₦airaland Forum

A man identified as a pastor of a pentecostal church, Pastor Prosper Obum Igboke has committed suicide in Nnewi, Anambra State.

Sources said the man jumped down from a two storey-building after he was jilted by his lover.

A relative of the deceased, who spoke to newsmen under anonymity, said the man had trained his lover in the university, after which she declined his marriage proposal.

“The man was 30 years old at the time of his death. His girlfriend, whom he intended to marry disappointed him after seeing her through the university.

“He jumped down from a two storey-building and died. I am surprised that a man of his age and a pastor can do this.”

The source said according to the tradition of Leru autonomous community of Umunneochi LGA in Abia State, the man would be buried in a forest for committing sacrilege.

The man was eventually buried, yesterday, Friday, in a bush, the source added.

Yobe State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says its operatives have intercepted 33 blocks of Cannabis Sativa concealed in two sacks containing groundnuts.

The Command through its Principal Staff Officer, Media and Advocacy, Ramatu SB disclosed this in a brief statement issued to newsmen in Damaturu, on Friday.

According to the command, the 133 blocks of compressed Cannabis Sativa weighing 62.0kg which originated from Taraba State, were intercepted along Potiskum-Gombe highway in Potiskum Local Government Area of Yobe State.

In the process, three suspects were apprehended in connection with the illegal trafficking.

On the 23rd August, 2023, a team of Operatives – Strike Force of NDLEA, Yobe State Command led by CSN Jibril Odiba trailed and intercepted one ash coloured Sharon galaxy vehicle with Registration No. AKK 484XA from Ba-isa Local Government in Taraba State.

“Three suspects in the vehicle namely: Ya’u Yahuza ‘M’ 30yrs, Yahaya Muhd ‘M’ 29yrs and Tanimu Salisu ‘M’ 20yrs all indigenes of Gombe State were arrested with 133 blocks weighed to be 62.0kg of compressed weeds”, it said.
Meanwhile, NDLEA Yobe State command said it has taken its sensitization campaign on War Against Drugs Abuse, (WADA) to NYSC Orientation Camp holding in Dazigau, Nangere Local Government Area, Yobe State.

Led by the Area Commander, Potiskum Area Command, ACN Aliyu Yaro about 1, 700 corps members were sensitised on the causes and effects of drug abuse.

The campaign featured extensive discussion on the subject matter as well as question and answer sessions.

Boko Haram terrorists have released about 48 women abducted from Maiwa and Shuwarin villages of Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State.

The women abducted were released after a ransom of N2.4 million was paid.

The release was made public by a Counter-Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in Lake Chad, Zagazola Makama.

Tweeting on Thursday, Makama said that the women were kidnapped on their farmlands on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

Makama said the women were taken to an unknown destination after abduction from where Boko Haram demanded random.

“On Wednesday, August 23, the women were released after paying N50,000 each as ransom to the terrorists,” Makama wrote.

Makama also said that eight of the abducted women had earlier been released after paying N20,000 each as ransom.

The Nasarawa State Police Command has arrested a man and his wife for allegedly stealing their neighbour’s two-year-old son.

DSP Ramhan Nansel, the command’s Public Relations Officer, said this on Thursday in Lafia while briefing newsmen.

Nansel said that the father of the victim, Adamu Abdullahi of Orange Market, Mararaba, Karu Local Government Area, reported to the Police on Aug. 13 at about 3:30 pm, that his two-year-old son had been missing for almost two weeks.

He said the complainant also told the police that he had received a phone call on the same day from an unknown person demanding a ransom of N2 million.

The spokesman said police detectives were immediately deployed in search of the missing child, and their efforts led to the arrest of the prime suspect and three accomplices.

According to him, the prime suspect, who is a neighbour to the victim’s father, confessed, upon interrogation, to have conspired with the other suspects, all of Orange Market, to steal the child.

He added that the suspect also revealed to the detectives that he handed the child over to his wife, who took him to Katsina State.

Nansel said the police trailed the suspect’s wife to Katsina State, arrested her, and recovered the child, who has been reunited with his parents.

The spokesman also said that the command had arrested 14 suspects between July and August for various offences, including kidnapping, armed robbery, and cultism.

He added that three guns and 11 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from some of the suspects.

Nansel, who cautioned residents to be security conscious, said all the suspects would be charged in court once investigations are concluded.

An aide to Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Daniel Bwala, has described the President Bola Tinubu administration’s N5 billion palliative as renewed nonsense.

Bwala made the remark while noting that the organized labour demystified the N5billion palliative to State governments.

He noted that the calculation by the organized labour showed that each person would get N1,500 from the palliative.

Tweeting, Bwala wrote: “The organised labour has demystified the so-called 5 billion naira FGN gave to States; first the FGN said it was a palliative and they are now saying it is a loan.

“Organized labour further did their arithmetical calculations and arrived at a shameful conclusion that the so-called 5billion naira comes down to N1,500 per person.

“How much is the cost of food items in the market? Renewed nonsense.”

The Federal Government had announced plans to release N5 billion as palliative to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.

The Police in Ethiope-West Local Government Area, Oghara Community youths and the Local Vigilante have rescued a kidnap victim and reunited him with his family.

The Police also recovered from the scene of the incident, 20 rounds of 7.62 AK-47 live ammunition, PM NEWS can report.

