₦airaland Forum

By Joseph Erunke

ABUJA — House of Representatives member, Hon. Beni Lar has said the unimpressive performances of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC government in the country has placed its opposition counterpart, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP on a vantage position to bounce back in the 2019 poll.
This was even as she decried the continued defection of her party members to the ruling party, saying it was necessary for party men to remain loyal to the principles and ideologies of their parties, no matter the challenges being faced.
She, however, opined that such should be expected, in a situation where a particular party stayed firmed in office for a period of 16 years, insisting that it was not unusual.

Speaking to newsmen, Wednesday, in Abuja, during the annual traditional Christmas Ball & Carol, organised by the The Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David, Lar insisted that APC has not performed as expected, saying the development had had improved the rating of the 16 years of PDP-led administration high.

Lar said it was only through politicians’ commitment and loyalty to their parties that the country’s democracy can grow even as she admitted that the PDP was at the moment passing through some challenges.

“The party is definitely going through some challenges. But every party has a time when after it grows so big, it is bound to fall and rise up again.
“If you look at America, the Republicans stayed in power for eight years and then, the Democrats take it for another eight years and it resolves like that.
“So, there is nothing wrong or unusual about what is happening, it’s just that PDP stayed in power for 16 good years which is a good achievement. I think we should be proud of ourselves that we were able to stay that long. However, we will bounce back, there is no fear about that”, she stressed.
On whether she would defect to the APC, Lar said: “I rule it out completely. I am not joining any other party apart from the PDP. We are the founding fathers of PDP and so, we will stay there and make it work.”

She disclosed that due to poor students’ enrolment in science courses, the House of Representatives had mandated the ministries of education and science and technology to urgently develop a new curriculum to check the unimpressive enrolment of students in the field.

The lawmakers said they were deeply concerned that more people were graduating in Humanities and the Arts than the Sciences, adding that the trend must be reversed through development of a new curricular.

Lar said: “We have already discussed with the Ministry of Science and Technology on the need to encourage enrollment in sciences. The ministry would sit down with the Ministry of Education to propose a new curricular to encourage children from when they are very young to take an interest in Mathematics and Sciences, so that when they grow up, they can improve on research and development in the science field.

“This is because research and development is the key to any innovation and success in any country. We don’t have a strong research and development base in this country and we need to have that. Hopefully, we will strengthen that.”

According to her, Nigerian universities were not functioning in line which the aim for which they were established because they were not placing emphasis on research and development.

She suggested that Nigerian universities should strive to be like research institutes, where science and technology should be developed at that stage while breakthrough should also be done through these universities.

Lar said, “The global trend in the world now is the emergence of new trends in science and technology. Many countries, especially in Asia which are not endowed with any natural resource, are doing well technologically. Nigeria of course, has an abundance of natural resources-oil and gas, agriculture, good weather, climatic conditions and the rest.

“In Asia, they don’t have these but they use purely science and technology, research and development to transform the entire economy of the countries. We have seen that innovation is the way of the 21st century and because of the innovation, we have seen that for instance, Taiwan is the biggest manufacturer of computer chips in the world.
“The only way for this country to trully move forward is to embrace the emerging trend in science and technology. Nigeria is yet to appreciate this fully. I must say that in communication, we have done well; in banking, we have also done quite well. But we need to do more in agriculture, so we can be self sustaining.

“Nigeria has mass abundance of land, mass abundance of human resources of animals, poultry and crops. We have favourable climatic conditions, but we don’t produce enough food to feed this nation and 80 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line, that is unacceptable.”

Lar added: “So, we are collaborating with the various agencies, we have been having interractive sessions with stakeholders. In fact, we will finish next year, when each agency has shown us their capacity.

“We have even seen the capacity to build weapon here. So many agencies have capacity to even produce nuclear power here, but we have not utilised it. This year, I am happy to say that there would be an increase in the budget of Science and Technology, a very significant increase.”

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Samson Folarin

A 28-year-old trader, Chukwuebuka Okeke, has allegedly killed his friend and roommate, Nwabuike Ezeike, 39, after a disagreement over a N5, 000 electricity bill.
PUNCH Me tro learnt that the incident happened on Tuesday on Tokosi Street, Orile-Iganmu.

Our correspondent gathered that the friends, who were traders on the Lagos Island, had been together for a long time.
They were also said to have contributed money for the rent of the single-room apartment.

The men, who hail from the same Ishida community, in the Anocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, however, had a disagreement over their electricity bill.

A relative of the deceased, Ben Eze, said the deceased had paid the suspect some money as his contribution towards the bill.
He said, “But his friend squandered the money. So, as the payment became overdue and pressure was mounted on him to release the money, he passed on the aggression to the deceased and there was a fight. He was actually asleep when he attacked him.

“People had separated them when he suddenly punched him in the head. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.”

It was learnt that the case was reported at the Orile Police Division and the suspect was arrested.

The matter was later transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, while the corpse of the victim was deposited at the Lagos Mainland mortuary.
Another relative, Charles Anolue, said the victim was supposed to have his engagement ceremony later this month before he was killed.

He said the family was pained that despite the death, the family of the suspect had not shown any sign of remorse over the incident.

“We are grieved and despite our loss, we would have resolved this case because we are from the same community. But the suspect’s family have been playing games which we don’t understand, and that is why we are ready to pursue this case to a logical end,” he added.

Lawyer for the deceased’s family, F.S. Oladele, urged the police to dig up all the evidence of the case.

However, the elder brother of the suspect, Emeka Okeke, explained that his family was not happy over the incident and efforts by community leaders to wade in had been frustrated by the deceased’s family.

“These two men have been friends for a long time and they are both traders. What happened between them was unfortunate and I know Chukwuebuka had no intention of killing his friend,” he added.
Counsel for the suspect, Spurgeon Ataene, denied that the 28-year-old killed the victim.

He said, “It was the deceased that attacked first and my client dodged his blow. It was the force with which he attempted to punch my client that made him crash into a wall, thereby killing himself.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed incident, adding that investigation was on at the SDCI.

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A House of Representatives ad hoc committee is probing the “suspicious” transfer to another account of N1.17bilion approved for a Federal Government agency.
The committee is seeking answers to why the immediate past Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reversed a presidential directive which approved the money for the Sokoto Rima River Basin Development Authority (SRRBA).
Besides, the committee is seeking to establish:
•Who applied for the withdrawal since payment was initiated through an application by the SRRBDA?
•How a ministerial directive can override a presidential approval;
•Where the money was returned to after it was withdrawn from the account of the Authority; and
•Whether the withdrawal was politically motivated given the time of the withdrawal
The committee has hinted of the likelihood of inviting the ex-minister.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is at the centre of a storm over her release of $330m Abacha loot to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), without appropriation. The money, which she said was meant as a loan for arms procurement, later turned out to be part of the cash being shred to politicians and friends of that government before the last general election.

President Goodluck Jonathan, in a letter, approved the release of the money to the River Basin Authority. The approval was conveyed to the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) by the (then) minister of Finance, according to the office of the AGF.
The payment was made into the accounts of the SRRBDA on March 9 but withdrawn in two tranches within a week, two months later in May.

The first withdrawal of N784m was made on 6th May, 2015. The second, N90m, was effected on 12th May 2015 but executed on 16th May 2015 by the CBN.
Only N874.6million was withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the account of SRRBDA because the agency had started spending the money.
The investigative hearing by the ad hoc committee was told how the CBN credited and reversed the payment on the directives of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).

The Committee, it was learnt, would request from the CBN records of tranfer and reversal of the money from the Natural Resources account and other accounts.
SRRBDA’s Managing Director (MD) Mukhtar Anka said the agency made an appeal to (then) President Jonathan, knowing that the agency had some outstanding funds with the Federal government, “Because all our previous budgets were never fully released since 2012.

“We could no longer meet our projects and contractual obligations while our contractors were bothering us.That was why we made the appeal,” he said.
The representative of the CBN, Suleman Barau, told the committee that the bank carried out its duties based on approved and duly-signed mandates from the OAGF, who owns all accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA).

