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  • Ogbonna was a robber, murder convict, says Ogun govt

    Ogbonna was a robber, murder convict, says Ogun govt

    Ogun State Government yesterday debunked trending reports pertaining one Ogbonna Ogbojionu, who was recently released on Democracy Day, June 12, after spending 21 years in prison.

    These reports claimed that Ogbonna was wrongfully imprisoned for merely buying a stolen generator and that while the real thief – one Segun Ajibade – was pardoned in 2016, Ogbonna was left to suffer for nine more years.

    However, refuting the misleading reports in a statement by Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, SAN, the state government dismissed the report as “entirely false.”

    Ogungbade said Ogbonna was convicted of armed robbery and murder on January 14, 2003 by the Ogun State High Court and sentenced to death, adding that the death sentence was, however, converted to a life sentence in June 2021 by Governor Dapo Abiodun in exercise of prerogative of mercy.

    According to the commissioner, Ogbonna was subsequently a beneficiary of the recent prerogative of mercy extended to some prison inmates by Governor Abiodun to commemorate the 2025 Democracy Day.

    Giving insight into what led Ogbonna to prison, Ogungbade said that around 10pm on October 3, 2000, a gang of armed robbers attacked ELF petrol station along Abeokuta-Lagos road and stole a 10 KVA Lister generator.

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    “The armed robbers, including Ogbonna, overpowered and detained the two guards at the fuel station, hit one guard – Yusuf Akanni – with an iron rod on his head and on his leg, breaking his femur in the process. They also hit the second guard – Moses Bankole – on the head with an iron rod as well, and bound both guards. Bankole died on the spot, while Ogbonna and his accomplices made away with a Lister generator.”

    He warned that the attempt to sanitise Ogbonna’s conduct with falsehoods and recreate him as a victim does fresh injustice to the victims of his crime.

    Ogungbade added:  “Ogbonna’s crime hobbled a business, terrorised Akanni Yusuf, and killed Bankole. These victims or their relations remain today and attempts to sanitise Ogbonna’s conduct with falsehoods do fresh injustice to the victims. Those who, in a misguided quest for justice, are recreating Ogbonna as a victim will do well to remember Bankole – the true and irredeemable victim of Ogbonna’s crime. If Ogbonna is truly reformed, he should silently and gratefully enjoy his freedom and pursue honest pursuits. Presently, his honesty is highly doubtful, and the world is hereby notified.”

  • One year after, we still can’t get over Bimbo Martin-Ogbonna’s death – Elder sister

    One year after, we still can’t get over Bimbo Martin-Ogbonna’s death – Elder sister

    Mrs. Folasade Samuels,the elder sister of Abimbola Martins-Ogbonna, who died exactly a year ago from a fire incident during a scuffle with her husband, Ikechukwu Ogbonna, has said the family is yet to come to terms with the incident.

    She said the children still ask after the mother of five.

    Mrs. Samuels spoke to reporters from her Abuja office to mark the first anniversary of the late Abimbola.

    She said even her mother too has been trying to come to terms with the demise of her daughter while also insisting that the late Abimbola did not deserve the fate that befell her on October 12, 2022 when the fire incident happened.

    She also added that the mother, Madam Comfort Martins, had insisted that she would be attending court proceedings where the case of manslaughter and domestic violence levelled against the husband is being heard.

    According to her:: “For my mum, I want to say that I cannot describe how she feels because I didn’t lose a child. So, I cannot describe her feelings. I only lost a sister. These are completely two different feelings.

    “She lost a child and to lose a child is totally different from losing a sibling and then, no mother prays to bury her child. We all pray that we outlive our parents and all of that.”

    She added that their mother has been coping well even if they feared for her (their mother’s) life immediately after the incident.

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    “At a point, I’ll be honest with you, when I lost my sister in such a horrible manner, I thought I was not just going to lose my sister alone, I thought I would lose my mum too, but as God would have it, He said it wasn’t yet time and we still have her today.

    “So, we still try to manage her. You can imagine; even when we tell her to stay back and not come along to court, she flares up and lets us know that we don’t understand what she is going through because it was her daughter who died and not someone else.”

    On the kids, Mrs. Samuels said she had been trying to fill in the vacuum created by their mother’s untimely death but it has not been easy. She added the two eldest kids had to go for therapy which was paid for by Amnesty International.

    “They have lost their mum at an early age. The first boy is 13 years old, the girl is 12, the third is seven years; the next is five and then the youngest child is three years old. I always try to fill that gap for them, the motherly gap, but I also want to believe that it’s not easy because even the first boy and girl had to go for therapy. It was Amnesty International that paid for the therapy.

    “They (the children) came and told me that they didn’t want to go for therapy again. I just tried to reason with them and I asked them why and they said that it made everything just come back to them that their mum is no more.”

    On how the kids got to know about their mother’s death, Mrs. Samuels said the story was all over the media by the time they came back from school.

    “Their mum’s story was already all over social media, so, by the time the police and their grandma went to pick them up from school, the older ones already knew what happened to their mum. So, they hugged their grandma and started crying.

    “They packed their bags and they left school. What I ensured was that the older ones were there when the mum was laid to rest. The other ones didn’t have that understanding; they only knew that their mum was no longer around but they didn’t know where she was.

    “The older ones knew because I told my family that they needed to be there (at the burial) because we were not going to lay their mum to rest again. So, we let them have an idea of it, let them see her body lowered into the ground, let them know that that is the reality of life. It was after that that Amnesty International took them up and sent them for therapy, but the remaining three are still with their grandma; they don’t quite understand that.”
    She said the late Abimbola was breastfeeding the youngest child and that’s why the last child still cries a lot at night.

    She then called on government to do something about domestic violence so that young men and women are not lost at their prime.

