The Nation Newspaper

Tag: victim

  • ‘Our India story, by dog-bite victim’s father

    ‘Our India story, by dog-bite victim’s father

    It is a tragic story with a happy ending. When four-year-old Omonigho Abraham was almost devoured by two Alsatian dogs last November, many thought the worst had happened.

    The dogs chewed off the boy’s scalp and almost left him for dead in his father’s apartment in Igando, a Lagos suburb.

    Last December, he was flown to India for further treatment.

    Little Omonigho returned home last Thursday hale and hearty.

    His highly-elated father Odia Abraham said the treatment the boy had  in India could  not be compared to what he was getting here before being flown out.

    During a thank you visit to a private broadcast station, Television Continental (TVC), monitored in Lagos, Abraham said Nigeria has a long way to go to meet modern-day health challenges.

    According to him, there seems to be dearth of medical personnel to attend effectively to patients.

    Omonigho and his elder brothers were playing in their compound before he was attacked by the dogs. His brothers escaped.

    He was admitted at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) before being moved to India.

    In India, Abraham said his boy was monitored thrice daily, but in LASUTH, it was twice weekly.

    “While one physician was attached to him in Nigeria, six physicians were attached to him in India. We really need to upgrade our health institution,” he said.

    Abraham thanked the Lagos and Delta state governments for their assistance towards the Indian trip.

    He also appreciated non-governmental organisations and the media for their support.

    Omonigho’s mother, Mrs Helen Abraham could not hide her joy seeing her son back hale and hearty.

    The boy, she said, is due back in India in a few weeks for check-up. She thanked Nigerians for their prayers.

  • #BBOG queries govt on N80b victim support fund

    The #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) advocacy group is asking the government why it is taking so long to implement the N80 billion victims support fund to care for insurgency victims.

    It said while the National Information Centre (NIC) Coordinator, Mike Omeri, told BBC Hausa that they were waiting to reach a certain amount, Boko Haram victims were suffering and dying.

    The group accused the government of ignoring many helpless Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

    Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the group’s usual sit-out, a member, Abiola Sanusi, said: “After listening to survivors of Boko Haram, I call them survivors even though some may refer to them as victims, I ask the government what is being done with the N80 billion victims support fund that was raised to care for people suffering as a result of Boko Haram?

    “What is the Borno State government doing to rehabilitate the escaped Chibok girls and their parents who are experiencing psychological trauma? The other day, Mike Omeri was speaking on BBC Hausa and he was asked why they were yet to implement the fund and he said they were waiting for it to reach a certain amount. What are they waiting for while these survivors are suffering with barely enough food to eat and some are dying from diseases? Why is the Federal Government allowing them to suffer and is not assisting them?”

    Another member, Fatima Abba-Kaka, who visited several IDP camps in Borno, said the government had failed the IDPs.

    She said: “There are about 18 official IDP camps in Maiduguri, but several other IDPs take cover in the homes of influential people. The camps are something else and the people are suffering with barely enough food and medicine.

    “Their existence is an unfortunate issue that the government is trying to avoid or deny, but we can see the havoc caused by Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The victims of this carnage are increasing everyday.

    “Personally, my government has failed me and these people don’t even know if they have a government. The state government is providing little relief materials for them in the absence of the Federal Government, but there is corruption in the camps and the victims are being shortchanged

  • Ebola: Two down with fever in Lagos after contact with victim

    Ebola: Two down with fever in Lagos after contact with victim

    The Lagos State Government on Friday said two persons out of those who had contacts with Mr. Patrick Sawyer, the dead Liberian Ebola victim, had manifested symptoms of fever.

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, made the disclosure when he addressed newsmen on the update of the country‘s first Ebola case in Ikeja.

    Idris said the two persons were among the 70 contacts being monitored and investigated for any symptoms of the disease by the state government and other partners.

    The commissioner, who said the two cases were under observation, however stressed that they did not test positive  to the virus.

    Idris said the state government would continue to monitor all contacts with the victims until the end of the 21 incubation day  period of the virus.

    “Our Rapid Response Team is currently tracking all contacts of persons exposed to the dead passenger with Ebola virus.

    “The contract tracing team is following 70 contacts of the EVD case and linking them to clinical support when needed.

    “Two suspect cases had fever, they are under observation and so far have tested  negative to the virus.

    “The monitoring of suspect cases will continue until the end of the period of 21 days from their exposure to the victim,’’ he said.

