₦airaland Forum

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Cases of child abuse is gradually growing with alarming proportions as even parents who gave birth to these kids end up being their tormentors.

Another of such cases was recorded at the Nigeria Airforce Medical Center, Ikeja, Lagos State, when two children were rushed there after being brutalized by their father and guardian.

This is what an On Air Personality,
Micah Aruocha aka MC Ice Water , posted on his Facebook wall on the incident:
"So I was just hanging around to settle some bills (mumsie came to rest a bit) at the Nigeria Airforce Medical Center, and my colleague, Lolade Keisha aka Slimmytee, who stays at the base, decided to come give me moral support and here comes these kids with a man towing along, known to be a neighbour, Hon Olalekan .

And Slimytee's journalistic instincts swings into action thereby gingering mine into taking pictures while she goes about getting all the facts."

"The gist is this.
The man who did such to these kids - the boy - Ibrahim Azeez (14) and the girl - Shukara Azeez (15), is actually the boy's father and an uncle to the girl.

He's an Okada (Commercial motorcyclist) rider and practically more of a thug (according to the good neighbour). He lives at 7, Dele Obilade close, Mafoluku, Oshodi, and has already been handed over to the policemen on duty at Shogunle Police Post.

The children said they were asleep, when their Dad - Mr Azeez , came in and started using various objects on them and of course, the resultant effect is the pictures you have here.

Asked after their mummy and they said she doesn't stay with them anymore and of course, they are used to this type of beating even though this is the most fatal of all in the series of such.

This is hoping Human Rights Activists won't allow this man go unpunished as the police men might want to handle this with kids gloves.

By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and
Fred Itua, Abuja

Fresh indications emerged at the weekend on why the Presidency and the National Assembly are not on the same page over the N6.07 trillion 2016 Appropriation Bill.
President Muhammadu Buhari submitted the estimates on December 22, 2015 to a joint session of the National Assembly.

Shortly after, there were reports that the document was withdrawn for re-drafting.
On January 18, Daily Sun exclusively reported how the Presidency withdrew the budget over claims that the version Buhari laid before the National Assembly in December was not the same version hius aide presented for consideration.

The controversy lingered until Buhari formally withdrew the budget and replaced it with a ‘final’ version.
But, no sooner had the budget been referred to the Appropriation Committees in both chambers than reports of “padding” surfaced.

Shortly before the estimates were submitted to the National Assembly, the Presidency warned ministers, as heads of departments, parastatals and agencies that, on no account should they “lobby” the Senate or the House of Representatives for higher allocations than what were submitted, in a radical departure from past tradition where federal lawmakers jacked up votes for MDAs.

The order was “lobby and be sacked.” Sources in some MDAs told Daily Sun that further to the directive, they were told “there should be no room for negotiation on any item with any lawmaker, no matter his or her rank…”

Budget defence came and went and February 25 was set for its passage, but, it was shifted. The passage was eventually shifted thrice.

Last week was the third time the National Assembly would postpone its passage, after the two Appropriation Committees had met with the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, to iron out details in the budget.

Regardless, a source in the Presidency attributed the latest shift in the passage to “politics. After the brouhaha of ‘changing’ figures and an harmonisation meeting, which even had Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in attendance, the next thing we heard was discovery of some new paddings to the tune of N37 billion.

“The truth of the matter is that the National Assembly has finished work on the budget. Why are they still holding on to it, after the harmonisation meeting? They are just playing politics with the passage…”
More than that, however, he alleged that, “the National Assembly is holding on to the budget as a ‘bargaining chip’ in the political scenario involving Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.”

He cited Saraki’s impending trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and asked, “ why was it politically expedient for the Senate, after setting March 17 for laying, consideration and passage of the budget, to suddenly shift the passage again?
“The lawmakers said they discovered a fresh N37 billion scam in the budget. Let them tell Nigerians who has custody of the budget since last year and after the President submitted a new and final version to them.

How budgets are ‘padded’

A source in the Finance Ministry alleged that budgets are ‘padded’ by the MDAs through procurements, which are usually embedded in “overheads.”
He explains further: “This is how it works: Ministry A will allocate some figures in the budget for procurement of computers and some other items while Ministry B will also allocate some figures for the same procurement. Yet, the figures allocated for the same procurement are usually different.

There is usually disparity in figures, yet, these MDAs want to buy the same computers… This practice is replicated for other, similar items. That is how budgets are padded. Besides, is it true that MDAs even buy computers every year?

“look, some of these MDAs jack up their recurrent expenditure, making allocations for ghost workers in the process. The National Assembly is aware of this, yet, they do not weed out such discrepancies…”
On the recent discovery of N37 billion fraud in the budget, which necessitated a shift in its passage last week, the source said the document had been with the National Assembly since last December and the matter was not even brought up at the harmonisation meeting.

“Did the Presidency submit a new budget? Why was it that when they had set a date topass the budget was when they suddenly discovered that it was padded by N37 billion? The Constitution empowers the National Assembly to work on and weed out what should not be in the budget..It’s all politics…” he insisted.

National Assembly reacts

Senate spokesman, Abdullahi Sabi dismissed allegations that lawmakers collude with civil servants to pad the budget. “Go and meet the source where you got the story from. Let me make it very clear that we are an institution and nobody can box us to say things we do not know. The committees have a process and we will report what we feel we should tell Nigerians. It is not my duty to talk about allegations, but the official position of the Senate. I have been speaking in official position. So, I have no business with that allegation.”

His counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulrazak Saad Namdas equally dismissed the claims. He said allegations of connivance of padding was a fresh move to discredit the National Assembly.

He wondered why the National Assembly was always the scapegoat whenever anything was wrong. Rather, he said the committees of the two chambers have done well in trying to come up with a clean copy of the budget.

“These ar¡e parts of the calculated attempts to always ridicule the National Assembly. Anytime something wrong is done, they always blame it on the National Assembly. Some of the MDAs came and we challenged the figures in the budget. Can that also be said that the National Assembly influenced the addition of those figures?

We don’t ‘pad’ budget- Presidency

A Presidency source told Daily Sun “it’s not in the nature of this president to pad budgets and Nigerians know that.
Adding his voice to the budget debacle, Hon. Joseph Edionwele said it would still be impossible to present a perfect copy of the budget.

“The budget was full of errors. It was not as if the budget will still be perfect. There are some we will still allow to go. We have done reasonably well by removing some things and taking them to areas where they are needed. Let me give you example with the buying of equipment in the State House.

“The equipment they want to buy do not have a place where they will keep them. And, they are buying them for N12 billion. What we did was to split it into two and made provision for where some equipment will be kept. It happened in a number of ministries and we had to correct them.”

In 2005, for instance, former Minister of Education, Prof Fabian Osuji was sacked by the Obasanjo administration for allegedly bribing National Assembly members on the education committee to inflate the budget of his ministry.

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is facing what he calls "the classic dilemma" over the privatisation of the power sector.

He said the privatisation of the sector had yet to show any improvement in the quality of service, saying it was difficult to determine whether it was done in public interest or with profit motive.

President Buhari, however, noted that since the privatisation of the sector had started, the process had to be completed.

Speaking at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja Monday at the commencement of a two-day National Economic Council (NEC) retreat titled: "Nigerian State: Multi-centres of Prosperity", he said the epileptic power situation in the country was no longer a laughing matter.

The president said: "Key points to look at here are: Privatisation. We are facing the classic dilemma of privatisation: Public interest vs Profit Motive. Having started, we must complete the process".

He also disclosed that his administration had, in its remaining three, given itself the target of 10,000 megawatts "distributable power", adding that in 2016 alone, the government intended to add 2,000 megawatts to the national grid.

"Nigerians’ favourite talking point and butt of jokes is the power situation in our country. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer a laughing matter. We must and by the grace of God we will put things right", he assured.

He said: "Common public complaints are "Constant power cuts destroying economic activity and affecting quality of life; high electricity bills despite power cuts; low supply of gas to power plants due to vandalization by terrorists; obsolete power distribution equipment such as transformers; power fluctuations which damage manufacturing equipment and household appliances; and low voltage which cannot run industrial machinery.

These are some of the problems which defied successive governments. In our determination to CHANGE, we must and will, insha Allah, put a stop to power shortages".

He said while the National Electricity Regulatory Commission has a vital job to ensure consumers get value for money and over-all public interest is safe-guarded; government has to fast-track completion of pipelines from gas points to power stations and provide more security to protect gas and oil pipelines

Officials of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in Lagos have arrested a gang which specialised in using military and police uniforms to steal motorcycles from riders. A member of the threeman gang, Goodness Allison (31), said that his members used to disguise as policemen and military officers to steal motorcycles from unsuspecting riders. Aside from Allison, other members of the gang are identified simply as Wilson and Aboki. According to Allison, they would first ‘impound’ the motorcycles and later resell them.

