Dear Sir: I wrote you an e-mail on the above in Ikorodu and I have been reading interesting replies to the article. On anything I say I challenge anybody to prove otherwise.
1. Nobody has been convicted by the Lagos State government for illegal dredging. The state cannot be judge jury and Executioner at the same time invading and taking over peoples property and selling their ssand without a court order. When this whole brouhaha began the Governor's Security team G.S.T led by Akeem Adedeji invited all dredging stakeholders for a peace meeting at which all that turned up for the meeting were arrested and charged under state dredging law which I told you holds no water under the federal constitution.Among the people who were arrested were a woman and a 72year old man who has had to be hospitalized since then due to the shock as he was arrested and detained but later released after some time. I also told you that just for the sake of peace many of these companies have gone ahead to pay haulage fees and were doing so regularly.
2. Even according to the state law the penalty for illegal dredging is a fine of N1million and or two years imprisonment; all laws which hold no water.
3. Every day the policemen have been moving from site to site and they are being led about by the chairman of one of the tipper garages in ketu whose name is Ganiyu Adewoye aka Arewa and they make millions of naira per day totally unaccounted for and without any receipts. They initially begun by selling the sand at N1500/tonne but now it is at N1700/ton. At the end of the day's theft, they share the money among themselves and their puppet masters and nothing is paid into the account of the state.
4.I am made to believe that the current site where they are now carrying out their theft, which is supposed to have the largest stockpiled sand worth hundreds of millions has obtained a court order from the federal high court in Lagos sometime in May or June, restraining them from taking the sand away, but the policemen along with the touts, and officials from the state ministry for waterfront officials have refused to obey the court order and have been violating it with impunity.
5. Even the lagos state house of assembly passed a resolution restraining the executive from doing what they are doing, yet they have refused to obey their own house of assembly.
6.I am aware that the commisioner for waterfront personally goes around to visit the sites and supervises the illegal actions.
7. Warrants of arrests were issued in "gestapo" style for the directors of the companies who did not go for the meeting, to be charged under their kangaroo law.Policemen from the same G.S.T went to the houses of such directors breaking down their doors at midnight and terrorizing them in order to charge them under their own kangaroo law which I stress has not even been ratified under the federal constitution. because it is against federal law.
8. Is it right for the policemen attached to the State governor to begin to go around and terrorize people going about their lawful daily activities?
I challenge anybody to dispute these facts I have given you. As we speak some of the owners of these companies have lost their lives, due to the shock and many are facing bankruptcy and some have suffered from stroke. I challenge you to send somebody to Ibeshe in Ikorodu and see what they are doing.
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