The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Robbers’ threat letters spark anxiety in Ogun, Osun communities

    Daring armed robbers in parts of the Southwest states, including Ogun and Osun, have resorted to writing letters to residents of the areas they intend to attack, causing undue anxiety among the residents of such communities, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

    EARLY in the month, an unusual letter caused panic in Olosan community in Leme area of Abeokuta, Ogun State. Frightened residents launched into a fit of lamentation, urging the police to save them from suspected robbers who had written a letter to tell the community to prepare for an invasion.

    In the letter that was indiscreetly pasted on walls around the community, the robbers warned residents to prepare for dire consequences if the police were informed about their mission.

    The hoodlums instructed the residents to keep money for them or be prepared for death if they fail to yield to their request for cash.

    The notice read: “Important notice to residents of Olosan community: We the oga, oga (big bosses) are coming to greet you in no distance time (sic). If you like, you can report to the police, that does not concern us.

    “Whoever we visit and refuse to give a good amount of money to us shall be killed or the person might even lose both money and his life.”

    Crying out for help, the embattled residents cried: “Please help us beg them. We don’t have money. Please!”

    Like the Abeokuta episode, residents of Olofa Estate, Ofatedo community in Osun State were also gripped by fear on June 24 this year after suspected robbers informed them of an impending attack unless a sum of N20 million was contributed and paid to them.

    In the letters, the suspected robbers threatened to kill all the guards in the community, adding that no house would be spared during the attack.

    The notice written in both Yoruba and English, read in part: “This is to inform you all that we thieves are coming to this community. We won’t spare any house or else you contribute a sum of N20m and keep it with the chairman.

    “We will only visit and take the money from him. We will kill all your watchmen if they try to stop us. We are coming with full force.”

    Fearful residents relocate, hire security guards

    Worried by the threat letters fearful residents, among other security measures, resorted to fleeing the communities while the leadership of the communities hired the services of local guards.

    Sources said that residents since then been returning home early and shutting their doors as early as possible in the evenings.

    A resident of Olosan community in Abeokuta, Jamiu Alao, said: “As residents, we are troubled by the audacity of the suspected robbers.

    Read Also: Suspected notorious robber shot dead in Warri

    “We don’t want to leave things to chance, hence we have encouraged ourselves to return home early and lock our doors as early as 7.30 pm.

    “Although they are yet to make good their threat to invade our community, some residents have started relocating from this community.

    “However, we have decided to sustain these security measures in order to protect ourselves from the robbers while we have also informed the police.”

    “The landlords association has also contracted vigilance groups to protect lives and property in the community and carry out regular surveillance especially at nights.

    A community leader, who asked not to be named, said the robbers’ notice unsettled the residents when it was sighted in the community.

    He said that police had been patrolling the community since the notice was pasted, adding that landlords in the community too had formed a vigilance team to support the police.

    Some residents of Olofa Estate in Ofatedo, Osun State where a similar notice was pasted by robbers were said to have also relocated for fear of becoming victims.

    “I relocated my family to Ede because I did not want to fall victim to dare devil robbers,” a resident who spoke in confidence said.

    The Field Commandant, Osun Amotekun Corps, Amitolu Shittu, had allayed fears over the development, saying:  “Although there was no formal report yet from the community, immediately we saw the letters from the robbers on the social media, I met some residents of the area and I asked some relevant questions.

    “We have not met with the representatives of the community as a group, but we are on top of the situation. We, however, cannot disclose in full our strategy in the media.”

    Sadly, a week after the notice was posted some daredevil robbers invaded the community, robbing and injuring residents.

    According to reports, the robbers numbering five on July 1, 2021, invaded the Ilupeju area, Ofatedo community in Egbedore Local Government Area, Osun State.

    Residents said the robbers attacked the community around 1:30 a.m. They first attacked a poultry farm after they shot the night guard several times, but he escaped.

    The robbers then invaded another factory in the area from where they forced their way into residential buildings and robbed occupants of their valuables.

    It was said that the robbers operated for about four hours and left the community around 5 a.m.

    Speaking with The Nation, one of the night guards in the area, who identified himself simply as Segun, said: “They (robbers) came to our community around 1a.m. I was on duty. The bandits were looking for money. Unfortunately, they could not get anything where I am securing. They attacked me with a machete.”

    Another resident who spoke in confidence said he was tied and locked up in the toilet by the hoodlums.

    He said: “I was tied and locked up in the toilet. After I freed myself and left the toilet, I was hearing gunshots even till around 5a.m. The robbers were five in number. Two of them carried guns. Only one of them did not wear a mask.”

    It will be recalled that a similar notice was pasted in the Onikoko area in Abeokuta South Local Government Area by suspected robbers in December 2020.

    The robbers were said to have pasted the notice on the walls of different buildings, telling the residents to be ready to give “what belongs to us.”

    The letter reads: “We armed robbers are using this medium to notify you that we are coming to pay you a visit very soon in this community to collect what belongs to us.

    “Go out and tell the landlord, landladies, tenants and visitors that we are coming to visit them very soon. Thanks.”

     

    Why robbers write victims before they strike

    A pubic analyst, Dapo Adaramati, said robbers write to their victims beforehand in order to weaken their spirit of resistance and cause fear in the victims before they strike in communities.

    He said: “Robbers writing disturbing letters to residents is an apparent recourse to psychological method to instill fear in residents and weaken their spirit of resistance before they (robbers) invade the apartments and homes of their victims.

    “Such notice or letter usually ends with ‘don’t try to inform the police’, and this is inserted in the letters to forestall a situation whereby the police would be invited to repel or foil their operations.”

    In his opinion, a security expert, Sam Bassey said that robbers mostly write letters to residents of rural communities to make them believe that “they can’t get adequate security protection from law enforcement agents and to make them submit to their threats.

    Bassey urged the police to create and sustain proactive measures to protect the lives and property of residents and investigate and arrest the robbers behind such letters.

    “Part of the remedies I want to suggest is that the police authorities must develop proactive measures to ensure constant surveillance and patrol in several rural communities as well as launch a diligent investigation to unmask the criminal gangs behind the disturbing letters.”

  • Policeman’s son caught in Aba failed robbery

    By Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

    Police on Monday snatched the son of a retired sergeant from a mob in Aba, Abia State, after he was allegedly caught in a robbery attempt.

    Eyewitnesses said the suspect, Chidi, was apprehended by residents at a petrol station off Azikiwe Road after their robbery attempt collapsed.

    Read Also; Lagos CP visits family of teenager killed by stray bullet

    “I was shocked he was the one. We chased him from Azikiwe to Jubilee by High Court. Many hit his head with stones; some used heavy sticks on him. It was when I looked at his face that I shouted. He lived with his parents at the Aba Area Command barracks before his father died. I remember they were chased out of the barracks since then.  I felt pity for him, but, an armed robber is an armed robber,” a witness said.

    Police spokesman could not be reached before press time.

  • How we smuggled stolen cars from Nigeria to Benin Republic, returned them as Tokunbo – Trans-border robbery suspects

    How we smuggled stolen cars from Nigeria to Benin Republic, returned them as Tokunbo – Trans-border robbery suspects

    By Ebele Boniface

    Operatives of the FIB Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force have smashed a five-man trans-border robbery syndicate who specialised in snatching cars from Nigeria, refurbishing them in the neighbouring Benin Republic and bringing them back as tokunbo (fairly used) vehicles.

    The breakthrough recorded by the security agents followed the arrest of a 23-year-old suspected member of the gang Abdulrafiu Olamilekan, following which two other members, namely Idris Adesina (26) and Suleiman Aliu (35) were also arrested. The remaining two members of the syndicate, Wandoko and Tunde Jonny a.k.a Elija, remained at large.

    A police source said the gang was so organised that each member had a specific role to play during the robbery operations they usually carried out between the odd hours of 8 pm and 12 am.

    For instance, the source said, the role of one of the members during attacks on victims’ homes and room to room operations in hotels or private buildings was to kick the door open.

    And during car snatching operations, a member of the gang was saddled with the task of pointing a gun at the owner’s forehead and ordering him or her to vacate the driver’s seat so that their own driver would take over.

    Once the operation was complete, they would drive the stolen vehicle to Cotonou in neighbouring Benin Republic.

    The three members of the gang in police net were said to have been arrested after a robbery operation they carried out around 8 pm on June 14. After the operation, one of the members was said to have taken a snatched car to the receiver in Cotonou identified as Suleiman.

    The gang’s nefarious activities was said to have come to the knowledge of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, who directed the commander of FIB-IRT, Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, to fish out the suspects and prosecute them so that the people they were terrorising, particularly in the Sango-Ota and Agege axis in Ogun and Lagos states would sleep with their two eyes closed.

    IRT operatives swung into action, posing as buyers and calling Olamilekan, who was in possession of two of the gang’s stolen vehicles, and pretending to be interested in them. The moment he surfaced, they picked him up and later used him to arrest Idris Adesina and Suleiman Aliu while two other members of the gang remained at large.

    Narrating their experiences at the Oba correctional centre in Ogun State where they were detained, the suspects complained about poor feeding, lack of medical care and other inhuman conditions. But by far the most worrisome, they said, is the attitude of homosexual inmates who are in the habits of luring their victims to the toilet.

    Olamilekan, who described himself as an indigene of Iseyin Local Government Area, Oyo State, said: “I dropped out of school at JSS3. My father is a soldier, and when he was posted to Kaduna State, he separated from my mother and life became hard for us.

    “I learnt panel beating and later joined somebody who was already established. But I later met a friend named Odunayo. He asked me what took me to prison because I am an ex-convict, and I told him that it was a car snatching offence and that I spent six months in prison.

    “I told him that I could open any vehicle without the key and could drive any kind of vehicle. He then promised to get me a job with a big car-snatching gang.

    “In my first operation, we saw a man at Ojuore in Ota, Ogun State on May 5, 2021. We were five in number. He came down to open the gate to his house and we rushed towards him. The one who held the gun among us arrested him and collected his money and phone. One of our gang members also led him to the toilet and locked him there to avoid him raising the alarm before we left.

    “In another incident, we attacked the owner of a Lexus car and told him to hand over the key to Adesina. We then dragged the owner back into the car, dropped him along the way and zoomed off. The vehicle was then taken to Cotonou.

    “Another car we snatched was kept with me in Nigeria, but the buyer I got for it happened to be a police officer. I sold the car for N500,000, but the police officer paid N100,000 and told me to come back for the balance.

    “He arrested me when I went back to collect the balance, saying that the vehicle had an issue and somebody would come to interrogate me. That was on 14th June, 2021. That was how I was arrested.” On his part, Adesina, who hails from Owode Local Government Area, Ogun State, said he trained as a vulcanizer.

