The Nation Newspaper

Tag: death

  • Death in the cathedral

    The thousands of worshippers who gathered in the auditorium of the Reigners Bible Church International in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, last Saturday came there for the consecration of their pastor, Akan Weeks, as a bishop. Everything went into the planning for the bishopric consecration in order to make it a success. Governor Udom Emmanuel was among the congregants. It was a day of joy for the pastor, his family, his spiritual children and well-wishers.

    An atmosphere of conviviality pervaded the church. The celebrator was at hand to receive guests as they came in.  There were pumping of hands and backslapping here and there as longtime friends reconnected. Laughter rang out loud from all corners of the expansive auditorium. The service started as soon as  Emmanuel came in and the national anthem was sung. For over 30 minutes everything went well, but suddenly, the unexpected happened – the auditorium crashed. There was bedlam as people scampered for safety. One’s survival did not depend on how nimble footed one is; it all depended on luck and where you sat.

    Up till now, we have yet to know the number of those in the hall. So, getting the true casualty figure is difficult. Do not believe the figures being bandied by the security people; it is in their nature to hide such things in situations like this. The truth is that many people died and we may not know their exact number no matter how hard we try because some people will not want it revealed so as to avoid public outrage. We do not pray for things like this but when they happen, we should have the courage to say the truth in order to avoid a recurrence. Buildings do not just collapse for the fun of it, something must have triggered the crash. No matter what we say or do, what has happened has happened. We can only take stock now in order to know whether the church brought this upon itself.

    What do I mean? What was the state of the building before the ceremony? Was it still under construction as reported in the media? How safe was it for human occupation in the state it was then? These are some of the issues we should look into if we want to get to the root of this matter. We should not allow religious sentiment to becloud our reasoning in determining what led to the crash. Scores of people cannot die while attending a church ceremony only for the government to keep quiet as if all is well. The dead like those who survived went to serve God and to witness the consecration of their bishop. As their spiritual father, Pastor Akan, like a good shepherd, should have been concerned about the well-being of his sheep.

    He should have done this by ensuring that he gathered them in a safe and secure environment. As ministers, we are charged to feed our sheep, not to allow them to die through acts of omission and commission. The news that we are hearing now that the church was asked to stop work on the building is not palatable at all, if it is true. Was the church served a stop work order? A building is not served a stop work order for nothing. The action must have been informed by what experts saw. What did they see to warrant the issuance of the order? And why did the church not comply with it? It is only in our country that a thing like this will happen and we will start looking for excuses to explain it away instead of taking action against the offenders. Are we saying that the lives of those who died do not matter? Over two years ago, a similar incident happened at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos and till today the culprits have not been brought to book. Instead the church is dodging facing the law.

    This must not happen in the Uyo case. If something untoward had happened to the governor would we be handling this matter lightly? The answer is no. By now, all the church trustees and its other leaders would have been arrested. Even the injured pastor would be placed under arrest in the hospital. If that is good for the governor why is it not good for those who died in the crash? I feel sorry for the church and its pastor over what happened, but we cannot close our eyes to the fact that people lost their lives because of the negligence of some people. This is why those people are now on the run. They can only run; they cannot hide. Sooner than later the law will catch up with them. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.

     

    Mission to Gambia

    On Tuesday, some West African  leaders were in Banjul, The Gambia capital, to prevail on outgoing President Yahya Jammeh to accept the results of the December 1 election, which he lost to opposition candidate Adama Barrow. Jammeh is among the fast diminishing tribe of  African leaders still in office famously referred to by the west as the ”Africa Big Man”. By the west’s definition, the ”Africa Big Man” is a sit-tight leader who does not believe that there is life after office. So, he must die in office. Jammeh first came into office in 1994 through a military coup at the age of 29. In 1996, he transmuted into civilian president and has held office since then after being reelected in 2001, 2006 and 2011. After his reelection five years ago, he boasted that if he wanted he could be in office for one billion years. Pride, they say, goes before a fall. His pride led to his defeat in the December 1 election, which results he graciously accepted before making a volte face last Friday. What could have informed his sudden U’turn? Yahya Jammeh has become used to the presidential villa that he cannot imagine himself ever staying elsewhere. But he cannot impose himself on the people who have become tired of him.