    The commissioner said an emergency operation centre had been activated in Lagos ,by the state  and its partners as part of efforts to check the threat  of the virus.

    He added that the Federal Government had stepped up measures to screen incoming passengers to Nigeria to identify any traveler with symptoms through, airport, seaport and border crossing.

    Idris said a deceased body was recently brought to Nigeria from Liberia, explaining that the government was investigating if he died from Ebola.

    The commissioner urged residents to collaborate with government in checking the Ebola threat in the country by reporting suspected case for government‘s intervention.

    While saying diseases thrived well in dirty environments, Idris urged residents to maintain clean body and environment to reduce the risk of the virus.

    Also speaking. Prof. Abdul Salim Nasidi of the National Disease Control Centre said noted that though disease had no cure ,it was treatable.

    He warned members of the public against emphasizing that the virus had not cure,saying it might discourage those with suspected cases from accessing treatment.

    While saying the Federal Government was doing everything to check the threat of the disease,Nasidi urged citizens not to panic as no fresh case had been discovered yet in the country

  • Is Clara Chime a victim of love?

    Is Clara Chime a victim of love?

    The news came to everyone rather surreptitiously. The governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, reportedly detained the first lady. The image was unsavoury: a governor, in his hectoring majesty, ordering the security aides to corral Clara. The image takes on more dramatic hue as we imagine the screaming first lady pinned down, her hands wrapped around her back, forced either to sit down or lie down, her clothes out of joint, before the doors are locked against her.

    This contradicts the temperament and powers of first ladies. First ladies often pin down their men, extract special favours and sometimes ride more glorious convoys than their husbands. Quite often, aides fear them more than their husbands. A person can be fired but a soft word from the first lady can redeem the job. Even when the governor confesses a special softness for an aide, the first lady who shares a contrary standpoint could reverse the affection. She could make life so difficult for that aide and the governor that her triumph is a foregone conclusion.

    She is the prop, whisper and, sometimes, bully behind the throne, the pillow-talk queen. That made it quite difficult for many to digest the narrative of a humiliated power dame. But some who had followed the story of Governor Chime had observed some traits counterintuitive to this picture of governor-first lady relationship.

    We remember Chime ushering in the New Year with stories of his failure to let anyone know if he was sick and why he would not convey, in simple language, why he could not communicate with the people of the state. The people who voted him into power knew nothing about the person they voted for, whether he was alive or dead. Consequently, the rumour mills buzzed, and depending on who you asked, they said Governor Chime suffered from one illness or another. Imagination overthrew reality.

    He never loved the media, and saw any reporter or editor as a predator in his holy of holies. In his recent press briefing, he said he did not hate the media but he had issues with them because when he was ill, some newspapers reported his death. No excuse for newspapers that soared on fiction. It was irresponsible, especially on a delicate matter like death. But Governor Chime fertilised errant imagination by not providing facts as the first information officer of the state. He never saw his own shortcomings. He only saw others’.

    Chime only recently knocked down the building of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries in his state against court orders. Is that not impunity? Does the law matter to the man who defies a court order? Again, he tried to resolve issues he had with university lecturers by unleashing dogs after them.

    Against these news reports, some members of the public had judged the governor as Clara’s predator. But then, he organised a press briefing, and the governor said that his wife was afflicted by mental illness, and he had to restrain her to keep her from ridicule. She was present at the occasion, as well as her present doctor, Aham Agumoh, as well as Clara’s brother.

    Governor Chime tried to paint himself as the husband and protector. And not a few people were impressed. But humans rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has been pushing a different narrative. He said the woman had hired him as her attorney. But the woman had said that she did not hire Falana in the open interview. Yet, a letter leaked to the media that she had contacted a certain chief whom she wanted to contact Falana on her behalf. She admitted in the interview that her letter leaked. That corroborates Falana’s position that she wanted his help. The reporters did not ask Clara Chime why she wrote the letter and whether she insisted on the contents. I contacted Falana and he said Clara’s mother told him to help free her daughter from the grasp of the governor. He also said the woman asked him if she sounded like somebody who was mentally disturbed.

    Two important developments bear investigation. One, why did she ask for a different doctor, and why did she have to scream for the matter to be brought to the fore? The same doctor appeared in the press briefing. Was he supposed to appear there, according to his professional oath, even if the governor wanted to clear his image as a wife bully? Yet, she accepted in the open press briefing that Dr. Agumoh was her doctor, the same doctor she wanted replaced.

