The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Truck driver commits suicide in Bayelsa

    45 Year-old-man, described as a truck driver, has hanged himself inside his room at Etegwe community the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the man, identified as Oliver Osieme from Anambra State took his life late on Monday.

    He was said to have committed suicide when his wife, a trader and other close relations left home for their business.

    The entire community was in mourning when the NAN Correspondent visited the place.

    Sympathisers were seen trooping into the apartment of the deceased to condole with the wife and other family members.

    A relative, who preferred anonymity, told NAN that nobody was in the house when the incident happened.

    The relation said every family member was surprised to come home and see the deceased hanging inside his home.

    “Everybody, including his wife, went out but the wife’s younger sister came back from school and noticed the door to his room was locked.

    Read Also: 27-year-old man commits suicide in Lagos

    “Knowing that he is always at home since he lost his job as a truck driver because the truck was faulty, she kept knocking but there was no response.

    “She then went to the window to see if she could gaze from the back and that was how she saw him hanging in his room.

    “It is a sad experience. Nobody would have thought such a thing would have been planned by him.

    “The police have just taken his corpse away. If you had come earlier, you would have seen it. He was a young man full of life,” the relation said.

    Bayelsa State Police Command Public Relations Officer Asinim Butswat, a Superintendent (SP) said the command was currently investigating the incident leading to the man’s death.

  • Court remands Reverend for faking own kidnap

    An Ado-Ekiti Magistrates’ Court has remanded a Methodist priest, Reverend Peter Adegoke Adewuyi, in prison custody for faking his kidnap to obtain a ransom.

    The court presided over by Mrs. Kehinde Awosika also remanded Adewuyi’s accomplice, Oluwadare Ajewole, pending their next appearance in court.

    They were arraigned on three counts of aiding, arranging and abetting kidnapping.

    Adewuyi, 30 and Ajewole, 25, were arrested by the police on June 11 after he (Adewuyi) claimed that he was kidnapped between Ijebu-Jesa and Aramoko while on a journey, which turned out to be false.

    Read Also: Court remands priest for faking own kidnap

    The priest hid in a hotel in Ado-Ekiti on the pretence that he had been ‘kidnapped,’ claiming that his ‘captors’ were demanding N3 million ransom from his church members and other members of the public.

    Prosecuting Inspector Monica Ikebuilo said the act was committed within the AdoEkiti Magisterial District.

    Magistrate Akosile ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison custody pending the advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

    She adjourned the case till July 24.

  • Bandits shoot council chairman’s wife, policeman, vigilante

    Some suspected bandits have shot the wife of Bunza Local Council Chairman, a policeman and a member of the local vigilante at Zogirma community in Kebbi State after a botched kidnap attempt.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the victims are at the intensive care unit of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Birnin Kebbi.

    Aliyu Usman, a resident of Zogirma community, told reporters that when the bandits came into the community, they shot sporadically and abducted the woman from her home.

    “They went to the chairman’s house, but couldn’t initially gain entrance. They shot at the door several times and when they entered, they took his wife,” Usman said.

    He said a policeman and a member of the vigilante group went after the bandits in an attempt to rescue the woman.

    “They started shooting and they shot the woman, the policeman and a member of the vigilante group in the process,’’ he said.

    When NAN correspondent visited the FMC, the Chief Medical Director, Dr Hamzat Balarabe, said the centre operated on the vigilante group member for him to survive.

    Read Also: Bandits strike again, sacks Batsari village in Katsina

    “We are planning to move quickly on the woman too as she has multiple fractures and a wound at the lower part of her chest,’’ he said.

    The council Chairman, Alhaji Bello Zogirma, who confirmed the incident, said the suspected armed bandits invaded the community at about 1:40am on Sunday and shot sporadically to scare away residents.

    “The bandits in their numbers had kidnapped my wife and a father in the family but no lives were lost during the attack.

    “The kidnapped persons have regained their freedom after an exchange of fire between the bandits and the police with support from the vigilante group in the area,’’ Zogirma said.

    He said: “I have learnt that immediately after the attack, a combined operation of the Army, Police and other security operatives was launched around the bush.