Mr. M Dikwa, Director, Funds, who represented the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, said the reversal of the fund was carried out through a ministerial memoranda, unlike the approval that was effected through a presidential approval.
He also disclosed that the OAGF will recover the balance from the SRRBDA when there is enough money in its account since it had already spent out of it.

When the Committee asked the AGF why the withdrawals were made, Dikwa said some discrepancies were discovered after the payment.
He said the one-page approval letter had no attachment detailing the purpose of the funds. It was also discovered that the Federal Government had already paid the said amount by way of budgetary allocations.

The committee wondered if the reversal was politically-motivated, considering the period of reversal and the 2015 general elections.
The Evelyn Oboro-led Committee regretted that many of such payments may have been made by the AGF in the past only to claim to have made new discoveries later.
When the committee asked the AGF to produce the application for the withdrawal, the AGF could not produce any.

Also, the AGF had no response when asked by the committee to justify effecting the withdrawal with a ministerial directive while the approval for payment was by a presidential directive .
The committee faulted the AGF for failing to conduct needs assessment and due diligence before effecting payment of funds to MDAs.

Oboro said: “Conduct of post mortem after payments does not seem to promote transparency and accountability.
“We are interested in who applied for the withdrawal since payment was initiated through an application by the SRRBDA.
“More importantly, there is a need to know how a ministerial directive can override a presidential approval.

“We also want to know where the money was returned to after it was withdrawn from the account of the Authority.
“We are only interested in how to make agencies of government can be responsive to the people.

“This is an organisation that can bring a whole lot to the agricultural sector in that region and the country as a whole, yet through whatever what we are yet to understand, it was being deliberately starved of funds. We are determined to get to the bottom of the matter.”

The investigation continues.

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By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor ABUJA —

The Federal Government declared, yesterday, that it was more interested in recovering to the last kobo, all public funds stolen and stashed away by top politicians and their cronies under the guise of arms purchase.

It said it was not keen on frivolous plea bargain option being contemplated by some of the suspects now standing trial.
The government said such plea bargain allows looters to go away with stolen public assets.

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, (SAN) disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Vanguard last night.
According to Malami, the era of allowing smart persons to loot public funds and pay back a pittance under the guise of plea bargain is over.

The minister made it clear that all those who are implicated by the arms probe and other scams that have cost the nation hundreds of billions of Naira, would be made to cough out the money and still pay the price for breaching public trust.
The reaction of the government came on the heels of the reported willingness of some top politicians to refund over N650 million which they claimed to have collected from the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, for campaign purposes.

According to a media report on yesterday, the top politicians, who had acknowledged collecting the money for the mobilization of their supporters in the six geo-political zones of the country, were making moves to quietly return the money to the government.
However, the Attorney General made it clear that while the option of plea bargain was being weighed, the government would first of all take necessary steps to recover the money.

Malami said: ”Let me just make it clear to all that under the present administration, it is no longer business-as-usual. As at today, a lot of measures are being put in place to recover the loot which a few privileged Nigerians stole and stashed away.

“It is an article of obligation under the law of the Federal Government of Nigeria to convict the looters and recover the amount traced to each of them to show the disdain that this government has for corruption and to serve as a warning signal that nobody is authorised to steal the commonwealth of Nigerians under any guise.”

Malami said that the laws of Nigeria were adequate to deal with those who carted away the nation’s resources and are now living larger than their income.

He said that the Fifth Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution has pushed the burden of proof from the government to those who looted the funds to prove their source of wealth and why they should not be jailed.

According to him, the law allows the government to convict the accused persons and also take steps to recover their assets.
Article 11 of the 5th Schedule of the Constitution says: “Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, every public officer shall within three months after coming into force of this Code of Conduct or immediately after taking office, and thereafter, (a) at the end of every four years and (b) at the end of his terms of office, submit to the Code of Conduct Bureau, a written declaration of all his properties, assets and liabilities and those of his unmarried children under the age of 18 years.

“Any statement in such declaration that is found to be false by any authority or person authorised in that behalf to verify it shall be deemed to be in breach of this Code.

“Any property or assets acquired by a public officer after any declaration required under this constitution and which is not fairly attributable to income, gift, or loan approved by this code, shall be deemed to have been acquired in breach of this code unless the contrary is proved”.

Meanwhile, there were indications that no fewer than 10 top PDP leaders who have been named as beneficiaries of the arms funds might be summoned within the week to explain their roles in the scam.

A top operative in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, told
Vanguard that the individuals needed to be invited to clear the air on the probe before further steps were taken against them.

“As their names keep popping up in the course of our investigation, we need to give them the opportunity to speak up before we take the next step,” the source said last night.

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President Muhammadu Buhari is currently in a (quandary) dilemma over what to do about the perennial energy crisis manifesting in long fuel queues across the country. The confusion is coming just as the petroleum marketers are expecting the federal government to pay them their outstanding claims in respect of the petroleum products they imported into the country.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has advised the Federal Government to remove the subsidy on fuel in order to save Nigeria the trouble of devoting nearly half of its annual budget to funding the fuel importation scheme. The issue of subsidy removal has taken a centre stage in Nigeria’s economic discourse in the last five years.

It has also assumed the dimension of a political tool and campaign instrument in the hands of politicians. An independent audit conducted by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative ( NEITI) showed that over N4 trillion was paid to petroleum product marketers as subsidy from 2006-2012. The breakdown of the payments showed that N2.197billion was paid as subsidy in 2006, N236.64billion in 2007 and N360.1 billion in 2008.

In 2009 the country paid N198.1billion as subsidy for petroleum products and in 2010 the subsidy payment rose to N416.45billion. It further skyrocketed to N1.9 trillion in 2011 and later declined to N690 billion in 2012 following the subsidy protests across the country in January of that year. Mass protests tagged ‘Occupy Naija’, followed the scrapping of the fuel subsidy scheme by the then President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on January 1, 2012.

Jonathan had at that time taken the decision based on the premise that it made economic sense to do away with fuel subsidy but the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC), civil society organisations as well as Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the main opposition political party at that time, mobilised against it, forcing the Federal Government to partially back down.

Sunday Telegraph learnt that President Buhari and his party having reviewed the state of the economy, have become convinced that the subsidy on fuel was certainly not sustainable in an economy plagued by dwindling revenue occasioned by the continuos slide in the price of crude oil at the international market. They are, however, handicapped by the difficulty in switching from the prosubsidy position they earlier held as at 2012 to becoming apostles of fuel subsidy removal in the current dispensation.

However, the Acting Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji has said the possible policy shift by the Federal Government towards removal of fuel subsidy is a welcome development and a step in the right direction. Orji said that the proposal to remove fuel subsidy was consistent with NEITI’s recommendations to the Federal Government based on its study of the petroleum sector over the last six years.

Addressing a Policy Roundtable on Subsidy Removal Debate organised by the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, Orji argued that Nigeria’s current challenges with the crash in the global oil price makes it more difficult to sustain the subsidy scheme, which appears to fund the lifestyle of the rich, while majority of the citizens wallow in poverty.
According to him, the removal of the subsidy will free over N700 billion annually, which can be channeled to provision of roads, education, health service, power, security, creation of jobs and basic benefits for the poor in the society.

He explained that oil subsidy was originally conceived as a financial assistance by the Federal Government to Nigerians to enable them buy refined products at much lower price than the prevailing market price as well as a temporary measure to ensure products availability all year round.
“In removing the subsidy, it is the position of NEITI that the government considers progressive measures to put the welfare of the ordinary citizen at the centre of the implementation, by creation of palliative programmes to reduce the pain temporarily that may be experienced by the poor and vulnerable in the short term.

Also speaking on the contentious issue, Prof. John Adeoti of the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) advised the government to implement the removal of the fuel subsidy side by side the safety net programmes that could grant relief to the poor. In the words of Dr. Dauda Garuba of Natural Resource Governance Institute (NGRI), the time for this bold decision has finally come provided that the government sustains the on-going war against corruption to block the leakages.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has also endorsed the move to scrap the controversial fuel subsidy. President of IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo said the subsidy should be removed since it has never helped and would never help the oil sector. He posited that everybody denies not enjoying fuel subsidy and queried why it should be retained. “Subsidy has never helped us. Off course l am talking as an Independent Marketer who does not claim subsidy.

