₦airaland Forum

Olaleye Aluko

A female lodger, identified only as Joy, has been found dead in a room at the Triple F Hotel, Randle Road, in the Apapa area of Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Joy, who hailed from Benue State, had checked into the hotel on Friday with a male partner.

However, when the woman was discovered dead, the lover had reportedly sneaked out of the hotel.

Our correspondent learnt that the matter was reported at the Apapa Police Division, while policemen came to remove Joy’s corpse and deposited it in a morgue.

A resident of Randle Road, who gave his name only as Matthew, said the hotel workers discovered Joy’s remains when it was time for her to check out of the hotel and they did not see her.

He added that there were no sign of torture on her body to suggest unnatural death.
He said, “Joy was a mother of five children.

She was a food seller. She ran a restaurant close to the Police Complex in Apapa. She was married to a man from Enugu State.

“The hotel workers on Friday, during the time Joy was to check out, went to her room to remind her. The door was locked and they knocked on the door. After several knocks and no answer, they forced the door of the room open. They were shocked to find her dead.

“They raised the alarm and the matter was reported at the police station. The woman had come to the hotel with a partner.”

When our correspondent reached out to the manager of the hotel on the telephone, the man, who did not give his name, declined comment on the incident.

Our correspondent learnt from a police source that the police had invited the hotel workers on duty as investigation had started to unravel the cause of Joy’s death.

It was gathered that the police had also launched a manhunt for the lover who came to the hotel with Joy.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident.

She, however, said the police found marks of torture on Joy’s body.

She said, “The female lodger died while she was with the fleeing suspect. There were marks of violence on her body. The corpse has been deposited in a morgue for autopsy while investigation is ongoing to track the suspect.”

lalasticlala

The lawyer also alleged that the policemen removed the N150,000 he kept in his car’s pigeonhole.

He said he was driving by the Onipanu Police Station when he was stopped by Corporal Alonge, who accused him of using a fake tinted glass permit.

Elemihe said: “On my way from Lekki where I went to check a property with my client, I decided to use the Onipanu Police Station Road, by Apata.

“Immediately I drove into the street close to the station, one Corporal Alonge stopped me, demanded for my vehicle particulars. I gave them to him, then he demanded for my driver’s licence, which I also gave him.

“When he discovered I did not commit any offence, he asked for my tinted glass permit, which I gave him. He told me I was using a forged tinted glass permit. I told him I could not have forged a police document as a lawyer.

“He became furious and said he was going to arrest me. He jumped into my vehicle and insisted I must give him N1,000 to bail myself. I said I was not going to give him any money since I have not committed any offence.

“He pounced on me and cocked his gun, threatening to shoot me if I make a move. A policewoman who sighted us came and dragged the gun from him.

“The policeman, after being disarmed, descended on me and gave me the beating of my life. He pushed me into the cell and another policeman came inside, locked up the cell and beat me for 30 minutes.

“I see this as intimidation of the highest order, not because I am a lawyer, but because I am an average Nigerian. I was humiliated like a common criminal.

“This is oppression. One of my eyes is partially blind. I have been vomiting blood since yesterday. It was the intervention of a good policeman in the station who warned them not to kill me that save me. I would have been dead by now,” he said.

Police spokesperson Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said: “We are aware of the incident and the leadership of the command is looking into the matter.”

It was gathered that Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni has summoned the Onipanu officers to the command’s headquarters in Ikeja for interrogation.

Detective at the State Criminal Investigation department, SCID, Panti, Yaba have unraveled the circumstances that led to killing of a 49-year old man by his wife in Lagos State Western Nigeria.

Just like a Christmas goat, the victim, Lucky Bassey was murdered by his wife, Grace after she used a kitchen knife to slice his throat while he was sleeping on their bed.

Lucky bled profusely and helplessly as Grace watched and ensured that he died before she alerted their neigbours, a police source said.

The incident happened at 23 Abari street in Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos where they reside.
Following the manner with which the late Lucky died, the matter was reported to the police and Grace was arrested.

She reportedly confessed and implicated one Benjamin Otu as her accomplice in the act.

Both Grace and Otu was arrested and the matter was transferred to SCID Panti for further investigation.

During interrogation, it was reported that Grace and Otu confessed to the act and told the police that it was Grace that used a knife to cut his throat while he bled and died.

On the role Otu played, the police source said he assisted Grace by holding Lucky on the bed before Grace had access to slit his throat.

P.M. NEWS gathered that the couple who are from Akwa Ibom State had undisclosed serious disagreement before the incident happened.

The two suspects, Grace and Otu have been charged before Ebutta Metta Magistrate’s court with conspiracy and murder under the Criminal Code.

They were arraigned before the presiding Magistrate, Mrs M.O. Olajuwon.

Their plead was not taken, rather the Magistrate ordered them to be remanded in prison custody.

The court also directed the prosecutor to send their file to the Directorate for public prosecution for advice.

The court is waiting for DPP advice before it will proceed with the prosecution.

A 65-year-old man, Alhaji Kamorudeen Ajibade and his daughters, Wuraola (19) and Shakirat (15) died on Tuesday in Somolu area of Lagos when their generator exploded. The incident, according to neighbours, happened about 10p.m. at 5, Adebiyi Street, Somolu.

Witnesses said Ajibade was pouring fuel inside his generator near a burning stove at the back of their apartment while Shakirat held the torchlight for him when the generator exploded. The sound of the explosion, the neighbours added, attracted Wuraola’s attention. According to them, she rushed outside but fell into the fire while trying to rescue her father and sister.

It was learnt that the wife of the deceased, Mrs. Rachael Ajibade, ran out of the house naked with her last child when she learnt of the tragedy. Ajibade’s first daughter, Mrs. Tawa Olasunkanmi, said she could not believe her father and two stepsisters had died. She said:

“I was on my way home after closing from shop when I got a phone call from my father’s neighbour that my father and my stepsisters had been consumed by fire. Immediately, I went to his residence only to see a mammoth crowd in the compound. Some people were wailing.

I was told my father died as a result of fuel explosion when he was refilling his generator.” Mrs. Rukayat Ibrahim, a neighbour, said when ‘Alhaji’ returned from work, he asked Shakirat to prepare tea for him. She went inside the room to prepare the the tea, while her father went to fill their generator near where she was boiling water. But they did not know the generator was leaking. “Shakirat on her phone’s light for her father to see. Suddenly, there was a loud sound which attracted everybody in the compound.

“That is all I could remember. I don’t even want to think about it. It is a big loss to this community.” A neighbour, who did not want his name in print, said, Wuraola would have survived the incident because she went inside the room to get milk for the tea when she heard the loud noise. According to him, Wuraola saw her father and sister burning but while trying to save her father who was close to her, she fell inside the fire. He said: “It is an awful experience. They all burnt beyond recognition.

It was difficult for the firefighters to access the house. The crowd was massive. Nobody knew they were trapped there. We thought they escaped. The firefighters went through another building and brought out their remains. That was when we knew they were dead.”

Ajibade, it was learnt, was to be appointed as the Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Onipanu Phase 2. The NURTW Chairman, Bajulaiye Abiodun Unit, Mr. Sulaiman Allison, said he was with Ajibade on Tuesday at the motor park to discuss the latter’s proposed inauguration. He said: “I was surprised when I received a phone call about his death.

That is why I came to sympathise with his family. His death is a big loss to the union in Somolu. We will miss him.” One of Ajibade’s daughters, Shukurat Shabi, said it was difficult to believe that her father and sisters were gone. She said: “My father was a hardworking man.

When it is time for him to be rewarded for his efforts towards the progress of transport business in Somolu, he died. He bought a new bus three weeks ago to complement the one he had. He took fuel from the same bus to power the generator which caught fire.”

A neighbour, Vincent Achum, described the fire as mysterious. Achum said that about N400,000 the deceased collected from a cooperative society also got burnt. The burnt naira notes littered the compound. He said: “It was unusual for the deceased to return home early because he was plying Fola Agoro-Onipanu route.

But yesterday (Tuesday) he came early and asked for a cup of tea. He died without taking the tea. But to our surprise, the fire did not spread to other apartments in the compound.” The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, said the fire was caused by fuel storage in the compound. He advised residents to desist from storing petroleum products in their homes to prevent loss of lives and property.

The Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) was said to have evacuated the remains of the deceased to the Mainland General Hospital mortuary.

Former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said her 83-year-old mother was kidnapped because she advised former President Goodluck Jonathan to remove fuel subsidy.

In an interview with Le Monde, the 61-year-old economist said the fight against corruption was at the root of the kidnap, with the abductors demanding her resignation on live television.

