The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Suspected

  • Court discharges suspected kidnapper

    Chief Magistrate A.O Komolafe sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, has struck out a kidnap charge preferred against Adebayo Orekoya for lack of dilligent prosecution.

    Orekoya was arraigned last June 30 for allegedly attempting to kidnap a Lagos socialite, Adelekan Victor, popularly known as “Ade Lexus”.

    The police alleged that Orekoya conspired with other persons at large and attempted to kidnap Victor.

    The police alleged that Orekoya last May 10 persistently followed Victor from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital to Pekas Club on Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos with the intent to kidnap him.

    The charge reads: “That you Adebayo Orekoya and others already charged to Magistrate’s Court 2, Ikeja in Charge No. MIK/B/132/2014 on May 10, 2014 at about 23:30hrs at Pekas Club Allen Avenue, in the Lagos Magisterial District did attempt to kidnap one Ade Victor by persistently following him from Ibadan in Oyo State to Pekas Club, Allen Avenue, Lagos in an attempt to kidnap him.”

    The offence, according to the police, is punishable under Sections 271 and 410 of the criminal laws of Lagos State 2011.

    Orekoya pleaded not guilty.

    Despite several adjournments, the police failed to produce witnesses, the Investigating Police Officer, (IPO) also failed to appear in court.

    Discharging the defendant last Thursday, Chief Magistrate Komolafe said it was clear the police were not ready to prosecute the case.

    Defendant’s counsel Terry Badmus told reporters that the court’s decision justified his claim that the police cooked up the charge against his client.

    He said he would file a suit against the police for malicious prosecution.

  • Suspected suicide bomber lynched in Bauchi

    An angry crowdat a market in Bauchi yesterday beat up a teenage girl to death after accusing her of being a suicide bomber.

    The police and witnesses said she was set ablaze.

    A second suspect, also a teenage girl, was arrested at Muda Lawal, the biggest market in Bauchi city.

    A spate of suicide bombings has been attributed to Boko Haram Islamic extremist group, which wants to enforce strict Islamic laws across Nigeria.

    The group has threatened to disrupt the country’s  March 28 presidential and legislative elections, saying democracy is a corrupt Western concept.

    In Bauchi, the two girls aroused suspicion by refusing to be searched when they arrived at the gate to the vegetable market, a yam vendor, Mohd Adamu said. “People overpowered one girl and discovered she had two bottles strapped to her body,” he said. “They clubbed her to death, put a tyre doused in fuel over her head and set it on fire,” he added.

    “It seems doubtful the girl was actually a bomber, as she did not detonate any explosives when she was attacked,” said Police Deputy Superintendent Mohammad Haruna. He described her as a victim of “mob action carried out by an irate crowd.”

    Recently, some girls as young as 10 have been used to carry explosives that detonated in busy markets and bus stations, raising fears that Boko Haram may be using some of its hundreds of kidnap victims in bomb attacks. It’s unclear whether such girls detonate explosions themselves or whether the bombs are controlled remotely.

    President Goodluck Jonathan last week condemned the Boko Haram insurgents for choosing soft targets and said the series of bombings were a response to the Nigerian military’s recent success in seizing back scores of towns that had been in the hands of the extremists for months.

    A multinational military force, including Nigeria’s neighbours is being formed to stop Boko Haram’s attacks outside Nigeria’s borders.

    Some 10,000 people died in Nigeria from Boko Haram’s violence last year, compared to 2,000 in the first four years, according to the United States Council on Foreign Relations. Some 1.5 million people have also been driven from their homes.

  • Security operatives kill suspected hoodlum

    Security operatives yesterday killed a suspected hoodlum in a gun battle in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    The suspect, believed to be in his 30s, was said to be a policeman from Okene, Kogi State.

    The incident occurred at Anifowoshe community, Pakata, Ilorin.

    The gun duel was said to have started about 2am and  lasted till 11am.

    Police Commissioner  Salihu Garba confirmed that there was an operation in the area. In the gun battle, a member of the security team, it was learnt, sustained bullet wounds in his arm.

    A team of the Kwara State special security operative code-named: ‘Operation Armony’, was drafted to join in the operation.

