Lawyer asks court to cancel Lagos monthly sanitation

A Lagos-based lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has asked  a Federal High Court in Lagos to put a stop to the monthly enviromental sanitation exercise in Lagos State.
The lawyer is asking the court to declare as illegal, the monthly exercise, during which citizens’ movements were restricted.

Joined as respondents are the Inspector General of Police, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Governor and the state’ Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
Others are Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and the Ministry of Environment.
The applicant in his motion on notice argued that the imposed environmental sanitation on every last Saturday of the month did not have any legal backing.

According to him, the restriction of people’s movement was in conflict with Sections 35 and 41 of the Constitution, which guarantees rights to personal liberty and  freedom of movement.

Adegboruwa stated that the restriction also violates  Article XII of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
He is therefore asking the court to declare that the Lagos State Government and its agents do not have the legal backing to restrict movement of Lagos residents on the last Saturday of the month.
The applicant is also asking the court to declare that the respondents could not,  as of right, arrest and detain any Lagos resident found moving on either state or Federal Government roads in the state on the last Saturday of every month.

Justice M.B. Idris has adjourned till January 28, 2015 for hearing in the suit

‘I cannot count the stolen cars I’ve sold’

Akorede

A suspected car snatcher, Alhaji Kabiru Akorede, who was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command, has said he can not count the number of stolen vehicles he sold to people.

Rev4mation learnt that 42-year-old Akorede, who hails from Ilorin, Kwara State, was nabbed by operatives of the special Anti-Robbery Squad in his residence at NEPA Quarters, Isashi, Lagos.

Our correspondent gathered that Akorede allegedly belonged to an eight-man robbery gang, who had gone to the Victoria Island area on September 12, 2014 and robbed one Mr. Albert Omisore of his Toyota Prado marked, AAA 690 BH.

The vehicle had reportedly been delivered to Moses Ogbu, a gang member, who in turn, gave it to Akorede for sale.

According to the police, Akorede allegedly re-fixed the fittings of the vehicle such as the headlights and windscreens.

However, after the gang had been nabbed, Akorede was trailed by SARS operatives. He was subsequently arrested, while the stolen vehicle was recovered.

According to the police, Akorede had been arrested earlier in the year and was still standing trial before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court when he went back into crime. The police added that Akorede was arrested at the point of re-fixing the fittings of a stolen vehicle.

Speaking with Rev4mation last Friday, Akorede, who said he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2010, confessed that although he started selling stolen vehicles barely a year ago, he could not recall the number of the vehicles he had sold.

He said, “I was working as a building engineer until 2013. I started receiving stolen cars last year. It was a friend, one Dada, who introduced me to the gang. Since I started with them, I used to sell the stolen vehicles along the Ile Zik area in Lagos.

“I cannot recall the number of the vehicles I collected, but they may not be less than 20. There were about three Toyota Highlander which I sold for N1.2m each. I also got four Toyota Camry, which I sold for N600,000 each.”

Akorede, who is married with two children, said that while the court granted him bail, Ogbu called him that the gang wanted to dispose a Toyota Prado, and the vehicle was brought to his place.

He said, “I decided to work on the vehicle so that I could conveniently resell it. It is true that I changed the fittings. I gave Moses N250,000 for the vehicle. I did this because I desperately needed money.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest, adding that the suspect would be charged to court.

He said, “Yes, the suspect was arrested for receiving stolen vehicles. Investigations are ongoing and he would be charged to court soon.”