The Nation Newspaper

Tag: death

  • Row over death of Fire Service officer

    Row over death of Fire Service officer

    •Family alleges foul play  

    • ‘We found him  in his pool of blood’ 

    Was Ime Okon Eyo, an Assistant Commander with the Federal Fire Service (FFS), killed?

    His family members are alleging foul play in his death and are demanding probe.

    Eyo died on May 6 when he came from Abuja, where he had just been transferred to, to pack his things from the Fire Service Barracks in Ojuelegba, Surulere, Lagos, Mainland.

    “An autopsy report said his death was “primarily caused by intracranial haemorrhage as a result of basal skull fracture.”

    His sister, Mrs. Gloria Ekpenyong and her husband, Henry, said they left him at the Barracks with some of his colleagues around 6pm that fateful day.

    They said they received phone calls between 6:45am and 7am on May 7 that he died around 10pm the previous day and his body was deposited at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) mortuary.

    He was said to have blood on his mouth and nostrils, and injuries on his face and the back of his head when his relatives saw his body at the mortuary.

    The family, through its lawyer, Enobong Etteh, is seeking “thorough investigation” of the death of Eyo, who The Nation gathered was a Pastor at Narrow Way Gospel Ministry in Itire, Surulere.

    Etteh said: “Until his brutal murder, the deceased was a serving public officer deployed to the Federal Fire Service. His last rank was Assistant Commander Fire at the Command Headquarters, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. The deceased public officer was last seen on May 6, at the service quarters, Ojuelegba in the company of Fire Service colleagues and friends. At about 6:45am on May 7, a member of our client’s family, Henry Ekpenyong, received a call from Mr. Asako Asuquo, a colleague of the deceased, informing him that Mr. Ime Okon Eyo was dead.

    “About the same time, Ekpenyong’s wife (the deceased’s sister), received a call from another colleague of the deceased, Mr. Macaulay Anthony, an Assistant Commander, also informing her that Ime was dead. Anthony then requested that she should come over to the Fire Service at Ojuelegba. Our clients met at the Fire Service Quarters and proceeded to LUTH mortuary led by Macaulay Anthony, Isang Asuquo, Ewa Ekeng and other Fire officers. Macaulay Anthony and Isang Asuquo informed our clients that they received a telephone call the previous night that the deceased was dead and that they should come and identify the body at LUTH.

    “Our clients were further informed that they met Ekpenyong Iwat, a fellow Fire Officer at the Mortuary in the company of some pastors from the Narrow Way Gospel Ministry. We have reported this cold blooded assassination to the Inspector-General of Police, the Controller General of the Federal Fire Service and other relevant government agencies. Our clients are calling on the President, the Minister for Interior and all the relevant agencies of government to ensure a thorough investigation into this assassination and the culprits brought to book. This is one assassination of a public servant that must not be swept under the carpet.”

    The Nations gathered that the late Eyo had gone to 1, Balogun Street in Itire to visit a female friend, Vera Mbang, at about 9:30pm that fateful day.

    We was found on the floor there bleeding and rushed to LUTH where he was confirmed dead.

    Mbang told The Nation that she found him on the ground near the stairs, bleeding, adding that she screamed for her neighbours to assist in rushing him to hospital.

    She said: “He’s my friend and a pastor in my church. I have known him for about four years. He usually came to our place and he was a very quiet and likable person. That is why I do not think anyone would have wanted him dead. It was raining the day he came. It was in the night and I was upstairs. But, suddenly, I heard someone shout and when I came down, I saw him on the ground with blood everywhere. I really do not know what happened, but I guess he might have fallen.

    “So, immediately I saw him, I called my neighbours to come and help so that we could rush him to the hospital. While they took him to the hospital, I ran to the church to inform the senior pastor of what had happened and they went to the hospital. They were the ones who told me later that he died.

    I never knew any of his family members and so, there was no way I would have contacted them.”

    One of her neighbours, Chioma Nwankwo, who signed the mortuary card for the late Eyo’s body to be deposited, said he was gasping for breath when she saw him.

    “It was raining and I was fetching water. I went up to get other buckets to continue fetching water but when I got to the stairs, I saw a shadow and someone gasping for breath. I asked who it was but the person did not answer. Since I wasn’t properly dressed, I went back into the room to put on my clothes but by the time I came downstairs, I saw him on the ground with so much blood. I raised the alarm and others came. We rushed him to the hospital in one of my neighbour’s cars, where he was confirmed dead.”

  • When death is faster, cheaper than help

    When death is faster, cheaper than help

    In this report, Eddy Uwoghiren writes on the need to develop a National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to reduce the incidence of avoidable deaths in times of medical emergencies.

    Last December Pa Enoch Igbadefe, 70, died. In spite of his old age, his death was avoidable; if only he had gotten pre-hospital care. Dying at 70, when he should have being enjoying the benefits of his retirement, is painful. But dying the way he did merely because help didn’t come from where it should have come, is the most painful.

    Although he had worked meritoriously and retired with a clean bill, the usual situation in a country like Nigeria where pensioners are subjected to unsavory life after retirement ensured he had no rest. He had picked up a job at the burrow pit close to Okada town, on the outskirts of Benin City, few years back, in a bid to keep body and soul together.

    On that fateful day last December, he had bid his family goodbye as usual as he set out for his work place. Little did he know that it would be his last. At noon, in the scorching sun, the heap of sand from a trailer suddenly fell on him, leading to a serious fracture on his right femur and left ribs. His coworkers ran to the express way to get a vehicle to convey him to the nearest hospital.

    However, the scarcity of fuel during that period made matters worse as few vehicles were plying the road that afternoon. After hours of negotiation, a driver who happened to come along, agreed to convey him to a private medical centre at Okada, where first aid treatment and suturing of the lacerations sustained were done before his referral to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

    Upon arrival at the emergency room (ER) of UBTH, the trauma team on call, including this reporter, battled to save his life, but to no avail. Alas, Enoch gave up the ghost minutes later. Not a few of us were devastated by his death, which was very much avoidable.

    “This man could have survived if only help had come his way early enough,” said the senior Resident Doctor on call. Explaining to the relatives of the deceased, he said, “He sustained fracture of one of his ribs which lead to tear in the pleural space, thus introducing air into the pleural cavity. This resulted in a medical condition called Tension Pnuemothorax, leading to a positive pressure in the lungs, thereby preventing the lungs from expanding to its full capacity. What could have been done was for a fine bore needle to be used in making an incision at the mid clavivular line, 2nd intercostals space to remove the air and restore breathing.”

