Unidentified gunmen on Thursday murdered Dr. Vincent Eebe, a lecturer of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic in River State.
The lecturer was shot several times by his assailants along Bua-Yeghe in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Eebe, a senior lecturer and the Director of Industrial Training of the polytechnics, Bori, was shot dead by suspected assassins on his way home from the polytechnic.
It was learnt that Eebe was heading back to his Port Harcourt residence before he was bracketed at Bua-Yeghe.
A community source, who gave his name simply as Henry, said that the victim was trailed by his killers from his office.
The source pointed out that when the victim noticed that a car was trailing him, he immediately ran out of the car in his bid to escape an attack.
It was gathered that when Eebe raced out of his car, the hoodlums ran after him and shot him several times and waited to ensure that he was dead before they drove off.
The source revealed that the remains of the victim have so far been deposited in a mortuary in the area.
“The man was coming back from the school where he lectures before some unknown gunmen followed him. As he noticed that the people behind him were after him, he stopped and ran out of his car. The boys followed him and fired several shots at him.”
Reacting, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, confirmed the killing of the polytechnic lecturer.
Muhammad explained that the slain lecturer was together with some people when four armed men trailed and shot him at Bua Yeghe at about 4.20pm
He said, “The report we heard was that he was trailed. Four armed men operating in a green Toyota Camry shot at them at Bua Yeghe along Bori Road.”
The state police spokesman, however, added that investigation had since begun with a view to apprehending and bringing the killers to justice.
Meanwhile, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People has condemned the assassination of Eebe.
MOSOP President, Mr. Legborsi Pyagbara, who spoke in Port Harcourt on Friday, expressed shock at Eebe’s death and called for the immediate investigations into the killing.
Pyagbara called on the police to ensure that the perpetrators of the dastardly act are brought to justice.
“MOSOP considers this sustained tendency of killings as most unnecessary and unfortunate as it does not in any way help to resolve our peculiar disadvantaged circumstance but has painted Ogoni in bad light and destroyed the gains of our collective struggle for justice.
“On several occasions, MOSOP has advised our people against allowing Ogoni to be a theatre of killings and violence as the implications and effects are borne by Ogoni and Ogoni alone.
“We thus passionately call on the police and other security agencies to investigate this recent incident with a view to bringing the culprits and their sponsors to justice,” Pyagbara said.
UGHELLI – A five man gang of suspected assassins on Wednesday night shot dead a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in cold blood at Ughelli, Delta State.
PDP
The victim, Chief Owei Brinimugha who hails from Bomadi council area of the state, was accosted by the hoodlums by Kess College junction along Iwhrekpokpor road, Ughelli at about 8:30pm.
According to eye witnesses at the scene of the incident, the gunmen shot the victim who is in his early 40s thrice on the head, chest and leg after shooting twice into the air to scare away passersby.
Giving further details on the incident, one of the witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity, hinted that four of the gunmen alighted from their car while a fifth gang member waited by the steering of their car.
The source also hinted that the hoodlums after confirming the death of their victim, made away with his Toyota car in company of their own car.
Efforts to speak with the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Celestina Kalu was fruitless as at the time of this report.
However, a senior police officer attached to the Ughelli ‘B’ Division confirmed the incident, adding that the police is on the trail of the suspected assassins.
There was tension in Arepo, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State on Wednesday after some naval officers allegedly killed three residents.
Murders
The victims, identified as Biodun Mohammed, Chicagoand Body, were said to have been rounded up on Sunday at a beer parlour in the area.
The men were said to have been taken away and shot dead.
Family members and friends of the victims, who found their corpses on Wednesday, blocked the only entrance into the Arepo community, preventing vehicular movements in and out.
The situation created traffic jam on the road, which spilled onto the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
When PUNCH Metro visited the scene of the alleged execution in Voera Estate, it was observed that the corpses had become bloated just as stench pervaded the air.
While two of the men were taken across a wooden bridge into the creek where they were shot, the last corpse was found inside a bush where flies were feasting on it.
As of 4pm on Wednesday, policemen from the Ibafo division had surrounded the place and stopped people from coming to gaze at the corpses.
It was learnt that 24-year-old Mohammed, an indigene of Ogun State, resided in Sagamu, Ogun State.
His widow, Motunrayo, said she confronted the military officers when they arrested her husband on Sunday.
She said, “On Sunday around 7pm, the military officers numbering about seven came to the restaurant where my husband was with a friend. I can indentify two of them as Jason and Ola. I asked them what his offence was, but Jason asked me to keep quiet.
“He pointed a gun at me and threatened to shoot me dead if I moved closer. He did not allow my husband or his friend to utter a word. They took them away.
“I went to report at the soldiers’ base in Ebute and they said they were not holding my husband. But this morning, some landlords in Voera Estate, where he was killed, came to inform me that they had found his corpse in the bush.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that the third victim was earlier arrested on Sunday.
It was learnt that Mohammed was into furniture making.
His mother, Safura, said the 24-year-old had come to Arepo to celebrate Easter with his family when the incident happened.