When asked what her failures and successes in the fight against corruption were, Okonjo-Iweala said: “Your answer would take a whole day.

“On my first experience as minister, I wrote a book, Reforming the Unreformable (ed) The MIT Press, 2012). For the second, it was really difficult. Nigeria subsidises fuel. About $ 6.7 billion that it costs, we found that 1.5 billion was fraudulent.

“One importer claimed that his boat was waging its oil while at the other end of the world, according to maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register Marine.

“I told the president that we would stop paying. What happened? They kidnapped my mother, 83 years. During the first three days, their only demand was my resignation. I was supposed to go on television and announce my resignation.

“This was one of the worst moments of my life. Can you imagine what happens in your head if you have to be responsible for the death of your mother?

“I will not go into details, but you must understand that in a country like this… in the fight against corruption, we must be prepared to pay a personal price. My father asked me not to resign. The president asked me not to resign. At the end, everyone began looking for her, and the kidnappers released (her).”

Speaking to dwindling oil prices, Okonjo-Iweala said state governors did not allow Jonathan save for the rainy day, yet they are the ones complaining today.

“Some economists are very concerned for Nigeria, which could greatly suffer from the fall in oil prices. Others say the contrary, that its economy is strong enough to turn the corner.

“Both are right. But one thing saddens me. When I was finance minister the first time, the volatility of oil prices, and therefore state resources, cost at least three points of growth in the country.

“We then established a stabilisation mechanism and opened an account for the oil surplus, which posted up to $22 billion. In 2008, when prices fell from 148 to $ 38 a barrel, no one has heard of Nigeria because the country was able to tap into this fund. And that, I am very proud [of].

“When I returned to the department in 2011, there remained only $4 billion on this account while the price of oil was very high! I tried again to put money aside. The president agreed, but the governors did not accept.

“I suffered a lot of attacks from them and now that the country would really need this account, these same people accuse me of not having saved! If Nigeria had been more careful, we would not be here today. It hurts me. We have the mechanism, we had the experience, but we were prevented to act.”

Okonjo-Iweala further spoke on her childhood and the hardship she experienced first-hand, during the Biafran war.

“I grew up in a village in southern Nigeria where I grew up to eight and a half years by my grandmother. My parents were scholarship students in Germany and did not have enough money to take me with them.

“I learned real life, fetching wood, water. At five, I could cook. This life has given me strength and a strong character. The other experience from my childhood is the Biafran war (1967-1970). My parents lost everything. I knew what it was to have nothing more.”

Friday Amobi, Port Harcourt

A 20-year-old man, Mr. Precious Ereta, has been remanded in prison for allegedly raping a five-year-old boy through the anus.

A Magistrate’s Court sitting in Choba, in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Monday sent the accused to prison pending a legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

The Chief Magistrate, Ibiere John, ordered that case file be sent the DPP and adjourned till June 29, 2016.

“I order that the case file be sent to the DPP, and the court adjourns this matter till June 29,” the magistrate held.

It was gathered that the incident occurred on March 29, 2016, at Rumuekini community, where the accused and the victim’s parents were residing.

A source said the charge against the accused had not been read in court, but noted that the act was an offence, which was punishable by law.

A relative of the victim, who said he would not want his name to be in print until justice was done, said the little boy had been in pain since the incident.

He said, “The boy can no longer sit because of constant pain. Sometimes, blood and other fluids come out from the victim’s anus.”

lalasticlala

A 29-year old man has been arrested and charged before Magistrate’s court sitting in Ejigbo for allegedly obtaining money from his jilted lover under the false pretence of engaging her in marriage in Lagos state, western Nigeria.

The suspect, Chukwuemeka Obodozie allegedly obtained N280, 000 from Ogechi Obinma which she gave as part of their bargain to get married.

However, after obtaining the money, he left her and married another woman he had impregnated.

According to the victim, she entered into a relationship and he promised to consummate into marriage.

He told her that he needed money to clear goods that his elder brother sent to him from abroad to enable them perform an introduction and traditional marriage.

Unknown the Obinma, Obodozie had perfected plans to dump her and marry the woman he had already impregnated in Lagos.

But when Obinma later went to Obodozie’s house at 39 Ilesunmi street off Ijegun road in Ikotun and saw a woman heavily pregnant she became very suspicious.

When Obinma asked to know who she was, Obodozie then confessed to Obinma that he impregnated the woman and needed money to take care of her and that was why he demanded the money from her.

P.M.NEWS gathered that he asked her to forget the money and see it as a prize she had to pay for their relationship that lasted for over two years.

Obinma accepted her fate and loss in the love game but she requested that Obodozie paid her money in full as she would not be responsible for the finance of Obodozie’s marriage.

When Obinma insisted, Obodozie reportedly threatened to kill her, he threatened her at her house and office in Ikotun area of Lagos.

The matter was reported to the police at Ikotun division and Obodozie was arrested and charged to court with obtaining money under false pretence and threat to life.
When he was arraigned, he pleaded not guilty.

The presiding Magistrate, Mrs J.O.E Adeyemi granted Obodozie bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.

Obodozie was remanded in prison custody pending when he will perfect his bail condition.

The matter was adjourned till 18 April 2016.

Former president, Goodluck Jonathan, may be arrested before May 29, considering the level of investigations con­ducted on his admin­istration, by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission.

An EFCC source said Jonathan may be arrested before the current administration clocks its first year in office.

The source disclosed that the arrest, two weeks ago, of the Managing Director of Kakatar Engineering and Construction Company Limited, Mr. Azibao­la Robert, whom the official de­scribed as “closest kinsman of former president Jonathan so far,” was a clear indication that “we are inching close to making former President Jonathan our guest.”


The official dismissed as reckless recent comments by another former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, dismissing the anti-graft agency as a “tooth­less bulldog.”

The EFCC chief predicted that “unfolding events in the next few weeks will actually confirm whether the EFCC has indeed become a toothless bulldog.”
Said the official, “We ar­rested Mr. Azibaola Robert on March 23, 2016 when he came to honour our invitation. We also arrested his wife, but she has since been granted bail. The following day, we arrested Da­koru Atukpa, Executive Direc­tor of his company. As we speak, both men are in our custody and are helping with vital informa­tion needed to nail the former president.”

According to the official, Robert and Atukpa were arrest­ed in connection with what he described as “ongoing investi­gations” into a $40 million oil pipeline security contract, which emanated from the Ministry of Petroluem, but was paid for by the office of the equally detained former National Security Ad­viser (NSA), Retired Col. Sam­bo Dasuki.

The EFCC official said the commission was working on a lead that One-Plus Nigeria Lim­ited, Kakatar’s sister compa­ny which secured the oil pipe­line security contract, may have been a front of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said, “Even though One-Plus appeared to have success­fully executed the contract, we are interested in details of how the company executed the job, including those who got paid from the $40 million sum.

“Even though we are still in­vestigating, there is sufficient suspicion that both men used One-Plus as front of the former President. The Managing Direc­tor of One-Plus has constantly maintained that the company was incorporated well before Jonathan became Vice Presi­dent, and that it wasn’t a crime to come from Otuoke,” offered the official.

The EFCC official said the commission was unsettled by former president Olusegun Oba­sanjo’s recent description of the agency as a toothless bulldog, and was committed to taking on persons considered sacred cows just to prove Obasanjo wrong.

He said, ‘You know for­mer President Obasanjo has his unique way of passing his mes­sage. Before Obasanjo even de­scribed our Commission as a toothless bulldog, several per­sons accused us of shielding former President Jonathan. The truth is that we are not shielding anybody. It will not be good for us to rush to court only to be dis­graced, the reason we took this long to make the arrests.

“However, be assured that a very big fish will land in our net before May 29. We intend to make the arrest of this big fish a Democracy Day gift to Nigeri­ans,” offered the official.

Tasked to unmask the identi­ty of the “big fish,” the EFCC of­ficial retorted, “you are a jour­nalist and should know better.”

The EFCC official ruled out the possibility of an early ar­raignment for Jonathan’s kins­men, saying, “we will keep them in custody for as long as possible, and for as long as they cooperate and tell us the whole truth about what they know about the trans­actions, and the involvement of the former president.”

“For­tunately, we have secured a court order to keep them (Jonathan’s kinsmen) for another two weeks. If need be, we will apply for an extension. But be assured that we won’t allow this matter go the way of others. With this case, we will prove those who accuse us of being toothless bulldogs wrong.”
Contacted, head of media of Kakatar, Mr. Austin Ekheinde, declined comments, referring reporters his boss’s lawyer Gordy Uche, SAN, who confirmed the arrest of the MD and ED of Kakatar CE Limited by EFCC.