    Enoch’s death is quite similar to that of Eboseremen Jude’s wife. The newlywed couple had set out on a journey to Ekpoma to celebrate the Xmas with their in-laws. They were traveling in an 18 seater bus when the vehicle had an head on collision with a lorry while trying to navigate the bend at the Iruekpen axis of the road. The vehicle was said to have somersaulted severally before falling into a ditch, leaving two persons dead on the spot and several others sustaining various degree of injury.

    “It was a gory sight that day. My wife sustained injury to her head because she was not on seat belt. I had minor injuries. She was bleeding from her nose and mouth with swollen eyes. At every moment, she was gasping for breath and dying slowly. I knew time mattered a whole lot. Passersby started the rescue mission. They separated everyone based on the injury sustained and called the men of the Federal Road Safety  Corp (FRSC) who took about 15 minutes to arrive the scene. When they came, they packed us in a vehicle and took us to the general hospital where they left us.”

    “Fifteen minutes later, I was told to immediately take my wife to Central hospital in Benin City as that they lack the facility to cater for her at UBTH. I pleaded with them to give me their ambulance as the men of the FRSC who brought us had gone. They refused saying I will have to fuel it. I went to hire  a taxi which I used in conveying her to Central hospital. At central, they didn’t even let her in. The doctor just came to the vehicle looked at her, shook his head and said that only UBTH has facilities in Benin to cater for her condition.”

    He continued, “They refused to release their ambulance or attend to her. When we got back to UBTH, they took her in and started resuscitating her. I was told she has lost a lot of blood and I should go to blood bank and buy. I went there bought blood but when I got back to the ward, my wife was no longer on her bed. I enquired and was told they were wheeling her to the Intensive care unit (ICU). I was told to go and make deposit payment. I accosted them on the way but I was told the modalities for payment.

    “After payment, they took her into the ICU and after about an hour of waiting, the doctor came out and broke the bad news to me. She died. He said she had injury to one of the artery that supplies the brain. It was pathetic that day. I wailed because prior to the day we made the journey, my wife had warned us not to go, saying she had a bad dream. The time it took us to transit from the scene of the accident to UBTH was over two hours.”

    A dire need

    The above scenarios paint pictures of how life is being lost daily during emergencies in Nigeria because help fails to come early enough for victims. Sadly, it appears the authorities are yet to grasp the full implication of the absence of emergency medical services on our roads.

    Emergency Medical Services (EMS) according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is a highly sophisticated type of emergency services dedicated to providing out of hospital acute medical care, transport to definitive care centre and transport of patients with illness and injuries, which prevents them from transporting themselves. The goal of EMS is to provide treatment to those in need of urgent medical care and or arranging for timely removal of the patient to a definitive care centre for expert management.  Such medical conditions could include trauma, heart attack, foreign body aspiration, choking etc.

    In foreign countries, EMS has advanced such that members of the public via an emergency telephone line can easily contact  a  suitable ambulance, equipped with paramedics, to deal with the situation. However, 56 years after independence, there is no functional national EMS in Nigeria. It is believed that victims of emergency conditions who receive care from paramedics within the first 15 minutes are likely to survive as the chances of survival gets slimmer by the passing of each second.

    The failure of the Nigerian government in developing an EMS to help deal with emergency situations has placed Nigerians traveling on our roads in great danger. Even those at home are endangered as prompt help, in time of medical need, is not assured. Nigerians also lack the basic knowledge on how to deal with emergency conditions.

    Along the Benin-Lagos-Ibadan express way, there is only one emergency clinic, owned by the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) at Sagamu. But when compared with what is obtainable in other countries, the FRSC Emergency clinic at Sagamu is nothing to write home about. In fact, unconfirmed reports have it that the clinic charges fee from victims for treatment.

    In South Africa, the government has developed an EMS. It has converted tricycles into ambulances to care for victims of emergencies and convey them to the nearest health facility for specialized care.

    Malawi recently started the use of Motorcycles equipped with stretchers, to transport Obstetrics patients to hospitals, in a bid to reduce maternal mortality. Apart from South Africa, Malawi and Ghana which has also developed a national EMS, no other African countries has keyed into it.

    In Israel for example, at age 15, every Israeli has a knowledge of basic life support skills (BLS) which entails basic skills on how to handle emergency before the arrival of the Paramedics team. And by 18, they serve in the army where they are taught Advanced Trauma Life support (ATLS).

    Way forward

    Few years back, Dr. Ola Orekunmi instituted the Flying Doctors; which provide ambulance services to victims of plane crashes and other medical emergencies through helicopters. Sadly enough, the cost, coupled with inadequate publicity, has left only few Nigerians patronizing company.

    With the knowledge of ATLS and BLS, every Israeli is equipped to handle medical emergencies before the arrival of the paramedics team to convey the patient to the nearest health centre.  The situation in Nigeria is however a pathetic one as less than 3%, comprising mainly health workers, of her population, has these skills. This, stakeholders say, has put Nigerians at serious disadvantage whenever emergency conditions set in.

    Jennifer Ibuzor who sells banana at Ore junction of the Benin Lagos Express way said hawkers on the road are usually the first Doctors at the scene whenever accidents occur.

    “Whenever accident occurs, we are always the Doctors that first attend to the victims before FRSC people come to take them to the hospital. I have been selling banana here for three years and I can tell you that I have saved a lot of lives on this road. Most times, the FRSC people delay their coming and some people die while we are waiting for them. There was a day we waited for over one hour for them. While we were waiting, the victims were dying one after the other.”

    According to Osazee Omorogbe, a lecturer in the School of Paramedics Training and Emergency Medicine, UBTH, the inability of Nigerian to develop a National EMS is leading to loss of her human resources, increase mortality, morbidity and unemployment.  He added that Nigerian life expectancy has dropped over the years and this has given the county a poor ranking on the international scene.

    “At times, when emergencies are brought to UBTH, some of these persons die few minutes on arrival. There is little we can do. If only they had received some form of care before arrival, their chances of survival would have been increased,” he explained.

    “Corruption and misconception of the whole ideal about EMS has delayed its establishment in Nigeria. If countries that were at the same level of development with Nigeria years back could develop National EMS to deal with their emergencies, what is really happening to the giant of Africa? Take the case of India for example; there is a 1298 Ambulance that works on the principle of cross subsidization.

