A fight for the heart of a woman has left one person dead in the Emebiren area of Warri.
The Nation gathered that the deceased, identified as Robinson Ituke, was in a sexual relationship with Rose Ajekpemevor before she got married to Ochuko Ajekpemevor. Robinson and Rose however reportedly continued seeing each other even after the lady had been married.
The situation was said to have got out of hands on Saturday when Ochuko, who has been suspecting his wife and had warned Robinson to stay away from her, reportedly got wind that the duo had continued with the illicit relationship.
According to sources, Ochuko, in a feat of anger, had beaten up his wife and forced her to take him to her ‘lover’s’ house.
The Nation gathered that on arriving at Robinson’s residence at Number 8, Udoko Street, Ugborikoko, Ochuko who had reportedly hidden a knife in his pants, pounced on his ‘rival’ and stabbed him on the chest. The attacker reportedly fled immediately.
When the relatives of the deceased learnt of what had happened to their brother, they mobilized to the attacker’s house thinking he was still at home. But when they found out that the man had escaped, they destroyed all his property and left.
Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta state Celestina Kalu (SP), said the command was already on the trail of the killer-husband.
In a brief situation report, made available to the Nation in Warri on Sunday, Kalu said “one Clement Ituke of No.8 Udoko Street, Ugborikoko, Effurun, reported that at about 1600hrs of the day, one Ochuko Ajekpemevor and his wife, Rose Ajekpemevor, came into his house and the wife pointed hand on his son and her said her husband, Ochuko Ajekpemevor, brought out knife and stabbed his son on his chest and ran away.
“The victim was rushed to lnland Hospital Ugborikoko immediately where he gave up the ghost. Meanwhile, detectives visited the scene, photographs taken and the corpse deposited at Warri Central Hospital’s morgue for autopsy while effort is on going to trace and arrest the fleeing suspect”, she said.
Tag: kill
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Husband kills wife’s lover
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Police kill ‘warlord’ , five others in Rivers
Police in Rivers on Saturday night reportedly killed a notorious cultist, identified as Igbudu.
Igbudu, who was described by his acquaintances as a criminal warlord was reportedly killed together with five of his men near the Popular NNPC filling station along East-West road of Ahoada area around 9:pm, while trying to rob a Port Harcourt bound passenger bus.
An eyewitness said, the six victims were chasing the bus owned by one of the popular transport companies(Godfrey Agufere), motors, in their SUV Jeep, but their vehicle summersaulted and crashed into the bush.
The Police van which was on their trail came after them before they could escape and killed them, including their kingpin who attempted to escape into the bush.
The Spokeman of the state police command, Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police(DSP), who confirmed the incident said the criminals faked amnesty offer of the state government, but went back to criminality.
Omoni assured other criminals whose repentance are not genuine that they will also end up the same way these ones have gone. -
Suspected cultists kill carpenter
A carpenter simply identified as Abila has been shot dead by suspected cultists on Rasaq Tijani Street in Ikotun, Lagos.
Abila, who was widely referred to as ‘Ewe’ was killed near his house.
The Nation learnt that the cultists, who rode on three motorcycles, also attacked residents of Abaranje, Bakare in Ikotun and Igando around 7pm last Friday.
A resident, Sola, described Abila’s killing as a shocking as he was an easy-going, gentle and friendly individual.
“He was living with his guardian, who has been accommodating him since he came to Lagos,” he said.
A landlord told The Nation that the incidence was shocking. He said some elders in the area immediately reported the case to the Ikotun Police station on identifying the victim.
He said policemen were still arranging the removal of the corpse when they learnt that another person had been killed.
His words: “I was coming from work when I realised that everywhere was in chaos and people were running. When I got home, I went to Mosque and asked what happened and I was told a young guy on our street had been shot. When the situation calmed down, some elders gathered to identify who the victim was and we found it was Abila. They went to the police station to report the incident and some policemen followed them to our street in three vehicles. We were still on the matter when some people rushed down from Abaranje that someone has also been killed.”