Uche said, “Yes, EFCC arrested my clients Messrs Azibaola Robert and Dakoru Atukpa, MD and ED respective­ly of Kakatar CE and One-Plus, on March 23 and 24th respec­tively, when they went to hon­our EFCC invitation.”


The lawyer confirmed that both men were being detained in connection with a $40 million pipeline security contract, and the purchase of a N650 million house, but that the EFCC has re­fused to arraign them before a competent court.

According to the SAN, op­eratives of the commission conducted several searches on the offices of the detained men, carting away several documents . The lawyer said he was reasona­bly informed that both men were being made to make statements under duress implicating for­mer President Goodluck Jona­than ostensibly to serve certain interests.

Aside Obasanjo, who dubbed the EFCC a “toothless bulldog” for not going after “sa­cred cows,” top officials of the ruling All Progressives Con­gress (APC) have been mount­ing pressures on President Mu­hammadu Buhari to give EFCC the nod to arrest Jonathan, who last year shocked the world by becoming the first African presi­dent to concede defeat in a pres­idential election even before the results were officially released.

By Henry Okonkwo

A commercial sex worker has been found dead in her hotel room in Mushin area of Lagos metropolis. She was found brutally stabbed to death in her room.

According to witnesses, the sex worker simply known as Rebecca, from Edo State went into her room to entertain a client around 7pm that evening. Nobody noticed when the customer left, but Rebecca remained inside her room for hours. Around 10pm she still did not come out of her room. Her neighbors became worried and started calling her name but she didn’t answer. They opened her door and found her dead in the pool of her blood. She was stabbed on the neck.

“When we opened her room, the floors was covered with blood,” a witness told Daily Sun. “She laid naked on her bed with blood all over her body. Her throat has been slashed open. The cut is very deep. We noticed a bucket with bloody water inside it.

We suspect the killer after stabbing Rebecca, must have used the water to wash his bloody hands before sneaking out of her room and the hotel.”

Witnesses said it was neither a case of robbery or ritual killing because the deceased’s belongings were still intact.

They also speculated that Rebecca could have been stabbed with a knife even though no weapon was found in her room. “I don’t think it’s a case of ritual murder or rob­bery because her breasts or body parts were not cut off. She was only cut on the neck. Also, even her phone was still there with her. Rebecca did not have much valuables in her room because she had an apartment in Ikeja.”

Daily Sun learnt that Rebecca was an orphan and in her early 30s. She had lived in the Remembrance hotel for two years as a sex worker. And she used her earnings to cater for her younger siblings that live in Ikeja. “Rebecca was a very calm and gentle person,” many of the sex workers told Daily Sun. “She minded her business and did not like getting into trouble with anyone here.

It’s so sad something like this happened to her and to us all. This kind of thing has never happened in this hotel before.”

The incident was reported at Olosan Police Station, Mushin which made arrangements to deposit her body in the morgue.

Ademola Olonilua

Popular actor, Odunlade Adekola, is currently in a foul mood and he has threatened to deal with anybody who tries to truncate his family life by making claims that are not true with his name.

During the week, two actresses, Kemi Afolabi and Seyi Ariyo also known as She Baby, had engaged in a ‘roforofo fight’ over a piece of clothe. Of course, Adekola would have just been an onlooker but both ladies were said to have claimed ‘to be seeing him’ intimately.

She Baby said she had invited Afolabi to star in her movie slated for 10am but the actress did not get to the movie location till 5pm even though she only had three scenes to shoot. Because of her lateness, she had to sleep in a hotel and she insisted that She Baby would foot the bill.

She Baby who was already upset that the actress came to her location late refused to pay the bills, adding that if she had turned up on time, there would have been no need for a hotel accommodation.

For this reason, Afolabi decided to hold on to She Baby’s clothe which she used during the shoot of the movie till she reimbursed her for paying the hotel accommodation. This did not go down well with She Baby and  a catfight ensued. Before long, obscene languages were exchanged via blackberry broadcast messages and the actresses began to accuse each other of dating popular actor, Odunlade Adekola.

In an exclusive chat with Saturday Beats, the actor said that he was surprised that his name would be dragged into a matter that does not concern him and warned the actresses to stop using his name for cheap publicity.

He said, “I was shocked and enraged when I read in the news that two married actresses were fighting dirty over me. I don’t  know why they would drag my name which I have spent years of hard work to build in the mud just like that. I have no idea why they would even mention my name in the matter and the first thing that came to my mind was to contact my lawyers and sue them for defamation but I decided against it because it would turn into another scandal.

“I am a happily married man with children and I wonder why either of them would make such damaging statement. Nothing like an amorous relationship exists between me and any of them. In fact, I have only had a one-on-one encounter with Seyi Ariyo about two times and I doubt we have seen each other in the industry up to four times.

So, where did such claims come from? They are just using my name for cheap publicity probably to make their movie popular but why would they want to do such at the expense of my family’s happiness? I implore these ladies to stop using my name for cheap publicity and face their craft. If such happens again I may be forced to involve my lawyers in the matter.”

When Saturday Beats reached out to She Baby, she was furious that Adekola threatened to sue her. The actress did not only call his bluff, she denied using his name for publicity stunt.

She said angrily, “I don’t have any reaction to his statement but if he feels he wants to involve his lawyers in the matter, then he should do that. Did I drag his name into the matter? Did I mention his name? I have not granted any interview on this issue and all I have told everyone that has called me about the matter is that the issue has been resolved and I have got my clothe back.

What publicity stunt is Adekola talking about? I never mentioned his name; why should I mention his name when he did not appear in the movie. It had absolutely nothing to do with him.”

Kunle Falayi

For many young girls, coming to live in Lagos from the villages is a turning point they look forward to with excitement. It was the same for 12-year-old Rachael (not real name), who left her native Akwa Ibom State in company with her aunty, Joy Isong.

But within days of settling in Lagos, the girl had been traumatised to the point of regretting the day she made the decision to leave her widow mother, to follow her aunty.

Within days of her Lagos surjourn, the little girl, who was enroled in class five in a primary school in Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, had been raped two different times in her aunty’s home.

“I loved to come to Lagos but I did not want to leave my mother, but my aunty said if I followed her to Lagos, I would be happy. But now, I am so sad I did not know this is the kind of thing I will come and go through here,” Rachael said.

Rachael told our correspondent that she was sleeping in her aunty’s house one evening after the woman had gone to the market.

“I just woke up and noticed that a man was lying on top of me. I tried to push him away. I knew him. I had seen him in my aunty’s house a few times,” she said.

The man Rachael was talking about is Christian Nse, a father of five, who attends the same church as Rachael’s aunty.

“He is also my aunty’s customer. I tried to push him away from me. But he covered my mouth. Music was playing inside our house then. He had increased the volume and I did not know. He told me not to shout and said he would buy me expensive clothes. I told him I did not want any clothes, but he still raped me as he covered my mouth. When he finished, he told me to go to the bathroom and clean up the blood. Then he opened the door and left,” Rachael said.

The girl sobbed till her aunty came back from the market, Saturday PUNCH learnt.

“When my aunty came back, I told her what happened and she saw that I was still bleeding. She told me to go and clean up the blood. She then went out to see the man who raped me (Nse). He asked the man what happened and they went to see their pastor together,” she said.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that when they got to the pastor, Nse admitted that he indeed raped the girl and rather than report the matter to appropriate authorities, the pastor, Mr. Ezekiel Okon, asked Nse to kneel as he prayed fervently for him, asking God to deliver him from the spirit of rape.

When our correspondent got wind of the incident and visited Rachael’s aunty in a restaurant she operates in Mafoluku, the pastor was there with her.

Okon and the aunty appealed to our correspondent to let the matter go as the girl was simply fondled but not raped.

“Please sir, the man who touched her breast is no longer in Lagos,” the woman said.

“I was notified of the issue and I even scolded the man when they brought him to me. He has promised never to do such a thing again. Please, let us just forget it,” the pastor added.

On the surface, everything was alright. Glory was in the restaurant that day. She kept quiet as her aunty pretended that nothing bad had happened to her.

Nobody said anything about the fact that few days after Nse raped her, one of Isong’s sons also raped her, an information our correspondent later got from the girl when the case was later reported to the police by officials of the Jeshabel Touch-A-Heart Foundation.

Rachael explained that after she was raped by Nse, her aunty started taunting and tormenting her with hurtful words.

She said, “She started laughing at me. She was making jest of me and saying that I would become pregnant for the man. She said when I have the man’s child, I would become his wife. I always cried whenever she said that.

