BETWEEN LAW AND SURVIVAL by Don Abiodun Odedeyi

At about 10:50am today (23/4/2013), I was around Adekunle Police station when I saw people gathered around something, my journalistic instinct kicked in and I alighted from the bus conveying me to Makoko. On getting to the scene, I saw a young man not more than 25 years old struggling for breath.

A section of the crowd pointed frantically towards Adekunle Police Station and I was able to see, on time, a three-man gang in mufti pushing a motorcycle across the street into the station

On inquiry, I learnt that Ibrahim (AKA Abule) ran into a team  of the Nigerian Police whose mission was confiscating commercial motorcycles.

When nabbed, Ibrahim did not let go of his motorcycle easily which got him kicked and punched. At one point, Ibrahim’s head was slammed to a nearby culvert, he let go on the motorcycle, stopped struggling and then slumped on the road.

Without a second glance, the three-man gang policemen left Ibrahim to his fate, LIVE or DIE.

Vehicles passing by were forced to change their course on approaching Ibrahim’s body. People gathered but seeing the state in which Ibrahim was, no one could muster the heart to help him.

Makoko Fire: Victims Sent home from school by Don Abiodun Odedeyi

Following the fire disaster that struck Makoko, Lagos on Friday where properties worth millions were lost, another shocker was dealt on affected pupils living in the area when the principal of Herbert Macauley Junior High School send them home because they resumed without uniforms.

Rachael Abe is one of the affected whose spoke with Don Abiodun Odedeyi.

“Our principal said if we cannot come to school with school uniform, we should not show up in school.”

Her mother, one of the affected residents of the area narrated her experience, “Right from the assembly ground, our children were turned back because they showed up at school without uniform… uniform they got burnt during the fire incident.”

Is that so, I asked.