The subsidy is for the masses but the masses are saying that they don’t enjoy the subsidy and why must we kill ourselves with it? IPMAN does not enjoy subsidy and it is stated clearly, therefore it should be removed. “Independent Marketers. We don’t claim subsidy.

The template does not give us anything. Our profit margin is there.” In a related development, National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun was cautious in his comments on the issue. He would neither endorse nor condemn the panned removal of fuel subsidy when Sunday Telegraph met him. But if Oyegun was being diplomatic, a former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Friday bluntly asked the Federal Government to remove the subsidy of petroleum products.

Tinubu said: “It is better that we remove it, not for the austere purpose of saving money but to use the money more wisely that we might better save the people. Let us begin a process of a thoughtful, but decisive subsidy phase-out.”

In the last couple of weeks, the Federal Government had sent conflicting signals about its intentions towards the subsidy scheme. Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe Kachikwu, had on one occasion, dropped a hint that the subsidy scheme would be abolished and the pump price of fuel adjusted upwards.

However, Kachikwu had since recanted when he saw the angry reactions of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) which threatened to embark on street protests again should the government dared remove fuel subsidy. Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Kachikwu, who also doubles as the Minister of State (Petroleum), insisted that there were no plans to increase the pump price back to N97, which it was before the run up to the last general elections, and also denied plans to remove subsidy.

Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang told reporters on Friday that though the appropriate government agencies had spoken on the issue, the picture will get clearer when President Muhamnadu Buhari presents the 2016 Appropriation Bill on Tuesday.

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The Delta State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of six undergraduate students of the Delta State University, Abraka, who allegedly took part in a gang rape as part of initiation into a campus cult group.

The Command’s public relations officer, DSP Celestina Kalu, said in a statement issued on Friday in Asaba that the suspects were nabbed in the act in a bush by police detectives following a tip-off by some residents of the area.

“On December 14, 2015 at about 6:30pm, the DPO Abraka Division received information that a sound of a girl’s cry was being heard from an uncompleted building in a bush around the railway line, Abraka.

“Consequently, a patrol team rushed to the scene and arrested three males, namely, Chukwudi Ejiede, Emeka Otulugbuke, Ogbem Danul, and two females, Winifred Eyefian and Ziya George, all students of Delta State University, Abraka,” Kalu said.

The police spokesperson also said that the police rescued and arrested one miss Omojevbe Tracy, a student of the same institution, who was being raped by the suspects as part of an initiation into Viqueen, a campus cult.

She said that all the suspects have been taken into custody, while investigation into the incident has commenced.

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A 65-year old Islamic cleric, Ibrahim Yusuf, on Thursday urged an Alimosho Customary Court in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State, to dissolve his 27-year old marriage to his fourth wife, Bolanle, for alleged battery of his new wife.

Mr. Yusuf told the court that Bolanle, with whom he had two children, had turned his new wife into a punching bag.

“Bolanle did not allow my new wife to have peace in the house as she was always fighting and beating her at will,’’ he said.
The petitioner described Bolanle as a troublesome woman that was always fighting him and in the process would tear his clothes to pieces.

“My wife is a good fighter; she fights me regularly and always makes sure that she tears my clothes into rags before leaving me.

“She always embarrasses my new wife and I in public. Bolanle usually harasses and ridicules us.” he said.

The cleric said that he married another wife because his fourth wife had stopped washing his clothes for more than seven years.

“I married another woman because my fourth wife refused to wash my clothes and my other wives cannot wash them because it is the duty of the youngest wife to wash my clothes,’’ he said.

According to him, he stopped eating foods prepared by Bolanle because he was afraid she might poison him.

“My wife always tells me that if she knew that I was going to marry another wife after her, she would have destroyed my life.
“So due to her statement, I stopped eating her food because I don’t want to die now,’’ he said.

Mr. Yusuf asked the court to end the 27-year-old marriage.
The cleric said that he was no longer in love and cannot cope with Bolanle’s behaviour anymore.

Also, Bolanle, 56, a trader, admitted beaten up her husband’s youngest wife.
Bolanle told the court, “She looked for my trouble. When I came to the house to see my husband in respect of my children’s welfare, his wife started raining curses and abuses on me.

“So I descended on her because I am not her mate,’’ she said.
The mother of two said that her husband begged her to marry him then.

“He sworn with the holy Quran that he would not marry another woman, he promised me then that I would be his last wife.
“I did not want to marry him because he already had three wives then.

“But when he begged me and sworn with the Quran then that he would not marry another wife, I agreed to marry him but he failed to fulfill his vow,’’ Bolanle said.

The respondent, however, pleaded that the court should not grant her husband’s wish, claiming that she was still in love with her husband.

The court president, S.O Mumuni, admonished the couple to maintain peace.
He adjourned the case to Jan. 27, 2016 for further hearing.

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Samson Folarin

The Lagos State Police Command is investigating a case of a 19-year-old girl, Gbemisola, who claimed to have been raped by a university graduate, identified only as Kunle.

Gbemisola told PUNCH Metro that after the rape, Kunle, 24, began to blackmail her, threatening to release her nude photos if she refused to send him some money.
After the victim reportedly yielded to the threat two times, he allegedly demanded another payment of N10, 000.

When Gbemisola refused, the suspect was said to have posted the nude photos on the Internet, including her phone number.

The victim was said to have been called by some of her friends and family members who saw the pictures.
The incident happened in Agiliti Estate, Ketu area of Lagos State.

Afolabi, a caterer, told PUNCH Metro that she met the suspect about three weeks ago.
She said, “I was going home that Friday when he stopped me on the road and said he wanted to be my boyfriend. I told him I was already in a relationship with someone else, and that I was not interested.

“He said he would not mind being a mere friend. We exchanged contacts and I left for my house.

“I always post pictures of my new cakes on Whatsapp and he saw one of them and said he liked it. He said he wanted me to make a cake for him. I agreed.

“He asked where I was and I said I was at my sister’s shop. He said we should meet at the junction because the cake he wanted was on his phone and he would want to show me what he wanted.”

She explained that when they met, the suspect claimed to have forgotten the phone at his parent’s home in Agiliti Estate, and asked her to follow him home.
She alleged that no sooner had they got to the house than Kunle locked the door and raped her.

“I blamed myself for my predicament and I decided to bear the shame in silence.
“However, on Monday, which was three days after the rape, he called me, saying if I refused to meet him, I would regret it because he had my nude photos and he would post them on the Internet.

“I begged him and he said I should send him a N1,500 recharge card, which I did. Two days later, he demanded another N2, 000 recharge card, and I sent it.
“Later, he said I should send him N10,000. I was angry and dared him to do whatever he wanted to do.”

Gbemisola, who finished secondary school last year, said she was surprised when she saw her nude photos, with her phone number, on the Internet.

She said the incident had affected her psychologically.
The victim’s sister, Ramota, said she got to know about the incident from a family friend who saw the nude pictures.

She said, “My younger sister said she saw Gbemisola’s nude photos on someone’s phone. I was told she wanted to hurt herself due to the shame and disgrace it had brought on her.

“I followed some other family members to Kunle’s parents’ house and they promised to make him delete the photos. But we never knew the photos had gone viral.”
It was learnt that the case was first reported at the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender, before a community leader, Yomi Odegbami, took the matter to the Ketu Police Station.

Odegbami asked the government to bring the culprit to justice to serve as a deterrent to others.

“The police and the government should urgently wade into this case before other young girls fall victim of this wicked man,” he said.

Kunle, when contacted by our correspondent denied the allegation, saying he was in a relationship with Gbemisola.
He said the nude photos were not circulated by him, adding that the 19-year-old originally sent the photos to him during their conversation on
Whatsapp.

He said, “I am a graduate of a private university in Osun State and I know what I am doing. We met a few weeks ago and we started chatting on Whatsapp. I asked her to send me some of her pictures when she travelled to Ondo, and she said, ‘Is it my breasts?’, and I said yes.

“After that, I asked for the pictures of her private parts, and she sent them to me. I did a picsmix of the photos and jokingly sent it to her. I have since deleted the photos from my phone. The only regret I have was that I showed them to my friends.