    “The private sector runs EMS over there in India. I still find it hard to grasp what the private sector in Nigeria renowned for entrepreneurship, is doing. Since the government is not taking it serious, they should wake up and do something. We are tired of losing innocent lives because of late arrival of help. No one knows who will be the next victims of emergency conditions.

    “Years back, Reihard Bonke had a crusade in Benin and there were 16 deaths. Take also the case of the last immigration job stampede, where people lost their lives. If only there were paramedics at the scene, those deaths could have been avoided. When emergency happens, we don’t have to start rushing the person to the hospital. Such people should receive some level of pre hospital care to increase their chances of survival,” he added.

    Professor Pius Iribhogbe of the Accident and Emergency Complex, UBTH, is grossly disturbed by the failure of government in establishing a national EMS. He has been at the forefront of advocacy for an EMS in the last 10 years. According to him, it is the only way to save more lives on our roads.

    “I have spoken about EMS on national televisions. And when I speak with Senators about it, they simply laugh over it. They don’t get the entire concept. But, I won’t stop because I know that it is what will benefit every Nigerian, both poor and rich.

    Though cost effective, Iribhogbe believes Nigeria has the capacity to run an EMS adding that the advantages of having an EMS are quite numerous.

    “We should borrow a leaf from Israel. During emergencies over there, the people on the scene begin the rescue mission because they have a fair knowledge of what ATLS protocols is all about. When the paramedics arrive the scene, they continue from where the people stopped and move the patient into the ambulance and continue the process of resuscitation all in a bit to give the victim a chance of survival while calling to inform the hospital of the patient they are bringing. The process of setting up the equipment also starts immediately.

    “However her in Nigeria, things are not like that. I can tell you that when a person faints in New Benin market, people there don’t even know what to do. They will look for vehicle and start rushing the person down to UBTH. When they come here, you will see everyone running around because the Doctors are not aware of their coming. This ought not to be so.”

    Iribhogbe is proposing a review of the NYSC scheme to include ATLS and BLS trainings for corp members. This he said, will help to reduce the illiteracy level among graduates as regards attending to emergency condition.

    • Uwoghiren is a 400 Level, Medicine and Surgery student at the University of Benin

  • Fuel and the death of Labour

    Let’s face up to it: the labour movement in Nigeria is on life support. Its potential to exert pressure towards influencing governance processes has been demystified, and it may require wholesale reinvention to regain the historical stature.

    The movement’s undoing was its internal contradiction. It was touted as an ‘organised labour movement,’ but had carried on for some time now in sheer disorganisation propelled by irreconcilable factions. At the threshing floor, last week, the movement found an undertaker in the Muhammadu Buhari administration, which seized on its dysfunction to subdue a headstrong faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), while holding a pliant faction of the congress and other labour centres in check. Eventually, the headstrong faction bit the dust in an ill-advised venture to call out the public in rage against the recent increase of the pump price of petrol to N145 per litre. But the entire labour movement was no less the loser: its legendary solidarity and defining ideology – ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’ – was fatally done in. Now, each labour centre is for itself and solely bears the burden of its chosen path. As they say, it is every man for himself and God for us all!

    It wasn’t that the fall of labour was unforeseen. The movement had it coming since the NLC split up in March 2015, following a shameful inability to manage an internal election into its leadership. In consequence, the Ayuba Wabba squad led some affiliate unions of the congress away in one direction, while the Joe Ajaero camp headed off with other affiliate unions in another direction. The two factions have ever since dug down in their trenches and have refused to be reconciled. As a result, labour is presently a house divided, and hardly presents a common front on any single issue.

    With the universal effect of the new fuel price on all workers and other Nigerians, one would expect that labour centres would for once attain to a common cause in unity of purpose. Well, they only almost did. The Wabba-led faction of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), along with their civil society allies, served the government an ultimatum to back down on the new price or face public mass actions that they planned to call. For its part, the Ajaero faction of the NLC did not join the Wabba-TUC initiative, but rather issued a separate ultimatum – literally to the same effect. Oil industry unions, including the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), however voiced qualified support for the price hike.

    Only that, even with the semblance of a consensus, this was one issue on which labour leaders grossly misjudged the public mood. If they had hoped to re-enact the crippling mass protests against fuel price increase that were staged in 2012 under the former Goodluck Jonathan administration, they apparently overlooked the fact that the labour movement now lacks the kind of cohesion it had in 2012, and that the context of the price increase by the present administration differed in a large measure from what obtained in 2012.

    And really, you could say the latest call to mass actions was presumptuous. When labour leaders asked Nigerians to make ready for a drawn-out strike against the government by stockpiling food and other essential provisions, they apparently didn’t consider that a majority of citizens were having enough challenge affording provisions barely enough to get by for just one day at a time. This is particularly so, with unpaid salary arrears to workers in many sectors, about which the labour leadership hasn’t done much to win them some succour. Also, there are unprecedented levels of inflation in the economy at the moment that severely constrain the average citizen’s purchasing power and, in effect, the ability to stockpile provisions. Besides, many Nigerians had been so roughened up by recent shortages in fuel supply at petrol stations across the country that they would readily swallow the bitter pill of a higher price to get steady supply at the pumps. And then, perhaps most significantly, not a few citizens have come to terms with the reality that payment of trillions of naira by government in subsidy to fuel marketers was simply unsustainable: it was a corruption ridden scheme that served only a few at the expense of many.

    And so, the call to mass actions didn’t resonate with the public, even though the warriors in labour did not appear to have realised this. The government, of course, seized the moment to persuade some of the labour centres against the threatened strike and it succeeded. On the eve of the expiration of their deadline, the TUC and the Ajaero faction of the NLC dumped all plans for a strike and settled for continuing dialogue with the government, which, apparently for good effect, threw in a legal weapon by way of a restraining order against labour from the National Industrial Court (NIC). But the Wabba camp chose a different tack: it stormed out of the meeting with government and defied the NIC order to stay its course on the threatened strike. Only that in doing this, it ended up tipping the labour factor over the precipice. For instance, the talk by government of further negotiations with the labour unions and other interest groups makes a good sound bite; though I dare say that labour, as a pressure movement, has lost its clout and can only hope now in the moral conscience of the Muhammadu Buhari administration for a fair deal. We really must refrain from overstating things here, but I think it should give freedom-loving Nigerians cause for worry that what seems left of the labour movement in the near future are no more than pulsating nodes of a supine bulldog securely leashed by the government.