    The time for him to go has come and the people have spoken that they no longer want him. If he decides to stay in office against their wish there will be bloodshed. He should not deceive himself that because he is president he would have the upper hand if crisis bursts out in The Gambia today. Jammeh has ridden the tiger long enough. It is time for him to dismount in order not to end up in its belly. It is to save him from himself that Presidents Muhammadu Buhari, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia),  Ernest Bai Koroma (Sierra Leone) and John Mahama (Ghana) went to talk with him. The good thing is for him to stick to his acceptance of the outcome of the election and not allow some people to mislead him.  It is heartening to hear that he was receptive to the four leaders’ advice to go. The consequences of his not leaving will be too grave for his tiny country, which he has ruled with iron fist in the past 22 years. Jammeh was still living in the past by recanting after accepting the election results. There is nothing for him to fear if he knows he has done well. For the sake of his impoverished country, he should go and allow a breath of fresh air in The Gambia. If he looked well he would have seen in the four leaders’ delegation another president, who just lost election – John Mahama of Ghana – and accepted the result without attempting to bring his country down. Jammeh should take a cue from Mahama and just go.

  • Buhari won’t allow death of citizens, says Presidency

    Buhari won’t allow death of citizens, says Presidency

    •President denies alleged mass starvation

    The Presidency yesterday maintained that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is leading a responsible government and will not allow lives to be lost in the country.

    The statement followed fears in some quarters that the government was not doing enough to save the lives of Nigerians presently facing humanitarian crisis in the Northeast and the crisis might degenerate to mass starvation.

    Millions of Nigerians, over the years, have been displaced from their communities by the onslaught of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said: “It is a problem that the Buhari administration continues to handle with great sensitivity.

    “Since his coming to office, the President has fully mobilised state mechanisms to deal with the problems and this needs to be appreciated.

    “This notwithstanding, we are concerned about the blatant attempts to whip up a nonexistent fear of mass starvation by some aid agencies, a type of hype that does not provide solution to the situation on the ground but more to do with calculations for operations financing locally and abroad. In a recent instance, one arm of the United Nations screamed that 100,000 people will die due to starvation next year. A different group says a million will die.”

    He noted out that the Boko Haram terrorism and their occupation of communities and destruction of houses, infrastructure and means of livelihood have manifested in the decline of socio-economic activities throughout the Northeast.

    He added that it in turn negatively impacted farming, pastoralism, trade, exchange of goods and services and social interaction among the people and leading to the displacement of more than two million people, mostly women and children.

    “Consequently, there is death, there is hunger and there is poor nutrition. The displacement pattern as revealed by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) indicates that there are currently about two million people who are displaced.

    “Only about 20 percent of this is however in IDP camps. This much reduced numbers are in Borno in 13 formal and 16 satellite camps; four of such camps currently operating in Adamawa and about the same number in Yobe.

    “The larger number of the IDP population is living either in self-settled camps or with host communities,” he added.

    According to him, the affected states with active collaboration with NEMA and the recently inaugurated Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) are deeply involved in efforts to cushion the humanitarian challenges, especially on food security and nutrition.

    “Through an ongoing arrangement, NEMA provides raw food items to IDPs at formal camps, self-settled centres, host communities and satellite centres. The states for their part provide condiments, firewood and maintain environmental quality of the IDP camps.

    “Beyond the IDP camps, government agencies are distributing food in host communities. The T.Y. Danjuma-led PCNI is currently doing this in Borno State at the time of writing,” he stated.

    Apart from the supply of food, he said the Federal Government, through NEMA and the PCNI, has made the provision of drugs to some major hospitals in the zone as a priority.

    “These agencies have also been deploying on continuous basis, medical teams and equipment to the Northeast to support the provision of medicare to the IDPs.

    “There are also search and rescue vehicles in service in the region as well as the deployment of a revolving fund at major hospitals in Maiduguri and Yola to ensure full treatment of victims of insurgents’ attacks and sick IDPs.

    “Government has also been providing skills and empowerment equipment to IDPs side-by-side with education for children in camps and the UN Safe Schools Initiative (SSI).

    “While the humanitarian situation in the Northeast is already complex and challenging, there is no doubt that the recent successes by the Nigerian military against the terrorists has come with it  the releases of thousands of people held against their wish in the forests.

    “The captives come to government camps famished, ragged, poorly nourished and mostly ill, released from the hunger and acute shortages of basic necessities of life on account of the effective sieges of Sambisa forest by the military.” He said

    The Presidency also welcomed the increasing humanitarian assistance, which kept complementing the efforts of the federal and state governments in the Northeast.