“I was the one that called him on Saturday that he should come to Arepo to celebrate Easter with us.
“On Sunday morning, he washed his clothes and ate. In the evening, he went to the restaurant when he was arrested. The soldiers took them from there and went to kill them in the forest,” she added.
Safura lamented that her son was killed in cold blood, calling for justice for him.
A resident, Jide Olorunsola, said the naval authorities killed the men in the creek to cover up the crime and make it appear that was where they were caught.
“They made it appear like they were vandals and that they caught them in the creek and shot them dead,” he said.
Another resident, who did not identify himself, accused the military of highhandedness in Arepo, asking the authorities to curtail their excesses.
He said, “If they find you outside at 9pm, they will harass you for no just cause. They go beyond their boundaries and even go as far as extorting money from residents.”
There was almost a confrontation with some OP MESA operatives at the Arepo gate as families of the victim insisted their patrol van would not go out.
Two of the officers at the back cocked their guns, which angered the protesters, who dared them to shoot.
A community leader, however, intervened by appeasing the protesters to allow the military officers to go.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police had begun investigations into the deaths.
He said the police were also making arrangements to remove the corpses and deposit them in a mortuary.
He said, “The Ibafo division of the command got the information that three people were taken by some men at a beer parlour on Sunday around 8pm, and they were shot dead and their corpses were found in Arepo. We are investigating and we are going to get the perpetrators.
“Meanwhile, the Divisional Police Officer is trying to get an ambulance to see how we can evacuate the corpses. The Deputy Commissioner of Operations has sent more policemen to the community to assist the DPO to forestall a breakdown of law and order.”
The acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, denied the involvement of military officers guarding the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s pipelines in Arepo in the killing.
He said pipeline vandals who had run out of business because of the activities of the military were out to blackmail them.
He said, “For more than one month now, we have not had any operation in that area, so how could we have killed those people? How can the troop deployed for Operation Awase kill them? How do you even believe that members of the armed forces of Nigeria would descend so low as go to meet people in a beer parlour to abduct them?
“The issue is that before our coming, there had been series of vandalism and siphoning of fuel in Arepo. Some people had made a lot of money before the government intervened and said no more of that due to the economic recession. It is this people, that are trying to blackmail us. Anyone saying we killed anybody should produce evidence. Who did it?
“However, as a security agency that is supposed to protect lives and property, we are concerned about the loss of lives. Last time, they ambushed our officers and some of them were killed; but did anybody make noise? The reason is that we take that as part of the risks of our job. People should not be using the media to achieve whatever is their plot.”
A teenager, who has been on the wanted list of the Nigeria Police as a serial killer, Happy Agbangbanyan, has killed a retired headmistress, identified as Clara Uwaifo.
Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase
Clara, aged 65, was shot dead in front of her residence at 27, Oviawe Street, off Upper Siluko road, Ogida, Benin-City, at about 3pm.
She was said to be returning from an hospital where she went to see her daughter when she was killed.
Late Clara retired last year from Uwelu Primary School in Ikpoba Okha Local Government.
Her grand-daughter, who claimed to have witnessed the killing, said she saw the suspect following her grandmother as she approached their residence.
She stated that the suspect pulled out a gun from his trousers and shot at the woman from behind, just as she made a move to collect a bag from her grandmother,
Some family members said the deceased family has been at logger heads with the suspect’s family for many years.
—THERE has been a reprisal killing in Buguma, Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. Community sources alleged that supporters of late Ofinijete Amachree, who was murdered on Tuesday, were behind the latest killing on Wednesday.
They gave the name of the person killed as Baine, adding that his remains were also set ablaze at the sand field area of the community.
“It was clearly a reprisal killing. The persons behind this did exactly what happened to the late All Progressives Congress, APC, member, late Amachree. They set his corpse on fire as well,” the source said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Muhammad, at press time, had not responded to a text message sent to him by our correspondent on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has alleged that the military invaded Abonnema community in Akuku Toru council and harassed members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the area.
It has fired back at the acting National Chairman of APC, Mr Segun Oni, describing his allegations that Governor Nyesom Wike was behind recent acts of violence in the state as a ploy to flood the state with soldiers and use them to hijack ballot boxes in the March 19 re-run elections.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, who made the allegation, yesterday, said that the military operation took place in the early hours of yesterday.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the military to order, saying that they should stop the alleged politically motivated operations in the state.
The spokesman, 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt Army Barracks, Captain Lazarus Eli, however, said that the military operation in the early hours of yesterday in Abonnema had nothing to do with politics. Also, APC, in a statement, yesterday, by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Chris Finebone, said that it would not play politics with the lives of the people of the state.
Finebone said that his party has been at the receiving end of the violence that has lingered in the state for over six years, adding that supporters of APC were being butchered in the 23 LGAs of the state.
Meanwhile, Governor Wike has urged the people of the state to remain resolute in the protection of their votes during the forthcoming re-run legislative elections.
