The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Police quiz three cops, domestic staff over robbery in senator’s home

    Operatives of the Delta Police Command have arrested three policemen and three domestic staff over a robbery incident in Senator Peter Nwaboshi’s home.

    Senator Peter Nwaboshi represents Delta North Senatorial District in the NASS.

    The Nation gathered that the robber stormed the lawmaker’s home carting away an undisclosed amount of money, jewelry, laptops, clothes and other valuables.

    It was gathered that the robbers operated for over two hours before neighbours shot into the air to scare the robbers away.

    The Nation gathered that while the robbery lasted none of the policemen on guard duty were present.

    Police spokesman, Andrew Aniamaka confirmed the incident, saying:

    “The officers were quizzed for abandoning their duty post, it is a departmental exercise and way of investigating the crime. We have arrested many persons, we are investigating and at the end of the day, the truth will be out and those behind the attack will be brought to book.”

  • Soldiers allegedly beat 22-yr-old driver to coma over N50 bribe

    Pandemonium broke out in Igbeti area of Oyo State, after some soldiers allegedly beat a driver to a coma for his refusal to give them N50 as bribe.

    The soldiers were said to have mounted a road block and extorted money from motorists especially commercial drivers and motorcyclists popularly called okada riders.

    The development led to an outrage as irate youths staged a protest blocking the major roads in the community to register their displeasure against the action of the soldiers.

    The protest caused traffic gridlock while commuters were stranded for several hours.

    The victim, Azees Aleru, was returning from a mechanic workshop in his Golf car, with a registration number, Kwara SHA 509 XA, on October 3, 2017, when he encountered the soldiers and refused to give them N50 bribe for easy passage.

    He was said to have explained to the soldiers at the security checkpoint that he had gone to fix his car at a mechanic workshop and that he had no passenger in the vehicle.

    His refusal to give them the money infuriated the soldiers who use their gun butts to hit him Aleru and subjected him to brutality during which he slumped and went into a coma.

    Aleru was rushed to a nearby private hospital by his colleagues, where he is currently in a critical condition.

    A source close to the family disclosed to The Nation that the result of medical tests have shown that Aleru suffered injuries on his head as a result of the beatings received from the soldiers.

    Condemning the action of the soldiers, one of Aleru’s colleagues said: ‘’ The soldiers should be reprimanded by the authorities and appropriately punished for the brutality inflicted on our colleague (Aleru).

    ‘’They have been forcibly extorting money from innocent motorists at the illegal checkpoint and constituted themselves into a parallel government instead of protecting the people for which they were commissioned.’’

    Police spokesman, Adekunle Ajisebutu, denied the report in a text message forwarded to our correspondent, saying: ‘’I have no such report. However, I will find out and get back to you.’’

  • Developer allegedly flees with prospective tenants’ N150m rent

    Developer allegedly flees with prospective tenants’ N150m rent

    Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command are on the trail of a fleeing estate developer, Tunde Najeemdeen Maleek, after he allegedly defrauded about 150 persons of over N100 million rents for a 12-apartment building.

    The building is located on Bankole Street, Ijeshatedo area of Surulere, Lagos State.

    It was learnt that Maleek had collected the rents from the unsuspecting victims between May and June 2017, when the building was under renovation.

    The unsuspecting victims paid money into his Zenith Bank account – 2007070910– with the name Tunde Najeemdeen Maleek.

    The Nation gathered that Maleek, who posed as the son of the owner of the building, contacted his victims on the phone last week and told them to meet him at the house the following day to collect the key to their apartments.

    On getting there, the prospective tenants discovered they had been duped as the developer bolted while the victims were shocked beyond words.

    The matter was reported to Itire Police Division, while the victims were asked to write statements.

    One of the victims, Favour Ogadinma, said Maleek collected a sum of N490, 000 from her for a two-bedroom apartment.

