The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ’ bodies

  • Tension as residents discover bodies in Abia community

    •IPOB seeks probe into killing of ‘members’

    There is tension among residents of Obiawon village in Ogwe Autonomous Community of Asa in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State are living in fears, following the discovery of bodies of yet-to-be identified persons in a nearby forest.

    The people expressed the fear that innocent residents might be arrested by security agencies who have been visiting the community since the residents discovered the bodies.

    They urged appropriate authorities to avert an outbreak of epidemic in the agrarian community.

    Efforts by our reporter to visit the scene of the discovery were unsuccessful.

    Some resident, who did not want to be mentioned, told our reporter that apart from the bodies of four persons found in a section of the forest, the bodies of over 30 other persons were said to have been dumped in a ditch in another section of the forest.

    A source, who claimed to have seen the bodies, said they had started decomposing, indicating that they might have been dumped in the last two weeks.

    He added: “We are not at war with any community. Our people are farmers. We were shocked when we saw the bodies in a forest in the village. One wonders who took us unawares and dumped these bodies.

    “We are confused. Something urgent should be done to avert an outbreak of disease in our community.”

    Also, the leadership of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has condemned the killing and dumping of the body of the deceased persons in Abia community.

    A statement yesterday by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, claimed that the bodies were those of the pro-Biafra members who were allegedly arrested and detained in various army camps across the state during the Operation Python Dance II in the Southeast.

    It said: “The site of these decomposed bodies should be designated as an international crime scene and promptly investigated.”

    Efforts to reach the spokesman of the 14 Brigade command headquarters of the Army at Ohafia, Major Oyegoke Gbadamosi, were unsuccessful.

    His number could not be reached last night.

    But a source at the command debunked allegation, saying it was the figment of the pro-Biafra group’s imagination.

     

  • Bodies, skulls recovered from ex-militant’s shrine

    Bodies, skulls recovered from ex-militant’s shrine

    The 6 Division in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said yesterday

    it recovered more bodies and skulls from the den of an ex-militant leader, Prince Johnson Igwedibia (General Don Waney), at Aligwu community, Omoku, in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA).

    The spokesman, Col. Aminu Iliyasu, in a statement yesterday, said the discovery was made after the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major-Gen. Enobong Udoh, led men of the 6 Division to comb a forest Igwedibia used as shrine and graveyard.

    The Army has declared a manhunt for the former militant leader, who embraced the state amnesty programme in October, 2016.

    On Monday, a team of security operatives raided the criminal den and exhumed skulls, bones and other human parts.

    The Army was assisted in the second raid by men of the local vigilance group, ONELGA Security, Planning and Advisory Committee (OSPAC).

    Col. Iliyasu said items recovered would be handed over to the government and appropriate agencies for further investigation and prosecution.

    The Caretaker Committee Chairman, Osi Olisa, praised the Army for the action.

    Olisa was confident of OSPAC’s ability to tackle insecurity in the council.

  • Rains ‘exhume’ 50 bodies at graveyard

    Heavy rains have ‘exhumed’ 50 bodies at Tudun Wada Graveyard, in Nassarawa Local Government of Kano State.

    The Nation investigation showed the graveyard was in a deplorable condition, following washing away of bodies by flood, which resulted from torrential rains.

    It was observed that the bodies littered the cemetery, while there was no space at the graveyard.

    The situation forced people to bury their relations in shallow graves on top of old graves.

    Residents urged the government to tackle the situation, to prevent epidemic.

    The ward head of Tudun Wada, Alhaji Nuhu Muhammed, said they reburied the bodies of a woman and children.

  • 13 tanker tragedy victims’ bodies unclaimed

    Bodies of 13 victims of the July 28 tanker fire in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital have remained unclaimed, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said yesterday.

    It urged relatives to come forward since some of the bodies were still identifiable.

    FRSC Sector Commander in Kogi State state, Mr Segun Martins, said the bodies were made up of   11 males and two females.

    Martins told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the dead were travellers  in a commercial Toyota Hiace bus which left Abuja either for  the South South Zone or the South West Zone  on July 28.

    He said the bodies were still being kept at the morgue of Hankuri Hospital in Lokoja

    Martins said the bus was believed to be owned by  Delta Line.

    A collision between the bus and a petrol tanker at Felele area of Lokoja  ignited a fire which burnt the two vehicles and a commercial tricycle.

    Ten people died instantly while three others died in the hospital on July 29.

