Category: Crime Diary

A MEMBER of the Asaba Community Vigilance group in Delta State, Emeka Ogugua, has admitted to conspiring with armed robbers to steal an armoured cable belonging to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) worth over N9million.

Ogugua, 32, who was paraded on Thursday 22, alongside two others  at the “B” Divisional Police Station, Asaba, blamed the devil for tempting him into robbery, saying: “Oga, nah devil push me do this thing”.

Ogugua, a father of three children, who hails from Umuezianam community, Anambra State, said he was recruited by Chiboy Chinonso, 27, into the crime world, adding that this was the only operation they had done.

He said Chiboy, who was an acquaintance, promised him huge financial rewards if he assisted the gang to successfully steal the cable.

Delta Police spokesperson, DSP Tina Kalu, said an engineer, Mr. Uwuigbe Emmanuel, alerted the police that at about 2.00am, hoodlums numbering six invaded the injection substation and tied the five security guards on duty and collected their handsets while making away with the armoured cable.

Kalu said Ogugua, who had earlier denied involvement in the crime, later confessed to the crime.

She said his confession led to the arrest of Chiboy Chinonso and Nnanna Ekwealor, who have also allegedly confessed their involvement in the crime.

According to Kalu, the stolen armoured cable had already being burnt and was recovered at Kwale community in Ndokwa West LGA of the state.

It is unclear why the cable was burnt by the gang members. But Chiboy Chinonso denied involvement in the robbery, claiming that he was a scrap dealer who was contacted by the gang to purchase the merchandise.

He said after he went with the gang to Kwale, Ndokwa to inspect the goods, he discovered that the quantity was much and he could not afford it.

He said when he returned to Asaba, the men of the Special Anti-Robbery squad arrested him at his shop.

He said a shrine, which was displayed at the police station, belonged to his brother, adding that he worshipped at the shrine daily.

The other suspect, Nanna Ekwealor, claimed to work as a tipper driver and was only contracted to supply sand.

He said he waited after the gang members told him he would convey the armoured cable to Kwale late in the night.

He said he was threatened with dangerous weapons after he refused to cooperate with the gang.

His words, his word: “They started threatening me and I did not have any option but to comply with their demands. They led me to a village near Kwale. I was promised N100, 000 but I was only given N20, 000. I could not escape because the gang members where around me all the time: so I could not drive to a police station.”

On why he worked so late in the night, Ekwealor claimed it was not unusual for tipper drivers to work late, especially if they have a backlog of sand to supply at the various building sites around Asaba metropolis.

Kalu said efforts are on to arrest the fleeing members of the gang, adding that the police are out to bring to justice anyone found stealing government’s property, especially hoodlums out to sabotage government’s efforts in providing electricity.

FOR her complicity in the controversial death of 34-year-old Victor Oguntibeju, police have arraigned Prophetess Victoria Abiodun before an Oke Eda Magistrate’s Court, Akure, Ondo State.

Police prosecutor, Isaac Atenegbe, told the court that Prophetess Abiodun committed the offence at Saka Ibrahim Street, Ijoka, Akure, on April 10, 2014 about midnight when she allegedly gave Victor a herbal mixture leading to his death.

He said that the offence was contrary to section 316 of laws of Ondo State (2006).

Prophetess Abiodun pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Although, Magistrate Adebisi Daomi noted that a case of murder was beyond the jurisdiction of a magistrate’s court, she, however, ordered that she be remanded in prison, while the case has been adjourned to June 5.

The Nation had reported a few weeks ago how the late Oguntibeju left his home at No 1, Ifelodun Street, Oke-Ijebu, Akure on Tuesday April 8, 2014 for a spiritual consultation at Christ Evangelical Power C&S Church on Saka Ibrahim Street, Oke-Ukere in Akure, founded by Prophetess Abiodun.

Apart from working as a welder, the deceased had just finished a degree programme at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomosho, Oyo State. He was to attend the convocation of the university before his unfortunate death about a month ago.