Commissioning the Phase One of the reconstructed Nkpogu Bridge/Road and ground breaking for Phase 2, Governor Wike said that the people of Rivers State insist on free and fair elections despite the antics of the APC.
He charged the people of the state to vote for PDP candidates during the re-run lelections for the sustenance of development in the state.
Wike said: “There is no need to allow the APC to come back to the state. If you allow them to come back, they will scuttle development projects for our people. We are children of light. We are in the promised land and we cannot return to the days of darkness represented by the APC. We must protect our votes to reclaim our mandate. This is our opportunity to tell Nigerians once again that this is a PDP state.”
Similarly, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr Austin Tam-George, in a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt accused the APC of taking propaganda to a ridiculous height by describing every dead person in the state as a member of the APC.
“The attempt by the APC to appropriate every dead person in River State as their member might mean that the APC is in fact the sponsor of these satanic cult clashes, all in an attempt to destabilize the Wike administration.
“The APC’s reckless and false allegations were part of a plan to incite the military and other security forces against the people of Rivers State. It is a crude plan to militarize the state and use the security forces to steal the results of the forthcoming re-run election,” he said.
A teacher in a private school, Edet Umoren, who beheaded a 10-year-old pupil, Precious Adedeji, last Thursday in Esugbo, Itamerin, near Ijebu-Ife, in the Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, said he was provoked by the victim and the head teacher, who is the wife of the proprietor.
Adedeji, a pupil of Favour Nursery and Primary School, was the granddaughter of the proprietor, Pastor Joseph Olutoye.
She was killed by the assailant a day after her 10th birthday.
Umoren was paraded on Monday at the headquarters of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Magbon, Abeokuta, along with six suspected kidnappers and a suspected Boko Haram member by the state Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali.
The 52-year-old native of Akwa Ibom State said he committed the crime because Adedeji and the head teacher made him angry by some uncomplimentary remarks they made.
He also said he never knew what came over him, adding that he regretted his action.
He said, “That morning, I held a cutlass which I used to cut canes in the bush to discipline pupils. The girl(Adedeji) and the head teacher saw me and made some remarks which provoked me; then I used the cutlass to behead her.
“I never knew what came over me; it was when I had carried out the act that I regained my senses. I regret my action.”
Umoren, who said he was married with three children, explained that the proprietor owed him four years salary arrears, adding that his salary was N7,000 per month and not N4,000.
The suspect who had been in the employ of the school since 2011, stated that he had a pupil he was sponsoring his education in the school, adding that the school fees was deducted from his salary.
Umoren, who until the incident was the treasurer of the proprietor’s church, was also accused of allegedly stealing over N250,000 from the church.
He, however, said what he took from the church fund was about N50,000, claiming it was part of the salary arrears being owed him.
The state police boss said the suspect, who ran away after committing the crime, was later arrested at Itamagiri in Ijebu Imusin.
Umoren was alleged to have also severed the right hand of Adedeji.
He allegedly attacked Adedeji, who was in company with her friend, Patricia, and the head teacher.
They were said to be on their way back to the school when Umoren allegedly pounced on them.
Patricia, who escaped from the scene, was said to have run back to the school to inform the proprietor of the attack by “uncle Edet.”
The proprietor, Olutoye, expressed shock at Umoren’ action, saying the teacher left two notes at the scene of the crime, claiming that he committed the crime because of the failure of the proprietor to pay him his January and February salary.
Also paraded were six suspected kidnappers who were arrested around the Sagamu-Ijebu-Ode area. They confessed to being responsible for kidnapping an expatriate in Lagos State and an 87-year-old man, Chief Modiu Rabiu at Atan, Ijebu Ode.
The gang, allegedly led by Mahama Godwin, aka Bado, according to the CP, used a canoe to take their victims to their den around the Omu Ijebu River.
Ali said, “The suspects collected N2.7m ransom from an 87-year-old man. They were on their way to kidnap another expatriate in Ijebu Ode when the men of SARS swooped on them. They have confessed to the crime.”
Other members of the gang were Lucky Oba, Saheed Bilesanmi, Lucky Peter, Seun Oladimeji and Segun Arigidi.
Also paraded was 25-year-old Mukhtar Umar, suspected to be a member of Boko Haram.
Ali said Umar fled Borno and settled at Kara Market in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the sate, adding that through intelligence and close monitoring of events at the market, the suspect was arrested.
Umar, who spoke in Hausa, however, denied being a member of Boko Haram, but said he was arrested “because I have a friend who’s a Boko Haram member.”
Shocked and saddened by the reckless killings in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State which continued over the weekend, the State chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro Felix Obuah says it’s condemnable and unacceptable.
PDP
The State PDP Boss in an emotion laden voice while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt described the resurgence of killings among his kinsmen as abominable and sheer madness.
Bro Obuah wondered why all the entreaties by the State Governor, Chief Barr Nyesom Wike to all the warring youths in Omoku during his visit to the area a few weeks ago could be so flagrantly violated as though they gain anything from killing one another.
Describing the weekend onslaught as one too many, he urged the police to beef up security around the area and all parts of the State and further urged them to fish out perpetrators of the heinous acts and bring them to book.