Another landlord said: “Abila was a popular and friendly person. In fact, if you are going and you perhaps did not see him, he will draw your attention and greet you and that is why we are surprised he could be targeted by cultists.”
The Nation learnt that his body was initially taken away by the policemen but was returned after the deceased’s family members demanded for it. He was buried on Saturday.
Abila’s guardian, who is yet to recover from the shock said: “I was not at home when it happened as I only came back to learn of it. I’ve been in the hospital since then. There is nothing I can do because what has happened has happened. It’s not something to be remembered.”
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MEND chieftains out to kill me, says Jonathan
Ex-President, Wike, IYC disown Avengers
Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is still plotting to assassinate him, just as he denied being a sponsor of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
He spoke four days after he declared in Abuja during a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari that there is no alternative to Nigeria’s unity.
Jonathan was at the Presidential Villa on August 3, two days after the NDA’s botched attempt to declare Niger Delta Republic in Kaiama, Bayelsa State.
In a statement in Abuja by his media aide Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan said he was responding to the claims that he is a sponsor of NDA “to the extent that the group’s hidden intent poses a violent threat” to his life.
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide also dismissed claims that they were behind NDA, which has been bombing oil installations and platforms in Niger Delta.
Jonathan’s statement reads: “For the avoidance of doubt, we are fully convinced that such an idiotic claim is too cheap a narrative, a facile contrivance so badly concocted that any discerning mind would easily see through its disingenuous and duplicitous nature.
“We are also not bothered by this baseless accusation, contented that we are not the only ones conversant with Jonathan’s widely-acknowledged sincere disposition to peace, non-violence and better human community.
“We are, however, seized by the feeling of déjà vu occasioned by the resurrection of one dim character masquerading as ‘Cynthia White’, who had in the past served as the spokesperson for a notorious group that had all along shown its hand to be going after the life of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“Nigerians could recall that in 2007 when Jonathan emerged as the running mate to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in the People’s Democratic Party during that year’s presidential election, this very group invaded Yenagoa with hundreds of militants in an effort to assassinate him. Jonathan was only saved then by the spirited efforts of the combined forces of determined security men, who gallantly repelled the attack.
“Let us also not forget that members of this same group later invaded and bombed Jonathan’s compound in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, on a night he was scheduled to attend to an important matter in his country home. He was only saved by the grace of God, who in His infinite mercy created intervening factors that prevented Jonathan from sleeping in his country home that night.
“Do we need to remind anybody that the so-called Cynthia White is the self declared spokesperson MEND, a violent and murderous underground group led by one Henry Okah, which has not hidden its intention to destroy the former President?
“The unfortunate event of 1st October 2010 in Abuja at the Eagle Square during the Independence Day celebrations for that year, being presided over by the former President, bears out this conviction. It would be recalled that after an attempt to bomb the venue, with the mind of assassinating Jonathan and possibly other high profile local and international dignitaries in attendance, was thwarted by tight security deployment, the terrorists detonated their bombs in other parts of Abuja, resulting in the death of many innocent Nigerians. It is no secret that following that incident, Okah, the leader of MEND was arrested, tried, convicted and jailed in South Africa over terrorism charges by the security authorities of that country. He remains in a South African prison till date while his associates in Nigeria are still being held in Kuje prison, Abuja.
“We, therefore, have no doubt in our mind that MEND, as a group contracted to go after Jonathan with the mind of assassinating him, is yet to abandon this criminal and ignominious craving. It is in this light that we view the purported statement issued by ‘Cynthia White’ as not only a sadistic continuation of this sick desire, but also a futile attempt to instigate the Federal Government to needlessly go after the former President.
“Those who have been following the unsavoury developments in some parts of the country since the last general elections, especially the ones that held in the Southsouth states, would have noticed that the nefarious MEND, their pay masters and other unscrupulous elements in the region, have been striving fruitlessly to exploit the ensuing confusion, by surreptitiously working for the fulfilment of its yet-to-be declared political agenda. It is our considered view that the statement in question is an off-shoot of that ignoble plan; this time plotting to rubbish and torpedo the ongoing peace efforts in the region.
