The Nation Newspaper

Tag: die

  • ‘Will I die like this?’

    Mary Sunday, 27, took a thoughtful look at her burnt body, shook her head pitiably and mumbled to herself: “So, justice is dead in this country … God, will I die like this?”

    She was in the midst of reporters and members of the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Agency (WARDC), a non-governmental human rights organisation, led by its Executive Director, Dr Abiola Akiode-Afolabi. They had gathered over her plight.

    She is a victim of “violence against women with bodily harm” which has, in recent times, become a cause for concern across the world. She had her share of the “madness” on August 24, last year allegedly at the hands of her fiancé, Isaac Gbanwuan, a police Corporal.

    The police officer, according to Mary, bathed her with steamy hot soup during a misunderstanding. The incident, she said happened at the barracks of the Pedro Police Station, Shomolu, Lagos, where Gbanwuan was then attached to.

    Following the assault, Mary lost her ears and had her neck and arms glued together as a result of the assault. She has since lived with the agony and the burden of struggling to live. Today, she is crying out for justice through WARDC.

    Her outcry came through a media parley. And while it lasted at the WARDC’s Ikeja Head Office, sobriety gripped all. Akiode-Afolabi came hard on perpetrators of gruesome assaults on women. Like her colleagues, she urged the Lagos State Government and the state House of Assembly to come to the victim’s aid.

    “This is another case of violence against women taken too far. It cannot just end like this,” she fumed.

    She recalled that the House of Assembly had, in 2007, shown its readiness to end violence against women and men in the state, by passing the Domestic Violence Prohibition Law.

    She said the law, among other things, provides for protection and redress for women and men in strained relationships, stressing that the state “is now under obligation to protect this current victim (Mary) from this form of aggression meted to her by a police officer.”

    She emphasised that the call for state government intervention became necessary because the state Police Command had already absolved the Corporal of the allegation and had closed investigations without giving the victim any chance to tell her story following the complaint lodged by her relatives.

    The group expressed the urgent need for the state to intervene and save Mary’s life, adding that she had suffered “unimaginable pains.”

    It expressed dissatisfaction over the strange conclusion of the police that Mary intentionally inflicted harm on herself.

    Akiode-Afolabi said several attempts to get the police to re-open the case failed, adding: “At this point, we want the state government to get involved and cause a more independent inquiry into the matter.” She said such an inquiry was necessary because her group suspected an attempt to kill the case because of some conflict of interests.

    A source at the Pedro Police Station told The Nation that the case was never formally reported there; hence, “there is nothing we can do.” Gbanwuan told this reporter on phone that he had no answer to any question on the incident.

    While her quest for justice lasts, Mary’s poor relations are running from pillar to post, trying to raise the N5 million she needs for “urgent surgeries” in India to save her life.

    To achieve her dream to live well again through kind-hearted people, organisations and government, an account has been opened at Fidelity Bank, under the name: Mary Sunday, account number, 6014629663.

  • Seven die as building collapses in Lagos

    Seven die as building collapses in Lagos

    TRAGEDY struck in Lagos early yesterday. A building caved in, killing seven occupants, including a two-year-old.

    No fewer than seven others, including children, were rushed to hospitals injured, three among them in critical conditions.

    The collapse of house 28, Oloto Street, Mainland area about 2.15 am, spread panic in the entire neighbourhood, notably, Herbert Macaulay and Willoughby Streets.

    The three-storey building was said to have accommodated about 50 occupants.

    Some of the survivors said they observed some unusual cracks and noise shortly before the building went down.

    Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the death toll. He said seven persons, including two children between the ages of two and four, had been rescued and rushed to the hospital. Bodies of the dead, he added, were taken to the morgue.

    The NEMA official said a two-year -old, three women and three men, died.

    Farinloye said residents of the building told him that at about 1am, they started getting signs that all was not well with the building because of the sound they were hearing.