    The other question is, did Clara act under duress in the press briefing? What did they discuss with her when they took her away from the media for several minutes?

    What are the details of the doctor’s treatment that have riled even members of her family? Tony Igwe, Clara’s brother, may not have represented other members of the family given the fact that the members object to the present treatment of their daughter. This was clear in the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission. Both Chime’s and Clara’s families did not agree on how her matter was being handled. Could it be that her so-called mental condition is exaggerated? She described her state as nervous breakdown.

    If her situation is not as bad, then is Chime along with Dr. Agumoh not acting like Dr. Bero in Soyinka’s play, Madness and Specialists, where the specialist becomes in a sense guilty of what the patient allegedly suffers? German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “There is always some madness in love. There is also always some reason in madness.” Is it a case of too much love, which itself can injure, or violated love? Shakespeare calls it “cold fire,” “wolvish-ravening lamb,” or “fiend angelical.” Is Clara a victim of love?

    It is always a delicate matter in psychiatry not to over-treat a case or it may itself pass as madness. That was the case in Achebe’s short story, The Madman, when a sane man of high nobility, with no clothes on, pursues a madman, who stole the sane man’s clothes, into the market place. We cannot just forget that the Soviet Union established asylums for dissidents.

    Even the NHRC contradicted itself when it said it was established that she suffered from depression and hallucination. In the five-hour session it had with her, it did not see any such evidence. It is a human rights body, what was its business making judgment about her mental condition, especially when it knew the two families did not agree on the treatment? If they did not agree on the treatment, it means they did not agree on the diagnosis.

    In one breath, the NHRC agreed with a diagnosis and, in another, set up a committee to examine her true state of health. The NHRC said Clara had access to her son and keys to the apartments, but it had no knowledge whether or not that is a recent development prompted by her outcry. The NHRC’s retraction was an afterthought. It has compromised its integrity as a body.

    This has been happening for all of four months, and Governor Chime’s desperate press conference was not actuated by any chivalry but a necessity to save his name. It is not so much that he is interested in transparency.

    When he was flown out of the country, he did not believe in transparency then. He owes Enugu State citizens as well as Nigerians explanations for keeping the matter under wraps while he was abroad. His illness was more important to Nigerians and Enugu State citizens than that of his wife. The health of a whole state hung on him as the carrier of their mandate. No one voted in Clara Chime.

    It was wrong, and even wrong-headed to present himself as a latter-day convert to the doctrine of transparency. May be he is not a convert. He was just pushed to the corner by the cries of the media and the fulminations of Falana. So he acted not out of conscience but necessity. So, he is not Clara’s hero.

  • Kidnap victim narrates ordeal

    An octogenarian that was abducted in Ondo State, Pa. Akinyele Akerele, has narrated his ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers.

    Akerele, a former President of the Bread Bakers’ Association in the state, was abducted near his home in Igbobini by gunmen.

    Narrating his ordeal to reporters, Akerele said his abductors blindfolded him and took him by sea to Sapele in Delta State.

    He said: “As soon as we got to Sapele, they removed the blindfold because it was useless then. They fed me just gari for the whole month. I was beaten mercilessly, especially when money was not forthcoming.

    “I did not know I would survive it. I had never suffered as much as I did in the last one month in the kidnappers den. I was kept in a dirty place on the water. They changed positions every two weeks.

    “The police rescued me. I was shocked when the police identified me and told me it was over.”

    The police have arrested seven suspected kidnappers in connection with the abduction.

    Police spokesman Wole Ogodo gave the names of the suspects as David Iteli, a.k.a Police; Meetin Ebi; Omosola Olorujuwon, a.k.a Jarule; Owei Yanboh; Toyin Asuluwon Emisa, a.k.a Minister; Oluwafemi Asogbon and Austin Shbija.

  • Anger as search for victim of sunken vessel ends

    The search-and-rescue operation for the crew of the ill-fated Jascon 4 vessel, which sank off the coast of Escravos, Delta State, last Sunday, was called off on Friday. One member remains missing.

    A source told our reporter that foreign experts and their Nigerian counterparts assembled for the rescue mission, called it a day last Friday, much to the consternation of the missing seafarer’s family.

    The family of the missing seaman, identified as Richard Egbe, was unhappy with the development.

