The Nation Newspaper

Tag: murdered

  • Killers of our men have murdered peace – FPRO

    Killers of our men have murdered peace – FPRO

    Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi has said those who murdered six police officer in Delta state will not know peace.

    According to a statement issued on Sunday night Adejobi said: “It’s not only criminal, but also evil, barbaric, and sinful to be killing policemen or any security agent who works tirelessly to defend and protect the lives and property of Nigeria’s citizens.

    “I see it as a disservice to our dear nation. It will never be the same game as usual. The Force Headquarters would do everything possible to protect the personnel of the NPF and decimate those who have murdered our men (uniform men), for they have murdered peace.”

  • Murdered LASTMA official

    Murdered LASTMA official

    •No one should get away from attacking persons working for government

    The vicious mob that killed a Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) official at Apapa, Lagos, last year, as shown in the YouTube, operated on the fringe of lunacy. Perhaps in that instance, we may add to the basket of common saying: the madness of a mob. For it is only a horde operating on the lunatic fringe that can be so merciless as those involved in the murder of Mr. Olatunji Suraju Bakare, even if propelled by the unfortunate incident that led to the death of a motor boy. But it is heartwarming that two people have been arrested in connection with the murder.

    The two incidents portray the challenges of a modern society. Mr Bakare’s death was engineered by those determined to stop some LASTMA officials from enforcing traffic rules, within the Liverpool axis, in Apapa. Of course, traffic offenders constitute serious threats to the wellbeing of residents of a megalopolis like Lagos, and understandably, everything humanly possible should be done to rein them in. But for the pro-active determination of the government of Lagos State, the metropolis was under threat from rising chaotic traffic.

    Perhaps, it was with such determination that the LASTMA officials pursued the traffic offender, a choice that led to the death of a motor boy sleeping by the roadside. While we acknowledge that LASTMA officials should use safer and more conventional methods to enforce the law, it is worrisome that the crowd that gathered could resort to such bestial behaviour as was recorded. The heartless reaction of the mob shows a degenerate society, and sociologists and medical psychologists should help examine the causes and solution.

    What would make an ordinary person presumably going about his/her normal business, suddenly and efficiently turn into a murderer? Those who stripped Mr Bakare and gleefully stoned and stabbed him to death, even as he was writhing in pain in the gutter where he was pushed into, may be completely insane. Otherwise, how does one explain the motivation for that sudden change in role, from a passer-by, presumably sane and business minded, to a vicious murderer, with all the implications?

    Also worrisome is the presence of mind of the folks who brought out their mobile phones to video the mayhem instead of calling the police or even make efforts to restrain the murderers. Perhaps theirs is a milder level of insanity? Obviously we leave in perilous times, because of the moral degeneracy of our society. In our pristine saner past, many of those at the scene would be concerned with saving the dying, while ensuring that the officials involved are restrained from running way. But as our society degenerates, many of her citizens are more readily willing to resort to self-help, maybe as a further mark of their loss of faith in the public institutions and due process.

    We thank the state government for arresting some of the suspects, who allegedly participated in the murder of the LASTMA official. This is the way it should be; people should not kill agents of government and go scot-free. Otherwise, we would be sending wrong signals to the colleagues of the victim that they are on their own; and to potential criminals that they can get away, even with murder. None is in the interest of society.

    Others involved in the gruesome murder should be identified and brought to justice. This can be possible with the help of the video which had gone viral. Also, governments at all levels must appreciate the point we made here recently, about the increase in mental illnesses, partly because of the gruelling economic difficulties and social disequilibrium afflicting our society. Perhaps an investment in causes and treatment of mental ill-health is increasingly necessary.

    We urge the Lagos State government to also ensure justice for the motor boy. The LASTMA officials need to review their methods of enforcing compliance with traffic rules, and should use modern technology, instead of force. Maybe there is wisdom in the original template of operations for LASTMA officials as promoted at the inception of the present state government.