    He said: “When my father died, I became a bus conductor in order to get daily money to feed. But the Lagos task force and LASTMA (Lagos State Transport Management Agency) frustrated us by asking us to pay for a ticket in the sum of N100,000.

    “Seeing that we could not raise the money, we sold the bus. I then returned to Agege and started stealing phones. I was arrested and sent to prison in September, 2019 until I was discharged in April, 2021.

    “When I joined the gang they asked me to be the gang’s driver. We operated with one gun. When we snatched a Toyota Avensis car, someone sent us the receiver’s phone number and the receiver came and took the vehicle to Cotonou at about 12 midnight, because that was the hour you would not see any police officer on the road.

    “The Avensis was sold for N250,000 and they gave me N40,000. For the car I took to the receiver in Cotonou, they paid #250,000. When I was coming back, the receiver, Baba Ibeji, gave me four guns to give to the gang. I gave them three and kept one. I later snatched a (Toyota) Highlander and took it to Cotonou and Baba Ibeji paid #200,000.

    “I was in my house when they called me to come and collect an Acura jeep. But when I showed up, they arrested me.”

    Adesina recalled that five of them, namely Wandoko, Enife, Sadoko, Tunde Jonny a.k.a Elija and himself participated in the robbery of a hotel.

    He said: “I monitored from outside but later joined them, because it was only the money and phone you got by yourself that belonged to you.

    “As we entered the six-room hotel, we used our legs to pull down the doors. Unfortunately, we did not cover our faces because we did not know that there was CCTV camera there.”

    In his own confession, Suleiman Aliu said: “I am from Porto Novo in Benin Republic and I am married with a child.

    “It was Idris (Adesina) who called me to come and collect a vehicle and I came and waited for him at Owode in Ogun State. I had collected four vehicles from him, and I used to take them to my master in Cotonou named Baba Ibeji.

    “I was a farmer, but when I got some money from armed robbery, I bought a cab for use in Porto Novo. There was a time they gave me four guns to give to the gang in Nigeria but I refused because I did not have the courage to carry such exhibits.

    “I used to take tokunbo vehicles to Nigeria for Baba Ibeji. Initially I did not know that the tokunbo cars were vehicles stolen from Nigeria and brought to Cotonou where they are refurbished and sent back to Nigeria as tokunbo cars.

    “Unfortunately, I could not talk because of the money I was making from taking tokunbo cars from Benin Republic to Nigeria.

    “If I am released, I will not take stolen vehicles into Nigeria again. I have repented.”

  • Outrage as stepmother inflicts stepson with burns from hot knife

    Outrage as stepmother inflicts stepson with burns from hot knife

    By Justina Asishana – Minna

    • Accuses him of taking food from her pot without permission

    • Says she did it to make him stop stealing

    A stepmother has deployed a hot knife to inflict serious injuries on her stepson’s eyes and other parts of his body for daring to take food from the pot in her absence.

    Eight years old Ahmad Shehu Amir, who is said to be suffering from sickle cell anaemia, said he had returned from his Islamic school very hungry but met the absence of his stepmother, Mariam Danjuma.

    And since there was food in the pot, he felt that it would not be of any harm if he helped himself to some. That, however, turned out the tonic his stepmother needed to unleash horror on him.

    In a fit of anger, she put a knife in the fire and waited until it was red hot before she cruelly landed it on his eyes and some other parts of his body.

    Thereafter, she threatened to kill Ahmad if he continued to stay in the house.

    Maryam was not alone in the act as the father, Shehu Musa Danjuma, was said to have stood by and idly watched as his wife inflicted the serious injuries on Ahmad.

    Maryam, however, said she did not set out to be cruel but did what she did in order to punish Ahmad for taking food from her pot on his own, which she said amounted to stealing.

    In a statement she made upon her invitation by a child rights agency, she said: “What happened was that I cooked three cups of rice and spaghetti. I did not leave any for their father but I gave all of them. The remaining food in the pot was for his brother.

    “When the brother returned from Islamiyya, he could not find the food so I asked all of them if they took the food. They all denied, but since I knew him with such acts, I insisted until he finally confessed.

    “This was not the first time he would take such things, and I always preached to him. I usually scared him with fire whenever he did such things.

    “On that day, I held a small phone in my hand. As I was taking the knife towards his hand, he hit it with his head.

    “I was not even aware of the burn until the next morning when his father complained. I called the boy and made him know that my target was not his head but his hand.

    “Everything I did to him to stop him from stealing had proved abortive so I decided that he should be returned to his mother since everyone was watching to see how I would treat a child who is not mine.”

    Maryam said she was the one that was taking care of the family’s feeding and did not understand why Ahmad would keep stealing from her.

    She said: “I have been the one taking care of them since their father is no longer financially stable. I can also decide to stop doing that since it is my money, and I could sell the foodstuffs I receive in exchange for teaching at the place where I work.”

    Stepson

    Ahmad’s father, Shehu Musa Danjuma, explained that he said nothing when Maryam was punishing Ahmad because he did not want to complain about her actions in the presence of the children.

    He described the eight-year-old boy as a spoilt child and blamed his mother for making things worse.

    She said,: “It is the mother that spoilt him. Because we live in the same area, she would come to our area and give him money.

    “She even gives our neighbours money to keep for them in case they would need it. She would give a boy as small as Ahmad N20 or N50 to spend.”

    Ahmad’s mother, Aisha Baba Zagunu, who reported the incident to the Niger State Child Rights Agency, said she was informed about the incident by her eldest son, Musa Shehu, who is 15 years old and also lives with their father and his wife.

    Aisha said: “Musa said they went to an Islamic school and returned and Ahmad was hungry. Since the stepmother was not at home, he took food from the pot and ate.

    “He said that when she returned and asked about the rice, he admitted to having eaten it because he was hungry.

    “Musa then said she took a knife, put it in the gas fire, and when it was hot, she used it on him and said she did not want to see him in the house again or she would kill him.

    “That was why he called me to come and take Ahmad away before she would kill him.”

    Aisha, who said she had separated from her husband for three years, said she was prevented from taking custody of her children, adding that she would be glad to do so.

    She said: “I did not report the incident in order to fight her. I just want the law to take its course.

    ” I want the law to fight for me and give me custody of my children. This shows that they are not safe in their father’s house.”

    The Director-General of the Niger State Child Rights Agency, Barrister Mariam Kolo, after listening to all sides, directed that the case be taken to the state CID for proper investigation and prosecution.

    Kolo said it was a case of serious act of cruelty to a child, adding that the father should also be punished for watching while his son, who he knows is a sickler, was being punished cruelly.

    She said: “The Agency will not take it easy on this issue because the report we just heard is very harrowing. This is how it begins before it becomes a mega crime meted out to a child.

    “Once a mother or stepmother begins to show signs of cruelty to a child, the child has to be removed immediately from that environment because the life of the child is in danger.

    “There is no reason for such cruelty. There is no reason for one to put a knife in the fire and saying you want to scare a child by inflicting injury on him: that is not punishment but cruelty. Is there no other punishment?

    “As a stepmother to a sickler, she should have understood his nature by now. Sicklers get hungry multiple times a day and need special treatment, and they are always under crisis.

    “What if he had a crisis when she was inflicting him with the hot knife?

    “The matter will be properly investigated by the CID, and if need be, she will be prosecuted by a court of law alongside the father for standing there while injury was being inflicted on his child. He should not have allowed it.

    “The mother will also be investigated for leaving a child that needs special attention for the father and the wife.”

    The case has been referred to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Niger State Police Command for further investigation.

  • ICYMI: Controversy trails death of socialite during prayer session at Celestial church

    ICYMI: Controversy trails death of socialite during prayer session at Celestial church

    Few days after the tragic death of a businessman cum socialite, Kayode Badru, who was burnt to death during a prayer session at a parish of the Celestial Church of Christ in Alagbado, a Lagos suburb, his widow, Kofoworola Badru, recalled his last moments in an exclusive interview with KUNLE AKINRINADE while other members of the deceased man’s family demanded justice.

    Kofoworola, the widow of Kayode Badru, the businessman cum socialite who died in a parish of the Celestial Church of Christ in Alagbado, Lagos recently had no inkling that a prayer session her husband went for on their wedding anniversary could result in his gruesome death.

    Badru, a roundly built successful businessman and socialite who shuttled between Nigeria, Europe and the United Arab Emirates, had hesitated in leaving their palatial residence at No 13 C, Morin Street, New Oko-Oba near Abule Egba on April 26.

    ”He was restless before he left home on the fateful day. He left our room and returned three times midway the staircase before he finally left,” Kofoworola said.

    ”He kept saying he forgot something until he finally left home after turning to the room three times.

    “He did not eat before he left home, so he asked me to prepare chicken stew and rice for him.

    ”He told me he was going for prayers at his late mother’s church around Magboro area in Ogun State. He left home around 10 am and promised to come back by 2pm.”

    Unknown to his wife of four years, her husband had gone to another Celestial Church parish for the prayers which turned tragic and terminated their four-year-old conjugal bliss.

    While Kofoworola was still wondering why her husband had not returned home to eat his favourite meal at 2 pm, cruel fate had played a fast one the Abeokuta-born father of four.

    At the church, her husband had clenched his fingers around seven lighted candlesticks and knelt down swathed by seven elders who poured effusive prayers on him to overcome evil.

    In the middle of the prayers, the prayer warriors were said to have sprayed him with some spiritual perfume. But before they knew it, the perfume ignited fire which burnt Badru beyond recognition.

    He was rushed to the Gbagada General Hospital, where he eventually died on May 4.

    “I did not know that he went to another church, the Imole Cathedral of the Celestial Church of Christ. Although the shepherd of the church is his friend and he was the one who facilitated the opening of the church’s branch in Dubai, UAE.

    “I became worried when he didn’t return home on time. A few hours later, I was told that he was involved in an accident during the prayers.

    ”I called his phone at about 2 pm but he didn’t pick his call. At about 5pm, I got a call from the shepherd of the church that my husband was involved in a little accident, and I went to the church.

    ”At the church, I was told that one of the elders that were praying for my husband sprinkled perfume on him and it triggered fire from the burning candlesticks he was clutching and burnt him.

    ”On seeing how pathetic my husband’s condition was, I demanded to see the lady who was said to have sprinkled perfume on my husband, but they were just calming me down and did not allow me to see the lady.

    “My husband too was calming me down, including the shepherd of the church, Prophet Felix Alebiosu a.k.a. Ebony.

    ”My husband later developed an infection on his body and he died on May 4, 2021.”

