₦airaland Forum

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu on Wednesday assures that two out of Nigeria’s four refineries will restart production in the next two weeks.

A member of a three-man armed robbery gang has blamed his involvement in crime on poverty.

The suspect, Ese Ebrorhie, also attributed his gang’s success to the use of ‘motorcycles’ for their get away from robbery scenes.
The gang has been tormenting residents and motorists around Mile 2 and Apapa in Lagos.

Ebrorhie was arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

Two members of the gang escaped with a locally-made double barrel gun and a pistol.
“I bought a fairly used motorcycle popularly known as okada which developed small problem and there was nobody to help me, so I joined the gang to raise funds to repair the okada ,” Ebrorhie said, adding: “We operated around 5am and 6am and from 9pm. We rob only commercial buses by pretending to be passengers at bus stop around Mile 2 and Apapa.

“Once inside the bus, the gang leader, Zubby, who is holding one of our guns, will hold the bus driver hostage while we begin to rob and dispossess every passenger of their belongings. After the operation, we disembark and mount our waiting bike moving beside the bus to escape.

“I have gone on three operations with them. The first operation, I was given N8, 000. The second one, I was given N15,000. This is my third operation with the gang. Zubby is the one that collects and sells all the belongings we collect during operations. He is the one who shares the booty to everyone.”

Ebrorhie said most of the victims mistook them for passengers.
He claimed that he knew members of the gang as a car washer but didn’t know they were armed robbers then.

“They invite me to operation whenever they wish. Sometimes, I can be in Berger for two days without seeing them,” he said.

Police Public Relations Officer Kenneth Ofor, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the suspect would be charged to court.
He urged Lagosians to be security conscious during this Yuletide.

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Paul Iyoghojie

A trader based in Aba, Abia State, Southeast Nigeria, Ogbonnaya Mba, 54, has been arraigned before a Lagos State Magistrates’ court for allegedly obtaining the sum of 49,450 US dollars (about N9.8 million) from Baba Ali under false pretence.

The accused was arrested by the operatives of the Interpol Section of the Federal Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos.
He was arraigned on a three-count charge of felony to wit, stealing.

Police Prosecutor, DSP Raymond Odion Akhaine informed the court in charge No. C/13/2015 that the accused, a trader in clothing materials at Aba, Abia State, allegedly committed the offence in September 2015 in Lagos.

Akhaine told the court that the accused collected the sum of 49,450 US dollars equivalent to N9, 890,000 from the complainant, Baba Ali, to transact business with a promise to pay back at an agreed time, but the accused failed to pay back the money.

He said when all efforts by the complainant to retrieve his money from the accused proved futile, he reported the matter to the police.

Akhaine said the offences the accused committed are punishable under sections 409,285(1) and 312 (3) of the criminal laws of Lagos State, 2011.

The accused denied the police allegations in the open court, and the presiding Magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Komolafe admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Komolafe also directed that the sureties must deposit N200,000 cash with the court’s chief registrar, and she adjourned the case till 19 January, 2016 for mention.

The defendant was however taken to Ikoyi Prison, Lagos, pending when he will fulfill his bail conditions.

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An anonymous worker at the hotel said Precious was suspected to have been strangled with a rope or clothes by her patron.

By Faith Ake

LAGOS—Four fake naval personnel and a soldier were weekend arrested by Lagos state Police command for alleged armed robbery. The suspects who were all in military attires were arrested by youths at Ilado area of Lagos state while they were fleeing in a canoe after escaping from police detention and handed over to Ilado Police post, near the Ajakoyi Beach.

Handed over to SARS
They were later handed over to the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, of the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja. A resident, Wasiu Omojola, who narrated the incident to Vanguard said:
“We are predominantly fishermen but some of us do oil business. The military personnel used to come to extort money from us daily.

We didn’t even know that they were fake officers. They would come in military uniform. Their leader whom we later realized is an Army Sergeant would dress as an Army Lieutenant Commander.
He would gather us and warn that the Army High Command had sent him on a special duty.

“He told us that his group was on Joint Military operation. He then instructed us to contribute N2 millon for his boss. We were able to raise N500,000. The following day, they prevented us from doing our job, so we had to contribute another N300,000.They still said it was not yet okay with them.

Wasiu Omojola added: “I don’t know how one of us reported the development to Army authorities who said that they didn’t send any team for joint military patrol to our area. When we got the information, we now mobilized against the self- acclaimed joint military patrol.