    Stressing that local and international humanitarian responders, including the United Nations (UN) have done an immeasurable amount of effort filling in the gaps wherever they existed, he denied the reports indicating that 100,000 or a million people would die because government was unable to provide care at the camps.

  • Detainee’s death sparks protest in Itire

    Detainee’s death sparks protest in Itire

    How did Nurudeen Aliyu die in the   custody of Itire Police Station? This is the puzzle his friends are asking the Inspector-General of Police (ICP) to unravel.

    Aliyu was arrested last Tuesday for fighting and detained at the station where he died on Friday.

    Aliyu who lives at 40, Aborisade Street, Lawanson, was allegedly beaten up by an Inspector before he was detained.

    A friend, Ettu, said Aliyu was killed and his body was taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) mortuary to cover up the case.

    He accused the police of extrajudicial killings in the area, recalling a similar incident that occurred last year.

    Ettu said: “The  Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Itire Police Station should know that you can’t cover this one up. Last year at this same police station, an Inspector  killed a secondary school pupil and a young guy around Oduduwa in Surulere.

    “This policeman is still in service as we speak. The annoying thing is that I saw this inspector three weeks after the incident. He has been posted to Agege Police Station.

    “I call on well-meaning Nigerians to reach out to the inspector and ask him why his men killed Nurudeen.”

    Lagos command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP) confirmed Aliyu’s death, describing him as a habitual criminal.

    She said: “The suspect is a habitual criminal. He was alleged to have removed two people’s eyes through his usual attack on innocent people.

    “Last Tuesday, there was a distress call that he’s attacking some people again. The police arrested him and detained him to be charged to court but while in detention he vomited and complained of body ache. He was rushed to the hospital where the doctor on duty certified him dead.”

  • Outrage over man murdered at Oshodi market

    The buildings and environs of the Methodist Church Nigeria Plaza, Oshodi, opposite the demolished Owonifari market were at a standstill Friday when a young man was clobbered to death.

    The victim, the late Cheta Ewi, 24, sold and repaired games and downloads prior to his death.

    He was said to be the only son and had no family in Lagos.

    The plaza, home to wholesale traders in clothing items, looked more like a ghost town than a beehive of activity which is the usual atmosphere of shops in the ever bustling Oshodi market.

    When some traders attempted to open their shops to sell their wares, they were prevented from doing so by angry mob purportedly protesting the murder of their colleague in cold blood.

    An eyewitness who preferred to remain anonymous alleged that the victim, Cheta by name, had gone to a party the night before, had a lot of alcohol to drink and a lot of Indian Hemp to smoke, and by 6am the next morning came to his shop  and started harassing and physically abusing his colleagues.

    In an attempt to control him, the eyewitness, a saleswoman, alleged that the traders chained and beat him to stupor.

    She recounted: “Cheta is known to be a habitual Indian hemp smoker by everyone, but never has he reacted like this before. Early, this morning he started exhibiting lunatic tendencies and had bitten four people, including two women. He was coming towards me, and would have bitten me as well but for the man who stopped him. While trying to control him, he was chained and some people started beating him, until he collapsed. We later heard that he had died.”

    However, another eyewitness, Mr. Okechukwu, a trader who has a shop in the plaza agreed that the late Cheta had never exhibited lunatic tendencies prior to that day, saying, “No, we cannot understand. The world does not believe in spiritual things, but it could be caused by what he ate or drank.”

    Responding to the allegation that Cheta was a drug addict whose demented state could have been caused by a chemical interaction between Indian hemp and alcohol which could have led to a mental breakdown, Okechukwu responded, “No I have never seen him smoke.”

    He recalled that when he got to his shop, at about 8.30 am, he met that his friend and brother, Cheta, had been beaten to death between six and seven that morning. “But when we got here this morning, we were told that when Cheta was biting people. Two members of the task force, known popularly as Alabi and Arinze, got some boys to tame him. They then went up and took a stool from the shop of Abada, one of our traders, and started hitting him on the head and all over his body. They chained him, and seated him in the sun after beating him, and released him when they saw that he was about to die,” Okechukwu said.

    He said Cheta was later rushed by his colleagues to Longlife hospital where he was rejected. They then rushed him to the General hospital, where he gave up the ghost. They paid for the arrangement of his body which had been brutally battered in the cause of the ordeal.