    “And it paid off as one of the suspects that sustained gunshot injuries was arrested in one of the hospitals in Kamba where he was taken for treatment by the bandits.’’

    The council chairman commended Governor Atiku Bagudu and security operatives for their quick response to the attack.

    “Governor Bagudu was at the hospital early to see the three people that were injured in the attack,’’ he said.

  • Man jailed 15 years after 11 years in detention

    An Igbosere High Court in Lagos yesterday sentenced a man, Tijani Idris, to 15 years imprisonment for conspiring with an armed robber.

    Justice Adedayo Akintoye convicted Idris – the first of two defendants – after he struck a plea bargain deal with the Lagos State Government, pursuant to Sections 75 and 76 of the state’s Administration of Criminal Justice Law of 2015.

    The deal, approved by the court, saw him pleading guilty to a lesser one-count charge of conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery, contrary to Sections 403A and 402(2)(A) of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State 2003.

    The second defendant, who was not named, is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and armed robbery which carry a maximum sentence of death by hanging.

    Before handing down the sentence, Justice Akintoye acknowledged the terms of the plea bargain prepared by the prosecution counsel, Mr Sunmonu Babatunde, an Assistant Director in the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

    The judge observed that the first defendant had shown remorse for his actions and had saved the time of the court.

    Read Also: Man jailed for killing friend over 2015 polls

    She also noted that: “The first defendant agreed to plead guilty to the offences of conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery with a lesser sentence of 15 years.

    “That the first defendant has been in custody since September 24, 2008.

    “That a term of 15 years imprisonment commencing from the date of remand at the Magistrate Court is approved by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, subject to the court‘s final approval.”

    Upholding the agreement, Justice Akintoye held: “The defendant is hereby sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. This sentence takes effect from September 28, 2008.”

    Earlier, Babatunde reviewed the facts of the case.

    He said: “About 12:30pm on June 19, 2008, along Badagry Seme Expressway, the defendants were arrested following a complaint by one Benedict Victor that he was robbed by them at Mowo Bus Stop and the sum of N6,000 and a mobile phone was stolen at gunpoint.

    “During a search, a locally made pistol, 9mm live ammunition, three mobile phones and the sum of N6,000, were recovered from the defendants.

    “The defendants were taken before Magistrate Court 19 Igbosere/Tapa on September 24, 2008 and were remanded by the court.

    “They were on remand before the case was assigned to Justice (Adeniyi) Adebajo (rtd of the Lagos High Court).”

    He explained that the trial could not be concluded before Justice Adebajo retired. The matter was then re-assigned to Justice Akintoye where it commenced de novo…”

    “They were arraigned before this Honourable Court on February 16, 2016 on a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery, to which they pleaded not guilty, but changed their plea midway into the trial” Babatunde added.

  • My life is under threat, witness to murder cries out

    A witness, Isa Abubakar, has cried out over alleged threat to his life by the police in Ayegbaju-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State.

    Abubakar, 45, is a witness in a case of murder of one Elijah Ogor, who was killed in his farmland between Ayegbaju and Iludun-Ekiti.

    Ogor, who hailed from Benue State, was allegedly killed by a suspect identified as Babuga on February 15, after his farm was invaded and destroyed by the herdsman’s cattle.

    But the case has since turned against him with the arrest of the suspect.

    Speaking in Ado-Ekiti Monday, Abubakar alleged that the police were trying to frame him up as the murderer.

    He said: “I only helped the police to catch the suspect, but the way my life has been threatened in the last one week, has made me undergone undeserved hardship.

    ‘’I knew about the incident when some Igede people came to me with machetes and other dangerous weapons after Ogor was murdered in his farm. They said I am the Fulani man they know, so they planned to attack me until some indigenes of the town stopped them.

    Read Also: My in-laws after my life, 40-yr-old woman cries out

    ‘’I called the Seriki Abashe, the head of the Fulani people in that area, who lives at Ido-Ekiti. He told me to confirm the incident and I went there with some police officers. Later that day, he called to inform me that the suspect had been arrested and that we should come for him.”