    Most Nigerians have accepted the latest increase in the pump price of petrol as an inevitable, if painful policy decision by the government. Still, it would seem that labour missed an opportunity to break down its petty barriers and coalesce, to correctly represent the interest of citizens to the government. Negotiating palliatives with government isn’t the most important task for labour leadership in the circumstance. There are many questions with the fuel price policy as presently formulated, and labour could help in holding the government to thinking through.

    For instance, the perennial shortage in fuel supply was linked to the fact that independent marketers left importation of refined fuel to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) because they could not source forex at the official rate. The government said the new fuel price was less about subsidy removal, and more a function of the prevailing rate of forex at the parallel market. The new pricing template is thus in the expectation that independent marketers would source foreign exchange from parallel sources to complement fuel importation by the NNPC. One question to ask, though, is where the parallel market would get its supply of forex to meet expectedly huge demands by independent fuel marketers. And then, would marketers’ recourse to the parallel market not worsen the scarcity of forex and further inflate the rates at that source? In such event, what happens if the marketers find the new price template unattractive and yet decline to engage infuel importation? Would we not be back to inadequate supply, and would that not compel further increases by government in pump price ad infinitum?

    Questions, and indeed many more questions. Labour would be much help to the citizenry by engaging the government to think through. But it needs cohesion and unity of purpose to do this.

  • Love. Marriage. And Death

    “THEN said Almitra, ‘Speak to us of Love.’

    And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

    When love beckons to you, follow him,

    Though his ways are hard and steep.

    And When his wings enfold you yield to him,

    Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

    And When he speaks to you believe in him,

    Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. . .

     

    THEN Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?

    And he answered saying:

    You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.

    You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

    Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

    But let there be spaces in your togetherness.

    And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

    Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

    Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls ….

    And stand together yet not too near together:

    For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

    And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow. . .

     

    THEN Almitra spoke, saying, “We would ask now of Death.”

    And he said:

    You would know the secret of death.

    But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

    The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

    If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

    For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

    IN the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond…

     

    —Excerpted from Khalil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’.

     

    Many tragic conclusions to numerous love stories had ignited that famous question in one of Whitney Houston’s unforgettable oldies, “Where do broken hearts go?” Love, they say, is a beautiful experience that conquers all. Yet, it has its irony, its paradox. It is dangerously wicked. On its bad patch, it destroys all. It is soft with an angelic tenderness but destructively hardened. It has made nations and it has brought empires down to rubbles. At one moment, it lights up an indescribable passionate fire. At the other, it bursts into a ravaging plume of fire. In the Shakespearian play, Romeo and Juliet died for love. However, the experiences of quotidian living show that people now kill for love. Dreams deferred. Homes destroyed, families shattered and bonds broken. Then you ask what is it about love that it makes mincemeat of common sense?When in love, every silly act makes sense!

    Men, who have become tragic heroes of love, often blame it on the devil. Who is that by the way? If only the devil could react with the speed of light, he would have slapped hell or common sense into some brains. When fathers violate their daughters, was that love or the devil in action? When fathers marry daughters and turn them into mothers, was it propelled by love? When husbands pummel their wives to death in fits of uncontrollable anger, was love the propelling factor? When wives plot the end of their wayward husbands or when they kill them to inherit their properties, could love have been involved? What sort of love makes one to commit suicide just because a partner wants out of a romantic relationship? Could it be love or could it be the ubiquitous devil? Could it be plain madness?

    In the Nigerian society, the issue of love, marriage and death is rarely brought to the front burner of discourse. Because we are willing slaves tethered to the rope of religion and cultural orientations, we hardly interrogate the matter with the utmost urgency it requires. I dare say that we are too sold to the ideal when common sense demands something more malleable to present realities. Even when it is clear that those key nuggets that ought to hold marriages together no longer exist, it is common to find ‘concerned’ relatives, friends and well-wishers asking the affected parties to keep hope alive. Yet, all we have ever offered after every tragic twist to a love gone sour is the usual platitudinous cant of an inconsequential hue. All this while the victim lies cold in a lonely morgue!

    As the casualties of domestic violence and romantic flare-ups grow daily, Nigerians, more than ever before, are becoming conscious of the need to speak out and address this glaring danger. Truth is: the rate at which couples maul one another to death or inflict permanent incapacitation over issues of love is no longer tolerable. The latest victim of that unfortunate incident being Mrs Ronke Shonde (nee Bewaji) who was allegedly clobbered to death by her husband, Lekan Shonde. First, let me say that the heated debates the Shondes case generated in the social media and the attention given to it by a generality of the nation’s print media were unprecedented. Two, going through the commentaries, it became manifestly clear that most marriages are hurting. Wives, husbands and partners cover the hurt with plastic laughter in the public space while they die quietly with the condensed bitter bile piled inside of them.

    Do you really want to know the scary truth about why conjugal irresponsibility is growing in leaps and bound these days? The social media is one major factor. It has cheapened promiscuity and lascivious lifestyle. It has helped in destroying whatever sacredness was left of that institution called marriage. The quantum of carnal rascality that goes on daily in the social media is unimaginable. It erodes trust and plants shadows of doubts in the minds of couples. Many homes have been broken by the flirtations that go on in the name of social media interactions. A careful reading of the Shondes’ saga shows how a mere suspicion of his wife’s alleged infidelity, mode of dressing and a possible romance with a colleague in her office eventually led to her death.

    Love.Marriage.Death. That is the defining paradox of conjugal bliss. Why should love unleash the beast in us? I am sure that Lekan Shonde would not have imagined that the Year 2016 would herald hisentry as the poster boy for all that is bad about love, for playing the lead role in the death of someone he vowed to love till death do they part. Would Ronke have been alive today if he had not become jealous of her secret activities onWhatsApp and postings of sexy photographs on Facebook? Would he be holed up in a dingy cell at the Lagos Police Command today if he had not succumbed to the temptations of filtering through his late wife’s text messages? Would he be the villain of a love story gone sour if he had ignored that caller who told him that Ronke was in Abuja for four days with a lover boss? Did he even care to verify Ronke’s side of the story when he eventually summoned the courage to confront her about the tales of infidelity? Moreover, even if the stories turn out to be truth, was snuffing life out of the mother of two lovely children the best option?

    No matter how we try to rationalise it, Lekan committed a grave error and he would have to live with consequences of his action or inaction for the rest of his life. Ronke is dead and gone but quite a sizable number of women are already voicing their frustrations against a society that criminalises the woman on matters of infidelity and domestic violence. They ask questions that should prick the conscience of every cheating man: If a wife, girlfriend or partner decides to turn violent or plot the death of every cheating male, how many men would be alive today? Why can’t the men walk away or seek for divorce in the case of glaring infidelity instead of turning women into punching bags or cold remains in body bags? Why do men think they have the right to serial cheating while the women should remain eternally faithful? Why do we turn into beasts when we catch a glimpse of our wives’ flirty attitude but assume they should take it as one of those things when we are the culprits? Some would even tell you, with tone of finality, that African men are naturally promiscuous. Excuse me?