While sympathizing with victims of the attack, the Rivers PDP Chairman, Bro Obuah advised the police to step up their intelligence gathering in order to prevent further attacks and killings of Rivers people.
‘’My heart goes out to those that lost their lives and loved ones in this tragic event’’, Bro Obuah said.
Bro Obuah further urged politicians to join hands with Governor Nyesom Wike to keep the State peaceful and secure from the hands of criminals, rather than trading blames and politicking with insecurity of any kind in the State.
He regretted that rather than join in the fight against criminality and insecurity in the State, some politicians, particularly, chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC have used it to play politics.
Bro Obuah reiterated his crusade for a free and peaceful State devoid of crimes, stressing that he cannot be part of anything that would take someone’s life.
He assured that the PDP would continue to preach against violence and criminality in the State, and would not support evil in whatever guise.
It would be recalled that a number of people lost their lives during the unfortunate weekend attack including one Isaac Ikechukwu Chinedu, PDP Chairman in Obite, Chinedu Saidey, Ward 9 PDP Assistant Secretary from Oboburu Community, Franklyn Nkukuru Obi, APC Ward 4 chairman, his wife and son.
Gunmen have beheaded a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The APC chieftain identified as Franklin Obi was murdered alongside his wife, Iheoma, and 18-year-old son, Bestman, at their residence in Omoku at about 9pm on Saturday.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Kimo, who is currently on a visit to the place, expressed regret over the incident.
A teacher in a private school, Edet Umoren, in Esugbo, Itamerin near Ijebu-Ife, Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, on Thursday, allegedly beheaded a 10-year-old pupil, Precious Adedeji.
Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase
Adedeji, who was a pupil of Favour Nursery and Primary School, was the granddaughter of the proprietor, Pastor Joseph Olitoye.
It was gathered that Umoren allegedly killed the pupil because Olitoye owed him N8, 000 – the suspect’s salaries for January and February.
Umoren, also severed off the right hand of the 10-year-old girl after seizing and dragging her into a nearby bush, a day after her birthday.
The assailant, who was also said to be the treasurer of the school proprietor’s church, was alleged to have seized Adedeji when she and her friend, Patricia, were returning to the school from where they had gone to buy biscuit.
Patricia, it was learnt, escaped from the scene and ran back to the school premises to inform the proprietor of the attack by “Uncle Edet.”
The proprietor said he had pleaded with Umoren to exercise patience till the end of this week to enable him to pay the salaries owed him.
Olitoye disclosed that Umoren left two short notes at the scene of the crime, claiming that he killed the girl because of the failure of the proprietor to pay him his two months’ salaries of N8,000.
He said, “Edet resumed school this morning (Thursday) like every of our staff and we discovered that he left around 10am not knowing he went to plan this evil.”
The distraught Olitoye said he had planned to terminate the appointment of the teacher on Friday over alleged disobedience, which made him to issue him a query before he committed the crime.
He also alleged that the assailant, who until the incident, was the treasurer of his church, had allegedly stolen over N250,000 from the church’s fund.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said Umoren had been arrested.
Adejobi, a deputy superintendent of police, said detectives picked up the suspect at about 5am on Friday.
He said the Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, had directed that the suspect should be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for investigation.
FAMILIES of a woman lawyer, Mrs Yewande Oyediran, who was accused of killing her husband, late Oyelowo Oyediran and that of the deceased, yesterday, clashed within the premises of an Ibadan Magistrate Court after the arraignment of the accused in an Iyaganku Magistrate Court.
Husband Killer, Ywande
Mrs Oyediran allegedly stabbed her husband to death after a domestic fight on February 2, 2016.
This came as warders smuggled the accused out of the court premises in a blue Primera car other than the prison van they used to bring her and other accused persons to court.
After waiting fruitlessly for journalists to leave the court premises so she could board the prison van, the warders had to push other accused persons into the waiting van and sped off.
However, Saturday Vanguard gathered another exit was prepared Mrs Oyediran, who was taken out of the court in a private car.
This, they did to act according to the dictates of the family of the accused who insisted that her photograph must not be taken.
On arrival at the court, a woman dressed in black and purple blouse was the first to charge at the journalists, then followed by other relations of the accused.
The drama got to climax as a man, who is sympathetic to the accused person passed an uncomplimentary remark at a bereaved woman, who was crying all along. This infuriated the family members of the deceased who were trying to conceal their bottled anger.
The atmosphere soon became chaotic as other sympathisers were making frantic efforts to prevent a serious confrontation.
Even though, the gun totting warders had driven journalists away to a far distance, one of them with a name tag, Aborode armed with gun still came and harassed photo-journalists who were trying to capture the moment the accused person would board the prison van.
While in court, her counsel, Abimbola Oluwaseun, who led a retinue of lawyers to the court, said in his oral application, that his client should not be remanded in prison custody having gone through so much trauma.
But his plea did not make any impact on the Chief Magistrate, K.Y Durosaro-Tijani who said, “it is beyond me. I have no jurisdiction to do so.”