    Abubakar said the suspect was handed over to the police in Oye-Ekiti, but trouble started when the case was transferred to Lokoja, the Zone 8 headquarters.

    He said: ‘’I was called by a policeman in Oye and asked to make myself available for a trip to Lokoja. I was ready to go, but they had one excuse or the other for about three days, so we couldn’t make the trip.

    ‘’They started threatening me after that, saying I would answer for the murder if I don’t make myself available. They even came to my house twice to search for what I don’t know.

    “I was ready to comply with this request until information got to me that they were about to lure and poison me in Lokoja because the suspect had a connection with some prominent Nigerians.”

    Abubakar urged Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Muhammed Adamu to wade into the matter.

    Ekiti Police Command spokesman Caleb Ikechuckwu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), could not be reached for comments as his phone was switched off.

  • Teenager strangled to death in Delta

    An 18-year old girl, identified as Favour Ogheneyenrowho, has been reportedly strangled to death by suspected ritualists in Abraka, Ethiope-East council area of Delta State. The incident has thrown the community into serious tension.

    The Nation gathered that the victim’s pubic hairs were shaved off before, she was murdered and her remains kept in a “Ghana-must-Go” bag which was disposed at a dump site behind Ozoro park in the town. Witnesses said there were violent marks around her neck area, indicating that she was violently strangulated.

    Ogheneyenrowho hailed from Ughere in Abraka Community. Recounting the incident leading to the teenager’s demise, Maureen Sunday, her elder sister, told the police that Favour had received a call from a male at about 10 a.m, requesting that she met him at the Abraka Park.

    She, however, replied the caller that she was going to the market with her elder sister. Sunday added that on their way out of their residence located along Winners Road, a young man, whom she had never seen before (whom she believed was the same person that called her sister earlier), boarded a motorcycle that stopped at the junction and approached them.

    Read Also: DPO, girlfriend arrested over death of housemaid

    A short conversation ensued between them and her late sister, Favour, joined him on the bike and they rode off, even as she called after her to return early. Unfortunately, it was the shocking news of her sister, dead and tied with ropes in a sack that reached her the following day. When contacted, the Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr. Adeyinka Adeleke, explained that what had been discovered so far revealed that the killing of the victim was more of a murder case and not ritual killing.

    The police boss also revealed that the suspected killer, who is believed to be Favour’s boyfriend, has since been on the run, adding that the state police command was already on his trail. “The lady in question was with the sister and she had a call. When she wanted to leave, she told her sister that it’s her boyfriend that she wanted to go and see. After some time she disappeared, they did not see her.

    The next day they saw her body tied in a sack in a plantain/ banana plantation and her boyfriend runaway. So it is not a ritual, but a murder case. Signs on her body show that she was strangulated,” he explained.

  • Kidnappers’ hideouts, arms discovered in Niger

    The Niger state Police Command has discovered some buildings that serve as hideouts for kidnappers in Minna, Niger state.

    The Nation confirmed that three of such buildings in Bosso area in Minna, discovered following tip off by some members of the community, have been sealed up by the Police as security operatives have been drafted to the area.

    The Nation learnt that when the police raided the houses, seven people were arrested while some AK47 rifles were recovered. Efforts made to get information from the Police have proved abortive.

    When The Nation called the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abubakar Muhammad, he said he was out of the town for a course but was able to confirm knowledge of the buildings.

    Read Also: Police arrest three suspected kidnappers, 119 others in Kano

    He, however, said any information given out now may jeopardize their investigation saying that investigation is ongoing. However, the police spokesman said once investigation is concluded, journalists would be called and adequately briefed.

    “We are already investigating the matter when we finish our investigation we will let you know the details”, he said. Efforts made to get to the houses were not possible as security men did not allow anyone to go close to the houses.

    The police commissioner, Adamu Usman, told some newsmen that they were tampering with their investigations warning them not to get close to the houses. However, residents around the vicinity where the houses were discovered confirmed the raid by police saying a number of persons were arrested but could not ascertain the number.

  • Two suspected robbers mobbed to death in Delta

    Two suspected armed robbers were on Tuesday beaten to death by an angry mob in Abraka community, Ethiope East council area of Delta State.