    He said some of the tenants rushed out but after the sound subsided, they went back into the house. He said that about 2 am, the noise resumed, after which the building came down at about 2.15am.

    Farinloye said residents got in touch with NEMA after 10 minutes, adding that the agency, with others, got to the site about 2.50am to start rescue operations which were still ongoing as at noon yesterday.

    He said two buildings around the site of the collapsed building would be brought down “because they can no longer pass integrity test.”

    He said occupants on the last floor escaped because their staircase was located behind the house, while those mostly affected were those on the middle and first floor.

    “A woman and three children were trapped on the ground floor while another set of seven were trapped on the first floor when we arrived,” he explained.

    Two Mainland Local Government Area Neighbourhood Watch officers, Adisa Kusheru and Adisa Shuaibu, recalled the incident. They said they tried to rescue the victimd before NEMA officials arrived

    Excavators and other rescue equipment including a V-EGO machine fitted with cameras and sensors were being used at the site to detect where occupants were being trapped.

    Balogun Kabiru, a survivor, attributed such incidents to greed on the part of developers and landlords.

    Another victim at the Casualty Ward of the Lagos General Hospital, was said to be in stable condition.

    He writhed in pain as a nurse was cleaning up his bruised body.

    The victim struggled to narrate how the unfortunate incident happened as a doctor examined him. The doctor said his condition was stable.

    Twelve of the victims were taken to Kuba Hospital. Its Medical Director, Dr Aaron Subete, said they were all in stable condition, adding that those with bad fractures would take x-ray and might be referred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH), Igbobi, Yaba.

    One of treated victims, Mrs Edna Okonkwo, said she was sleeping when she suddenly heard a loud noise, adding: “I thought I was already dead and I started praying for my husband, unknown to me that he was safe and was searching for me. I sustained a little fracture on my right shoulder.”

    Her husband, Ejike, who sat beside her, said he wanted to jump when the building fell, but that he used his hand to blow the ceiling for an escape route.

    Another victim, Olayinka Mogaji, 28, a business man, said he was on the third floor when the tragedy happened.

    At the site with NEMA officials were: Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA); men of the Civil Defence Corps and the police, who jointly provided security. The Lagos State Ambulance Service and the Red Cross were also on the rescue mission.

    But government officials insisted that only four bodies were recovered from the rubble.

    General Manager of state Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, who coordinated rescue operations, said: “We have rescued ten people and recovered four bodies so far. Rescue operation is on-going.

    “We are on top of the challenges. We have extended rescue efforts to the ground floor. Before the building collapsed, a lot of occupants had vacated the premises”.

    The LASEMA chief said the building were marked by the Lagos state Building Control Agency (LASBCA), for structural integrity test before the incident.

    The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Razak Fadipe whose agency was the first to arrive at the scene at 03:35 am warned Lagosians to report cases of dilapidated buildings to the appropriate authorities before it is too late. “When you live in an old house and notice a crack, it is important to notify the authorities because life lost cannot be replaced,” he said.

    One of the survivors, Miss Balikis Abdulamid, said she was on the balcony of the second floor when the building came down.

    She said her mother and her four siblings were also rescued, but were rushed to the hospital to treat their minor injuries.

    She said they had noticed cracks on the walls of their rooms, adding that their father used to patch them up with cement.

    In May, Governor Babatunde Fashola had set up a Tribunal of Enquiry to unravel the causes of building collapse in the state. The tribunal’s report is expected next month.

    Also in Kaduna, a one-and-a-half month-old was trapped yesterday, when a two-storey building collapsed. Two persons were injured.

    The commercial/residential building was on Hadjia Road, a few metres from the Kaduna Central Market.

    Eye witnesses said when the building went down, many thought it was a bomb explosion.

    Spokesperson of Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Abubakar Zakari Adamu, confirmed that two persons were injured, adding that they were taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.