    Curiously, when the incident happened, Kofoworola said she was asked by the shepherd of the church, Prophet Felix Alebiosu, not to inform her husband’s family members, assuring her that the situation was under control.

    She said: “I was told by Alebiosu not to inform my husband’s family that he was in the hospital. But I eventually did because I couldn’t keep them in the dark for long.

    ”My husband had no particular parish where he worshipped. He worshipped at any parish he was invited to, and I had accompanied him to worship at this particular church, where he got burnt a few times.

    “Besides, he was very close to Alebiosu because he worshipped at a branch of the church in Dubai.

    “He is survived by four children. I have two with him while he has two children from his previous marriage.

    “He died on our wedding anniversary on May 4; we actually got married on May 4, 2017.”

    The 31-year-old widow described her late husband as a man with a large heart even on the sickbed.

    ”Kayode loved life and was always willing to help people, and he didn’t joke with his children. He had a large heart and always wanted to help people.

    “Even on his sickbed in hospital, he was still helping some patients out with their medical bills.”

    Recalling his last moments with the deceased, his younger brother, Oluwaseun Badru, also a priest of the Celestial Church of Christ, said there was more to the incident than meets the eye.

    “I was called to come see my brother, Kayode Badru, at the Gbagada General Hospital. I saw him in a critical situation.

    “When I held his hand to pray for him, he told me that the incident wasn’t natural. He said that he was held down while seven elders of the church were praying for him at the church, and that he felt as if he was in a trance where someone was pouring water on his body. He said that he heard a voice asking him, ‘Is this how you are going to end your life?’ and that he got up to find that he was burning.

    “Unfortunately, by the time he got up, the deed had been done as he had been severely burnt. However, my question is where are the seven elders that prayed for him while he was burning? I ask this question because doctors said he was burnt up to the fifth layer of his skin. So, for how long was he held down and how long was the prayer session that those who prayed for him didn’t know that he was burning in their midst?

    “I asked the shepherd of the church, Prophet Felix Alebiosu, who led the prayer session for my brother if there were monetary transactions between him and my brother, and he said no. He told me that my brother wasn’t that rich, contrary to what he had earlier told me.

    “What baffled me was that my brother told his family he was going to our mother’s parish in Magboro, only for him to visit another parish where he was burnt to death as a result of the perfume poured on him while he was holding candlesticks already lit.”

    Oluwaseun urged the police to ensure that justice is served in the matter, noting that other suspects on the run must be arrested and prosecuted.

    “Alebiosu and two others have since been arrested and are now in police custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

    “We heard that the suspects are receiving preferential treatment. However, what we want is justice for our late brother.

    “Other fleeing suspects must be arrested and made to face the wrath of the law, because that is the only way justice can be served in this matter.”

    Also demanding justice, another younger brother of the deceased, Oluwagbenga Badru, said the circumstances surrounding the death of his elder brother were not real.

    He said he suspected foul play and urged the police to carry out thorough investigation and apprehend all those involved in the case with a view to ensuring justice.

    He said: “I still find it difficult to believe that perfume was the only substance responsible for my brother’s death. Is it possible for perfume to burn a man up to the fifth layer of his skin without those praying for him perceiving the smoke from the burning?

    “Besides, there is another version being bandied by the elders at the prayer session which suggests that the fire started from a burning candle which spread to the spot my brother knelt down and consumed him while praying. So, on this score, the police should arrest all those involved and bring them to book without fear or favour.”

    An impeccable source at SCID, Panti, Yaba, confirmed to our correspondent that some persons had been arrested in connection with the case.

    “We have arrested the shepherd of the church where the incident took place and two other suspects, and they are in our custody right now. Efforts are being made to arrest other persons involved in the case and carry out a diligent investigation.

    “The suspects in our custody will appear before the Deputy Commissioner in charge of SCID this week for proper briefing on the matter.”

    Meanwhile, the authorities of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) has issued a statement blaming the incident on abuse of perfume by members of the church.

    The statement issued by the pastor of the church, Rev. Emmanuel Oshoffa, urged the pastor-in-council to prevent such abuse in the future.

    The statement reads in part:  “Calvary greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who has called us into His Glory.

    “Due to the incessant abuse of spiritual perfumes within the church, His Eminence has found it imperative to state for record purposes and correction that henceforth, spiritual perfumes intended to be sprayed, sprinkled or poured with a lighted candle should be diluted with water.

    “The spraying or pouring of undiluted spiritual perfumes in its volatile state with a lighted candle is an imported culture not originally part of the tenets of the Celestial Church of Christ.

    “The laid down usage of spiritual perfume within the spheres of a lighted candle by the pastor founder, Saint SBJ Oshoffa, is by mixing it with water. It is high time we retraced our steps for a greater Celestial Church of Christ.

    “We are all advised to adhere to this directive. Any parish or member that goes against this directive will be solely responsible for the resultant effect.

    “The pastor has also directed the pastor-in-council to come up with a policy document to curb alien practices that have been introduced into the tenets and doctrines of the church to safeguard the church’s divine culture as instructed by the Spirit of God through the pastor founder,” the statement added.

  • ‘Friends made me do it’

    ‘Friends made me do it’

    • Pandemic of ‘gang-bang’, drug dependence seize Nigerian teens
    • Their frantic battles with peer pressure
    • They are getting bolder, slipping to self-destruct – Psychologists

     

    By Olatunji OLOLADE, Associate Editor

     

    For Bola Akinde, watching his daughter smoke weed was like peeping into a time capsule. The image spiralled rearwards, like dismal paste-ups to his younger self.

    “I experimented with weed on my 17th birthday. I lived in the school hostel and my friends urged me to try it. I stopped four months later, after our housemaster caught us smoking and I got suspended for two weeks. I vowed never to touch weed again. But my daughter, Joke, is only 14, and she is a chainsmoker. She smokes and drinks marijuana. She hosts gang-bangs.”

    Since he caught his 14-year-old daughter “sucking on a claro,” – that is, smoking the butt end of a giant weed wrap – with her male cousin and twin daughters of a family friend, he has been afflicted by a strong foreboding about his child’s future.

    Despite their affinity for marijuana, father and daughter are light and shade of the same fever. While Akinde quit smoking at age 17, at 14, his daughter still suffers heavy drug dependence.

    Yet getting high is not her only vice. “Joke is very reckless; so reckless that she was caught pants-down letting strange boys run a train on her (gang-bang). She is just a child,” said Akinde, revealing that his daughter orchestrated and hosted the sexual activity with classmates.

    “We found out that, that was the second one masterminded by her. What her mother wouldn’t dare as a teen, Joke dares recklessly. She is very reckless,” said Akinde in a wavering tenor.

    Then, close to tears, he said, “Mi o to set lori omokankan ri, bawo lawon boys buruku kan se ma wa ma to set lori omo mi (I never participated in any gang-bang of someone’s else’s daughter. Why should my own daughter become the vixen of multiple gang-bangs?)”

    He said, “When we queried her, she said, the first time, her friends convinced her to do it. And the second and third sessions were initiated by her. Her cousin said she did it to gain ‘street cred’ (street credibility). Now, someone will say she is acting out. Acting out what exactly?

    On New Year’s eve, Joke’s mother reportedly caught her pants down with the son of her childhood friend. A 12-year-old boy. “But she (the mother) never told me about it until I caught Joke smoking weed on an unannounced and unscheduled visit to their place. Then, the mother cried that it was about time we sought spiritual help for her,” said Akinde.

    The 51-year-old disclosed that although he and Joke’s mother are divorced, they maintain cordial relations for their daughter’s sake.

    He said, “Yes, I experienced peer pressure too as a teenager, but there was a limit to the things I did. Yes, I smoked Igbo (weed). Yes, I took some alcohol. Heck, I had girlfriends but  I didn’t have sex until I clocked 20. My daughter has been having sex since age 13,” he said, lamenting that she got deflowered while experimenting with the 14-year-old son of a former neighbour.

    smoking marijuana
    •Teenagers smoking marijuana at a makeshift colony established by them in Adeniji Adele Estate, Lagos Island

    “That was why her mother changed apartments, because the boy’s mother became hostile, claiming Joke was a bad influence on her son…I had saved up money to send her abroad for schooling. Who knows what she would do over there? I would rather commit my money to my bar and printing business,” said Akinde.

    Frustrated, the Akindes took their daughter to a white garment church in Ibadan, where she is currently been exorcised of the “demons of addiction.”

    “We had to take her that far to avoid uncomfortable questions from neighbours and close relatives. They know the truth  but they will still come to rub it in, showing scathing concern,” said Hannah, Joke’s mother.

    Were the Akindes right to haul their daughter to a spiritualist? Tunde Allen, a teen psychologist and school counsellor stated that teenagers like Joke often times “act out of character” to get their parents attention.

    “Random sex, minor or extreme drug dependence are often manifestations of deeper emotional issues. They represent a deeper cry for help. But most parents hardly hear such a child’s cry until it gets too late. The child is probably broken by her parents’ divorce. The trigger to her rebellion could be something a classmate did or said to her. It could be a line or scene from a teen movie she watched. It could be as a result of having suffered molestation. Her parents must seek urgent mental health support for her,” he said.

     

     ‘Parents need to chill’

    “Kids really don’t have it easy,” argued Ruki Awosile, an aspiring writer and high school senior. The 16-year-old argued that teenagers “use drugs sometimes to catch fun.”

    She said, “Most famous people, politicians and celebrities did drugs when they were young. Yet they turned out well. I have an uncle who smokes weed with coffee to unwind every night. He is married with kids and very rich, richer than my parents. They tricked me back to Nigeria from the UK. They even enrolled me in a trashy public school to teach me that life is hard.

    “Yes, life is hard, for me especially. What? I must be grateful, they keep saying. Too many parents think this way.

    “Parents make our lives hard. Jonzing (Using drugs) is allowed to deal with their stress. I spend every day in school and still come back home to do house chores. There is no law that says I must wash plates or sweep the floor. That is why people employ housemaids. On top of that, my father expects me to perform excellently in school. The pressure is too much. I can’t deal, abeg,” she said.

    Corroborating her, Noah Idaba, 19, argued that many teenagers do drugs in order to avoid a meltdown. “Parents are in your face, everywhere. They don’t even let you watch TV when you feel like. Parents just need to chill. Yes, they pay school fees, but children too are cashing out these days. We are hustling, doing forex and other businesses. Even being a Game Boy (Yahoo Boy or internet fraudster) is good hustle. I am yet to see any parent refuse a car gift or money from a child,” he said.

    Encounters with teenagers across Lagos offered interesting glimpses into their mindset. “We are using drugs, breaking rules, because we want better attention,” was the resonant refrain.