“The first time she visited me, we didn’t do anything. It was the second time she came that we made love. I have all our chats as evidence that she sent those pictures to me.

“She came with her relatives to my house and damaged my laptop which I bought for over N90,000 and now, they are going to the press. I know my rights and if this is the way they want it, no problem.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Joe Offor, said he would call back, but he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

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Drop your wishes!!!

By Christopher Oji

THE Lagos State Police Command has arrested a housemaid who robbed her madam of cash and valuables worth several millions of Naira.
Also in Police net is the elder brother to the house help.

The housemaid, Chidima (other names withheld) and her brother, Emma, indigenes of Ebonyi State are being detained at the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) Ikeja.
Chidima who Spoke with Daily Sun said: “I actually committed the robbery. I waited for my madam to leave for office and I ran­sacked the house. I collected expensive things, such as, laptops, tablet, Ipads, gold, phones and money. I then called my elder brother to meet me somewhere and handed everything to him for sale.

“After handing over the items to my brother, I returned home and raised the alarm that robbers have raided our house. My madam believed the story and even treated me think­ing that I may have been injured. I was crying all through and Madam was pleading with me to stop crying so that I won’t break down.

“Sir, I must confess, I did it to raise money for my mother’s surgery. She has been sick and our Doctor charged N500,000 for the treatment. I begged my madam to assist me but she said she had no money. I have tried many of our relatives, none was willing to help and my brother kept disturbing me with phone calls. The harassment was too much for me to bear, hence, I decided to remedy the situation by robbing my madam.

“I may not have told my brother that I robbed my madam, but where did he think that I got the things I gave him to sell? I am a housemaid on a monthly salary of N20,000. My brother should stop blaming me, after all, it was his mistake that put us in this mess. I successfully perfected everything and my madam had no iota of suspicion that I did it.

“Instead of selling the items my brother started using the Tabletops and it was through his foolishness that the police tracked and arrested him. I was shocked when he was brought face-to-face with me. Let him stop crying and admit what we did. Let us carry our crosses. My only regret is that my mother is still sick and we have been subjected to ridicules. If I had known, I would have allowed things to work out their natural ways.”

His elder brother who was weeping like a baby said: “She did not tell me that she stole the things. She told me that her madam gave her the things. I was so happy and told her that I should thank her madam for the gift but she prevented me. She said her madam does not like people showing appreciation when she does good things. She is my sister, so I believed her. Now that I know the truth, I will never trust her again. I want the Police to forgive us as we are first offenders.”

The State Commissioner Of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni said: “The Househelp was employed three months ago through the internet. She belongs to a syndicate that send its members to houses as house helps with the intention to rob their employers. She would have committed more havoc if detectives did not crack the syndicate on time. That is why we are always appealing to the public not to employ domestic staff through the internet.

He said the Police was on the trail of other members of the syndicate who are on the run.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday December 15, 2015, arraigned Aigbe Joseph (alias Anthony Styler Malan) and Dennis Igbinoba (aka David Clark, Engr. Phil Anderson, Engr. Tim Hilton, Engr. Williams Clark) before Justice A. M Liman of the Federal High Court, sitting in Benin, Edo State on separate count charges bordering on Internet fraud and obtaining money by false pretence.

Joseph and Dennis were arrested in Benin City, Edo State following intelligence report on their involvement in internet scams. Laptop computers and phones were recovered from their homes during a search by EFCC operatives.

In his confessional statement, Joseph said he had been involved in several internet fraud and collected the sum of ($50,000) Fifty Thousand United State Dollars from one Destiny, an America citizen. He stated further that he used part of the money to buy a Toyota Camry car, and also rented an apartment.

Dennis, the second defendant, revealed that he chats with foreign women on social media platforms (facebook/yahoo mail) while posing as a white Civil Engineer resident in London. Joseph and Dennis pleaded not guilty to the two and four counts of fraud preferred against them, respectively.

One of the counts reads, “that you Aigbe A. Joseph, sometime between 2014 and 2015 in Benin City, Edo State within the jurisdiction of this Honorable court did with intent to defraud attempt to obtain the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars from Savita Shamsunder as Anthony Styler Malan, that the money is for your tax clearance for a construction job in France, facts which you knew or ought to know are false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (b) and read together with Section 9 (2) both of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and Punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act”.

Justice Liman, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N1million each and one surety in like sum. Surety must have also have landed property within the jurisdiction of the honorable court.

The matter has adjourned to February 17 and 18, 2016 for the commencement of trial.


Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
16th December, 2015

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Dear Bunmi,

My 23 years old niece is sleeping with her boyfriend’s father while the boyfriend is away studying for his masters at the university in another state. She grew up in a one- parent family and I think this is responsible for her behaviour. When her boyfriend was studying in a near-by state, his father used to drive my niece to see him and I knew he was bent on seducing her.

Now her mum has found texts in her phone of all the type of things they were up to.
He even promised they might get married.

His wife is down with partial stroke and my niece gives the impression of being fond of this poor unsuspecting woman. I don’t understand how she can fancy a man of almost 50 when she could have her choice of boys her own age. If this gets out, it will destroy the man’s family. Help!

Stephanie

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GenOrumov:
No, this is $tupid Love by Olamide not Dangerous Love!!

Afeez Hanafi

A 200-level university student, John Ekefre, has been admitted into the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital after policemen from the Iponri division tortured him and damaged his intestine.
He was said to have been operated on to rectify the internal injury and to remove “the blood clots” that blocked his chest as a result of the torture.

His elder sister, Mercy Ekefre, told our correspondent, who visited LASUTH on Tuesday that the family had spent over N200,000 on John’s treatment.
“The doctor said his intestine was ruptured and that he had a blood clot. He had a surgery and we are still awaiting the medical report,” she added.

It was learnt that John, an appendicitis patient who works in a cinema house in Surulere, and four other friends were going for a church programme tagged, The Experience, organised by the House on the Rock at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island, after they had closed from work around 11pm on Friday, December 4.

Our correspondent learnt that John and Anthony Kenkwo, a graduate of a university in Imo State, had waited for three other colleagues, Michael Peter, Godwin Ekeji and Joy Imoh on the fateful day so that they could go for the programme in a group.

It was said that on getting to the Costain area, the vehicle that the young men boarded ran into gridlock and they decided to alight from the commercial bus.
PUNCH Metro gathered that they were walking by the roadside when they were arrested by the policemen, who accused them of robbery.

John, 22, said he and his friends showed the cops their identity cards, but were rebuffed. He said the policemen beat him to a coma when he demanded to know what their offence was.

He said, “I work at a cinema in Surulere. We were on afternoon duty that fateful Friday. We closed around 11pm and left for TBS to attend a church programme – The Experience 10.

“When we got to Costain, we alighted from the bus we boarded because there was gridlock. About five policemen on patrol stopped us and we told them we were going to the church. They searched our bags, but nothing incriminating was found there. They forced us into their bus. We showed them our identity cards, but they ignored us.

“On our way to the station, I asked them what our offence was and they said we were highway robbers. When we got to the station, they dragged me down, beat me up and one of them hit me in the stomach with the butt of his gun.

“They said I was too inquisitive. The following day, they collected N6,000 from my brother before I was released.”
Kenkwo said a policeman pummelled him when he complained that their arrest was not justified. He said he eventually parted with N5,500 before he was release.

He said, “It was a bitter experience. Every Friday and Saturday, we run late night shows. After the close of work, Ekefre and I waited for three other friends from Apapa so that we would go to the programme in a group. The traffic was hectic that night and we decided to disembark from the bus because the guys with us looked stern.

“I also asked the officer who took my statement what I did. But he responded with punches. It was while I was in the cell that I started bleeding from the nose.

“They charged me N10,000 for bail. It was after my brother bargained with them that they collected N5,500. They collected N5,000 from Godwin (Ekeji’s) family, but Joy, the only female among us, was released free.”
Peter told our correspondent that the policemen collected N8,000 before he was released.

Godwin could not be reached but Ekefre confirmed that his (Godwin’s) relatives paid N5,000 for his bail.