  • Family of murdered C/River community chair seeks justice

    THE family of the former community chairman of Katchuan Irruan in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, late Kyrien Agbor Onabe, who was allegedly murdered in September 2015, has cried out over the delay in prosecuting the suspects that were arrested over the murder.

    The family alleged that the process of prosecuting the suspects is being stalled by some top shots in the area, and called for higher authorities to intervene. Spokesman for the family, Chief Frank Enyia, said the late Onabe, who had just emerged as community chairman at the time, was trailed to his farm by his assailants, where he was strangled and dumped in a nearby river with a heavy stone tied to his leg, so the body would not float to the surface. According to him, the act was perpetrated by those who were not comfortable with his emergence as chairman.

    “Onabe was killed and he left behind a wife and three children. All we ask for is that those arrested for the murder face trial in court,” Enyia said. Also, a petition dated January 9, 2017, and addressed to the state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, the Chief Justice, the Nigerian Bar Association and the National Human Rights Commission, signed by Jacob Otu Onabe for the family read in part, “In the matter of the murder of Late Mr Kyrien Agbor Onabe that took place in Katchan Irruan in Boki on September 30, 2015, some of the suspected killers were arrested and brought to the CID, Calabar, for investigation.

    “The matter has since been suffering diligent litigation in Ikom High court since November 2, 2015 and now that the police have been asked to continue investigations on the matter. It is frustrating to note that some of the suspects have boasted openly that this matter can never see the light of the light of the day. “To my utmost surprise, I thought their boasting was empty, but only to discover that it was a reality on a letter written by the Department of Public Prosecution asking the police to stay action on the matter until they hear from them. “This is a charade against justice. Where is the hope of the common man if a serious matter bordering on the brutal murder of a community chairman is treated with such levity and contempt? We therefore entreat you to use your good offices and ensure speedy trial of the suspects, for justice delayed is justice denied.”

  • Rights activists want justice for murdered Bayelsa teen

    Human rights activists in Bayelsa State have described the alleged killing of 17-year-old Innocent Kokorifa on August 18, 2016 in Yenagoa, as a victim of trigger-happy policemen and one more example of extra-judicial killing.

    His mother, Preye, explained that her late son was at the fateful location in the first place because she sent him to give N2, 000 his aunt, Miss Gbasiemokumor Lucky, who lives on Air Force Road.

    The father, Kokorifa, who is an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) serving in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, laboured for justice. Disturbed by the criminal tag placed on his son, he decried the brutality in method.

    Innocent, recounted his father, longed to be a lawyer. He sat for his West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) and paid for a computer course in preparation for the e-examination of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    A human rights lawyer, Mr. Aluzu Augustine, of the Faculty of Law, Uyo, has followed the matter. He said that the police initially rendered a skewed version of events. “It should be noted that the police did not mention where or who was being robbed at the time before the police intervened. The locus in quo (Okaka Estate) is purely a residential area. The O/C Anti-Vice did not state who made the distress call and what time the distress call was received by members of his team and they did not also say who the armed robbers were.”

    The human rights community and Ijaw youths are clearly united on the matter. They insist that the teenager was killed without provocation and demanded that the killers be fished out and brought to book. Human rights activist and former state secretary of the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO), Mr. Alagoa Morris, asked all stakeholders to rally in condemnation of the unlawful acts of a trigger-happy police.

    He noted that the unlawful killing of any human being is not acceptable in any sane society and added that the right to life as captured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), re-echoed in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right and enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, is sacrosanct.

    Meanwhile, four policemen have been detained in connection with the alleged killing.

    The victim was said to be running an errand for his mother, Pere, when he was allegedly killed by the police at about 11am on the day.

    The state police command had in a statement last week claimed that the victim died in a gun battle between a three-man armed robbery gang and the police team.

  • Woman murdered inside her home

    A 50-year-old woman, Mabel Okafor, has been stabbed to death inside her residence in Ajah, Lagos, the State Police Command confirmed yesterday.