The suspect claimed that he became a member of the gang after the fake policeman and soldier arrested him for plying a restricted road. He said: “I was co-opted into the team two weeks ago.

Then, I was arrested at Bucknor at Ejigbo area by Wilson and Aboki on that fateful day around 9:48p.m. They said I took a restricted road. I pleaded with them to let me go but they told me that I was going to take them somewhere. I took them to Ejigbo, where a boy was arrested.

I assisted them to arrest the Hausa boy and we took his motorcycle. I don’t know what they did with the motorcycle, but the following day, they called me and offered me N10,000. It was the same spot where we seized the Hausa boy’s motorcycle, which was my first operation with the gang, that I was arrested.”

Allison confessed that through the ruse, they had been able to steal over seven motorcycles from riders at Ejigbo, Ikotun and Bucknor. According to him, the gang used to operate from 9p.m. to 11p.m.

By Adetutu Folasade- Koyi

INDICATIONS emerged at the weekend that in the course of investigating how 34,000 ghost workers got on the federal payroll, a three-ring syndicate has been uncovered.
Last month, Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun blew open 23,000 ghost workers on the payroll.

She said in the aftermath of deploying the Bank Verification Number (BVN), 23,000 ghost workers were discovered, saving the Federal Government lost N2.29 billion per month.

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. Less than three weeks after that, another 11,000 ghost workers were also discovered on government’s payroll.

The 23,000 ghost workers, Daily Sun gathered at the weekend, were run by a three-ring syndicate of top civil servants in federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), bankers and some “big people outside the federal civil service.”

It was also learnt yesterday that some of the civil servants implicated in perpetrating the fraud of the initial 23,000 ghost workers here been picked up by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Some of them, it was learnt, reported at the anti-graft agency’s office in Abuja, last week, to explain their roles in the scam.

A source at the anti-corruption agency said yesterday that, “the EFCC has started picking some of them. In the course of writing their statements we discovered that it was a three-ring syndicate running the scam.

“From documents available, we saw how 500 salary accounts were opened in the names of civil servants. In most cases, some of the accounts bear just one name while the common thread which bound them was that they were opened in just one day at the branch of a generation bank.”
With that discovery, the second stage of the investigation will start today, it was gathered.

Another source disclosed that the second leg of the investigation, starting today, will be to invite top managers of banks where some of the fictitious accounts were opened as well as those outside the civil service whose names were mentioned in the course of the initial investigation.

When contacted, EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said he was not aware of the investigation and also added that even if the investigation had started, it was not possible to put sensitive information in the public domain until it was necessary to do so.

Media Adviser to the Finance minister, Festus Akanbi did not pick calls to his line. But, a source in the ministry said “some of the banks where the salary accounts were opened are cooperating with us and the EFCC. Some of our ogas were invited for questioning and we learnt that some of them will be reporting at the EFCC this week.”

On March 9, Adeosun told State House Correspondents, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that her ministry was using what she called computer techniques to investigate the fresh 11,000 affected cases.

She said as soon as investigations are concluded, “Nigerians would be informed of the amount saved and the number of names removed again from the payroll.
“Again, we are using computer techniques to identify those who we need to investigate…”

“There is no money in the country. Guys are complaining, but at all at all na him be witch. Wetin will man pickin do? We have to collect the pay like that. I have been here since and the guys wey dey come my way just dey price anyhow. You no see as you dey price too.

And if I tell you to do quick rest for N3, 000, you will say no. They want it all through the night,” said one of the prostitutes, who gave her name as Jessica. She spoke both pidgin and proper English. According to Sunday Telegraph’s investigation, the prevailing downturn in the economy seems to be affecting everything in the country, including the services of commercial sex workers, who are currently complaining about bad business. Many of them were seen loitering without patronage. At the arrival of the correspondent, at Heavens, a popular night club on 1st Avenue, Festac, Lagos, about three different ladies came trying their luck.

One of them, Titi, was literally begging to be taken home by the correspondent, who priced her far below the normal prices (between N7,000 and N10, 000) charged on the axis. She had initially mentioned N15, 000 per night before the bargaining ensued.
The correspondent had priced her N5,000, which she eventually accepted and was saying “okay let’s go to your house, I will do you well, you will enjoy me.” Other ladies met on the same spot were insisting on N8000 or N10, 000 per night.

“Oga this one wey you dey price like this, you no go fit pay for all night. E go better if you go for quick rest. Quick rest na N2500. Let’s leave the full night. I have a place, where I lodge on 21 Road, let’s go there and enjoy ourselves. I’m sweet let’s just do quick rest first. Long night is N10, 000 but as you dey price so, you no fit pay for full night. I will do you well and I will give you my number so that you can call anytime you need me,” said Stella, another woman of the night. It was surprising to see Jane, who was complaining about low or no patronage and the fact that our correspondent, isolated her for a discussion but didn’t take her home, prayed that God would give her another customer. “You know that you don’t want to carry me to your house and you came here and wasted my time.

If I had stood at that place, somebody else would have carried me. After now you will go and pray God to bless your business but you are here spoiling my own business. Go, let me wait and see if God will give me another customer this night.” This was emotional outburst of this young lady, who thought she had caught a big fish for the night; perhaps, she didn’t see anything wrong with prostitution rather, what she does to keep body and soul together.

Similarly, some girls, who go into prostitution, have different things in mind.
Jane believes that God is aware of her business and perhaps, prays each night that God will give her a good customer (sex mate).

What an irony of life. Jane had also insisted that her price was N10, 000 and nothing less. The reporter was shocked to the marrow when Jane made this utterance. At Allen Avenue, Ikeja, at about few minutes after 11pm, another lady of easy virtue was met and although she started with N5000 for what she called, “short time,” she later accepted N2000 for “short time” but refused to go all night for, conceivably, fear of entering into wrong hands, she didn’t accept to go to Isolo and as a result, didn’t discuss her terms and conditions for a sex vigil.

“N2000 is the last price for short-time. Isolo is far, I can’t go to Isolo. Let me stay here and keep hassling.” In another development, it was obvious that low patronage was plaguing them due to the prevalent economic situation in the country. Yes, according to Tricia, men still come around because they need women, but they are not willing to settle for high prices. In Tricia’s eyes, you will find thick layers of desperation. She appealed: “I will do you well.

If you want, I can do you inside this car. I will s..k you and after s..king you, I will f..k you. You will enjoy it and then I will give you my number. If you want all night, I can go for N4, 000 but if you want quick rest, I can take N2, 000. Let me come in…”

But despite her desperate moves to be patronised, the Correspondent turned down her self-invitation into the car. She was the only person in all, who accepted N4, 000. This happened between 12pm and 1am. At another location, a nursing mother prostitute in Aguda, Surulere, one Juliet, said, the country is tough, and she cannot afford to stay at home in order that her girl child does not die of hunger.
“I have a child. In the course of my business, I got pregnant and I didn’t want to abort the baby. It wasn’t easy for me then but I needed to keep the baby. I used to give her Chelsea dry gin every night so that she can sleep all through the night until I come back. Yes, I still get customers, off course, they don’t know I have a child but even if they know, they will still patronise me,” she said confidently. Also, another girl, Shola, who looked between 17 and 21 years old, said her own price was N8, 000, “non negotiable”.

She refused home service due to a bitter experience she had, which she didn’t disclose to the correspondent. However, the correspondent’s curiosity to know why she was so scared of home service, prompted him to press her. But she replied: “Never mind.” Dark and tiny-waist Shola, who claimed to be a student of the University of Port Harcourt, does not believe in talking, rather, she allows her waist entice any man.

“I don’t believe in talking, my action will speak for me.” “I don’t do this always. I only come out when I’m very broke.
Like now, I’m very broke and I need money. Since you said you just want to make love to me once, please, instead of keeping me in your house after that, please let me go and perchance, I can get another customer.

Instead of N8000, you can have me for N5000 and let me go,” Cross Rivers State’s Cynthia appealed to the correspondent, thinking she had a customer. On the safety precautions As safety precautionary measures, some of the sex workers do not accept to visit a guy at home for fear of being gang rapped but anyone that is contemplating doing that will ask a number of questions to the potential customers, to determine the level of her safety, including: “Where do you live? Do you live alone?

