‘Dr. Flora' The insane ‘medical doctor

‘’Dr. Flora

The insane ‘medical doctor’

After losing her husband some years ago she became insane. At the Mile 12 Market she is turned into sex machine . Now she goes about with her 4 year -old son while using medical instruments like stethoscope and weight measurement to test her ‘patients’ who are passers’ bye for a fee. Taiwo Abiodun met her

She stays behind the brick fence of the Mile 12 Market with her baby which can not less than four years old. By her side is a stethoscope and weighing scale machine. As you pass bye she beckons on you with a smile to come and check your weight and Blood Pressure for an undisclosed fee. While market women and passers bye would drop some naira notes she would smile and say ‘thank you ma or sir’. Later she would be soliloquising and speaking in ‘tongue’ . Welcome to Flora’s ‘Clinic’. Her clinic has no house , window or bed .She operates in the public.She is said to be from Delta .Nobody knows her past , while some people believe she must have been a Nurse before going insane , no wonder she goes about us with the medical instruments.

When this reporter met her she was eager to check his blood pressure .’’Come and check your blood pressure and your weight oga, to know how medically fit you are ‘’, she requested.

After she had been offered fifty naira note she then opened her box and brought out her stethoscope , but this reporter later refused and a drama ensued on why the reporter did not want his blood pressure checked again.

Flora as she called, is said to have been at this spot for the past three years.

Investigation revealed that she had a set of twins who are all females ,later she had another girl but all these children were taken away from her by a Church taking care of them.

Now many are concerned about the male boy he carries about as she does not part with him.

Flora called her baby boy David .’’I used to breastfeed him ‘’ she told this reporter.

Only few could say little about her .A market woman said when she lost her husband few years ago she became mad, ‘’ I learnt that when her husband died in an auto crash some years ago she turned into something else. She so much loved her husband ‘’.

While another woman whose identity is sketchy said ‘’ this woman has been sleeping in the market for some years and it was from there the Mallam impregnated her again and she carries the baby boy you are seeing now about .I wish the boy is taken away from her as he is exposed to danger especially the ritualists’’.

Deaf couple duped

How a deaf couple were conned

This deaf couple few months ago fell into the hands of a 419 house agent whom they paid 450,000naira[four hundred and fifty thousand naira only] for a self –contained apartment .Sinces.Taiwo Abiodun writes

They are not only psychologically traumatised but also financially strangulated .They are in pains. They could not believe what happened to them could be true. This however reminded one a verse in the Bible that God regretted to have created human being when He discovered that men’s thought are full of evil.This summarises the pathetic condition of this deaf couple who paid 450, 000:00naira[four hundred and fifty thousand naira] for a self –contained apartment but were conned as the suspected fraudster bolted away and never showed his face again while the unlucky couple are now biting their fingers .

The couple Mr and Mrs Adewale Modupe Adebowale showed how they were badly hurt as they gave body signs , gesticulated and with other signs they used to communicate among themselves to this reporter as if he[ reporter] could understand. Yes, in annoyance if they could speak they would have spoken as they made effort to speak, unfortunately no words could come out from their mouths as hot teardrops fell like water from the face of the husband while the wife too was genuflecting, begging and was petting him to keep his cool. She raised her hands up to heaven and gave the signs saying God knows best. She genuflected , and rubbed her hands begging the government not only to fish out the conned man but to come to their assistance and get another place, an interpreter told The Nation.

A petition letter dated December 13^th by the couple was sent to The Nation office which reads ‘’We write to appeal for help over fraudulent activities of a landlord and his agents who duped us of the sum of Four hundred and fifty thousand naira [#450,00:00] being three years rent payment at No 38C Dairo Street , Ketu-Lagos.We are deaf couple, the husband is a shoemaker while the wife works as factory worker at Jagal International Group,at Ikosi Road –Oregun-Lagos’

Sir/Madam , we borrowed money from my wife’s company an d added our little savings to rent a mini flat as a one room apartment we are currently living at Ojota becomes too tight and with no sufficient space .The money was paid twice in April and May this year .But , since then when we asked to pack into the house, we found out that some other tenants are living inside .When we sought to collect back our money it proved abortive as we cannot see the landlord since May nor his agent found as well.We reported at Police station at Ogudu Road Ojota [close to our residence], the police are yet to assist us locate the people.

At work , my wife is always moody and lose[sic] concentration which led to her having an accident recently in which she lost a finger .She suffered for two months as she went for surgery on the lost finger .We thank God she is better but yet she is still worried about the rent which the dubious landlord and his agent defrauded us.We need your help to reclaim our money .

Kindly please have mercy on us as we are both profoundly deaf and cannot be begging around , we need a new place to live and if we can collect back our money we want to look for a new place.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding and May Almighty God bless you abundantly [amen] .

Showing the photocopy of the receipt of 450,000naira to this reporter which dated 07-05-2010, with the letter headed that reads ALPHA PROPERTIES ,Real Estate Agent , Property Developer &General Contractor , 22, Oyebajo Str., Fadeyi ,Lagos State.Te:07036519371, and 07060576476, with receipt number 0000199, stating that the couple had paid 420,000naira, while on the back of the receipt were the following statements ;pay twenty thousand naira remain[sic] ten thousand , make sure you pack in on Thursday next week.