Extortion and arrest
“When they arrived the following day to resume their extortion, we arrested them. They did not believe it when we took them to the Police. We were later informed by the same Police that the suspects escaped from their cell, so we mobilized again and gave them a hot chase. We later arrested them and brought them to SARS.”

Police sources said the Nigerian Army has confirmed that the man who claimed to be a Lieutenant is a Sergeant. “The Army has taken him for court-martial but we have written to the Army that after the court – martial, the man should be brought back to the Police for proper prosecution.”

Susupect speaks
One of the suspects simply identified as Oche said: “Well, there is no job in the country. My friend who is an Army Sergeant brought the idea of going to collect money from those doing illegal oil businesses. The sergeant provided me with the uniform that I am putting on now. I don’t know about others. Sergeant is the one sharing our loot. I got N50,000 three times but I could not believe it when we were arrested.
“It is true, we escaped from Police cell. We broke through the window protectors. It was while we were escaping through the waterside that we were re-arrested and handed over to SARS.”

Commissioner of Police, Lagos State command, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects were rescued from the hands of an angry mob that attempted to lynch them. “They were robbing people of their belongings. The people were attempting to lynch them when the Police stormed the place and rescued them. The sum of N380,000 was recovered from the suspect.”

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The suspect that hid the drugs in her private part was intercepted by curious Immigration officers who were suspicious about her nervous posture at the border

SSkillzzz:
a teenager might know nothing about relationships buh they know a lot about sex...and when konji comes calling..well you know the rest.

Afeez Hanafi

A 26-year-old youth, Rafiu Gbadamosi, has been arrested by the police for stabbing his friend to death with a broken bottle.
The incident happened on Wednesday, around 9pm, at the Merit Junction, Ori Okuta, in the Igberen area of Ogun State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the deceased, Yinka Badmus, had an altercation with one Ebenezer on the fateful day when the suspect intervened and settled the quarrel.

The peacemaker, who hails from Osun State, was said to have bought an alcoholic drink on credit, which the three of them took before they departed.

Shortly afterwards, it was learnt that Gbadamosi was on his way to the drinking joint to pay for the drink when Badmus and some youths challenged him to a duel. He reportedly stabbed him (Badmus) in the chest and fled.

Our correspondent gathered that Badmus, aged 28, was rejected at a private hospital he was rushed to before he eventually died at the Ota General Hospital.

An angry crowd was said to have converged on the morning of the following day to set Gbadamosi’s father’s house ablaze when policemen from the Onipanu Police Division mobilised to the area, dispersed them and arrested the suspect.

Gbadamosi, who confessed to the crime to the police, said he acted in self-defence, adding that he regretted his action.

He said, “I was at Merit Junction with my girlfriend when I saw Yinka (Badmus) quarrelling with Ebenezer. We are all friends. I intervened and I bought alcoholic drinks which all of us drank to let peace reign. I was going to pay for the drinks when Badmus and his boys attacked me. One of them smashed a piece of brick on my head.

“I looked for a bottle and stabbed him (Badmus) in the chest and armpit and he fell. But now, I regret my action.”
An eyewitness, Alade Gboyega, said Badmus’ death was unfortunate and shocking. He added that the deceased lost much blood before they reached the hospital.

He said, “He was more or less an orphan. His mother died some years back and we don’t know his father’s whereabouts. I was shocked when he died.

“We initially took him to a private hospital, from where we were referred to the general hospital. He had lost a lot of blood before we got there.”

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the incident. He said the suspect had been transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Eleweran.

He said, “The suspect has been arrested. He has been transferred to the SDCI, where he is being interrogated. The corpse of the deceased has been deposited at a general hospital morgue for a postmortem.”

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The suspect was alleged to have abused the deceased, which led to a fight.
In the course of the scuffle, Isa, who is the third of four children, beat the deceased to death with a stick.

An 18-year-old man, Happy Eforpor, of Edere-Aviara in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State has been arrested for threatening to kill a girl and her mother if the girl refused his love advances.

Nigeria’s Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu on Saturday in Enugu expressed worry over the poor situation of the country’s economy, hinting that business may collapse within the next six months.

Ekweremadu, who spoke at the meeting of the South-East caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had shown that it was not a good manager of the economy, stressing that “there has been an unchecked downfall in our currency; Naira has depreciated to the point of N260 to a dollar; it has never happened in the history of this country”.

This is also as a motion for vote of confidence was passed on him and the members of the South-East Zonal Working Committee of the party. The motion moved by the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Chuchu Onyema, was seconded by the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Martins Azubuike.
The meeting was equally attended by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State as well as the Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State and several National Assembly members.