    No matter how we look at it, these nagging questions still come down to one thing: Where do the broken-hearted go? In denying responsibility for the murder of his wife, Lekan painted the imagery of a depressed partner who probably committed suicide. I simple laughed. Lekan, I dare say, was the depressed one. He was so broken that, in his own words, he contemplated suicide. That was shortly before the ‘devil’ pushed him to ‘stroke’ a fatal blow on his wife. The rest is history. I pity him just as I pity countless others who are walking time bombs waiting to explode. I may not know how many more are reading this that would end up as victims of a love so brutal. I may not know how much longer those in hurting, abusive and failing marriages can endure before they take that deadly step. All I know is that the time has come for us to remove those shibboleths of deceit in marriages. It is high time we redefined the rules guiding how man and woman should bond in conjugal bliss before we all become nut cases!

  • Monarch threatens to banish herbalist over client’s death

    Monarch threatens to banish herbalist over client’s death

    The traditional ruler of Ilawe Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Ajibade Alabi, has threatened to banish a controversial herbalist from the town for his alleged complicity in the death of one of his clients, Miss Busayo Ojo.

    The Nation exclusively reported on April 30, 2016, how the popular herbalist called Alado allegedly prompted the late Busayo to sleep with her father, Clement, when they came for treatment in his ‘clinic’.

    Busayo, 35, believed to be under the spell of a “spirit husband” was taken to Alado by her father, Clement , sometime in May, 2015.

    They left their home town in Ogbagi Akoko to see Alado for treatment during which Alado allegedly forced them into the abominable act.

    Busayo was said to have mysteriously fallen ill afterwards, leading to her death on April 17, 2016.

    She however revealed what transpired during the visit to the herbalist before she died.

    Apparently embarrassed by the alleged excesses of the herbalist and the negative light it has painted the community, Oba Alabi, gave the witch doctor “the last warning”.

    Alado reportedly drew the ire of the Ilawe traditional cabinet, the Alawe-in-Council, who took turns to lampoon him for allegedly extorting innocent people in the name of helping them to find solutions to their problems.

    These were said to be some of the issues that transpired on Tuesday at a meeting held by the Alawe, his chiefs and a delegation of chiefs from Ogbagi Akoko in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

    The death of Busayo had sparked tension in Ogbagi with the chiefs of the town spoiling for war with the Ekiti-based herbalist.

    Leaders in Ogbagi community alleged that Alado, who runs a radio show to promote his business, ordered Busayo’s father to have sex with her after giving them some fetish objects.

    The father of the deceased lady also allegedly confessed to Ogbagi chiefs that the herbalist ordered him to caress her daughter’s private part and suck her breasts to ward off the spirit husband.

    The herbalist however denied knowing the late Busayo and her father.

    But Clement had maintained that he is in possession of the herbalist’s consultation card issued during their visit.

    Ogbagi chiefs have since thrown a challenge to Alado to come over to their community and swear to a traditional oath to prove his innocence.

    In a telephone conversation with The Nation on Thursday, one of the senior chiefs in Ogbagi community, High Chief Oshodi, said concerned community leaders in the town paid a visit to the traditional ruler of Ilawe and his chiefs on the matter.

    He explained that the Owa of Ogbagi, Oba Victor Olasehinde Adetona, could not make the trip.

    Oshodi disclosed that another meeting, which the Owa of Ogbagi would attend, would be held soon.

    Those in the delegation from Ogbagi to Ilawe include himself (High Chief Oshodi), High Chief Arua, Chief Eli, Chief Asoje, Chief Bobatolu and Busayo’s father.

    He said: “We (Ogbagi chiefs) went to Ilawe on Tuesday where we met with the Alawe of Ilawe and the Alawe-in-Council and they all expressed concern with what Amusa Baba Alado has been doing.

    “In fact, the chiefs lambasted him and dressed him down for all the alleged atrocities he has been committing by extorting money from people and asking them to do unseemly things.

    “The Ilawe chiefs said many people had been reporting him on the sums he had allegedly collected from them; people he collected huge sums of money from all in the name of helping them find solutions to their problems.

    “In fact, the Alawe of Ilawe told Alado pointblank that the latest incident involving Clement and his daughter, Busayo, should be the last time he (Alado) should be involved in such a scandal.

    “Kabiyesi Alawe told Alado that if he is involved in another act again that could bring the name of the town into disrepute, he would be banished from the town.

    “Now that we the chiefs from Ogbagi have gone to the Alawe, he (the Alawe) and our own king (the Owa) will now meet as soon as our Kabiyesi returns from his trip.”

    Oshodi told our reporter that Alado initially denied knowing the victim and his father but later admitted knowing them when the herbalist was confronted with evidence.

    He said: “Before Alado confessed, he first denied knowing the victim and his father. In fact, we heard when we got to Ekiti that he had been severally warned by his colleagues over some things people have been saying about him.

    “When he initially denied, the CD of a broadcaster that exposed him on air, was played to him (Alado) and he knew the game was up.”

    When asked what will happen if Alado refuses to come to Ogbagi as demanded by the chiefs of the town, Oshodi said: “There are traditional rituals to be carried out if he fails to come and the whole world will see the effect.”

  • My journey through the valley of death -80yr-old Bond Chemicals Ltd chair Debo Omotosho

    My journey through the valley of death -80yr-old Bond Chemicals Ltd chair Debo Omotosho

    Different events have different ways of shaping a man’s life. In his almost 80 years sojourn on earth, two major events within a spate of three weeks, may have formed a defining moment for Chief Debo Omotosho, Chairman of Bond Chemicals Limited, maker of Bonababe baby syrup.

    In what had become a seeming yearly ritual, Omotosho set off on his yearly holiday routine on a boat cruise early last year. But, what was planned to be a dream holiday almost turned tragic when the elderly Awe, Oyo State-born entrepreneur slipped into coma after ingesting a wrong drug prescription. But a swift intervention by the crew of the cruise boat, who rushed him to a nearby hospital, saved his life. After spending 10 days in the hospital, Chief Omotosho took a flight to the US, where he spent another five days with his children.