His death came barely six months after his marriage to his heartrob called Toyin.

Some unidentified persons were said to have set fire to the church in retaliation for the death of the deceased whose wife was delivered of a new baby on the day he died.

A 28-YEAR-OLD MAN, Ahamehule Chukwu, an apprentice with elementary knowledge in pipe fitting, the knowledge he garnered in his days at the Government Technical College, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has been arrested by men of the Rivers Police Command, over the death of his girlfriend, Ifeanyiwa Ani, 21.

Chukwu claimed to have started love affair with Ani in 2012, which made her to move from her parents’ house to live with him in his family home in Eliozu, Port Harcourt in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.

The young man’s mother and siblings had full knowledge of their cohabitation and the girlfriend’s little brother, Ike, usually spent weekends with them.

Things went on smoothly until Ani purportedly started receiving calls from different men. Chukwu, the last child in a family of six, in anger, asked the allegedly unfaithful girlfriend to leave his house.

It seemed like a regular break up until Ani’s lifeless body was found in front of a health centre in Eliozu.

The Chief Medical Officer of the health centre, Dr. Ama Flag Amachree, reported that the body had three syringe punctures on the buttocks and was dumped there by unknown persons around at 4:30 am on March 31, this year, and he reported the matter to the police around 7:30 am of the same day.

Men of the Okporo Police Division in Port Harcourt immediately swung into action to identify the deceased and ascertain what led to her death.

The sad news got to the father of the deceased, Godwin Ani, who said one of his neighbours’ daughters came to him crying and said: “Papa Ifeanyiwa, Ifeanyiwa don die oh.”

The shocked father got wind of his fourth daughter’s death late in the night and waited till morning before visiting the Okporo Police Station. On getting there, he gave his full statement, in which he noted that Ifeanyiwa had a boyfriend (Chukwu), whom she lived with before the sad incident.

Godwin also stated that he had been to Chukwu’s house to visit his daughter and ask her to return home, but she refused, saying the boyfriend owed her N51,000 and that she would not leave until she got the money.

Policemen then made efforts to invite Chukwu for questioning, but discovered that he had moved out of his family house. After repeated efforts, he came to the police station with his lawyer, and made a statement.

When quizzed on his decision to vacate his family house, the young man said he did so because he rented it out to raise money to pay for a job he had found.

Chukwu claimed that he last saw Ifeanyiwa in November 2013, when they parted ways after an argument over keeping or terminating a pregnancy she had which he said the deceased was desirous to terminate and gave her N20,000 for abortion.

He also gave account of previous abortions she had done and the warning of the abortionist from Ogoni in Rivers State to her never to abort again, stating that he had never met or spoken with the abortionist.

 

In a different account, Chukwu stated that the last time he saw the deceased was when they returned from a health centre after she complained of severe stomach ache, following an abortion.

The suspect also disclosed that he had gone through preliminary rounds of the traditional way of discovering the truth by visiting a native doctor. In an attempt to validate his claims, he told of how the native doctor helped him to discover that Ifeanyiwa’s uncle killed his late father.

The case was subsequently transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Port Harcourt, for further investigation.

The Rivers Police Commissioner, Tunde Ogunsakin, in his reaction, condemned the spate of parental ineptitude, while admonishing parents to always painstakingly ensure that their children lead responsible lives.

Ogunsakin, while warning against cohabitation of minors, said: “It is important that parents stress the importance of being responsible to their children. Abortion is a dangerous option. So, people who have no desire to raise children should abstain from it. A lot of things are happening. We need to properly instruct our children and wards.”

