Crowd dragged ASP Vandi from “korope” where he hid

Another police inspector has testified in the murder trial of a Lagos-based lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, who was allegedly killed last Christmas Day, by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Drambi Vandi.

Fiyegha Ebimine told Justice Ibironke Harrison of the Lagos State High Court sitting at the TBS annex, Onikan that shortly after he heard a gunshot fired while they were on patrol at the Ajah under-bridge on December 25, 2022, a female passenger in the vehicle where the deceased was hit rushed to ASP Vandi, and accused him of killing her sister.

He added that, a crowd then gathered and swooped on ASP Vandi, brought him out of a Korope (commercial minibus) where he had run to hide in, and put him in the deceased’s car.
Inspector Ebimine who was led in his evidence by the Attorney General of Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) also confirmed the earlier testimony of his colleague, Matthew Ameh, that the defendant led their patrol team on the day of the shooting.

He added that it was after the deceased and her husband slowly drove past the police team and didn’t stop when their vehicle was flagged down, that he heard a gunshot from where the defendant was standing at his back.

The witness says he called the defendant thrice on the phone after he was taken away by the crowd to know what was going on but he told him to wait.

“One woman was in the passenger seat, a man was driving. I flagged the vehicle down. It didn’t stop. They passed me. I wondered why. He was not speeding. Ameh also flagged him down but he didn’t stop,”

He said shortly after, he heard “a gunshot from the back. I asked Ameh, ‘What is going on?'”

“I was trying to find out what was going on. I called Vandi on the phone to find out. I said ‘Oga, what happened?’ He said ‘wait.’,”

He testified that ASP Vandi’s response was the same when he called him some minutes later.

The witness said the Venza vehicle which the deceased was in posed no threat to him or the public when it drove past.

He also told the court he was armed that day but didn’t fire any shot and that the defendant too was armed.

During cross examination by defence counsel, AdeTokunbo odutola, he witness also says he didn’t see the defendant pull the trigger that day.

After the cross-examination, Mr. Odutola said there was need for the court to visit the scene of the crime in a bid to understand the accounts of the police officers better, adding that he was yet to receive the ballistics report for the weapon and ammunition allegedly used by ASP Vandi.

Justice Harrison advised the counsel to make a formal application and adjourned hearing.

Expected to testify on Thursday as witnesses for the prosecution are the deceased’s husband Gbenga Raheem and her sister.

On January 16, ASP Vandi attached to the Ajiwe Police Station in Ajah, Lagos, was arraigned for the offense of unlawfully killing Mrs Raheem by shooting her in the chest but he pleaded not guilty.

FLIGHTS RESUME AFTER WORKERS STRIKE

Air passengers both local and international can now heave a sigh of relief as normalcy is gradually returning to airports across the country as seamless passenger facilitation has commenced.

This is coming on the heels of the suspension of strike by aviation unions over the review of salaries of its members in the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company, NAHCO.

The strike was called off after three hours meeting between the unions, the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, and the management of the company.

Flight operations were grounded on Monday morning following the industrial action embarked on by the staff of NAHCO over failure to review their current salaries since June 2022.

Flight disruption due to the strike left scores of passengers both local and foreign stranded at the Lagos airports which spilled over to airports across the country.

Speaking on the strike, Secretaries General of the Unions in NAHCO, the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, Comrades Ocheme Aba and Frances Akinjole noted that its members embarked on the strike because the NAHCO management handled their seven-day ultimatum with kid gloves.

According to them, the management also continued to play on their intelligence through rescheduling of purposeless meetings.

In an agreement reached at the end of the meeting, all staff have been directed to resume work immediately, negotiation of all workers’ welfare to start Wednesday this week and NAHCO management decided to withdraw the suit and vacate the earlier court order obtained.

Reacting to the strike, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Mr. Nnaji Nnolim earlier in a statement had appealed to the unions and management of the company to dialogue and avert further disruption to aviation activities.

Mr. Nnaji urged the union to douse its agitation and show concern for the pains the action would bring on innocent Nigerian travellers both locally and internationally.

Responding to the development, the Group Executive Director, NAHCO, Dr. Olusola Obabori said, the Company engaged the Unions and other stakeholders because they understand the power of negotiation.