“While we believe that God Almighty would continue to protect the former President against the evil machinations of these undesirable elements, we wish to also point out that Jonathan is prepared to do anything within the limit of our laws to ensure that he enjoys a well-deserved peaceful post-presidential life without any hindrance.
“We are not under any illusion that more accusations and allegations of this nature would not be hurled Jonathan’s way in the future, especially as his enemies appear to have perfected the act of throwing mud each time his profile gains added impetus and acclaim. But we are very positive that he can never be fazed by such negative energy. Like the eagle, Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan will continue to soar over his traducers.”
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They told me they were asked to kill me, says Oniba
The freed Oniba of Iba Oba Yushau Goriola Oseni shared his experience with OLUGBAMILA ADEGUNLE at his palace yesterday.
Sir, how was the experience like?
When they abducted me that day (Saturday July 16), I did not actually know where they were taking me to. It was all like a dream to me. They carried me like a child -naked-because I was in my boxers. After few hours on water, they stopped in a place. I think it was their first camp. I told them I wanted to have a bath and they allowed me. After some time, it rained and we had to relocate to another camp where they prepared a wooden bed with a mattress for me.
I will never forget this experience that I called a ‘drama’. I was sleeping one day on the bed the abductors prepared for me. But I think at a point when the abductors were demanding a ransom and the initial negotiations did not suit them, the boys came all of a sudden, pulled the mattress off me and threw it away. Thereafter, I slept on the ground for two days.
Whit this experience, what do you think government can do?
They (government) should provide security for traditional rulers and the entire community in Iba. I will also appeal to the Commissioner of Police. We have a police post here and we want him to help us upgrade it to a police station. If this had been done, I believe they (police) would have tried their best. But they (kidnappers) have sophisticated weapons and I do not think our police can match.
How do you feel now?
I thank God for coming back to meet my family and the entire community peacefully. My family members were worried but to God be the glory that I did not feel any pain nor fall sick (while with the abductors) for the entire three weeks.
People often say you are a no-nonsense and principled king and any attack against you would have been fiercely resisted. However the way you were abducted seemed so cheap. Why was this so?
On that day (of kidnap) I told them (kidnappers) that it was God who gave them the power otherwise it would not have been possible for them. I was practically with nothing on me except my boxers when they came. When they took me there, (jungle) they told me they were asked to kill me but later they changed their mind. The change of mind, to me, was because I understand that while I was away, Christians, Muslims and traditionalists consistently prayed for me here. God answered their prayers.
How much ransom was paid?
Of course, they (my family) had to do that; but my own is that I was just released and I return home. I did not know what they paid as ransom.
First, I wish to thank my colleagues. They assisted me physically, financially and otherwise. You can see many of them around me now. I have been receiving phone calls since I arrived last night (Saturday night). I am happy about the love among traditional rulers in Lagos State, especially the Aworis.
While you were away, some family members also suspected your kidnap was politically motivated?
I too do not understand; but I have left everything to God. But one thing I know is that without fire, there will be no smoke.
Were you aware of the environment they took you to?
No! But, I must say they did not rough handle me at all because I told them they had to treat me as a father.
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These organs will kill us
•(The curious tragedy of the Nigerian executive and legislature)
There is a joke in moral circuits that when brigands and outlaws copulate, their incestuous liaison produces the lawmaker – the Nigerian lawmaker to be precise. If you would excuse the ribaldry therein, you would find that the contemporary lawmaker hardly epitomises unimpeachable humaneness and civilization which are prime essentials of the legislature. Neither does the legislative chamber symbolise the conurbation of nationalism, detribalised evolution, altruism and high art oft associated with evolved species of humankind.
In Nigeria the lawmaker sticks out like metastasized tumour; a priapism of vice and nuisance to be endured, like varicose veins or ethno-religious bigotry.
A surfeit of base politics and exaggerated high jinks perpetrated on the floor of the country’s Senate and House of Representatives further establishes the National Assembly as a coven of adult delinquents.