    Needing more time to rest and recuperate, he decided to come back home to Nigeria. After a few days stop-over in Lagos, another decision was made that he should travel to his hometown, Awe, Osun State, where all those around him believed he would find total rest, away from the mad rush of Lagos.

    “I will continue to say that God is wonderful. I go on a cruise every year, where you can see and view the sea, look at the sky and appreciate the awesomeness of God. This time around, I went and I took some drugs that I ought not to take and went into coma. But for the vigilance of some of the crew, I would have died. I was taken to a hospital, where I was for 10 days. From there, I went to Maryland, USA, where my children are, to spend another one week. From there, I came back home to Lagos. But when my son arrived from Awe, he suggested that I go to Awe to have a complete rest,” he said as he clapped his palms together as if in praise to God.

    With the belief that Awe would truly offer a better place to rest and recover from his illness, Chief Omotosho made a decision to travel to his homestead, where he believed he would have unhindered rest. The following day started for the multiple-decorated traditional chief without any inkling that he was about to embark on a life-changing journey.

    “I travelled to Awe on a Tuesday. The following day, I was picked up by some armed men from my home. They took me away and demanded for a ransom of one million dollars. At first, I was confused and I asked them if they meant one million naira, but they said it was one million dollars.”

    An ordeal that would last for 10 days had thus been set in motion for the popular chief who was still placed on a regimented daily prescription. At the beginning, fearing that his life might be in danger if he failed to take his drugs, his children agreed and offered to pay the abductors the sum of N10 million for his release.

    “I don’t know how my children negotiated with the kidnappers, but they offered to pay them N10 million.”

    But at that point, greed probably had a firm grip on his abductors, who sensing that they could get more, upped the ante and demanded for more.

    “After they were offered N10 million, they said they wanted more and took me from where they kept me and relocated me to another place.”

    But luck smiled on Chief Omotosho and his family soon after, as the police, who had been on the trail of the kidnappers for 10 days, swooped on them and arrested six of them.

    Asked what his experience was like in those 10 days, the chief expressed a kind of look that was short of saying ‘what stupid question have you asked?’, before shooting back: “Some bad people came into my house with guns and other weapons. They took me away for 10 days and you are asking what my experience was like, were they supposed to feed me with egg and bread?”

    But behind the dangerous clouds of his abduction were some unexplainable miracles. While being taken away, he was not allowed to take his drugs along with him. So, for the 10 days that he was held, he did not take his drugs. But, surprisingly, he came out of the ordeal stronger and healthier.

    And expectedly, the chief marked his miraculous escape from the lion’s den with three thanksgivings. “My experience was for everybody to learn from. And I had three thanksgivings in three different countries. I had one in India, Lagos and another one in Awe. At the one I had in Awe, I said I went through the valley of the shadow of death twice. I was in a coma. Some go into coma and never recover, but I survived it. At the hospital that I was taken to, the doctor said all the tests done said I should be dead. He listed a lot of things which indicated that I should be dead.

    “I came home still ill, and some people came and took me away, yet I survived once again without any drug. That was why I said in the church that I didn’t need any bishop to tell me that God loves me. I said God has revealed Himself to me. I know that I am a sinner, but God has forgiven my sins for Him to have kept me alive.

    “I went through the ordeal very ill. But I came out and went for medical check-up and was given a clean bill of health. Who could have done that but God? I also have a sore on my leg that had refused to heal. I took it to several hospitals in India and the UK. They said the leg refused to heal because blood was not flowing to the area.

    “All this coupled with the fact that I am diabetic made it difficult for the sore to heal. But it healed soon after I was released. I am sure it was because God does not want anybody to share in His glory. If I had been healed by a doctor, I would have believed that it was the doctor or hospital that did it. But it was God that did it.”

    Asked if he has forgiven his abductors, he said: “Go has forgiven me, so I have forgiven them. God must have forgiven to make me to be alive despite all I went through.”

    A trained pharmacist, Chief Omotosho fell in love with pharmacy after observing his uncle, who was a pharmacist, attend to a long queue of patients.

    “I had an uncle who went to Yaba School of Pharmacy. He visited my mum often, while I went to visit him once in a while in the hospital. One day, while I went to visit him, I saw a long queue of patients waiting to collect their drugs. I thought this was an interesting job, thereby kick-starting my interest in the job.”

    Giving his huge stature and his secondary school’s fame for supplying the military and police fresh school leavers, many thought he would eventually join the police or the military.

    “I was tall and I went to Keffi Government College. In those days, it was a school where they recruit you for the army or the police. Most of the prominent army and police bosses attended the school.”

    But he must have disappointed many when the young Omotosho picked pharmacy ahead of the army and the police.

    “Instead of joining the army or the police, I went straight to the School of Pharmacy, Zaria. It was supposed to be a replica of old Yaba. I went for a three-year course in 1959. But in my second year in 1960, we were told that they had not approved the three-year diploma course. And without a diploma, you cannot practise as a full-fledged chemist. So, I decided to leave the school at the end of 1960.”

    Left with nothing to do, he headed for Lagos, where he was visiting for the first time. “Though I was 23 years old at the time, I was crossing the River Niger for the first time in my life.”

    In Lagos, he joined the employ of the old Barclays Bank, where he had a brief stint before heading for the UK. “When I got to the UK, I went to a technical college to do my A-levels, after which I went to the university to study pharmacy.”

    On the completion of his study, he did his internship and worked briefly in the UK before he was employed by the United African Company (UAC) and posted back to Nigeria. “I was employed by the UAC and sent to work at Kingsway in Nigeria in 1968. If you remember well, that was during the civil war. But I was posted to Benin to relieve the manager there.”

    But the heat of the war would not allow him to stay in Benin, which at the time was the centre of the war. He moved to Lagos and joined a pharmaceutical company, Welcome Lepetit. But after a three-year stint, he moved on again and joined another company, Sandoz, where he worked till 1977 when he left to establish his own outfit.

    “I left Sandoz in 1977 to establish Bond Chemist. I was into what you call community pharmacy before I decided to go into something more difficult. In 1986, I opened the Bond Chemicals and the official opening of the office was done by the then governor of Oyo State, Maj. General Adetunji Olurin.”

    While it was a dream come true for him to establish such a company in his rural hometown, some people saw the decision as one that was not well-thought through. “After we opened the office, newspapers were awash with stories of how wrong it was to take a scientific company to Awe. And when the heat was getting too much, I had to react. If you look at it economically, it is madness. Lagos is where you get the raw materials, which we took to Awe and later brought the finished product back to Lagos.