“One man on our street later heard about the matter and went to tell the wife of the man (Nse) what happened. The man’s wife then came to my aunty’s house and took me to a hospital. The doctor in the hospital said that I still had some blood inside me that needed to be washed out. After he washed it out, he gave me injection and I was told to go home.”

Saturday PUNCH spoke with Mrs. Nse, who explained that she believed that her husband indeed raped the girl.

“I was angry with him. When I confronted him, he said he did not know what to say. We have been married for more than 20 years. I did not even speak with him for some weeks after I heard he raped the girl,” she said.

But that was not the end of Rachael’s ordeal.

Few days later, when her aunty was away from the house, the woman’s 18-year-old son, Daniel, who is Rachael’s cousin, grabbed her again and raped her.

“I told him that I would tell his mummy when she came back. I told him that I did not believe that he was an animal because I had always seen him like my own brother. But he just laughed after he had raped me. When my aunty came and I told her, she shouted at me to leave her presence. She said she did not like looking at my face because I am very ugly. She told me to get out.”

With nowhere to turn to, Rachael decided to tell her class teacher all she had been going through at home.

Luckily for Rachael, the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Education Authority had previously held an awareness lecture on rape and sexual assault, telling the teachers and pupils what to do when they go through such things.

The teacher promptly informed the authorities, which in turn got the Jeshabel Foundation involved in the case.

Head of the guidance and counselling unit of the education authority, who is also in charge of  sexual harassment and molestation issues within primary schools in Oshodi-Isolo, Mrs. Irene Enogwe, explained to our correspondent that her office had previously taught students to always speak out when they are raped.

“We always tell them that it is to their benefit to tell their parents when someone molests them. If their parents do not listen to them, they should be able to walk up to their teachers to narrate what happened. We are happy that the girl in this case immediately followed that instruction,” Enogwe said.

By Thursday, Founder and coordinator of the Jeshabel Touch-A-Heart Foundation, Mrs. Favour Benson, had reported the case at the Makinde Police Division.

That same day, the police rounded up all the parties concerned – Nse, Rachael’s aunty, her son, the pastor, Nse’s wife – with plans to prosecute everyone who had contributed to the girl’s woes.

Benson told Saturday PUNCH, “We will be taking her to the Mirabel Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Ikeja for treatment. We would be taking her to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for counselling. The girl has been traumatised. She needs to go through a lot of processes to get her confidence back. Even at the end, she would need to go back to her mother.

“We learnt that the doctor, whom the girl was taken to by the rapist’s wife examined her and certified her to be alright even though he was told the girl was raped.The doctor made no attempt to report the case. He should be arrested too.

“The most annoying part is that the pastor who should have also reported the matter to the police decided to conduct a deliverance on the rapist as well. After the deliverance, would the trauma of the victim vanish? He should be prosecuted for conspiracy in the crime too because all of them are members of his church. Francis is a member of the church, Christian is a member of the church, the aunty is a member of the church.”

A young man whose parents refused to approve his choice of a wife, decided to end it all by jumping into a well in the Jekandafari area of Gombe State.

The young man whose name was given as Habu , according Rariya, a Hausa news media, was not happy that his parents did not want him to get married to the woman he wanted as they had plans for him to get married to someone they chose.

But not willing to live without the girl he loved, Habu reportedly jumped into the well in the night and his body was discovered and brought out the following morning.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which stepped into 2016 on an unfavourable note, finished the first quarter with a loss of N1.146 trillion.

Available statistics show that activities on the floor of the Exchange skewed downward, as the market, which opened high at N9.850 trillion in capitalisation and 28,642.25 in index at the beginning of trading last January, closed yesterday at N8.704 trillion and 25,306.22 index points, representing a loss of about N1.146 trillion or 11.63 per cent year to date.

Despite the unprecedented bullish rally witnessed in the first two weeks of March, which ended with a gain of N441 billion, the low market sentiments worsened following investment apathy, as foreign and local investors remained on the sidelines.

Financial analysts believe some of these factors sent shock waves to both local and foreign investors and created uncertainty in the investment environment, leading to a retreat on the part of the bargain hunters.

The plunge in oil price has put Nigeria’s currency under pressure and dampened appetite for assets in Africa’s biggest economy and chief oil exporter, prompting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intervene repeatedly to try to prop up the local currency.

According to a report from the Exchange, due to the massive exit of international investors, domestic investors outperformed foreign investors by 27.04 per cent, as domestic transactions increased from 48.43 per cent in January 2016 to 63.52 per cent in February 2016. Foreign Portfolio Investment (FBI) transactions however, decreased from 51.57 per cent to 36.48 per cent over the same period.

Total transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 39.44 per cent from N84.10 billion recorded in January 2016 to N117.27 billion (about $0.60 billion) in February 2016. In comparison to the same period in 2015, total dealings decreased by 36.44 per cent from the N184.49 billion recorded in February 2015. According to the report, monthly foreign outflows outpaced inflows, which was consistent with the same period in 2015.

Nevertheless, foreign outflows increased by 20.79 per cent from N26.36 billion in January 2016 to N31.84 billion, while foreign inflows decreased by 35.68 per cent from N17.01 billion in January 2016 to N10.94 billion in February 2016. The Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Companies (FDC) Limited, Mr. Bismark Rewane, said it was likely that the current downturn in the nation’s capital market would be sustained in the near term.

Rewane, who stated this at the FDC Economic Bulletin, said money market rates were already at an all-time low, adding that it was expected to see a creeping up of rates, as the level of government borrowing increases.

He said: “While the increasing inflationary trends will have investors worry about their returns, the major drivers of stock market activities will be macroeconomic uncertainties and likely further increases in US interest rates. “Furthermore, Q4 earnings being presently released will be another determinant of stock market performance. The bearish trend in the stock market is expected to continue in the near term.”

Speaking with New Telegraph, Managing Director, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said: “Given the factors that accounted for weak performance in 2015, looking at 2016, you see that a couple of these will still be there, crude price has dropped the lowest in 14 years.

We still see lack of clarity. We have seen a mixed command and control of economy, as being juxtaposed with free market economy that has created some level of absence of clarity when it comes to policy environment.”

The Cowry Asset Management boss said: “Currently, we are seeing a very low interest rate and still we are not seeing a recovery in equity market and that is a paradox because ordinarily when you have low interest rate you should have a rebound in equity investment probably because investors are now on the sidelines, economic outlook is bleak with slow optimism in the market.

“People shy away from making investment but rather keep their financial resources at war chest to ride through such difficult environment. So, that has been a major setback in terms of people’s willingness to invest in equities market. So, unless you see a reversal of that one, the controls in terms of exchange rate have kept away foreign portfolio investors from the market.”

A row has broken out between the police and the widower of an expectant mother, who died after her release from custody.

Mr Solomon Wilfred is claiming that his wife, Vivienne, who was six-week pregnant, died from “emotional stress” after her ordeal.

But the police denied that she was kept in custody, saying she was “released immediately her husband said she was pregnant and has health challenges”.

Wilfred, who got married to the late Vivienne last December, said she was taken to Akinpelu Police Station in Oshodi on March 15 by a policeman following an argument with another woman, Chinwendu Udomadu over a teenage girl, Perpetual Ucheweaku at the nearby Arena Market.

Mrs Udomadu and her daughter, Chinemerem, claimed that Perpetual was Osinachi Udomadu, who had been missing since 2014.

The late Mrs Wilfred debunked their claim, saying the girl is under her guidance. She added that she knew the girl’s parents, and had known the girl since she was about eight years old.

The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Akinpelu was said to have transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at Panti, Yaba, claiming that it was a criminal case which could not be handled at his station.

Wilfred told The Nation that at Panti, his wife was detained in a cell while he wrote a statement. He said he begged to swap places with her since she was pregnant and “suffers stress induced seizures”.

“I told them she was pregnant and sick. I told them she had stress induced seizures, and I went upstairs to write the statement for me to swap places with her. But when I came back, they had thrown her into the cell.

“I even thought they put her behind the counter to wait for me to write the statement, but she was in the cell.
“Then I told them to release her because I already told them she was not feeling fine”, he said.

Wilfred said his wife died on March 16, following her release the previous day.
Police spokesperson Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said the late Mrs Wilfred was released on health grounds and was never put in the cell.

“She was never put in the cell and she was released by the ACP SCID immediately her husband said she was six weeks pregnant and has health challenges.

“The ACP later called and told me that she has been informed the woman fainted at home and was rushed to the hospital where she passed on,” she said.

But the widower said the “emotional stress” she went through in the cell, and his subsequent detention triggered the seizure that led to her death.

Badmos said: “The police did nothing wrong in the matter. The suspects (Chinwendu and Chinemerem Udomadu) have been charged to court and the result of the DNA test is still being awaited.”