    She said: “We were looking for an apartment in May 2017 and we were told that there was a vacant apartment at number 1 Bankole Street, Ijesha. We went to check the place, and it was fine by us. We saw Mr. Tunde Najeemdeem Maleek who told us that he was the son of the landlord and that his father (the landlord) is late. He told us that the rent for the two-bedroom flat was N350, 000, while agreement and commission fee was N140,000. We paid the sum of N490,000 into his Zenith Bank account number: 2007070910 with his name: Tunde Najeemdeem Maleek and he gave us receipt for the apartment  on June 13, 2017.

    “ The whole building was under renovation, so we waited for the completion of the renovation work and we were always going to see how the work was progressing. On Monday September 25, Mr. Maleek  told us to come on Friday September  29, to take possession of our apartment. We went there and met over 12 people claiming that they paid for the same apartment we had paid for, the situation was the same in other apartments in the building, while Mr Maleek was nowhere to be found. It was then we realized that the ‘landlord’ had collected rents from over 150 people for a building of 12 flats.

    “ We (the victims) went to Itire Police Station and wrote statements. The police asked us to come back on Tuesday 3rd of October 2017. We went back and we were told that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID). We went to Panti (SCID) and also wrote statements. We called the said Mr. Maleek’s phone number and a male voice  told us that Mr. Tunde is a developer and that he has been arrested for fraud. We explained ourselves to the man, he told us to come to Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi. We went there on Wednesday and we confirmed that truly the landlord is in the custody of Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi. The building is under lock and over 100 million naira has been paid into Maleek’s bank account. “

    Another victim, identified simply as Adewale, said he also paid N490,000 to the developer sometime in June and was given a receipt, adding that he collected a loan from his employer to pay the rent.

    He said: “I paid N490 to Mr.Maleek in June this year for a two-bedroom apartment. The most painful thing  is that I took a loan from my boss and I am still paying back the money as we speak.It was while I went there to collect the key to my apartment that I and other victims discovered that we had been duped.”

    The spokesman of Lagos State Police Command, Olarinde Famous-Cole , said the police were on the trail of the suspect, adding that the matter has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department(SCID).“The matter was reported to our division at Itire, but the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station, because of the sensitive nature of the case, transferred the matter to SCID,Panti, for diligent prosecution.

    The matter was reported to our division at Itire, but the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station, because of the sensitive nature of the case, transferred the matter to SCID, Panti, for diligent investigation and  we are currently looking for the suspect(s).”

  • ‘How supremacy battle led to Mushin killings’

    ‘How supremacy battle led to Mushin killings’

    A 39-year-old robbery suspect, Habib Afuwape a.k.a Mabo, has disclosed that members of their rival gang, Mushin boys, killed one Tunde, cut off his head and used it to play football in their street.

    He denied ownership of a rifle found in his possession by the operatives of Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    He said the gun was seized from one Jossi during a street fight between Toll Gate boys and Onipanu boys in January 2016.

    According to Habib, a supremacy battle between the leader of his gang called Toba and a leader of another rival gang called Hamani, triggered the deadly clashes in the area.

    IRT operatives had arrested three suspects; Habib Afuwape, 39, Ismaila Idris and Ahmed Sanni over the incident.

    Habib said: “We were fighting over who will be in charge of motor parks in Onipanu. The fight is between Toba boys and Hamani boys. The two group leaders Toba and Hamani were members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) before they became street fighters. The two leaders were fighting over who will control the park.

    ‘’Our members have over 15 guns, but I cannot explain how they got the guns. Those I know that have guns includes myself, Taofeek a.k.a Mababije; Ibrahim a.k.a Harglar; Dipo a.k.a SARS; Abdulahi a.k.a Abdul who is my junior brother; Bayo a.k.a Omo Olopa; Jossi a.k.a Joseph; Tunde a.k.a Kobi; Wale a.k.a Sobo; Wale a.k.a Sawonpa; Muyiwa a.k.a Laso; Niran a.k.a Ilupeju; Bobor, Ismaila a.k.a Kolewu, Saheed and Monsuru a.k.a 50 cent.

    ‘’Our members who do not have guns are: Dadu; Small police; Orah; Amala and Iseh but those who help our group to get ammunition (bullets) are Taofeek a.k.a Mababije; Ibrahim a.k.a Harglar and Dipo a.k.a SARS already mentioned above and we called them armour suppliers.