    “But, how do you quantify sentiment? How much is sentiment worth? That is my village and I have a sentimental attachment to my village. Even to get the staff and take them there was tough. But the only thing that was cheap for us was the land. But it remains my village. In retrospect, I have no regret about taking Bond Chemicals to my hometown.”

    30 years after, Chief Omotosho feels happy that he has created something that creates jobs for several families. But despite his sense of fulfillment, he wished that the retail chemist, with which he started business, was still in operation.

    “Believe me, sentimentally, I wished the retail chemist, which of course gave birth to this company, is still in operation.”

    Born in Kano to parents from Awe, Oyo State, young Omotosho grew up living with guardians, a situation which denied him the opportunity of being pampered by his parents.

    “I could not have been pampered because I stayed with guardians most times because of my school. My father was a driver with the UAC. He later became a transporter and moved to Maiduguri. But he didn’t get any good school there, so I was sent to Jos to go to the Baptist Day School. It was from there that I went to Keffi Government College.”

    A product of a polygamous home himself, Chief Omotosho doubts if he would be able to handle two women at the same time.

    “I love polygamous home, but I haven’t the strength to handle it. I am like butter, if I bring two women into the house at the same time, I would melt. I have friends with more than one wife, but I am not sure that I can handle more than one wife.”

    As he approaches his 80th birthday, Chief Omotosho is happy that he made a decision to slow down on active work by handing over the reign of his business empire to his son. That decision, he said, took away truck-loads of weight off his shoulders.  “I am happy that I handed over the business to my son. And to see him doing well on the business tells me that my decision was the right one.”

    Though he looks fit, Omotosho does not have a particular fitness regime, despite building an all-purpose gym in his home in Awe. “I love sports, but I don’t do sports,” he said with a tinge of nostalgia in his eyes. “Back at school, I was the football captain. When I was in Zaria, I played football for the Northern Nigeria. And when I was in Bradford, I played football for the School of Pharmacy. I also played lawn tennis in school. But to show that I love sports, I am a member of a couple of golf clubs. After I retired, I put in place a complete gym.

    “I don’t have any particular fashion style; I just wear what catches my fancy. For cap, I have about three boxes filled caps, so I simply open and take one”.

  • Herdsmen of death

    Herdsmen of death

    •The Federal Government should intervene in the mayhem before it gets out of hand

    It did not begin with the recent slaughter in Anambra State. Neither is it a matter that anyone in authority should raise any eyebrow about. Such eyebrow will be more than perfidious.

    Yet we know that the wave of barbarous hordes in the form of herdsmen in various parts of the country has taken on the status of an emergency. The earlier we realised this as a people and nation, the better for our peace and cohesion.

    The narratives, in their details, take on peculiar characters in different parts of the nation. In parts of the north, it smokes from long-running, atavistic ethno-religious grudges. It even takes advantage of flaming indigenous-settler tension. But in other parts, it is a story of suspicion arising from charges of cattle rustling leading to violence.

    But in most parts of the country, it is a story of bare-faced impunity, an in-your-face recklessness of rapine, murders, arson and rapes.

    In all the incidents reported, especially in the last few months, it has been a case of a band of cowmen barreling through other people’s territories and acting with a certain proprietary hubris as though the legitimate owners are impostors. This is unacceptable in the 21st century anywhere.

    A few cardinal incidents could help to put the violence in perspective. One of them took place in Agatu community in the middle belt where the Fulani herdsmen razed down the community, burnt down homes, and slaughtered everyone in sight, old, young, children and women. They also raped and brought the once vibrant, cohesive soul of the place to its knees.

    This dizzying flashpoint of sadism stirred the emotion of well-meaning persons in the country and elsewhere. Some of the elite in the region expressed horror and disappointment. It was a theatre that got even more absurd when the herdsmen justified their primitive acts in Agatu. The interim national secretary of the herdsmen’s umbrella body, Gan Allah Fulani Association, Saleh Bayeri, said the herdsmen were right in their attack on the Benue State community because they had to take vengeance on the people of that community for killing a Fulani man in 2013.

    He said the Agatu people invaded the compound of one Shehu Abdullahi, killed him and made away with about 200 cows. Saleh explained that the police treated the matter without precision or seriousness. So, the herdsmen took their own initiative and attacked the communities.

    This was an act of impunity. If the police failed in bringing justice to Abdullahi, it was wrong for them to take the law in their hands and attack persons, most of whom were not shown to have had hands in the death of the man. It is lawless. It arises from a sense that they can get away with anything. The effrontery that propelled Bayeri to express gloatingly an act of impunity ridicules us as a nation of laws.

    The other incident was in Edo State where the herdsmen killed a man without any evidence of provocation. The community was enraged and they lashed back and razed down the herdsmen’s post and led to a sense of community alert and an air of adversarial relation between the herdsmen and the local communities. Silence has replaced raw nerves of conflict since.

    The third incident occurred in a forest near Aba in Abia State, where numerous bodies were buried and the Directorate of State Services stoked ethnic umbrage when it said five Fulani persons were killed. But tens of other corpses were buried but they were invisible to the eyes of the secret service. How did they identify who was Fulani or not?

    The recent attack in Anambra State led to outrage everywhere in the country. Tens of innocent citizens were slaughtered. It was a touching scene to see the Governor of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as his face melted in tears. Gory pictures of the slain, slaughtered bodies and blood-spattered scenes as well as razed houses tell the story of impunity and a sense of murderous entitlement by the herdsmen.

    We cannot as a people accept this sort of violence of marauders. They have given the impression that the nation state cannot do anything while they launch their campaigns of devilry. The herdsmen’s umbrella body, the Gan Allah Fulani, should be subjected to the law without prejudice. If the leadership supported the purported reprisal attacks, and was bold to ventilate it in public, the leadership ought to be investigated and the culprits prosecuted.

    The presidency ought also to intervene in this matter. Its silence may be seen as a sort of quiet indifference, or even encouragement. The gory scenes and the theatre of blood has escalated to such an extent that nerves are now frayed. In the southwest, especially in the Oke Ogun area of Oyo State, tensions have rippled between the herdsmen and locals.

    The exigency of presidential intervention cannot be played down because the tensions are soaring. If the present state of off-handed aloofness persists, we may witness the Edo State examples in larger scales. It will mean that the government has left the communities to their devices.

    The herdsmen were known to wear hats and wield sticks. Now they move about with powerful and lethal firearms. That explains the primitive swagger and confidence with which they moved into farmlands and kill indigenes as though as a matter of right.

