Crime
Man Decries Police Siding Robbers, Despite Video, Other Evidences
A Lagos based businessman, Mohammed Abdullahi, is lamenting that operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have been lethargic or rather cooperating with instead of apprehending the robbers, who raided the Awoyaya community, in the Ibeju Lekki sometime in 2022.
According to Abdullahi, the gang violently robbed him and his neighbours at their residence and he lost his car, money and valuables worth N21m when armed criminals.
The realtor, has taken to microblogging site, X to lament that men of the Zone 2 Command and Lagos State Police Command have been rather lackadaisical in tracking down the undesirable elements, despite being provided with overwhelming evidence, including video clips.
In one of the posts, Abdullahi said, “Please Nigerians, help me share this video. these are the guys that robbed me and the police are not ready to do anything about my case.”
According to The PUNCH, the realtor disclosed that he was at home with his friend, Juliet, when three of the five robbers who invaded their building broke down the door of his flat, gained entry into his parlour and room and robbed him and his guest of their valuables at gunpoint.
During the operation around 1 am, the businessman said the armed robbers used a gun to strike his head, adding that after robbing him and other neighbours in the building housing 20 units of flats, the robbers, whose faces were said to be visible during the robbery, locked them up in the toilets and fled.
Abdullahi said, “They were five in number but only three entered my apartment while the remaining were outside monitoring. They were armed with guns and knives. While in my flat, one of them cocked the gun and demanded my car key, which I gave him.
“They also searched my house and saw a bag containing my passport with a valid visa, driving licence, and dollars that I wanted to use to purchase goods for my real estate business as I was to travel to Turkey in January 2023.
“They also stole my clothes, shoes, laptop, token, ATM card, gold, phone and some other documents for my business. They broke the door of my flat and gained entry, proceeded to my room and knocked down the door. The building is a combination of 20-unit flats and the armed robbers robbed nine residents, including me, on that day.”
During the operation, Abdullahi recalled that one of his neighbours informed the landlady, who in turn notified the police in Area J Command.
He decried that despite their intervention, no meaningful progress had been made to track down the suspects.
He said, “The armed robbers operated from 1 am to 3 am, locked all of us who were robbed inside the toilet or kitchen and left. It was after they left that the police came and opened the toilet and kitchen doors to set us free. We were later invited to the police station where we wrote statements.
“When we got home, we realised that some of the suspects were using some of the stolen phones to access the UBER app on one of the phones to book a ride and snap pictures using the Snapchat handle of one of my neighbours. They had access to the phone because when they stole it, they collected the password to unlock it and we monitored the social media handle using another phone.
“The suspects even wore one of my neighbour’s stolen wristwatches and snapped pictures with it. We recognised them because when they robbed us, they did not wear any masks. We took all that evidence to the policemen at Area J and we also paid N90,000 to track the location of the stolen phones.”
According to Abdullahi, they did the tracking and showed us some locations but we didn’t get anything concrete. One of the policemen even demanded N30,000 from me to give someone at Alausa to help me flag my car and didn’t do anything despite paying him.
He added that he was the one who later went to flag the car and to date, he still receives alerts whenever his vehicle was charged for a traffic offence, among others.
Abdullahi said, “I later visited the command headquarters in Ikeja to lodge another complaint and spoke with one CSP Abdulfatai, gave him all the evidence and pictures of the suspects and he promised to arrest them. He called one of his team leaders, Seun, and told me to meet him to write statements.
“Seun demanded N50,000 for the case and I gave him. A month after paying him, I called Seun and he said there was an election and he wouldn’t be able to do anything. After the election, I called CSP Abdulfatai, he said he had retired.
“I called Seun but got nothing meaningful from him. I demanded my money and he returned it. I later went to the Zone 2 Command, met the AIG, wrote a petition and he assigned my case to a team leader. The team leader, after assessing my case, said they didn’t have the server to track the suspects.”
Abdullahi said the team lead introduced him to someone who demanded N500,000 to handle the case, adding that he paid the person N150,000 but he later returned N70,000, showed him some paperwork and said he couldn’t continue the job.
“It weakened me; despite all the evidence submitted, the police kept demanding money without doing any solid investigation. Last month, I still even received an autoreg and traffic offence alert for my stolen vehicle because I had flagged it.
“The police frustrated the case. They didn’t do anything to track down the suspects; they just kept collecting money and only showed paperwork and nothing more. The police treated me badly.
“The valuables I lost during the robbery were worth around N21m. The incident happened on December 25, 2022, and I still have the pictures of some of the suspects. I have made several reports at the police stations and nothing was done,” he added.
A South African court has sentenced opposition leader Julius Malema to five years in prison following his conviction for illegal possession and public discharge of a firearm.
Malema, who leads the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), was found guilty on multiple counts linked to a 2018 incident during the party’s fifth anniversary celebration in the Eastern Cape.
At the event, he was captured in a widely circulated video firing a semi-automatic rifle into the air.