    The suspects; Uchenna Ezekonyi, 27 years, and Mbachu Sunday, 30 years, were reportedly beaten to death after a failed robbery attack one Moses Emoghene.

    The deceased suspects, who are from from Oguta in Imo State, had snatched a polythene bag containing the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand naira (N250,000) from Emoghene, who had withdrawn the cash from the Zenith Bank branch in Abraka.

    Read Also: Police nab suspected robbers in Ondo

    Events went wrong for the suspects when Emoghene, who had drawn the cash on behalf of the parish priest of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, raised the alarm as he was being attacked by the duo.

    The mob that responded descended heavily on the suspects, beating them so badly that the two of them died before the rescuing policemen could get them to the hospital.

    When contacted, the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeyinka Adeleke, confirmed the report, saying, “yes. It happened”.

  • DPO, girlfriend arrested over death of housemaid

    The Katsina State Police Command has arrested a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Mashi Local Government Area of the state, Garba Talawai, and his girlfriend, Sadiyya Alhaji Danyaya, over the death of their 16-year-old housemaid.

    The spokesman for the command, Gambo Isah, said in a statement in Katsina that the arrest followed a complaint by a politician.

    He said: “A councillor in Mashi Local Government, Abubakar Haruna, reported to the DPO Garba Talawai that a corpse was seen at a bush path in Mashi.

    “The DPO and his team went to the place and evacuated the corpse which was deposited at Mashi Primary Healthcare Centre.

    “Later, the corpse was identified as that of Rabi Abdullahi, 16, a housemaid to one Sadiyya Alhaji Danyaya, a girlfriend of the DPO.

    “Some health personnel on duty also identified the corpse as having been brought the previous day to the health facility by the DPO and another policeman where it was confirmed dead in a Toyota Carina II, red in colour, identified as the car of the DPO.”

    Read Also: Fake suspected medical doctor in Osun arrested by Police

    He said that investigations indicated that the said Sadiyya reported to the DPO that the teenage girl had been missing for two days after she rebuked her for carrying an unwanted pregnancy and sleeping outside the house.

    “Preliminary investigations indicted the DPO for concealment of facts on the possible cause of death of the deceased,” he said.

    The PPRO said that the Commissioner of Police has already directed for a thorough, meticulous and comprehensive investigation on the matter.

    He further said that both the DPO and his girlfriend were helping detectives to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased.

    He said that another DPO has already been posted to the area as his replacement.

    “The commissioner of police, Sanusi Buba, assures the parents of the deceased and the public that the command will not leave any stone unturned until justice is done in the matter,” he said.

  • 72-yr-old Cele prophet allegedly kills, buries female undergraduate

    The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 72-year-old prophet of Celestial Church of Christ in Ipaja area,  Jacob Adegboyega Farinmade for allegedly killing a female undergraduate he impregnated.

    The deceased, identified simply as Bunmi allegedly died during childbirth, while the clergyman secretly buried her without informing her parents.

    Bunmi was said to have been  taken by her father to live with her mother following her rustication in 200 level at Babcock University in Ilisan Remo, Ogun State in 2014.

    Bunmi’s mother, Derayo Omisipi thereafter took her to the embattled cleric for spiritual deliverance and protection.

    Read Also: ‘Prophet’ kills, buries housewife after meeting on facebook

    Sources said the cleric  who already had more than 10 wives took advantage of Bunmi’s stay in his church for the purported deliverance to lure the girl to bed and impregnated her.

    It was learnt that the cleric did not allow the deceased to attend any antenatal clinic throughout the duration of her pregnancy.

    Sources also said the cleric broke the news of the girl’s death to her mother after he had buried her in a shallow grave near his church premises.

    The father of the deceased became curious after her mother could not offer satisfactory explanation about her whereabouts.

    The disturbed father reported the matter to the police and the cleric was arrested.

    The matter is being handled by the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), where the prophet is currently detained.

    Confirming the incident, the spokesman of Lagos State Police Command, Mr Bala Elkanah said the suspect had been charged to court for murder.