    “His head had also been broken, with scars all over his face. His close friends and customers brought his corpse to his plaza, and ordered everyone to close.”

    The plaza has since closed.

    According to Okechukwu, this is the usual practice when a person passes on.

    But, when The Nation visited the place later in the day it was learnt that a riot had ensued due to some people’s refusal to close their shops for the day.

    The traders were, however, forced to shut their shops when the riot happened.

  • Death is still that undiscovered country…

    Death is still that undiscovered country that we shall all visit. In that country, everybody shall be stripped of titles and accumulated wealth. Nobody shall be referred to as “Your Excellency,” “OON, CON, GCON” “Africa’s richest billionaire” and so on. In that country, the truth of our follies and the septic belly of our idiocies shall become even more pronounced and visible to all. Those of us, the billionaires particularly, who send so-called “prayerfully powerful” Alfas on holy pilgrimage to Mecca to seek for Allah’s forgiveness and infinite mercies on their behalf shall realize that they had simply been foolish. No amount of prayers-by-proxy, sacrifices and so on, shall move Almighty Allah to forgive them and grant them eternal peace and paradise if their handiwork is tantamount to evil.

    They shall all die eventually. It wouldn’t matter if they are buried in Victoria Court Cemetery or Atan Cemetery; it wouldn’t matter if their remains are unrecoverable in the event of their demise in a ghastly accident or assassination. Immediately they pass on, they shall begin to pay for their handiwork like the rest of us. They shan’t escape the trials of the grave.

    No priest, highfaluting ceremony of absolution from ‘original sin,” redemption and so on shall ennoble the Christians among us with the “infinite grace” of Almighty God if they remain evil at heart. If they like, let them build as many gigantic Churches and temples as they like, let their offerings and tithe tower beyond the rafters and sky-high, it shall never make them pious before God. May it not make them pious before God.

    No priest or Alfa can intercede with God on our behalf. We shall all die: President, governor, first lady, special advisers, ministers, accountant, journalist, activist, dibias, babalawos and so on. And even our tiniest depravity shall be summoned to witness against us.

    Those who profess to be godly live like they answer to some blind, stupid, and partial god. Almighty Allah is not stupid, silly or blind. Jehovah is neither partial nor handicapped by greed for worship houses, outlandish sacrifices and exaggerated humility. Chineke, Eledumare is surely no perverted wimp that we could corrupt by wile and insincere tokens of sacrifice and worship.

    He will judge us all according to our handiwork. In the face of such imminent reality, it’s amusing to see the ruling class administer our lives like they are answerable to no one. It’s even more bizarre to see our youth lend themselves as willing tools to the antics and designs of the ruling class. Many a self-styled professor of truth and champion of the masses’ rights have become junkyard dog and dunghill mongrel for the same ruling class they used to criticize.

    Talk is cheap really and Nigerians love to talk a good game. That is why everyone: literate, semi-literate and illiterate, display flawless capacities to decipher and summarize the political and socio-economic problems afflicting Nigeria, just for the fun of it or the benefit of applause.

    Besides a few good men and real heroes who have staked their lives and personal comfort to protest the gross ineptitude and bestiality of the ruling class and the society at large, most of us have accepted to remain acquiescent. When we are criticized for being unacceptably docile, we respond that there is infinite wisdom in choosing our battles wisely and keeping our mouths shut.

    Nonetheless, we continue to mount the soapbox in our living rooms, around our dinner tables and in the ubiquitous ‘beer parlours’ criticizing our leaders, casting blames and justifying our pathetic and apologetic existence.

    The tragedy subsists in our customary lamentation about the state of the Nigerian nation; every time our conscience is roused with a damning report, as it is still customary of us, more racist politicians and activists suggest that we split and go our separate ways touting it as the only solution to our league of extraordinary problems.

    There is no wisdom in secession unless it serves to eliminate the same bogeys that make Nigeria a living hell for us. Secession, I maintain, is the fruit of ‘reason’ that we need to be wary of and I will continue to say this hoping every prospective muscle – that is, the youth – by which the separatists hope to achieve their dreams of dissolution, would listen and learn to let the secessionists risk their skins and their lineages to actualize their platitudes.

    Let every political godfather, public office hopeful and so on send their sons and wives and daughters on to the streets to wield cutlasses, guns and bombs. Let the ruling class recall their children from their Ivy League schools and exclusive mansions abroad to march on the streets and hack to death perceived oppositions to their political ambitions. Let every youth from humble background and the breadlines mobilize instead to collectively seek an end to the ruling class’ reign of terror.