    The incident occurred at House J68B, Close 9, VGC, at the wee hours on Saturday.

    It was gathered that police operatives attached to Ajah Division received information around 12am and went to the place.

    Upon getting there, they discovered that the woman was stabbed on the stomach and abandoned by her killers.

    Confirming the incident the command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, said effort was on to apprehend her killers, adding that the matter was under discreet investigation.

    In another development, a truck driver was electrocuted along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Saturday evening.

    The deceased, identified as Sani Mesidau, was said to have been killed after the truck, marked SBG111XA, had contact with a high tension cable.

    He was said to have been conveying a container to a terminal in Ijora-Badia when the incident occurred.

  • Woman raped, killed after church service in Edo

    Woman raped, killed after church service in Edo

    A 33-year old woman identified as Akhere Emujede has been raped and murdered at Ubiaja town, headquarters of Esan South East Local Government.

    Her corpse was dumped in a church within the locality.

    Eyewitnesses said the victim’s throat was slit and vital organs removed from her body.

    She was said to have attended a church programme from a neighboring village but was killed.

    The killing of Akhere has brought cases of suspected ritual killings in Ubiaja to seven within six days.

    A human head was said to have been dumped in front of a school principal office and another body was found within the school premises.

    Principal of the school, Patrick Odensenye, said he was taken aback when the found the human head in front of his office.

    Other mutilated bodies were found in different parts of the community.

    Rev. Dr. Joseph Ehimen in charge of the church where Akhere body was found said they open the church to discover her corpse.

    During Tuesday plenary at the State House of Assembly, the lawmaker representing the Esan South East, Festus Edughele, raised the alarm of presence of ritualist in the community.

    He said the suspected ritual killings has spread fears in the minds of residents in the area.

    Acting Public Relations Officer for Edo State Police Command SP Stephen Onwochei who confirmed the incident appealed for information that would assist the police.

    His words, “We received information that a young girl was found dead inside a church at Ubiaja area of Edo State.

    “Her name is Akhere Emujede, 33, it is so unfortunate but the command is investigating. For now, no arrest has been made, our men have profiled the scene of crime”.

  • ‘How we murdered army colonel in Kaduna’

    ‘How we murdered army colonel in Kaduna’

    When the news broke that the recently murdered army colonel, Samalia Inusa, a Chief Instructor at the Nigeria Army School of Infantry, Jaji, Kaduna State, was abducted by some gunmen at Kamazo area of Kaduna Refinery Road, on March 26, 2016, many thought his abduction and eventual killing might have been a revenge mission by members of the Shiite Islamic sect who were embroiled in a bloody clash with the Nigerian Army in December 2015.

    During the said clash which occurred in Zaria, Kaduna State, more than 374 members of the Shiite Islamic Sect were alleged to have been killed. The incident was reported to have thrown the entire Kaduna metropolis into panic as many feared that the Shiite sect would revenge the attack. But as news of the abduction and killing of Col. Inusa filtered into town in March 2016, accusing fingers were pointed at the Shiites who are also known as the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. The sect, in a swift reaction, rebuffed the allegations, calling it a campaign to destroy its image.

    Three month after the abduction, the police authorities in Abuja announced that its operatives at the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and men of the Kaduna State Police Command, Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) had arrested four suspects who participated in the abduction and killing of the army colonel in Kaduna State. It was gathered that the IRT operatives, who were deployed in Kaduna State by the IGP Solomon Arase to track down the bandits had trailed a Techno mobile phone that was taken from the slain Colonel to a prison warden, Abdulahi Adamu, who is believed to be a close associate of one of the suspects, Ibrahim Kabiru, who was already in the custody of the SIB in Kaduna State.