    Bisi Agaba, an addiction counsellor and child psychologist, described it as indicators of the usual teen rebellion and a part of growing up. She said, “Several kids engage in anti-social behaviour; they start using hard drugs either to get their parents’ attention or avoid their attention. Parents must rethink their approach to parenting, she said.

    Olumide Michael, a retired school principal, however, argued that the modern teenager is a beneficiary of excessive cuddling. He said, “My 16-year-old niece once told her mother that her life is hard because she is made to do house chores and attend to her personal needs, like fetching and heating water for her own bath, washing and ironing her own clothes.

    “She lamented that her parents failed her and her siblings by being ‘too middle-class.’ Look at that entitlement mentality. In our days, such drivel would earn you a slap and thorough thrashing.”

    Michael said, “When you spare the rod, you spoil the child. Teenagers need tough love. Teach your children to pray. Teach them to know God. Ultimately, prayers and constant counselling, and an occassionally good thrashing, exorcise the wildest demons from a rebellious child,” he said.

    But are these enough to divest the modern teen of rebellion? In several parts of Lagos: schools, playgrounds and unchaperoned house parties, teenagers immerse daily in seething currents that flow beyond their ken and frequently sweep beyond their depth. Outright neglect by their parents and the lack of a dependable guardian and mentorship has led too many of them into chasms of misdemeanour, argued teen psychologists.

    In a frantic bid to ride the tide of abstruseness characteristic of adolescence and the apathy of their parents, they shoulder each other into the quicksands of vice, oftentimes. They experiment with hard drugs, hard partying, and unsafe, random sex.

    Cynthia, 14, and her 13-year-old stepsister, Ijeoma, were recently rescued from sexual indiscretion by their mother’s automobile mechanic. Their mother, Theresa Obiekwe, said but for the artisan, her daughters would have “grossly misbehaved.”

    The mechanic and his apprentice reportedly caught a glimpse of both girls and four others as they filed into a bungalow behind one of his clients’ building, where he had gone to service cars.

    “I was preparing to go out when my mechanic called me that he had just glimpsed my daughters around Egbeda. Cynthia is SSS1 and her younger sister is in JSS3. And their school is in Ikeja. I wondered what they were doing in Egbeda.

    “He urged me to come immediately stressing that they weren’t in good company. Luckily, two of my brothers were with me. We hurried to the place and together with the mechanic and their hosts’ neighbours, we stormed the apartment. We banged on the door for 20 minutes before they opened it. They didn’t open it because they were playing loud music.

    “I still can’t wrap my head around what I saw. My daughters and four other girls were strip-dancing to this lewd song while the boys, sprayed them with cash. The oldest among them all was 15 years old. After forcing them to put on their uniforms, I discovered that they didn’t put on underpants to school. ‘Marlians don’t wear pants,’ said the mechanic’s apprentice derisively, and I was completely overwhelmed by shame.

    Read Also: Drug abuse: Lagos seeks federal agencies’ cooperation

     

    “I hauled them back home and gave them a sound beating,” she said, adding that since the shameful incident, she had been personally dropping off her daughters at school and picking them up at closing hour.

    Few people would forget in a hurry, the sad case of Lizzy, who started using cocaine at age 19. She developed a hankering for the hard drug while smoking marijuana to seem cool before her boyfriend.

    The latter, she said, eventually revealed to her that he had been mixing her marijuana wraps with cocaine to her surprise but it was too late as she was already dependent on the psychotropic substance.

    Lizzy became hevaily dependent on crack cocaine and lived with her captors for seven years until her rescue by Dr. Tony Rapu, a pastor and founder of Freedom Foundation, an anti-drug dependence non governmental organisation (NGO).

    The latter disclosed that the drug dealers and pimps fed Lizzy’s drug habit. For seven years, she loitered the streets from noon through dusk, begging for alms in the traffic along the Ikeja axis.

    “At night, she resorted to commercial sex work, all in a bid to fund her drug habit. We took lizzy off the streets to begin her long journey of rehabilitation and hopefully, successful integration back to a normal and productive life,” said Rapu, soon after he rescued her from the claws of her captors in Ipodo.

    Then there is 15-year-old Doyin Lawal, who started smoking weed to fit in with his high school’s hip crowd. He said, “I was at a house party, and everyone was doing drugs. My cousin offered me weed (marijuana) but I declined. Then this classmate made fun of me that I couldn’t smoke it because I was too scared that I would cough and mess myself up. His crew was always taunting my crew, fighting us. Everybody started laughing at me and to show them that I wasn’t scared, I took a drag, and I didn’t cough,” he said.

    That night, Doyin smoked two wraps of marijuana to the pleasure and applause of his mates.

    But his vision became blurry and he developed a nasty headache. “To calm me, I was given a cigarette with strawberry flavour and a cup of soda mixed with tramadol. After taking it, I fell asleep,” he said.

    Nothing happened until midnight when he woke up to see vomit all over him and his friends. He said, “Four of us slept in the same bed at that party. I threw up all over them. They made fun of me but promised to keep my secret. It would be bad for our crew, and terrible for our rep, if our mates knew that I eventually threw up over night.”

    In time, Doyin got hooked to marijuana. “Sometimes, I added ‘level’ (cocaine) to give it kick,” he said, stressing that his cousin knows a dealer who usually got them marijuana laced with cocaine.

    Doyin became totally dependent on the hard drug. He soaked it in fruit punch and potions of soda and tramadol, until he hit a learning curve. Wola, his  17-year-old cousin, who taught him to smoke weed overdosed on Pamilerin, a psychotropic brew containing marijuana, cocaine, and black berry juice and almost lost his life.

    The latter’s older girlfriend, a sex worker called Franca, allegedly plied him with a stronger version of the brew before engaging him in a sex romp at a hotel in Akowonjo; when Wola started convulsing, she escaped and called Doyin to get his cousin at the hotel.

    Wola’s close shave with death served as a deterrent to Doyin.  “I will never take ‘levels’ or Pamilerin again. I will stick to marijuana and drinks,” he said.

    Even if it doesn’t amount to much. It’s a beginning.

     

    Inside the teenage brain

    For several decades teen psychologists have pondered the reasons for teenagers’ intense rebellion against constituted authorities and their parents. The whole thing remained a conundrum until Frances Jensen, Chair of the neurology department at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, United States (US), however, encountered an eureka moment in her child’s rebellion.

    When Jensen’s eldest son, Andrew, reached high school, he underwent a transformation from a supposedly calm, predictable child to a complete stranger. He changed his hair color from brown to black and started wearing garish clothing. He turned into an angst-filled teenager overnight, said Jensen to an international news medium.

    She wondered what happened and whether Andrew’s younger brother would undergo the same metamorphosis. So she deployed her skills as a neuroscientist to examine the situation. “I realized I had an experiment going on in my own home,” said, the author of The Teenage Brain.

    That was about two decades ago, when doctors, parents, teachers and society at large, believed that teenagers act so reckless and impulsive due to raging hormones.

    Advances in brain imaging, courtesy studies like Jensens’ reveal that the teenage brain has lots of plasticity, which means it can change, adapt and respond to its environment until a person’s 20s.

    The brain undergoes a growth in connectivity which presents itself as white matter, and comes from a fatty substance called myelin. As the brain develops, myelin wraps itself around nerve cells’ axons—long, thin tendrils that extend from the cell and transmit information—like insulation on an electrical wire.

    The process starts from the back of the brain and works its way to the front. That means the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain involved in decision-making, planning and self-control, is the last part to mature.

    Thus it’s not that teens don’t have frontal- lobe capabilities but rather their signals are not getting to the back of the brain fast enough to regulate their emotions. It’s why risk-taking and impulsive behaviour are more common among teens and young adults. “This is why peer pressure rules at this time of life,” said Jensen.

    Teenagers also undergo major changes in their limbic system—the area of the brain that controls emotions—at the onset of puberty, which is typically around the ages of 10 to 12. Doctors now believe that this mismatch in development of the impulse-control part of the brain and the hormone- and emotion-fueled part of the brain is what causes the risk-taking behaviours that are so common among teenagers.

    This new understanding of the biology that underlies teenage rebellion can be helpful to both teenagers and their parents. Jensen stresses the importance of setting examples of appropriate emotional responses and helping young people navigate difficult situations that are increasingly common among teens and adolescents.

    •Female students of Oreyo Senior Grammar School, Igbogbo in Ikorodu, seen smoking shisha in a video
    •Female students of Oreyo Senior Grammar School,
    Igbogbo in Ikorodu, seen smoking shisha in a video

     

     The scourge of the internet

    Social media networks have been declared inimical to the mental health of adolescents, according to a recent survey of almost 1,500 teens and young adults. While enhancing social bonding, social platforms have also been associated with high levels of anxiety, depression, bullying and failure.

    Bullying has migrated from the playground to assume a more personal and sinister dimensions on teenagers’ phones, timelines and message inboxes. As modern technologies and social media make it easier to spread sinister information, leading to suicide ideation by troubled teenagers and outright suicide, virtual interactions have become harder for parents and teachers to monitor and control.

    “As parents, we often want to protect our kids from failure or any emotional pain. But opportunities for learning from such experiences in the context of a loving and supportive family are key to helping the adolescent develop and use this ability as an adult,” advises B.J. Casey, the director of the Fundamentals of the Adolescent Brain Lab at Yale University.

    Notwitstanding biological analysis of the rebellion and storms of the teenage years, not a few Nigerian parents vote for tough love: a more psychological and physical approach, involving using the rod, prayers and counselling.

    Kennedy Adenekan, 48, argued that, “Kids have it easy these days. Yet they are more daring and driven to self-destruct. Parents experienced adolescence too. But we were more responsible. The worst I did was to engage in the so-called ‘deals.’ Back then, it was hip to say you ran a ‘deal.’ In truth, we were committing theft, and burgling our own homes.”

    The architect and father of five disclosed that his friends pilfered valuables from their own homes and sold them off at a paltry fee, even though they were from wealthy homes.

    “Foolishly, I emulated them. Back then, the pendulum of the old, classic analog wall clock was valuable because it was made of mercury. Goldsmiths made use of it to process gold products. At a friend’s advise, I stole the entire wall clock and took it to my friends. Together, we took it to a goldsmith and pawned it off at N2, 000. We later learnt that the goldsmith swindled us, that we ought to have sold it around N15, 000 at least.

    “It was stupid of me because it was the only clock in our living room and its absence was glaring. My parents got me arrested but later released me at my grandma’s urging. I have stolen pumping machines, headlamps of cars and compressors. I pawned it all to for a paltry fee, and to my friends’ applause.  I used the proceeds to buy biker boots, lumber jacks, hamburgers and face caps. It improved my street credibility as a tough guy. A homie. A big boy.