The Deputy Senate President in his speech, cautioned that if something was not done urgently, the Onitsha and Alaba markets would close down in the next six months because the traders would run out of stock.
“So many people are worried over the situation of Nigerians in the hand of the APC; I don’t know what will happen between now and 2019”, he stated, adding “unless APC changes their style, Nigerians will be begging PDP to come back”.

On the fight against corruption, Ekweremadu accused the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of adopting a selective-approach in its anti-corruption war.

According to him, “the fight against corruption is selective, most of them media orchestrated; we are prepared to join hands with the government to fight corruption but it must be done in a very civilized way. Even the international community is no longer taking us serious”.

He equally called on Buhari’s government to urgently address all cries of injustice in the country, noting that “there is a lot of complaints in this country and there is no way injustice and peace can co-exist. Government should address complaints no matter where it is coming from. It should be ensured that everybody has a sense of belonging”.
Commenting on the recently conducted Kogi State governorship election, the Deputy Senate President said the substitution of late Abubakar Audu would not stand.

He said, “what happened in Kogi is totally unacceptable; no court will accept that; there is no way somebody will run election without a running mate; it will not stand; PDP will retake Kogi State”.
Also speaking, PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh accused the APC of running a government of falsehood and propaganda, which he said was bound to fail.

He slammed the government for engaging in what he called “imaginary convictions”, stressing that “you cannot convict people in the media; the people who have refunded money should not only be named but should be tried publicly and jailed”.
On the on-going pro-Biafra protest, Metuh urged security agencies to respect the people’s rights.
He observed that the right to peaceful protest was protected under democracy and stressed that instead of flexing muscles with innocent and un-armed protesters, security agents should move to the Sambisa forest and battle the Boko Haram sect.

Earlier, the zonal vice chairman of the party, Col. Austin Akobundu, (Rtd.) had in his opening remarks stated that “notwithstanding the apparent victories we achieved at the last general elections in the zone, it is glaring that our party now faces more challenges than it has ever experienced since its formation”.

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Dear Aunty Julie,
My boyfriend does not seem interested in having sex with me. We met eight months ago, dated for three months before he left for work to another state. The last time he came back to visit, he stayed with me for three weeks. We slept in the same bed, but he did not initiate any sex.
The few times I tried to initiate it myself, he told me that he was not in the mood. We had sex only twice during all this time we have been dating. And one day before we left again on assignment, he approached me from the back, stopped, complaining that I was too tight for him and literally ran away from the house for a few hours.
He is coming back to spend another two weeks with me. What can I do? Shall I try to talk about it long distance before his visit? How should I approach the issue so that he agrees to talk about it? I really would like to work it out.

Zikora, Port-Harcourt

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She told the police on her sickbed that Eugenia subjected her to the acid bath after she had rejected a request by Eugenia to join her in narcotic business.

By Onozure Dania

Lagos—There was mild drama yesterday at the Agboyi/Ketu Customary Court when a respondent, Mr. Bayo Bankole, broke down in tears, begging his estranged wife, Ejiro Bankole, in the open court not to break their five- year-old marriage.

Bankole, who was brought to the court by his wife seeking for divorce over allegations of his being diabolical, constant beating, which caused miscarriage and other body injuries , told the court that it was his mother and family members that are responsible for the maltreatment of his wife, pleading with her to forgive him and not to go ahead with the divorce processes.

But the wife , Ejiro, who was watching him display in the court said that the husband’s cry is coming a bit late as the harm he did to her cannot be erased with tears.
She told the court that her husband had on several occasions inflicted injuries on her, adding that the problem started when she told her husband to bring his mother so that they can take better care of her.

The mother of one said: “I told my husband to bring his mum to live with us so that we can take better care of her not knowing that I was putting myself into a big trouble. As soon as my mother in-law came to live with us the rest of the family members who even had their own houses came in, knowing that my husband does not have a job and that I’m the one taking care of everything in the house from house rent to feeding.

“I thought that they will not stay long but to my surprise they had no plans to leave and I was thinking my husband would take the initiative and tell his family to leave the house but he didn’t. So one day I told him to ask his people to leave as the financial stress was becoming too much for me to bear. Instead he beat me up and inflicted injuries on me and as a result I had a miscarriage”

Ejiro further alleged that her husband is very diabolical, stating that one day she found a pot filled with charms and asked her husband what it was and why he brought such a thing into the house. Instead of answering, he started beating her, adding that her husband left home for days without coming back and she believes he went to other women and sometimes in a juju man’s house because whenever he came back home he would have the urge to sleep with her immediately, no matter what time it was and if she refused he would make sure he had his way and after he does that she feels very sick in a strange way.