OPERATIVES of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos State Police Command, have smashed a four-man robbery gang who carried out an operation at the arrival hall of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja on October 30, last year. In the process, they carted away the sum of $1.5 million kept in a bagging store by Mrs Uche Eziama, owner of Deravine Company. According to a police source, the said money was kept in a bag and Mrs. Eziama intended to use it for a business transaction that could not hold, following which she decided to keep it in the bagging store. But to her utter shock, by the time she went there to fetch it, it had vanished. She alerted the police and some suspects were arrested. As the suspects were being screened, one of them, Ifeanyi Francis, confessed to the crime. The police later recovered the sum of $224, 240 and two landed properties Ifeanyi said he acquired with the money. Also recovered from him was a Pathfinder SUV he allegedly purchased with part of the stolen money. He also confessed that one of the gang’s members, Chibuzor Onuegbu, who worked at the MMIA as a clearing and forwarding agent, was the one who told him to come to Lagos for the job. He said the larger share of the money was with Onuegbu, adding that Onuegbu confided in him that he would give the money to his elder brother, Kalu, to keep for him. Based on the foregoing information, operatives of SARS, led by officer in charge of SARS a Superintendent of Police (SP) Abba Kyari went after Kalu, who was said to have initially denied any knowledge of the deal. But he later confessed to the crime, giving details of the steps they took to steal the money. His confession led to the arrest of another suspect, Chioma Obinabor, who claimed to be a girlfriend to Chibuzor, the alleged mastermind of the crime, who was said to have escaped to London. Kalu said some money was given to him but he did not know the exact amount he was given to keep until the third day when Chibuzor came, collected the money and gave it to his girlfriend to acquire three and a half plots of land for him at Onigbo area of Port Harcourt. He also bought two plots of land in Aba with two detachable bungalows. Based on Kalu’s information, SARS operatives went after Chioma in Onitsha and arrested her, following which she admitted that her boyfriend, Chibuzor, gave her money to acquire landed property for him. She said she bought six plots of land for N9 million and another four plots for N10 million at 33 area of Onitsha, Anambra State. She said Chibuzor relocated to London after giving her the money. The police also revealed that Kalu bought a Honda CRV and rented a three-bedroom flat for N500,000, furnishing same with over N700,000. The said flat was said to be located at Abuloma area of Port Harcourt. The first suspect, Ifeanyi Francis (25), who claimed to have trained as a bricklayer, said he attended Government Technical College (GTC) Owerri, Imo State. Asked how he became involved in robbery operations, he said: “I got a call from Chibuzor Onuegbu. He became my friend when we were in Enugu in those days, and he asked me to come to Lagos for a deal. When I got to Lagos, I gave him a call and he came and took me to his house where he told me that there was something he wanted me to do for him. He said there was a bag he wanted to pick from a company where he worked at the MMIA Ikeja, but he wanted me to go and pick it for him. “I asked him what the content of the bag was. I did not know that he wanted me to steal the bag. I thought the bag was his. He brought out a tag ticket and a bag and said he would take me to the company and show me the particular place I would take the bag from, and that I should tell them that I came to baggage because I wanted to travel. He showed me the tag ticket that would be put on the bag. “He took me to the company and pointed at the place. When I entered, I told them what he instructed me to tell them and they opened the bag and saw laptop and clothes. I asked him whether I was going to pick it on that day and he said yes. He said they would charge N300 per day for keeping the bag and two days would be N600. “I later left the airport and went to my sister’s house to sleep. When my sister saw me, she was surprised because I did not inform her that I was coming to Lagos. Around 6.30 pm the same day, Chibuzor called and told me that I should come to the airport. I went there to meet him. When I met him, he said I should go and pick the bag. “I picked the bag, but I did not know the content. When I took it to him, he told me that what he planned to do did not work out well, particularly the things he wanted to put inside the bag. The next day, he called me again and said I should go through the same process. They still collected the bag from me and I left. “Around 7.30 pm the same day, he called me again and I told him that I was at my sister’s house. He said I should go and pick the bag. This time, the bag was very heavy and he was outside with a taxi. I entered. Why the bag became heavy was that he carried the one containing dollars and put in the one I brought to the airport. “I carried the bag containing dollars and entered the taxi cab he came with and we drove to the street where he was squatting with his sister. But half way, we stopped and he paid off the taxi driver, while we trekked the remaining distance to his sister’s flat. “As we were trekking, I asked him what was inside the bag. Along that street, there was a container. We entered the container and there he opened the bag and showed me the content. When I saw dollars, I was so shocked that I nearly lost control of my mind. It became very difficult for him to close the bag, so he brought out part of the money and put it in the other bag we were carrying. “When we got to the gate of the sister’s house, he said I should find my way and that by the following day he would give me a call to come. He