A lawyer and President, Citizens Rights Defenders, Chief Gabriel Ojumah, said he had, in a petition dated December 14, urged the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission “to investigate the matter and bring the erring policemen to book.”

Calls made to the line of the Lagos State police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, rang out. He had also yet to reply to a text message sent to his number as of time of filing this report.

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The Acting Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mrs. Roli Bode-George, has assured that the agency will continue to tighten the noose on drug cartels, just as narcotic officers arrested three persons with 18.2kgs of drugs valued at N163million.

The suspects were arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

They included a South African Sipho Mitshali, 31, found in possession of 4kg of Ephedrine and 8kg of Methamphetamine on his way to Johannesburg.

Two Nigerians – Ifeagwu Osita and Obiabumuo Augustine Ikechukwu were also arrested for attempting to smuggle 4.7kg and 1.5kg of cocaine respectively.

According to Roli, efforts are ongoing to consolidate on the agency operational gains.

“The NDLEA is working hard towards making the country impenetrable to drug barons. We are also tightening the noose on drug trafficking syndicates to sustain the gains recorded in arrests of drug barons and seizure of drugs.

“There is a systematic plan of action to dislodge drug syndicates and ultimately eradicate illicit drugs from our society,” she stated.

The NDLEA boss also called for support from Nigerians against drug barons whom she described as enemies of the society.

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By Egufe Yafugorhi

WARRI—WHEN the chair, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR, Delta State, Mr. Benefit Orugbo, called me on phone, about a fortnight ago, and said that he had a spine chilling case of human rights abuse in his hands, I did not understand the brutality of the matter and almost ignored the issue.
However, it was not until Warri Reporter, EGUFE YAFUGORHI, detailed to meet the victim at an agreed venue reported his encounter with Igbobi Beauty Uzezi, an Air Police of the Nigerian Air-force, NAF, with Personal Service Number, NAF10/25157F, that the reality dawned on me.

Uzezi, who hails from Bayelsa state, revealed that an Air-force officer (names withheld) drugged, raped and infected her with a Sexually Transmitted Diseases, STD, and the said officer detained and tortured her through proxies for daring to expose him and finally got her dismissed from the Airforce.
The air-force officers she complained to and sought help before the hammer fell on her, queried why she chose to make trouble with the officer, pointing out that she was not the only female personnel to pass through the ordeal.

They detained her in a cell with a mad woman, chained her to the bed in the hospital, locked for several days without food to force her to forgo justice. She refused to surrender and was court marshaled after she threatened to shoot one of the air-force officers used to intimidate her, who allegedly wanted to disarm her.

The court marshal was a leeway for those who want her thrown out of NAF, as the case was getting messier by then. Systematically, they congested her with drugs and a physician diagnosed of critical depression disorder, CBD, paving way for her final discharge.

Igbobi appeared dehumanized when she spoke to Niger Delta Voice, NDV, and what ricocheted throughout the interview was her cry for justice. This interview, first in the series of our reports into and alleged Nigeria Air-force rape scandal is hair-raising. Will she get justice

Editor.
Tell us about your enlistment into the Air Force
My name is Igbobi Beauty Uzezi. I enlisted into the Nigerian Airforce August 18, 2010 when I was 18. My Personal Service Number is NAF10/25157F with seniority of Air Craft Woman, ACW, in 19 February 2011. On 17 May, 2011, two months and 10 days after my passing out from the Nigeria Air Force basic military training, Kaduna, I was posted to 335 Base Services Group, Kaduna as an Air Police. We reported March 7 2011.

How did your ordeal start?
On that May 17, 2011, at about 8.00 pm, I received a phone call from a strange number. From the conversation, I discovered that the caller was one of our training instructors on general service knowledge during our training (names withheld by NDV). He said I should come to the Protestant Church inside the Nigerian Air Force Base, Kaduna.
With lots of conviction as our former training instructor and his claim that he was in Kaduna for a special assignment of which I do not know, I obliged his strange invitation. Getting to the church, I saw him and another instructor, who also trained us, Sgt. Hossan and my course mate, who he said gave him my phone number, ACM Bello and a woman I do not recognize.

He said I should join them to the Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA old site. I asked why I have to join them because there was Kafachan crisis in Kaduna then. He said they were going to drop the woman companion at the NDA old site and return.
He said he trained me and asked if I was scared of being with him. He said I should not entertain any fear with my course mate on the movement. I joined them out of sheer respect and having no thought of any sinister motive.

At the point they ought to drop the unknown woman, I heard Sgt Hossan tell the officer (instructor),”Oga, after we train recruit finish, e no go do something for your godson?”
Opposite the place we supposedly came was the Communicator Mess. At that point, I asked excused myself to urinate, but before I left, I overheard him ordering two wines and barbecue fish. I eased myself, came back and he gave me a glass of wine.

Drugged

I took the glass of wine, not knowing he had drugged it for me. I was urging to return home because it was late and there was crisis. We entered the vehicle and proceeding a little, they dropped the woman. At the Air Force Base, Kaduna, I stayed behind the Aeromedical Hospital, opposite a branch of Oceanic Bank, now Ecobank.

Approaching there, I said I want to drop, but Sgt Hossan said they wanted to drop the instructor in his own quarters before coming to drop me. From their discussion, I discovered Hossan stays in Block B next to my Block C.
We proceeded further and Bello dropped. At JD Quarters where the officer resides, they parked opposite his apartment. He and Sgt Hossan came down discussing while I was inside the vehicle.

The instructor came to me and said I should come into his apartment to wait at the parlor while he finished his discussion with Sgt Hossan, who happened to be owner of the car we drove in. I was hoping as my immediate neighbor, he would take me home after dropping off instructor, the last man remaining besides me.

Deception

I sat at the parlor and all of a sudden, I heard the sound of Hossan vehicle outside and I made the door to go out to confirm. Immediately, the instructor rushed in, pushed me back and shut the door. I asked why he pushed me and shut the door knowing Sgt Hossan was to take me home.
He asked in Pidgin English, “U mean say after I train you finish as recruit, na your course mate go charge through you first before me?”I asked what he meant by that utterance just as Sgt Hossan zoomed off. I told him he knew quite well that it was not right for me to be in his apartment and Hossan, supposed to take me home has driven off.
I begged him to open the door, he refused and we started an argument. From the argument, we started fighting.

Battery and rape

He was beating me mercilessly, carrying and hitting on the floor. If I want to scream, he would cover my mouth so violently that no passerby hears my screaming. We struggled for more than two hours as I shouted for help. I pleaded with him not to touch me because it was evident he wanted to forcibly sleep with me. I pleaded that I am a virgin and he should not hurt me.
He said it was none of his business if I were a virgin and that he must charge through me first before any other person. I said I will not allow him rape me. Then he hit my head against the wall, saying he would teach me a lesson since I am proving stubborn. Then I fainted.

Pool of blood

When I regained consciousness, I discovered the bed I lay was soaked with water and I saw myself on a pool of blood. I sensed he has violently beaten to coma and violated me. Even in that state as I regained consciousness, he attempted raping me a second time. I was weak and dizzy with the wine. cannot explain how but I managed to struggle out of the door. Outside, I tried crossing a gutter, but collapsed again.

Medical attention

The next day, May 18, I found myself in a hospital bed at about noon. When I attempted urinating, my whole pelvis was aching severely and blood coming out of my private parts. My body was soaked with sand and water with bruises all over from the struggle and beating from him.

They led me to the toilet, but I could not urinate because of the pains the doctor told me the instructor and ACM Bello brought me. asked how and why they brought me. He said the instructor said I was having malaria and so they were managing me for malaria, but he was doubtful of the indicated condition because of the blood flow from my vagina. Therefore, he asked if I was seeing my period. I said no, but could not explain because of the pain and trauma, so he took me back to the bed.

Untimely discharge
He started asking me more questions. The medical officer identified himself as Sgt Samsudeen. I told him to give me a paper and pen. The more I was writing the more I felt traumatized. At this point, I mustered courage to open up to him my ordeal. On hearing my story, he called in two colleagues, Sgt. Uganjuwa, now Flying Officer and Flying Officer Balami, a medical doctor.