And what do you do for a living?” are some of the questions begging for answers from the male clients. In the same manner, when Sunday Telegraph approached Zika, one of the sex workers at Apapa, and tried to move away from the vicinity for fear of running into someone who knows him, the girl said: “Please don’t drive off, we have not finished and you have not told me what you want.
Please, just take it easy. I don’t want to go far. You can’t really say who is who. You don’t trust guys now.” But on the assurance that she wasn’t going to be hurt, she calmed down and started responding, though with some level of scepticism.

Responding to the question, why she was so scared of going home, she said she had been raped by three guys, who lived together. “ They claimed that they paid me for the night and therefore, must continue till the morning. Yes, I was paid but I didn’t bargain for that and since then I have always being careful.
You men can be mean,” she concluded.

Also, at Ajegunle and the neighbouring community, Orile, the prices are quite very low. The reason given, being that rich men don’t live there, hence, most of their male customers are bus drivers and conductors; others are okada riders and few who are not ready to part with reasonable amount of money. For her, any guy that pays N1000 will want to die on top that prostitute. “Most of my co-workers travel as far as Festac and Lagos Island to do their businesses.
Guys in Ajegunle will like to do free and even do on credit. But it’s not because they are stingy, it’s they don’t have. ‘The thing dey hungry them but they no fit pay. If you no stay well, they go rape you,” said Christy.

However, there is another group of sex workers that one can classify as special prostitutes or celebrity harlots or student aristos. Their prices are high and they do not stay on the road with miniskirts or hopping around any man that comes their way. Though in the prostitution business, they carry themselves with some degree of respect.

In some cases, they have their names, pictures and phone numbers in some hotels and they are called upon when they are needed. They are well dressed and neat. Most of them are undergraduates, who are short of cash in the school. They speak good English. Thelma, a student of Mass Communication, Yabatech, Lagos, is a good, explanation of such celebrity prostitute.

Sunday Telegraph met her at the front of the popular Golden Tulip Hotels in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos. She was well dressed in a skinny jump suit (overalls), who didn’t portray the business she is into. She sounded reasonable in her good English diction. She said: “It’s N8,000 or N10, 000 for the night, else no deal.” The correspondent tried to price her down but she insisted, even as she was priced N7,000.

Trying to make her understand that things are generally bad in the country and there is no money, she insisted that other guys are paying. She appeared not to be grounded with the business but as a student of Yabatech, as she claimed, she may have come clubbing and decided to have a ‘quickie’ for cash.

She spoke good English and appeared mannered that one wonders what is happening. This is the thinking that prostitution has been taken to another level, where the business is not left in the hands of illiterates, living in the brothels alone. They are upgrading. Among these ‘special prostitutes’, these are the real risk takers in the business.

This group of girls travel to all parts of the country to visit their clients, who may even be within the locality of their targets but claim to be coming from some distance away. They source phone numbers of their targets through friends’ facebook as well as other means and call up their targets. Their discussions with the targets are suggestive of self invitation. Sometimes, they claim to be one that the targets know. Sunday Adekule had an encounter with one of them.
He recounts his experiences: “I had an encounter with one of them. I don’t know how she got my number and called me up.

When I got her call, her voice sounded familiar and I mentioned a name that she assumed to be. And because I just met the girl, whose name I dropped, I barely discussed with her to find out she wasn’t the one. “So, in our discussion, I asked when she will be coming to Lagos and she quickly said next week and we continued like that. To my greatest surprise, she came on the appointed day. When she knocked, I came out and she greeted. I couldn’t believe what I saw, so I started thinking within me: ‘Have I met this girl before?’ I was confused. “Certainly, this cannot be the girl I spoke to at the programme and I asked her, ‘Where you in that programme,’ but she replied, ‘Are you scared?’

Of course, I wouldn’t show her that I was scared and I said scare of who? “Unfortunately, that mental process couldn’t continue as I got a call from my boss that I should come back to the office. It was already 7pm and I was thinking, ‘am I going to leave this girl in my house and go to office?’ Eventually, I decided to lock her inside but when I tried to do that, she caught me and asked, ‘Are you locking me inside?’ and I said no.

“Alternatively, I called my neighbour and briefed him to put an eye on my apartment. I wasn’t really comfortable with it that I had to tell one of my colleagues in the morning, who charged me to start rushing home, before I meet my house empty, which I did. By the time I got back, she had already cooked spaghetti with eggs. The girl was so relaxed.

“So, I couldn’t take it again that I started asking her questions and had to carry her back to ensure that what she told me was her name was actually her true identity. I saw her bank ID card, so I called my cousin who works with that bank to confirm the address of the girl. When I went harsh on her she stated crying saying that I wasn’t treating her like a lady. She said she was leaving. I felt bad but did that for my safety. It was getting late and I told her to wait till morning but she refused. “Then, I asked her how much she spent coming to Lagos. She said N3500 and I gave her N5000.

Two days later, another girl called me claiming to know me but the experience of the other girl didn’t allow me to join her in any conversation. It was later when I told some guys the story that they made me to understand that such is how that class of prostitute make their money.

“They will claim to come from distant place without knowing that they are from your locality. So, when you give them transport fare to Abuja, they pocket it and go to wherever they are coming from. They know that after a night rest with them, you will not be wicked enough to leave them empty-handed.” In another funny development, a prostitute along Old Ojo Road, Lagos who saw a well dressed man, suspected to be having some cash, held him, saying he slept with her and didn’t pay. She claimed that her fee was N3,000.

The man was thoroughly embarrassed. While it was happening, passersby were telling the man to settle the prostitute and stop disgracing himself but the man kept on saying that he didn’t know the girl from anywhere. In the process, the wife of the man who was a fighter came and saw what was happening and said her husband cannot do such and asked the prostitute the colour of her husband’s pants since she claimed that her husband slept with her. And the prostitute said “white nah” but the woman said that her husband doesn’t wear pants rather boxers and started beating her.

It was then that she started begging the woman whicothers join in beating her. On protection against harm On protection: “I don’t use charms but I know some people that use charms to get customers. Some of them put it in their powder. Once you look at their faces you can’t resist them again. When they get customers that pay well, they will also want to have them forever. Also, some will use it to protect themselves from those ritualists.

The charm will make their spirit alert not to follow wrong persons. To some, when you want to hurt them you will end up hurting yourself,” said Ese. According to her, they use condoms to prevent pregnancy and other sexually transmitted diseases. “With condom is normal price but when you want flesh to flesh, you have to pay higher, like N3,000 instead of N2,000 for short time. You know that without condom is risky. You can impregnate me or give me disease. So, the extra money is for me take care of myself, get contraceptives.

Men like flesh to flesh because it’s sweeter. “I don’t like home service because some guys will contribute to pay and when you get home, all of them will take turns to sleep with you and if you resist them, they will rape and give you wounds. You might have three guys sleeping with one girl. It’s not good nah. The something dey pain nah.

Some of them will go and take ‘manpower’ and they will sleep with you all through the night. And their something will not get down all through,” she explained.

A 65-year-old retired headmistress, Mrs. Clara Uwaifo, has been reportedly shot dead by a suspected teenage cultist in Benin City, capital of Edo state.

Mrs. Uwaifo who retired from Uwelu Primary School, Benin, last August, was allegedly gunned down on Wednesday, March 15, at the gate of her residence at 27, Oviawe Street, Off Upper Siluko Road, Ogida Quarters, at about 3:00 pm.

The deceased, a widow, was said to have met her sudden death while returning from the hospital where she had gone to see her daughter who had just delivered a baby.

When journalists visited the scene of the incident on Friday, sympathizers who besieged the compound were placing curses on the killer of the woman.

One of the granddaughters of the deceased (name withheld), who allegedly witnessed the gruesome murder of the victim, told journalists that she was returning from school when she sighted her grandmother also approaching the gate with the suspect following her closely.

She further stated that as she doubled up her steps to meet up with her grandmother in order to assist her with one of the bags she was carrying when the teenager pulled out a gun from the pocket of his trousers and shot at the woman from behind.

She however said she identified the suspect as the son of their neighbour whose family has been at loggerheads with the Uwaifos.

She also alleged that members of the suspect’s family have severally threatened to kill the woman and that the threat was reported at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Benin City, last year.

The State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Osifo, who confirmed the murder of the retired headmistress, identified the suspect as “one Happy Agbangbanyan, a teenage cultist and serial killer on police wanted list.”

He added that the police are already on his trail.

Cyriacus Izuekwe

A 36-year-old man, Temitope Samuel, has been arrested and remanded in prison custody for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, Temitope Adekunle, in Lagos State, western Nigeria.