    Residents were held hostage for hours. The main road near Government Girls Day Secondary School was blocked by the security team, thus preventing vehicular movement.

    When our correspondent arrived at the scene about 12:30pm, the building was riddled with bullets.

    A source said the security operatives had been on the trail of the suspect for three days.

    He was said to be hiding in the apartment he rented for his mother and wife at Anifowoshe annex when the security operatives, comprising soldiers and Air Force personnel, swooped on him.

    A resident, who preferred anonymity, told our correspondent that the suspect was believed to be a terrorist.

    When the exchange of fire became fierce, the suspect was said to have hidden in the roof, while security agents were unrelenting.

    The security men reportedly took away the suspect’s body.

    A source said: “We started hearing sporadic gunshots about 2am. We thought political thugs fighting.

    “Later, we discovered it was an Ebira man, who rented an apartment for his mother and wife in the area, who engaged security men in a gun duel. Among them were soldiers and Air Force officers.

    “I think they have been on his trail for three days because they were about evicting him from the house. I knew him (the suspect) to be a policeman.

    “Before the operation started, they evacuated every occupant and seized their phones. The suspect went into hiding. Later, it was discovered that he was hiding in the roof. They overpowered him, although he shot a soldier in the arm.”

  • Four suspected robbers arrested

    Four suspected robbers arrested

    Luck has run out against four of the eight-man gang that allegedly snatched a black Acura MDS Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in Ajegunle, Lagos, last December.

    The suspects were arrested by operatives of the Zonal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (ZSARS) in Olorunsogo, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital when they attempted to sell the vehicle.

    They are Idowu Ibrahim, 26, Rasak Abib, 25, Saheed Ramoni, 25, and Azeez Ayinde, 25. The officer in charge of ZSARS, Peter Gana, a superintendent of police (SP), while parading the suspects, said the vehicle belonging to Orhomuro Michael was snatched while the owner was driving into his house. Their armourer, Toheeb, and driver, Michael, are at large.

    Ibrahim who hails from Ajashe in Kwara state, was a commercial driver on the Oshodi-Mile 2 route, before he took to the underworld through what is known as one-chance’.

    He said: “We used to select passengers to enable us overpower our victims especially women. We did not use gun that time rather we used motor jack which we manipulated as gun to intimidate our victims. We did not beat or torture our victims and we did not push any victim out of our operational bus on motion. We used to operate only on Tuesdays and Fridays and each trip fetched us between N20, 000 and N50,000.

    “I resigned when I was arrested and charged to court because one of our victims (a woman) recognised our operational conductor Michael when we carried her and robbed her. Police came with Michael and arrested me. When I came back from prison, I decided to be snatching phones, jewelry, laptops and we have been succeeding.

    “On December 24, as we were going about along Kadosu Street in Ajegunle, we saw a man inside his jeep sleeping and well parked at his gate. We thought that his people refused to open the gate for him because he returned home late. When we got closer to him, we discovered that he was drunk and deep asleep and we carried him down and laid him by the gate and zoomed off with his jeep around 4am. We took the jeep to Ibadan and sold it for N280, 000 when the market price is N2.5 million. It was during Christmas period. The road was free and people were in celebration mood. The papers were complete. Unfortunately, on December 26, operatives of ZSARS led by SP Peter Gana trailed us to Ibadan and caught us where we were waiting for the buyer. We did not know that they had been trailing us. The buyer and one of our gang members escaped.”

    Abib, who is from Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, was also a commercial bus driver.

    “My role when we were doing one chance work was to sit at the back seat of our operational bus and pretend as a passenger to attract other passengers. I helped to carry the drunken man out of his jeep to the ground.”

    The third suspect Ramoni, from Igesan Village in Ogun State, is the gang’s bus conductor.

    Ayinde, an automobile technician said, he did not join them for the “one-chance” operations.

    He said: “I only participated in car snatching. It was Abib that laid him beside the gate where he continued to sleep. My role is to search victims and collect their money, laptops, phones.”

  • Suspected cultists kill Ughelli tycoon

    •Residents decry security agents’ ‘incompetence’  

    An Ughelli businessman, Michael Onajiyovwi (aka Onamike), has been killed by suspected cultists in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

    His killing has added to several other killings in the area by suspected cultists.