    ‘’However, those who keep custody of our arms whom we address as our armourers include Ismaila aka Essi who is the junior brother to my girlfriend and Munirat aka Pofuro who is still at large. The armourers who have been arrested are Ahmed Sanni aka Omo London, who said he got the name Omo London due to his corporate dressing and Ismaila Idris a.k.a Balance.

    Sanni said:  “Sometime in July 2017, on the election day at Shyllon Street, Ilupeju, Ahmed Omo London came and distributed guns to the boys to scare away members of the opposition party. He, Omo London first gave Wale Sobo one pump action rifle; he later gave others one each. The gun police recovered was the one with Ismaila, a.k.a Balance when he was arrested. It was the confession of Habib and Ahmed that led to the recovery of the gun from Ismaila.’’

    Ahmed said his role was to supply guns to the members of his group in Onipanu area, but denied knowledge of how to handle gun.

    He said his gang lost two members, Taiye a.k.a Sempe and Oyibo Agbo during exchange of fire with Idi-Oro Mushin boys while three boys from their rival gang fell to their bullets, namely Lanre a.k.a pumping, Monsuru a.k.a 50 cent, Ismaila a.k.a Olewu and Saheed.

    Habib added: ‘’I am a smuggler which we call fayawo. I received commission to ferry vehicles across the border from the Benin Republic into Nigeria. I do not have car stand. I am receiving small money like N5,000 to cross vehicle for the owner. At times they do not pay me a dime but they would buy enough bottles of beer like 10 bottles to 12 bottles but not at a sitting. I am married with three children and I opened a shop for my wife but I do not know the amount I have invested in the shop. My role is to handover gun to my colleagues any time there would be street fight. I was a cult member when I was in Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State.’’

    Confessing Idris said: “I am a generator repairer. I charged N500 for tiger generator which is a small generator. I used to repair up to three generators daily. I am married with three children. The gun the group gave me to keep was the gun recovered from the rival gang at Onipanu. I worked under Toba but I did not follow to kill Tunde. Lanre was among of those who killed Tunde and he was remanded in Kirikiri Prison.

    In his confession, Sanni said: “I am from Ogun State. I am married with a son. I am into catering and event management. During festive periods I used to charged (customers) N50,000. It may take me another six months to get another job, So, I tried to manage the little money I had. It was when they told me that I would be getting small coins when work starts in Onipanu that made me to know what was going on. But I did not follow them to fight that fateful day.’’

  • Ogun customs seizes N125m smuggled vehicles, rice

    Operatives of the Ogun Customs Area Command have seized 11 posh cars and bags of rice worth a sum of N125 million from suspected smugglers within Abeokuta and Idiroko axis of the State.

    Vehicles seized at Abeokuta are: 2004 Honda Pilot car; one Toyota Highlander Sports Utility Vehicle; one 2004 Toyota Sienna car; 1999 Lexus car; one 2015 Toyota Highlander and a brand new 2017 Prado SUV  with duty paid value of N75 million, while 573 bags of rice worth a sum of N2.4 million was also intercepted.

    Also seized in the Idiroko axis were five cars including a brand new 2017 Toyota Hiace bus; Acura ZDX saloon car; Lexus RX 350 SUV; Opel Omega saloon car and one Opel Austral saloon car with duty paid value of N47.3 million.

    Speaking with reporters on Wednesday at the Idiroko Customs Area Command, Customs Area Controller of Ogun State, Comptroller Sani Madugu said no fewer than 20 cars had been intercepted the goods from smugglers within the last three weeks.

    Madugu said: ‘’Anti-smuggling activities in the Ogun Area Command is ongoing and this is a result of what we have been able to do in the last four days. We are succeeding and we are defeating the smugglers and we are winning them(smugglers).One of the latest vehicles intercepted by our men is a brand new 2017 Toyota Prado jeep. We have about 600 bags of rice seized from smugglers within the last three days.

    ‘’We are fighting the smugglers in the bushes, on the road and in the creeks and any other place they hide rice. We have now discovered their hideout, where they normally hid rice in a small h’’ut in the bush where an elderly man would sit outside and disguise like the owner of the building to mislead our men. We broke into one of such buildings about two days ago and recovered about 250 bags of rice from the building.