The magistrate then ordered her to be remanded in Agodi Prisons, Ibadan.
Speaking after the court session, a relation of the deceased, Mr. Mudasiru Oyewumi said “all we are asking for is justice.”
When asked if he knew of any serious issue between the couple, he said there was nothing except the normal husband-wife relationship.
“Unfortunately, by now she would have regrets. No reasonable woman can lift a knife against her husband”.
A lawyer, Mr. Sina Olaniyan said it was quite unfortunate that we have found ourselves in this ugly situation. What could have prompted her, I can’t say. It is going to be a test for the judiciary because people are watching”.
Another lawyer, Mr Adeleke Bakare described the accused woman as a gentle, amiable person.
“She is somebody who fights against crime as a state counsel. At times, she takes prosecution personal to show how committed she is to her profession. I’m surprised at what has happened to her now. Somebody who fights against crime is now involved in a crime that has highest punishment.”
Police have charged a 15-year-old Brooklyn girl with the murders of her mother and mother’s boyfriend, saying she left the bodies in their Sheepshead Bay apartment for days and even went out partying one night.
Destiny Garcia has been charged as an adult with two counts of second degree murder and two counts of criminal possession of weapon, the abc7 has reported. Detectives said she confessed to the murders during questioning.
Police identified the victims Monday as 38-year-old Rosie Sanchez and her boyfriend 40-year-old Anderson Nunez.
The two were found at about 6.30pm inside their apartment on Batchelder Street in the Sheepshead Bay Houses.
Police said their bodies had been been in the apartment since last Sunday, December 27, and that Garcia lived in the apartment with them.
Two persons, including the head of Idughiamwen quarters, Ikhueniro community in Uhunmwode local government area of Edo State, Chief Famous Onozigue, have been arrested in connection with the murder of a businessman in a brothel, the Corner Rest Guest House.
The other suspect, Osaro Igbineweka, is an auto mechanic.
They were both arrested after the deceased identified as Godwin Aimufua died from injuries sustained after a plank was hit on his head.
Both suspects are trading words over who hit Aimufua on the head.
Sources said the deceased visited Chief Famous and they both went to the brothel to have drinks when fight which resulted in Aimufua’s death broke out.
The source said the deceased fought Osaro inside the bar and Chief Onozigue picked a plank to hit Osaro but mistakenly hit his friend instead.
The village head, who claimed to be 35 years old, denied involvement in the fight, saying it was Osaro that hit his friend with a plank during a fight between them.
He said, “I am a traditional ruler, the Okao of Idughiamwen Community in Ikhueniro. The bar man did not come to attend to us on time. My friend went inside the bar to collect the beer.”
“I did not know what happened inside between my friend and the bar man and that boy called Osaro.”
“The next thing I saw was a fight between my friend and Osaro. The boy ran out and picked a stick and used it on my friend’s head. I quickly rushed my friend to hospital before he died.”
Osaro, aged 27, told our reporter that he was waiting to collect his balance when the deceased attacked him for interrupting the bar attendant.”
An angry brother shot his elder sister dead because she voted in Pakistani local elections after he had forbidden her to do so, police said Wednesday. The murder occurred in the town of Taxila 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Islamabad on Tuesday, according to officials.
Danish Ali, 20, was furious because his sister Asifa Noreen, a 32-year old schoolteacher, had defied his instructions and cast her vote, local police official Naeem Abbas told AFP. “According to a report filed by the deceased’s father, Ali shot Noreen with his pistol and she died on the spot at their home,” Abbas said.
Police were still hunting for Ali, who is on the run. Women’s turnout is usually weak in the most conservative rural parts of Pakistan because of male perceptions that their place is in the home.
But incidents of women being killed for voting are rare, although hundreds of Pakistani women are murdered each year in cases of domestic violence or on the grounds of defending family “honour”.
The Aurat Foundation, a campaign group that works to improve the lives of women in Pakistan’s conservative and patriarchal society, says more than 3,000 women have been killed in such attacks since 2008.
A middle aged man, on Wednesday in Kaduna slaughtered four of his children and attempted to kill himself after an alleged quarrel with his wife.
Neighbours said that the man had quarrelled with the wife throughout the night, forcing her to leave the house located on Ahmadu Bello street in Kawo area of Kaduna metropolis.
Thereafter, the man allegedly locked the entrance to the house and used a knife to slaughter the four children aged between six to one year.
One of his children who was not in the house at the time, alerted the ward head of the area, when he found the door to the residence locked from inside on Wednesday afternoon.
When the neighbours and some policemen forced the door to the house open, the children were already dead while their father was still alive but in serious condition.
Police spokesman in the state, Zubairu Abubakar, said that the man and the children had been conveyed to St Gerards General Hospital in Kakuri, Kaduna.
He said that the police had commenced full investigation into the matter.
The star witness in the alleged murder of former Ekiti State National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Chairman Omolafe Aderiye has spoken of how he was “tutored” to implicate eight persons accused of complicity in the crime.