    If this continues, without a meaningful federal intervention and presidential voice, the locals could resort to self-help. We do not envisage or desire a scenario where locals arm themselves and various parts of the country become fiery swaths of warfare between groups of the same country who should operate under the same law and constitution.

    The herdsmen’s charge of cattle rustling is believed to be genuine in a number of instances. We cannot accept a nation where persons or groups are not allowed to trade without the fingers of thieves. The thieves ought to be prosecuted and made to face the force of the law when caught. But everyone must have to be according to law. In Agatu, the killing of Ardo Makadi  or the stealing of 200 cows are no reasons for killing children or raping wives or nubile women.

    The Gan Allah Fulani Association has asserted that the activity of the herdsmen hinges on their fundamental right to freedom of movement and association. But a democracy guarantees freedom so long as it does not violate others.

    The Buhari administration should not only voice its condemnation of the killings as it did yesterday, it should also act now to mollify the tempers seething in the regions where kith and kin have lost lives and properties destroyed.

  • I’m not bothered by my death rumour, says IBB

    I’m not bothered by my death rumour, says IBB

    Former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida is unbothered by last week’s rumour of his death.

    He told reporters yesterday at his Hilltop Mansion in Minna, the Niger State capital: “The rumour does not shock me; neither does it bother me because I know I must go and meet God, my creator. There is nothing really to worry about, my religion has told me.

    “As a Muslim, I strongly believe everybody will die, everybody will die and everybody has to die.  It could be now or in hundred years’ time or two days to come but it doesn’t matter. Everybody must die.”

    Gen. Babangida, 74, said nobody is above illness or death because it has been destined by God.

    There were rumours last week that the General was critically ill or might have passed on.

    But yesterday, he looked very okay.

    On the state of the nation, Gen. Babangida, who led the country between 1985 and 1993, expressed optimism that Nigeria will surmount its challenges, adding that the future of the country is bright and that it has a lot for the younger generation.

    “I still believe very strongly in this country, which is further demonstrated by the people of this great nation because they are a very industrious people, hardworking. That gives me the hope for Nigeria,” Gen. Babangida said.

  • Police arrest woman for neighbour’s death

    The police in Lagos have arrested a woman, Ndifreke Femi, 30, for allegedly stabbing her neighbour to death.

    Although the incident occurred at Block 109, Ikota Housing Estate in Ajah, the suspect is being held at the Homicide Unit of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) at Panti-Yaba.

    The Nation learnt that the police have launched a manhunt for the suspect’s husband who allegedly fled from home after the incident.

    It was gathered that the mother of two stabbed Ayomide Ayenuwa, 28, on the neck with a kitchen knife when he attempted to settle a rift between her and her husband.

    According to neighbours, the deceased had gone into the Femi’s home to pay his electricity bill but met the couple quarrelling over a missing N20,000. The woman claimed that her husband stole the cash.

    The late Ayenuwa said to have attempted to broker peace between them, but to no avail and as he was leaving their apartment, the woman rushed to her kitchen, picked a kitchen knife and allegedly stabbed him on the neck.

    It was learnt that other neighbours rushed him to Peninsula Hospital but he was referred to the Akodo General Hospital. He died on the way to the general hospital.

    A neighbour, James Peter, while narrating the incident said: “When he got to their room, he saw the husband and wife quarrelling. Ndifreke was accusing her husband of stealing the N20,000 she hid under their mattress. Her husband denied the allegation but she was ready for a fight.

    “It was at this point that Ayenuwa made efforts to settle the couple but they kept fighting. Ayenuwa appealed to Ndifreke to take the matter easy but she descended on him and started calling him names. She told him to mind his business.

    “That was how Ayenuwa left the couple to their trouble. As he was walking away, Ndifreke ran into the kitchen and brought out a kitchen knife which she used to stab Ayenuwa on his neck from behind. Neighbours made efforts to save Ayenuwa’s life while others held Ndifreke down and almost lynched her.

    “The neighbours with Ayenuwa’s family rushed him to the Peninsula Hospital at Ajah for treatment but he was referred to the Akodo General Hospital. Sadly, he died on his way to the hospital.”

    But in her statement to the police, the suspect claimed she acted in self defence.

    She alleged that the deceased attacked her first by punching her on the head.

  • Akwa Ibom boy’s mysterious death

    Akwa Ibom boy’s mysterious death

    Happiness has taken a break from the family of Utibeabasi Sampson.The 14-year-old son died mysteriously after an outing with seven children between the ages 14 to 16 at Pinnacle hotels, Edet Akpan Avenue Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

    According to a family source, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition anonymity,  the 14 year old boy was lured to the hotel under the pretext of a get-together party only for him to be left dead in the pool.

    The source said the suspects are all students of a popular secondary school in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital and are children of influential people in the state.

    She explained that the suspects were about leaving the hotel without their victim when the gateman who noticed they were eight when they came in, accosted them and asked them of the eighth person.

    Her words: “The heartless demons mentioned casually that he may still be in the pool and laughed. Even if this boy drowned, why didn’t they raise the alarm and seek for help? Where were the staff? The life guard said he went to ease himself, for how long?”

    The source condemned the police for allegedly  trying to cover up the murder of Sampson, explaining that when the case was transferred to the state police headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, the parents of the accused transported the children in their private cars instead of police vans.

    She also accused the police of allowing the hotel to still be open for business instead of being cordoned off and sealed for investigation.

    She said: “In saner climes, the hotel management and staff would be investigated, but they are still going about their normal businesses. The Nigerian police force is trying to play games with the boy’s family.

    “Why didn’t the hotel staff chase away seven underage children dressed all in black? A boy that drowned did not swallow water but had blood and foam spewing from his mouth; there was no alarm raised by his purported friends. The hotel staff claim not to have heard or seen anything.

    “I want the whole world to hear of the mysterious death of this bright, promising boy whose life was cut short because he refused to be initiated to a cult by seven heartless spawns of the devil.

    “Their parents are fighting tooth and nail to make sure their children are freed while Utibeabasi is lying cold in the morgue, his family in tears. His mother is inconsolable.

    “The whole circumstances smirk of foul play. May Jehovah the almighty God, the all seeing, fight for us. Rise up in your anger, O Jehovah. Stand up against the fury of our enemies. Awake for us and demand that justice is done.”

    When contacted, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Cordelia Nwawe, said the command is on top of the situation.

    Her words: “Police is looking into the matter. Investigation is ongoing.”