    The SIB operatives, who were trailing car snatchers terrorising the state, were said to have arrested Kabiru and his boss, Ebere Precious, also known as Pastor, in Kaduna State for armed robbery. Their interrogation and subsequent confessions aided the IRT operatives in apprehending, the gang leader, Emeka Okeke Cyprain, who was alleged to have personally shot Col. Inusa and one Chijioke Ugwuanyi. In a chat with our correspondent, one of the suspects,   Cyprian, an indigene of Imo State, relayed how he killed Col.  Inusa, adding that he had no regrets killing the army officer. He also relayed how he got into crime and provided details of his robbery escapades around the Kaduna metropolis. The 44-year-old man and father of three said: “I went into robbery three years ago. I started by hijacking trucks on   Kontagora Road, Kaduna State. We would barricade the road, which is usually busy, with broken down vehicles and big woods. And when a truck carrying goods stops in front of our barricade, we would attack the driver and the conductor with machete and drag them into the bush. We would then hijack the truck and take it to our receiver, Dan Sokoto, who would smuggle it to Niger Republic.     In our first operation, we hijacked a truck carrying 600,000 cartons of noodles. Dan Sokoto and a member of our gang, Ogbonna Nwobodo, took the goods to Niger Republic. When they returned, they brought N2 million for the goods. Dan Sokoto told me that they threw away the truck because they don’t buy trucks in Niger Republic.

    “I got N300,000 as my share of the loot and I didn’t give my wife anything out of it. I was angry with her because I caught her sleeping with another man twice. I spent my money on drinks and women. “We usually call our gang a company and Nnwobodo was the leader of the company. But because of the small money Dan Sokoto and Nwobodo brought from that first operation, our company got scattered and we didn’t do any job for five months. Dan Sokoto later called us and tried to reset the company. We had new terms for sharing of our loots, and because I am the striker who goes after the driver and conductor, I insisted on getting the lion’s share.     “We hijacked another vehicle carrying spaghetti on the same route and Ogbonna took the truck to Dan Sokoto and they took it to Niger and sold. I got N330,000, which was higher that what I used to get.     “On our third operation, we hijacked another truck carrying spaghetti and we asked Dan Sokoto to get us two pistols with the goods and pay us the balance in cash. He got us two pistols and brought N1 million which we all shared. Since we got two pistols, I decided to sideline Nwobodo and his boys. I formed my own company and I brought in Chijoke, Ebere Kabiru and we went fully into car snatching.  “We snatched a 2005 Toyota Sienna and we told Dan Sokoto that Ogbonna was no longer part of our company, and before selling any of our goods, he must ensure that I spoke with the buyer in Niger Republic myself and agree on the price. When he took the vehicle to Niger, I spoke to one Garuba and he paid us N700,000. I got N120,000 as my share and I told him that I liked the way he did the business and I promised to always get him vehicles. “We liked doing business two times in a week because it provided us the chance to relax and monitor the environment.  We collected a Toyota Corolla 2008 Model and gave it to Dan Sokoto who took it to Niger Republic and was paid N600,000. I got N200, 000 as my share. We then snatched a Honda Anaconda and we sold it for N700,000 and I got N150, 000.

    “After that operation, I advised everyone to take some time off and monitor how security operatives within Kaduna would react to our actives and they all heeded my advice. We did that for two weeks and we discovered that things had started changing. Policemen had been deployed all over Kaduna and they were looking out for people who were snatching cars. I was also seeing them at areas where I don’t use to see them before.    “I called my people and told them what I noticed. We were all monitoring, and one of them called and told me that he noticed that policemen were now standing in Abuja junction and they usually hid their vehicle in a dark spot. I told my people that we must be fast in anything we did, and we also discovered new routes.

    “After two weeks, God helped us and blessed us with a Toyota Venza. I told Dan Sokoto that I wanted to go to Niger and I wanted to see Garuba and Mustapha. Dan Sokoto asked me to meet him at the Kastina border, and when we crossed into Niger, I met a man who hugged me the moment he saw me and he shouted Shege Emeka three times and told me that I was a strong man.   “I told him that I wanted a big rifle because of heavy presence of policemen in our area. They told me that rifles were sold for N500,000 and loaded magazines were sold for N250,000. Garuba then said he was going to pay us N50,000 and that he would smuggle the rifles for us into Nigeria and we should go back to Nigeria and get him a Toyota Hilux.

