A truck has rammed into a Lagos State BRT bus at Ibafo bus-stop along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway.

Newsmen who went to the scene gathered that the accident occurred around some minutes to 6am on Saturday.

Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Police on response call at the accident scene insisted that only their Public Relations Officers were authorised to speak.

However, unconfirmed reports from onlookers noted that several people on the BRT bus were injured.

Onlookers accounts noted that the BRT was parked loading its passengers at the bus stop before the truck loaded with cows heading to Lagos rammed into it, taking it off the road to destroy shops and kiosks by the roadside.

The cow truck had been towed a little away from the scene so as not to hinder traffic.

Details later

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL Tank Farm at Kayode Street, Marine Beach, in the Apapa area of Lagos was on Friday was gutted by fire.

According to an eyewitness, Mr Tunde Are, the raging fire started at about 11:00 am. He said people ran helter-skelter to contain the fire before a rescue team arrived.

The rescue team, led by the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, LASEMA, were still battling to put off the raging fire as of the time of filing this report.

The inferno, it was gathered, resulted from a spillage of petroleum products within the perimeter of the terminal.

A statement issued by the Director/CEO of the state fire service, Margaret Adeseye, around 1 pm on Friday said the “fire resulted from a spillage of petroleum products within the perimeter of the tank farm as concerted efforts with various emergency responders within the oil and gas industry to contain the situation”.

“The public is hereby assured that the emergency operation is under control from escalating further. Update to follow,” she added.

An Abuja Federal High Court on Friday dismissed a bail application filed by the detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan.

Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, held that based on the affidavit evidence before him, Gambaryan would jump bail if the application is granted.

“I have carefully considered the affidavit evidence before me and I am of the view that the applicant will jump bail if granted bail,” Justice Nwite declared.

However, the judge ordered for an accelerated hearing in the trial.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Nwite had, on April 23, fixed Friday for the ruling after counsel for the EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho, and Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, SAN, adopted their processes and argued their case against and for the bail plea.

Justice Nwite had ordered the remand of Gambaryan in Kuje Correctional Centre after he pleaded not guilty to the money laundering charges preferred against him by the EFCC.

The EFCC had accused Binance Holdings Limited, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, another agent of the company, of allegedly conspiring amongst themselves to conceal the origin of the financial proceeds of their alleged unlawful activities in Nigeria including $35,400, 000.

They were alleged to have committed an offence contrary to Section 21 (a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, among others.

However, Anjarwalla escaped from lawful custody on March 22 and fled Nigeria for Kenya.

Mordi, on Gambaryan’s behalf, had filed an application seeking an order of the court, releasing his client on bail pending the hearing and determination of the substantive case.

Mordi, in the last adjourned date, had argued that the EFCC had failed to produce any credible evidence to oppose his application.

According to him, the complainant’s allegation that Gambaryan was arranging to escape from custody like his colleague was false.

“There is no exhibit or document displaying EFCC’s credible intelligence.

But the EFCC lawyer disagreed with Mordi.

Iheanacho argued that the court would be taking a grave risk by granting the Binance agent a bail because he had no attachment to any community in Nigeria or competent person to stand as his surety.

He contended that Gambaryan attempted to apply for a new United States passport while in detention knowing fully well his International passport was seized by the Nigerian state.

The lawyer said he was a flight risk and that if granted bail, he would jump bail like his colleague.

He disagreed with Mordi that the commission had not provided credible evidence that Gambaryan was planning to escape.

He said going by the deposition in their counter affidavit, the deponent was one of the investigative team that investigated the case.

He urged the court to dismiss the bail application.

In the alternative, he advised the court to return the applicant to EFCC custody if the judge decided to grant him bail.