    “Can you imagine, our brother is still missing, yet we heard that they have called off the search? I do not want to believe this should happen,” a family source said.

    Jascon 4, owned by West Africa Venture (WAV), a subsidiary of Sea Truck Group (STG), sank last Sunday during a routine tow of an oil tanker to the BOP owned by Chevron Nigeria.

    Sources at the Warri office of Chevron Nigeria Limited said Egbe was holed up in the engineer’s room of the vessel, when it sank.

    A search later revealed the wreck of the vessel in the bed of the Atlantic Sea, leading to the discovery of 11 of the 12-man crew, among which the cook, identified as Harrison Oghene, was the only survivor so far.

    Officials of WAV and STG could not be reached for comments yesterday. The Chevron management declined comments.

    It was jubilation for the Oghene family on Saturday, following his discharge from the Chevron Clinic, where he was admitted.

    Oghene was rescued on Tuesday evening by a team of divers, who met him in the vessel’s kitchen, where he was hiding after the vessel sank.

    Narrating his lucky escape, Oghene said he climbed to the top of the cabinets to keep his head above water.

    He said when the diver came to the cabin, he was scared and thought death had finally come for him.

  • How I became victim of judiciary’s injustice, by ex-judge

    How I became victim of judiciary’s injustice, by ex-judge

    A  former judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, Mr. Justice Okechukwu Okeke, yesterday said he was “a victim of injustice in the Nigerian judiciary”.

    The judge, who retired on May 19, spoke at a valedictory court session presided over by the court’s Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta.

    He alleged that a Supreme Court Justice once attempted to influence his ruling.

    Following three petitions against Justice Okeke, which arose from cases he was handling, the National Judicial Council (NJC), in a May 6 letter, “seriously” warned him to desist from acts prejudicial to the judiciary’s integrity.

    But Mr. Justice Okeke challenged the NJC to publish his responses to the petitions.

    “I plead with the NJC, in the interest of justice and the benefit of the citizens of this great country Nigeria to publish in any national newspaper-unedited – the said petitions and my responses to them,” he said.

    Such publication, he said, would comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, and afford Nigerians the opportunity to form their opinion on the petitions’ merit or otherwise.

    Mr. Justice Okeke said his travails began with his adjudication of an application filed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) versus convicted former Oceanic Bank Managing Director Mrs Cecilia Ibru.

    The application was for an order granting AMCON leave to apply for the issuance of a writ of execution (possession) by the court’s registrar in respect of the Federal Government properties forfeited by Ibru following an order made by the court’s former Chief Judge, Mr. Justice Dan Abutu.

    Justice Okeke said the application was argued on March 1. Satisfied that a case had been made out for the exercise of the court’s discretion in favour of the applicant, he granted the application as prayed.

    He said: “On 6th of March, 2013, I received a call from the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court that Honourable Justice Clara Ogunbiyi of the Supreme Court of Nigeria was furious with me for granting leave to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, which led to the ejection of her daughter and son-in-law from No. 5A, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    “I explained the position to him. In his characteristic policy of non-interference with his judges in the discharge of their duties, he advised me to hear any application for the discharge of the order of 1st of March whenever filed.

    “On 8th day of March 2012, one Funke Ogunbiyi came to my Chambers at about 9.04 am, completed the visitor’s form in which she stated her address as No. 5A, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos and wrote her phone number…She was led into the chambers.

    “She introduced herself as a daughter of Honourable Justice Clara Ogunbiyi of Supreme Court of Nigeria, that she was living with her husband at No. 5A, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, and that the mother …directed her to tell me to discharge the Order of 1st March, 2013 as there was no basis for the order.

    “I advised her that since they have filed a Motion on Notice for the setting aside of the order of 1st of March, 2013, that their counsel should meet the registrar of the court for a date for their motion,” Mr. Justice Okeke said.

    According to him, after considering the processes filed, he dismissed the application to set aside the order and advised the interveners/applicants to take their case to the Court of Appeal.

    “Hell was let loose on me,” Mr. Justice Okeke said, adding: “The interveners/applicants and their counsel wrote a petition against me which they backdated 18th March 2013 to the NJC.”

    Despite the petitions and “warning”, the former judge said NJC, in a May 13 letter, wished him “happy retirement after putting in years of dedicated and meritorious service to, particularly, the Federal judiciary”.