    Adamu said that one of the victims taken to the hospital, Fatima Abubakar, claimed that her one-month-old baby was trapped inside the building.

    When The Nation visited the scene, part of the building was still falling, while sympathisers gathered, shell-shocked.

    It was gathered that rescuers could not work for about two hours. Youths who wanted to make their way into the rubble for possible rescue operation were prevented by security operatives.

    Cranes and loaders were busy evacuating the debris in search of survivors.

  • Will she die with her dream?

    Will she die with her dream?

    It 15, Sukurat Bashiru’s ambition is to become a star newscaster, being an outstanding pupil. Sadly, she has become a “hot” feast for newscasters and other journalists because of her failing health. Her kidneys, medical analysis shows, are “badly damaged.”

    Her Ikire, Osun State-born father, Kabiru Bashiru, a vulcaniser, and mother, Busira, a petty trader, have “sold everything” in their frantic bid to make her live to fulfil her destiny. But the more they sweat, the more the teenager’s chances dim.

    Emotions ran high on Saturday, when, at Ojota in Lagos, the President of Eko Lions Club, Rotimi Atanda, called out his lieutenants in a bid to save Sukurat’s life. It was at a media parley.

    Looking helpless and despondent, Sukurat was brought to the venue from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, where she had been on a N68,000-per-week dialysis to keep her alive.

    A past president of the club, Oladosu Gidigbi, and its project director, Oluwadare Abimbola, nearly shouted themselves hoarse in the spirited bid to convince the privileged few in the country, including organisations and governments, contribute to ensuring that the girl lives a normal life.

    “She needs N6.5 million for kidney transplant in India. Already, there are two volunteer kidney donors, though they are yet to be tested. On our part too, we have been able to raise about N800,000 from some kind-hearted individuals. But that is a negligible fraction of the bill. Nigerians must join hands with us to save the life of this girl,” Atanda said, pointing at Sukurat.

    “Please, help me tell Nigerians not to let me die in this pain. I have an ambition to fulfill here on earth; please, help me …” , Sukurat pleaded with impressive eloquence. Then, her Senior Secondary (SS) class teacher at East City College, Aga, Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, Mrs Titilope Adesanya, took over: “You can see why we in the school have been pleading with Nigerians to help her. She is very intelligent and outstanding among her mates. She has always told me she would like to become a newscaster. We must assist her to live this lofty dream.”

    The gaunt frame of her father says it all – her daughter’s condition had pushed him to his wit’s end. “I don’t know where to run to now. Since December 2011 when the problem started, my mind has not known peace. We have spend over N2 million. I have sold everything I could lay my hands on. I am a hard-working man. From my sweat, I got cars and property; all these are gone now. I have borrowed to a ridiculous extent. There is no helper anywhere except God and these people (members of Eko Lions Club.). They have been wonderful. Nigerians must help me on this girl,” he pleaded.

    Fighting tears, her mother said: “I want God to show Himself through Nigerians at this point,” adding: “Since this trouble began over two years ago, I have lost sleep. Sukurat means much to us because she has shown a lot of promise as a serious child. Even if we can’t feed now, we want her to live and get over these pains she is undergoing.”

    Explaining how it all began, Mrs Bashiru said: “It began like a bad dream. We just noticed that her legs got swollen and later, her face. What are these? We asked. No answer. Then, we were prompted to seek an answer at hospitals where we were told that her kidneys have been damaged.

    “It was a big shock to us all because she never smoked nor drank dangerous beverages. How did she come about kidney damage? This is a question that still confounds us. But whatever it is, my daughter urgently needs help to live and I count on kind Nigerians to have pity on us.”

    Now, the embattled girl is back at LUTH with her pains, awaiting succour. However, that Saturday, Atanda, on behalf of his club, pledged its readiness to henceforth, offset her weekly dialysis bill, while the search for money for the proposed transplant continues in earnest.