Samuel allegedly invited Adekunle, who is a polytechnic student to his house at 20, Alhaji Yaya street, Ilasamaja, for sex romp which she obliged him
.
P.M.NEWS gathered that before he persuaded her to come, they agreed on a certain amount Samuel will give her to offset her expenses.

According to the police, after engaging Adekunle in marathon sex for several hours, he went out of the room under the false pretence to get the money he promised her.

P.M.NEWS gathered that when Samuel later came back and Adekunle demanded for her money, he attacked and started beating her.

He forcefully dragged her out and locked his house and went away.

During the incident, Adekunle sustained serious injury on her body which is being treated.

Used and humiliated, Adekunle went to the police at Ijeshatedo division and reported what happened.

The police arrested Samuel and took him to the station for interrogation.

At the station, he confessed that Adekunle was his girlfriend and that he actually invited her and promised to give her some money but had no money to give her at present.

Samuel promised to give her the money whenever he gets some.

P.M.NEWS gathered that Adekunle is not a sex worker but only requested for money from Samuel to solve her financial challenges.

He was charged with assault under the Criminal Code.
When Samuel was arraigned, he pleaded not guilty.

The presiding Magistrate, Mrs A. K. Shonubi granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.

Samuel was remanded in prison custody at kirikiri pending when he will perfect his bail.
The matter was adjourned till 20 April, 2016.

A 45-year-old driver has been arrested by the police for allegedly abducting a 23-year-old woman in Dutse, Abuja.

The suspect, a father of five, identified only as Charles, was said to have impregnated the woman before taking her away to Lagos.

City News reliably gathered that the woman, identified as Josephine, was employed by the suspect as a house help to his wife and that she had spent only weeks with the family when signs of the pregnancy showed.

The source said as soon as the suspect noticed the pregnancy, he arranged with his sister staying in Lagos to take her to her house. This was done without the consent of the woman’s parents. It was also in order to hide the act from his wife.

According to the source, the suspect had to deceive the pregnant house-help into believing that he had to relocate her to Lagos, alleging that his wife was getting worried that he would marry her (Josephine).

The source further said the suspect relocated to another town in Bwari, a move that made it difficult for the victim’s relations to know her whereabouts.

City News learnt however that luck ran out on the suspect when he was seen by one of the relation’s of the victim at a garden where he went to relax.

“The woman quickly raised alarm which attracted other passersby who apprehended and rough handled him before he was eventually arrested by the police,” the source added.

Confirming the incident, the Dutsen Alhaji Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Aisha Yusuf, said the house help had since been recovered from the suspect and reunited with her family, adding that the suspect would soon be charged to court.

Adejoke, the petitioner, also told the court that her husband, Musiliu Omotosho, was in the habit of bringing his lovers to their one-room apartment.

https://www.punchng.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ICPC-Chairman-Mr.-Ekpo-Nta.jpgICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has begun a probe into the activities of directors and senior officials of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.

It was learnt that the ICPC had frozen the accounts of some of the officials while some vehicles had been seized from them.

SURE-P was set up by the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan in February 2012 after nationwide protests followed the hike in the prices of petroleum products.

The programme was scrapped by President Muhammadu Buhari in November last year.
The SURE-P was mandated to convert saved fuel subsidy money to jobs, roads and other people-oriented programmes but became political during the build-up to the 2015 elections.

A source in the ICPC told our correspondent on Wednesday that the probe started after the commission received information that huge funds were embezzled by the officials.

The source added, “We have frozen the bank accounts of some of the officials while we have started seizing some vehicles from them. Our plan is to seize about 200. Presently, we have seized about 30.”

Our correspondent, who visited the ICPC on Wednesday, counted about 34 vehicles parked on the premises of the commission.
Some of the vehicles included Sport Utility Vehicles, Hilux vans, salon cars and ambulances.

Our correspondent learnt that the probe was in connection with a N3bn fraud allegedly involving the Federal Ministry of Finance and the SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme.
The money, it was learnt, was meant for the payment of the participants.

It was gathered that the money was meant to pay the allowances of 17,500 participants for eight months, which never got to them.
The SURE-P GIS is a component of the SURE-P domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Nwobiala, is already in court over the Nigeria Immigration recruitment scam, which led to the death of about 20 graduate applicants.

Also, about N4.9bn was said to have been extorted from 51,000 applicants, recruited as Federal Task Force officers for the protection of the SURE-P/Federal Road Maintenance Agency projects during the build-up to the last elections.

The aggrieved employees, in a petition, said they were forced to purchase the FTF forms, which were supposed to be free at the rate N30,000 each despite their impoverished situation, only to be employed, used and abandoned.

The petition reads in part, “We wish to cry out and seek for your urgent help over the fraudulent extortion from us and dehumanisation of our lives under the SURE-P/FERMA employment programme, named Federal Task Force by the above-listed names and other officers (Directors) on the following pretences and tricks.

“We were recruited and employed for the past three years without any training allowances; no salary and other allowances were paid to us.

“We were mandated to pay for the Presidency SURE-P/FERMA Task Force forms.

“We bought the forms with inscription ‘NOT FOR SALE’ boldly written on it at an average amount of N30,000 each.”
Some of the task force commanders have since fled the country.

A former Chairman of SURE-P, Christopher Kolade, had said last year that he resigned his position in 2013 because its operations were becoming tainted with corruption and politics, thereby losing its credibility.

He said some officials of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan were practising “something that was lower than the transparency” expected of an interventionist agency like SURE-P.

He had stated, “When I discovered that there were individuals in the system that were practising something that was lower than the transparency that we went in with, I raised the issues; and I discovered that political affiliations and things made this difficult.”

The former SURE-P boss cited an instance when the agency decided to employ 5,000 youths from every state of the federation.
According to him, when it commenced, he informed the Presidency that the arrangement it adopted was not acceptable but he was overruled.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the ICPC, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, said she could not comment on the matter.

A retired Naval Officer, Durojaye Rodoye , on Wednesday told an Igando Customary Court in Lagos State that his wife, Adenike, once prepared a custard meal for him which turned black.

Durojaye said that the incident confirmed his fears that his wife had been poisoning his meals previously.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petitioner is seeking divorce in a case which was first mentioned in 2015.

Durojaye whose union with Adenike is blessed with two boys and two girls; whose ages range from 15 years to 20 years, is asking the court to dissolve the marriage.

"I told my darling wife to prepare a meal of custard for me. Everybody knows that custard is always yellow in colour after preparation, but her own turned black. When I asked her why, she said it was the kettle she used in boiling water.

"Prior to this, whenever I ate her meals, my legs would be swollen, I didn't understand why until the custard issue came up.

"I reiterated to her again that I loved her already and there was no point for her hypnotising me ,’’ he said.

The petitioner also alleged that his wife had turned their children against him.

"At some point, I had to vacate the house I built myself for her and the children. But then, I realised that our children’s manners and attitudes toward me were going from bad to worse.

"I sleep in fear; I position machetes in strategic locations in my room. I have to be locking my door, because my wife has poisoned my children against me.

"If I tell my children to read ahead of their examinations, they will tell me that they will get "expo’’ and their mother has always been supporting them.

"I have children from my other wives and I give them education which is the only legacy I owe them,’’ Durojaye said.

He said that several efforts had been made by his family to reconcile them, "but she is unrepentant, there is no 'buka' (local food joint) where I am not known.

"I want this honourable court to please dissolve our union, so she can pack out of my house ,’’ the complaint said.
The respondent, Adenike, failed to appear in court on two sittings.

The Court President, Adegboyega Omilola, ordered the court bailiff to serve the respondent another notice for appearance.
The case was adjourned to March 22 for hearing.

The incident which occurred three minutes after the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff arrived the governor’s office was said to have caused by power surge, thereby destroying some government’s property.

A former top executive in one of the power firms explained to our correspondent that a distribution company could decide to reject load due to low revenue generation from a segment of its customer base.

The General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees, Mr. Joe Ajaero, had claimed in a statement on Monday that the real saboteurs of the power sector were those who refused allocations from the national grid for onward distribution to consumers.

’Femi Asu

The rejection of load allocations from power generating plants by some electricity distribution companies is one of the factors preventing the country from fully benefitting from the 6,500 megawatts generation capacity of the existing power plants.

Our correspondent gathered that some power plant units were being shut due to high frequency occasioned by the inability of the distribution companies to pick their load allocations.

For instance, the nation lost about 2,821.5MW of electricity generation on Monday partly due to the rejection of loads by the Discos, it was exclusively gathered from top industry sources.