They examined me and I overheard them saying this is a big problem and wondering how they were going to hide it, not wanting to be involved. They quickly discharged me knowing I was not yet okay at all. They took me to my apartment and told me I have injections and drugs to come and take the next day.

Conspiracy to cover up the rape and battery
The next day, May 19, I received a call from Dr. Balami saying the Aeromedical Commander, Air Cmdr Shinkafi, wants to see me aside injections I needed to take. There was no strength in me at that point. I was still bleeding and aching all over my body, but because of the urgency of medical attention I needed, I summoned courage to be at the hospital, which was luckily just behind my apartment.

A passerby, who saw me struggling to walk down, assisted me to the hospital. I got there and no one was willing to attend to me. I was groaning in pains, but they said I should wait for the Aero-medical Commander. Then I collapsed again. I never knew where I was and what they did to me. I spent two weeks and three days in the hospital from that point. During my hospitalization, they took me to theatre, but they never told me what operation they carried out on my body.

They kept me secluded from other patients. I noticed that I bled for three days before they took me to the theatre. They did scan on me, after those two weeks and three days, they discharged me. During my admission, Squadron Leader Okafor, now late, was the Commanding Officer I served under as an Air Police, he came and collected an official statement from me and told me the Air Force was going to give me justice.

Warned to keep mum

After my discharge from the hospital, the Aero-medical Commander told me I should not talk, that Air Force would give me justice. Air Commodore N.A. Sanusi told me same. The late AVM Salihu, Air Officer Commanding Training Command in Kaduna and the Base Commander 335 Base Services Route, where I was serving, also told me not to talk.

Air Commodore Sanusi, Director of Air Police was repeatedly warning that I should not speak of my ordeal to the hearing of the society, including my family. Surprisingly they appointed a marshal on the incident, but they neither allowed me to have a lawyer nor participate in telling my story, except one day they asked me to appear as a witness to prove how the instructor brutally battered and defiled me as a virgin. They brought prosecution counsels and denied me access to the marshal, all in bid to cover up and sweep the criminality under the carpet.

Punitive posting/intimidation

Immediately after the court marshal, they posted me outside Kaduna in that 2011, I was not due for posting. I am supposed to serve for minimum four years in Kaduna before posting from my first service point. At Abuja, victimization started. In muster parade, Group Capt Inuwa would be asking me before everybody if my virginity was gold. He would say these people were very wicked and they can easily kill me.

He told me this not once, not twice with serious threats. He started the intimidation and threat to my life. When I voiced that what they did to me is injustice, they would say I am a fowl, they can easily kill and that nothing would happen if they kill me. They asked me if I do not know that Airforce women are officers’ materials and said that my rape was not the first case.

Infected with STD

From there, I was so restricted and so monitored that I never had a life of my own anymore. In addition, the rapist infected me with severe STD, which they never told me. They were giving me antibiotics and I started fainting on regular basis from that May I left hospital in Kaduna up until my transfer to Abuja. When I asked what was wrong with me, they would say nothing.

In 2012, they posted me unduly again to Lagos. They posted me abruptly again because they found I wanted to expose them as I had gone to Human Rights Fighters in Abuja where they interviewed me. In one of my encounters with Human Rights group, the officer and his gang called to threatened that I would die or not be alive to try the case after which I did not hear from the human rights people again.
I also contacted Barrister Okon because of my ordeal with the rape and torture and the fact that they did not give me adequate medical attention. I had vaginal discharge, swollen vulva, severe itching, pelvic pains, which they termed chronic pelvic inflammatory disease.

At that point, my kidney enlargement was between 10.2 and 11.4cm because I could not urinate frequently from the pelvic pain and the sexual violation, which doctors that attended to me at the NAF Base Kaduna established. They certified that my sexual violation, physical assault and brutal rape with document reports.

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TWO suspected members of an armed robbery gang have been arrested by the Oyo state Police Command, after four pump action rifles and 10 packets of live cartridges were found in their car. Also nabbed were two others who they confessed they were taking the guns to.
The suspects are Nwagbo Andrew, Nwadiobu Okechukwu, Abdulazeez Amao and Ezekiel Adefula.

According to the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade, two of the suspects, Andrew and Okechukwu, were nabbed by the Federal Highway Patrol on December 2, at about 10.49p.m. in a Volkswagen car with registration number UWN 462 AZ along Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The police commissioner disclosed to Crime Reports that the two men, who were suspected to have sinister plan of joining their colleagues to carry out an evil plan, attempted to escape when they were stopped by the police, but were apprehended before they could carry out their intention.

“When a search of their vehicle was conducted, four new pump action automatic rifles and 10 packets of live cartridges were found where they were concealed in the car,” the CP stated further.

Andrew, who said he was based in Onitsha, Anambra State, admitted that the guns were found with him. Giving the reason for possession of firearms, He said: “I was cash strapped, so I brought the guns to a friend, Amoo, in order to make some money. I collected the guns from Okechukwu. I know people who have been doing the business, and I felt that I could be part of it to make money.

“I am not an armed robber. I usually buy each gun from Okechukwu at the rate of N95,000 or N100,000. I, in turn, will sell it between N100,000 and N110,000.”

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Olaleye Aluko

A 22-year-old student, Opeyemi Balogun, has been in detention at the Elere Police Division since Saturday, November 28, for alleged involvement in the theft of fuel from the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Opeyemi, a student of a government technical college, and three others were arrested at a hotel in Ikorodu by the Inspector-General of Police Anti-Pipeline Vandalism team, and thereafter taken to the Elere division.
The three other suspects are identified only as John, Adeniran and a lady, whose name had yet to be given.

Our correspondent gathered that Opeyemi, who hails from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, had returned from school on the fateful Friday, and gone to stay with his mother in Ikorodu.

On the following day, the 22-year-old was said to have gone out with friends to a hotel on Pillar Street, Church bus stop, Okeriya, Ikorodu. It was learnt that while they were in the hotel, the police came into the premises, and arrested them as suspected vandals.
Opeyemi’s elder sister, Febisola, said the police were demanding N300,000 from the family to secure Opeyemi’s release, adding that the family had yet to see him since that Saturday.

She said, “It is over two weeks now that they have detained him. The police asked us to bring N300,000 before they can release him. We were still there last week, and it was the same demand.

“Initially, we did not know where he was detained. He was returning home when the police arrested him. People who saw him told us that he had been arrested. We went round all the police divisions in Ikorodu to no avail.

“Later, some people said they saw his name on the suspects’ board at the Elere Police Division. We went to the division and also saw his name. But the police have not allowed us to see him as we speak. They said we should bring N300,000.”

A lawyer for the Baloguns, Quadri Oladapo, said John and Adeniran had allegedly both paid N300,000 to the police before they were released, while Opeyemi was being detained because the family could not meet the policemen’s demand.

Oladapo added that neither he nor Opeyemi’s family members had been able to see the student since his arrest.

He said, “The allegation was that the young men had gone to vandalise pipeline and steal fuel. They were arrested by the police’s Anti-Pipeline Vandalism team. So far, I have made efforts to confirm whether there was a complainant, and I realised there was none. But the police have been holding Opeyemi since November 28.

“They did not take them to the command headquarters. They said the team of policemen which arrested them was from Abuja. I went to the Elere Divisional Police Officer and he said he had not been briefed on the matter.

“To make matters worse, I, as the legal counsel, have not been able to see Opeyemi since November 28. The suspects are not related. They are just friends in the neighbourhood. The two others paid about N300,000 before they were released.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed that Opeyemi was in police custody at Elere, but denied that the police demanded N300,000 for his bail.

He said, “The arrest was made by the IG’s monitoring team. The suspect is only being detained at Elere. The suspects were arrested in connection with a very serious robbery case. It is not a case of fuel theft. It is not true that N300,000 is being demanded for bail.”

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Samson Folarin

The police in Lagos have arrested a 15-year-old Arabic pupil, Sodiq Isa, for allegedly beating a neighbour, Johnson Adeboye, 26, to death with a stick.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the duo had a disagreement after the deceased complained that the suspect was making a noise with a plate.