    The club has appealed to Nigerians, corporate bodies, non-governmental organisations and government at all levels “to treat the girl’s case with despatch to save her from the claws of death.” To raise the transplant bill from “cheerful givers across the world,” the club, Atanda, announced, had opened “Eko Lions Club” account number 0009012447 with Union Bank. Will Sukurat have the opportunity to live to fulfill her aspiration? Time will tell.

  • Driver to die for killing FRSC special marshall

    An Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, has confirmed an earlier Rivers State High Court’s ruling of July 15, 1999 sentencing a bus driver, Mr. Emeka Mbachu, to death for killing a Special Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Clifford Azubuike, while on patrol on November 3, 1995.

    FRSC in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja and signed by its Public Education Officer, Jonas Agwu, said Justice E. Eko in his lead judgment, dismissed the appeal filed by Mr. Mbachu against his earlier conviction and sentenced him to death.

    The statement said: “Justice Eko stated that ‘on the whole, there is no substance in the appeal. In my candid view, the appeal deserves to be, and it is hereby dismissed in its entirety

    “’The conviction and sentence of the appellant in the charge No.PHC/3C/96 for murder punishable with death on July 15, 1999 are hereby affirmed.

    “’In the same line, the other two justices in the panel, namely Justice C.E. Nwosu-Iheme (JCA) and Justice Stephen Jonah Adah (JCA) in entirety concurred with the reasoning and the conclusion of the lead judgment,’” he added.

    The statement recalled that on November 3, 1995 at 6:45pm at the 1st Artillery Junction, on Aba/Port Harcourt Highway, Port Harcourt, Mr. Clifford Azubuike (the deceased) was on a routine traffic control duty.

    “The deceased was checking vehicles and controlling the traffic with other special marshals.

    “The driver, Mr. Mbachu, drove his blue bus from Oyigbo (Aba) end of the highway to where the special marshalls were.

    “The deceased with other special marshals controlling the traffic at the road junction, noticed that the vehicle driven by the driver had only one headlamp.

    “The deceased, who was about to book the driver, drew his attention to the defective headlamp.

  • Seven family members die in Delta

    Seven family members die in Delta

    Seven members of a family have died in mysterious circumstances in Ogbewaise quarters, Ime-Obi, Agbor Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.

    They include an Army retiree, Jacob Ikenchukwu Obuteh, and five relatives.

    The body of an unidentified young man was among the dead.

    Two of the deceased– Nkechi and Patience –were the daughters of the military pensioner.

    The three kids between the ages of two and three years were Obuteh’s grandchildren.

    A family source said one of Obuteh’s daughters came to Agbor from Lagos last week to mark the first anniversary of the death of their mother.

    The source added that she bought a generator on her arrival to provide electricity during the ceremony.

    He said: “Members of the family attended a church service on June 16 to end the activities.

    “The family put on the generator as there was no electricity supply in the area in the evening of that ill-fated Sunday. That was the last time they were seen.

    “The following day, June 17, nobody was seen in the house as the bungalow was locked throughout the day. This gave room for insinuations that Mr. Obuteh may have been taken to Lagos by his daughter.

    “But this was never to be as the unfolding event of June 18 proved otherwise. Neighbours smelt the odour from the house on Tuesday and broke into the house.”

    The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Agbor, Dike Albert Uchechi, could not be reached for comments.

  • UNIUYO protest: Six students die

    UNIUYO protest: Six students die

    Six students died yesterday over the violent protest at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO).

    Among the dead is Kingsley, a 200-level geology student and Donald Onukaogu, the Senate President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

    There is controversy over how Kinsley died, but the NANS senate president and four others died in a road crash in Abia State. They were on their way to Uyo to mediate in the crisis.

    UNIUYO students accused security operatives of killing Kingsley, popularly known as ‘KC’, during the protest over the alleged exploitative tendencies of Vice Chancellor Prof. Comfort Ekpo.

    A member of the Students’ Union Government, who pleaded not to be named said a security agent shot Kingsley dead.