rushed to the backyard and within 30 minutes, he came out. That was between 9 and 10 pm. He said I should give him the bag and that I should go with the other bag, and I left. “In the morning of the following day, I went to the sister’s house to see him. For two hours, I could not see him. Fortunately, he came out to buy something, thinking that I had gone. I rushed towards him and asked how we were going to share the money. He said there were other people behind the business who would get their own shares, but that he would give me something for the excellent role I played in stealing the money. “I wanted to play a smart one on him, so I told him that the money he put in my bag was no longer there because I put it back without him knowing, and he said it was not true. He threatened not to give me anything until I brought out the one in my possession. I went inside, checked the bag and counted the money. It was about N60 million. “I used the money to buy land while he carried the bigger bag. I bought two plots of land for N4.5 million and built a six-bedroom flat, bought a jeep and enjoyed my life. My only regret is that the government will confiscate my land and vehicle and the balance I have in the bank will be returned to the owner while I will become poor again; a situation I thought that I had overcome for life. The second suspect, Chioma Obinabor (27), who claimed that Chibuzor was her boyfriend, said: “My boyfriend, Chibuzor, told me that his name was Michael Okafor when he started ‘toasting’ me at ITC Motor Park in Onithsa as we were travelling to Owerri in the same commercial bus around November 2013. I later learnt that his real name is Chibuzor Onuegbe. “We did not know each other before then. When the bus moved, we started discussing and became friendly. He asked me about my name, village and where I was going to stay in Owerri. He told me that he was working at the MMIA Ikeja and that God had blessed him somehow and would take all the glory. “I told him that I used to help my brother to sell goods in his shop. He later paid my transport fare and I gave him my phone number. He later called me and invited me to one hotel in Owerri on a Friday. The hotel is situated on Douglas Road, but I don’t know the name of the hotel because I was not interested in that. I only wanted to honour his invitation because I had fallen in love with him, thinking that he was a responsible man. “We later made love. And when I wanted to leave the hotel, he gave me N20,000 for transportation back to Onitsha and I was very happy. “He later invited me again to another hotel in Owerri and gave me N50,000 as transport fare back to Onitsha. All these happened between November and December last year. He even invited me to the hotel the third time, and when I was going back to Onitsha, he gave me N100,000. During the Christmas period, I called him and told him that I wanted to buy something for Christmas, and he asked me to send my bank account number to him. He paid N230,000 into my account, bringing the total money he gave me to N400,000. “In January this year, he told me that he wanted to travel to London and asked me to help him buy some lands. He gave me money in dollars and I later bought land for him with the money. I bought a plot at 33 area of Onitsha, Anambra State for N10 million, but I paid the owner in dollars for four plots of land. “I took the documents to him in Owerri for signing. Later, I went to buy another six plots at the same 33 area at the rate of N9 million. I bought it from a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) based in Abuja. “When he told me that he would travel to London through Ghanaian Airport, I decided to go with him so that I could branch to Togo to see my father who was sick and was taking treatment in a hospital there. I dropped when we got to Ghana while he left for London at 11 pm that same Saturday with a promise to call me when he reached London. “But I was arrested in Onitsha in March when I went for my father’s burial. I have shown the police all the lands and documents. I did not know that they stole the money from MMIA in Lagos. This incident has taught me a big lesson because from now on, before I accept to be anyone’s friend or fiancée, I will investigate him properly.” The third suspect, Onuegbe Kalu (34), who claimed to be elder brother to Chibuzor, said he was newly engaged with a beautiful woman. He also described himself as an electrical engineer working with an oil company in Port Harcourt. He said: “Early this year, the operatives of SARS invited me to Lagos and I honoured their invitation. They told me that my younger brother, Chibuzor, stole money from the company where he was working at the MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos. Chibuzor was staying with my in-law who got him the job he was doing at the MMIA. “I was invited here and I took an undertaking to look for my brother. When I left, I tried to get him. Luckily for me, he called and told me that he would visit me in Port Harcourt. He came with a bag of money and told me that I should keep it for him. I did not count it. He asked me to help him acquire landed property with the money. “When he left, I called close friends and told them that the police had asked me to help them to arrest my brother for stealing millions of naira, but they said it is only a stupid man that would see wealth and choose poverty. That left me confused as to the next step to take. “As I was thinking about what to do, he came back a few days later and told me that he wanted to collect the money to give to somebody who would be able to use it to acquire land for him quickly. He only left N5.2 million with me and asked me to use my name to buy a land and develop it. I had no choice but to comply. “Already, I had bought two plots of land for him for N10 million. But before he left, he told me that he would give the remaining money to his girlfriend to buy land for him.”