One week after a male senator was forced to apologise to his female colleague for dealing her a blinding slap, a chairman and deputy chairman of a House of Representatives committee got locked in a fight with the deputy chairman, a woman, dealing the chairman several blows.
The latter completely lost his balance as the impact of the assault from the heavily built female legislator shattered his eye glasses to smithereens and left him with a bloody eye. Pandemonium ensued when he tried to retaliate but he was prevented by their colleagues who formed a ring around his female aggressor.
Cut to another hodgepodge of members of the Federal House of Representatives embroiled in a free-for-all fight, street-brawler style. The lawmakers engaged in fisticuffs on the floor of the house as members opposed to the embattled speaker of the house at the period, tried to introduce a motion for his impeachment over corruption allegations. Parties loyal to the aggrieved rebels pounced on them and they exchanged blows to the amusement of the world.
Six years after the disgraceful incident, one of the major characters whose dress was torn to shreds as he got beaten to a pulp, has made the news again. The controversial senator’s name will not be mentioned on this page lest it desecrates this column and offends the sensibility of decent folk. The hilarious character in a fit of decadent rage allegedly threatened to beat up and impregnate a fellow senator.
At the backdrop of these shameful proceedings, you could be forgiven for likening the National Assembly to a mental asylum – apology to sane, decent folk in therein. There is no gainsaying the fact that the upper and lower legislative chambers move epic clowning, violence and tomfoolery into the open air of gangsterism and psychosis – while the world watches.
In the National Assembly, institutions and culture fade into irrelevance as the ‘honourable’ legislators mutate into insuperable problems of the country and impediments to progress; more worrisomely, they are currently engaged in feverish quest to tame and woo the executive into a romance of mutually rewarding incestuous relations.
But President Muhammadu Buhari would have none of that; the retired General from Daura, Katsina, nurtures a different view of governance. He would rather stick to his carrot and stick approach. Mr. President derives greater comfort perching on a three-legged stool of contrived supremacy and invincibility to onslaughts by antagonists in the Judiciary and the country’s Eighth National Assembly.
Buhari seeks to eradicate diseased plants from the nation’s fields of enterprise even as he sows sickly seeds under the roof of the Nigerian barn house. Crucial appointments he made and wanton concessions he approved of, apparently in the spirit of political expediency, ultimately neuters the impact of his anti-corruption crusade. And his antagonists in the legislative and judicial arms of government are ever quick to finger the specks in his eyes.
Now a desperate thing has happened; gangs of hoodlums masquerading as the country’s esteemed lawmakers and custodians of morals and culture, are threatening to impeach President Buhari – simply because he seeks to unmoor their holy place of sleaze from the country’s bastion of law and ethics. Lawmakers loyal to the embattled senate leadership consider the ongoing trial of the leadership, a slight on the honour and the integrity of the country’s National Assembly.
Many of the aggrieved lawmakers claim President Buhari is trying to tame and pocket the National Assembly. They believe he seeks to castrate them and place them on a leash and thus turn them into glorified slaves and puppets in cassocks of nobility.
According to them, Mr. President should desist from his quest to unseat the incumbent senate leadership. A slight on one is a slight to all, alleges the upper and lower legislative chambers.
Perhaps if the National Assembly had overtime established itself as a body of honourable men and women truly involved with the citizenry and attuned to their pains, needs and fundamental human rights, the Nigerian electorate may be more sympathetic to their cause. But is the senate leadership truly innocent of the charges leveled against them? Are the characters involved truly deserving of the citizenry’s empathy, respect and protection by the same law they allegedly flouted?
There is no gainsaying the National Assembly is currently infested by shades of poorly, self-centred characters thus the nation’s hope rests on the Executive and Judicial arms of government – the Presidency in particular as most state governors personify the worst of Nigeria’s political predators. Buhari and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, cut a portrait of hope and prosperity for the nation given both men’s alleged and fairly established distaste for corruption and their predilection to truly serve.