    The sector commander called on people whose relatives travelled on the Abuja -Lokoja -Okene route on the  day and had  not heard from them to visit the morgue.

    He, however, said the remaining six victims were responding to treatment at the Federal Medical Centre  and the State Specialist Hospital,  all in Lokoja.

    The Kogi State Polytechnic said a female student of the school died in the inferno.

    Spokesman of the polytechnic, Mr Tijani Yakubu,   said some students also sustained injuries in the incident.

    He said a team from the school had started visiting hospitals to ascertain the exact number of students affected.

  • SGF, others receive bodies at National Hospital

    SGF, others receive bodies at National Hospital

    The Federal Government confirmed the death of the Minister when Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal received the body of the late Minister, that of his wife and son at the National Hospital in Abuja.

    The SGF told reporters that the accident which claimed the life of the minister and his family occurred at about 3.00pm.

    The Minister was said to have travelled to Kaduna to attend a church programme and was returning to Abuja when the accident occurred.

    The SGF said: “I will like to confirm that at about 3 pm today, the Honourable Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi was involved in a motor vehicle accident along Kaduna-Abuja road. In this accident, the minister lost his life, his son also lost his life and the wife also lost her life. It is a very sad day indeed for Nigerians.

    “This thing has never happened and the President is in shock. All members of the Federal Executive Council are in shock and indeed, all Nigerians are in shock. We commiserate with Nigerians. The President wants us to extend his condolences to Nigerians, the people of Kogi and the immediate family of James Ocholi.

    “Personally, I have known James Ocholi for more than 20 years. We have been friends both in politics and in Christian circle and I am indeed personally saddened that I cannot begin to express the grief that we all face.

    “Now, the bodies have been recovered and deposited in the mortuary and we are waiting for the immediate family and the Kogi State Government for the next line of action. May God comfort all of us”.

    Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige described the death as shocking, adding that he was overwhelmed with shock

    The Minister in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Nwachukwu Ngige, described Ocholi as an “industrious servant of our dear.” In him, the Ministry of labour and Employment, lost such an invaluable intellectual.

    “Personally, I lost a competent colleague and a friend. What a vanity this life is!  What an emptiness; what a nothingness we are! I pray that God Almighty, Himself, the author of all creations would give eternal rest to Ocholi, his wife and son. What a sad day”

    Senator Dino Melaye said: “I am shocked, I am still in shock and in pains. I spoke with him this morning and we agreed that we were going to have a chat when he comes back from Kaduna. We have lost somebody, we have lost a great Nigerian; we have lost an intellectual and lawyer. We have lost a great Kogite. I am shocked.”

    The bodies of the late minister and his son whose name and age could not be confirmed arrived the National Hospital in a Federal Road Safety Corps ambulance with registration number AO1-637RS  at about6.48pm and were deposited at the mortuary.

    The ambulance was accompanied by another FRSC escort pick-up van with registration number A01 736RS.

    The body of the. Minister’s wife who died later at the Doka Rural hospital along the Kaduna Abuja road also arrived the hospital at about 7.47 pm in a Kaduna state government ambulance with registration number BK563DKA. It  was also received by the SGF

    Scores of sympathisers were at the hospital. Road safety officials told our reporter that five of them were traveling in the Lexus SUV to Abuja when it had a tyre bust causing the vehicle to summersault several times.

    Those at the National Hospital include Minister of Works, Housing and power, Babatunde Fashola, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello,Federal lawmakers as well as friends and relations of the minister.

    Others were Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Mr. Festus Keyamo, Dr. Jafaru Momoh, FCT Commissioner of Police, Minister of Environment Aisha Mohammed, among others.

     

  • African Standards bodies’ forum for June 22

    African Standards bodies’ forum for June 22

    Ahead of the President’s forum of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), leaders of African Standards bodies have concluded plans to explore issues and frameworks to drive economic integration in the continent.

    Billed for June 22 in Abuja, the forum is expected to address issues bordering Africa’s standards development, especially in terms of harmonisation of standards, building of vital institutions and facilities needed to fast-track regional and continental trade.

    The forum which features the largest turn out of African standards managers will also serve as occasion for the induction of African states that currently have yet to join the global quality movement.

    Of the 54-member countries of the African Union (AU), 35 belong to ARSO while the AU Council of Ministers of Trade has expressed commitments to work towards ensuring that all African countries get on board by 2017.