    ‘’We have equally struck at another point where they are now hiding because the roads have become hot for them to operate or transport their illicit goods. We are trying our best, although they are devising new means of smuggling but whatever plans they devise to continue smuggling activities in Ogun Area Command, we have a ‘Plan B’ to contain them. We will continue to get them because we are getting maximum support from other security agencies; both the Brigade Commander of Army in Abeokuta and Commander of 192 Battalion in Owode, Yewa South Local Government Area as well as the Commanding Officer in charge of the army base in Ilaro are giving us helping hands, while the police commissioner, police area commanders and divisional police officers are cooperating with us in the fight against smuggling.’’

    Madugu said the community leaders are being engaged to sensitise their people about the need to desist from smuggling activities.

    ‘’ We have been engaging community leaders, youth leaders and spiritual leaders in the fight against smuggling activities.  We have visited top monarchs and traditional rulers in this regard but these smugglers have refused to listen to the monarchs because smuggling is a lucrative business that they cannot resist or leave. We are however currently prosecuting three suspected smugglers in court.’’

    Checks by The Nation revealed that sundry prohibited items intercepted from smugglers including 8, 548 bags of rice,1,100 bags of sugar,1,031 kegs of vegetable oil, and 29 kegs of palm oil, among others are kept at the central warehouse of the customs command in Idiroko.

  • Fleeing Rivers murder suspect smashed glass on my head, says man who helped to re-arrest escapee

     

    A middle- aged man identified as Gwom,  who revealed  the information that led to the re-arrest of Ifeanyichukwu Maxwell Dike, a murder suspect who recently escaped  from police custody in Rivers State , yesterday narrated his ordeal in the hands of the suspect in Plateau State, where he was re-arrested.

    Gwom said Dike smashed his head with glass in a bid to overpower and arrest him.

    Dike was re-arrested late September in Brikin-Ladi community in Plateau State following information by Gwom.

    The state’s  Commissioner of Police had assured the public that the murderer would be re-arrested in no time and pledged N1million reward for anyone that could reveal vital information that would lead to Dike’s re-arrest.

    Also the Director-General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside also pledged the sum of N500, 000 for any one that would release information for Dike’s re-arrest.

    The state’s Police Commissioner yesterday made good his promise.  He handed out the price money to Gwom and praised him for his bravery.

    He urged members of the public to desist from carrying out jungle justice on suspects  and allow the security agencies to do their job.

    Receiving the money,  Gwom said:  “Ifeanyi Maxwell Dike nearly killed me if not for the intervention of God, he managed to smash my head with a glass but it was only God that made me over powered him.

    “The guys in my area wanted to lynch him to death but I had to quickly report the incident to the police command in my area and that was how he was re-arrested and brought back to Port Harcourt.

    ” I will also like to thank the police for all the help rendered to me while I was in the hospital because they paid my hospital bills.”

    Twenty-three year old Dike on August 17, 2017 allegedly drugged,  raped and murdered eight-year-old Chikamso Victory Mezuoba,  his niece and removed vital parts of her body.

    He was apprehended and paraded by the state police command on August 19. He ,however, escaped  from the custody of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), same day.

    The officer in charge of SCIID, one Felix and the Investigative Police Officer (IPO), in charge of the case, Sergeant Johnbull Okoroeze were blamed.  While the IPO was dismissed from service,  arrested and presently being prosecuted, Felix was arrested.

  • CG’s compliance team uncovers new smuggling antics, seizes N200m goods

    No fewer than three trucks loaded with foreign rice, 1,198 kegs of vegetable oil, and second hand tyres worth more than N200 million have been intercepted in the last two weeks by the Comptroller General of Customs’ compliance team.

    The smugglers used ‘Labana’ bags to repackage the product in order to deceive unsuspecting Nigerians and beat Customs’ checks.

    Labana rice is a local product of a firm belonging to a former governor of a northern state of Nigeria.

    Other local bags used to repackage the smuggled rice include ‘Tommy-Tommy’, ‘Rev-Star’; ‘Tomato Arosa Elephant and Stallion brands’; all imported from Thailand.

