of Seafarers’ Discharge Books.

The portal was unveiled on Thursday, June 25th, 2026 in Lagos as part of activities commemorating the 2026 Day of the Seafarer, themed “Carrying the World Trade, Carrying the Risk.”

The initiative is expected to improve service delivery, strengthen the integrity of seafarers’ documentation and boost the international competitiveness of Nigerian seafarers through a fully digital certification process.

Speaking at the launch, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, described the platform as a major milestone in the Agency’s digital transformation agenda.

“As we celebrate the men and women who keep global trade moving, it is imperative that we also provide them with efficient and secure systems that support their professional development.

“The Seafarer Discharge Book Management Portal eliminates unnecessary bottlenecks, strengthens the integrity of our certification process and reinforces NIMASA’s commitment to the welfare and global competitiveness of Nigerian seafarers,” Mobereola said.

He explained that the portal provides a seamless end-to-end digital process beginning with the verification of applicants’ National Identification Numbers (NIN) through integration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

After successful authentication, applicants create accounts, verify their email addresses through a One-Time Password (OTP), complete live facial capture for identity confirmation and upload mandatory documents, including their Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates and other required credentials.

According to the Director-General, every application is digitally reviewed by the Agency’s Shipping Master, who either approves compliant submissions or returns rejected applications with clear reasons for correction, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process.
Upon approval of all required documents, applicants can apply for a new, replacement or temporary Seafarer’s Discharge Book, make payment through the integrated online platform and receive an automatically generated unique Seafarer Discharge Book serial number after successful processing.
Mobereola said the fully automated system would significantly reduce processing time, minimise manual intervention and enhance the security, traceability and authenticity of seafarers’ documentation.
“Technology remains central to our vision of building a modern maritime administration that meets international standards.
“This platform is another demonstration of our resolve to deploy innovative solutions that improve regulatory efficiency while delivering better services to Nigerian seafarers and the maritime industry,” he added.
The launch of the portal reinforces NIMASA’s commitment to maritime safety standardisation, digital governance and efficient regulatory service delivery in line with global best practices.

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