However, when The Nation visited their Ojota residence, the couple showed this reporter all what they bought in preparation to go to their new abode; the paints they bought to paint their new proposed place, new settee , among other things they planned to take along to No 38C,Dairo Street, Ketu. The husband also through and interpreter told The Nation on how one of his wife’s fingers cut off while working as a result of frustration they were experiencing as she works as a factory worker where she borrowed money from.

Their interpreter ,Adewale Adeyanju who is the National President of National Handicap Carers Association of Nigeria [NAHCAN] who too is partially impaired interpreted their signs, as Modupe said ‘’ this place is too small for us , though the landlady has been nice to us and we have no problem but it is too tight and we are not comfortable living in this small too. I had a baby sometimes ago but the baby died , now we are looking forward to getting another and move into a bigger place.. She continued ‘’when we got to the house as stipulated after paying twice , we were driven away as we saw another tenant who had occupied the place allocated to us. All efforts to get the landlord failed as the suspect, Sunday, that collected the money from us had disappeared since May this year. When we made effort to locate the address on the receipt at Fadeyi , there is no such address.’’

On how they got the place, the couple through their interpreter said they were introduced to the landlord by somebody while one of the organisation’s interpreter ,Mrs Chidima Oyeleye went with them to pay for the house. When contacted on phone Oyeleye confirmed that she was aware of the money paid and was surprised that the couple could be swindled without pitying their condition.

When The Nation went along with the them to the house at No 38C ,Dairo Street, Ketu, the house containing six mini flats had been occupied One of the tenants ,Cynthia described the case of the couple pathetic, she said’’I don’t know how they had the effrontery to defraud the couple .I am here by sheer of luck as I was called where I was to come and quickly occupy a mini flat before others occupied it. The agent who also called himself Sunday had disappeared , and since then many people had been coming here to occupy or curse him, he was know to be the agent and developer whom we all paid to.’’, she added’’ many people were defrauded even policemen and Bankers , I believe over 50 people paid to the guy and the worse part of it is there is no soak away here. I used to go to the toilet in the office or use nylon bag where I defecate like others and throw it away in the morning .We are in a terrible condition here,’’

When The Nation visited the address of the agent Alpha Properties, 22,Oyebajo street, Fadeyi, Yaba, a shopping complex which is under construction was found there while some artisans working on the building said the suspect had defrauded many people and his case has been reported to the police at Sabo police station but did not know why he was released on bail. Another added that he had been charged to court ‘’but nobody could beat his chest and say he could identify him. Nobody knows him and he could not be identified by anybody We don’t have his photograph and it is the same man that let out these shops which are still under construction out.He collected a lot of money from over 200people and bolted away. We even learnt that he has other cases all over the place where he acted as agents and collected money from many people. When the case of the deaf couple was mentioned , a man who claims to be the leader of OPC said the suspect who is known as Sunday

Is even wanted by the residents, he said ‘’we will catch him one day, we learnt he has fled to the neighbouring country ,Cotonou , but God will catch him one day’’.

On the fate of the deaf couple , they are now soliciting to good spirited Nigerians to come to their aid.’’We are begging the Lagos state governor Babatunde Fashola to please come to our aid .It is unfair to see us being treated like this because of our disability .We are hard working and that is why we refused to go to the public to beg for alms. We are working as a factory worker and a shoe maker. We are living happily and thought of the future that was why we borrowed money and added it to our savings to take a self contained apartment but see where we are today.We are begging the public to please assist us ‘’, they begged as an interpreter interpreted what they said to this reporter.

Give me my gold WEMA Bank!

‘ WEMA Bank give me my gold!’

Doubts have pervaded the air for some Banks’ customers while many have lost their valuable materials others lost their cash but only few are bold to speak out. Now, this woman refused to keep her mouth shut .Taiwo Abiodun writes

Among the roles of a Bank apart from keeping and lending money is also keeping valuables in their custody like gold, diamond , certificates, Wills among others.

Today, one cannot boast of Banks of being save whether in keeping cash or otherwise. Many now believe that it is more safer to keep valuable materials and money at home instead of Bank.

Madam Enitan Olayinka Harper a long time customer with WEMA Bank is now pleading to the good spirited Nigerians to help her ask WEMA Bank to produce her jewelleries she kept in their Bank before she heads for Court and for them not to loose their reputation.

Now Madam Harper, 69, is ready to fight with her last pint of her blood in order to retrieve her valuable gold of which the WEMA Bank , Egbeda Branch claimed had been stolen by armed robbers. She has vowed to go to the Law Court to sue the Bank for defrauding her. Since the bank had refused a gentleman agreement her lawyer proposed.