    The CG’s compliance team led by Chief Superintendent Bello uncovered the new smuggling antics when it impounded the products along Lagos-Ibadan trade routes.

    Most of the re-bagged rice were moved into Lagos and the western parts using the creeks around Iyana Satch, and Agbuju areas of Lagos State. “They print the Stallion/Elephant bags and fill them with foreign smuggled rice, a practice that runs counter to government economic policy”, an officer who sought for anonymity stated.

    Posh cars, including 2017 models of Hilux, Toyota Prado Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), Porch and Mercedes Benz cars were also seized from the smugglers.

    It will be recalled that the compliance team, about two months ago, impounded more than 20 brand new Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) valued at more than N1.6 billion.

    All the seized products are now deposited at the warehouse of Customs Federal Operations Unit in Lagos.

  • Court grants bail to three murder suspects in Ekiti

    A State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has granted bail to three suspects accused of murder during the riot that trailed the boundary dispute between Ayede and Itaji communities in Oye Local Government Area on January 31.

    The three suspects: Joshua Akanbi, Abiodun Ogundaisi and Segun Ogundaisi were alleged to have murdered one Seyi Oladipo, during a bloody battle for the control of Orisunmibare farm settlement.

    At the resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday, Justice Monisola Abodunde admitted the three suspects to bail in the sum of N500,000 and one surety each.

    The application for bail for the accused persons was filed and moved by their counsel, Mr. Sule Longe.

    Each of the surety, the judge ruled, must be a community leader, a title holder who must deposit his Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).

    The judge held that the suspects must sign an undertaking to maintain peace throughout the period of the trial stressing that the court will not hesitate to revoke the bail if they caused trouble again. Justice Abodunde said the court exercised the right to grant them bail because of the health condition of the first defendant (Akanbi) who is receiving treatment from the Federal Teaching

    Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, on account of multiple injuries sustained during the communal clash. Before the ruling was delivered, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Adebayo Arogundade, applied to amend the charge filed against the accused persons which was granted by the court.

    The accused persons are standing trial on two-count charge of conspiracy and murder. Arogundade also told the court that of his readiness to call ten witnesses to give evidence in the case and prayed for a short date to assemble the witnesses. The court adjourned the case to November 6 and 7, for definite hearing.

  • Widow battles husband’s family over alleged Will forgery

    A widow, Chief (Mrs) Elizabeth Asie Iheme has faulted a will presented by her late husband’s family saying the document was contrived by her in-laws in a bid to allegedly take over her late husband’s property in Lagos and Abia State.

    The distraught widow, whose husband, Chief Emeka Emenike Iheme, died on December 6, 2016, also faulted the police for misleading the court to strike out a case of forgery of Will of her late husband involving a lawyer and her in-laws.

    The woman, a Sierra Leonean, urged the Lagos State government, the Inspector General of Police to wade into the matter with a view to preventing her in-laws from throwing her out of her late husband’s house with whom she had two children.

    A copy of a petition forwarded by her lawyer, Dan Enakadia, to the office of Attorney General of Lagos State and Commissioner for Justice, Inspector Gnereal of Police and Sierra Leone Embassy in Lagos, disclosed that a brother to Mrs Iheme’s late husband called Kachi Iheme, colluded with other siblings and a female legal practitioner, Doris Ikpeazu to forge a Will that stripped her and her children right to the property left behind by her late husband.

    The petition reads in part: ‘’This forged Will was prepared and signed by Barrister Doris Ikpeazu, who called Chief (Mrs) Elizabeth Asie Iheme by phone to come that her late husband’s will was about to be read. Chief (Mrs) Elizabeth Asie Iheme decided to send one Barrister Ike Asuzo to go and represent her and also send a copy of the Will to her.

    “When she received a copy of the Will which is enclosed in this letter, she discovered some discrepancies in the Will which came at a time she was yet to finish the mourning of her late husband. Some people came to their compound armed with instruments of violence  at her late husband’s in Isheri, Alimosho, Lagos, and secretly wrote caveat emptor inscriptions on the wall and fence of the house titled ‘’ This house is not for sale’’.