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday vowed to scrutinize the 2016 Appropriation bill before assenting the bill.

The National Assembly that passed the bill last week only forwarded the bill without its details.

When the President insisted that he will not sign the bill into law until he receives the details, some National Assembly members pointed out that it will not be out of place to sign the bill into law without the details.
They cited instances under former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

But Buhari on Thursday in Washington DC replied them that he will thoroughly scrutinize the passed bill before assenting to it.

He spoke during a meeting with the United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry.
According to him, in view of the controversial alteration and padding of the budget proposals, he needed to review the appropriation bill to be certain that its contents tallied with the authentic budget proposal presented to the National Assembly.

“Some bureaucrats removed what we put in the proposal and replaced it with what they wanted. I have to look at the bill that has been passed by the National Assembly, ministry by ministry, to be sure that what has been brought back for me to sign is in line with our original submission,” the President said.

Declaring that his administration will continue to vigorously prosecute its war against corruption, President Buhari sought and received an assurance from Mr. Kerry that the United States Government will facilitate the repatriation of all stolen Nigerian funds found within the American banking system.

“It will greatly help our country if you assist us to recover all our stolen funds which we can establish to be within your financial system,” the President told Mr. Kerry.

Acknowledging that the United States has been of great help to his administration in the retraining and re-equipping of the Nigerian Armed Forces that has resulted in the significant success already achieved against Boko Haram, President Buhari said that the Federal Government was now working very hard to restore full normalcy in the North Eastern states.

“Boko Haram no longer holds any local government area. We are reconstructing damaged facilities and preparing the police to take over and reassert civilian control over areas affected by the insurgency,” the President told Mr. Kerry.

Responding, the Secretary of State said that he has been told that the stolen Nigerian funds were in “billions of dollars”.

“It’s not easy to hide that amount of money and we are pretty good in tracing them,” Mr Kerry assured President Buhari.

He said that relevant United States Government Officials will meet with the Chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to discuss further cooperation in that regard.

Mr. Kerry applauded the Buhari Administration’s success in rolling back the Boko Haram insurgency, saying that the United States will continue to give Nigeria all possible support to ensure that the terrorist sect is finally eliminated as a threat to national and regional security.

The Secretary of State also praised President Buhari’s clear order that Nigeria’s Armed Forces must show greater regard for the human rights of persons in the theatre of operations against Boko Haram.

lalasticlala

Players and officials of hosts Wikki Tourists Football Club of Bauchi and visiting Warri Wolves FC, as well as match officials, were on Wednesday attacked by migrating honey bees.

They were all forced to stay flat on the pitch of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium in Bauchi when the bees attacked them during their match.

Mamuga Aminu, the match’s centre referee, ordered the players to lay flat as a defensive tactic as the column of bees flew through the centre of the pitch.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all the players and officials were forced to lay down for over five minutes, thus bringing the game to a halt.

The bees had earlier sent spectators at the western side of the stadium out of their seats when they first entered the stadium.

Spectators in their hundreds took to their heels and returned to their seats later when the bees headed towards the players.

The incident was recorded during a rescheduled 2015/2016 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match, which Wikki Tourists later won 4-0.

lalasticlala

A Police Sergeant identified as Jude Nwadudu has been found dead in a hotel located at Iju, a Lagos suburb.

Nwadudu was said to have gone there for a ‘good time’ with his female friend during the Easter holidays when the incident occurred.

It was gathered that the deceased after relaxing with the unnamed lady, went into the bathroom to freshen up but slipped.

He was said to have hit his head on the floor and became unconscious, prompting the lady to raise alarm for people to come to his rescue.

The Nation gathered that the father of four was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), where he eventually died on Easter Sunday.

His companion was said to have been invited for questioning and was released after her statement was documented.

It was learnt that the deceased whose wife’s also a Sergeant, was recently transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Sqaud (SARS) headquarters of the Lagos State Police Command from Kogi state.

The state command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP) could not be reached for official response at the time of filing this report as she was said to be in a meeting.

The skeleton of a 46-year-old man identified as Sikiru Yusuf was found in his room seven months after he was declared missing.

Yusuf, a resident of 21, Jaiyesinmi Street, Aga, Ikorodu, was discovered by his elder brother, Alhaji Basiru Yusuf, who at the instance of the deceased’s landlady, came to pack his property.

It was gathered that the aged landlady, who resides at the topmost floor of the one-storey building house as the deceased, became apprehensive after he was not seen for four months.

The Nation gathered that the nature of Yusuf’s job usually took him out of town for two or three months before he would return.
Hence, no one raised an eyebrow when he was not seen in the first three months, during which the stench from his decomposing corpse was passed off as a dead rat’s smell.

When he was not seen for about five months, it was learnt that his family members at Ikosi in Ketu were notified and they assumed he might have travelled.
But the landlady grew impatient by the seventh month, requesting that his family should evacuate his belongings from the room, since he had not shown up.

This prompted the senior Yusuf to visit his brother’s residence at about 12:30pm on Monday and forced the door open in the presence of the landlady and other residents.

As soon as the door opened, it was gathered that the family members and the tenants saw the skeleton of the occupant on the floor, with a rope beside it. They said this suggested that he might have committed suicide.

According to the landlady’s daughter, Funmi Badewa, they did not suspect anything was wrong because the deceased was not always around.

“At first, we thought he must have gone for his job, which usually kept him away for two or three months. But we became worried and contacted his family when we did not see him after some months.

“We went to his family at Ikosi in Ketu and asked after him. But they too said they have not seen him and that he probably travelled. When it was seven months, his brother now came and said they would pack his things since no one has seen him.

“They broke the door and that was when his skeleton was found on the ground. We also saw a rope, which means he might have committed suicide.

“There was a time we perceived bad odour, but we thought that a rat might have died somewhere. The smell lasted several days. No one even thought it could be a dead human being,” she said.

The deceased’s brother was said to have rushed to Ikorodu Police Division to make a report and a team of detectives, who followed him back to the scene, evacuated the body.

It could not be ascertained if the deceased was married or have children, as his neighbours said he lived alone in the apartment.

Confirming the development, the state command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the body has been deposited at a public morgue for autopsy.

“The complainant said he was invited by his brother’s landlady to evacuate his belongings because he absconded and locked his room and parlour apartment up for seven months.

“However, when the door was forced open, it was discovered that the said Sikiru Yusuf had died long ago as his skeleton was found on the floor.

“On receipt of complaint, a team of detectives visited, examined and photographed the scene, while the remains was removed and deposited at public morgue for autopsy. Investigation is ongoing to unravel what actually transpired,” she said.

MATTHEW DIKE

A jealous wife who reportedly met her husband lavishing money on other women in a beer parlour in Olodi- Apapa area of Lagos State, attacked him with a beer bottle on Easter Day.

The angry woman, identified as Agnes Onyedikachi was said to have met her husband in a beer parlour  at Idewu Street, with three other women, drinking beer and generaly having fun.

The irate mother of four children was said to have expressed shock at the behaviour of her husband whom she claimed hardly took her out for several years.

The angry wife claimed that her husband was wasting money and not taking care of his family’s financial needs.

She was said to have attacked her husband with a broken beer bottle and subsequently left him bloodied.

The three women found in his company were said to have fled when the woman descended on her hubby. Attempts to get an official reaction from the police was not possible at press time.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has asked a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to commit the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonishakin, and Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Tukur Buratai, to prison for deploying soldiers during the March 19 rerun elections in defiance of a court order.

Others included in the committal proceedings are the Commander of the 2 Army Brigade, Port Harcourt, Brigadier General Stephenson Olabanji, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak.

Reacting to the development, Amaechi, who said last night that he was unaware of the matter in court, as he had not been served the process, however, described the move by the PDP as “frivolous, ridiculous and laughable”, promising to meet the party in court.

The ruling party in the state and its chairman, Mr. Felix Obuah, sought for the relief in a motion of notice filed by their solicitor, Kingsley Chuku, before the state High Court registry on March 22.
The motion was bought pursuant to Order XIV of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure), Rules 2009 under the jurisdiction of the state High Court.

The Rivers PDP and its chairman had earlier in a Suit No PHC/601/2016, filed before the state High Court by Mr. Chuku, secured a court injunction restraining Amaechi, the army and the federal government from deploying soldiers during the rerun elections.

Joined as respondents in the suit then were Amaechi (1st), Chief of Defence Staff (2nd), Chief of Army Staff (3rd), Brigadier General Steve Olabanji, Brigade Commander, 2nd Amphibious Brigade, Bori Camp, Port Harcourt (4th), INEC (5th), REC, Rivers State (6th), the Governor of Rivers State (7th) and the Government of Nigeria (8th).

