Featured

How SARS Caused Death of Remo Stars Footballer – Eyewitness

Published

4 years ago

February 24, 2020

Eric

Sanni Abubakar, a principal witness in the death of a Remo Stars Football Club player, Tiamiyu Kazeem, has narrated how operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad allegedly caused his death.

He countered the claim by the police that the late defender jumped out of the vehicle while attempting to escape.

Kazeem, aka Kaka, was crushed by a hit-and-run driver on the Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway while being taken to the SARS office on Saturday.

While the police claimed he jumped out of the vehicle and was crushed by an oncoming vehicle, the friend said he was pushed out.

Abubakar told PUNCH Metro that the policemen arrested him and the deceased in Sagamu where they had parked their vehicle to buy engine oil.

He noted that the operatives, who were in a Sienna vehicle, seized their phones.

He said, “We were going to his (Kazeem) father’s house, when he parked at Ita-Oba Roundabout, Sagamu, to buy engine oil for his car.

“After he left, the SARS guys parked in front of the car. They started interrogating me. They asked who I was, what I was doing there and who owned the car. I told them the car belonged to my friend, and they asked where he was. I told them that he went to buy something.

“They took my phone and my friend’s phone from me; they did not explain anything to me. The SARS guy handed the phones to another guy in the Toyota Sienna.

“Afterwards, my friend returned from where he went to buy the engine oil; they grabbed him and pushed him inside their Sienna and started driving. They said they were taking us to their headquarters.”

Abubakar explained that one of the officers drove Kazeem’s car and trailed the police operational vehicle, where his friend was held.

He noted that after the vehicles passed the area command’s office at Sagamu, he queried the cop, who insisted that they were going to the SARS headquarters.

The victim’s friend said after passing the Sagamu Interchange, the policemen parked at a junction and continued to interrogate them.

He said the SARS officer with him (Abubakar) opened the boot of the deceased’s car and when he (Abubakar) attempted to get out of the vehicle, the cop threatened to shoot him dead.

“Then they started driving again. I just saw the door of their Sienna opened; they pushed my friend out of the moving car onto the road.

“A car coming behind us hit him. After hitting him from the lane, Kaka jumped to the other lane. I came out of the car, shouting and crying for help.

“We put him inside his car because they did not want to put him in their vehicle. We took him to a nearby hospital, but he was rejected.

“They asked us to take him to the General Hospital, Owode. When we got to the general hospital, we could not find the Sienna vehicle where the other SARS officers were; they had run away.

“I then saw the SARS guy that drove us making calls and asking his colleagues to come that he was in the hospital. I observed that he was moving towards the gate and I ran after him.

“We dragged each other as I insisted that he was not going anywhere and he must kill me like they killed my friend.

“The hospital workers came out and held him for me, while I went to call the police, the parents of Kaka and our manager.”

However, the police said the deceased caused his own death by jumping out of the vehicle while being taken to a police station for interrogation.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement said only one SARS operative from the Zonal Intervention Squad, Obada, Abeokuta, was involved in the incident.

According to Oyeyemi, the operative went to arrest the victim after a complaint over his alleged harassment of some residents with army uniform.

He explained that Kazeem was arrested and was being taken from Sagamu to the ZIS office at Obada when the police operational vehicle developed a fault on the road.

While the vehicle was being fixed, the suspect, according to the PPRO, jumped out of the vehicle and fled.

He said he was crushed to death by an oncoming vehicle.

“He was not shot as being insinuated; his vehicle is at Owode Egba, intact,” Oyeyemi added.

Meanwhile, the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has promised to investigate the death.

Abiodun, who described the killing as unfortunate, urged all residents of the state to remain calm.

The governor, in a condolence statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, on Sunday, urged players, management and supporters of the club to be calm, adding that the killers would be brought to justice.

Abiodun said, “A proper, transparent and independent investigation would be launched to know what transpired with a view to bringing persons responsible to justice.”

He described the late player as a young man with great potential for the development of the state and the nation.

The Punch

Featured

Stay Away from CBT Centres, JAMB Warns Parents, Threatens Arrest

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.

The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.

The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.

Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.

Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.

He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.

“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.

“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.

“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.

Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.

He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.

He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.

Featured

Oyo Govt Demolishes Operational Base of Yoruba Nation Agitators

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Oyo State government, on Wednesday, demolished a building serving as the operational base of the Yoruba Nation agitators led by Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, in Ibadan.

Onitiri-Abiola, one of the widows of late Bashorun M.KO Abiola, had declared the creation of the so-called Yoruba Nation in a video posted online, which has been widely condemned.

Last Saturday, some armed men in military uniforms invaded the Oyo State Secretariat, with the motive to forcefully take over the State House of Assembly, before they were dislodged by the combined efforts of police and troops for the Nigeria Army 2 Division..

Mr. Fatai Owoseni, Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde, confirmed the demolition of the house located at Toye Oyesola Street in Ibadan South West Local Government Area.

Already, no fewer than 29 suspects – including a lecturer – arrested in connection with the foiled armed invasion were on Wednesday arraigned by the police before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan.

In a case with charge number Mi/520c/2024 between the Commissioner of Police and the 29 suspects, they were accused of a seven-count charge of treasonable felony, unlawful society, illegal possession of firearms, and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Inspector Bakare Rasaq, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, said the offence contravenes, and is punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2000.

Featured

PDP BoT Queries Damagum, Anyanwu’s Continued Stay in Office

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party has queried the continued stay in office of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.

Recently, many party members have raised concerns about the ongoing tenure of Damagum and Anywanwu in their respective positions.

Previously serving as the PDP National Deputy Chairman (North), Damagum assumed the role of acting National Chairman following the court’s suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in March of the preceding year.

With the National Secretary being selected as the PDP candidate for the Imo State 2023 governorship election, the South zone has been grappling with nominating a replacement. Despite this, he, along with other party leaders, contested and retained the position of party secretary after losing to Governor Hope Uzodinnma.

The Punch