    “I told him that Hilux is difficult to snatch because it is mainly used by security operatives and we needed big guns to snatch it and its occupants could be armed. Dan Sokoto asked me to go and by the next day he would call me to meet him at Abuja junction and I should come with Ebere whose bus we were using for our operation. “When he arrived, he called me and I called Eebre who told me he was at the mountain praying. He asked us to come to the mountain and when got there, we hid our rifles under the seat of his bus.  The next day, Ebere taught me how to operate the rifle and we used it to snatch a Toyota Camry in Sabo area. Whenever we snatched a car, we would keep the owner with us in the bush and make sure that the vehicle got to Dan Sokoto and it was moved into Niger Republic. We would give the victim only pure water.

    “It did not take long before we would move the car into Duala in Niger Republic. We normally dropped the person on the expressway when we had received a call from Dan Sokoto that the vehicle had arrived Niger successfully. When we told our victims that they should go, they were usually surprised, because some of them would think we had kidnapped them for ransom. We sold the Camry for N800, 000 and I got N220,000 as my share. Ebere later broke out away from our gang and formed his own gang, leaving just Chijoke, Kabiru and I in the company.

    ‘How I killed Col. Inusa’

    “One Saturday evening, we were on the road and we saw a Mercedes jeep (SUV) and we liked the flashy light. We followed the vehicle to Kamazo area and to a house. When the driver stopped to open the gate, we went after it and discovered that the driver was a woman and a man was also seated inside. “I suspected that the man was the owner of the vehicle, so I ordered him into our own car and asked Chijioke to drive the Mercedes Benz to Dan Sokoto. Kabiru was the one driving our own car. I told the man to relax, that all I wanted was his car and we were not going to kill him. We took him into a bush at Abuja by-pass, Kaduna. “I told Kabiru to go into the bush with the man and told the man to lie down. I told him again that he was a big guy and he could always buy another vehicle. He asked for water, but when I was about to give him the water, he dived at me, collected the gun and removed the magazine. I was shocked.   He gave me a head boot and beat me so much, but I held tightly to the rifle and we rolled ourselves on the floor. I don’t know what he touched and the trigger stopped working. If not for God, the man would have killed me. Luckily for me, the trigger worked and I shot him. “I didn’t know that the man was an army officer. I was surprised that he was so strong. But a few hours later when Chijioke called and told me what he saw in the man’s car, that was when I knew that I was in deep trouble. We sold the car for N900,000 and I advised everyone to go into hiding.

    “The news was everywhere. Chijioke told me that he wanted to quit. We did our last operation and stole an Avalon. But we couldn’t reach Dan Sokoto when Chijioke took the car to Niger Republic by himself and sold it to Garuba, who then informed him that Dan Sokoto had been arrested by policemen at Brinikebi over a N250 million case.

    “Chijioke relocated to Enugu, while I stayed back in Kaduna watching as things unfolded. Kabiru went and joined Ebere. Not long after, they were both arrested by the SIB in Kaduna.

    “Last Saturday, I was in my sister’s house sleeping when policemen came into our house very early in the morning and asked for Emeka. I told them I was the one and they asked me why I killed Col. Inusa. I told them that I would reveal everything when we got to the station.

    “At the station, I also helped in luring Chijioke back to Kaduna where he was arrested.“

  • Man with hunchback abducted, murdered by suspected ritualists

    Man with hunchback abducted, murdered by suspected ritualists

    Suspected ritualists have abducted and killed a 37-year old man with a hunchback in Edo State.

    The victim simply identified as Usokpowu alias Tokyo was a musician and professional Master of Ceremony.

