The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CRIME

  • Man stabs cousin to death over N500

    A 26-year-old man whose name was simply identified as Chidiebere at the weekend in Aba, stabbed his cousin identified as Chisom, 27, to death over N500.

    Chisom, until his death last Friday, reportedly lived with his aunt (Chidiebere’s mother) who operates an eatery in the Ogbor Hill axis of Aba and was said to have shared the same room with his assailant.

    It was gathered that on Thursday last week, Chisom’s aunt had gone to the market to buy things and asked the deceased to take charge of business while she was away.

    Immediately the mother went out, Chidiebere was reported to have entered into the shop and demanded that Chisom should give him N500 he learnt someone who owed the mother had paid.

    The deceased was reported to have refused to give his cousin the money, insisting it was for his mother.

    Chidiebere was said to have insisted the money must be given to him and after a heated argument, the deceased capitulated and gave his cousin the money.

    When eventually Chidiebere’s mother came back from the market, Chisom was said to have narrated to her what happened.

    A source close to the family said Chidiebere who became infuriated on why his mother was informed of development, vowed to deal with his cousin.

    The source further stated that the deceased did not take the threat as anything serious and in the night, after supper, they went to bed.

    At about 1.00am, Chidiebere was said to have awoken, reached for a dagger he hid somewhere in the room and stabbed his cousin who was fast asleep, close to the heart twice.

    The incident was said to have happened around Ebiogwu street, Ogbor Hill and as neighbours managed to bring badly injured Chisom to a clinic in the Federal Housing Estate, doctor at the clinic pronounced him dead.

    After stabbing his cousin to death, Chidiebere went back to their house to sleep not minding the consequences of his action.

    It was while he was still sleeping that youths from the Federal Housing Estate stormed the house, apprehended and later handed him over to the police at the Azuka police station.

    The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was away when our reporter visited his office.

    However, a senior police who would not want his name mentioned, confirmed the incident and said the matter has been transferred to Umuahia.

  • In her next world, my wife will learn how to respect her husband – Suspect

    A 30-year-old man, Umar Tambari was arrested by the Niger State Police Command for beating his wife to death.

    Tambari’s reason for beating his wife, Hawa is because she disrespects him and does not give him the honour due to a husband.

    He said her disrespect got to the height that she refused to fetch water for him and give him food which is not acceptable in his tradition.

    The incident which led to Hawa’s death occurred at Emiworo Village in Wushishi Local Government Area of the state when the couple had a disagreement over the wife’s refusal to fetch Tambari water to bath.

    According to the suspect, when he went to fetch the water by himself, his late wife then accused him of taking her water which led to him losing his temper to beat her up.

    “My wife looks down on me each time I ask her to fetch water for my bath and when fetched the water, she will accuse me of taking her water. On this day, I got angry and l beat the hell out of her.

    “My wife does not accord me the respect I deserve as her husband and I have sent her to her early grave, in her next world, she will learn how to respect her husband.”

    “She has been disrespecting me to an extent that she does not give me food she bought with my money, it is unacceptable in my place,” Tambari declared.

    When asked if he regretted his action, the suspect said, “I have no regret, she has gotten what she deserved and is a lesson to women out there disrespecting their husbands.”

    The suspect was arrested by a team of Policemen attached to Wushishi Division on a tip-off while trying to escape.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammad Abubakar, said the suspect did not waste time in admitting to the crime.

    He said Tambari hit his wife with a stick several times which made her collapse but she died while she was being taken to hospital.

    The PPRO then said the suspect has been charged to court.

  • Suspected ritualist lynched in Bayelsa

    Angry mob on Thursday lynched a suspected ritualist at Akenfa a suburb of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital.

    He was reportedly caught red-handed while trying to cut the body of a young lady he was accused of killing by the mob.

    It was gathered that the young lady identified as Best, an indigene of Epie, was hit and killed by the suspect.

    The community has come under attack by ritualists who kill women and harvest their vital body parts.

    Sources said the suspect threatened to attack the mob with an axe when he was caught but that he was later overpowered and burnt to death.

    It was gathered that the man pretended to be mad during the day but turned to a killer at night.

    One of the sources who spoke in confidence said: “That’s the guy that has been killing women at Akenfa. They caught him once when he was trying to kill another woman, I think that was last month, they beat him up but did not hand him over to the police.

    “He was still saying he will kill. This morning he killed one Epie girl, they caught him when he was trying to butcher her with an axe. This is the third women he has killed so far”.