    He said Kingsley’s killing angered the rest of the students who set ablaze the Vice Chancellor’s Office, Deputy Vice Chancellor’s Office (Academic) and Records Office.

    A visit to the city campus of the university showed that 12 vehicles, some of them owned by the university, were destroyed during the protest.

    The students also destroyed equipment in the Exams and Records Unit, Finance and Accounts, Internal Audit and Cash Office.

    The Computer Maintenance Department was also not spared, as hard discs and other facilities were removed by the students.

    The peaceful protest over hike in transport fares, which started early on Wednesday, degenerated, resulting in the destruction of property.

    Speaking to NAN, the Chairman of the UNIUYO branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Mr Anyim Nwachukwu, said that he was not aware of what exactly led to the protest.

    Nwachukwu said that when the crisis started, he and some lecturers “managed to escape from campus”.

    “We were only throwing pebbles, water in sachets and bottles after it because obvious that the police only arrived at the scene to kill us. They (the police) were shooting sporadically and firing tear-gas canisters at us.

    “They (the police) fired tear-gas canisters into the female hostels. Many of our female students got injured. Their bullet killed Kingsley”, the SUG official said.

    But the police said they could not explain what killed Kingsley because his body was brought from inside the campus to the road where the police stood by the students during the protest.

    Police spokesman Etim Dickson said only one person died during the protest.

    Dickson said 45 rioters comprising of UNIUYO students and others from Bida Polytechnic and Madonna university were arrested during the protest.

    “It is has been established that one student died during yesterday’s protest by University of Uyo students. A 200 level Geology student died. We were able to get this from the students who brought the body from inside the campus to the road.

    “You know we cannot enter the campus, we have to be outside. It was the protesting students who brought the body to us on the road and it was collected from them.

    “The mother of the deceased has come to us. She made a statement. I want to say one 200 level student died. The cause of the death we don’t know yet.

    “Also, about 45 other students coming from different universities were arrested. Some of the students arrested during the protest came from Bida Polytechnic and we also have some from Madonna University.

    “What killed the boy from inside the school we don’t know? They only dropped the body on the road because they said they wanted to carry the body to government house and we told them no, it is not their duty and we collected the body from them.

    On the students’ claim that a trigger-happy policeman shot their colleague, Etim said: “Let the students find out who shot the boy and at what point? They will claim but investigation will prove. Even there is a big charm tied to the left wrist of the body. I don’t know whether it is a modern wristwatch.”

    UNIUYO students staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday following the introduction of N2,000 GST fee and N200 transport fee for science students from their campus on Ikpa Road to the permanent site in Nsukara Offot by the university management.

    The students accused the vice-chancellor of incompetence in managing the affairs of the institution. They demanded her sack.

    The accident, which led to the death of the NANS senate president and four others, occurred at Ariam in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. It was along the Umuahia -Ikot Ekpene federal highway. Seven other students sustained injuries.

    The accident involved a Hiace bus in which the students were travelling and an articulated vehicle (trailer) that was coming from Akwa Ibom, which lost control before ramming into the students’ bus.

    The NANS president was a Master’s student of Computer Science/ ICT at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Imo State.

    The other students who died in the crash are: Abdulazeez Kabir Oladimeji (University of Ibadan), Jerry Sorkaa (Benue State University), Japhet Duru (Federal Polytechnic, Nekede) and Asa Ejiate (Delta State University). The deceased were travelling to Uyo for mediate in the UNIUYO riot, which claimed life of a student on Wednesday.

    The bodies were deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia mortuary. The injured are receiving treatment at the hospital. One of the students was treated and discharged. He left for Owerri.

    There was tension within the medical centre as students of tertiary institutions within Umuahia and its environs stormed the place.

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji visited the hospital immediately he learnt about the incident, which described as a calamity. He said it was disheartening for future leaders to die through accident.

