Headlines
News Alert! Tricycle operators protest multiple ticketing in Lagos
—- appeal to government to intervene
Adebayo Obajemu
There were protests by tricycles operators this morning at Ile Epo, Abule Ẹgba, Ekoro and Àgbàdo over what they called multiple ticketing which they said has made them unable to make daily payments to the owners of their tricycles.
Speaking with our reporter, the protesting tricycle operators decried what they called a regime of double taxation in the hands of thugs allegedly brought from Oshodi by Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Olu Omo, to double ticket them.
This development, according to them, came about when Alhaji Akinsanya took over the parks in the areas mentioned early last week.
” Can you imagine, before leaving Ile Epo I will pay for the ticket, and on getting to Ekoro, I will also pay for the same ticket, and the same ticket will be issued at Abule Ẹgba and I have to pay”, Asimiyu Okanlawon, a tricycle operator at Ekoro told this medium.
John Atteh, a tricycle operator told the Eyewitness reporter that ” it has been very difficult for me and my family since the takeover of our park, unlike before when Alhaji Abiola Istijabah, the chairman of Tricycles Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria, Lagos chapter was fully in control. Then it used to be one ticketing. Now I don’t know what to do as the owner of the tricycle is threatening to take it back from me.”
Atteh’s story is not different from Hakeem Agbegbe, another operator who said ” yesterday I could not make any money delivery to the owner of my tricycle, and today I don’t know what will happen.”
He said they had no option but to protest the unpalatable conditions they have found themselves.
One of the leaders of the protesters, Waheed Adeoti, appealed to the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwoolu, to come to their aid, saying if the situation persists, operators may be forced out of business, a situation that may worsen the transportation problem in the state.
Many of the operators who spoke with our reporter urged the Lagos State government to settle the rift between Istijabah and Akinsanya, adding that Alhaji Akinsanya is not a tricycle operator and wondered why he should be meddling in the tricycles operations in the state.
” I honestly pray that the governor will look into our challenge for the sake of our family. The only way to go for peace to reign is to allow Tricycles Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria under its leaders to manage its operations as was the case before”, Adeoti said.
As at the time of filing this report, protests were still ongoing in Ile Epo, Abule Ẹgba and Ekoro.
It was learnt that under Alhaji Abiola Istijabah, there was nothing like multiple ticketing. In the old order, many a time ”we would approach Alhaji Abiola Istijabah for help concerning our children’s school fees, and he would gladly do so. But now, we have nowhere to go, since they are wrestling control from him. It is sad”, Adeoti lamented.
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Headlines
Alleged N8.5bn Fraud: You Have Case To Answer, Lagos Court Tells NIMASA Staff, Ex-JTF Commander
Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, April 22, 2024, told a former Commander of the Joint Military Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Emmanuel Atewe (rtd.), and a staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Kime Engonzu, that they have a case to answer in the alleged N8.5bn money laundering case brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Atewe and Engonzu are standing trial on a 22-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N8, 537,586,798.58, which also involves a former Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and Josephine Otuaga, also a staff of NIMASA.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Patrick Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, Major General Emmanuel Atewe, Kime Engozu, and Josphine Otuaga, sometime in 2014, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Court, with intent to defraud, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: conversion of the sum of N8,537,586,798.58 property of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.”
They pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, thereby prompting the commencement of their trial.
In the course of the trial, the prosecution called several witnesses and subsequently closed its case against the defendants.
However, the defendants, rather than open their defence, filed a no-case-submission.
Akpobolokemi had, in a no-case submission, filed by his lawyer, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, prayed the court for an acquittal without having him present a defence.
Ruling on the no-case submission on Monday, Justice Faji discharged and acquitted Akpobolokemi and Otuaga, the fourth defendant.
Headlines
EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukayode, threatens to resign if Yahaya Bello is not brought to justice.
According to the EFCC Chairman, he had a telephone conversation with Bello offering him ample opportunities to present himself for interrogation by investigators of the EFCC.
“On my honour, I put a call to him to honour him as a former governor.
He told the media executives that the Commission has recovered more than N120billion from fraudsters within six months and secured more than 1300 convictions.
He called on Nigerians to be more dedicated to the nation, insisting that patriotic Nigerians should offer more support to the EFCC because the Commission is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria.
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Abisogun
April 26, 2022 at 12:16 pm
This MC oluomo is a bad man, lagos state government has to do something to him about the misused of power