The nation’s electricity generation as of 6.00am on Monday stood at 3,548.7MW, while the combined generation capacity of the power plants was put at 6,370.2MW.
Some of the plants affected by the load rejection or low load demand were Shiroro, Jebba, Egbin, Okpai and Afam VI.
Others are plants under the National Integrated Power Project, including Alaoji, Odukpani and Ihovbor.

Shiroro and Jebba saw their generation levels reduce to 200MW and 260MW, compared to capacities of 300MW and 341MW, respectively. Odukpani generated 60.1MW instead of its capacity of 360MW; Egbin, 820MW (880MW); Alaoji, 51.5MW (117MW); Ihovbor, 78.4Mw (109MW); Okpai, 282MW (366MW); and Afam VI, 378MW (555MW).

The General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees, Mr. Joe Ajaero, had claimed in a statement on Monday that the real saboteurs of the power sector were those who refused allocations from the national grid for onward distribution to consumers.

A former top executive in one of the power firms explained to our correspondent that a distribution company could decide to reject load due to low revenue generation from a segment of its customer base.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Oladele Amoda, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that load rejection could be as a result of capacity issues between the transmission and distribution networks.

He said, “In some cases, there is no enough transmission equipment capacity to wheel power to the Discos. Sometimes, the Discos also do have issues; that is when there is powerful wind, which, sometimes, leads to tripping of the breaker. But it doesn’t take time before that is restored.
“Everybody knows that the weakest link in the power value chain is transmission. So, the blame cannot be put solely on the Discos.”

According to Amoda, the nation’s transmission network cannot wheel more than 6,000MW, while the distribution networks nationwide can take more than 10,000MW.

“At Eko Disco, we are not rejecting load. We are not even getting up to our allocated percentage because of constraints on the transmission equipment,” he said, adding that the company had spent more than N11bn on network rehabilitation and reinforcement, among others.
Amoda said the government was working on improving the transmission capacity, noting that the Transmission Company of Nigeria had been starved of funds for a very long time.

“The government is looking into how to quickly strengthen it financially and with all the provisions that it will require to quickly ramp up its capacity,” he stated.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Mr. Rumundaka Wonodi, said, “When the Discos reject load allocation, the question is why are they rejecting it? It could be that their system is weak, which is why we keep talking about the need for investment.
“When this (load rejection) happens, it has an effect all through the value chain because generation companies cannot generate power and maybe they have ‘take or pay’ obligation on their gas supply; so, they have to pay for gas that they did not utilise at that time.”

The Chairman, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina, said the talk that the Discos were rejecting allocation was an indication that there was a major problem far more significant than frequency and pressure of gas.

“There is no justification for somebody to reject power. You need power to make money. You need money to be able to pay your loan, to be able to continue to service the system. So, nobody will naturally want to do that,” he said.

The spokesperson for the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Muhammed Kandi, said, “In Kano Disco, we do not drop load. In fact, we don’t get enough allocation; so why should we even drop load in the first place?”
He explained that the company only received about 260MW on Tuesday morning, compared to a maximum energy demand of 600MW.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr. Anthony Akah, said, “Clearly, the issue of load rejection has been addressed by the commission. Under the new regime, that is the Transitional Electricity Market, the distribution companies can no longer reject load that is within the allocation level that they are supposed to get.

“If it is due to the constraint of the distribution companies, they will be penalised for that. If it is the transmission company, it will also have to be penalised. That essentially has been taken care of, unless there are other reasons behind why it happened.”

The Chief Executive Officer, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Mr. Azu Obiaya, said, “It is irrational that anyone of these Discos will reject load right now because they desperately need the power to, first of all, meet their revenue requirements as well as distribute to their customers.”

lalasticlala

Despite the embargo placed by the Federal Government on recruitment into the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the agency may have commenced a secret exercise to recruit hundreds of applicants allegedly sponsored by politicians.

The embargo followed the failed 2014 recruitment exercise during which about 20 applicants died due to suffocation and stampede caused by flawed crowd control mechanism across many centres in the country. The national uproar generated by the incident is part of the reason the then Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, is facing criminal allegations for which he has been remanded in prison.

The former minister is essentially standing trial in a case instituted by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on allegations of defrauding 676,675 applicants the sum of N676,675,000 being the summation of the N1000 paid by each applicant that participated in the recruitment exercise.

Since the unfortunate incident and following government directive, neither the NIS nor the Interior Ministry has announced any fresh recruitment exercise, thereby raising suspicion about the on-going exercise at the Immigration Training School in Kano.

About 500 applicants suspected to have been recruited secretly by Nigeria Immigration Service for cadet cadre are currently undergoing training at the NIS school in Kano, The Guardian learnt.
It was gathered that the recruited cadets started training at the Immigration school on March 7, 2016 after their deployment from the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

Observation at the NIS training school in Kano shows men and women of between 30 and 35 age bracket undergoing regimental exercise. The cadet’s population may have overstretched the capacity of the training school’s hostels as some of the classrooms were converted to temporary hostels to solve the problem of accommodation.

A source at the training school told The Guardian that the secretly shortlisted applicants were products of strong political interest in the country. “Honestly, this particular recruitment is strange to us here because we just received the applicants from Abuja for training, nobody is aware how and when the applicants applied for the job. Ordinarily, recruitment exercise in the immigration service and even in all Federal Government agencies are made public. You will see vacancy in the dailies to enable every interested person to apply, but this particular exercise is unique,” the source said.

One of the cadets at the training school, who hails from South West region, confirmed that his being shortlisted was facilitated by a member representing his constituency in the House of Representatives. He said: “ I was shortlisted by the special grace of God, and the support of our honorable in Abuja for this opportunity. We were told to report to Kano training school on March 7 for the exercise before they will later post us to various states. That was what they told us.”

The Guardian learnt that the training exercise would last three months for those with National Diploma while applicants with Higher National Diploma as well as those with degrees would remain for the regimental exercise for six months.

Contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the school, a Chief Superintendent of Immigration, Mrs. Amina Nqua Habiba Aliyu, denied knowledge of any fresh recruitment into the service. She maintained that the school is only mandated to receive applicants for training but would not be responsible for explanation on the category of their recruitment exercise.

Amina, who said she was only aware of the Federal Government’s approved recruitment of 5,000 fresh cadets into the system, however, noted that the directive had not been executed.

On whether those who are presently undergoing training were recruited secretly or on special consideration, the spokesperson declined further comments, referring the reporter to the Immigration headquarters for more clarifications.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arraigned the former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr Femi Thomas, for allegedly carrying out a cash transaction to the tune of $2.2 million without the involvement of any formal financial institution.

He was arraigned alongside one Kabiru Sidi, a Bureau de Change operator, before Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The anti- graft agency which presented a four-count charge against Thomas and Sidi, alleged that the former NHIS boss conspired with his wife at their House 20, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, to make a cash payment of $2.2 million to one Mr. Ibitoye John Bamidele
According to the EFCC, Sidi lied to an operative of the commission, Afeez Mustapha, that he was the owner of the money.

The prosecutor, Mr. A.B.C. Ozioko, told the court that the offences allegedly committed by the defendants contravened sections 18(2)(b), 1(a) and 39(2)(b) of the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004.

According to him, the defendants were liable to be punished under sections 16(2) and 39(2)(c) of the same Act.
The two men however pleaded not guilty to the charge and the prosecutor urged the court to remand them in prison and asked for a trial date.

But counsel to Thomas, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN) told the court about the former NHIS boss’ application for bail on self recognition and prayed that the court grant bail to the second defendant.

The presiding judge then granted Thomas bail in the sum of N25 million with two sureties in like sum while Sidi was granted bail in the sum of N10 million with two sureties in like sum.

The judge, however, remanded the two defendants in prison custody till they meet the bail conditions.

They were also ordered to submit their international passports with the court registrar. The case was adjourned till May 12, 2016.

One of two girls allegedly gang raped by six boys in Ezebe village Umubo community, Onicha Igboeze in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has reportedly died from injuries she suffered in the incident.

Already, four of the suspects have been remanded at the federal prison, Abakaliki; while the other two were granted bail at the behest of one Chief Ogbonnaya Okereke.
However, the community, in anger, took the corpse of the deceased to Okereke for arranging bail for the suspects.

Confirming the incident Sunday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP George Okafor, said: “There was a case reported involving six boys, who allegedly gang raped two girls in Igboeze Onicha. The boys were eventually rounded up by the police and charged to court early this month of which two were granted bail while four others are awaiting trial.

“We also got information that one of the raped girls died while receiving treatment.”

Afeez Hanafi

An official of the Lagos State University, Samuel Ambe, has been arrested by the police for allegedly killing his lover, Mata Jidonu.