The Delta State Command led by CP Wale Abass confirmed the report in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe.

The Police image maker said,”On 17/8/2023 at about 2035 hours, the DPO Oghara police station received information from members of the community that some persons suspected to be kidnappers were sighted in a white Benz GLK with reg. No ABC-448-HC around the Ogharake community.

“The team embarked on a serious patrol of the area until about 2150 hours when the policemen sighted the said vehicle and on getting closer to the vehicle, the hoodlums abandoned the car and escaped into the bush.”

According to him, it was during a search of the vehicle that the items were recovered.

DSP Edafe said,”Investigation revealed that the victim was kidnapped in Sapele at the entrance of his apartment on the same date at about 1900 hours.”

He said,”The victim has since been reunited with his family while a manhunt for the fleeing suspects is ongoing.”

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said it has arrested four suspected rail track vandals in Nasarawa State.

CSC Babawale Afolabi, NSCDC National Public Relations Officer, in a statement said the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad intercepted an articulated DAF truck conveying large quantities of vandalised rail track iron concealed inside iron scrap.

According to him, the four suspected arrested have been taken into custody for further investigations and action.

According to him, details of the truck were hiven as an articulated DAF truck with registration number BSA 899XA and the four suspected vandals, among whom is a 27-year-old Anasi Ali, who was the driver of the truck.

“Others are Yusuf Idris, 25, Hafis Idris, 18 and Nasiru Abdullahi, 28, who served as an escort.

Items recovered from the vandals are; a DAF truck, large quantities of offloaded scrap irons and large quantities of vandalised railway iron.

“Investigation carried out by the NSCDC revealed that the vandals loaded the rail truck irons and slippers in Makurdi, Benue State and concealed them inside scrap irons to disguise them as scraps. They were taking the vandalised products to an undisclosed iron and steel company in Ilorin, Kwara State before they were intercepted and arrested,” the statement further added

Abia State Police Command has confirmed the death of a female evangelist, Happiness Echieze in an Aba guest house, saying that that it was a suspected case of murder.

This is even as several online news accounts in the state have claimed that the female evangelist died in the guest house during alleged ‘marathon sex’ with an acclaimed bishop of a pentecostal church, Bishop Timothy Otu.

Confirming the development on Thursday, Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Maureen Chioma Chinaka said that on August 13, one Mr Godwin Akapan, who resides at Jubilee Guest House in Ovom village in Obingwa LGA reported LGA, reported to the Isialangwa Police Division that an incident had occurred.

According to the police statement, “It was revealed that on the evening of August 12, 2023, around 09:25 PM, a clergyman named Timothy Otu (male), associated with Agape Evangelical Ministry at Obikabia Junction in Obingwa LGA, had checked into the guest house along with a woman named Happiness Echieze (female) from Isialangwa LGA, Abia State. Happiness Echieze was 43 years of age.

“Further details provided by Mr. Akpan indicated that on the same date, around 12:00 am he entered the hotel room of the aforementioned clergyman and discovered the lifeless body of Happiness Echieze. She was found unclothed, and a white substance was emanating from her mouth and nose. Regrettably, the clergyman was absent from the scene”, the Abia Police said.

The statement informed the public that immediate preliminary investigations have been launched into the matter, adding that the deceased’s body has been transported from the location and is currently at the SDA Mortuary in Aba, awaiting an autopsy examination.

The police statement explained that that the bishop has been nabbed while the matter had been transfered to the State Criminal Investigation Department, CID for discreet investigations even as termed the incident a suspected murder case.

But before the police reports, several online media houses in Abia State had claimed that the late Evangelist Happiness Echieze died in the guest house during a sexual intercourse with Pastor Timothy Otu, who was alleged believed to be his lover even before the burble burst.

The stories also had it that the dead Evangelist had five children while her husband was allegedly based in Bayelsa State

A 22 year old man, Adewale Mustapha has been arrested and paraded by the Osun State Police Command for the defilement of a minor.

The suspect claimed he did not know what came over him when he committed the atrocity against the three year old child.

Mustapha, who admitted to the crime during the parade of criminals by the State Police, also expressed confusion over his own actions.

The incident according to the spokesperson of the Command, Yemisi Opalola occured on July 25, 2023.

According to Opalola in a press briefing, “the mother had left her young daughter at home under Mustapha’s supervision and returned around 3:20 pm on the same day.

“Shockingly, she discovered that the suspect had sexually assaulted her child. The victim was immediately taken to the Police Hospital for a medical examination and treatment.”

Opalola stated that after the investigation is completed, the suspect will face legal charges in court.

He assured the public that the police would spare no effort in bringing all criminals to justice.

A 34-year-old man, Adebiyi Samuel, has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife, Serah Ogungbe.

Samuel was arrested by operatives of the Amotekun Corps in Ogun State on Monday during a routine patrol.

The suspect was said to have murdered the 27-year-old wife at Lekki Phase II in Lagos, but he fled to hide in neighbouring Ogun State.

A statement by the Deputy Commander of the Ogun State Amotekun Corps, Aina Oluwakayode, on Thursday, said the suspect was nabbed in Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu North Local Government Area of the state.

Oluwakayode stated that the suspect admitted that he committed the crime.

He stated that Samuel would be handed over to the police headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further interrogation.