    Violence and bloodshed is never the answer. Secession is never the answer to our woes.

    The biggest misconception about separation, insurgence, self-determination or whatever the separatists choose to call it is that it could be peaceful and that the end result would be a conscientious and citizenry-centred dispensation.

    It’s all dirty, greedy politics. The separatists want the youth to fly the flags of their dream nations, they want everybody to brandish a bumper sticker that bellows, “Death to the Federal Republic of Nigeria!” They call anyone that’s anti-war and anti-secession, “pacifist,” “traitor” or whatever colourful adjective suits their rage. Then they promise the youth a prosperous future and better fate under their dream nation. Consequently, youth that ought to know better buy into such farce and they all begin to dream and talk of the great uprising that would set them free from the living hell Nigeria has become.

    Even when we see through the promises of the separatists, we choose to ignore it for the love of paltry inducements and instant gratification. It’s about time the Nigerian youth started postponing immediate gratification and endure hard sacrifices spurred by conviction that the future can be better than the past.

    But we face a far more difficult problem at our moment in history. What do you promise youth who have been told they can have anything they want, who are repeatedly urged to seek the best of all possible circumstances without shedding sweat for it? How do you tell them that “the good times,” as they have known them or heard of them, will definitely come back?

    The Nigerian youth needs a new vision to help them deal with reality, a promising story of the future that helps them let go of the pains and disappointments of the past. We need a grand vision of possibilities that Nigerians may pursue and dream on: the country’s rich socio-cultural and political tradition, the right of all citizens to larger lives. Such dreams should never be about getting richer than the guy next door or accumulating obscene wealth for applause and to show off but the right to live life more fully and engage more expansively, the elemental possibilities of human existence.

    Sophistry and deceit are the springboards from which our civilization evolves. Add mediocrity, mindlessness and greed and you have a perfect representation of the contemporary youth. We were wrong to think it a matter of years and decades that we would improve in citizenship and tact. We forget that true citizenship essentially translates to being an emissary of truth, hope, superior culture and progress to the benefits of the literate and unschooled.

    It should above all be the appendage of that fine adjustment between reality and the growing knowledge of life – an adjustment which discovers the secret of civilization and the solution to its seemingly intractable problems. Insanely, to this end, we apply bigotry in politics and religion. Thus by every manner of faith we commit the worst of inhuman transgressions – like terrorism and mass murder, inordinate acquisition of wealth and acclaim.

  • Students protest death of colleagues

    Students protest death of colleagues

    Students of the Federal Government Girls’ College (FGGC), Owinni area of Oyo town in Oyo State, have protested the death of five of their colleagues. The untimely death of the five female students has brought to the fore the need to rehabilitate the federal road that is in very bad shape and to curtail the activities of street traders.

    The students, who had just resumed for new academic session were said to have left their school on permission to have hairdo at the neighbouring Sabo Market, just few kilometers away.

    After the hairdo, the students boarded an intra-city mini-bus back to school.

    The students and other passengers were waiting for a mini-lorry fully loaded with garri to pass by, when the mini-lorry ran into a big pothole beside the mini-bus.

    Consequently, the driver of the mini-lorry lost control and the vehicle fell on the mini-bus and smashed it, killing six persons (five students and the driver) on board.

    Other passengers were said to have sustained various degrees of injuries in the incident.

    Unexpectedly, the street traders and other traders inside the market, who apparently were not disturbed by the tragic incident, resumed for business the next day, to the amazement of residents.

    They were beaten up and chased away by street urchins who stormed the market.

    Mourning the departed souls of their colleagues, who had since been buried, students of the college staged peaceful protest to the Alaafin’s palace and Atiba Hall where caretaker chairmen of the four local government areas in the metropolis, namely Afijio, Atiba, Oyo-East and Oyo-West and other community leaders converged for a town hall meeting.

    The students accompanied by their Principal, Mrs. T. A. Olasusi, members of management and teachers, carried placards with different inscriptions calling for abolition of street trading, rehabilitation of the federal road and relocation of commercial vehicles loading garri to and from the market.

    Fielding questions from reporters shortly after paying condolence visit to the management of the college, the caretaker Chairman of Atiba Local Government Area, Mr. Gbolagade Okeniyi, described the incident as “very disheartening”.