Justice George Omereji of High Court 13 subsequently, in a judgment on March 16, granted an interim injunction restraining the respondents from deploying soldiers for the exercise, in line with the fundamental rights of the applicants.

He said the interim injunction was based on a judgment by the Appeal Court, in 2015 in the case between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and others, detailing the non-involvement of the army and the armed forces in elections.

The presiding judge had subsequently adjourned till March 24 for further hearing on the substantive application.

However, the military authorities flagrantly disregarded the court order as soldiers were massively deployed and seen all over the state, monitoring the conduct of the legislative rerun elections.

The applicants, in the motion on notice, therefore prayed the court to grant them two orders, namely: that the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth respondents be committed to prison for disobeying the order made by the court on March 16.

Secondly, the applicants – PDP and Obuah – sought for “such further or other order(s) that the Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance”.
The presiding judge, Justice Omereji, has adjourned further hearing on the matter till April 14.

Reacting to the attempt to commit him to prison, Amaechi, in a statement by his media office yesterday, said he was unaware of the matter in court, pointing out that he had not been served the processes.
He also dismissed the proceedings as “frivolous, ridiculous and laughable”, promising, nonetheless, that he will meet the PDP in court.

Amaechi further asked the applicants a number of questions, which would most certainly make its way to the court in its determination of the motion of notice filed by the PDP.

He asked: “Who has the powers to deploy soldiers according to our constitution and laws? Does Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, have powers to deploy soldiers anywhere in the country?

“If Amaechi as Minister of Transportation does not deploy soldiers, why is he being dragged into the matter? And is the court saying that soldiers can’t be deployed for the safety and protection of lives and property when there is a clear need to do so?

“However, like I said earlier, we will meet them in court.”

A mob on Thursday subjected a man suspected to have “stolen” another man’s manhood to thorough beating at Madalla market.

The suspect was beaten to stupor by the mob before he was rescued by members of the vigilante group in the market.

The incidences of “disapearing manhood,” attributed to certain magical powers, surface from time to time when strangers brush or shake hands with a person.

A witness, Shehu Yakubu, said the incident happened about 2:14p.m., and that the suspect confessed and returned the stolen manhood.

He said the suspect, who came from Suleja, alighted from an unmarked vehicle and pretended to be buying fairly used clothes and in the process brushed a passer-by.

“The man pretended as if he had fallen down and in the process brushed the victim with his shoulder. The young man raised an alarm about the disappearance of his manhood few minutes later,” Yakubu said.

He said some people chased the suspect and stopped him from leaving the market.

The suspect denied stealing the manhood and the mob that had already gathered descended on him beating him into a stupor, until members of the vigilante group rescued him, the witness said, adding that the man later confessed and and did another routine and the victim’s manhood was “restored.”

Our reporter learnt that members of the vigilante group later conveyed the suspect and the victim to the police station.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Divisional Police officer (DPO) in charge of Madalla division were not successful, but a police officer at the station said the suspect would soon be charged to court.

The officer said the victim’s manhood was not missing when he was brought to the station.

Olaleye Aluko

A man, identified as Chinego Wasiu, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl, Favour (pseudonym) in the Boundary, Ajegunle area of the state.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Wasiu, who was nabbed by the Ajegunle Police Division after the rape, also allegedly led a gang of thugs to Favour’s house to beat up the father.

Wasiu was said to have threatened to inflict injuries on the victim’s family if they made a noise about the rape.

Our correspondent gathered that around 9.30pm last Monday, Favour was sent on an errand to buy noodles and a candle from a shop.

It was learnt that Wasiu had accosted the teenager and raped her, warning her not to disclose the incident to anyone.

It was gathered that the family, however, reported the matter at the police station on Tuesday, and the police launched a manhunt for the suspect.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Wasiu on Tuesday allegedly led a gang of hoodlums to the victim’s father’s house on Alayabiagba Street, and injured him with broken bottles.

It was gathered that the suspect on Wednesday appeared again and was said to have threatened to kill the family members if they followed up the matter with the police.

Favour’s older brother, who gave his name only as Simeon, said Wasiu covered her sister’s mouth with clothes while he raped her, adding that the family members had reported at the Juvenile Welfare Department of the police station.

He said, “My sister had been sent to buy a candle and noodles in the neighbourhood. It was some minutes before 10pm. She was accosted by the rapist, and when she raised the alarm, he covered her mouth with clothes and raped her.

“The annoying part was that the man came to our house and threatened to deal with us if we made a noise over the incident. He came with thugs and beat up my father. He was injured; broken bottles were used on him.

“The suspect threatened to kill me too. I took pictures of the broken bottles and my father’s bloodstained clothes. We reported at the Ajegunle division and the case is presently at the Juvenile Welfare Department of the station.”

A social worker with the Child Protection Network, Toyin Okhlagogo, who assisted the girl to the Mirabel Centre for treatment, said, “The girl was raped in the Boundary area while running an errand for her family. The girl’s family threatened to take the suspect’s family up on the matter. The suspected rapist allegedly came with partners in crime to beat up the victim’s father. He was injured. The victim had been taken to the Mirabel Centre for medical examination.”

Our correspondent gathered that while Wasiu had been arrested, some of his gang members were still on the run.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed Wasiu’s arrest.

She added that investigation was “still ongoing on the case of rape.”

A 17-year-old girl, Timothy Rhoda, who was reportedly raped and impregnated by a Lebanese whom she worked for in Lagos, has narrated her ordeal.

The Lebanese, identified as Ali Hussein, works as a professional chef in Lagos and resides on Allen Avenue, Ikeja area of the state.

Rhoda had reportedly left Plateau for the state in search of greener pastures when she met Hussein who promised to give her a job as a maid and had eventually agreed to pay her N10, 000 monthly.

However, two months into the job, she was impregnated by her boss who sacked her after he paid her a paltry sum of N19, 000 for the two months she worked for him.
Hussein subsequently kicked her out of his house when all his efforts to abort the pregnancy failed.

In a chat with Vanguard, Rhoda narrated her ordeal, saying, “I started working with the man as a maid immediately I came to Lagos. He agreed to pay me N10,000 monthly as my salary. When I packed into the house, my boss was not around but he came back two days later from his work place.

On how she was raped, Rhoda said, “On this particular day, my boss was about to leave the house when his brother asked me to go and meet him and collect some money to purchase food items for the house. I knocked on his door, he answered and asked me to come inside.

“When I entered, I told him that his brother asked me to collect money to purchase food items. He said okay and got up from where he was sitting.

“He pretended as if he wanted to get the money before he grabbed me forcefully. I struggled with him and was shouting but he overpowered me and raped me.

“The following month, I discovered that I had missed my monthly circle, so I informed him about it but instead of finding solution to it, he raped me a second time.

“I then kept disturbing him about the growing pregnancy. What he did was to send me to a nearby chemist with a prescription but the attendant refused to attend to me without his presence. He later went with me and bought some drugs which he asked me to take to abort the pregnancy. I took the drugs but nothing happened. After some days, he bought another set of drugs which I took, yet, nothing happened.

“I then became very worried and was disturbing him to find a solution to the problem he caused. That was when he started threatening me and later sacked me after paying me N19,000.

“I was so afraid that when I went back to my brother, Joshua, who brought me to Lagos, I didn’t tell him that I was pregnant for my boss. I was just praying that the pregnancy will just disappear but it did not. Unknown to my brother that I was pregnant, he got me another job where I worked for four months as a maid before my new employer discovered that I was pregnant and told my brother,” the embattled girl said.

On his account, Rhoda’s brother, Joshua also narrated his story.

According to him, “It was January this year that we discovered she was pregnant. Her stomach was still flat and we had to take her for scan. It was then she revealed that her former boss, Hussein, was responsible for her pregnancy.

“So, we went to Hussein’s house to confront him but he denied being responsible for the pregnancy. We therefore reported the case to the Immigration Department in Ikeja and on February 9, 2016, he was arrested but was later released.

“From immigration department, my sister was taken to the National Agency For The Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP.

“Initially, officials of NAPTIP said she would be with them until she delivers but last week, officials of the agency came and asked me to come and take my sister back as she will soon deliver.

“The pressure and threats from NAPTIP became too much to the extent that I don’t know whether they are protecting the interest of my sister who was abused by a foreigner or that of the foreigner.”

While bemoaning the atrocities perpetrated by some expatriates resident in Nigeria, Joshua said, “These atrocities continue unabated because the government and relevant authorities ignore the plight of helpless victims who are at their mercy.”

Meanwhile, an official of NAPTIP who simply identified herself as Mrs Agnes, said the case was still under investigations, however, Rhoda had been taken back to her former boss until she delivers.