    “But today, my own children scare me. My daughter wants to become a video vixen. She wants to dance in hip hop videos. I believe she would outgrow this phase. But my son, Bosun, is a lost cause. He is into Yahoo-Plus (advance fee fraud laced with voodoo).

    Adenekan’s fears are probably well-founded. “At 18 years, Bosun has failed SSCE twice and won’t resit the exam,” he said.

    In late February, he told the teenager to move out if he won’t stop keeping late nights. To Adenekan’s chagrin, the boy moved out the next day. “He told his mother and sisters that he would come back in August to buy me and my house. I am waiting,” said Adenekan, in the tenor of a father who knows that paternity may be borne by equanimity or regret.

  • Sorrow, tears as ethnic attacks render Gombe community desolate

    Sorrow, tears as ethnic attacks render Gombe community desolate

    By Sola Shittu, Gombe

    They had lived together as one family for as far back as 400 years ago when the entire terrain of Nyuwar and Jessu was a thick forest inhabited by wild animals. Then, there were no such distinctions as Waja, Lunguda or Tangale; they all lived together as brothers and sisters, marrying and bearing children for one another and watching one another’s backs for any external aggression.

    Such was the life the Nyuwar and Jessu communities lived until the night of Monday, April 10, 2021 when an attack by hundreds of youths from Waja believed to be high on drugs disrupted the age long peaceful co-existence between Waja and Lunguda tribes in Nyuwar and Jessu communities, Gombe State.

    This was the scenario as armed soldiers, police and DSS men sent to keep the peace received a delegation of the Gombe State Government at the palace of the District Head of Nyuwar. The group of security operatives, community leaders and top government officials sat quietly unable to say a word for more than 10 minutes. The damage was massive and unbelievable particularly because it was a case of brothers attacking brothers.

    At the centre of the semi-circle seating arrangement was the spokesman for the District Head, Yuhana Galmaka Pisagi spotting a caftan and armed with a dagger in his hand. His legs were shaking, almost uncontrollable and restless. Sitting beside him was the state Commissioner for Internal Security, Adamu Dishi Kupto who stretched forth his hand to tap the apparently furious Pisagi and ask him to calm down.

    Pisagi had just lost his brother, who also was the elder brother to the district head in the attack on Nyuwar community by Waja youths who stormed the once bubbling community around 10 pm on Monday and unleashed untold horror, leaving blood, tears and fire behind.

    The district head’s elder brother was not only killed, his attackers also severed his head and took it away. Ten other persons were killed in similar circumstance with their heads, wrists, feet and vital organs like the heart, kidney and private parts removed. Nyuwar community was devastated with more than 90 per cent of its structures torched by the attackers.

    The attacks, which started with a mere statement by a certain man around 2019, snowballed into what has today claimed lives and properties in Nyuwar, the community that had produced the immediate past Secretary to the State Government and the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Gombe State.

    For the state government, it was one attack too many. Hence Governor Inuwa Yahaya and his deputy, Manasha Jatau, immediately rushed to the scene on Tuesday evening only to find the entire town engulfed in smoke and raging fire as displaced women and children wailed over their losses.

     

    Genesis of crisis

    Recalling the genesis of the crisis, Pisagi said: “In 2019, a certain man named Shata said that the Wajas in Nyuwar were prepared to fight our people. We thought that he was joking because we were not expecting something like that.

    “He came the second time and told us the same thing. When he came the third time, I reported him to the district head. The district head took up the matter and reported to the police and we got the man arrested.

    “He was arrested somewhere around Gelemutu area, but as he was being taking away in the police van, the youths in Gelemutu, armed with bows and arrows, ambushed the police.

    “Later, the suspect said he forgot something in the house and wanted to go and take it. The police allowed him and that was how he escaped through the backyard.

    “He was later seen in a nearby village called Walhi and he spent three months there in 2019. That was how the matter was rested and we thought it was over.”

    Pisagi said, however, that sometime in 2020, there was a tussle over a piece of farmland in Nyuwar and the village heads met and resolved the matter peacefully. “But in July last year, they (Wajas) invited people from Bambam, Dogoruwa, Makasi, Kulani, Degeri, Shaka and others. Before we knew what is happening all the hills surrounding us were full of people.

    “We were all in panic because we didn’t really know what was happening, but the incident confirmed to us the statement made by Shata in 2019 that they were prepared to attack us.

    “Somehow, God was so kind to us on that day, because there was a heavy downpour. It was so heavy that visibility was so poor and the river overflowed its bank, thereby preventing the invaders who had surrounded us from crossing to our side.

    “The following day, there was a thick darkness everywhere that people found it difficult to move. That was how God saved us from the planned attack in July last year.”

    “The attacks started on Monday night till around 11 am on Tuesday, and by Thursday, attacking youths were still hanging around on top of the hills despite the deployment of armed soldiers, police and DSS to restore normalcy.

    “This morning, they still came, shouting and jumping around the hills before the soldiers started shooting to drive them away.”

    Although peace has been restored in Nyuwar, normalcy was yet to be restored. It is believed that it will take more than 10 years of consistent investment from both government and the individuals for life to return to normal in the community.

    Seventy-five years old Nancy Philemon was a victim of the intra-ethnic attack which claimed her house and those of her three children. Nancy, now homeless like many other women and children, is taking refuge in the ECWA Church in Nyuwar. Her children ran to the neighbouring village of Cham for safety.

    The story was the same with Jerome Kunama Kahala, a retired teacher in Nyuwar, who lost everything to the incident. “All I have now is this clothe that I am wearing,” said Jerome who armed himself with bow and arrow.

    He said the attack started around 10 pm on Monday when they started hearing strange noises from neighbouring villages.

    He said: “I was in bed when my children woke me up and asked me to come and see what was happening. When I came out, I saw flames rising up to the sky. Soon, we saw the fire in another neighbouring village and then in Nyuwar here.

    “We all came out with our children and started defending the community. It was a fierce battle which lasted till 11 am on Tuesday. By the time the police came, we had already repelled the attacks.

    “They destroyed so many things as you can see—our houses, our animals, grains, ban, everything. They even stole my cattle.”

    Jerome’s story was not different from that of Ziliyau Yuhana, except that in Yuhana’s case, he lost three of his family members to the incident. Ziliyau’s ban of grains and houses were also set ablaze. The grains were still burning as he struggled to salvage some of them for the remaining members of his family to have something to eat.

    When the soldiers arrived, they packed the carcasses of human bodies into a mass grave near the checkpoint at the entrance of Nyuwar. At the end of the attack, 11 lives were lost, excluding those that were burnt inside their houses.

    The Galadima of Jessu, Goma Jesmel, blamed the attacks on Waja youths who he said were high on drugs.

    Jesmel said: “It was the hunting season, so a group of hunters from Jessu went into the bush to hunt. Hunting is our normal business during the dry season and we hunt normally on Jessu side, not Waja side.

    “It was while we were hunting that some Waja people came into our territory through Heme. All of us are from the same territory, same chiefdom, same local government area and same state.

    “What is shocking to us is that we did not have any previous conflict with Waja people. The conflict used to be between Waja tribe in Gombe and Lunguda from Adamawa.

    “The attack started around 7 pm on Monday in Heme when we started seeing fire in the villages.”

    According to him, 10 people were killed in the attack on Heme but they were not able to recover all the bodies.

    Immediately the news of the attacks filtered into the state capital, Gombe, Governor Inuwa Yahaya convened a security meeting and ordered the deployment of soldiers, police, DSS and Nigeria Civil Defense Corps men to the venue. After his visit, he imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on Nyuwar and neighbouring villages.

    Governor Yahaya condemned the incident and vowed to look into it and bring the perpetrators to book. He then led the Deputy Governor and other top government functionaries to the place.

    Governor Yahaya said: “Let me extend my heartfelt condolences to you over the loss of precious lives and property as a result of this senseless act. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and as a responsible government, we are conscious of our responsibilities of safeguarding the lives and property of our people.”

    Immediately the governor left Nyuwar and Jessu, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, announced a dusk to dawn curfew in the two communities.

    According to the SSG, the curfew becomes necessary to douse the tension and restore peace and order in the affected areas. He said security personnel had been deployed to restore normalcy while the curfew would subsist until further notice.

    The Commissioner for Internal Security, Adamu Dishi Kupto, who led the delegation to deliver the relief materials promised by Governor Yahaya, said he was still in shock over the incident even though he was there earlier with the Governor.

    He said the level of trauma suffered by the people had affected them psychologically, adding that because of the way the attacks came, many of them were now living in fears and even finding it difficult to sleep.

    “We are really shocked, we are disappointed and dismayed with the way the thing happened. It is so sad to see lives and properties destroyed like this,” he said.

    Although peace has been restored, the displaced people, mostly women and children, are scattered in churches in neighbouring villages.

  • REIGN OF TERROR! Anxiety in Southeast states as gunmen unleash horror

    REIGN OF TERROR! Anxiety in Southeast states as gunmen unleash horror

    By Innocent DURU; Nwanosike ONU, Awka; Emma ELEKWA; Chris NJOKU, Owerri; Sunny NWANKWO, Umuahia and Ogochukwu ANIOKE, Abakaliki

    THE relative peace enjoyed by the inhabitants of the Southeast region of the country is fast fizzling out as attacks on security agents and their stations have assumed a worrisome dimension in the last three months.

    Many security agents, particularly policemen, have been brutally murdered in Abia, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi states during attacks by gunmen who usually operate in large numbers.

    The development has become a cause for concern among the people who are now worried that it could degenerate into the  ugly situation in the Northeast where the pockets of attacks begun by the Boko Haram sect in 2009 has since degenerated into full scale war between the insurgents and federal troops.

    Besides, there is also the fear that the challenge could cripple the economic and social activities in the region.

    In Imo State, residents of Owerri, the state capital, woke up in the early hours of Monday to an atmosphere of war as dynamites were used to blow up the Police Command Headquarters and Owerri Correctional Centre. More than 600 detainees in police custody and more than 1,700 inmates of the correctional centre were released in the process.

    Gunmen numbering more than 100 reportedly stormed the two government institutions, destroying properties and files containing details of the criminal records of the detainees in both the police custody and the correctional centre.

    Two days later, two police stations at Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of the state were razed by the invaders, who also carted police ammunition away.

    The situation has given rise to tension and apprehension in the state as residents now live in perpetual fear of what could happen next. Shops and business centres in the city now close early as the incident reverberates round the state.