    He said: “Before now, the local government had rehabilitated the federal road thrice, checkmated the activities of traders on the road and relocated the mini-lorry commercial vehicle operators to a newly constructed site known as Beta.”

    Expressing dismay at the care-free and recalcitrant attitudes of both the street traders and mini-lorry drivers, he assured that the local government would apply full weights of the law on anyone who contravenes its directives.

     

  • Agony of six siblings’ death in Anambra

    Agony of six siblings’ death in Anambra

    Their remains have been interred but the agony endures in the hearts of their parents and so many in Ekwulumili, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

    The six siblings died in circumstances that some have described as mysterious.

    Their burial evoked emotions as the people could not hold back their tears, including the priest, Bishop Michael Anene of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, who officiated the event..

    The children were Chukwuebuka, 17, Chinemerem, 15, Afomachukwu, 13, Chekwubechukwu, 11, Onyekachukwu, 9, and Chukwuziterem, 7, who died one after the order after a meal.

    Since their death, on July 15, the state police command has not  established anything on the case as the new state commissioner Mr. Samuel Okaula refused to talk about it.

    The incident took place when Mr. Hassan Karma, now Assistant Inspector of police (AIG) was Anambra State police commissioner, who said the incident, was being investigated.

    Last weekend at the Ekwulumili home of the deceased persons, it was all lamentations as the priest Anene cursed anybody who was involved in the death of the children.

    Parents of the children, Apostle and Mrs. Rita Oramalu did their best to draw some courage and comfort after the death of six of their seven children in one fell swoop.

    The only surviving and only child in the family is four.

    Mrs. Rita Oramalu said they would want the state government to offer him scholarship as the only hope of the family. Their late children had chosen what they wanted to be in life, while late Chineremerem said he would like to be an engineer, and had started showing some signs of that, like repairing generating sets, according to the mother.

    The other siblings had chosen to be lawyers, doctors and nurses before their untimely deaths.

    Till date, the police in Anambra have not been able to ascertain whether they were poisoned or not. However, The Nation gathered that the children could have been poisoned by an unknown person.

    When Mr. Ali Okechukwu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) was the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), now anti-cult leader in the state, he had raised the alarm that some youths of the community had impeded investigations on the matter.

    He claimed then that the youths did not allow policemen to enter their community by blocking their way, lamenting that the command was being frustrated on the investigations.

    When the incident happened, the parents of the children were being held by close relations and friends from committing suicide.

    The father of the deceased, Apostle Chuks Oramalu, told The Nation that he could name the killers of his children based on investigations so far.

    But he admitted that some people in the community were accusing him of killing his children for rituals and asked, how can this be?

    According to him, “the children I suffered to beget and nurture, why should somebody have that thinking? He vowed to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.

    Their mother Rita Oramalu said the government should investigate the matter well to bring any culprit to book, but where such is not possible “let God who has been taking control continue to fight for the family”

    Another interesting aspect of the matter was that the third child, Afomachukwu 13, came 2nd in her last examination in the entire Nnewi south local government area before her death.

    During his sermon at the burial of the children, Bishop Anene said that someone must have been behind the death of the children.

    He said whoever that had hands in the death of the innocent children, would expect grave consequences of his or her action, citing several portions of the bible to buttress his pronouncement.

    According to Anene, “woe betide the killers of the children and it would have been better the person was not born than to have committed the dastardly act”

    When contacted by The Nation whether the state government of Anambra State was involved in the burial and what the family experts from it, the special adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on media, Mr. James Eze said the question would have been whether the state knew about the incident.

    However, he said the government would work hard in making sure that the governor’s attention was drawn to it, adding that Obiano would stop his convoy to help accident victims in the state, “how much more this ugly incident”

    When the state police commissioner was called on the phone by The Nation, he did not answer, nor did he return the call.

     

  • Graduating student hacked to death at ABSU

    A fresh graduate of the Abia State University (ABSU) in Uturu died during a clash with a security guard at an off-campus last Tuesday. The victim, Maxwell Okpubo, was said to be a dreaded cult member.

    Trouble started at 6pm when the late Maxwell visited Pentagon Lodge located closed to the school to see his girlfriend, identified as Dammy. On getting to the hostel, Maxwell met a group of boys discussing in front of the hostel. He allegedly asked one of the boys to help him notify his girlfriend he was around. When the boy refused, Maxwell allegedly slapped him.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the security guard, whose name was given as Philips, requested Maxwell to leave the compound. Infuriated by the guard’s statement, it was gathered that the late Maxwell pounced on the gatemen and a fight broke out.