    Confirming the incident, the Bayelsa Police Spokesman, Asinim Butswat, said both the suspected ritualist and murdered woman were known to be mentally sick.

    A human rights activist and gender advocate, Princess Elizabeth Egbe, lamented the spate of ritual killings in the community.

    She said: ” There has been a lot of killings at Akenfa recently, mainly women. They always remove parts of the body, breast, brain, virgina, eyes and pants and bra.

    “As a Human Rights Activist/Gender Advocate, I strongly condemn these killings and call on the perpetrators to desist from this barbaric, inhuman, ungodly act and violence against women.

    “We, therefore, call on government at all levels to beef up security to stop further reoccurrence of these cases that have become a menace in our society.

    “This is serious violence against women and I call on all women to lend their voices to condemn these crimes because it’s crime against all women”.

  • Updated: Outrage as cultists kill corps members in Bayelsa

    There was outrage in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Thursday following gruesome murder of corps members by cultists during one of their robbery operations.

    It was gathered the cult members, in what has become a regular occurrence in the capital city, stormed the corps members’ residence along the School Road in Swali and shot three of them.

    While two of the victims were said to have been confirmed dead at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yenagoa, the third one was said to be lying critically injured and receiving treatment at the hospital.

    Cult groups have overrun Yenagoa killing and robbing residents at will under circumstances that seem to have overwhelmed the police and other security agencies.

    Residents lampooned the police and other security outfits for their inability to tame rampaging gunmen, who shoot victims at slightest provocation and rob them of their smart phones, cash, laptops and other valuables.

    They wondered how a small town like Yenagoa with headquarters of the 16th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Central Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy, Mobility Command of the Airforce, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (ODS), the police, the DSS and other security outfits could be overrun by cult members.

    The attacked corps members were identified as 30-year-old Popoola Oluwatobi Olamide, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and an indigene of Oyo State; George Onokpoma and Gbenga Dada.

    Popoola was reportedly shot dead at the spot, Onokpoma died at the FMC while Gbenga was said to be receiving treatment for gunshot wounds at the medical centre.

    The room where the corps members were attacked was riddled with bullets and the floor had thick blood stains of the victims signifying the horror that led to their death.

    Narrating how the incident occurred, a resident of the area, who spoke in confidence, said the hoodlums were about seven during the attack that occurred at about 9pm.

    He said: “We heard gunshots from the direction of the corps members’ room.

    ‘’One of the attacked corps members was heard screaming repeatedly and asking what was their crime. Another gunshot sounded and there was silence”.

    Another neighbour also said that the victims, who were discharging their primary responsibilities at a private school, the Victory Group of Schools, close to their residence, were awake marking examination scripts of their students, when the gunmen barricaded the building.

    “We are saddened by this incident. The deceased corps members were quiet and easy-going individuals.

    ‘’They hardly kept late night. They were always sitting at their doorpost whenever there was power outage,” he said.

    But angry reactions continued to trail the general insecurity in Yenagoa and the killing of the corps members with most residents questioning the essence of having many security outfits in the capital city.

    An eyewitness, who identified himself as David, said he saw the lifeless bodies of the corps members and wondered why the insecurity had been allowed to degenerate in the state.

  • Mob burns suspected criminal to death in Kwara

    Irate mob on Wednesday burnt to death notorious criminal suspect in Oro, Irepodun local government area of Kwara state.

    The suspect was said to have been involved in serial criminal activities in the area.

    It was gathered that the irate mob had besieged the Oro police station early yesterday morning demanding for the release of the alleged criminal simply identified as Femi for “proper judgement”.

    It was also gathered that the suspect had always been in and out of police detention for several criminal offences in the past.

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    Eyewitness accounts said that failure of the police to accede to their demand, resulted in melee.

    The police thereafter shot into the air to scare and disperse the growing number of unruly people.

    The police action, it was gathered, infuriated the people in the community, as they descended on the police station, destroying everything on sight.

    It was reported that the situation became uncontrollable for the policemen as the people later took out the suspect, set him ablaze and also burnt the police station.

    The action of the irate mob, it was gathered, emanated from death a motorcycle operator on Tuesday.

    The sources said that the deceased motorcycle operator (okada) had been tricked by some hoodlums, believed to include Femi, into a bush, collected his motorcycle and later killed him.

    Spokesperson of the state police command, Ajayi Okasanmi could not confirm the incident.