    Security experts have since been reacting to the incident with a view to proffering a solution to the problem. A former Commissioner of Police in the state, Taiwo Lakanu, told one of our correspondents that the government and other stakeholders need to sit down to seriously discuss  the issue of security not only in Imo but in the entire country, adding that the incidents in the state called for a total overhaul of the nation’s security architecture.

    Lakanu said: “The situation in Imo State is something that nobody had expected in terms of the humungous nature of the incident. Looking at it from that perspective, I think we need to overhaul our security system.

    “What happened in the state, if there were security intelligence, they would have detected that it was going to happen.

    “When I was in Imo, with due respect, I took the issue of community policing and the people very seriously. I had very serious relationship with them. They were always giving me information in advance in terms of crimes and criminal activities,” he said.

    The current CP, Lakanu noted, is very experienced, but unfortunately, he was caught unawares.

    “And I think the situation is becoming overwhelming not only to the police but to other security agencies. So, we need to sit down and have a deep talk on the issue.

    “Secondly, security is not something that can be over looked. When you talk about security, you need to pump money into it. Do we have the equipment? The welfare of the men, are they being taken care of?

    “Those are the major factors, because you do not expect a dog that has not eaten to protect you.”

    He noted that the issue of technology and weapons play important role in crime fighting, wondering how many policemen and stations have tear gas, vehicles and logistics.

    “Those are questions we need to ask ourselves and provide answers to, because if you think that without all these things you can succeed, we are deceiving ourselves. Let’s tell ourselves the home truth.”

    According to him, “countries are using drones all over the world, but how many do we have?

    “Even the military, in fighting Boko Haram, complain all the time about lack of ammunition and arms, and there is no gainsaying that Boko Haram has sophisticated weapons.”

    He said there are missing gaps which, if not filled, the problem of banditry would continue.

    He said: “It is a bad omen if brigands could come in like that and go scot-free because that will give them encouragement to move into other areas like the government house and perform.

    “In my time, I had the cooperation of the people and we were assiduously working together. I was having regular meetings with traditional rulers.

    “I had 12 vigilante groups with larger population than the police and I was making good use of them. They saw themselves as closer policemen. If anything was going to happen, they would quickly alert me. They helped to catch bandits.”

    In his own reaction to the problem, elder statesman And Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ahamba, appealed to Nigerians to go to the table and discuss instead of going into the field to fight.

    He said: “It is unfortunate that without a war, the nation is in a state of war. I am appealing to everybody in Nigeria, let’s go to the table and talk instead of allowing ourselves to go into the field and fight.

    “We need to sit down and discuss the problems of Nigeria, find out everybody’s anger, look at the constitution and decide whether to put it aside.

    “America had a confederal constitution before. They put it aside and adopted a federal constitution. We have a purported federal constitution. We can put it aside and put up a confederal constitution.

    “Let’s adjust this country in a manner that makes  the states more responsible to themselves.

    “We need to reduce the concentration of power at the centre and diffuse power to the states, so that the way you develop will depend on your own people.

    “What has happened shows the state of insecurity in the country. If those in charge of police stations and prisons are no longer capable of holding their grounds against bandits, then we have a serious situation in our hands, and whatever is causing this needs to be discussed.”

    He however does not believe that the solution lies in state police, noting that the present constitution would not allow that to be.

    “We need a complete review of the constitution. It is not a matter of amendment. Let the National Assembly organise a constitutional conference to review our constitution, otherwise innocent people will be dying and criminals will be taking advantage of it.”

    Reacting to the Owerri incident, the National President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, Comrade Igboayaka O Igboayaka described it as unfortunate and a failure of leadership

    He said: “There is no effective government in Nigeria anymore. The Owerri and Benin jailbreaks are evidence of colossal leadership failure from the political actors in Nigeria, the neglect of Nigeria youths on job creation which is speedily leading to youth restiveness and crisis.

    “Owerri, Benin jail break, burning of police stations all over Nigeria, banditry, gunmen are all signs that the Nigerian government has failed the youth and must quickly negotiate with them or wait for the worst day of Nigeria.

    “To attack the Imo State Police Command, which is less than 20 minutes drive to the location of the 34 artillery brigade in Obinze, is an indication that the former IGP has questions to answer as regards the operation.”

    He said the immediate past IGP should bury his head in shame rather than quickly come out to blame IPOB and messing up the security intelligence of Nigeria before the international community.

    He said: “It is quite unfortunate that FUNAM claimed responsibility for the attack on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, yet the IGP and the Nigerian government did nothing about it.

    “From all indications, the Nigerian government and the security chiefs are part of the conspiracy in the recent insecurity in Nigeria, which includes banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram terrorism, killing by herdsmen and the activities of unknown gunmen.

    “I therefore call on the National Assembly to summon former IGP Adamu for questioning and order his immediate arrest for jeopardising the security of Nigeria with high recklessness.

    “This government is joking with the lives and properties of Nigerians. When Boko Haram terrorists said they shot down the Air Force jet, the NAF said they lied. FUNAM claimed responsibility of the attempted assassination of Governor Samuel Ortom, the IGP kept quiet.

    “Through its actions, the present government is dividing the country more and more. Nigeria is now like a ship hit by a tornado.”

    Prior to the attacks that took place during the week, two police officers had lost their lives when hoodlums on February 5 attacked Umulowo Police Division in Obowo Local Government Area of the state. Three others sustained various degrees of injuries.

    Less than three weeks after the incident, another attack was recorded when gunmen, driving in four vehicles, attacked Aboh Mbaise Divisional Police Headquarters.  A police woman was shot during the gun duel with the hoodlums.

     

    ABIA

    Abia State has had an unpalatable share of the incessant attacks on police stations and police officers by gunmen.

    A total of six policemen have been killed in various attacks on uniformed men in the state while the armoury was blindly looted.

    Apart from the killing of 11 members of a group of gunmen who unsuccessfully attacked the Ariaria Junction military post on the Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway, other operations carried out on various police stations across the three senatorial zones of the state were successful.

    Some of the police stations successfully attacked in Abia include Uratta Police Station, Isiala Ngwa Police Division; World Bank (popularly known as Abayi Police Station) and Ohafia Police Station, as well as the killing of police officers for the second time in Ohafia LGA recently, where their weapons were also carted away.

    During one of the attacks on the Omoba Police Station in Isiala Ngwa South council area, Abia State on February 1, the gunmen killed a policeman.

    Operating on motorcycles, they were said to have opened fire on approaching the station while the policemen on guard repelled the attack. It was alleged that the gunmen overpowered the police, gained access to the station and looted the arms and ammunition stored in the armoury.

    On February 23, two officers were killed while some rifles were stolen as gunmen attacked another police station in Aba.

    Last month, another three police officers were reportedly killed, bringing the number of murdered officers to six within a space of one month.

    The officers were reportedly ambushed and their patrol vehicle set ablaze by the gunmen who fled with the rifles belonging to the slain officers.

    Though business and economic activities have been going on in Aba, Umuahia, Isuikwuato, Ohaia and Arochukwu regardless of the security challenges in the state, Abians have expressed worries over the threats to lives and property in the state, especially with the recent attacks in Imo State and Wednesday’s report of heavy military presence in communities that share borders with the Abia end of Obingwa and Ukwa areas.

    Security experts and members of the civil society fear that the inability of the security agencies to come together to curb the growing security challenges in the zone from any group will impart negatively on the lives of the people of the zone who are predominantly traders.

    A security expert, Mr. Victor Chibueze, said: “What we are witnessing today in the Southeast resulted from negligence on the parts of state governors and the federal government. We (security experts) had long warned against whatever is happening today, but the government gave deaf ears to it.

    “What are the governors doing with the security votes that they get every month? They are meant to prepare their states against situations like this. How far have the governors of the southeast and the federal government gone to support security agencies in their states?

    “If the funds were released by the federal government, who among the security heads is with the money?

    “From what we have read and watched, it seems like the people perpetrating this act know more than the security agents do?

    “The successful invasion of the police stations and looting of their armouries have made us to begin to question the intelligence of our security agencies and raised the question of internal collaboration.

    “Of course, we all heard about the stealing of guns from the armoury of Mopol 28 located inside the Umuahia Police Command Headquarters.

    “It is a task that the IGP who has a lot already at hand should deal with. Nigerians are losing trust in our security agencies and they must act fast to regain the peoples’ trust.

    “We recently read about how the police refused to come to a crime scene at Obohia Road in Aba. They may not be entirely blamed, because what happened in Imo State on Monday morning and Tuesday called for caution, but then, the result is that two suspects that would have been saved were left at the mercy of an angry mob.”

    A police personnel, who spoke anonymously when asked how they are dealing with the insecurity in the state, said: “Is it not someone with a good gun that would pursue armed robber? Is it not one who is sure that government will take care of his family if he dies doing police work will die for the job?

    “You need to see what where we work and live looks like. If the people in power do what they are supposed to do, you will know that the police can even work better than Nigerians expect from them.”

    The Commissioner for Information in the state, John Okiyi Kalu, after one of the attacks, said the state government was offering N1 million reward to anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the gunmen.

    The government announced an immediate ban on the use of tricycles and motorcycles from 7 pm to 7 am in “all major cities” in the state.

    “We wish to assure members of the public that the government is working with security agencies in the state to fish out the perpetrators of this dastardly crime and bring them to justice as quickly as possible,” Mr Kalu said in a statement.

    “No part of Abia land will be ceded to criminals operating under any guise and we will not spare any resource in ensuring that the perpetrators of this dastardly act are brought to book in no distant time and the stolen arms and ammunition recovered completely.

    “Sadly, the arms these hoodlums have carted away from law enforcement agents will most likely be used against innocent citizens.

    “Government, therefore, calls on citizens to avail law enforcement agencies with vital information that will lead to the arrest of the criminals and recovery of these arms.”

    The state government on Monday imposed a curfew in the state capital, Umuahia, and the state’s commercial city of Aba, hours after hoodlums launched daring attacks on police and correctional service headquarters in the neighbouring Imo State.

     

    ANAMBRA

    The security situation in Anambra State is said to have become a source of worry to every resident in the state, including the Governor Willie Obiano administration.

    In recent times, no fewer than 15 security personnel have been killed by yet to be identified gunmen in the state, who also confiscated their weapons. The gunmen invade communities to either kidnap or kill their targets.

    On March 18, some gunmen reportedly killed two policemen and three soldiers at different locations in Anambra State. While the policemen were said to have been killed at a checkpoint in Neni, Anaocha Local Government Area, the soldiers were killed at an outpost in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area, both in Anambra State.

    The gunmen also set a police van ablaze in Neni and carted away arms belonging to the deceased policemen, while in Awkuzu, the slain soldiers also lost their weapons to the attackers.