One Mr Hassan who claimed to be Hussein’s nephew, intervened in the case, said, “Whatever happened between Hussein and Rhoda was a mistake and we are doing everything within to resolve the issue.
“We are doing everything to ensure she delivers safely.

“Hussein has agreed to take care of Rhoda until she gives birth,” Hassan added, stating that a DNA will be carried out to determine the paternity of the baby when she delivers but the family will not refuse to take responsibility.

lalasticlala

was it when I was still in his house? We had separated since 2013. We were formally divorced February 2015. I remarried in December 2015. I have freedom to marry whoever I chose to marry.

He dissolved my marriage in February 2015 and my ex-wife gave birth to his child in March 2016. That shows he impregnated my wife just three months after he dissolved our marriage,” Ayeni had said.

FROM PAUL ORUDE, BAUCHI

RESIDENTS of Makarahuta area of Azare, headquarters of Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchi State are still in shock following the death of an Islamic teacher and his entire family members in an early morning fire in their flat.

The early morning inferno killed Malam Jamilu Musa Zaria, his wife Yusra and their three children while trying to escape from the fire that engulfed their house.

Malam Jamilu Musa Zaria, 29, his wife Yusra, 24, his daughter, Hauwa 5, his son Sulieman 3, and last child Halima, who was two months and six days old were trapped inside their flat at Makarahuta area of Azare after the fire broke out at about 2 am in the morning of March 4.

Jamilu’s next door neighbour, Abubakar Lawal, told Saturday Sun, that his wife heard the distress call from Yusra for help. He said that he immediately, stormed out of his apartment to see what was the problem in his neighbour’s flat only to behold fire that had completely consumed Jamilu’s flat.

“Before we knew it, the fire had spread to my own flat forcing me , my wife, children to rush out into the compound. I tried to force the door into Jamilu’s flat opened but the heat coming from the inferno was too much,” Abubakar, a Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), recalled.

After escaping with his own family, Abubakar discovered that the key to the gate was in his flat. “We couldn’t come out of the compound, so my wife and I continued to shout for help.”

Abubakar said that his wife went towards Yusra’s windows and called out to see if the helpless mother could at least hand the two-month old baby, Halima, over to her through the window. But the burglary proof and the raging fire made that impossible.

While Abubakar and his family escaped unhurt, they lost all their belongings to the inferno. “I lost everything. I only came out with the shorts and vest on me. My wife came out with the only wrapper on her.

Same with my children,” he said.
Abubakar is squatting in a neigh­bour’s house while well-meaning neighbours and residents of Azare have been trooping to his abode to condole with him over the death of his neighbours, with many coming with clothes and food items.

According to him, “Up till now, I am still in shock. My neighbours and his family died the most painful death. I am doing a programme at the College of Education, Azare and I almost deferred it because I don’t know how I can cope because, the sad memory of their death is always with me.

My wife even fainted that very day as she heard the screams of Yusra. As a mother, it is painful to watch another mother and her two -month old infant dying and there was nothing you could do to rescue them. My wife is still traumatised and she used to have nightmares”

Abubakar said nobody knew up till now, the cause of the fire. How­ever, it appeared the family was wo­ken up from their slumber by a thick smoke and it was too late to come out with the flat secured with iron bars.

Saturday Sun also learnt that the power supply had been disconnected from the vicinity for quite some time so electrical fault was ruled out as possible cause of the fire. One of the versions had it that it was a mosquito coil that the family was using before they retired to bed that caused the fire. Another speculation was that perhaps, Yusra left something on the fire in the corridor inside her flat where she normally cooked. Whatever was the case, the death of the family has brought much sor­row to the people of the area who described the Islamic teacher as a good man.

Abubakar, an indigene of Hawul in Borno State, said: “We have been living together peacefully for over a year now. Jamilu joined me after my former neighbour moved out and since then, we have been living cordially as neighbours. He was a good man and he didn’t quarrel with anybody. He was a peace-loving person.” According to Mustapha Shehu, one of the deceased’s neighbours who was among the people that evacuated the charred bodies of the victims, what he saw after the incident was better imagined. The fire reduced the property in the house to rubbles and burnt the occupants beyond recognition, he said.

“I saw one of the adults, Jamilu I presumed, because it was difficult to tell the features whether it was a man or woman, clutching two of the children in the toilet. They apparently died there as they tried to escape. The body of the other adult whom we assumed was the wife, was found in the bedroom perhaps holding her two months old baby before they died. It was the most shocking scene I have ever witnessed in my life,” Mustapha said.

Jamilu’s elder brother, Mallam Suleiman Zaria, a well known Is­lamic teacher in Azare, who brought the late Jamilu up was still in shock when Saturday Sun correspondent visited his house which is a stone throw from where Jamilu and his family lived and died.

According to Suleiman after whom Jamilu named his second child, in honour of the man who brought him up like a father, he was at home when there was a knock on his door at about 2:30 am on the fateful day.

He said he wanted to come out but his mother prevailed on him that it was late, so he obeyed her. He said that the knocking came the second time but by that time, the old woman had slept, he opened the door and was told of what happened. Suleiman said when he rushed there, the sight he saw was gory and he was shaking and had to be led quietly away.

“It was a sad incident. Jamilu was with me since he was seven years old. He died at the age of 29 years, seven months and eight days. I can remember that before their death, strange things happened. One, on that fateful day, which was March 4, 2016, he came to my house more than six times.

He never met me at home each time he visited. When my wives told me when I came home, I asked him to come and we spent some time to­gether talking. Secondly, my two wives had dreams at the same that five corpses were being washed.

Thirdly, Jamilu’s wife dreamt that she saw blood flowing. She came to my house to inform me of the dream and I prayed with her and gave her some verses of the Quran to read. Jamilu’s death and the way he died with his family is painful but we’re leaving everything to Allah. What I can say is that I respect him because he lived a good and exemplary life. I have been on medication since the incident happened because I developed high blood pressure. May their souls rest in peace”

A neighbour, Malam Umaru Shehu, said it was sad that Jamilu struggled to save his family from the inferno to no avail. Shehu urged the state government to establish more fire fighting stations and equip them with modern fire fighting vehicles and gadgets to prevent such unfortunate and sad losses during fire outbreaks.

The Katagum Zonal Fire Officer of the State Fire Service, Alhaji Sagir Namama Shira, confirmed that the incident, which claimed the five members of the family, had noth­ing to do with electric faults as the affected house’s power supply had been disconnected by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED).

Two female suicide bombers got killed in early hours of Friday at Umulari Mulai about six kilometers away from Maiduguri on the Maiduguri-Damboa road.

Sources said the two bombers were sighted around 1:00 am by vigilantes known as Civilian JTF.

One of them detonated her bomb when the Civilian JTF vigilantes on duty around the area asked 'who is there.'

The second bomber scurried away and holed up nearby. But she was discovered and shot when soldiers came to the site.
Her bomb was later detonated.

President Muhammadu Buhari has bemoaned the fall of oil prices.
He said the country was currently facing an economic disaster because Nigeria made itself a mono economy.

Speaking at the National Executive Council meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday, the president blamed the last government for Nigeria’s ordeal.

Speaking on the economy, he said: “the fall of oil prices after Nigeria has made itself a mono economy is a disaster. I wonder why people could not believe that in Nigeria; about 27 out of 36 states have difficulty in paying basic salaries of their workers.

“If from 1999, oil sold above 100 dollars per barrel with an export of about 2 million barrel per day, how come Nigeria failed to make some arrangement to cushion the effect of a probably volatile oil market? Again, it shows failure of the last administration.

“But we are now to pick the pieces as an APC government and so, there is no need complaining, but let us concentrate and see how much we can do with whatever remains of the economy.

“However, we realized that agriculture and solid minerals are two areas that can quickly come to help us to recover economically, at least in terms of employment and feeding ourselves and more importantly, saving the hard currency to make sure that what is left our industries remain open, employing Nigerians and producing goods and services which is very important.

“The policy we are trying to implement is TSA. When we insist that we have to know what comes in and what goes out for us to make a comprehensive amendment to the economy.

“If you go and see the Central Bank Governor, he will tell you that in the TSA, we have more than N3 trillion. Where would this money have been if TSA was not in vogue? I was made to understand that vouchers would have quickly been raised towards the end of the financial year and checks made. Whether they are going into projects or private pockets, nobody can prove it to you.

“But that money is there, it is identified, if is quantified and when the budget comes back eventually, the Ministry of finance will see how to allocate it to the rest of the country.

“We have tried to make sure that NNPC is reorganized, so that we know how much of our crude is taken, how much it is sold and to which account the money is going.