Fayose vows to lead opposition against APC
The late Aderiye’s Personal Assistant, Gbolahan Okeowo, revealed that he secretly recorded the voices of the two aides of Governor Ayo Fayose whom he accused of “tutoring” him to write another statement which indicted the accused.
On trial for the ex-NURTW boss’ murder are: Bayo Aderiye (aka Ojugo), Niyi Adedipe (aka Apase), Sola Durodola, Oso Farotimi, Ajayi Kayode, Sola Adenijo (aka Solar) and Rotimi Olanbiwonnu (aka Mentilo).
Also implicated in the murder is a security aide to former Governor Kayode Fayemi, Deji Adesokan (aka Jarule) who has been declared wanted for Omolafe’s murder.
The governor’s aides are Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Owoseni Ajayi and the Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media Lere Olayinka.
Both Ajayi and Olayinka have denied any link with Okeowo in a chat with a weekend newspaper where Olayinka claimed that he had never met Okeowo. Ajayi accused Okeowo of committing perjury by recanting his evidence before an Ado-Ekiti High Court.
In an exclusive interview with The Nation on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, Okeowo urged the National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate the call logs of Ajayi and Olayinka to unearth the conversations they had with him in connection with the murder case.
Okeowo reiterated his position in an affidavit of facts he deposed to at the Federal High Court, Akure – that all the seven persons standing trial and Adesokan who had been declared wanted knew nothing about the murder as the second statement he wrote at Ajayi’s office was used to frame them up.
The late NURTW chair’s aide disclosed that he was shocked to read the claims of both Ajayi and Olayinka in the said newspaper that they had nothing to do with him, adding that all his encounters with the duo were secretly recorded. He is to tender the recording at the appropriate time.
Okeowo said the two government officials told him that the first statement he volunteered at the state police headquarters “was too weak” to nail the murder suspects, hence the need to write another one to indict them.
Okeowo claimed that Ajayi, who was Special Adviser on Legal Matters and had not been confirmed as Attorney General at the time he wrote the second statement, called on the DPP to bring the case file.
According to him, the son of the deceased, Yinka Aderiye, younger brother of the deceased, Wale Ibidapo, the Permanent Secretary, Director of Public Prosecution, were there on the day he was allegedly coarced to write another incriminating statement against the suspects.
Okeowo revealed that the initial plan was to bring Yinka (the late Omolafe’s son) to court to testify against the accused persons even when he (Yinka) was not present at his father’s office where he was murdered.
He said somebody called the late Omolafe 15 minutes before he was murdered, adding: “My late boss was enthusiastic that a big man called him. The question now is, who is that big man? The phone with which he received the call was taken away by the killers.”
Okeowo explained: “At this juncture, I will implore the National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of DSS to investigate the call logs of Owoseni Ajayi. I am ready to surrender myself for full investigation to unravel the mysterious death of my late boss.
“These people saying they don’t know me, how come they have been calling me since? I received a call from (Lere) Olayinka on October 27 and Owoseni has been calling me through Yinka Aderiye, the son of my late boss. Let the NSA, IG and DG of DSS invite all of us.
“I want the IG to investigate the MTN call logs of Owoseni Ajayi and this will assist the whole world to know the truth. I want Owoseni Ajayi, Lere Olayinka and Yinka Aderiye, who is now Owoseni’s personal assistant, to be summoned to Abuja to explain all they know about this matter.
“They promised me a local government appointment on behalf of the governor if I could go ahead to indict all the seven persons on trial and Jarule on the murder of my boss but these people are innocent.
“It is ungodly and wicked for me to say what I have not seen after I had listened to a sermon of my pastor and I have gone to court to swear and depose to an affidavit because God is looking at all of us.
“Police knew nothing about what happened at Owoseni Ajayi’s office. They submitted their file to the DPP but it was Owoseni Ajayi who ordered the DPP to bring the file and that was where we wrote another statement indicting the innocent souls.
“Ajayi said all what his boss wanted to hear was that Jarule came down from the vehicle, waiting in company with Apase, that Jarule opened fire on my late boss and that there was a particular Hilux van at the opposite side of our office then.
“That inside the vehicle were (Bayo) Aderiye, Mentilo, Durodola, Farotimi, Adenijo, (Kayode) Ajayi. All these are fabricated lies; there was nothing like that on that day. I was with my boss on that day and there was nothing like that.
“I never saw anybody called Jarule on that day, I never saw Adedipe on that day. The statement I wrote at Owoseni Ajayi’s office was done under threat. That was the way I was tutored and coerced that day in his office but he never knew that he was recorded. I have my facts and figures and I will release them at the appropriate time.”
AKURE—A 26-year-old housewife, Wunmi Omowa in Akure, the Ondo state capital has reportedly stabbed her Police inspector husband Isreal to death over a minor squabble.
Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase
This came at a time a police corporal in Ogun State, whose identity was not disclosed by the state police command, reportedly shot dead a commercial driver, identified as Likinyo Olumide, at Sagamu toll gate along Lagos-Bennin expressway.