    The coordinator, Zone B of NANS, Chinonso Obasi thanked the governor for sympathising with them.

    National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campuses Committee (NANS JCC) Chairman, Comrade Fortune Ifeka expressed shock over the death of Onukaogu.

    In a statement in Nnewi on behalf of the students of Anambra State, Ifeka said if their deaths were caused by the police as alleged, the policemen should be fished out and made to bear the consequences of their action.

    He added that it is regrettable that over 15 students had been killed in the last two months in manners that could have been avoided if the strikes and closure of schools were not on.

    A few hours after the death of the Senate President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Donald Onukaogu, and four other students, who were travelling to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital to mediate in the riot that engulf the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) on Wednesday, the NANS president, Comrade Yinka Gbadebo, and some officials of the students’ body were attacked yesterday in Ibadan by Operation Burst task force.

    Operation Burst is the Oyo State joint security outfit.

    Gbadebo was said to be leading a pack of protesters, mainly students of higher institutions in Oyo State. The protesters barricaded the road leading the University College Hospital (UCH), demanding that all campuses be shut down to mourn the death of the NANS officials, who died in an accident yesterday along Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene highway.

    The Nation learnt that operatives of the task force visited the scene to disperse the protesters, who prevented the motorists from having easy movement along the road. Gbadebo was said to have directed the students not to leave the road, urging them to stay back. This led to his arrest by the task force men.

    The task force later released Gbadebo on the spot and he was taken to a hospital in Ibadan, for treatment.

    Gbadebo, who was responding to treatment declined to comment on his whereabouts.

    Wolimoh said: “We were holding a protest in Ibadan when Operation Burst came to attack us. The NANS president was manhandled by the policemen, who injured him on the head and right eye. Five other students were also injured but I will not tell you the hospital where they are receiving treatment.”

  • Let them not die in vain

    Let them not die in vain

    Hardly do Nigerians see eye to eye with the police. Even though police personnel are also Nigerians, they have cat -and-mouse relationship with their compatriots. Why? The public perceives the police as too highhanded and overbearing in their dealings with others. It is because of this perception that the police do not enjoy the people’s confidence. The lack of faith in the police has, however, not stopped the people from cohabiting with them. The relationship even goes beyond living together. In some cases, we are joined together in wedlock.

    No matter how we feel about the police, we cannot wish them away. We have since learnt to accommodate the police, warts and all. The police themselves, as if they know how the public perceives them, try to woo us with the slogan : ‘’The police is your friend’’, to which many respond cynically, ‘’with friends like the police who needs an enemy’’. But hate them or love them, we cannot do without the police. They are part of our lives. They are the ones that we run to in times of trouble.

    They are the ones who take on the dreaded armed robbers, kidnappers, terrorists and cultists on our behalf. In short, they are the ones, who keep watch over us when we sleep, though they are not God. We owe our lives to them. Where will society be if there are no policemen to do some of the dirty jobs many of us run away from. At times, we tend to forget that the police comprise men and women like us, that is, they are human beings and are also subject to the frailties and foibles of life. Yes, the police may overreach themselves, as they do on some occasions, in the discharge of their duties, but that does not make them the wild animals some of us take them to be.

    Like me, many Nigerians are likely to have something to say about how the police wronged them in the past, but have we ever paused to ask themselves this question : What if we were in their shoes; would we have done better? The police may have their shortcomings, no doubt, but they remain a product of the society. The society, they say, gets the police it deserves. I don’t agree with this statement though, because no matter how rotten a society may be, if it has God-fearing and conscientious people in the police, they can change things.

    What the police deserve is our pity and not vilification. This is why I am saddened by the murder of scores of policemen and State Security Service (SSS) operatives by members of the Ombatse Cult in Alakyo, Nasarawa State, last week. The police and SSS operatives went on their way to the cultists’ shrine when they were killed in an ambush. We don’t know the number of security operatives who were on the mission But 56 of them were said to have been killed. Scores are missing. All lovers of humanity should condemn this despicable act. If the police and SSS men could be this callously wasted, who is safe then?