    The AUC had set a target of an African Free Trade zone by 2017 and also declared the date as the African Year of Standards to jumpstart intra-Africa trade that is currently around five per cent and symbol of the heavy dependence of Africa on the rest of the world.

    According to ARSO President, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, the prime objective of the forum is to remove the restrictions to trade between African countries placed by the differences in the standards governing trade in the different countries.

    He said: “Every organism prospers by utilising the material which every part supplies. But hardly does Africa draw strength from the trade the different countries in the continent engage in because, separated by standards, the countries hardly trade among themselves.

    “Now, ARSO President’s Forum Abuja 2015 is bringing 55 heads of national standards bodies (NSB) in Africa together to open the gates of harmonisation of standards and let goods and services flow smoothly across the continent.

    “Sitting at a roundtable with 55 NSB CEOs is a rare opportunity for entrepreneurs to expand their business to other African countries. By participating in the ARSO president’s forum, companies are automatically at the gates of 55 African countries and are a step to the 1.1 billion consumers in the continent. Imagine when they now establish relationships with the NSB CEOs,” he said.

    Odumodu explained that what ARSO is doing now is to create a forum for everybody to be part of the association in preparation and for realisation of the 2017 CFTA agreement.  “One of the things I must say or two things we must take out of what we will be doing by June 22-25 in Abuja is to aid membership growth of ARSO. If you look at Africa, Africa remains the major dumping ground for sub-standard products and the reason is obvious.

    “Technology is not advanced and the people are fairly ignorant, there is a high level of poverty and of course, we have a very fairly weak regulatory framework and we make products to enter and leave even when we know they do not meet the criteria,” he stated.

    According to him, “there is need to under the auspices of ARSO support other countries to build capacity to be able to understand and appreciate what sub-standard products do and how they harm us but even more importantly, to ensure that under the African forum and using ourselves as a pressure group to AU, begin to challenge dumping on African soil”

  • Recovered AirAsia bodies hit 100

    Indonesian crews pulled out more bodies following last year’s crash of an AirAsia jet, raising the total to 100 so far, authorities said yesterday.

    Of the 100 bodies recovered, 72 have been identified, police said. Efforts are underway to identify the remaining victims.

    AirAsia Flight 8501 plunged into the sea on December 28 as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya toward Singapore. It had 162 people on board.

    Divers resumed their attempt to lift up the fuselage of the Airbus jet on Sunday after earlier attempts failed.

    Before the plane crashed, the co-pilot was flying the jet as the more experienced pilot monitored the flight.

    Things may have gone wrong in a span of three minutes and 20 seconds, triggering a stall warning that sounded until it crashed into the Java Sea, according to Indonesia’s transportation officials.

  • Synagogue: ‘South African families still waiting for bodies’

    Synagogue: ‘South African families still waiting for bodies’

    Families of South Africans who died in the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapse have an indefinite wait for the return of the bodies – which continue to decompose, the South Africa government said.

    “We wish we had (a timeline). We are entirely at the mercy of the Nigerians,” said government spokesperson Phumla Williams.

    She said that the SA government had decided that it needed to have a frank discussion with the families about the state the bodies would be in when they were returned.

    She said the families were told: “We are appealing to you that you expect the worst. I don’t think you want to see your relative in the state that they are in…The majority of them – I don’t think that they are looking good”.

    Earlier the Sunday Independent reported that in some mortuaries, bodies were being kept cool with fans and no refrigeration, a claim the Nigerian government denied.

    On Friday, it was announced that the post-mortems of all the 116 victims had been completed. Eighty South Africans were among those killed when the multi-storey guest house attached to the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos collapsed on 12 September.

    Williams said that they believed three or four of the bodies from South Africans killed were in a better state because they had been embalmed quickly.

    The  government had hoped that the process of repatriation would move quickly after the post-mortems.

    However, this process had been frustrated by the fact that Nigerian officials had insisted on doing DNA testing themselves.

    “They don’t have the technology.”

    She said that South Africans had hoped “at least to assist” in the process since.

    Nevertheless, the government was still waiting to hear if the bodies had been transported to a service provider for the testing.

    “We don’t know when they are going to finish.”

    She said the government had also learned that “because of the state in which the bodies are in, the DNA testing is not going to be a quick process”.

    This left the government reluctant to estimate a date for the return of the bodies as it did not want to create unnecessary expectations.

    However, Williams asserted that “at any stage; we [the SA government] are ready to go and fetch (the bodies)”.

  • Why tax religious bodies?

    Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged – John Adams.

    Taxing religious bodies which was one of the subjects discussed at the National Confab in Abuja has brought several arguments to the fore. I don’t understand why the government should impose or think of imposing tax on religious bodies. As it is, religious bodies are exempted from paying tax. Rather, public servants, government officials and parastatals are subjected to paying tax.

    Some have argued that religious bodies should be taxed, but one is compelled to ask if the tax collected from the citizens are not enough or they want to use that as a means of exploiting the citizens. Besides, I would suggest that religious bodies should not be taxed. The Chibok girls abduction saga is still there to be solved. Challenges of insurgency, poverty, power failure, corruption and electoral malpractices in the country are yet unfixed. Why then should they focus on taxing religious institutions?

    I feel this taxation issue is just a means to exploit the masses because some of the members of these religious organisations do pay tax. So, there’s no justification why churches or mosques should be taxed. The delegates may say religious bodies are making money, but it shouldn’t be classified as all religious bodies. The money made by these religious bodies, especially true ones, is meant for the welfare of their members and to carry out projects. The fact that some of these religious bodies make money doesn’t mean they should be taxed. The money received as salary by ministers in the country alone is more than what they say religious bodies make.

    Even if some religious leaders exude flamboyant lifestyles, with a general belief that they are living large while their members are suffering, government shouldn’t forget that these religious leaders also carry out certain projects that improve the lives of their followers. Churches and Mosques give out materials to their members. It was even through religious bodies that schools in the country evolved back in the 90’s. There is no religious leader that will want to see his or her member suffer, except for those who are fake.

    If taxation is imposed on religious bodies it will lead to more harm and deceit in the country. The government should focus on terrorism and shouldn’t involve itself with this. If the tax is imposed, what about those religious institutions that are small with few denomination, will they also be taxed?

    If some of the religious leaders are living well, it’s because God has blessed them, and it’s not the church members’ offering or tithes they spend that sustains them but donations, voluntary gifts and contributions from willing members.

    The way God blesses religious leaders is not something one can tell its source because most of them are into full time ministry. If a census should be carried out on religious institutions, you will find out that the leaders majorly pay the highest amount.

    The government shouldn’t impose this policy on religious bodies. They should think about the future of the country, after all these religious bodies pray for the betterment of the country. The religious bodies and its members should rise up to condemn such policies.

     

    Inimfon, 400-Level Mass Comm., REDEEMER’S

  • 20 decomposing bodies found in Ibadan forest

    20 decomposing bodies found in Ibadan forest

    No fewer than 20 decomposed bodies were yesterday discovered in what is believed to be a ritualists’ den at Soka forest in the Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State.

    Twenty-three other people -18 men and five women including one who had just been delivered of a baby – apparently on the captors’ ‘death row’ were rescued from the bush.

    Each of them looked dishevelled having been chained together for many days and denied food and any form of comfort.

    Nine of them lay on the ground, too weak to stand on their feet or talk.

    Human skulls and other parts littered the bush.

    The nursing mother’s condition was particularly bad: she had been delivered of a baby without any medical attention a few hours before rescue.The baby was seized from her and apparently sold by her captors.

    She was still covered in blood yesterday.

    She was too weak even to talk.

    Asked how she got into the bush, she merely stared at her interrogators and fainted.

    There were several versions of how the discovery was made yesterday.

    One version is that a commercial motorcycle operator had been hired by a man to take him to the bush but on getting there heard voices from a container pleading that they be rescued.

    He then raised an alarm which attracted passersby.

    Another is that people around the area having grown suspicious of movements around the place raised an alarm.

    All over the bush were shallow graves in which mangled corpses were dumped.

    Bodies were also seen in open containers and dried up wells.

    Residents said ritualists were selling human parts in the bush.

    A resident said Fulani herdsmen often take their cattle to the bush for grazing.

    One Akeem Isiaka (38) was arrested at the scene and taken away by security agents to Sanyo Police station .

    Also in the bush is an abandoned factory which the ritualists apparently used as slaughter slab.

    On the floor was a wooded platform caked with blood as was the floor itself.

    Some mechanics around the area confirmed that many high profile people usually visit the area especially at night to patronise their clients

    When contacted , the Oyo State Police Command spokesperson, Mrs Olabisi Clet-Ilobanafor said some arrests were made yesterday, but the prime suspect is at large.

    The Police spokesperson said some security personnel have been detailed to the scene to prevent residents from taking the law into their hands.