She said: “When I now decided that I can’t put up with his attitude anymore, I told him that I am divorcing him as I can no longer continue with the marriage, he threatened my life and told me he would kidnap our daughter and pour acid on any man he finds me with. My mother in-law and the rest of his siblings made life difficult for me, they couldn’t even appreciate the fact that I have being the only one taking care of every responsibility in the house, instead of showing appreciation they intimidated me because I’m not from their place”.

The respondent, who continued with his tears, kept blaming his mother for his woes adding that she instigated him to mistreat his wife.

The President of the Court Mr. O.T Williams, after listening to both parties adjourned the case to January 13, 2016, for further hearing.

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Police alleged that the suspect, a resident of Abesan Estate, Ipaja, Lagos and a native of Ijebu-Ode area of Ogun State, western Nigeria approached the complainant on the internet that she has won internet lottery worth millions of dollars with the conditions that before she could access the money, she will pay a consultation fee of $35,000 to the management of the lottery firm.

Four days after SaharaReporters revealed that agents of the Department of State Security (DSS) assigned to Senate President Bukola Saraki had stolen N310 million from funds an operator of a bureau de change was transporting to the senator, a DSS source has told our correspondent that the heist was led by Abdulrasheed Hamidu Maigari and George Mwatapwa Ibbi, two top members of the senator’s security detail. Mr. Hamidu became part of the senator’s security detail shortly after Mr. Saraki was elected President of the Senate.
Saraki's DSS detail Abdulrasheed Ahmadu Maigari
“He [Mr. Hamidu] was the one who organized other participants in the robbery, including the soldiers,” the source said. In addition to the DSS agents, seven soldiers also took part in the operation. SaharaReporters had exclusively disclosed that the agents and soldiers ambushed the owner of a bureau de change and forced him to hand over N310m out of the funds he was going to deliver to Mr. Saraki.
Mr. Hamidu, who hails from Dungo local government area in Taraba State, is a younger brother to Uba Maigari Hamidu, the deputy governor of Taraba State during former Governor Jolly Nyame’s administration.

The high-profile robbery took place on November 20, 2015, but both the DSS and Mr. Saraki worked in tandem to conceal the identity of the robbery suspects in order to spare the embattled senator from further public embarrassment. After SaharaReporters broke the news, Mr. Saraki’s media team quickly reached major newspapers and bloggers in Nigeria to ensure that the senator’s involvement in the scandal was concealed.
In addition to the political cost to Mr. Saraki, the revelation that the stolen cash belonged to him bolstered reports about Mr. Saraki’s penchant for bribing judges in order to scuttle his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

SaharaReporters had recently revealed that Mr. Saraki had pressured officials at the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay him and another senator a sizeable hush amount after the two senators stumbled on information that former President Goodluck Jonathan and former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (ret.), had made numerous illicit withdrawals of funds at the CBN. Since our publication, a source at the CBN as well as a security detail confirmed the hush payment and named Senator Andy Uba, a close ally of Mr. Saraki’s, as the other recipient of the hush funds.
A note released by a CBN official and published by SaharaReporters showed that Mr. Dasuki withdrew more than $600 million from the CBN between the first week of February and the last week of March 2015. Mr. Jonathan, through the former NSA, diverted the illegally withdrawn cash to fund his futile reelection campaign.

The latest revelation that Mr. Saraki was using bureau de change operators to launder funds is consistent with findings made by police investigators who have probed the senator’s record as a state governor.
In a press release, Mr. Saraki denied ownership of the funds stolen from a bureau de change, claiming that the DSS and the police had reached the same conclusion after investigating the heist. According to him, law enforcement investigators had determined that the funds belonged to an unnamed bureau de change operator.

Also, the Senate President sent a press statement to a few Nigerian editors where he admitted that the assailants were members of his security detail. Curiously, none of the media houses ever reported that fact, suggesting that they acted on Mr. Saraki’s plea to conceal that information.
A DSS source punctured Mr. Saraki’s denial, telling SaharaReporters that the police were not involved in the investigation of the high-profile heist until much later. “The Director General [of the Department of State Security], Lawal Daura, kept the police away from the case. Also, you can see that the police are yet to issue a statement relating to the incident apparently because they were working to a predetermined outcome,” said the source.