    Two days after the attack, hoodlums again attacked the rebuilt Ekwolobia Police Station after injuring some policemen. Another attack was launched on a prison vehicle conveying some suspects to court in the same area.

    Witnesses said two members of the staff of the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS), Awka, escorting inmates to court in Ekwulobia were gunned down by the gunmen.

    The latest prove of insecurity in Anambra State was the attack on the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Chukwuma Soludo, in Isuofia, Aguata Local Government Area . The State’s Commissioner for Public Utilities, Emeka Ezenwanne, was also kidnapped while three of his security details were killed in the process.

    Residents of the state have not been sleeping with both eyes closed as the state has moved from one security challenge to another on a daily basis.

    Before the attack on Soludo, gunmen had killed three military men in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area and three policemen at Neni, Anaocha Local Government Area. They had also attacked and killed two members of the staff of Awka correctional service, who took the inmates to a court in Ekwulobia

    Speaking with our correspondent in Awka, the State capital, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ikenga Tochukwu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the command was not leaving anything to chance in the effort to nip the situation in the bud.

    Tochukwu said there was no cause for alarm, adding that finding a solution to the constant gridlock in parts of the state was part of the measures being taken to tackle the problem.

    The PPRO said the attacks by gunmen was a call for more work and surveillance, adding that some actions were being taken to checkmate the situation

    Tochukwu said: “We have increased the tactical commands. There is 24-hour surveillance and you can see more visibility on the part of our men now.

    “We have equally created what we call Police Campaign Against Cultism and other Vices (POCOCOV), a platform to engage the youth (awareness platform).”

    He said the command would not fold its hands and allow hoodlums to take over Anambra State.

    In his reaction, a community leader in the state, Chief Modestus Umenzekwe, told The Nation that the major cause of all the problems is unemployment

    He said the government at all levels should talk to political gladiators, adding that politics is not a do or die affair

    Umenzekwe , who described the situation as terrible, advocated that government should go into dialogue with the communities, adding that community policing is also key.

    “This is the only way to get it right and reduce tension in the state and Nigeria,” he said.

    For rights activist and Governor Obiano’s Special Assistant on Community Matters, Comrade Obi Ochije, the tension caused by miscreants in the state will never rubbish what governor Obiano has done in the state in terms of security.

    Besides, he said, Obiano had held a meeting with traditional rulers, Presidents-general of all the communities and the vigilance groups on the worsening security challenge in the state

    The meeting, according to him, also featured all the heads of security outfits, the military, the police and the Civil Defence Corps, among others.

    A security expert in Anambra State, Dr Jeff Okeke, described the security situation in Anambra State as more of politics. He said the ugly development left many questions to be answered, including how the miscreants found their ways to the state.

    The American-trained computer scientist regretted that necessary surveillance technology procured by the government were yet to be properly deployed, just as he canvassed the engagement of more experts to address the menace.

    According to him, “this could not be far from politics. Questions left unanswered are: where were the hoodlums coming from? How did these unknown gunmen enter the state? Government should find out how they entered the state.

    “I think the Anambra State Government acquired the necessary surveillance technology but they are not putting it into good use. The kind of equipment the governor rolled out the day he launched the digital security was supposed to cover the entire Anambra.

    “The movement and activities of people should be dictated and perpetrators of such crimes as happened recently can be arrested under 12 hours, not even 24. Government should have mounted the equipment to cover the entire state.

    “This is a security matter and more experts should be involved to get it right.”

     

    EBONYI

    Residents of Ebonyi State are expressing worries about the recent attacks on security agencies and installations in the Southeast.

    Gunmen on January 8, 2021, attacked Onueke Police Station in Ezza South Local Government Area of the state, killing three police officers and leaving two others with bullet wounds.

    The slain officers, according to reports, included two male inspectors and a policewoman. The attackers reportedly carted away two AK 47 rifles from the police station.

    On February 4, the Police Divisional Headquarters in Isu, Onicha Local Government Area was also burnt by hoodlums who also torched four patrol vans.

    The gunmen also carted away some arms and ammunition at the station.

    Another attack was recorded on March 1, 2021 when gunmen attacked Iboko Divisional Police Station in Izzi Local Government Area with fire bombs.

    Residents of the state who spoke with The Nation feared that the attacks, if not checked, could lead to total breakdown of law and order in the region.

    A lawyer and Chairman of Afikpo South Local Government Area, Eni Uduma Chima, said the attacks could lead to the disintegration of the country.

    “What it portends for the region is that the ember of discord and disunity will be fanned and if it is not arrested, it will lead to the disintegration of the country,” he said.

    Eni said the issue is a serious threat which is not being given the full treatment and attention it deserves.

    “A situation where security formations are attacked and they keep quiet and where they manage to fend off the attack they consider it as an achievement is not acceptable.

    “They should be proactive. Fight against crime and criminality should be preventive not defensive. What is the point in waiting at the police station for people to be attacked, only hoping that you will conquer them?

    “And when you stop them from burning down the police station or prison facility, you think you have recorded achievement.

    “What of going after them even before the formation of the group? Gathering intelligence about the group, their location and what they intend to do, especially against the backdrop of IPOB saying they are not responsible, because if they were responsible then there is no basis for arguing that they are not a terrorist organization.”

    “When you burn down prison and free the inmates, you are not fighting the government, you are fighting against the families that have legitimate grievances and sought redress in court and got the people imprisoned.

    “So what you are telling them is that they can seek those people and then do jungle justice to them. It is not even in the interest of the inmates.

    “The institutions of the state—police, army and, in fact, all the armed forces—should be the bastion of our existence as a country. Sovereignty is the ultimate power of a state to make laws and enforce them within a definite territory. And when we cannot enforce laws, we cannot say that we are governing that territory or that it is part of the state. That is part of the indices of a failed state.

    “We are in a war situation, and unless we realise it, we may have ourselves to blame.”

    A businessman, Mr Obiora Chibueze, said the situation portends a bleak future for the region.

    He said: “The situation portends a future that is no longer certain about our socio-economic development as a people. It portends threat to our survival as a people. It again indicates increasing race towards anarchy, civil strife or war. It looks as if certain persons or groups are preparing for something.

    “However, there have been diverse views from some groups who are accusing the state of sponsoring terrorism to incriminate and destablise the region so as to send forces to the region.

    “There are groups saying that some non-state actors are just taking these steps to show their grievances at the way the region is being marginalised in the governance of this country.

    “Personally, I don’t think the step being taken against the institutions of the state is necessary because whatever reason for the attacks there must be these institutions.

    “If it is to actualise self-determination, there must be institutions. If it has nothing to do with self-determination and maybe somebody is trying to show disaffection at the way the country is being run, it has nothing to do with these institutions being attacked.

    “There are other peaceful ways of engaging the government. This is not in the interest of the region. This is going to retard our development. It is going to bring about anarchy, it is going to endanger our people so that government forces will begin to profile and punish our people. So it portends a bleak future for our people.”

    Spokesperson of Alaigbo Development Foundation, Abia Onyike, believes the attacks were intended to create an excuse for invasion of the Southeast.

    “I don’t believe that those are coming from our people. They are the handiwork of agent provocateurs and other enemies who want to create an enabling environment for the invasion of the Southeast by the military operators because the zone has been relatively more peaceful than other zones in the country,” he said

    He charged governors of the region and the Federal government to rise up to their duties of protecting the people of the zone

    Some Police officers who spoke on condition of anonymity said they and their colleagues in the state now live in fear at all times.

    “We don’t leave our stations wearing our uniforms these days for fear of being attacked. Even when we are in the station we are always at alert as these people can strike at any time. Morale is very low among us right now.”

  • When romance becomes tragic

    When romance becomes tragic

    Spousal feuds between lovers over money, infidelity, and sexual denial, among others, have resulted in gruesome deaths in recent times. KUNLE AKINRINADE highlights some of the cases and suggestions by experts on ways to end the disturbing trend.

     

    It was like a scene from a horror movie on Wednesday, February 24, 2021. It was midday and Mohammed Sani was in a loved-up mood with his girlfriend, Habibat Jinadu at his uncle’s home at Damutawa village in Jahun Local Government Area, Jigawa State. About two hours later, the 12-year-old developed a mood swing, acting like one possessed. He reached for his uncle’s dane gun and shot his 15-year-old girlfriend dead.

    Police spokesman, Zubairu Aminudeen Ismail, said Habibat was rushed to the hospital only to be confirmed dead.

    While Sani’s motive for killing his teenage lover remains a mystery, Lawal Danladi’s killing of his wife, Zulai Lawal, followed a disagreement over the pap she prepared for him.

    The 20-year-old suspect, who was paraded at the police headquarters in Minna, Niger State on March 31, allegedly beat his wife to coma before the latter finally died in a hospital.

    In another instance, an argument over a missing sum of N1,500 between a 28-year-old lady, Ebiere Ezekiel, and her lover, Godgift Aboh, in February at Obele in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State ended in tragedy.

    Ezekiel, a hairdresser, was said to have dated the deceased for one year before their affair ended on a tragic note. It was said that the deceased allegedly slapped her (Ezekiel) for daring to ask him for her missing N1,500 and the suspect reacted by stabbing him to death.

    She allegedly stabbed her boyfriend in the stomach during the argument and he died thereafter.

    Same February, one Queen Beatrice reportedly killed her husband, Emmanuel Ikujuni, for receiving a phone call from a suspected female friend in her presence.

    The incident occurred at Omotosho in Okitipupa Local Government area of Ondo State.

    It was said that the woman hit her husband with a plank on the head. The man was rushed to a nearby hospital, but he died before he could be admitted.

    A sister to the deceased, Imoleayo Ikujuni, said Beatrice challenged her late brother for receiving a call from another lady.

    “In the fight that ensued, she hit him with a plank and he died instantly. They have arrested her and she has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) in Akure for further investigation,” she stated.

    Like the Ondo incident, jealousy turned a sacred Sunday to a black day in Egbeda, a Lagos suburb on March 6, 2020, when a 24-year-old man identified as Daniel Okocha allegedly killed his live-in-lover, Nkechi Vivian Agwor.

    Okocha had refused to allow Nkechi, 20, to go to church, but the deceased insisted, and the quarrel degenerated into a fight during which Okocha allegedly stabbed her with a knife in the neck and fled.

    Okocha was believed to have suspected that Nkechi was seeing another man and could use going to church as an excuse to see the mystery man.

    Nkechi’s father, Innocent Agwor, said he wanted justice.