However, report had it that after wife of the slain policeman reportedly stabbed her husband in the neck with a knife, she rushed him to the hospital where he later died.
Vanguard gathered that the couple have been married for three years and reside at Olowolagba area along Akure- Owo express road.
Vanguard was informed that the deceased was in his early 30s and the cause of the minor squabble could not be ascertained at the time of going to press.
It was gathered that the deceased, who was attached to the state security outfit, code named “Fast Strike Squad“ entered into a shouting match with the wife on the ill-fated day.
Shouting match
The shouting match reportedly degenerated into the use of foul language and subsequently a physical fight.
Eyewitness account said the suspect rushed into the kitchen in the height of the argument only to return with a knife with which she stabbed her husband in the neck.
Report had it that immediately the havoc was committed, the wife came back to her senses and rushed out of the house to inform their neighbours of what she had done to her husband.
By the time the neighbours would come to his rescue, the deceased had reportedly lost so much blood and was gasping for breath.
It was learned that all efforts to save the life of the Inspector were not successful as he reportedly gave up the ghost after he was rushed to a nearby private hospital.
Vanguard gathered that detectives were invited and the suspect was arrested and detained at the Ijapo Police Station where she was interrogated and detained.
Spokesman of the state police command, Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident when contacted for comment, saying the deceased died as a result of blood loss resulting from the deep cut sustained during the fight with his wife.
According to him, the deceased was attached to the Mopol 17 of the Mobile Police Force in Akure and was a member of the Fast Strike Squad on routine patrol in the state.
Joseph pointed out that the state Criminal Investigation Department, CID, had commenced investigation into the cause of the death of the police officer.
He assured that Police detectives would soon unravel the cause of the squabble and bring the culprit to book
The Police spokesman said that the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the state Specialist Hospital in Akure.
Meanwhile, a police corporal in Ogun State, whose identity was not disclosed by the state Police command, on Tuesday, shot dead a commercial driver, identified as Likinyo Olumide, at Sagamu toll gate along Lagos-Benin expressway.
An eyewitness, Folake Egbeuwalo, who was one of the seven passengers in the vehicle driven by the late driver, explained that the driver was shot dead after he was stopped by some policemen.
Vanguard gathered that the driver, 42, is survived by six children and a pregnant wife.
Egbeuwalo, who spoke with newsmen at Police Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, on Wednesday, said the incident occurred at 9:45 pm on Tuesday as they were coming from Lagos where they went to buy some goods, retuning to Okitipupa in Ondo State.
The late driver
The witness said: ‘’The late driver was our permanent driver who used to carry us from Okitipupa to Lagos. The man carried us from Idumagbo, Lagos Island. As we were coming, we met many policemen and soldiers on the road, we stopped and settled them.
“ When we reached Sagamu toll gate, we did not know that there were policemen on the road, they asked the driver to park and immediately he parked. The driver came out of the car and as he came down, he stood beside the vehicle and the police moved to the other side of the road and gunned him down immediately.’’
Egbeuwalo further said the policemen ran away immediately the man died and later came back and took away the corpse in one of the Hilux vans, marked NPF104 OD.
She, however, lamented that all the passengers were abandoned and were made to sleep on the highway as none of them could drive the car after the death of the driver.
The late driver’s younger bother, Likinyo Solomon, lamented the death of his elder brother, who he said was survived by six children and a pregnant wife.
He said: “I demand to see the person that killed my brother and to know what actually happened before he was killed.’’
Asked to comment on the incident, the Assistant Inspector General of Police zone 2 , Balade Hassan, who was on a visit to Ogun State on Wednesday, said the policeman would face the wrath of the law.
AIG speaks
The AIG said: “The regulation is clear and the Constitution is clear about the right to life of all Nigerians, so, if anybody takes the life of anybody, be it a policeman or civilian, not as provided by the Constitution, you will get the full wrath of the law.
“You know the present Inspector General of Police and previous IGs do not take things lightly when things like that go wrong.
“You would recall that something like this happened in Lagos, the policeman was arrested, tried, dismissed from the force and arraigned in less than 24 hours after the incident.
“The police is trying to say anyone who flouts the rules and regulation will get his case in court as the case may be. This case is not an exception from other cases, the person would be tried as prescribed by the law,. After he is found guilty, he would be dismissed and charged to court.
“We wish something like this does not happen again. In the last six to seven months, there has been a lot of improvement and that is why the IG banned roadblocks in order to reduce the interaction with the members of the community where this kind of problem would happen.”
“The safer highways was initiated to allow Nigerians move around the country without any hitch. Before you block the road, you must get permission from the IG in the case of a stolen car.
“The order is clear and the IG is making sure that this does not happen again and when it happens, actions are taken against the men.’’
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command was aware and had arrested the perpetrator.
According to him,the DPO informed the CP that a corporal attached to one of its teams at Sagamu toll gate fired at the driver of a commercial vehicle, the driver sustained injuries before giving up the ghost.
“We have arrested the corporal and he would face the full wrath of the law, we are going to treat the matter departmentally before it would be charged to court for proper prosecution.