  • Jealous husband kills wife’s lover in Ogun

    Police in Ogun state have arrested a man, Ajibade Olumuyiwa(25), for hacking one Olakitan Balogun, a cobbler to death over suspicion that he was having illicit affairs with his wife.

    The suspect had returned home late last March 16, met the secret lover in the house with his wife, and in a fit of fury attacked him, striking his head repeatedly against the wall until he dropped to the floor dead.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who made this known in a release on Wednesday, stated that the suspect was arrested at about 1:45 am of the day following a distress call to the Divisional Police Officer(DPO), Ajuwon division by residents of Doland Estate that a man has “murdered his wife’s concubine right inside his house.”

    Abimbola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police(DSP), added that the Ajunwon DPO, Chief Superintendent of Police(CSP), Afolabi Kazeem, upon receiving the distress call, mobilised detectives to the scene and arrested the suspect.

    The Police Image maker in the state, stated that the suspect claimed to have returned home about 12: 30 midnight on the fateful day and met the deceased inside the house with his wife, and in anger began to beat him, banging his head against the wall until he was dead.

    But the suspect’s wife, Titilayo Olayiwola, denied having any immoral relationship with the victim, alleging that the suspect had abandoned her in the house for the past eight months with an instruction to the gateman to be monitoring and feeding him with information if he sees her with any man.

    She stated further that the victim was a cobbler living within the area and on that day, the deceased’s girlfriend came to pay him visit and since he is not living alone, he decided to bring the girl to a room in the house due to his closeness to the family.

    unfortunately, as soon as the gateman saw him, he alerted the husband, who rushed to the house and descended heavily on the deceased without listening to any explanation from her and the girlfriend to the victim.

    The Police Public Relations Officer, stated that the remains of the victim have been deposited at the general hospital mortuary for post mortem examination while the case has also been transferred to the homicide section of the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for further investigation.

  • Tricyclist rapes teenager, threatens to kill dad for involving police

    The police in Lagos have arrested a 20-year-old tricyclist John Babalola for allegedly raping a teenager (names withheld).

    Babalola was arrested on March 15 by the Family Support Unit (FSU) at Iju Ishaga Division.

    It was gathered that following the suspect’s arrest, his friends had taken to threatening the survivor and her father.
    According to the Child Protection Network (CPN), the teenager was raped while her mother was terminally ill and the woman passed on Tuesday morning.

    CPN said Babalola’s friends have mobilised to threaten the girl’s father that they will kill him or chase him out of the area.

    “The perpetrator ran away after the act but later surrendered himself at the Iju Police Division where he was detained. We understand that the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) was doing her best to ensure justice.

    “The survivor’s mother passed on today (Tuesday) and despite the family was in mourning, the perpetrator’s friends have mobilised to threaten the girl’s father that they’ll kill him or chase him out of the area.

    “A quick intervention is needed to keep the survivor and her family safe and to ensure that justice is served,” said the group.

    Confirming the incident, police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the case was under investigation, adding that the police would also investigate alleged threats to the survivor, her father by the suspect and his friends.

  • Police arrest three in Ikorodu police station attack

    Three suspects, Ahmed Hassan, Daniel Enyin and Olaniran Alium, have been arrested in connection with attempts to set a police station at Ikorodu ablaze, the command said Tuesday.

    A mob on Monday evening razed a patrol vehicle and moved to burn the Imota Police Division following the alleged killing of a trader by policemen attached to the station.

    It was gathered that the policemen while in raid of criminal hideout in Adamo, had allegedly opened fire indiscriminately killing a woman in the process.

    But police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said it was the suspected criminals that used the victim identified as Hadiyat Sikiru, 18, an SS1 pupil as human shield.

    Stating the command’s account of the incident in a statement, Elkana said: “At about 5:30pm on March 18, following a tip off, a team of policemen on surveillance at Adamo community, Ikorodu raided a den of cultists who specialised in ritual murder and kidnapping for ritual purposes.

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    “On sighting the police, they opened fire and equally used some of their hostages as human shields. During the operation that lasted for about one hour, two police officers were injured and three suspects were arrested. One Hadiyat Sikiru, 18, an SS1 student was hit by a stray bullet.

    “Attempt by other members of the deadly gang to attack our police station at Imota was met with stiff resistance by the gallant officers on duty.

    “The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Zubairu Muazu has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Charge of Criminal Investigation, Panti to take over the case for indept investigation.”