    In these days of Boko Haram and kidnappings, the Ombatse group is adding to the nation’s woes by opening another theatre of crisis in the beleaguered North. Today, there is no peace in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and other northeastern states because of the activities of Boko Haram. To add Nasarawa to the mix will be too much a burden for the nation to bear. But what all this shows is that we don’t have a government that takes the issue of security serious. If the government is serious about securing life and property, the Ombatse tragedy would have been nipped in the bud through intelligence gathering. What are our intelligence officers doing that they could not smoke out this group before now?

    The Ombatse cult, according to reports, had been forcing people to join the group and killing those who refused to do so in the past one or two years. Are the security agencies saying that they were not aware of the group’s sinister activities until now? They waited for too long to cut the group to size. See the price we are now paying for our tardiness – the murder of scores of policemen and SSS officials in the line of duty. The perpetrators of this mindless act must not be allowed to go scot-free. Anywhere they are on the surface of the earth, they must be fished out to face justice. Nothing should be spared in getting these killers who murdered people in the service of their country in cold blood.

    My heart goes out to the widows, children and other members of the families of these national heroes who died in the service of their fatherland. They deserve medals of honour because not many of us can sacrifice our lives the way they did. May their souls find rest in the bosom of the Lord.

     

    Will it work?

    I hung on every word of President Goodluck Jonathan during his Tuesday night’s broadcast. I wasn’t expecting him to wield the big stick as he read on and on until he got to the point where he said “by virtue” of the powers conferred upon me…. I held my breath because I knew what will follow next. He declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Sincerely speaking, things have degenerated a lot in those states, especially Borno and Yobe, where Boko Haram seems to be everywhere, yet it cannot be stopped. Both states have become shadows of themselves because of the sect’s atrocious activities.

    Opinions will be divided on the propriety or otherwise of the president’s action. Is he right to have declared emergency rule in these states? In the next few days, analysts will be examining the rightness or not of his action. To say the truth, we got to this pass because of the Boko Haram people who have turned virtually all the states in the northeast to hell on earth. In the past four years, the sect has been killing, maiming and looting at will. To some, the emergency rule should have come earlier.

    But many are sympathetic to Boko Haram’s cause, so the government chose to tread with caution on the matter. Despite their sympathy for the group, the sect’s supporters refused to call it to order. All they were interested in was for the sect not to be touched. They seemed not to see anything wrong in its mindless killing and lately, kidnapping of people. When the sect kidnapped elder statesman Alhaji Shetima Ali Monguno a few weeka ago, it dawned on them that the group should no longer be pampered.

    If Boko Haram truly loves its supporters the way they seem to love the sect, it would have listened to them and embraced the olive branch waved by the government. The government resolved to grant the sect amnesty, yet it refused to eschew violence. It continued on its killing spree. Last week. it killed over 30 policemen and soldiers in Bama, Borno State. It has also owned up that its action led to the military invasion of Baga also in Borno State on April 16 and 17. All this point to the fact that the stage was ripe for the declaration of a state of emergency in Borno.

    But a state of emergency coming after the decision to grant Boko Haram amnesty? How do we reconcile that? Can you be hunting those you have decided to grant amnesty? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? Shouldn’t the government call off the amnesty deal and go all-out for these Boko Haram elements once and for all? Amnesty and emergency rule, the two don’t go together. Which do you vote for? As for me, my choice is clear as daylight.

     

  • Family of six die in Cross River

    Six members of a family were killed when their car collided with a trailer on the Calabar-Ikom Highway in Cross River State at the weekend.

    The accident, which occurred at Ehom village in Biase Local Government, claimed the lives of four women and two men of the Osim family.