    Family sources said the hunchback man was abducted by gunmen at his residence at Okhokhugbo community in Egor Local Government.

    He was found dead three days later where his corpse was deposited at a primary school.

    Vital organs such as liver, private parts and the hunch were found to have been removed.

    When contacted for comments, State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, said the matter as a case of missing person.

    Ezike said investigation has commenced into the case and that he has directed the Criminal Investigation Department to take over the case.

  • I was to go out with Ironsi day he was murdered

    I was to go out with Ironsi day he was murdered

    Retired broadcaster, septuagenarian and grandmother, Omobolanle Osatonhanwen Onajide nee Akpata tells Gboyega Alaka her experience as a broadcaster during the turbulent years of the sixties; her Mbari Mbayo experience with the likes of Prof. Wole Soyinka, the peace of Ibadan city and how politics changed everything. 

    Madam Omobolanle Osatonhanwen Onajide nee Akpata will be 80 in just about a month, but you really wouldn’t know from her outlook, conversational power and grace.

    Sporting a lovely evening gown and a white coral necklace to compliment, Madam Onajide looked anything but her age as she sat down with this reporter to while away the free time at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island foyer just before cocktail time at the recent Nigerian Breweries Golden Pen Media Awards.

    Within seconds, she had befriended her little audience, which comprised this reporter and in fact led them on a road to discovering how interconnected human beings indeed are, if only they stopped to make proper introduction.

    What however captivated the  group the most about her was how virtually every word she uttered as she inadvertently took control of the conversation, carried the weight of Nigeria’s history, prompting the reporter to request a quick interview.

    Beginning with her days back at Akpata Memorial School, Benin, Edo State,  owned by her father in the early 1940s, Onajide spoke of how her dad, John Francis Ugbomo Akpata founded the school in 1941 and how  it was suddenly taken away from him. She recalled that her dad founded the school out of passion for education, hinting that he probably took after his elder brother, E S Akpata, who had earlier founded Eweka Memorial School, also in Benin.

    Her narrative however took a sad turn, when she lamented how the government suddenly took the school away from her father around 1950. As a young teenager, Onajide could not really fathom why, but she suspected it was political. She dismissed the incident saying “The government do that all the time.”

    Asked how she has managed to still exude such energy and mental alertness, Onajide said “I don’t know; there is no secret. And I can tell you there is no special lifestyle. As a matter of fact, there was a time I used to wake up early to prepare breakfast for my husband and children before dawn, and being a broadcaster, I still had to be at WNTV Ibadan by 5.30 to present the bulletin to the reader.”

    Broadcasting in those early days was “a wonderful, wonderful experience,” she recalled. She said the seed to become a broadcaster had been sown in her back at Hull University, United Kingdom, where she had gone to study Public Administration and Law, one of the many popular courses of those days. The Second World War had just been over, and England, having lost lots of young able-bodied men was in dire need of fresh graduates to work in different sectors, especially teaching and broadcasting.  “In fact, my husband, when he graduated, was offered a teaching job in Hull. The BBC usually came to the university as well to ask if you were in final year and if you would like to work with them. That was when the interest to be a broadcaster welled in me, but for some reason, I couldn’t stay back and take their offer. So as soon as I got back to Nigeria, I immediately decided that I wanted to be a broadcaster.

    “Luckily for me, my brother Kayode was quite friendly with Olu Ibukun, the then General Manager of WNTV. So when he told him about my desire to be a broadcaster, he said ‘Ah, we’re looking for people’. I went for the interview and I was taken in as Assistant Sub-Editor.

    “My husband was a District Officer based in Warri – that was the position they used to give to graduates in those days. But after some time, he was relocated to Ogbomoso; and that meant we could live in Ibadan.” She reeled off.