    He said: “What I am asking from the government is justice. Whatever justice that befits such a murder should be administered to him. I don’t need compensation because there is no amount of money that will be paid that will bring back my daughter.”

     

    Others

    In a fit of rage, a resident of the Ilasan area of Lekki, Lagos, Chris Ndukwe, allegedly killed his lover, Olamide Alli, 25, with a kitchen knife before killing himself with a poisonous substance he ingested on a Sunday in June, 2020.

    Olamide, who lived at Ogba, a Lagos suburb, was said to have had a complicated relationship with Ndukwe for over seven years and had two children aged seven and three with him.

    He was said to have stabbed her multiple times in the head and eyes with different kitchen knives after he gagged her mouth and bound her hands.

    Two kitchen knives and two bottles of insecticides were found in the house, the police said.

    Forcible sex terminated the life of a young wife, Hansa’u Audu, 20 days after her wedding to her husband, Alasan Audu on April 21, 2020, at Kankarelu village in Ringim Local Government Area.

    Hansa’u, 17, allegedly turned down Alasan, 30, when he wanted to sleep with her. A row ensued, following which he force himself on her and she died in the process.

    The spokesman of the command, SP Abdu Jinjiri, said an investigation revealed that the suspect was not the one the deceased prepared to get married to.

    To avoid the shame of having a child outside wedlock, one Mustapha Idris, 29, allegedly killed his live-in-lover, Nafisa Hashimu, 20, at Daneji village, Ringim Local Government Area of the state in April 2020.

    Idris was said to have dumped Nafisa’s body in a bush after killing her.

    Nafisa’s body was found in a pool of blood in a bush on the outskirts of Daneji village about 22 kilometres from Ringim town.

    The state police command’s spokesperson, Audu Jinjiri, who disclosed this to newsmen, said Idris stabbed Hashimu to death after she told him she was three months pregnant.

    Mr Jinjiri said police preliminary investigation found that the late Nafisa was a divorcee, adding that she was certified dead by a medical doctor and released to relatives for burial.

     

    How anger, fighting led to fatalities

     

    Paraded at the Niger state Police Headquarters in Minna, Danladi said he never knew that his wife would die from the beating he gave her.

    He said that he did not like the way she prepared the pap and in the ensuing argument, things got heated up and he descend on her, beating her mercilessly.

    “I never knew she would die. It was just a misunderstanding over mere pap and I did not know that when she fainted, she would not wake up. I should never have beaten her. I regret my action,” he said.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun said that the suspect was arrested in Kadaura village in Yakila Gunna district of Rafi LGA, based on credible information.

    According to him, the suspect had confessed to beating his wife to coma, adding that by the time she was rushed to the General Hospital in Wushishi, she was confirmed dead.

    Abiodun said investigation had commenced, adding that the suspect would be charged to court.

    In the case of Okocha, who was held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, he was quoted by a police source as owning up to the crime.

    The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Okocha had confessed to the murder.

    “He told us that he killed his lover because he was suspecting that she was cheating on him.

    “He told us that on a fateful day, Nkechi had told him that she was going to the church but he warned her to sit at home as he suspected that she was having an appointment with another man who attends the same church with her.

    “He said when Nkechi refused to obey him and insisted that she was going to the church, he picked a fight with her and stabbed her several times. We believe he was telling a cock and bull story because the message he typed in the deceased’s phone showed that he had the intention of killing her.

    “He wrote that he killed her and watched her die for 45 minutes. He went further to say ‘I gave her life, but she refused to give me back. With the statements, we are convinced that he planned and executed the killing.

    “The irony of the whole thing is that the two are from the same town, Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. Preliminary investigation showed that though they had one child, they were not legally married.

    “We were told that the mother of the deceased is taking care of the child. We were told that the suspect was so possessive and jealous that at one time he attempted to kill himself by drinking a poisonous substance, Sniper. We were told that it was the deceased that rushed him to the hospital where he was revived,” the officer said.

    The police officer said that after committing the dastardly act, Daniel took to his heels.

    “We extended our dragnets to every nook and cranny of the state. Our efforts paid off when he was picked on Lagos Island. But the question is where was he running to since the two came from the same town?

    “The suspect will face the consequences of his action because we will charge him for murder.”

    Jigawa State police spokesman, Abdul Jinjiri, said Audu, during interrogation, confessed to committing the crime.

    Speaking during his parade, Audu said: “At about 0400hrs, I went to her (the deceased) as a husband, but she turned my request down.

    “I then used force on her to satisfy my sexual desire.”

    Speaking with reporters shortly after he was paraded at the state police command in Jigawa, Idris said he killed his girlfriend to avoid the shame of giving birth outside wedlock.

    “I’m ashamed of how the society will see us after she delivers the unborn child out of wedlock, and thus I decided to terminate her life to stay away from shame,” he said.

     

    Experts proffer solutions

    A study recently carried out by the Domestic and Gender Violence Response Team revealed rising cases of sexual and domestic violence amid the lockdown imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

    According to the head of the agency, Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, about 390 cases were reported in March last year alone with an average of 15 new cases on a daily basis.

     

    She noted that there was 60 per cent increase in domestic violence, 30 per cent rise in sexual violence, and 10 per cent increase in physical child abuse under the same period.

    A relationship expert, Anthonia Egube, suggested psychological evaluation of partners in a relationship, noting that such a test would go a long way to douse the tension that could escalate to violence.

    She said: “Most partners inclined to violence, whether man or a woman, usually have traits of violence in them waiting to explode at the slightest provocation. Hence, there is a need for people going into relationships to carry out due diligence by carrying out psychological fitness assessments of their partners.

    “A partner who yells uncontrollably at the other partner has the ability to unleash violence on his or her partner and detecting this vice in a partner would expose the kind of character the person possesses.”

    In his opinion, a marriage coach, Femi Adelowo, urge partners to eschew altercation over petty issues such as money and avoid unnecessary jealousy.

    “Issues bordering on infidelity, unguarded remarks, hot arguments over money should be avoided by partners as these are harbingers of violent attacks among partners and couples.

    “Also, partners should develop communication mechanisms to resolve issues affecting their relationships rather than resort to physical intimidation or attacks and violence to settle differences.”

  • I singled out clergymen for attacks after my ugly experience with gay reverend father

    I singled out clergymen for attacks after my ugly experience with gay reverend father

    By Linus Oota, Lafia

    A robbery suspect under investigation for attacking a reverend father has said that he singled out clergymen for attacks because his life was ruined by one of them.

    Federick Ugah, who is currently cooling his heels in the cells of the Nasarawa State Police Command, said he had to drop out of the university as a 400 level student of Law after his frustrations at the hands of a Catholic reverend father he served in Kaduna.

    Going down memory lane, Ugah recalled that he started life as an orphan, having lost his parents at a tender age. To realise his ambition of becoming a lawyer, he hit on the idea of seeking help from clergymen. He decided that he would serve them as an altar boy so that in return, they would help him to foot his education bills.

    He started by serving in the Kogi Diocese of the church before moving to Abuja and later to Kaduna State.

    He that he had first secured admission at the University of Abuja to study English before he secured another one at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria to study Law. But that was when he met his frustration as the Reverend Father who was sponsoring him in attempted to turn him into his sex partner.

    Ugah said his resistance to the idea he regarded as an immoral act caused the Reverend Father to frustrate him out of the Catholic Church by falsely accusing him of stealing some money belonging to the parish.

    Ugah, after his arrest by the Nasarawa State Police Command allegedly snatching a car from a reverend father, vowed that he would continue to torment reverend fathers across the country for the rest of his life because his journey into the underworld began with his inability to complete his degree in Law at ABU.

    He told our correspondent in an interview at the police station where he was detained that he had no apology for what he had done and would do it again if he had the chance.

    He said: “I have vowed to deal with reverend fathers across the country. They are my target and I will continue to rob them of money and snatch their cars.

    “I served many of them in Abuja and Kaduna as a house help and they were helping to sponsor my education up to final year Law at the Ahmadu Bello University.

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    “I initially got admission to study English at the University of Abuja, but my choice was Law.

    “In my 200 level, I got a fresh admission in ABU to study Law and was at ABU up to 400 level before I met my frustration.

    “I have always been a good boy, going by the fact that my parents are not alive. I grow up in the Catholic Church, but my decision to become a reverend father was opposed by my parents before they died.

    “I decided that I would become a lawyer when I grew up. That was why I left the University of Abuja as a 200-level English student to start all over again at ABU.

    “My life had been to serve reverend fathers. I washed their clothes, cooked for them and served as their altar boy while they helped to sponsor my education

    “I was in Abuja with them before I moved to Kaduna State when I got admission in ABU. Then one day, the reverend father I was serving demanded to have sex with me before my sponsorship could be guaranteed.

    “I was wondering how a reverend father would turn gay. When I refused, he brought up an allegation against me that I stole parish’s money and should be driven away by the parish.

    He also poisoned the minds of other reverend fathers who intended to help me.

    “I kept wondering why a man would want to sleep with another man. Because I refused, I was unable to graduate from the university, because there was no body to foot the bills. But I have also decided that no reverend father will find peace with me as long as I live.

    “I will continue to torment them for the rest of my life because they frustrated me.”

    Asked why he was being detained, Ugah said: “I was caught with a stolen car belonging to a priest. The police arrested me in New Nyanyan, Nasarawa State.

    “I never robbed him with a gun. I simply took his car key in his absence and hit the road. The incident occurred in New Nyanyan in December last year.

    “All my life, I grew up serving them, and through them, I gained admission into University of Abuja to study English, and the following year, I got another admission in ABU to study Law.

    “As a university student, I was serving a reverend father while schooling. Then he woke up one day and insisted that he would have sex with me before he would pay my school fees. I refused and he asked me to leave.

    “He levelled a false allegation against me that I stole parish’s money, which I did not. So I left him, and he started telling other priests not to accommodate me. That was how I was unable to graduate

    “That particular act shattered my dream of becoming a lawyer.  It is now seven years, and my target is to continue to rob reverend fathers and snatch their cars.

    “The police arrested me in New Nyanyan why I was negotiating to sell a Toyota Corolla I stole from the reverend father in Kaduna. I drove the car to Abuja before taking it to New Nyanyan to sell.

    “I took the key to the car in his absence because I lived with him before.

    “I have no regrets for my actions. What I want the police to do is to look into the problem I had in Abuja and Kaduna which led to the priest kicking me out of the parish.”

    The Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa State, Bola Longe, who paraded the suspect in Lafia, told our correspondent that Ugah was a notorious criminal who specialised in tormenting priests and Imams only.

    “He steals cash from them at gunpoint and snatch their cars,” he said.

    CP Longe said Ugah would be charged to court once investigations were concluded.