    An eyewitness said a Toyota Camry driven by Bernard Osim, an anaesthetist at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, was trying to overtake a vehicle at a bend when it collided with the trailer.

    The trailer was reportedly going to Calabar to convey goods. The Osim’s were on the way to Ikom.

    Bernard, who was the elder brother of the Special Adviser to Governor Liyel Imoke on Political Affairs, Fred Osim, died with his wife, Mercy; his mother, Agada; niece, Faith Odigha; younger sister, Delight and an unidentified younger brother.

    It was gathered that the family was travelling to Ikom to distribute Delight’s wedding invitation, which was scheduled for May 11.

    A family source said: “Delight was the last child of the family and she was the one the brother and mother were taking to Ikom to distribute her wedding invitation. We are short of words as we are mourning.”

    The trailer driver, it was gathered, dashed into the bush with his assistant to escape the rage of the youths of the community.

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), led by the Itigidi Unit Commander, B. I. Abdul, deposited the bodies at the Ugep General Hospital mortuary.

    FRSC Sector Commander Yusuf Salami said the accident was caused by dangerous overtaking.

    Salami said: “The accident was caused by reckless overtaking.

    “If someone wants to overtake, he should do so when the road is clear but if he overtakes at a blind bend without seeing oncoming vehicles, then he is likely to run into avoidable accident. That accident was avoidable.”

    Six persons have died in an auto crash in Ogoniland, Rivers State.

    Two people were injured and are receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

    The accident, which occurred at Nonwa Junction in Tai Local Government, involved a Toyota Sienna XLE car, with registration number MUS 744 AV.

    It was learnt that the vehicle left Bori for Port Harcourt, the state capital, around 6:20 pm on Saturday.

    The car, according to witnesses, overtook another vehicle and ran into a crater.

    The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Kayode Olagunju, said: “One vehicle and eight people were involved in the accident.

    Six persons were killed. Two were injured. Overspeeding might be responsible.

    “Policemen took the victims to the mortuary.

    “Among the three persons rushed to the hospital, one later died. The obstruction has been cleared from the road.”

  • Eight die on Lagos-Ibadan road

    Eight persons yesterday died in a crash on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    The accident occurred in Mowe, Ogun State.

    It involved a truck marked Yobe XB503FKA and a Mitsubishi Space Wagon numbered Lagos GGE 540XC.

    The Sagamu Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Lasisi Ogundele, said the truck was reversing when the Space Wagon, which left Kuto Motor Park in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, for Lagos State crashed into it.

    The victims-five men and three women-were said to have died on the spot.

    The Nation gathered that the bodies had been deposited at the morgue of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH).

    A passenger survived unhurt.

  • Five children, 10 others die in Kano

    Five children of the same parents were among the 15 people, who died in two incidents at Kumbotso and Takai local governments in Kano State at the weekend.

    The minors, who were identified as the children of Magaji Tambaya, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Kano State University, were severely burnt during a mid-night inferno at their WRECA home in Panshekara Quarters on the outskirts of Kano.

    Kano State Fire Service officials told reporters that “the fire, which occurred at the official home of the lecturer, was reported about 1.50am on Saturday.”

    Head of Operations, Kano State Fire Service, Kashim Musa Bichi, said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained, adding: “It took my men a hectic time to put out the inferno.”

    He said: “Investigation into the cause of the fire has begun. I appeal to urban dwellers to adopt safety measures to guard their homes.”

    Ten people also died on Saturday evening when a Toyota bus travelling on Kano-Kari Federal Highway had a head-on collision with a J5 bus at a village near Takai.

    Eyewitnesses said that many travellers were injured in the accident.

    The Head of Fire Service told reporters in Kano that “the dead and injured have been taken to Dan’masara General Hospital, near Dutse, Jigawa State capital.”

    He enjoined drivers to obey traffic rules and regulations when plying the roads, stressing that “the carnage we have witnessed on the highways in recent times are avoidable.”