    The petition said after the men left, her son, Sullivan Emeka Iheme erased the caveat emptor inscriptions, but those behind the inscriptions  returned seven days later to re-write it during which they were pursued by neighbours who apprehended one of the suspects and handed him to the Area ‘M’ Police Command at Idimu in Alimosho council area.

    The petition reads further: ‘’The matter which was later handled by the Force Criminal Investigation Department, (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, showed through the report of a forensic investigation that the purported Will, which is the crux of the matter is a forged Will by Barrister Doris Ikpeazu, who acted in concert with the brothers of the late Chief Emeka Emenike Iheme.

    “The late Chief Iheme lived in Lagos, did all his businesses in Lagos, built the house he lived before his death in Lagos, was sick in Lagos and died in Lagos. He was about to do the house-warming ceremony of his new house in his village in Isikwato Local Government Area of Abia State, when he fell ill in Lagos and also died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

    “The widow of the late Chief Emenike Iheme, on receiving a copy of the Will saw discrepancies and evidence (the deceased’s name was written as Emelike instead of Emenike with a different signature) to show that the Will is fake and not genuine. This made her to report to the Police at Alagbon Close, Lagos, who carried out forensic investigation into the Will and came out with findings and report that the Will is forged.’’

    ‘’By reasons of jurisdiction, if there is need for any legal contest of the Will, it should be Lagos and nowhere else and also in the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja. Investigation has been ongoing and headed by one DSP Onun Arikpo of FCID, Alagbon. It is expected that arrangements should have been made to arrest the assailants in Abuja, Onitsha and Lagos, since the legal practitioner who is also involved in the forgery of the Will has already been arraigned in Magistrate Court 3, Igbosere, Lagos, and the matter struck out on the ground that investigation has been concluded and transferred to Abuja. Striking out the matter because the file is being transferred to Abuja is unprocedural(sic). What should have been done is that since investigation has been concluded is for legal advice to have been sought with a view to getting the matter transferred to the appropriate court, which is the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.

    The petition added: ‘’We implore the Attorney General of Lagos State to wade into this matter by taking over and prosecute the culprits involved in this matter, since it has the jurisdiction and power in this case, and also help the poor widow, and her children, who are hiding and cannot for now live a steady life, so as to be able to work or trade to earn a living since their bread winner is no more.’’

    In his response, Chief Kachi Iheme however described the allegations as totally unfounded saying that the widow was only trying to curry sympathy in order to prevent the family from executing the content of the Will, part of which she was also a beneficiary.

    “I am not a lawyer, but I have not seen a lawyer who will forge a Will and put her career on the line by going to court to register such a will. She(Mrs Iheme) was invited to the reading of the Will in court and she sent a lawyer to represent her and the greater part of the Will of my late brother was willed to her and no member of our family has taken anything from what was given to her. The next thing she did was to write a petition to the police that the lawyer who handled the Will compromised. The lawyer was arrested and detained at FCID, Alagbon, Lagos. She also wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police over this matter.

    “However, the only thing that concerns me in this matter is that I was appointed by my late immediate elder brother as one of the Executors of the Will.I live in Abuja and I don’t live in Lagos. Although she is married to my late brother but she had no child with him. She came from the Gambia to Nigeria with a son she had for someone else. I have my own house and I live comfortably; I have a house in the village and in Abuja and nobody in the family has even attempted to enter into the property of my brother since he died. While I was in London I heard that she was planning to sell her husband’s house in Lagos, and this was just after she had sold a Ford Edge car worth a sum of N16 million for just N6 million. All what we are saying is that she should not sell the house without the consent of the family because her late husband stated in the Will that the house should be sold (by the Executors of the will) and that half of the proceeds should go to her. There is a court order asking her not to sell the house and she has also confirmed that she sold the Ford Edge car and there are four cars in their a Lagos house. One of the cars, a Chevrolet was willed to one of my brothers. I have more than seven cars here in Abuja, what do I need her husband’s cars for?