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

He was said to have been arrested by policemen from the Amukoko division before he was transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.
The incident happened on Townhall Street in the Amukoko area of Lagos.

The suspect, who hails from Ayereke in Kwara State, said Adeboye, a Keke Marwa (tricycle) driver, had first attacked him, and he was forced to retaliate.
He said he was returning from the school on December 5, when his food plate fell from his hand.

He said, “I was returning from Arabic school at about 5pm that day. The plate I used in taking food to school fell from my hands. I picked it up and went to a shop close by to clean it up.

“There was a table in front of the shop; so, I hit the plate on the table to remove the sand inside the plate. Johnson (Adeboye) was in front of the shop, and he told me that I was making a noise with it.

“I told him I was only trying to clean up the sand in the plate. He asked me if I was mad, that why should I be talking to him like that. I responded and told him I was not mad. He warned me that if I continued to talk back at him, he would beat me up. I ignored his threat and walked home.”
He added that the victim followed him home and continued the threat.

Later, Isa’s grandma, who was at home at the time, reportedly intervened and asked what the matter was. The suspect claimed that he was explaining what had transpired to her when the victim attacked him from behind.

“Johnson came from behind and started beating me. Some people around separated us and he left, but he returned some minutes later to assault me again.

“People separated us for the second time, but he went to call one of his friends. Both of them started assaulting me.

“It was at this point that I felt the urge to defend myself. I picked a stick on the ground and hit Johnson on the head.

Immediately, he fell and became unconscious. Neighbours gathered and rushed him to the hospital. But it was too late as he was already dead,” he added.
The suspect, who said he wanted to be an Islamic cleric, begged for forgiveness, saying it was not his intention to kill the deceased.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed the incident, adding that investigations were ongoing.

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Nigeria Union in South Africa has condemned the killing of a 34-year-old housewife, Mrs Christiana Onyeka, by unidentified gunmen on Dec. 3.
Onyeka, a mother of four and native of Ozubulu, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra, was killed in her husband`s office in Midrand, near Johannesburg.

Mr Ikechukwu Ayene, the President of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Midrand, South Africa, on Saturday that it had reported the incident to the South African police and Nigerian mission.
“The unjust killing of Nigerians in South Africa is becoming alarming.

“We are worried that after reporting such killings to the police, we do not get the desired results. Most cases of Nigerian victims of murder are either abandoned or inconclusive,“ he said.
Anyene said that the situation had become so bad because more women were getting killed.

“Nigerian communities in South Africa are devastated by this gruesome murder. Mrs Onyeka was a hard working housewife, dedicated to the success of her husband`s business and welfare of Nigerians in South Africa,“ he said.
Mrs Uzor Ekesi, the President, Nigerian Women Association, South Africa, decried the killing of Onyeka by unidentified gunmen.

“The killing came to us as a big shock. We are scared and confused because women are now being killed.
“ Nigerians, especially women, condemn this act and call for urgent action to stop further killings,“ she said.

She said that Onyeka was an active and dedicated member of the association.
A patron of the association, Mrs Grace Aniegboka said that Nigerian women had embarked on a seven-day fasting and prayer session to seek divine intervention on the incident.

“Our reaction has been that of shock and disbelief. We pray God not to allow this incident or killing of Nigerians happen again,“ she said.

Christiana`s husband, Chief Onyekachi Onyeka, also the President of Anambra State Associations in South Africa, said he was still in shock and could not speak.

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Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George has implored members of the party to close ranks, and stop trading blames over the party’s loss in the 2015 presidential election.

George, who spoke with Saturday Sun’s TUNDE THOMAS in Lagos, urged members of the party to start strategizing with a view to returning PDP to power in 2019.

The PDP chieftain, who recently clocked 70 years, also spoke on his prison experience in Kirikiri Maximum Prison, the Supreme Court judgment that upturned his conviction and President Muhammadu Buhari leadership, among oth­ers. Excerpts:

How do you feel at 70, sir?

Very good question to ask. Everybody has been asking me how I feel attaining the age of 70. It hasn’t dawned on me yet that I have attained 70. But when I look, I thank God and I have every cause to celebrate. But I’m still the same Bode George that I’m. The only difference is that the agility that was there before is no longer there.

I used to be a very active sportsman but now if I go into the squash court, I can’t play again the way I used to when I was much younger.

My first daughter is 43 years old now, and I have grand­children I play with, with all these and some people includ­ing my wife now calling me Baba George, I realise that I have truly passed the age of a young man. For me to have attained the biblical age of three scores and 10, I’m grateful to God.

What are some of challenges that you have faced, and how did you cope or overcome them?

The challenges were many. I had my own fair shares of them but in all things like we were told in the Bible we must always thank God. I still can’t forget that vicious convoluted conspiracy against me.

While serving in the military?

No. They conspired to jail me as a politician. This was when I was a former chairman of the Nigeria Ports Author­ity where I thought I did my utmost best to serve the na­tion. But some people conspired wanting to denigrate the name and reputation I have built over the years.

But thank God that they didn’t charge us that any money was missing. They only said that we dis­obeyed the Federal Government circular, and that the contracts awarded were split. This is very nonsensical, very very nonsensical.

Now looking back, the whole thing to me was very idiotic. The young man, who pro­nounced us guilty, was not God-fearing. But thank God that we have three layers of courts, High Court, Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court looked at the whole trial and con­viction and eventually exonerated us. The Supreme Court upturned my conviction and that of others charged with me. The Supreme Court judges in their pronouncement said we should not have been tried at all.

My trial and conviction by lower court which I would like to describe as persecution by my political opponents who were jealous of my rising profile almost made me to lose faith in the nation called Nigeria. But I thank God that I didn’t lose my mind during the trial and incarceration at Kirikiri Maximum Prison. The spirit of God kept me going. My wife was solidly behind me. My children and all mem­bers of my family stood by me because they knew my trial was a conspiracy. It was absolute conspiracy.

I will like to read a portion of the concluding part of the Supreme Court judgment that set me free alongside others.

I read: “In conclusion, it has been established that the position of the prosecution rest on a shifting ground. The charges preferred against the appellant, that is me in re­spect of splitting contracts and disobedience of guidelines is unknown to any written law at the material time. They can’t stand as they fall flat. To cap it, the extant charges with intention to defraud, an extra element of the charges which was not proved beyond reasonable doubt. It was a complete mistrial by the lower court. The appeal is allowed. The judgment of the court below is accordingly set aside. The appellant is hereby discharged and acquitted.” Justice John Afolabi Fabiyi delivered the lead judgment by the Supreme Court. I have never met him before. I wasn’t even in the country when the whole thing was going on. That there were still God-fearing people in this country, that there are still Justices who serve as a beacon of hope and justice, because of this I have a strong belief that no matter what, there are still good people in Nigeria.

What I experienced and passed through I don’t call it politics but rather I will call it polit­ricks because these people attempted to drag me down. One thing I’m sure of is that no­body will e s c a p e justice f o r h i s o r her misdeed. There is always nemesis. My enemies will reap the fruits of their evil plans on me.

The young man, who tried me at the lower court, I pray that one day he will reap his own reward. For 18 months I was in the prison, my political enemies who plotted the trial and conviction thought they were putting me in a cage or drowning me for life but the prison experience strengthened my faith.

I met a lot of young people there – some of them were awaiting trial. But God eventually used me to get some of them out of the prison.

Look at the case of one young inmate from Ondo State: I didn’t know him but every Sunday he would come to my cell and start singing and dancing and praising God.

Then after service one Sunday, I called him, why he was always in high spirit while praying, he then told me that he had been on the death row inside the prison for 28 years. I was later told that the young man was framed for the of­fence for which he was sentenced to death. I then made up my mind to assist him.

Luckily for the young man and others like him, when I was in prison, my political associates, including governors and other eminent citizens, were always visiting me. One day, Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko visited me, and I took up the man’s case with him, he then inter­vened and set the man free.

There were others like this young man who God used me to intervene in their case. Therefore looking at the whole thing, I will not say that my going to the prison was a punishment because if I had not gone there, I might not have come into contact with those characters I met in the prison. Going to the prison has enabled me to see life from another prism.