    Onajiyovwi was said to have been shot dead at a popular drinking spot belonging to his wife on the Ughelli end of the East/West Road.

    Residents of the community have blamed security agents for failing to protect them from hoodlums.

    Onajiyovwi was an electrical parts dealer. He was shot in a drinking spot he opened for the wife on the Ughelli end of the East/West road.

    Although details on his death were still sketchy last night, our reporter learnt that he was shot by three gunmen at a close range.

    A member of the Ughelli vigilance team, who spoke in confidence, confirmed the incident.

    He said the incident might be connected with recent cult killings.

    Efforts to contact police spokesperson, Celestina Kalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), were unsuccessful.

    Calls to her mobile phone were not answered.

  • Suspected gunmen kidnap pastor

    •A day after wedding

    Four suspected gunmen kidnapped an Aba, Abia State cleric, Pastor Jasper Ohuoba, a day after his wedding.

    Ohuoba, it was learnt, was accosted and whisked away when he was about to drive into his compound near World Bank Housing Estate, Abayi, Aba.

    The cleric, said to be a pastor at the Church of God Seventh Day, was reportedly forced into the back seat of his Toyota Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and taken to an unknown destination.

    A source said luck ran out on the suspected kidnappers when the engine of the SUV stopped and refused to start.

    The source said the gunmen called their boss, who told them to leave.

    He added: “In anger, they beat up the cleric, snatched his ipad, two phones, N40,000 and escaped into a nearby bush.

    “When the pastor realised that his abductors had fled, he beckoned to a passerby, who assisted him to contact his family.”

    A member of the church, who preferred anonymity, thanked God for rescuing Ohuoba.

    Policemen from the Eastern Ngwa Police Division in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State have rescued a woman kidnapped by three armed men.

    The victim, whose name was given as Onyemereze Patricia, was said to have been abducted by the gunmen in her home at Umuafor village in Obingwa Council.

    A source said the victim was taken to an unknown destination.

    It was learnt that when the police were conducting stop- and-search on cars plying the new Umuahia Road, the gang abandoned the woman and fled. The police rescued her.

    A policeman, who would not want his name to be mentioned, said efforts were on to arrest the abductors.

  • Suspected stowaway teenager arrested at airport

    There was anxiety yesterday at the Lagos Airport as a suspected stowaway teenager was arrested at a private terminal where he attempted to gain entrance into the tyre compartment of an aircraft.

    Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), confirmed the incident, but pleaded not to be named.

    The officials said the teenager gained entrance through the Nigeria Air Force section of the airport.

    According to sources, the male teenager allegedly breached security to stowaway into the aircraft parked at a hangar near the international wing of the airport.

    Investigations revealed that the teenager was discovered yesterday afternoon when pilots of the aircraft were carrying our routine inspection before starting the aircraft engine.

    The commanding pilot of the aircraft was said to have detected the boy in the tyre compartment of the aircraft.

    Two mobile phone sets without SIM cards were also found at the tyre compartment of the aircraft.

    A source hinted that the teenager told the police that he entered the hangar through the facility of Air Defence Corp of Nigerian Headquarters located next to the Presidential/VIP Lounge at the weekend with the connivance of a person he identified as ‘a brother.’

    The teenager, the source said, crossed the L18 runway over to ExecuJet facility at the international wing, a distance of about one kilometre, at night when he noticed there was no flight landing or taking off.

    The aircraft operated by a charter company was said to have flown a former Minister of Petroleum into Lagos airport on Saturday night and parked at the private hangar, where it was expected to take off before the incident happened.

    Military officials could not be reached for confirmation of the incident.

    It was learnt that military authorities and the terminal operators are already trading blames over the ugly development over what a source described as security lapses.

    Investigations, it was learnt has commenced on the incident.

  • Suspected thugs destroy Umeh’s billboards, posters

    Suspected thugs destroy Umeh’s billboards, posters

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, has alleged that suspected hoodlums have destroyed his billboards and posters in Anambra Central.

    He is the party’s candidate for Anambra Central senatorial zone.

    When The Nation went round the zone at the weekend, Umeh’s 27 billboards had been destroyed. His posters were either torn or defaced at Agukwu Nri, Amawbia, Agulu, Adazi ani, Nkpor and Borromeo roundabout.