    That was also when Pan-Africanism was at its height and Onajide also spoke of Mbari Mbayo, a socio-cultural group founded by the likes of Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and co was in the thick of things. “I was Secretary and worked closely with Soyinka and all other top members. I also remember Major Kaduna Nzeogu now. We didn’t know he had such plan. Soyinka was his usual revolutionary self. You see his hair? It’s still the same way and the energy to promote our culture was at fever pitch. Very unlike today when everything  is turning towards idiocy.

    According to Onajide, Ibadan was a quiet peaceful city back then, and a lot different from what we have now. “Many taxis and no buses; so when you come to Lagos back then and saw buses, you were just pleasantly surprised. Things were so peaceful and orderly that if you’re going out, all you had to do was lock the door and slip the key under your doormat. No one nursed any fear of people breaking into your apartment.

    “However, when politics became heated up and weti e set in with arson and murder becoming the order of the day, things became different. Weti e was the Yoruba expression for arson, whereby political opponents’ houses and property were doused with petrol and set on fire. That was between 1963 and 1965 and it I can tell you it was hell.” She said.

    One of the fallouts of that pandemonium, she recalled was when the then Premier of Western Nigeria, Chief S. L. Akintola launched a campaign for all non-Yoruba residents to be expunged from the Western region. “We were the kobokai people, another name for kobokobo or anyone who was from beyond Ore. But the good thing was that the citizens were so angry about how Akintola was going about the matter, even though it was beyond them to stop him.”

    As a broadcaster, how did she cope, considering that she still had to cover her beat?

    “Cope? You don’t cope with such violence. I was the reporter who was to go with Aguiyi Ironsi to the Forestry in Ibadan, during his visit to the Western region in 1966. At about 5.30 am, I received a phone-call in the newsroom from the governor, Col. Adekunle Fajuyi’s sister and I jokingly told her in Yoruba “Ah your boyfriends are not around o,” thinking she wanted to speak to some of her male friends in the office. But what she said next sent shocked me to the marrow.”

    “No ma” she said again in Yoruba. “Some people are here (apparently referring to soldiers who had invaded the government house) and they are beating brother (Col. Fajuyi).”

    She probably wanted whatever help we could offer, probably in the area of reporting or so. But it was a wasted report, as both Fajuyi and his guest; the Head of State Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi were eventually taken away and killed. Fajuyi was a gentleman to the core, and brave too. He refused to give up Ironsi and ended up being killed along with him. He is also one of the finest human beings I’ve seen in my life. But when I saw the way the Nigerian public bowed and literally celebrated their killers, I knew we’d lost.”

  • Corps member raped, murdered two weeks to wedding

    Corps member raped, murdered two weeks to wedding

    Thirteen days to her wedding and 29th birthday, a corps member, Miss Omolola Abogunrin, has been allegedly murdered by unknown criminals.

    She was said to have been murdered in  the premises of an agriculture research institute located at Apata area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital last Sunday.

    The deceased was said to have been raped and strangled beside a stream within the premises of the institute.

    Her lover, Olusola Babalola, has since been arrested and detained by the police.

    Residents said the deceased appeared to be  returning from church when she was waylaid by the hoodlums.

    “We  saw semen in her private part and nail wounds around her neck when we found her corpse. That was an evidence that she was raped and strangulated,” a resident who preferred anonymity said.

    A family source said: “Omolola  was looking forward to her wedding which was scheduled for October 17, the day she would have been 29 years old. She and her fiancée to be held their family introduction four months ago to pave the way for proper marriage ceremony, scheduled to take place at a Christ Apostolic Church in Ibadan.”

    The late Omolola graduated from The Polytechnic, Ibadan. She was on the verge of completing her one year National Youth  Service Corpse in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, as at the time of her death.

    Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Oyo State, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said Omolola’s corpse has since been deposited at the morgue of  the Oyo State Hospital, Adeoyo.

    He explained that her lover, Mr Babalola, was arrested and detained as part of police investigation.

    “The case has since been transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the command. The Command would make sure the killers are brought to book.”