According to Harper , she has been banking with WEMA Bank for years which made her to deposit her gold she allegedly valued then at 3million naira [three million naira] in their custody at their Egbeda Branch office. The items were said to have been collected with the inventory taken. A copy of the application letter itemising the jewelleries and signed by the branch secretary was also made available to The Nation. The transaction took place in 2004. She told our correspondent that she has been paying three thousand naira as interest every month.

Along the line obtained a loan of 150,000 naira [one hundred and fifty thousand naira] from the Bank in 2005 of which the agreement was to pay within one year , that is 2006. She had paid 50,000 naira from the said loan. When she requested for her gold she was told that it had been transferred to the head office.

The story later changed when sometimes on December 6, 2010 Again ,when Madam Harper arrived from London and met the Bank’s management of Egbeda Branch and demanded for her gold to sell in order to help her take care of her daughter who was hospitalised in the United Kingdom,

Her words ‘’ my late daughter was suffering from cancer and was hospitalised in the United Kingdom, I was with her for sometime in the hospital, when I discovered that I needed money to assist her I came back home, Nigeria . I went to the Bank to demand for my gold in order to sell it and go back to London to assist my ailing daughter financially and also pay up the balance of the money I borrowed from the Bank. On my arrival at the Bank k the then Manager Wasiu Adeniyi asked me to go and bring the buyer .I said it was not possible for she needed not to know the buyer , Again I demanded for only one item in order to sell and offset the 100,000naira and later I would collect my gold to sell and go to London to take care of my daughter who was being given pints of blood of about 2,500pounds weekly yet the man refused but would ask me to come back every day for one week. .Later the manager said I should give them a week and that the man who knew how to open the vault where the gold were kept had left the Bank. Later the Manager said the gold had been sent to the Head Office’’, the woman narrated .

However, since the woman was still owing the Bank, she told the Manager that she would not pay the balance unless the Bank produce her jewelleries .She said ‘’I was surprised when the Manager later told me that in the year 2010 armed robbers invaded the office and carted away my jewelleries and N25million from the strong room’’, while the woman insisted as she did earlier on in 2006 that the box of her jewellery must be produced before she could pay the amount she borrowed from the Bank, while she did not pay the balance of the 100.000naira since they failed to release the gold in their custody. She contacted her lawyer who wrote to the Management of WEMA Bank .

The lawyer was invited for settlement but nothing came out it, while the Bank is accusing the woman of her failure to pay up the balance of the loan which had gone up to 500.000naira the woman is also asking them to stop adding interest to the money unless they produce her gold.

A letter was fist sent to the WEMA office dated May 25^th 2011 while another was written again on June 21^st June , 2011 by Ogunsanya Chambers was sent to The Legal Adviser of WEMA Bank that reads ‘’ we found it difficult to accept the robbery incident because our client requested for her safe custody items in 2006 and the Branch claimed robbery attack on 6^th day of December, 2010.Over five and half years of debt accumulation through interest applications .You will agree with me that there was no correlation at all…..’

However the Head office at Marina responded to the letter on the 17^th of June 2011 and invited their client and the lawyer for a meeting which reads Your letter dated May 25, 2011 in respect to the above subject refers .Further to our efforts towards addressing the grievances of your client vis a vis the release of safe custody items allegedly lodged with the Egbeda Branch, we here by invite you for a meeting geared towards achieving this end’’, the letter was signed by one Valentine and Kunuji and Johnson Lebile from Legal services Department.

According to the lawyer Kehinde Agboola, the lawyers from the Bank started singing different songs .’’There is something hidden from the woman and I believe if the Management from the top stepped in she would have justice.How can a client keep her valuables with you and paying three thousand monthly you cannot provide them for her and you are accruing interest over the money she owed you. It is unfair ‘’ he stated

When The Nation visited Wema Bank head office at 54 Marina Lagos, the Public Relations Officer, Mr.Femi Adeniran said the bank acknowledged the receipt of application letter for the safe keeping of the jewelleries from the woman as the standard practice but there was no contract binding the two parties. He added that the purported valuables had to be valued and properly insured with the actual time limit the items were to be kept within the bank custody before the bank can be said to be liable. “By the time you do all these things, you know of course there was a contract”. He admitted to have called for a meeting of which the client’s lawyer attended but could not resolve the issue. He explained further that jewelleries and other valuables are usually kept in the head office and couldn’t have been kept in their branch the Branch claimed to have been robbed .He went further to say that the woman ought to have enough evidence by showing receipts of the transactions as hand written paper she presented with the stamp of WEMA Bank and signature evidencing the acceptance of the goods is not enough evidence to show.

The woman who to have been having transaction with the Bank said she used to deposit dollars, and pounds sterling with the Bank when she was still doing business in Dubai. She vowed to take the Bank to Court for unnecessarily increasing her interest on the remaining 100, 000 naira she was yet to balance. ’’I am heading to court, they must produce my jewelleries .They must also stop the interest accrued on the money I borrowed , let them produce my jewelleries and I will pay their balance’’ , she added’’ I cannot be cheated like that ., I have my name to protect, my husband was a Permanent Minister during the Gowon regime .I cannot be hoodwinked .Let them give me my gold.’’