  • Aba Easter attack: Rescued victim dies in hospital

    One of the rescued victims of Easter Monday’s kidnap in Aba, Abia State has been reported dead in a yet-to-be disclosed private hospital in the commercial city where he was said to be receiving treatment for gunshot wounds sustained during the shootout.

    Gunmen on Monday evening abducted two men they had trailed from Azikiwe Road to a spot between Pound Road and St. Michael’s Road/Adazi and shot sporadically to scare people as they made for escape with their victims.

    However, on getting to the Good Morning Market area of the city, the hoodlums were engaged in a shootout by security men which led to the arrest of one of the criminals and recovery of vehicles and some other items including AK 47 raffle.

    A security source said that during the gunbattle, one of the kidnap victims who was still seated instead of the SUV they were abducted in, was hit by a bullet and after the operation, was rushed to a private hospital on Azikiwe Road where doctors on duty battled to save his life.

    The source said the man whose identity could not easily be known, died Tuesday evening, less than 24 hours after he was rushed to the hospital, as a result of the injuries he sustained.

    However, the other victim said to be the major target of the kidnappers, reportedly went home unhurt and is said to have reunited with the family members.

    When contacted, Abia command police public relations officer (PPRO), Geoffrey Ogbonna said he was not aware of the man’s death.

  • Schalke, Leverkusen battle Liverpool, Spurs for Ogbonna

    Schalke, Leverkusen battle Liverpool, Spurs for Ogbonna

    According to reports by Gazzetta TV, a number of clubs outside the Serie A are showing interest in Italy international Angelo Ogbonna.

    A move to the Bundesliga could be on the cards with Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen eyeing a summer swoop for the Juventus defender.

    It was reported by the British media last week that Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are mulling over a bid for him when the transfer window reopens.

    Ogbonna, who turned 27 on Saturday, is contracted with The Old Lady until 2018 and is rated in the region of ten million euros by unofficial sources.

    Born in Cassino, Italy , Ogbonna has spent the last ten years of his career in Turin representing Torino and Juventus.

  • Ogbonna counts on Juventus’ form

    Ogbonna counts on Juventus’ form

    Angelo Obinze Ogbonna is insisting Juventus are unshakeable despite seeing their Serie A unbeaten record ended by Genoa.

    The Bianconeri lost 1-0 at Marassi on Wednesday, and that allowed Roma to catch them at the top of the table on 22 points.

    “We are mentally solid and unshakeable. We are only in Week 9, as last season we had 22 points and Roma were five in front of us Ogbonna told Jtv.

    “It is only normal that there are big expectations around us, but we are relaxed, knowing we must be concentrated on the finish line.

    “We slipped against Genoa,but we immediately have a game against Empoli to make up for it.We will find the same difficulties we had at Genoa,because smaller teams clam up against us and it’s difficult to find spaces.We must therefore be wary of counter-attacks and become more clinical.”

    The Empoli tie is brought forward today so that Juventus can prepare for their Champions League clash with Olympiacos in Turin.

    “We have a good chance of qualifying and must give our all, but the help of the fans will be fundamental and on Tuesday I really hope they can be our 12th Man”

    Juve lost 1-0 in Athens and are three points adrift of Olympiacos and Atletico Madrid in their Champions League group.

  • Luton Town monitor Ogbonna

    Luton Town monitor Ogbonna

    Luton Town manager John Still was in the stands on Tuesday to run the rule over Kettering Town attacker Dubi Ogbonna at Latimer Park, according to northantstelegraph.co.uk.

    The coach and his assistant must have left the stadium nodding their head in approval, after the Anglo – Nigerian netted his sixth goal of the season in the 5 – 0 hammering of St Ives Town.

    This website understands that as many as seven clubs in the upper divisions are keeping tabs on Dubi Ogbonna, and he could depart Kettering Town even before the start of the winter transfer market.

     

  • Ogbonna’s grand wedding

    WHEN former Miss Chinasa Viola Ogbonna accepted Mr. Chris Ogbonna Emmanuel Egburonu’s hand in marriage on Saturday, 10th May, 2014 at Mater Dei Cathedral, Azikiwe Road, Umuahia, Abia State, guests described the ceremony as ‘an event that would not be forgotten in a hurry in Umuahia.’

    In attendance at the grand reception held in Villa Roy Hotels and Suits, No. 19 Mission Hill, also in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, were the crème de la crème of both Abia and Imo states, including large delegates from the Ogbonna family in Mbaise, Imo State, Egburonu family and their well wishers from Apuanu Item in Abia State, the Ogbulafor kindred from Olokoro Umuahia and Viola/Ogbonna’s friends and colleagues from Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Aba, Calabar and surrounding cities in the eastern part of Nigeria.

  • Nigeria vs Italy international friendly: Ogbonna may start for the Azzurri

    Nigeria vs Italy international friendly: Ogbonna may start for the Azzurri

    Cesare Prandelli has opted to select an experimental Italian team for his side’s clash with Nigeria tonight.

    The Azzurri face Stephen Keshi’s men in an international friendly at Fulham’s Craven Cottage tonight and the 56-year-old Italian will look to use a host of relatively untried players for the game.

    Prandelli had named a 28-man strong squad ahead of matches with Germany and Nigeria, and after the 1-1 draw with Germany on Friday, he said he plans to use today’s game as a chance to rotate his squad.

    Among those likely to start are Italy-born Nigerian Angelo Ogbonna, reserve goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, Zenit Saint Petersburg defender Domenico Criscito and Parma’s Marco Parolo.

    Ogbonna replaced Barzagli against Germany, while Criscito played after a year’s absence in the same match. Parolo has made only one appearance for Italy.

    Italy won the only previous encounter between the two sides, when they beat the Super Eagles 2-1 in the second round of the 1994 World Cup.