Thirty-two-year-old Mata was married to a lawyer, Sunday Jidonu, for whom she had three children.
It was learnt that the suspect worked at the Department of Works and Physical Planning of the university.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Mata, who lived in the Agric area of Ikogazebba, Badagry, had left home around 3pm on February 15, saying she was going to buy foodstuffs in the market, but reportedly headed for the lover’s house, a few kilometres away.
Her husband, Sunday, who had returned from the court earlier that day as a result of illness, became apprehensive when she did not return on time.

He said, “I came back from the court that day around 2pm because I was ill. On getting home, I found out that my wife was dressed up, ready to go out. I told her to prepare coffee for me because that it is what I normally take in the afternoon. She said I had been taking too much coffee and advised me to eat eba that was already prepared.

“She put the stew on fire while she went to pick our last child, Laura, from the school. I told her to help me buy drugs along the road. The same motorcyclist that took her to and from the school waited for her outside and took her again supposedly to the market to buy beans.

“I slept after taking the drugs. Laura woke me up around 5pm and I asked his brother where their mother was. I called her number but it did not go through. I called her mother, our church and the centre, where she was doing a post-literacy study; they all said she was not with them.”

Sunday said he became more worried when it was 9pm and Mata did not come home. He added that he could not sleep conveniently till the following day when he reported at the Badagry Police Division.

“I was at the station, when the head of the vigilante group in our community called me on the telephone that my wife had been found dead in a bush path. When I got to the scene, a crowd had gathered and policemen from Ado-Odo Ota, Ogun State, had arrived to pick her corpse. She was strangled and stabbed in the leg. Her private parts’ hairs had been shaved off,” he added.

The lawyer told our correspondent that the nature of Mata’s death prompted him to talk to people living around the area, saying that he was told she used to go to the suspect’s home regularly and was there on February 15.

He said he gave the information to the police, leading to Ambe’s arrest.
He said, “I was told that my wife had been sighted with Ambe on several occasions at his second house and that she entered the building on the day the incident happened. He is a non-teaching staff member at LASU. His family members do not live with him in that house. I reported to the police and eight days later, he was arrested.

“As we were going to the station in a police van, he called somebody on the telephone, telling the person in Egun language that the fat woman had been traced to his house. He did not know that I understand the language.”

PUNCH Metro learnt that Ambe’s phones were consequently seized and upon dialing the deceased’s number on one of the phones, it showed ‘D@M’ as the identity of the caller.

“The call logs we got from the MTN office revealed that he had been calling my wife every day since February 1. It was discovered that he had called her twice on February 15, the day she did not come back home,” he added.

It was learnt that the police recovered some charms from the suspect’s house, while bloodstains were found on the wall of the building
Sunday said, “He (Ambe) begged me to forgive him. He said he was not the one who killed my wife and that he was only dating her.

“But there are enough indications for me to believe that he is behind the death of my wife. Since then, some elders in the community have been threatening me to let go of the matter. I have also been noticing strange movements around my house.”

Confirming the incident via a text message, the Ogun State Police spokesperson, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command had enough evidence to prosecute the suspect, adding that he would be charged to court.
He said, “The suspect is with us. We have credible evidence to prosecute the suspect and he will soon appear in court.”

The Acting Head, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations of LASU, Mr. Adekoya Martin, said the institution had not been officially informed about the incident.
He said, “I have contacted the chief security officer that was supposed to brief the management about the case, and he said the incident had not been officially reported.

I will get back to you as soon as we are officially informed.”

Nigeria's legal authorities have denied claims that federal prosecutor Rotimi Jacobs has been dropped as the lead prosecutor in the corruption trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Rebutting the story, which was contained in Authority newspaper, are Attorney General Abubakar Malami and the Director Of Public Prosecutions, Sa'idu Diri.
The Attorney General, who is currently in the United Kingdom, told SaharaReporters in a text message he was unaware of such move.

Asked if anyone could have done it in his absence and he mentioned that the Solicitor General, Taiwo Abidogun who he said acts on his behalf while traveling as “Minister of Justice” could take decisions in his absence. SaharaReporters tried Mr. Abidogun’s number severally but his telephone was shut down.

When we reached Mr. Diri, he dismissed the story as completely false.

SaharaReporters had blown the lid on recent maneuvers by Mr. Saraki to frustrate his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, including collusion between his legal team and Ministry of Justice officials led by Abidogun, to hide a motion filed to challenge the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to try him for false declaration of assets.

One source told SaharaReporters that the news report was being sponsored by Saraki’s lawyers as a way of preparing the public for the removal of Mr. Jacobs from the case.

“A plot was hatched between one of Saraki’s lawyers, Prince Ajibola Oluyede and Patrick Ifeanyi Uba, the oil trader who once worked with failed ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s election campaign.

Ifeanyi Ubah owns Authority newspaper and Oluyede was the lawyer who bought him a permanent injunction stopping the EFCC from arresting Uba for oil subsidy fraud,” our source stated.

Saraki had hired a former Attorney General of Nigeria, Kanu Agabi, to become his lead lawyer because Mr. Agabi claimed his presence as the lead counsel would help tame the lead judge, Danladi Umar and prosecutor, Mr. Jacobs. Both men had served Mr. Agabi in different capacity in the past.

Prior to Saraki’s hiring of Agabi, his agents had threatened Mr. Jacob’s aged mother forcing the prosecutor to move his mother from their hometown in Kwara state.

The Senate President and his lawyer became worried last week Friday when Mr. Jacobs came out swinging, telling the tribunal to dismiss a lame motion challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

Saraki is doing everything he can to get Jacobs off the case as a new prosecutor means that the case would suffer more adjournments that would enable him to shop for more pliable judges to throw away the case. Mr. Saraki’s legal team are also hopeful that a federal high court judge, Abdul Kafarati, will give a favorable ruling on March 22nd in a case of fundamental rights enforcement where Saraki sought an order from the court to have the tribunal and its lead judge disqualified from trying him.

SaharaReporters has learnt that Saraki is putting several new plots in place to prevent his trial on Friday, including shopping for a medical reason to pre-empt the trial.

lalasticlala

The month of February did not end well for the trio of Ayobami Akintunde (50), Niniola Abiola (48) and Monsurat Kareem (40), as they were almost lynched by an irate mob at Sango area of Ibadan, Oyo State, over suspected kidnapping. They were, however, saved by policemen from Sango Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, one SP Joyce, who was joined by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Oyo State Police Command.

Saturday Tribune’s findings, which were confirmed by the state Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, during a press briefing on Monday, March 7, however revealed that the suspects were conmen who belonged to a syndicate popularly called Gbajue or 419, who fraudulently obtained money from unsuspecting victims by playing on their psychology.

According to the police commissioner, the four-member syndicate operated in a Honda Saloon car with registration number BDJ 913 DB. One of them, Abiola, accosted a 28-year-old woman, Mrs Amina Gafar at Sango area on the fateful day, asking for direction to a non-existing area. From that point, other suspects, who pretended to be passersby, joined, while Abiola started making revelations about each of them.

Swallowing the bait, albeit reluctantly, Mrs Gafar, who had a polythene bag containing N5,000, dropped it so that she could walk a distance to pick a stone without looking back, as instructed by Abiola. Gafar, however, went against the instruction at a point, only to discover, to her consternation that the ‘prophetess’ and the two ‘passersby’ had boarded a car, about to move away with her money.

She raised the alarm and people who came from different directions descended on three of the members while one of them escaped. Not only were they pummeled, the Honda car they operated in was vandalised and turned into scrap metal by the mob which insisted on setting them on fire.

One of the suspects, Abiola, had her right eye pierced with an object, making it drip blood. The three suspects still bore the wounds and bruises that resulted from the mob action as of the time of filing this report.

Narrating her experience, Gafar, a mother of six, said: “That day, I came to Sango area from Olomi area where I lived. On my way back home, I decided to go to Oritamerin market to buy soya beans that I was using to make cheese for sale. As I stood waiting for a commercial bus, a woman (whom I later knew to be Kareem) asked me for direction to a place but I replied that I was not familiar with the area.

“She approached another woman and she also gave the same reply as I did, unknown to me that they belonged to the same syndicate. The next thing she said was that I should pray very well so that I would not cry over my first child. I thanked her and made to go but she called me again and said I should buy three edible things like sugar cane, orange and aadun (a corn delicacy in Yorubaland) as alms so that I would not die before seven days. I became afraid.

“She also spoke to the other woman and told her that she had twins, one of whom was dead. The woman confirmed the statement. She then asked the woman to pray for twins for me. Inwardly, I wondered what I needed twins for. She asked the woman to drop all the things she was holding and moved forward to about three poles without looking back and bring a stone back.