But this government still rides on a great deal of presumption and moral baggage. While Buhari signifies hope, prudence and inestimable opportunity for redeeming our badly worn and bastardised social and political institutions, his team becomes the bane to the successful attainment of our ideal state.
Buhari himself is conflicted in personal and administrative ethics hence the catalogue of failures and inaction already listed in his wake. For instance, he is being accused of nepotism. His recent employment of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) scribe as boss of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is termed one such piteous decision. Will Mr. President survive his current rut?
His ministers are dubious change agents feigning his moral and growth crusade. Like many state governors and lawmakers operating on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), they epitomise a moral, philosophical duplicity. They negate and reject the strife of contraries by which true, positive ‘change’ evolves.
President Buhari of course must be aware of this bitter reality. If he isn’t, then he must be truly naive and incapacitated by his overwhelming desire to grow bananas out of a pine tree.
As it is now, the Nigeria is caught in the vortex of dysfunctional public institutions and organs of government. The executive and legislature crush the hope of the citizenry and stifle the birth of progressive vistas of the future, in a cycle of incestuous cannibalism enacted by male and female tin gods, who attack and retreat in obsessive rhythms of attack and counter-attack, victory and defeat.
In the crushing, bloody symbolism, the Nigerian citizenry is cast as a babe, persistently dragged, and violently exchanged by ogres who nail her down upon a rock, bind iron thorns around her head and waist, pierce her palms and feet, and cut her heart out to make it feel the heat and frost of their inordinate hankering for riches and bloodlust. The executive and legislature live on the shrieks and cries of the babe. They nourish from her blood and forcefully suckle from its unformed tits.
It’s about time we reversed the cycle.
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Suspected cultists kill 15 persons in five Rivers communities
Rampaging armed youths believed to be cultists have invaded five communities in Rivers State, killing 15 persons. They also burnt houses and looted properties valued at millions of naira.
The communities are Ovogo, Rumuewhuo and Rumuji in Emuoha Local Government Area.
A source yesterday said seven persons were killed in Ovogo. Two each were killed in Rumuehwuo and Rumuji.
The gunmen invaded the Emuoha communities around 8 am yesterday. They started shooting, causing heavy panic. Residents scampered to safety. The community is presently deserted.
Last Thursday and Friday, some hoodlums were said to have attacked Odhieje community of Ahoada East and burnt eight homes and looted properties, but no casualty was recorded.
They also shot sporadically in Okogbie community, also in Ahoada East, between 9 pm on Friday and 5 am on Saturday. Three of the assailants were said to have been arrested by men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF).
The killings in Emuoha came within 24 hours after over 20 persons, including an expectant woman and two soldiers were reportedly killed in three communities of Umuokiri Aluu, University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) community, Omagwa in Ikwerre Local Government Area.
Police spokesman Ahmad Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), denied any knowledge of the killings and the arson in Ahoada East. He said in a text message: “I don’t think; if there was something like this, I’m not aware.”
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Fuel subsidy: How to kill a country
Hardball wants to wager today that never had life been so viciously subsidise in any corner of the world than the Nigeria of today. But first, we must not mix up our words, their meaning and context.
Subsidy in its true sense means to grant assistance especially in form of financial support. But Nigeria’s context of subsidy seems to connote the exact opposite. It means to take billions of naira from Nigeria’s treasury, hand it to some people known as independent marketers for purportedly importing fuel for the use of the people at moderated price.
But in reality, it is either there is indeed no accurate check of the quantity of fuel imported or there is collusion between the so-called marketers and government regulators. So we are never sure what we pay for is what we got.
But shortchanging or short-supplying us would have been palatable if it stopped at that but no, since it seems they do not want Nigeria to live and they don’t want Nigerians alive, they do worse things.
Because they over-invoice and under-supply, there is always a shortfall and the attendant scarcity. For instance, for more than two months, there has been acute scarcity of premium motor spirit (PMS) in Nigeria. For most of this period, Nigerians have suffered untold hardship. Many man hours are devoted to queuing up to buy petrol daily; many companies have either shut down or downsized as a result of drastically reduced production capacity considering that public power supply has been at near zero during this period as well.
