That Rape Case That Attracted N500,000 Bail

An Apapa Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Tuesday admitted a 26-year-old man, Gbenga Omotehinse, to bail in the sum of N500,000. Omotehinse allegedly raped and defrauded a lady of N56,000 on the pretext of renting a room to her. 

The Magistrate, Titus Abolarinwa, said the accused, a resident of Olodi-Apapa Area of Lagos, should produce two sureties in like sum. Abolarinwa said the sureties must be gainfully employed and also show evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government. Omotehinse is facing a two-count charge of obtaining money under false pretense and rape. 

The prosecutor, Insp. Tony Elibeh, told the court that the accused committed the offences on July 13 at Adidas Field, Olodi-Apapa, Lagos. Elibeh said the accused collected N56,000 from the complainant , with a promise to rent a room to her, under false pretense. 

“Omotehinse just wanted to take advantage of the complainant; he spent her money and refused to rent the room to her as promised. 

“The complainant said that the accused claimed the money paid for the room was insufficient and asked her to sleep with him as a way of completing the payment. “She said that the accused threatened not to rent the room to her nor refund her money if she did not sleep with him.

“The complainant said that the accused forcefully had carnal knowledge of her without her consent and still refused to refund her money after raping her. “She reported the case to the police and the accused was arrested,’’ Elibeh said. 

The prosecutor said the offences contravened sections 258 and 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, which attracts 15-year jail term on conviction. The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Abolarinwa adjourned the case till Aug. 22 for further hearing.

SOURCE: Vanguardngr

Nigeria: Pipeline Vandalism - Surveillance, Reconnaissance Continue in Lagos, Ogun Creeks

The Operation Awatse Joint Task Force, comprising military forces and some elements of the paramilitary, yesterday sustained the tempo in flushing out the dreaded pipeline vandals occupying the creeks and mangrove in Lagos and Ogun States.

Although the weather hampered plans by fighter jets of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), to sustain it's four days aerial bombardment of the creeks, surveillance and reconnaissance however continued.

Also at alert are the land and maritime component, comprising the special forces of the Nigerian Army (NA) and Nigerian Navy (NN), respectively, as they constituted a blockade at the different escape routes across the creeks.

The JTF comprises the elements of the navy, army and air force, as well as the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).

The aerial bombardment and subsequent invasion of the enclave by the JTF is part of the military's operation tagged: 'Operation Awatse', a Hausa word for 'scatter', which has both the land, air and maritime components.

THISDAY gathered that the aerial surveillance video obtained by the NAF aircraft showed millions of kegs containing the stolen petrol products, which were chained together and hidden in the creeks.

At the Arepo area in particular, the video showed a massive oil theft cartel, operating their well-oiled operations in the creeks.

A military source who spoke on account anonymity about the ongoing operations said: "The army was supposed to move in on Saturday after our initial bombardments on Thursday and Friday.

"However, they had to put a stop to that because they wanted the Air Force to further bomb more grounds, thereby clearing the thick mangrove to prevent any ambush by the vandals.

"But attempts to fly today (Sunday) was hampered by the rains. We had already assembled at the flight line for take off, only for the rains to start.

"However, we did surveillance and from the shots we got, we saw over two million kegs possibly containing stolen petrol products. These people are robbing the country blind."

Responding to allegations that the bombs might have also killed civilians, he said: "For now, we are focused on using rockets.

"We are yet to start with bombs because the area is swampy. It's possible to drop a bomb and it won't detonate because of the swamps.

The intensive offensive air strikes were initiated to flush out the pipeline vandals turned militants operating at Ishawo and Igando areas of Ikorodu in Lagos State; then Arepo, Awawa, Elepete and Ibafo areas of Ogun State, given that the JTF was tasked with the responsibility of protecting the NNPC pipelines from Atlas Cove to Mosimi Depot.Hinged on the pilot scheme of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), the Air Force deployed two fighter jets, one MIG 34 and ATR4 aircraft for the operation.

SOURCE: THISDAY

Institute, ministry to include sector as subject in school curriculum

The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) has revealed plans to partner the Federal Ministry of Education in the teaching of insurance as subject in schools.
The institute has also implored insurance professionals to volunteer as teachers and lecturers, so as to make up for the dearth of insurance teachers and lecturers in the nation’s academic institutions.

President of the CIIN, Lady Isioma Chukwuma, who stated this recently at a press parley in Lagos, added that the institute has aided in the study and teaching of insurance by providing support to institutions across the country through donation of course books, equipping libraries with study materials and equipment.

She noted that the institute’s train-the-trainer programme was designed to upscale insurance education and to ensure that insurance teachers possess the required skills for imparting the necessary knowledge to the future generation of insurance practitioners.

She said the programme was first carried out in Lagos and Ogun states and has since been replicated in other parts of the country, stressing that the institute is presently engaging some states that it had visited to fashion out modalities to host the programme in such states.

Chukwuma noted that the train-the-trainer programme has been well received and many states are enthusiastic about partnering the institute and the college in this regard.

Speaking on the drop in insurance sales, the Deputy President, CIIN, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, said, “it’s only when you have a lot of money to spend that you remember insurance; even corporate organisations have a lot of issues regarding their bottom line.

“Prices have gone up and you see some of them that are even insuring in the past, comprehensively, have started insuring third party. Even individuals are not renewing at all. You can imagine the negative impact on the bottom line of insurance firms.

“Also talking about aviation and oil and gas, we are aware of how it’s been.

SOURCE: guardianng

800 HOUSES TO GO FOR LAGOS FOURTH MAINLAND BRIDGE

The Lagos State Government disclosed that 2,200 houses will be saved from demolition with the new alignment designed for the construction of the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge.

Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ganiyu Johnson said, the old alignment for the bridge was to claim over 3,000 houses which would mean huge economic losses to the economy.

He said with the new design, about 800 houses will now be affected, adding that the affected owners would be compensated by the government.

He explained that the when constructed would drastically reduce traffic volume on Eko, Cater and Third Mainland Bridges.

According to him, “The proposed bridge will traverse from Ajah to North West direction towards the lagoon shoreline to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway via Ikorodu. The approximate length of the road/bridge is 37.9km with a design speed of 140km/h.

“Lagos State Government has held discussions with a consortium of consultants in furtherance of the project,” said the commissioner.

He further explained that the significance and value of the project, saying “this lies in its capacity to rapidly decongest the traffic gridlock within the Lekki corridor and redistribute traffic towards Lagos Mainland which serves to meet increased future road infrastructure demands.”

He attributed the delay on the ongoing work at Badagry express way to paucity of funds, adding that Julius Berger, the construction firm handling the Lot I between Eric Moore to Mile 2, will finish the median lanes and hand over by August this year while CCECC to which the Lot II as awarded will continue construction in phases towards Agbara.

He added that the state government initiated a study to upgrade the network of roads in Ikeja to improve and boost the economic stature of the seat of government to word-class standard commensurate with other capital cities and also to reduce to the barest minimum, traffic gridlock along the corridor.

“This will involve the expansion of Awolowo Way with an elevated highway from the Airport Hotel to Alausa to decongest the traffic gridlock along Allen Round-about, Kudirat Abiola Round-about and Agidingbi Round-about. There will also be an expansion of the Allen/Opebi Road to Odo Iya-Alaro via a link bridge at Ogudu to the 3rd Mainland Bridge.

These networks of roads when upgraded will boost the economic activities in Ikeja being the seat of government,” the commissioner said.

SOURCE: copied