    An eyewitness, who declined to give his name, said Maxwell reached for a sharp iron rod and hit Philips, injuring him at the stomach. Philips, it was learnt, ran into his room to pick his dagger and stabbed Maxwell to death. Philips, who is to be receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital, claimed he killed Waxwell in self-defence. It was gathered that the late Maxwell celebrated his 25th birthday last October.

  • Police probe businessman’s death

    The police have began investigating the death of a Lagos businessman, Kelvin Uzozie, 42.

    Uzozie was allegedly killed on October 8, at his 7 Rasheed Yusuf Street, Onireke off Badagry Expressway home.

    His assailants were said to have broken into his three- bedroom apartment through the rear door.

    It was gathered that he lived alone; his wife, a teacher, who stays in Onitsha, Anambra State, visits occasionally.

    His death was reported by his neighbours at the Onireke Police Station. The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) Panti, Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

    According to his  neighbour, Kenneth, the assailants removed the burglar proof at Uzozie’s rear door.

    He said: “Kelvin was a good man and a peace-loving fellow. He would never allow you cheat anyone. Although he lived alone here, he never kept female company except for his wife who visits him from Onitsha. She was even in Lagos a week before the incident.

    “It was around 4am when I heard noise coming from the sixth flat of our building. The sound was quiet heavy like people fighting. I chose not to go out because I didn’t know what it was all about.

    “Around 6am, I heard other neighbours shouting outside. I later saw people gathered in front of Kelvin’s apartment. His body covered with blood from his nose and mouth and it was obvious he was dead.

    “I asked other neighbours if they heard the sound earlier and they said yes. One said he thought robbers had invaded the compound. And was praying all through. We went round his apartment for any clue as to why he was killed and if the suspected murderers had come to rob or just to end his life.

    “We discovered the burglar proof at the back door was cut off and that was how the killers gained entrance into his apartment and they possibly left through his front door because it was left wide open. The rooms were scattered. We even found a stick in his room lying close to him and covered with blood stains.

    “It was then we knew that those who came for the job had used a stick to perfect their act.

    “We are all still in great shock over the incident.  It’s been weeks now but the fear is still very much in us.  Some of us even fled our houses after the incident but only had to return about three days after.”

    According to a source, an autopsy has been conducted and Uzozie’s body released to his family.

  • How we escape death at Ize-Iyamu village —Election monitor

    How we escape death at Ize-Iyamu village —Election monitor

    Senior Programme Officer of the CLEEN Foundation, Mrs. Chihozirim Okoro, has narrated how she and her team escaped death in the hands of political thugs at Iguododo village, hometown of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

    Mrs. Okoro  said thugs in the vicinity saw them recording their activities at the polling units in the village when the attack took place.

    She said their team sped off but the thugs gave them a hot chase until they ran into a patrol team who later gave them cover.

    Speaking at a press briefing yesterday on the activities of security personnel deployed for election duties, Okoro stated that a media personnel attached to their team, who was caught by the thugs, was beaten and almost killed.

    She said it was the security personnel that rescued the media personnel and they were warned not to return to the area.

    She said: “I escaped death at Iguododo, Ize-Iyamu’s village. People signaled to us to leave after they observed that we were videoing them. We were told to run away, but they pursued us till we got to safety.

    “Our driver was told not to go back again. The media person was still held until security officials rescued him. We saw that he was beaten and they almost killed him.”

    Okoro noted that most security officials on election duties carried out their duties professionally by confiscating arms and dangerous weapons from party thugs in Fugar, rescuing election observers and stopping of vote buying and monetary inducement at Estako Central and Esan North East.

    She said a security personnel attached to a political appointee snatched a ballot box and electoral materials in Ward 1 Unit 3, Emokhuem community in Estako East local government.

    According to her, “We saw officers hungry and begging for money. The total welfare of officers on election duty fell short of expectations. It was a pitiable sight seeing these gallant and zealous officers on duty looking weak, pale, hungry and famished.

    “Most of the officers complained of having to pay their way to their duty posts. This makes them vulnerable to compromise.”

    Among the recommendations by CLEEN Foundation were the need to arrest and prosecute electoral offenders, sustained efforts to resolve issues around the card readers, among others.