While there at Kirikiri Maximum Prison, I met a lot of character including the Clif­ford Orji, the man sent to the prison for al­legedly eating human beings.

I have been to the highest mountains and I have also seen the worst of the valleys. But what I have gained from all these is a very strong faith that God Almighty is on His throne. If you continue to praise and wor­ship Him in any situation you find yourself, God will answer you. I am a testimony.

On that day when Justice Oyewole sent us to the prison, one would think that was the end of life. Other NPA board members that were arraigned with me were even crying.

I had to quickly rally round them and told them that since we know that we never com­mitted any offence that God will vindicate us. More so as the judge in his pronounce­ment didn’t say any money was missing. But I still believe that what evil men do will follow them for the rest of their lives.

Prison was an experience that some would say that was a black hole in a man’s life but for me that was one experience I passed through and came out in flying co­lours.

Can you recall events that happened on the day of your release?

What I vividly remembered was that on the previous night of the day that we were to be released from prison, the whole secu­rity apparatus of Lagos State was there, and these security agents were telling us to leave the prison immediately that night, but I re­sisted. I said no. I insisted that we will leave the prison the following morning in broad daylight. This security team was led by the state commissioner of police and his area commanders.

Apparently, my political opponents are afraid of my popularity, were jittery and these security men were doing their bidding. But I stood my ground and bluntly told the commissioner of police that I came to the prison in broad daylight and that I will leave the prison in broad daylight.

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha also told me that I should not leave the prison in the night with these security men. The follow­ing morning, I was surprised when I saw a mammoth crowd of my supporters and well-wishers who had come to the prison to accompany me home.

The crowd was huge. They were singing, and dancing, rejoicing and celebrating my release. From the prison, we went straight to the church. But you know what, some people were not happy seeing my support­ers dancing and celebrating my release.

What do you mean, sir ….?

(Cuts in) A man that I served loyally and I was totally committed to his cause be­trayed me. That is former President Oluse­gun Obasanjo. You know what he had to say about me, he said I was celebrating crimi­nality – this was when I realised that human beings can’t be trusted.

I was shocked to my bone by Obasanjo’s comments. When Obasanjo came out of prison, where did he go to thank God? He went to church. Why must he say that I was celebrating criminality, is it because of the crowd in the church he saw? What Obasanjo did to me was an experience I can’t forget. It was a betrayal. I was very close to him. I was like his viceroy, for him to utter such a statement was very shocking and unbelievable to me. The re­lationship between us before was like that of father and son, but I doubt it, things can be the same again.

What does your trial tell you about Ni­gerian poli­tics?

It tells me that we are yet to get to that level of civil­ity. It tells me that maturity is not yet there. We are still playing primitive daily bread poli­tics. Many politi­cians don’t have a second address, and that is why they take politics as a do-or-die af­fair. These primi­tive politicians see you as their enemy if you have another view that is differ­ent from their own.

From my own background, whoever is in government is not there by his own making, the Bible tells us to pray for our leaders so that the nation can prosper. We should jet­tison the pull-him-down syndrome from our politics. Opposition should not be seen as an enemy but as a partner in progress, so our politicians should learn to tolerate opposing views.

With the Supreme Court exoner­ating you and others, some had expected that you would have sued for damages, why did you refuse to do so?

I thank Almighty God for what He did in my life. Why I didn’t bother about any damages or taking anybody to court was PDP my party was in power, and the Fed­eral Ministry of Justice wrote a letter to me after my release that they had no knowledge of my case, that it was Lagos State Govern­ment that was responsible for my trial us­ing criminal laws of Lagos State. But the surprising thing is that I was working for a federal agency and yet it was a state govern­ment and not the Federal Government that put me on trial.

Bola Tinubu, who was then Lagos State governor and his then Attorney-General, Yemi Osinbajo, who is now the Vice-Pres­ident, used the Lagos State Criminal Law which they revised and reworked to put me on trial. They gave the EFCC chair­man, Farida Waziri a fiat to prosecute Bode George who was working for a federal agen­cy and not Lagos State government.

I pray for Farida Waziri that during her lifetime that she would meet God before she dies. She and those judges at the lower court, I pray that they will purge themselves so that God can forgive them.

But to me, God says vengeance is His and not ours. I thank God that I have that prison experience because I’m a different person now. Wherever truth is being celebrated now, I will be there but wherever evil is, I will never be there. Why should I be afraid of anybody again at 70? Anything I achieve again now is a bonus and grace from God.

What do you think went wrong with PDP that made the party lose the election?

We are trying to forget the past and now focus on rebuilding the party – I believe that God’s willing, we will stabilize the party. The time to talk about the state of the party is not now. As an elder, if you want peace in your household, you don’t go through the market place to go and start talking ill of your family. There is nothing impossible in life if you trust your God.

PDP will bounce back. We have two ma­jor elections ahead of us, that is Bayelsa and Kogi states, we are going to work together as a family because a divided house is a de­feated house.

If you have been in power for 16 years and suddenly you find yourself in opposi­tion, initially it will be strange to you, but we are working hard to get back to power.

I want to plead with PDP members that got so angry and left the party to come back home. Honestly, sincerely and committedly, PDP will bounce back.

I, however, want to make one important appeal to President Buhari, he should imple­ment the Constitution Report left behind by the Jonathan administration. It will do Nige­ria a lot of good for that confab report to be implemented.

Why has it been difficult for PDP to win Lagos State with people like you as notable members?

During this last election, PDP almost won, what happened was that former President Goodluck Jonathan and our leaders in Abuja were misled by some people in Lagos who gave them the impression that they were the ones who can deliver Lagos. Unfortunately, Jonathan fell for their deception.

One joker in Lagos State told Jonathan that he has Lagos State under his armpit and that he would single-handedly deliver Lagos State to PDP. Unfortunately, Jonathan lis­tened to these liars and manipulators. These elements took advantage of Jonathan’s good nature. He trusted them, but these congenital liars betrayed Jonathan. If our party leaders had listened to us, things would not have turned out that way. These people deceived Jonathan and messed up, hoping they want­ed to go back into government as ministers. Their action led to Jimmy Agbaje’s defeat.

But all hope is not yet lost for PDP, just as I’m optimistic that we will bounce back in 2019, and Lagos State will be one of the states to be won by PDP. I’m sure former President Goodluck Jonathan will someday in his memoir write about his experience with those liars, the roles they played in his campaign for re-election during the 2015 presidential election. Many liars took ad­vantage of Jonathan’s good nature.

Politics apart, do you think President Muhammadu Buhari can deliver?

In the military, if you are junior to an of­ficer, you don’t write his confidential report. It is a taboo. Having said that, it is Nigeri­ans that will decide whether Buhari has per­formed or not. However, let me quickly add this, Buhari has just started the journey and God said that we should pray for our lead­ers, I pray for him that God will give him wisdom to do the right thing or get it right. All I want and pray for is that let there be peace in this country. I’m also optimistic that PDP will bounce back. We will meet APC in 2019, and the electorate will decide. But I’m very sure that PDP is coming back.

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Some soldiers conveying foodstuffs to troops were ambushed along Bama-Ngurosoye by suspected Boko Haram elements yesterday Thursday. A search and rescue team that was sent to Bokos general area has recovered corpses of a soldier and a civilian JTF, as well 6 burnt AK-47 rifles.

The team has also intensified search for a missing soldier. The Explosive Ordinance Device element on the team have discovered and detonated an Improvised Explosive Device buried along the road. They have also found out and destroyed Boko Haram terrorists hideout in the area.

It will be recalled that Ngurosoye has been cleared of terrorists months ago, but some elements of Boko Haram terrorists that were thought to be innocent civilians, sneaked into that and sprang an ambush on troops escorting supplies to our force at the front lines yesterday.

Despite the unfortunate incident, troops morale remain very high and they have continued with their patriotic duties of searching for and destroying the Boko Haram terrorists in their enclaves.
Thank you for your usual and kind cooperation.


Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman
Acting Director Army Public Relations

The Operation ĹAFIYA DOLE truck that ran into Boko Haram terrorists ambush.

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Samuel refused to refund the money because, according to him, during the period the relationship lasted, he too spent his money on her.