Men of the Zamfara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corpse, NSCDC, have arrested three suspects for their alleged involvement in printing and spending fake naira and dollar notes.

The command’s spokesperson, Ikor Oche, identified the suspects as Kamalu Sani, Uzaifa Muazu and Suleiman Yusuf.

According to Oche, the suspects were arrested following a complaint by a commercial tricycle operator, Umar Nasir, who was given a fake N1,000 note by one of the suspects.

He said, “On April 3, 2023, one Kamalu Sani aged 28, boarded a tricycle from Kasuwa at about 1pm.

“On reaching his destination, he gave the tricycle rider N1, 000 note which was discovered to be fake.

“The rider, Umar Nasir, raised the alarm which led to the arrest of the suspect, Kamalu Sani.”

Oche explained that the operatives of the NSCDC were able to trace the supplier of the fake naira and dollar notes to Kotorkoshi town.

“One Muazu Abdulkarim who is said to be the prime suspect directed his son, Uzaifa Muazu, who has been in the illicit business with his father for the past three years to go and open a box that contained the fake currency notes for onward supplies to suspects,” he added.

According to Oche, N60,000 and $2,600 fake notes were recovered from the suspects.

One of the suspects, Sani, confessed to newsmen that he has been using fake N1,000 notes for transactions within Tsafe and Gusau for the past year.

The suspect also confessed that he was introduced to the crime by one Ado Gurgu of the Tsafe Local Government Area who took him to Muazu Abdulkarim of Kotorkoshi who used to supply the fake currency notes to them.

Goods and property worth millions of naira were destroyed in a fire that engulfed a set of apartments at No 9, Awkwuzu Street in the Diobu area of Mile one in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Over 20 affected occupants of the building were displaced.

One of the affected occupants who gave her name as Esther told our correspondent that the fire started from the roof of a woman who left her cooking gas on and went to the hospital.

While noting that the camp gas was faulty, she said the woman did not realise that she had not properly turned the gas off before leaving home.

She regretted that none of the occupants was able to salvage any property from the building.

She said, “A woman unknowingly left her gas on. You know how these camp gases fumble when the regulators are bad.

“Probably she turned it off thinking it was off but I think she did not observe it well. She took it inside her apartment, locked the door and left for the clinic.

“Before people could realise, it got burnt and exploded. That was the cause of the fire. Nobody was able to pick anything out of the place. The place was completely razed down.”

Another resident said it was unfortunate that for nearly two hours that the fire was on, fire-fighters did not show up.

When contacted, the Commander, of Federal Fire Service, FRSC, in Rivers State, Abdul Alfa, said he was aware of the incident, but expressed regrets that his men were not able to get to the scene because their operational vehicles were under maintenance.

Alfa said, “It is not that we did not turn up. The problem is that our vehicles are off the road. They are under maintenance.

“But I tried to call the fire departments from some of the companies here in Port Harcourt to see how they can assist. If our vehicles are in order, what are waiting for? It is our job and we don’t waste time in responding to such distress calls because we know it is an emergency.”

Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Tuesday, ordered the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Police to pay an Uber driver, Adedotun Clement, the sum of N5 million as compensation.

Clement was allegedly assaulted by officials of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency and the Nigeria Police Force during the first anniversary of #EndSARS on October 20, 2021, at the Lekki Toll-Gate while he was carrying a passenger from the Island to the Mainland and was intercepted by the officials.

Following the pandemonium that ensued after policemen and the officers of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency fired tear-gas canisters to disperse the peaceful protesters and arrested many of them, Clement temporarily abandoned his car like other motorists and ran for his life.

But, by the time he returned to pick up his car, he was accosted, dragged, tortured and manhandled by the officers who refused to listen to his entreaties that he was an Uber driver and only wanted to retrieve his car.

The assault was captured on video which went viral on social media and it was also reported by media houses.

In their attempt to forcefully put him inside the vehicle of the Lagos State Task Force otherwise called Black Maria, the officials of the Lagos State Government in connivance with the police officers also used pepper spray on Clement who cried for help.

Following public condemnation that trailed the viral incident, Lagos-based human rights lawyer and activist, Mr Inibehe Effiong, took up the case and sued the Lagos State Government, the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency, the Attorney General of Lagos, and the Nigeria Police Force.

While delivering judgement in the fundamental rights case with Suit Number: FHC/CS/1862/2021, Justice Allagoa held that the treatment meted on the applicant amounted to a violation of his right to dignity and awarded the sum of N5 million as damages.

The court condemned the torture of Clement by officials of the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Police Force.

The applicant’s counsel, Effiong, in his reaction to the judgement, expressed appreciation to the court for upholding the rights of his client.

Effiong also called on the Lagos State Governor, Babjide Sanwo-Olu, to comply with the judgement and pay the compensation in line with his public declaration that he had compensated victims connected with the EndSARS, and to reassure Lagosians that he believes in human rights.