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PLANNED ILLEGAL TAKEOVER OF BALOGUN MARKET : Traders Seek IGP Intervention

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PLANNED ILLEGAL TAKEOVER OF BALOGUN MARKET : Traders Seek IGP Intervention

PLANNED ILLEGAL TAKEOVER OF BALOGUN MARKET: Traders Seek IGP Intervention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SaharaWeeklyNG Reports That  Traders, shop owners, and stakeholders operating under the aegis of Balogun Market Business Association, BBA, in Lagos State, have raised the alarm over rumored threat to invade their market by thugs loyal to their former Chairman, Chief Okey Ezeibe, who they alleged is being aided by some top corrupt police officers.    

 

 

PLANNED ILLEGAL TAKEOVER OF BALOGUN MARKET : Traders Seek IGP Intervention

 

 

 

The aggrieved Traders who addressed pressmen, at the Association Secretariat, located at the popular Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Badagry Express Way, Ojo, alleged that credible intelligence in their possession indicated that the planned unlawful invasion of their hitherto peaceful market, would take place between Sunday, June 27th,2021 and Wednesday, July 28th, 2021.                                                                                               

 

 Warning of imminent bloodshed of innocent traders, should the alleged invasion happens, the Principal Stakeholders while recalling that similar attacks by the same Chief Ezeibe in the years 2005 and 2007, led to unnecessary waste of lives, vowed to ensure unprecedented resistance against unlawful take over of their market by those they said have no stake in their Association.                                                                                                               

 

The group, therefore, called on the Lagos State Government, the Inspector – General of Police, the Directorate of State Security Service, and the State Commissioner of Police, to urgently intervene and wield into the crisis, to protect their market and forestall possible breakdown of law and Order.                                                                                                                                

 Speaking, the Chief Security Officer,(CSO), of the Association, Chief Celestine Emechebe, Vowed that the traders would do everything within the ambit of the law to defend themselves and the market from being unlawfully taken over by those he described as Touts working with Chief Ezeibe.                                                                                        

 ” We got the information that Chief Okey Ezeibe and his opposition group, after the Kangaroo election with hooligans at the Villa Park Hotel, have perfected their plans to unlawfully invade our market on Sunday and forcefully install his Administration with the help of his police friends. They will not succeed because we will resist it with all our strength. This was the same thing he did in 2005 and 2007, that led to the death of some persons.”                                                                                                                        

 

While giving insight into the cause of the crisis, Emechebe stressed that ” It was Chief Ezeibe’s insistence on heading our Association’s Board Of Trustees as Chairman, Many years after he completed his tenure as President, contrary to the market Constitution, which provides that the incumbent president should be Chairman, was what started the crisis .”                                                                                                                                                        

” Despite that, I regard Chief Ezeibe as my Mentor, I have advised him privately to allow the present administration and caretaker Committee led by Chief Anselem Duru, to complete its term next month, to make way for a peaceful election on July 28th, but he refused to allow peace reign in the market”, Emechebe Said.                                                                                                            

 

According to the Progenitor /Founding Father of BBA, Ambassador Leonard Ogbonna, who is also the Secretary of the Caretaker committee inaugurated by the Outgoing president, Chief Tony Obih, ” Greed on the part of Ezeibe, has been our problem here. I was the person that invited Ezeibe from Automobile Spare Parts Market, to join us in BBA, after I and few other Founding fathers had conceptualized the idea for the Association in 1990, due mainly to congestion, extortion by social miscreants and shylock landlords, who were oppressing us at our former location at Lagos Island .”                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 Lamenting at the briefing attended by other Stakeholders and aggrieved contestants in their forthcoming July 28th elections, such as a Pioneer BOT Member, Chief Nicholas Okeke, High Chief (Dr.) John Ezeakor (aka Ojiji), Contesting for the office of president, Ogbuefi Emmanuel Otunabor, Chief Okey Ojiaku, Chief Benson Amaechi, Dr. Emeka Igbosopulu, Hon. Elendu Ikenna, Hon. Nnamdi Okoye, Hon. Mrs. Pauline Onuekwusi and others. Ambassador Ogbonnaya regretted making Ezeibe a president of the Association in 1992, after leading the Traders for two years.                                                                              

 