THE dust is yet to settle on the mysterious death of 34-year-old Victor Oguntibeju, who allegedly gave up the ghost while seeking spiritual consultation at the Christ Evangelical Power C&S Church in Akure, Ondo State.

Some unidentified persons were said to have set fire to the church in retaliation for the death of the deceased, who until his death was a popular welder in the community.

A community leader, Akin Akinnayajo, said the perpetrators were unknown, adding that they must have set ablaze the church building to avenge the death of Victor and the alleged complicity of the prophetess in charge of the church called Abiodun.

“No one knew when the church was set ablaze. From what I gathered, it must have been carried out late in the evening by aggrieved persons to punish Prophetess Abiodun for her complicity in the death of Victor.”

The Nation had reported last week how the late Victor Oguntibeju who, until his death resided at No 1, Ifelodun Street, Oke-Ijebu, Akure, allegedly visited the church located on Saka Ibrahim Street, Oke-Ukere,Akure, on Tuesday April 8, 2014 for a spiritual consultation..

The embattled Prophetess Abiodun was said to have given him a particular concoction known as agbo in local parlance to treat an undisclosed ailment. He allegedly developed complications after he took the concoction and died shortly after.

His distraught relations had been looking for him until the lid was blown on his whereabouts by a commercial motorcyclist popularly called Okada who took him to the church. The Okada rider had insisted that Prophetess Abiodun must know something about Victor’s whereabouts. She was subsequently arrested by the police and led detectives to a public morgue where she deposited Victor’s body as ‘Oluwaposi Mathew’

The late Victor got married to his wife, Toyin, about six months ago.His wife was said to have been delivered of a new baby on the day he died and the couple, according to sources, spoke on telephone shortly before the unfortunate incident.

“Victor did not live to see his new child and had barely enjoyed the bliss of his marriage which took place six months ago. He is also survived by aged parents. His mother is currently staying with his wife in Badagry, Lagos State.

“He never complained of battling with any ailment and I find it difficult to believe that he went to the church to take a concoction that could cure the undisclosed ailment. The prophetess should be held responsible and subsequently prosecuted for her complicity in the death of my good friend,” said one of Victor’s friends, who asked not to be named.

Apart from working as a welder, the deceased had just finished a degree programme at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomosho, Oyo State. He was to attend the convocation of the university before his unfortunate death about a month ago.

Our reporter gathered that Prophetess Abiodun is still being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Akure, at the time of filing this report.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ondo State Police Command, Mr Wole Ogodo, had said last week that investigation was still ongoing.