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According to court proceedings, Malema argued that the act was merely celebratory.
However, the court rejected his defence, ruling that the action was not spontaneous but deliberate.
The presiding magistrate described the incident as premeditated and emphasized that Malema’s position as a prominent political figure placed a higher burden of responsibility on him.
The charges against him included unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging a weapon in public, and reckless endangerment.
The court held that such actions posed a serious threat to public safety and could not be excused under any circumstances.
Despite the five-year sentence, Malema was granted leave to appeal, meaning he will not be taken into custody immediately.
He walked free from the courtroom and was greeted by hundreds of supporters who had gathered outside.
Addressing the crowd, Malema alleged that the ruling was politically motivated, claiming that certain forces were attempting to silence him.
His supporters responded with chants and songs, showing continued loyalty to the outspoken politician.
Malema, a former youth leader of the African National Congress (ANC), was expelled after a fallout with former President Jacob Zuma.
He later founded the EFF, which has since grown into one of South Africa’s most influential opposition parties.
Reacting to the development, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula suggested that the case reflected broader political tensions.
However, lobby group AfriForum, which initiated the case after the video surfaced, insisted the prosecution was based strictly on enforcing the law.
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has issued a warrant of arrest against former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and a Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali, over their alleged involvement in a multi-million naira fraud case.
The arrest order was issued on Thursday, April 16, 2026, by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court after the two defendants failed to appear in court for their scheduled arraignment.
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The duo, alongside a third defendant, Sani Nafiu Mohammed, are facing a 21-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The charges border on alleged criminal breach of trust, abuse of office, fraudulent contract awards, and the diversion of public funds totaling $1.3 million and N746,574,303.
At Thursday’s proceedings, only Mohammed was present in court.
According to the EFCC, the alleged offences occurred between May 2021 and September 2022 in Abuja.
The anti-graft agency accused Farouq and Alkali of misappropriating funds meant to be refunded to the ministry by a private firm, Visual ICT Limited.
The money was reportedly linked to excess payments under the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) for the validation of Rapid Response Register beneficiaries.
The prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, told the court that although the charges were filed on December 15, 2025, the two defendants could not initially be served.
He added that despite assurances from their legal representatives, they failed to present themselves in court.
Jacobs further revealed that Farouq had earlier requested the release of her passport for a medical trip to Saudi Arabia in 2024 but has yet to return it or provide any medical report to justify her absence.
“My lord, since that passport was released to her, she has not returned it to the Commission, and no medical report has been submitted,” Jacobs stated, questioning the validity of the health claims presented by her counsel.
Counsel to the first defendant, Abdul Ibrahim, attributed his client’s absence to ill health and attempted to tender an affidavit to that effect, but the court rejected the application.
The EFCC also sought to amend an earlier ex-parte motion to focus on the first and second defendants and requested a bench warrant to compel their appearance.
The prosecution supported its request with an affidavit stating that both defendants had been granted administrative bail but failed to report back.
In response, the defence counsel pleaded with the court to grant a six-week extension to produce Farouq in court.
However, in his ruling, Justice Onwuegbuzie granted the EFCC’s application and issued a warrant for the arrest of the two defendants.
The case was subsequently adjourned to May 18, 2026, for arraignment and commencement of trial.
Pandemonium broke out at a private hospital in Ikotun, Lagos, after a woman accused medical staff of withholding one of her twins following childbirth.
The incident, which has since gone viral on social media, captured the emotional moment the woman—identified as 28-year-old Blessing Isioma David—stormed the hospital premises while clutching a newborn and demanding answers over the whereabouts of her second baby.
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In the video, the distraught mother is heard shouting, “Where is my baby? I did not come here to lose my child,” drawing attention from other patients and passersby.
Those who accompanied her also joined in the confrontation, calling on authorities to arrest the hospital staff over suspected foul play.
According to reports, the woman had earlier undergone an obstetric scan in March 2026, which indicated a twin pregnancy.
The scan reportedly showed two foetuses with normal heart activity, further fueling her insistence that she delivered two babies.
However, the hospital, identified as Tip-Top Solution Hospital, has denied the allegation.
The Medical Director, Dr. Sunday Babajide, maintained that only one baby was delivered, attributing the confusion to an error in the initial scan.
He explained that the patient’s husband was present during the delivery and witnessed the birth of only one child, adding that the mother was conscious throughout the procedure.
Babajide noted that scans done at certain stages of pregnancy could sometimes produce inaccurate results, especially if not confirmed with follow-up examinations.
“The mistake was that we didn’t insist on another scan to verify the result,” he admitted, while dismissing claims of baby trafficking or misconduct.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force in Lagos has confirmed that it has commenced an investigation into the matter.
Police spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, said the Command is working with relevant medical authorities to determine the truth behind the conflicting claims.
She added that the Area Commander in charge of the district is personally overseeing the case, assuring the public that findings will be made known once investigations are concluded.
Residents have been urged to remain calm as authorities work to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident, which has continued to generate heated reactions online.
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