“Kareem asked me to hold her purse for her while she obeyed the instructions given to her. I told her I could not, so that I would not land in trouble in case she claimed anything was missing. But she insisted and pushed the purse into the polythene bag I was carrying, just to win my confidence.

“She went and came back. I was then told to do the same thing. I had a feeling that I should not go. I hesitantly moved a few steps and stopped. The woman came to me and said it was as if I didn’t believe her. She asked me to spit into my palm and I did. To my surprise, the saliva appeared at the back of my hand.

“A man also appeared and the woman told him to go and release the two people he put in cell. The man introduced himself as a policeman and said that the people he locked up were thieves. He then advised me that I should not doubt what I was told.

“His status gave me confidence and I moved forward to pick a stone as I was instructed. I was told not to look back but a spirit asked me to look back and I did. I saw that the two women were already in the car with a man. The other man who called himself a policeman was standing, and as I started shouting thief, thief, he ran away.

“The suspects quickly threw my polythene bag at me. The crowd stopped me from leaving the scene so that I could narrate my experience to the police.”

The woman vowed never to respond to any request from any stranger, saying that she learnt a hard lesson through her experience.

One of the suspects, Abiola, an Ibadan indigene, who confirmed the victim’s narration, confessed to Saturday Tribune thus: “Yes it is true we collected a woman’s money, but immediately she raised the alarm, we threw her money back at her. But the mob descended on us and beat us silly until we were rescued by the police. I just started the fraud business about a month ago. It was one Sunday who escaped arrest that introduced the idea to me. The government should forgive me; I will never be involved in such a thing again.

Another suspect, Monsurat Kareem (40), who came from Lagos State to join other members of the syndicate, said she was also invited by Sunday. “I knew Sunday in Lagos. I was greatly indebted as a result of money I borrowed from a microfinance bank. I invested in business but it collapsed. When I explained to him, he said I should come and join a group. That was how I got involved,” she explained.

Monsurat also disclosed that she had once been arrested over a similar case and spent three months in remand at Agodi prisons before she was released. “Please, help me appeal to the government not to take me to the prison because it would be like a death sentence.

“This is my second outing and I have never gained from this crime; I have always been at the receiving end. I believe that the beating I went through was God showing Himself to me that He was not happy at the path I have toed, which is a path of destruction.”

The third suspect, Ayobami Akintunde (50), an Ikire indigene who resides in Abeokuta, also claimed that he decided to be a fraudster because he could not pay his children’s school fees. “I use my private car for commercial purpose but it was not yielding much money for me. My role was to convey the syndicate members with my car.

I just thank God for the timely arrival of the police. If not, I would have been a dead man now. It is now that I know that police is our friend.”

Oyebade however said that the suspects would be charged to court after the conclusion of investigations.

Ikechukwu Anigbo, a barber who was said to have been mistaken for a robber, is the latest victim of mob attack in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He was beaten, killed and burnt around a popular relaxation centre in Apo, Abuja.

When Chukwudi Orji bade his friend, Ikechukwu Anigbo, good bye as he left the relaxation centre, he never knew, that was the last time he would be speaking to him.

30 minutes after Ikechukwu left the spot, Orji received news of violence involving some motorcyclists, but he brushed it aside. Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that it was when Orji got home at about 11p.m, that he learnt that his friend, Anigbo was the victim of the violence.

“I saw the fire, but I did not know that someone was inside. There was smoke everywhere; there was no way you would have known that there was someone in the fire, except you were there or somebody told you about it,” he said.

The fair skinned man, who was in his early 30s and from Aku in Enugu State, is a victim of jungle justice, but his friends insist that he was a barber, making an honest living. They maintained that he was killed out of sheer wickedness.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that a quarrel had ensued between Anigbo and the owner of a motorcyclist over N10 “change,” he was supposed to have collect after paying his fare.

None of the motorcyclists, traders, hawkers and guards at the old London Lane, where the incident occurred agreed to speak to our reporter, but it was alleged that during the quarrel, the motorcyclist attracted his colleagues to the scene by shouting “thief”.

The mob that gathered following the alarm collected tyres from a vulcanising workshop near the scene and set the deceased on fire, said Ezema Virginus Chukwudike, the taskforce chairman of Abuja Spare Parts Dealers Association, Apo.

He described the death as one too many, adding that the excesses of motorcyclists in satellite towns within the territory need to be curbed.

Chukwudike, popularly known as Oracle of God, said “when news of the incident spread, people became angry. They wondered why the motorcyclists would burn an innocent man. Even the man who volunteered to carry the corpse after he had been killed, was chased away.”

He said this is not the first time that motorcyclists are killing someone over a paltry sum of money.
“A similar thing happened in Kabusa, when a boy was stabbed because of change. Another man was killed on Wumba road.

The same change issue led to the death of a man in Damagaza. In his case, after he was killed, they kept him near a river until the next day,” he said.
Chukwudike said the last time such an incident occurred in the area, the traders protested and that it took the intervention of riot policemen to bring the situation under control.

He added: “Because the motorcyclists knew what they did, they boycotted this route from Sunday evening until policemen were deployed to the area.”
Azeez Akinola, Anigbo’s boss at the barbershop, corroborated Chukwudike story, saying the attitude of motorcyclists in the area is a cause for concern.

Akinola who lives around the area where the late Anigbo lived, said he and two other people rushed out of their houses when they received news of the incident, but that the motorcyclists at Kabusa junction refused to take them to the scene.

Akinola who had worked with Anigbo for more than four years in a small barbershop at NEPA Junction, Apo, said it took them a longtime to find a motorcycle to convey them.

He said when they arrived the scene, they saw several people with sticks, but that they did not understand the magnitude of what had happened until someone pointed to the corpse of Anigbo in the fire.

“I could not believe it. There were heaps of iron treads from the burnt tyres on his body,” Akinola fought back tears as he shared his experience.
Orji, who was with him at the garden before the incident, said he has not been able to get over the incident.

“If I had known about it on time, I would have tried to save him because he was innocent,” he said.
Jonathan Okwe, who said he also left the relaxation spot at about 11p.m, on the day the incident occurred, said he was shocked to see human legs in a fire by the roadside.

He added that there were several motorcyclists around the scene and that he had to quickly found his way out of the area. “The boy was fair and handsome,” he said.
Akinola on his part continued; “He was very gentle’’. Speaking in Pidgin, he said, “if small wound touch am, he go treat am for more than one week.”

“I.K. can’t ride a bicycle, talk less of motorcycle. Because of fear, he refused to learn driving despite the fact that they were many people around to teach him,” he said.
He said the matter was reported at the Apo Police Station, where he wrote a statement before police officers took the corpse to a mortuary.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the FCT police command, ASP Anjuguri Manzah said, “there was an early morning disagreement between two opposing groups that could have resulted in a clash but it was averted by the timely intervention of anti-riot police personnel.”

Manzah said the FCT Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, warned people of the area to desist from violence at the wake of the disagreement and promptly deployed police officers to the scene.

The commissioner assured residents of the area and other parts of FCT that adequate measures have been deployed to contain the situation, investigate and unravel the remote and underlying issues behind the upheaval.

He reiterated that any attempt to jeopardise the existing peaceful and serene atmosphere in the Federal Capital Territory will not be tolerated.

Though normalcy has returned to the area, the relative peace enjoyed may not last for long if a lasting solution is not proffered.
Chukwudike said government should stop motorcyclists from arming themselves with daggers. “Why should government allow them to move around with daggers unchallenged?” he asked.

There are several versions of the incident, while some insist that the late Anigbo did not commit any crime, some alleged that he attempted to snatch the motorcycle he rode to the junction but was overpowered by the motorcyclists. However, it is hoped that the police through their investigation will be able to give a clearer picture of what actually transpired.

Kenneth Nweke from Effium community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State is currently battling for survival at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (FETHA) after being raped by a 26-year-old man, Lawrence Anyigor through the anus.

Anyigor, a native of Benue State but who resides in the neighbouring Effium Community in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state where he committed the crime, was said to have invaded the house of the victim at about 1:30 am and raped him through the anus.

The victim bleed profusely after the act and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
Confirming the incident Sunday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP George Okafor, said: “On March 1, 2016, there was a report from Effium Police Station that one Kenneth Nweke reported that at about 1:30am, one Anyigor Lawrence of about 26 years from neighbouring Benue State but who resides in Effium community, Ebonyi State unlawfully had anal knowledge of him through the anus without his consent.”

One of the three deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria is currently on suspension for being involved in ‘a sophisticated plot’ to defraud the bank a huge sum of money, findings by our correspondent have revealed.