Expressing the position of the association, he said thus: ” At the expiration of Chief Tony Obih’s tenure as president, he could not conduct an election due to the COVID-19 lockdown. As stipulated in our constitution, the outgoing Administration then inaugurated a Caretaker Committee headed by Hon. Anselem Duru. After the expiration of the constitutional two months lifespan of the committee, We approached a Badagry Magistrate court for an extension, which was granted until July 31, 2021, and upheld by a Federal High Court. We have appointed a Constitutional Returning Officer by the name of Chief G. O . Umunnabuike, who has instituted an Electoral panel already working, with our elections fixed for July 28th, next month.”                                                                                                          

 

Questioning the validity of the Elections purportedly held at Villa Park Hotel, Amb. Ogbonna queried why ” Ezeibe is creating Confusion by conducting illegal elections outside BBA market and employing an Obnoxious CAC decision, which has been upturned by an order of a Federal High Court “. Collaborating Ogbonna’s position, Chief Nicholas Okeke, said 80 percent of the market population of over 15,000 members trading in their market, did not attend the illegal elections conducted in the hotel. Contributing, High Chief (Dr.) John Ezeakor, who is a popular front-runner presidential candidate in the forthcoming market polls, noted that what happened at the Villa Park hotel, was a charade, selection, and not election, as most of the aspirants were not informed.                                                                                                                             

For Ogbuefi Otunabor, chief Ojiaku, Dr. Igbosopulu, Hon. Elendu, and Hon. Okoye, they slammed Ezeibe thus, ” We were not informed about the sham they called elections, Elections are not and have never been conducted outside the market, It was unconstitutional and out of the Five presidential aspirants, only two were selected and invited. We are looking forward to the July 28th elections, which we believe the outcome would be acceptable to all the traders, ” They stated.                                                                                                            

 

Checking the pulse of traders seen clustered in different groups at the Multi-billion Naira market, there are palpable fears of the alleged threat of invasion, this is even as a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, has stepped into the long-running crisis in Balogun Business Association.

 

The court granted the application of the association on June 24th by its leadership, led by Chief Anselm Dunu, to quash a purported decision of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), revoking the current Certificate of Registration of the Association.

 

The application of the association is for orders of certiorari, prohibition, and injunction arising from a letter addressed by the commission to some of the lawyers involved in the imbroglio.

 

 

 

The order followed an application made by six members of the market for themselves as incumbent chairman and secretary, respectively, of the caretaker committee of the association representing other incumbent members of the committee upon an ex-parte motion seeking an order granting leave to them to quash the letter issued by revoking and canceling the certificate of registration of the association.

 

After hearing the case, the court, therefore, ordered a leave to be granted to the applicant for orders of certiorari, prohibition, and injunction against the respondent within seven days of the order.

 

It will be recalled that traders at the multi-billion-naira market had raised the alarm over an alleged plan by a group to conduct elections into the leadership of their association outside the market and called on security agencies to urgently intervene to avoid a bloodbath.

 

The aggrieved traders alleged a plan to foist an illegal leadership on the association through election outside their market and vowed to stop it.

 

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Nigerian Woman Nabbed in India With N1.8bn Worth of MDMA Crystals

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Nigerian Woman Nabbed in India With N1.8bn Worth of MDMA Crystals

Nigerian Woman Nabbed in India With N1.8bn Worth of MDMA Crystals

BENGALURU, INDIA — A 25-year-old Nigerian woman, Ifeoluwa Akinwunmi, has been arrested by India’s Anti-Narcotics Wing of the Central Crime Branch for allegedly trafficking a large quantity of illegal drugs valued at over N1.8 billion.

Akinwunmi, who claimed to be a hairstylist and nail artist, was intercepted last Tuesday at Tarahunase village, Rajanukunte Main Road in Bengaluru, while allegedly in possession of 5.325 kilograms of MDMA (Ecstasy) crystals concealed in a travel bag. The drug haul, estimated at Rs 10 crore, was said to have been smuggled from Delhi.

According to The New Indian Express, the suspect — also known as Princess — was acting as a courier and had arrived to deliver the narcotics to a group of African drug peddlers. “She had come to hand over the drugs to a man in a black hat, but the pickup didn’t happen,” a police officer said.

Officers stated that Akinwunmi was standing alone with a suspicious bag and appeared nervous. Upon inspection, officers found the MDMA stash hidden among 11 traditional Indian churidars.

During interrogation, Akinwunmi insisted she was unaware of the bag’s contents, claiming a friend in Delhi had asked her to deliver it. She told investigators she came to India in 2021 to start a salon business and identified herself as the daughter of a Nigerian civil servant — though she withheld further personal information.

