The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, has condemned all forms of ethnic profiling, utterances, and violence witnessed in some parts of Lagos State, before, during and after the recent elections.

In a statement signed on Wednesday by the Director of Social Communications, Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, the prelate urged the state government as a matter of urgency to call all parties to order and to put in place a machinery for the quick restoration of peace and normalcy.

Martins said that if the trend was not urgently checkmated, it could truncate the peaceful co-existence of residents of the state.

He described as unfortunate and unacceptable, the tension, hate speech and violence, especially before, during and after the recent Governorship and House of Assembly elections in some parts of the state.

He implored the law enforcement agencies to safeguard the lives and property of all residents irrespective of tribe, religion, or ethnic groups.

The clergy also urged the residents of Lagos to remain calm and not allow themselves to be divided against their neighbours.

According to him, the ethnic and discriminatory comments making the rounds, particularly on social media, are not a reflection of the true nature of Lagosians, who are known to be peace-loving, accommodating and cosmopolitan, including by promoting inter-tribal marriages for many decades.

“I call on everyone to put a stop to the spread of hate speech and fake news and to shun all forms of rancor.

“The divisive comments and behaviours, particularly along ethnic or tribal line is not conducive to good neigbourliness and peaceful coexistence,” he said.

Martins advised the people of Lagos State not to allow the political class to whip up such divisive sentiments to disrupt their lives and livelihood.

He said that we are equal before God and the only man-made distinction among people was between the poor and the rich, the privileged and the underprivileged.

“We are all equal before God, we are Nigerians and have lived and interacted together as one people for decades in Lagos and other parts of our country.

“With the elections over, we hope that all those who have been fanning the embers of ethnic division will be more circumspect and desist from further heating up the polity.

“We must be law-abiding citizens and not take the law into our hands in any guise,” he said.

Martins commiserated with the families of those who lost their loved ones and whose property were destroyed in the violence in the state and across the country.

He also called on law enforcement agencies to do the needful where offences have been committed, as part of efforts to facilitate a national healing process.

The police command in Lagos State says six out of 19 persons arrested during the gubernatorial election would be prosecuted for alleged electoral offences.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos, while parading the suspects and others at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti-Yaba.

Hundeyin said the suspects arrested were involved in 21 cases which include attacks on INEC officials, vandalism and ballot box snatching.

Others are, possession of fake INEC ID card, conduct likely to cause breach of the peace, assault occasioning harm and illegal possession of firearms.

He said that four of the suspects would be prosecuted by the INEC, while two found with arms and involved in other criminal acts would be prosecuted by the police.

The spokesperson said that the suspects would be transferred to Force Headquarters Abuja where they would hand some over to INEC centrally, and prosecute those whose crimes fall under the police.

Hundeyin said that others paraded include two who were allegedly involved in violence at Abule-Ado in Amuwo-Odofin area of Lagos and a suspected cultist.

He said that three suspected kidnappers, who allegedly confessed to have collected about N20.7 million ransom from victims were also arrested and paraded.

The image maker said that two other suspects allegedly stole a truck parked by its driver, which was carrying a brand new car belonging to the American Embassy in Lagos.

Hundeyin said that the suspects were arrested while trying to sell off the truck with the car at the cost of about N5 million.

“The truck will be handed over to the U.S. Embassy, while the suspects would be charged to court,” he said.

He said that two suspected robbers, using Lagos commercial bus to rob prospective passengers were also being paraded.

The image maker alleged that the suspects stole the victims’ phones with a view to using the SIM Cards to buy credit or transferred the money in the victims’ accounts.

He advised members of the public to always lock their SIM cards, as the suspects confessed that they were unable to use such cards.

Hundeyin said that the suspects would be charged to court at the completion of their investigations.

A 75-year-old grandmother, Iforiti Oloro, has allegedly set her son, daughter-law, and grandchildren blaze in Ondo, Peoples Gazette reports.

The tragedy occurred at Aponmu, a suburb of Akure, Ondo’s capital city, at the weekend.

The septuagenarian living in the same compound with her son was accused of having woken up in the middle of the night and allegedly set the house on fire while the family was asleep.

A resident in the community, Bayo Adegboyega, who spoke to The Gazette, confirmed the incident.

Mr Adegboyega explained that the residents noticed the family’s house was on fire on Saturday.

“We noticed that the building was on fire around 2:00 a.m., and all the family members were at home,” he told The Gazette. “I had to join neighbours close to the building in putting off the fire by breaking the windows to gain entry.”

Mr Adegboyega added, “Sadly, by the time we entered, the man (Victor Oloro), his wife (Racheal), and two children ( Toluwani and Blessing) had been affected by the fire.”

He also mentioned that the burnt family members were taken to a state hospital in Akure but were rejected due to the degrees of burns suffered from the fire incident.

“So, we rushed them to the Federal Medical Centre in Owo, but unfortunately, we lost the last born on arrival while on Sunday night, the man and his wife died. Only the firstborn is alive but in a critical condition,” Mr Adegboyega added.

While describing the incident as “bizarre and shocking,” Mr Adegboyega said the residents later learned that the grandmother allegedly set the building on fire.

“It was yesterday (Monday) that we got to know that the old woman got some dry palm fronds and the little petrol her son kept in a gallon, spread it around the house, and set the house on fire,” the resident claimed. “While confessing, the woman said she set the house on fire because her son and his wife were allegedly starving her of food.”

Police spokesman Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya confirmed the incident when contacted on Tuesday morning by The Gazette. She, however, said that the divisional police officer in the community was still awaiting the details of the incident.

“I’m still awaiting full details of the incident from the DPO in charge of the area. So, I would advise you to give me more time to gather the facts,” the police officer explained.

The Gazette gathered that the septuagenarian had attempted to die by suicide by jumping into a well located at the house’s entrance but was rescued by community members.