Police arrest five over assassination of Fashola’s ex-aide

Former Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Mr. Toyin Hamzat

Five men were on Sunday night arrested at the Sagamu area of Ogun State in connection with the assassination of a former chairman of Ikeja Local Government, Lagos State, Mr. Toyin Hamzat.

Hamzat was also a former special adviser on health to Governor Babatunde Fashola.

It was learnt that he had just dropped a female companion when he was killed.

Although the police did not give the names of the arrested suspects, the spokesman for the Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said the estranged husband of Hamzat’s female companion was one of those arrested.

Adejobi said, “Hamzat was shot dead around 9pm on Sunday. According to the report we got, he had just dropped off a female friend when the gunmen ambushed his car and shot him.

“The woman said the vehicle the assailants used was likely to belong to her estranged husband. She also said there was a time the husband visited her and met Hamzat with her.

“The suspects are currently being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran, Abeokuta.”

Adejobi, however, said since investigation had just started, neither the name of Hamzat’s female companion nor the arrested suspects would be released for now.

The PPRO, who described the killing as a “clear case of murder,” said the body of the deceased had been taken to a morgue in Sagamu.

PUNCH Metro learnt that nothing was stolen in the vehicle in which Hamzat was killed fuelling speculation that he might have been assassinated.

A source said the former LG boss was shot in the head.

3,000MW power generation for Lagos soon

LAGOS — Lagos State government has said it will scale up electricity generation within the state to at least 3,000 megawatts within the next two years, the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr.Taofiq Tijani has said.

Meantime, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing, Lagos East Senatorial District has stressed the urgent need for private sector to buy into the energy sector as well as sponsor the training of quality manpower that will control the sector.

Tijani and Ashafa spoke at the weekend during a formal graduation ceremony in honour of first graduating set of 15 young electrical engineers under the Youth Energy Career Programme (YECP) run by the Lagos State Electricity Board, LSEB, and sponsored by Ashafa, with Siemens, a global player in the power sector as trainer partner.

Gunmen kill retired Pastor, Policeman

Bauchi — Tragedy struck, yesterday morning, in Bauchi and Maiduguri when unidentified gunmen killed a Police Inspector attached to the Government House in Bauchi as well as a retired Pastor of COCIN Church in Maiduguri, Rev. Ilaisha Kabura.

Vanguard gathered that the late police inspector identified as Babangida Danbaba was trailed by his assailants on his way from the mosque along Nasarawa Road in the state capital after early morning prayer.

Some residents along Nasarawa Road confirmed to Vanguard that they heard gunshots, but were not sure exactly where the shots came from and who was the target.

Confirming the incident, the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Ladan said a police inspector attached to the Government House was shot by unknown gunmen.

Fashola defends planned introduction of Chinese in Lagos schools

Ikeja – Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said on Sunday that the plan by the state government to introduce Mandarin in public schools was not to discourage the teaching of indigenous languages.

The governor said during the commemoration of 2,000 days of his administration in Ikeja that the introduction of Mandarin in schools was to give pupils functional education in consonance with current realities.

He said the emergence of China as a major economic power should compel any serious government to begin to plan for the future.

Fashola, however, said that no child would be compelled to take the language in school.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, recently announced plans by the government to introduce Chinese language in all public schools.

Vodacom boosts ATM, PoS connectivity with new solutions

Vodacom Business Nigeria, a provider of total communication solutions, has unveiled its Machine-to-machine solutions targeted at the financial and the retail sectors in the country.

The Product Manager, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Mr. Abu Etu, said new Vodacom M2M solutions were dual-SIM enabled, and would provide reliable, secure and a cost-effective solutions for Automated Teller Machines, Point of Sales connectivity and back-up applications in the country.

The solution, which includes ATMLink, POSLink and 3G Back-Up, according to him, represents a milestone in scalable M2M technology in Nigeria.

The solutions, he said, would utilise the GSM data network to connect retailers’ PoS terminals to the central servers or to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement Systems and the ATMs to the bank’s central servers.

Evicted occupants of abandoned buildings sleep on road

Residents of Apapa GRA, Lagos State, risk contracting diseases soon if the relevant authorities fail to tackle the environmental nuisance being caused by some displaced residents.

No fewer than 100 persons, evicted from abandoned buildings in the estate have converted Bristol Road and adjoining streets into their homes.

As a result, the displaced people, suspected to be Nigeriens and Chadians have turned every available drainage channel into their toilets, making the areas to stink.

Worried by the ugly development, Apapa GRA Residents Association has called on the Lagos State Government to come to the rescue of the residents.

AGRA Chairman, Brig.-Gen. Sola Ayo-Vaughan (retd.) said after their eviction, instead of them to leave the GRA, the evictees moved their belongings to the streets.

We lost 710,000 houses to floods – Bayelsa victims

Flood victims in Bayelsa State on Sunday claimed that the disaster destroyed over 710,000 houses in the state.

The victims, under the aegis of Bayelsa State Flood Victims Forum, also said over 10,000 farmlands and 15,000 fish ponds were destroyed by the floods that overran the state.

The group, in a statement by its Chairman, Mr. Oyoyo Bipeledei; and Secretary, Mr. Lucky Wusa, claimed that the floods swept away 10 children and caused diseases that killed 15 other children.

The group said 200,000 mud houses and 10,000 block buildings collapsed during the disaster.

It added that another 500,000 block houses were at the verge of collapsing.

“Hundreds of thousands of property including bales of clothes, furniture, refrigerators, generators, cars, utensils and other valuables running into billions of naira were destroyed by the floods,” the group said.

The group, in the statement, said it compiled the records after its inspection tour of communities affected by the floods.

Among others, it said the communities in Sagbama, Ogbia, Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa local government areas were the worst hit by the disaster.

It called on President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson to resettle the flood victims in the state.