Authorities revealed that while Akinwunmi initially arrived on a business visa, she later secured a student visa to study at a university in Telangana but never enrolled. Her visa expired in 2022, and she had been living illegally in India ever since.

The arrest comes just two days after another Nigerian national, Emmanuel Bediako a.k.a. Maxwell, was arrested in Telangana for a similar offence, further raising concerns about an expanding drug network involving foreign nationals.

Investigators say Akinwunmi’s boyfriend, suspected to be a key figure in the trafficking ring, is currently on the run in Delhi. “There are credible leads, and we will be taking her into custody for further investigation,” an officer said.

Akinwunmi has since been transferred to the jurisdictional Chikkajala Police Station as investigations continue. This is her first known offence in the city, though authorities are working to determine whether she is linked to other cases across India.

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NASRE Promises Support To Daily Times Group Business Editor, Oseni, Over Serious Road Accident

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*NASRE Promises Support To Daily Times Group Business Editor, Oseni, Over Serious Road Accident*

The Nigerian Association of Social and Resourceful Editors (NASRE) regrets to announce that its Director of Investment and Group Business Editor of the Daily Times Newspaper, Mr. Motolani Oseni, was involved in a serious motor accident in the early hours of Sunday, June 15, 2025.

The unfortunate incident occurred while Mr. Oseni was en route to Iyana Ipaja, Lagos.

According to a statement by NASRE’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adeyemi Obadimu, the accident took place around dawn and left Mr. Oseni with multiple injuries, the most severe being on his left leg, which is suspected to be fractured.

“He is currently receiving urgent medical attention at Amadiya Hospital in Lagos,” Mr. Obadimu confirmed. “The initial assessment by medical personnel indicates a grave injury to the leg. We are, however, awaiting the outcome of further diagnostic tests, including an X-ray, expected by tomorrow morning to determine the full extent of the damage.”

Mr. Motolani Oseni is a respected media professional with about two decades of experience in financial journalism and editorial management.

His dual role as NASRE’s Director of Investment and Group Business Editor at Daily Times reflects his commitment to integrity, professionalism, and national development through journalism and resource advocacy.

NASRE expresses deep concern over this tragic development and has pledged to stand by Mr. Oseni during this critical time.

The association is calling on members of the media community, friends, and well-wishers to join in prayers for his quick and complete recovery.

“This is indeed a difficult moment for us at NASRE,” said NASRE President, Femi Oyewale , “Motolani is not just a colleague; he is a pillar in our association and a voice for responsible journalism in Nigeria. We are hopeful that with the grace of God and excellent medical attention, he will pull through this challenging ordeal.”

 

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EXPOSED: ZAMFARA STATE SPEAKER BILYAMINU MORIKI FULL MILITARY KITTED PICTURES EMERGED WITH SUSPECTED PEOPLE ALLEGED TO BE BANDITS IN ZURMI LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOREST.

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EXPOSED: ZAMFARA STATE SPEAKER BILYAMINU MORIKI FULL MILITARY KITTED PICTURES EMERGED WITH SUSPECTED PEOPLE ALLEGED TO BE BANDITS IN ZURMI LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOREST.

 

 

As the Nigerian Security Forces are recording success dialy on the ongoing fight against bandits in the Northwest, the full Military kitted pictures of the Zamfara State House of Assembly Speaker Hon. Bilyaminu Moriki emerged from one of the no go area forest in Zamfara having pleasantries with some Fulani’s believed to be bandits terrorizing Zurmi local government area of Zamfara State.

 

Investigations from Moriki Locals revealed that, the bandits dent visited by the Honourable Speaker is that of Kachallah Dammaka Dole situated in Moriki death Zone no go area under Zurmi local government.

 

It was also confirmed from one the State own security outfit Zamfara State protection Community Guards personal who begged for his name to not appear on the print that,”Even last week huge amount of ransom was paid to same bandits enclave visited by the Honourable Speaker, added that last year Nigeria Air force strike and neutralized Several bandits Commanders but are gradually regrouping since when we noticed the presence of Zamfara State government within the axis.

 

In one of the speaker Military kitted pictures, the biological son of the wanted bandit Kachallah Dammaka Dole Maude was seen at left side hand of the Honourable Speaker Smilling.

 

“That was where Seven of us were kept as Captives before our freedom by Kachallah Dammaka Dole, “Said one of the Victim who identified the dent visited by Hon. Bilyaminu the Honourable Speaker Zamfara State House of Assembly.

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