    “She has gone to Facebook to tout my name and malign me. She does not have any child with my late brother. The girl she is referring to as her daughter is actually the child of my mother’s younger brother and the girl has been living with my late brother since her childhood and she is in her final year in the university. Her son, Sullivan, who she claimed to have with my late brother is not actually my brother’s child. She had the boy in the Sierra Leone and the boy came to Nigeria about six years ago. I am not bothered and I am even surprised she is mentioning my name in a bad light.

    “If she says the Will is fake, then the proper thing to do is to produce the original which is kept in the court to disprove the authenticity of the one being circulated as fake. I don’t see how a lawyer could fake a Will that would not give her any benefits. Why didn’t she go to court to say the Will is not genuine and contest the authenticity of the will?  She went to report to the police and now the police are saying we want to investigate the matter again and she is running away again, so what is her problem? Let me say this, all she wants is to scare away every member of the family from coming close to the house of my late brother, so she can do whatever she likes with the house and it will be a shame to my entire family if I sit back and allow that happen.’’

    The distraught widow however explained that she was asked to sell the car in order to raise a sum of N1 million demanded by her brother in-law(Kachie Iheme) for the burial of her husband.

    She said: “Although, a kinsman of my late husband had donated a sum of N5 million to cover his burial expenses, yet, his brother(Kachie) asked me to raise a sum of N1 million for the burial, and he agreed to the sale of the car for the purpose, so  I don’t know why he is now trying to use it against me?.”

    Contacted, Barrister Ikpeazu said the widow should seek legal redress in court, if she is not satisfied with the content of the Will.

    She said: ’’ I am a qualified lawyer. I graduated in 2015. If she (the widow) is aggrieved, she should go to a court and seek redress and not through the media. And I don’t think I should be talking to a journalist about a matter should be properly addressed by a court.’’

    A highly placed source at FCID, Alagbon, said the matter might have been struck out by the court to allow for conclusive investigation.

    “ I don’t think the information that the matter was struck out because of the conclusion of investigation is correct. The only reason why a trial can be  stopped is when the investigation is  inconclusive, hence, the need for proper investigation.’’

     

  • Ogun customs seizes N115m smuggled vehicles, rice, poultry products

    Men of the Ogun Customs Area Command have intercepted seven posh cars, bags of rice and frozen chicken worth a sum of N48 million from suspected smugglers.

    The vehicles are: 2011 Ford Edge SUV, 2006 Toyota Highlander, Audi 80,Nissan Sunny, 2015 C300 Mercedes Benz, 2013 Toyota Highlander and a Toyota Sienna space bus.

    Disclosing this to newsmen at the Idiroko Customs Area Command, Comptroller Sani Madugu said his men intercepted the goods from smugglers who fled on sighting operatives of the Command.

    He said: ‘’We have a total of seven cars seized from the smugglers who abandoned the vehicles and fled when they sighted our men within the Idiroko axis. The vehicles are keyless and five out of them carried various prohibited goods and these items are going to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    “Also, we have equally seized 20 bags of granulated sugar and 42 kegs of groundnut oil totalling over N48 million Duty Paid Value(DPV). At Abeokuta, a truck loaded with imported cartons of poultry products belonging to a cement manufacturing company with a Duty Payable Value (DPV) of N67.5million.

    “The truck was intercepted on Saturday at about 3:45 a.m at the Sagamu Interchange end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The driver of the truck, on sighting our men ran away, but his partner was arrested. The command also intercepted two Sport Utility Vehicles and seized 17 kilogrammes of cannabis smuggled into the country from the Benin Republic.

    The cannabis has since been handed over to the Ogun State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    Speaking further, Madugu said: ‘’The war against smuggling is a total one in Ogun State. The officers and men are committed to their duty including the Area Controller. The Deputy Controller (Enforcement) goes on patrol with a term of dedicated officers and I usually go round to supervise what they are doing.

    “We are redoubling our efforts and it is a continuous exercise in the Ogun Area Command. What we are doing to tackle smuggling so far is giving us good results and that is why we are here to showcase the seizures we have made. You can see the number of prohibited goods that people are trying to bring into the country. I want to advise the public to come forward and pay their duty to customs on non-