For most of the last two months, Nigerians have purchased fuel even right from the nozzle at between N120 to N250 per litre. In a season of dwindling income and high inflation, people are expending nearly half of their income on fuel and half of their time at the filling station. Who talks about manipulated pumps anymore? Triple jeopardy: marketers sell at inflated price, manipulate pumps and collect subsidy.
Yet again, we would live with these excruciating pains if they had stopped at that. But they don’t stop. Now wait for this dear reader: for all this period of damaging scarcity, the Federal Government will be paying subsidy at N12.88 per litre to the marketers. Let’s do a simple arithmetic: they say we consume an average of 44 million litres of petrol per day. If you multiply 44 million by 12.88 by 31 days, you will have an idea how much blood the government and their fuel marketer cohorts are draining from our system.
After the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests, it came out that many fake marketers were in the system who easily collected billions of naira from government’s coffers. Not one of them has been convicted till today. Not one refinery has been built as promised since then. To think that the cost of this so-called subsidy would build us many refineries. But we prefer to import fuel from even non-oil producing countries.
Since Nigerians have been buying fuel for average of N150 per litre, there has been a clamour to scrap the so-called subsidy obdurate.
Hardball says: if this subsidy does not kill Nigeria…
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Gunmen kill Police officer in Ebonyi
Unidentified gunmen Friday shot and killed a policeman and wounded a Civil Defense personnel and other citizens of Ebonyi state who were going about their normal businesses in the early hours of the fateful day.
The Nation learnt that the gunmen who were returning from a robbery operation along Abakaliki-Enugu expressway started shooting sporadically and as a result killed a policeman and wounded several others.
Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, Ebonyi state Command, Jibril Shyabu who explained that his wounded staff, a driver was already at the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, (FETHA) receiving treatment described the incident as unfortunate and ugly.
According to him, the incident has brought about the need for effective synergy among security agencies in the state and assured the members of the public of adequate protection by the security agencies in the state.
He said his staff sustained both hand and leg injuries resulting from gunshot wounds as he is about to be taken into the theatre for emergency operation to remove the bullets inside his body.
A source who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that the hoodlums operated on motorcycles and killed the officer at the Mobil Filling Station of the express road.
The situation affected vehicular movements across the capital city as heavily armed police officers cordoned the roads especially the Abakaliki end of the federal highway.
They thoroughly searched vehicles and motorcycles which they impounded and stuffed them into big operational vans.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Peace Ibekwe-Abdallah, confirmed the incident noting that the investigation into the matter has commenced.
She said: “The command is preparing a release on the matter and would make it available to the press soon.”
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Ilorin: Suspected cultists kill car wash operator
Suspected cultists Monday shot dead a car wash operator in Ilorin, Kwara state.
The incident led to confusion in Ilorin especially among residents of Ibrahim Taiwo road in Ilorin.
The late Ajia was in 2004 sentenced to death by an Ilorin High court over a murder case involving him and one other which he appealed at the Court of Appeal and was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court.
He was, however, granted state pardon by the immediate past administration in the state.
The gruesome murder of Ajia reportedly took place along Ibrahim Taiwo road, Ilorin where his car wash business was located.
The assailants said to be four in number reportedly went to under the bridge close to the State Stadium complex, where the deceased was operating a car wash and shot him on his forehead.
An eye witness said that the suspected cultists believed to have come from one of the states in the south-west, also inflicted matchet cuts on the deceased after shooting him.
The cultists were said to have arrived the deceased’s workshop in a taxi cab around 4:15 pm and went immediately to meet Ajia who was said to be alone in his shop.
The incident led to traffic gridlock as the ever busy Taiwo road was closed to traffic.
The deceased who was survived by four wives and many children, was buried Monday amidst wailings by his associates and sympathizers at the Muslim cemetery, Irewolede in the metropolis.
The state police command spokesman Ajayi Okansanmi did not confirm the incident.
He said he had not received full details of the circumstances leading to the killing of the deceased.