“The command is not happy with the situation because we have not recorded that for a very long time,. We assure the public and relatives of the deceased that justice would be done. The command sympathies with the family of the deceased.
“We’ll have a meeting with them to know what the command can do to ensure a good relationship with the family and to be with them in this trying time. We want to assure them of adequate justice. The remains have been deposited in a public morgue,” he said.
“The things lightly when things like that go wrong.
“You would recall that something like this happened in Lagos, the policeman was arrested, tried, dismissed from the force and arraigned in less than 24 hours after the incident.
Police warn
“The police is trying to say anyone who flouts the rules and regulation will get his case in court as the case may be. This case is not an exception from other cases, the person would be tried as prescribed by the law,. After he is found guilty, he would be dismissed and charged to court.
“We wish something like this does not happen again at all. In the last six to seven months, there has been a lot of improvement and that is why the IG banned roadblocks in order to reduce the interaction with the members of the community where this kind of problem would happen.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command was aware and had arrested the perpetrator.
According to him,the DPO informed the CP that a corporal attached to one of its teams at Sagamu toll gate fired at the driver of a commercial vehicle, the driver sustained injuries before giving up the ghost.
UGHELLI—Family of Bestman Tobore, the 37-year-old motorcycle ticket sales person, allegedly stabbed to death by a robbery suspect, has accused the police of extortion, under the guise of investigating the case.
Tobore, popularly known as Agbari, died on Friday, May 8, from stabs and head injuries he sustained, following an alleged attack by a robbery suspect, identified as Ejaiyeta, alias Ghana Boy, who had escaped police custody at Ovwian Police Station in Udu LGA, Delta State.
Speaking to Vanguard yesterday, a female relative, who did not want her name in print, disclosed that having provided police with information of his killers and series of petitions to that effect, they were asked to make a payment of N500,000 for mobilisation.
At press time, state Police Public Relations Officer, Celestina Kalu, had not res-ponded to text messages sent to her on the matter.
A Police corporal, Christopher Ali, has been dismissed from service for “accidentally” killing two nursing mothers at a funeral in Fugar, headquarters of Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State.
His dismissal followed an Orderly Room trial by the state police command, which found him culpable.
Police spokesman Stephen Onwochei, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), told reporters in Benin, the state capital, that of the two policemen arrested, one of them was found wanting.
Onwochei said: “The policeman has been tried in the Orderly Room. He is a corporal. As I speak with you, he has been dismissed.
“Hopefully, by next week (this week), he will appear in court. Police officers should be guided by Force Order 237, which spells out the use of arms, among officers.”
Two nursing mothers were killed at a funeral by a stray bullet at Ivhiokhile Quarters in Fugar.
A two-month-old baby strapped to the back of one of the victims was almost hit by the bullet.
A former member of the Benue State House of Assembly, who represented Ukum State Constituency, Mr. Douglas Bergha, alongside two other persons, have been killed by gunmen in Kundav, Ukum Local Government Area of the state.
Bergha, who is currently contesting the chairmanship of Ukum LGA on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, was a Peoples Democratic Party member while in the Assembly.
The PUNCH gathered that the ex-lawmaker was trailed by the gunmen and killed in the presence of his family members at his Kundav home around 7pm on Monday.
It was also gathered that after killing the APC stalwart, the assailants shot two other persons, who had yet to be identified.
The Assistant Police Public Relations Officer in the Benue State Police Command, Matthew Oku, confirmed the report but said two people were killed.
Oku said the gunmen, after killing the former lawmaker, also shot dead a motorcyclist.
Meanwhile, the APC chairman in the state, Comrade Abba Yaro, described the death as unfortunate, calling on security agencies to track the killers and bring them to justice.
CALABAR – A THIRTY year old man, Richard Effiok from Akpabuyo local Government Area of Cross River State has narrated how he slashed the throat of his twenty- three year-old girl friend, Bassey Udoh, from Akwa Ibom State after a sex romp.
Richard in an interview with Vanguard on Monday at the Cross River State Police Command headquarters said he had been dating the girl for two years but she was always demanding for money from him each time they made love and on the 22nd of May , 2015, she requested for five thousand naira and what he had on him was just one thousand naira which the girl rejected and a scuffle ensued between them
“She usually comes to visit me and we make love and I do give her money but last time she came, we made love three times and after that she asked for five thousand naira but I had just one thousand naira which I gave to her and she rejected the money”
Richard who lives on Nelson Mandela Street in the heart of Calabar said when the girl rejected the money, she became infuriated and grabbed his boxers and a scuffle ensued between them in his room. “I was angry when she tore my boxers and i got hold of a kitchen knife and pierced her in the stomach and later slashed her throat and she died because of the bleeding”
He said the young lady’s scream when he stabbed her in the stomach attracted neighbours who forced the door open but before they could enter the room, he had slashed her throat and she dropped dead . ‘They could not take her to hospital since she was already dead before they entered the room so they only invited the police who arrested me and took the body the mortuary.”