     

     

  • Brave children stop robbers/kidnappers

    Two children have demonstrated bravado by stopping two armed robbers and kidnappers who attempted to make away with their father’s car.

    The two children locked the car steering with the robbers, which made the car to hit a wall and somersaulted.

    It was gathered the father of the children simply identified as Doctor had parked to drop his children at the Brother Pius Nursery and Primary School along Akenzua Street off Airport road in Bénin City when the two robbers asked him to step out of the car.

    The man stepped out and the two robbers/kidnappers entered the car and drove off with the children inside.

    Sources said children engaged the robbers/kidnappers inside the car and it veered off the road and hit a wall of a building before it somersaulted.

    The two robbers managed to escape while sympathisers rescued the children currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

    Edo police spokesman, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, who confirmed the incident, said one of the robbers was pushed out of the vehicle by the children.

    DSP Nwabuzor said the two suspects escaped and that the children did not sustain any injury.

    He said efforts are on to arrest the fleeing robbers.

  • ‘How ex-UNILAG student raped undergraduate, stole her underwear’

    A prosecution witness, Insp Nkem Ejelonu, on Tuesday told the Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court in Ikeja how John Otema, a former student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), allegedly raped a female undergraduate of the institution and stole her underwear.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ejelonu, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in the case, gave the testimony while giving evidence during the trial of Otema who is charged with three counts of rape and assault occasioning harm.

    Otema is accused of raping two students of the institution.

    Ejelonu, who is attached to the Adeniji Adele Police Station and has 20 years experience in the Nigerian Police Force, said that following the allegation of underwear theft by Student X (name withheld), she executed a search warrant to find the missing clothing.

    Led in evidence by the state prosecutor, Mrs Arinola Momoh-Ayokanbi, Ejelonu said: “Student X said the defendant left with her pant, bra and handkerchief after he raped her in his car.

    “I went to the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court to sign a search warrant on Feb. 6, 2018, we went to the defendant’s house at No. 6, Adeleye St., Bariga Lagos to execute the search warrant, the items were not found.

    “We found only kitchen knives and on Feb. 7, 2018, the case was charged to court.

    “I had earlier visited the scene of the incident which is the area of Distance Learning Institute (DLI) of UNILAG, to check if I could find the pant, bra and handkerchief but I could not find anything, hence the search of his house,” she said.

    Earlier in her evidence, Ejelonu narrated how the police was alerted about the rapes by UNILAG officials.

    “On Feb. 5, 2018, two officers from Alausa came to our office that they received a distress call from UNILAG that they needed our support.

    “The then Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Ayodele Onujose, detailed myself and Sgt. Osasua, we went to UNILAG and saw the school counsellor and we went to the security cell and we saw the two girls who were about 19-years-old,” she said.

    The IPO also told the court how the first complainant, Student X was allegedly raped by the defendant.

    “On Jan. 17, 2018, the defendant offered to give her a ride in his car on campus, he took her to DLI, had sexual intercourse with her and took away her pant, bra and handkerchief,” she said.

    Ejelonu also told the court how another complainant, Student Y (name withheld), was allegedly raped by Otema.

    She said: “Student Y said sometime in 2018 she saw the defendant on campus and they went to the canteen to buy food, the defendant went to the bank and gave her back N2, 000 for the meal.

    “Then both of them became friends, she told the defendant that she already had a boyfriend but he said that they should be friends with benefits.

    “Student Y said she demanded for a laptop and the defendant gave her N20,000 and promised that he would give her N30,000 later.

    “On Jan. 30, 2018, the defendant picked her up and took her to his house and wanted to sleep with her and she demanded for N100,000. The money was not given to her.

    “He had sex with her, during that period her boyfriend called her, the defendant dropped her off on campus at 11.30pm.”

    While being cross-examined by Mr Fred Onyeka, Otema’s defence counsel, the IPO revealed that the defendant’s car was still in police custody.

    “One of the complainants said he had sex with her in the vehicle, the vehicle is with the exhibit keeper at the Adeniji Police Station,” she said.

    NAN reports that during Ejelonu’s evidence-in-chief, the IPO’s report was rejected as an exhibit by the court based on Onyeka’s objection that the prosecution did not include it in their proof of evidence.

    Following the rejection of the report by the court, Momoh-Ayokanbi, the state prosecutor had asked the court to declare the police officer a hostile witness on the ground that she was in communication with the defence.