Top officials of the CBN close to the development told our correspondent that two directors of the bank were also suspended over the multi-million naira scam.

The officials, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said their suspension was ordered by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, after preliminary findings revealed that they might be culpable.

The CBN had on Thursday night said it had uncovered what it described as a highly sophisticated plot to defraud the bank by some people.

The bank said in a statement by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okoroafor, that while preliminary investigations had not revealed any accomplices within the bank, some personnel within the CBN had been placed on suspension.

The nature of the fraud was not specified in the statement.
It, however, said the need to place the officials on suspension was to allow for proper investigations by the relevant authorities.

The statement read, “A highly sophisticated plot to defraud the CBN by some criminally minded elements has been uncovered and aborted by the bank.

“Although preliminary investigations so far have not revealed any accomplices within the CBN, the management has decided to place all key personnel involved in the transaction on suspension.

“This is to ensure a full and unfettered investigation. This incidence has been reported to the relevant authorities.”

The CBN in the statement assured stakeholders in the banking sector that the security within the central bank remains intact and had not been breached.
Experts said the CBN as a regulator was being saddled with responsibilities that were related to that of commercial banking and, as such, made its system prone to corruption.

Economic and financial services expert , Mr. David Adonri, who is also Chief Executive Officer of Highcap Securities, said, “The CBN is a banker to the Federal Government; it is also in charge of the foreign exchange market; it is also in charge of regulating the banks.

“In some countries, those functions are separated. The CBN is allocating forex to banks. There have been lots of cries that some are favourerd while others are not favoured. This is something that can breed corruption. There are two ways to allocate scarce resources, namely administration and market. That of administration is not always effective in allocating scarce resources. It is only the market that can do a good job.”

He also said, “With the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, the CBN is now more of a banker than a regulator. That is another thing that can breed corruption.

The CBN is being saddled with more responsibilities that have to do with banking rather than being a regulator.
“The attempted fraud allegation is very disappointing, discouraging and is not expected to be coming from the regulator. This is what happens when the regulator also plays the role of a player.”

A top ex-banker and Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Assets Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, commended the CBN for having what he described as a robust internal control system to intercept the fraud.

He said, ‘The fraud attempt was unsuccessful, so it is a plus and indicates that the CBN has a robust internal control process. It shows the level of desperation of people to make money. This kind of thing usually happens in the financial services sector but the key thing is to ensure there is robust system to intercept it.”
The CBN spokersperson, Okoroafor, refused to disclosed the names of the suspended officials.

He said, “I am in a meeting in Calabar. Investigations are ongoing. Some key personnel of the bank have been placed on suspension not because they are the perpetrators. We need to have a full and unfettered investigation. Please note that the perpetrators are from outside. Two of them have been arrested and no accomplice has been found within the CBN so far.

A 10-year-old girl, Fatima Abdulrashid, currently receiving treatment at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Shika, Zaria, said her stepmother used molten polythene to torture her.

Fatima said after the demise of her mother, her father took her with her sister, to Gombe from Zaria to live with their step-mother.

“My father forced our grandmother to release us to him. For the fact that my father does his business in Lagos, our stepmother seized that opportunity to torture us. She started by denying us food. After that, she would to lock us in a room that is close to the toilet for days. As if that is not enough, she would burn polythene and hold it over our bodies so it drops,” Fatima said, and pointing to the wound on her lips, added that her stepmother used a knife to cut her.

“When our father returned from his trip to Lagos and saw our condition, he started crying and took us to hospital in Gombe for treatment. At the hospital, pressure from doctors and some human rights activists made the reunion with our grandparents possible and this is why I am here (Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital) receiving treatment. I was even lucky to have survived, as my younger sister, Narjis, died due to torture,” she explained.

Before little Fatima was taken to Gombe, she was living with her maternal grandparents in Zaria along with her two siblings. Hajiya Babuwa Mahmud, her grandmother, told Daily Trust that Fatima and her sister only spent three months with their stepmother in Gombe. She said it was within those three months that the two girls were allegedly tortured, which led to the death of their sister, Narjis.

Hajiya Babuwa appealed to the relevant authorities to come to their aid and ensure that justice is done.

“I live inside the ancient walls of Zaria in Alhaji Yahaya Na Malam Mai Aljanna’s house. The condition we found this girl in was very pathetic. We came to know their predicament when some good Samaritans called us and we went to Gombe and before our arrival some human rights activists had already intervened.”

“No human being in his right senses would have treated these little girls the way that woman did. The woman that maltreated these girls is still in Gombe. We are calling on the relevant authorities to ensure that justice is done,” Hajiya Babuwa said.

When contacted, the Chief Medical Director of ABUTH, Professor Lawal Khalid, said the girl is responding to treatment.

But for God's intervention, two armed robbery suspects said to be notorious criminals in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and its environs, would have been lynched to death by an angry mob that descended on them after they robbed a boutique owner in city.

The suspects were said to have robbed the woman who owns the boutique in the Trans-Amidic area of Port Harcourt, and while trying to make their escape on their motorcycle, the woman raised an alarm which attracted members of the public who chased and caught them.

One of the Port Harcourt robbers getting his share of the jungle justice

They were given the beating of their lives and this is how an eyewitness captured the scene:
"I was on my way to Wema Bank on Trans Amadi Road, Port Harcourt, around 11am today. Suddenly, I spotted a crowd gathered in front of a shop close to Mothercat bus stop.

In their midst were two guys on the ground who appeared pummelled. I gathered that they were thieves that just robbed a female boutique owner in her shop along the same Trans Amadi Road.

They escaped with their loot (in the plastic bag beside the thief lying on the ground), with their bike but were caught by some mobile police men. One man amongst the crowd identified one of the thieves (the one sitting on the ground) as a notorious criminal who operates around Rumuokoro axis.

On interrogation, they said they were poor and jobless."

lalasticlala

A Lugbe Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday dissolved 10 months marriage between Usman Aisha and her husband, Ibrahim after the wife complained of being starved of sex.

In his judgment, the judge, Mr Garba Ogbede, said that the marriage had broken down irretrievably and efforts to reconcile them proved abortive.

“Since both parties consented to the dissolution of their marriage, this court has no choice than to dissolve the marriage.

“The couple can no longer stay together because the marriage has broken down totally; both parties are no longer husband and wife, they are free to go their separate ways.

“Both parties are to keep the peace all the time; any violation of the order should be reported to the police for redress,” Ogbede held.

Aisha of Aco Estate, Airport Road, Abuja, had approached the court for dissolution of the marriage because Ibrahim refused to satisfy her during love making.

She said that she spend one month with Ibrahim after their marriage and he always arose her but refused to satisfy her when making love to her.

“ I pleaded so bitterly to him to satisfy me but he refused to change,’’ she said.
Aisha said that whenever she called him so that they could sit and discuss the issue, he would threaten to beat her.

She said that she had reported the matter to both parents but nothing changed.
“I intentionally left our house for months after he refused to change but he never care to look for me.

“Though when I was with him for one month, he feeds me well, but when it comes to sex matters it will turn to fight. I am a woman and I have feelings for him.

“He has failed in his matrimonial obligations, I am totally fed up, please sir, separate us. I am no more interested in the marriage,’’ Aisha added.

She begged the court to dissolve the marriage because she did not want to offend God and to enable her move on with her life.

Ibrahim denied all the allegations but conceded to the dissolution of the marriage because he was also fed up with the union.
“I take good care of her and provide all she wants. Please my Lord, do as she wishes, I have tried my best to settle with her but all my effort prove abortive. I am also fed up,’’ he said. (NAN)

lalasticlala

Three heartless men have been arrested after they held a young lady captive and gang-raped her severally in the presence of her helpless boyfriend, Daily Trust reports.

The incident happened when the 22-year-old lady, identified as Faith, visited her boyfriend in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, from her base in neighbouring Nasarawa State.

It was gathered that the suspects who live in the same neighbourhood of Jabu village of Dutsen Baupma, Bwari Area Council of the FCT, barged into the man's room, wielding dangerous weapons like machetes and cutlasses and held him captive while they took turns in raping the girl.

The report reveals that the woman had not spent up to an hour with her boyfriend when one of the suspects, said to be a friend of her boyfriend and who knew of her visit, asked his two other accomplices to accompany him to the friend’s house.

After the act, the three men ran away and the lady's boyfriend went to the police to report the case and the suspects were later arrested. They allegedly admitted to the crime during police interrogation.

The Dutsen Alhaji Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Aisha Yusuf, confirmed the incident, saying the case had been transferred to the State CID.