    Umeh’s campaign Director- General, Obele Chuka Obele, said what happened was a bad precedent in Anambra politics.

    The APGA senatorial candidate at the weekend visited the monarch of Obosi in Idemili North Local Government, Igwe Chidubem Iweka, who assured him of his subjects’ support.

    Umeh said he was not in the race for selfish reasons, but to give the people the dividends of democracy.

  • Tension in Delta community over suspected cultist’s death

    There was pandemonium at the weekend in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, following the alleged killing of a man for suspected cult-related activities.

    The incident occurred at Obodogba Quarters after rival cult groups clashed over money-sharing.

    Okpanam is a suburb of Asaba, the Delta State capital.

    It was gathered that over 20 cultists used dangerous weapons, including battle axes, cutlasses, cudgels and knives, in the clash that led to the death of a cultist.

    Police spokesperson Celestina Kalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the victim died on the way to the hospital.

    She said one person had been arrested in connection with the incident.

    The spokesperson said the command would apprehend other fleeing cultists from their hideouts.

    Kalu urged the residents to remain calm and go about their lawful activities.

    An eyewitness said the deceased, who hailed from Abakiliki, the Ebonyi State capital, had been stabbed in the neck when his “cult group” clashed with another group in the town.

    It was learnt that trouble started when a member of the Baga cult, simply identified as Ozuronye, had his debts forgiven.

    But a rival cult, Two-Two,  ambushed Ozuronye and beat him up.

    An eyewitness said: “Obviously, Ozuronye went to mobilise his members for revenge. The groups met at Obodogba Quarters and unleashed violence.

    Some of them sustained severe injuries, including Ozuronye, who died on the way to hospital.”

    A source said the body of the deceased had been deposited at a hospital’s mortuary.

  • Judge remands 20 suspected vandals in prison

    Judge remands 20 suspected vandals in prison

    Justice Okon Abang of the Lagos Federal High Court has ordered that 20 suspected pipeline vandals be remanded in prison over the Arepo, Ogun State shootout last May.

    His order followed the arraignment of the accused by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism.

    The accused, comprising two women and 18 men, were arraigned on a 12-count charge of killing seven policemen in the encounter that led to an explosion at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline.

    They are: Felix Yayu, Ijoufaya Legbe, Yakubu Ebiwei, Augustine Ebiwei, Tamara Dembofa, Owei Atile, Agbara Tiewei, Rufus Godwin, Tierry Koiyetin, Ebis Sobijoh, and Ibori Lawrence.

    Others are: Eberebu Ibori, Atinuke Odewale, Fatai Bolaji Ishola, Ahmed Bashoru, Odewale Waheed, Susan Vianana, Tuesday Filatei, Yeiyah Yello and Ismail Abdullahi.

    On May 24, The Nation reported that there was a shootout between some suspected vandals and policemen attached to the Special Task Force, leading to an explosion and disappearance of nine policemen.

    The missing policemen are Inspectors: Kolawole Oguntihemen, Raymond Oriere, Usman Mohammed, Tijani Jimoh, and Corporals Elogbamen Timothy, Yakubu Aliyu, Usman Abdukarim and Dauda Mohammed.

    The charge reads:  ”That you, Felix Yayu, 20 others and some others at large on May 24, 2014 at about 9am, at Arepo area, near Ikorodu, Lagos State in Lagos Judicial Divisions, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit; tampering with oil pipeline and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAP M17 of the Federation.”

    The sixth count reads: “That you, Felix Yayu, 20 others and others still at large on May 24, 2014 at about 9am at Arepo area near Lagos in the Lagos Judicial Division of this Honorable Court did unlawfully kill one Inspector Raymond Oriere by shooting him with a pump-action gun and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Cap C38 Laws of the Federation 2004.”

    The prosecution led by Matthew Omosu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the offence is punishable under the criminal code, noting that the accused pleaded not guilty.

    Justice Abang promised a speedy trial because of the nature of the case. The female accused were remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Prison; the men were taken to Ikoyi Prison. He adjourned the case till August 19 and 20 for trial.

    A team of investigators led by Xpress Omogui, DSP from the Force Headquarters, Abuja witnessed the proceedings.