“But I tell you that up to the time we came, if anybody told you that he knows how much of crude is exchanges hands either on the high sea or reaching their destination and the accounts the money goes into, that person is not telling you the truth.

“We are getting the cooperation of countries that has received this crude. But we have to be sure of the facts in our hands before we start prosecution so that Nigerians will believe what we have been telling them.”

lalasticlala

Tragedy was Thursday averted in Lagos after a 17-year-old boy, attempted to jump into lagoon for losing N6,000 and a phone to ‘Area Boys’.

But for the timely intervention of operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, the distraught boy would have committed suicide by jumping from the 3 Mainland Bridge into the Lagos Lagoon.

The boy, Lanre (not real name), a secondary school leaver, is the second born of four children and the first boy of his mother.

According to a RRS rider on regular patrol of the bridge, a roving mechanic drew their attention to a lone teenager, standing on the bridge and looking into the lagoon curiously. On getting to the scene, he was standing on the crash barrier, ready to jump into lagoon before he was grabbed by the legs by the RRS officials and taken to their headquarters for counselling and further investigations.

Lanre, after receiving counselling from the Commander, RRS, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Olatunji Disu, disclosed that he decided to jump into the lagoon after losing N6, 000 and a mobile phone to ‘Area Boys’ in Lagos Island.

He explained that his mother had given him N6, 000 at about 4:00 p.m. to get food stuff at Ita Faaji Market, when some miscreants collected his phone and the money from him.

lalasticlala

Cyriacus Izuekwe

Operatives of the Lagos State police command of the Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS have arrested three suspects in connection with pounded human flesh stashed in a sack in Lagos State Western Nigeria.

One of the suspects identified as Ekene was arrested with the sack and he then implicated two other suspects who were also arrested.

The two other suspects included an Oil and Gas businessman (name withheld) and a middle aged man believed to be a native doctor.

They are currently detained at the police cell at SARS office in Ikeja, Lagos where they are being interrogated.

The Lagos State Police public Relation Officer, PPRO, SP Dolapo Badmos who confirmed the arrest said the suspects are undergoing interrogation following the discovery.

According to her, the police arrested Ekene with the human flesh and when he was interrogated he said he was sent by the oil magnate.

Police sources said Ekene was accosted by the police detective on routine checks along Bucknor area of Ejigbo with one white sack containing undisclosed content.

Ekene was ordered to open the sack and he confessed that it contained human flesh.
He was subsequently arrested and taken to the station where the matter was transferred to SARS.

When he made a confessional statement, he told the police that he was promised N500,000 by the oil magnate who asked him to abduct a baby for him.

He said out of the money he was promised, he was paid N100,000 as advance and he went and abducted a two year old baby for him which he took to a native doctor as he was directed.

He said he was caught after he was returned the severed and pounded body to the man that sent him to get his balance.

When our reporter went to SARS on Wednesday, the suspects were still detained in the cell and were under going interrogation.

Dolapo told our reporter that the oil magnate have not owned up that he was the person that sent Ekene for the job, noting that, this has dragged the case.

She added that the police have intensified efforts to unmask what really happened and to arrest and prosecute those involved in the crimes.

By Abdulwahab Abdulah & Onozure Dania

A traffic dispute between a mother of three, Mrs. Yetunde Osijo, and a magistrate, Funke Sule-Hamzat, which occurred in Oworonsoki area of Lagos, led to Osijo’s arraignment and subsequent detention in Kirikiri prison.

Meanwhile, Vanguard learned that ‘the accused’ was released last night from Kirikiri Prison after the family was able to perfect the bail conditions.
She was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 and a surety.

There were different accounts of the traffic disagreement which occurred between the driver of the Magistrate and Osijo in Oworonsoki before she was pursued to Surulere by the magistrate, who subsequently ordered her arrest by the police.

According to Osijo’s husband, Dipo, Sule-Hamzat’s driver, who is a magistrate at the Ogudu Magistrate Court, allegedly bumped into Osijo’s car, but the furious magistrate ordered that Osijo be arrested and taken to her court, where she promptly ordered that Osijo be remanded in Kirikiri Prison without giving her the opportunity to get a lawyer.

Dipo said: “From information I gathered from eyewitnesses, it was the magistrate’s driver that was wrong at the time of the minor accident.

“Yetunde, who bumped into the magistrate’s car assumed she would be asked to leave only to realise that Sule-Hamzat’s car was chasing her from behind.”

Dipo also told Vanguard that his wife started driving in January, and that it was just a traffic offence that resulted in a minor scratch.

He said that the magistrate and her driver chased his wife and when they caught up with her, she was arraigned and sent to prison on Monday at about 5:30p.m., adding that because his wife told the magistrate that her father was a former clerk at the House of Assembly, she got angrier and sent her to prison.

It's a lie—Chief Registrar
However, another account by the Chief Registrar of Lagos State High Court, Mr. Emmanuel Ogundare, said the entire story as told by Mr Osijo was far from the truth.
He said: “How can a magistrate in Lagos, involved in an accident, order the arrest of the other party and arraign her in own court?

“This a judicial officer, who knows the implication of such actions. It was unfortunate that contrary to the report, the case was brought before Magistrate A. Elias, who sits in Ogba Chief Magistrate’s Court, that has the jurisdiction to handle the case from the area the accident happened.

“Can we say because she is a judicial officer, she is not entitled to complain to the police or be heard when her rights is trampled upon?

“The lady in question was arrested in Surulere, from Ogba where the incident occurred and taken to the police station, where her statement was taken.

“She was subsequently arraigned and granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety in like sum, which is the least bail condition for such offence.”

By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Romanus Ugwu

The race for 2019 Presidency may have split the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) into three camps, battling for the soul of the party.

The three main camps are the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) caucus, defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) cum South-West caucus and new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) caucus.
Sources said there are other sub-camps and caucuses that are ready to align with the main three camps when need be.

The tussle in APC is said to be connected with the 2019 general elections and the body language of President Muhammadu Buhari regarding the presidential election, which is red years away.

Daily Sun gathered that so intense is the struggle that the three contending factions are scheming to produce chairman of the influential Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party. The BoT is an advisory organ but wields considerable influence in who gets what in any political party.

It was gathered that the struggle for control in the party started shortly after the presidential election on March 28, 2015. Some Buhari loyalists said as it was time the president became the undisputed leader of the party, while others contended that he should face governance and leave party matters to the politicians.

Shortly after, some members of CPC, Buhari’s former party, reportedly said it was normal to allow the incumbent the right of first refusal on a second term and that talks of 2019 should be jettisoned until the APC stabilises in government.

But, members of the defunct ACN and the nPDP believed the president should only serve one term; set the country on the right pedestal, fight corruption and quit the stage for a younger member of the party to take over and continue with the APC manifesto.

In the lead up to the national caucus, BoT and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings tomorrow, a major issue for resolution is the Senate leadership squabble which is still festering.

The attempt of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), chaired by the chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to get members in the National Assembly respect the party position failed miserably.

Senators jettisoned the party’s position and zonal arrangement for offices, while the House of Representatives worked out an arrangement that subsists today.

Inability of the party to have its way in the National Assembly was blamed on the chairman with some stakeholders calling for his removal which is allegedly being championed by a governor from the South-South where Oyegun comes from.

But, another source in the APC disclosed that, “even if Oyegun is kicked out, because of the zoning formula in the party, the South-South will still occupy the chairmanship position.”

Another knotty issue for the party’s NEC to solve would be who to succeed Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Mohammed, before his appointment as the Information and Culture Minister, was the party’s spokesman. He is from the North-Central.

His deputy, Timi Frank, is from the South-South; a situation which may have worked against him from occupying the position before now.

So, as the party convenes its meeting tomorrow, Daily Sun gathered that some members would seize the occasion to ask for “more political patronage.”

According to one of the chieftains of the party, “some of us who worked for the party have not been compensated. Boards of federal agencies have been dissolved. This is the time to put loyal party members on these boards,” said an assistant to one of the party’s leaders.

“The slow pace of appointments and removal of PDP appointees in government positions are all to the detriment of APC members on the long waiting lists of some of our ogas.

The distribution of political patronage should have strong inputs from the party as a strategy for strengthening party loyalty and motivation of party faithful…” he added.
Meanwhile, APC National Auditor, George Moghalu has denied cracks in the party.
He said such speculation is a figment of the imaginations of mischief makers.

“Such speculations are figment of the imaginations of certain persons. As for the BoT chairman, I can tell you the decision of who becomes the chairman is an exclusive reserve of the members, and the person to emerge as the chairman will be known very soon when we organise the inauguration,” he noted.