When SaharaReporters reached the spokesman to the Senate President earlier today, he stated that the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was directly handling the investigation. He also claimed that the police had issued a statement, but when our correspondent prodded him to provide a link to the statement, he referred us to a report written by Thisday newspaper, claiming it contained the police statement.
But a look at the report by Thisday pointed to a possible cover-up by the DSS and the Senate President. Thisday newspaper reported the FCT Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, as stating, “In the course of the investigation, we were able to get the names and identities of some of them [the suspects in the heist]. Unfortunately, two of the DSS operatives are attached to the Senate president. The police contacted the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the Senate president. But rather than sending the operatives to the police for interrogation, he sent them to the DSS office.” See full Thisday report here.
In fact, another source who initially briefed SaharaReporters on the theft disclosed that the only reason the DSS made a public statement was because the operator of the bureau de change has close links with a former military head of state.
Mr. Saraki’s spokesman, Yusuph Olaniyonu, sent us a statement (see below) after we had spoken to him today. The statement had only been shared with select newspaper editors before now.

N310m Robbery: Again, Count Me Out

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki today (Tuesday) dismissed claims by the online medium, SaharaReporters, that he was the owner of the N310m said to have been stolen during a robbery operation involving some military and State Security Service (SSS) officials.

In a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said the stolen money did not belong to him and that he did not know the owner, who is said to be a Bureau De Change operator.
“The Senate President was in Paris attending the Globe COP 21 Conference for Legislators on the Climate Change when we read the Sahara Reporters version of the report on a statement issued by the spokesperson of the SSS.

“The initial reaction of the Senate President when his attention was drawn to the SaharaReporters story in Paris was that the owners and their sponsors of the online medium simply wanted to draw him into a needless controversy and therefore they should be ignored. However, on his return to Abuja Monday night when many of his friends and well wishers expressed concern over his silence on the report, it became necessary for him to make clarification on it.

“We want to say categorically that Dr. Saraki is not the owner of the stolen money. He does not know the owner who is said to be a Bureau de change operator. The Police that investigated the robbery incident and the SSS, which issued a statement on it, can confirm that there is no link between the Senate President with the ownership of the money.

“Unfortunately, two of the suspects in the case are said to be part of the men attached to the security team of the Senate President. As anybody could confirm, the SSS selects its officers who are attached to top officials. In most cases, the principal does not select who work in his security team.
“In fact, the first time the Senate President heard about the incident was when the Commissioner of Police, Abuja, requested the Aide-in-Camp to get his permission for the SSS agents to report to his office in connection with an on-going investigation on a robbery incident.

“To further put a lie to the claims by SaharaReporters, Dr. Saraki hereby requests that the security agencies involved in the investigation should make further public clarification on the case so as to enlighten members of the public.
“The Senate President just like any interested Nigerian followed the police investigation as it progresses, believing that justice will be done at the end of the day.

“The report by SaharaReporters is another case of manipulation and distortion of facts and situations to achieve some sinister purposes. This online medium is, with every false reports it publishes against the person and office of the Senate President discrediting itself and making it clear that it is not worth believing by reasonable members of the public,” the statement added.
Signed
Yusuph Olaniyonu
Special Adviser to the Senate President

Harrison Agu, a 35-year-old man, has been arraigned before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates' Court, sitting in Lagos State, for allegedly defiling his six-year-old daughter and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease in the process.

Agu, a father of three who resides with his family at 23, Rotimi Omotosho Street, Isheri Osun, Lagos, was charged with indecent treatment of a minor, an offence that carries a seven-year imprisonment if found guilty.

The police prosecutor in the case,
Inspector Simon Imhonwa , had told the court that the Agu regularly raped his own daughter within the last three years and that he started the shameful act when his wife went for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme in 2013.

“The accused began the assault in 2013 when the child’s mother was away for the compulsory one year NYSC.
It was during this period that the child fell ill with a serious infection in her genitals for the first time.

Thereafter, the mother of the child observed that the child’s genitals regularly produced a foul smell with discharges.
The mother took the child to the hospital where it was confirmed that she had been defiled and infected with the disease.

The mother said her child told her that Agu always asked her to remove her jeans and pants and then he will put his hand in her ‘bum bum’ (vagina) and if she refuses, he beats her,” the prosecutor said.

He further told the court that police investigations into the case revealed that the child had been physically and emotionally abused since she was aged 3.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and the Magistrate,
Mrs Bola Osunsanmi, admitted him to bail in the sum of N500,000, and ordered that the file be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice.

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