    Justice Auta, who is a member of the NJC, said he would not comment on the allegations and issues Mr. Justice Okeke raised concerning his travails.

    He described Mr. Justice Okeke as a man of honour. “The occasion underscores the important principle that excellence in the discharge of one’s responsibility and selfless service to the nation are virtues worthy of perfection and emulation,” Justice Auta said, adding:

    “Hon. Justice Okeke, above all, is a true Igbo man…You may have a second view to his own on all things or have a second view about him on many things, but there is always unanimity of opinion about his honesty. His integrity is impeccable.”

    Among guests at the court session were former Chief Judges of the court, Abdullahi Mustapha and Rose Ukeje; states Attorneys-General, including Ade Ipaye who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and Peter Afuba, his Anambra counterpart; Senior Advocates of Nigeria, including Chief Theodore Ezeobi, Dr Joseph Nwobike, Mr Kemi Pinhero, Mrs Funke Adekoya and Mr Rickey Tarfa, among others.

    Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi, yesterday refrained from commenting on the allegation by Justice Okechukwu Okeke (Federal High Court) that Justice Clara Bata-Ogunbiyi of the Supreme Court once attempted to influence his decision in a case.

    When The Nation contacted him through the telephone, he said he could not comment on such an allegation because he was not present when it was made.

    “I don’t know anything about the allegation. I am not in Lagos, where you said the allegation was made. I am in Abuja. I don’t know what happened in Lagos.

    “So, how do you expect me to be reacting to an allegation that I do not know anything about and was not where it was made?”

  • Accident victim for surgery in India

    Accident victim for surgery in India

    After a car crash in 2004 left her with a badly fractured leg, Mrs Ndifreke Godwin, a native of Mbak Itam in Akwa Ibom State, now has a chance to walk normally again.

    That chance was provided by the Eunice Development Foundation (EDF), operated by The Apostolic Mount Olive Church in the state. The foundation sponsored Mrs Godwin’s corrective surgery in India.

    When she had the accident in August 2004, she was rushed to Barry White Memorial Hospital (BMH) unconscious. She lost so much blood. The situation at the hospital was so critical that she was said not to be not responding to treatment. She was referred to Enugu Hospital where it was recommended that the leg be amputated. She declined, saying that help will come one day and she would walk normally again.

    Upon her discharge from the hospital in Enugu, she was referred to Rehoboth Hospital in Port Harcourt for another round of surgery. A comprehensive surgery was carried out, with one of her lumber bones used to replace her tibia. Still, she had no respite.

    In one of the church services, the General Overseer of the church, Apostle David Udo Udo told her it was her life that the devil was after, and that she should be happy she was alive. He also promised to send her to India for surgery. Apostle Udo lived up to his promise.

    Speaking to reporters, Mr Chile Ukata, who represented the foundation, appreciated the vision of the General Overseer to help the less-privileged, saying the EDF has dug boreholes for communities in Cross River State, distributed wrappers to widows and the needy as well as built a bungalow for a widow in Akwa Ibom State.

    During the floods of last year, the church sent a team of welfare committee members to the Ahoada camps for displaced persons and presented them with relief materials.

    Ukata, who is a lawyer and member of the foundation’s welfare department, presented a cash of $2,000 and travelling documents to Mrs Godwin and her husband.

  • N7.6m fraud victim takes case to IGP

    On November 2, 2010, Alhaji Saliu Alabi Omoniyi had the rare luck of seeing his defrauder walk into his trap. He was happy that he would soon have his life back. Reason: The fraudster promised to return his money.

    However, his joy was short-lived as some police officers introduced a twist that cut short his expectation. Today, two years after his ordeal, he is still waiting for justice.

    The suspected fraudster, Princewill Arinze, specialised in defrauding Bureau de Change operators, posing as a Senator. Omoniyi fell prey to Arinze on April 20, 2010 at his Marina, Lagos office.

    “Some fuel station attendants beside my office came to me that someone needed my services and that he wouldn’t alight from his car because he is a senator,” Omoniyi told The Nation.

    “I went to him and he said he needed $40,000 and £5,000. As we agreed; I went to satisfy his request while he went to get the naira equivalent at a nearby bank. When I came back, he said the bank did not have enough money and asked that I follow him to the bank’s headquarters,” he added.

    Omoniyi entered the Toyota Sienna car with the ‘Senator’ and his supposed orderly, a Mobile Police officer. He knew he was in trouble when the ‘Senator’ gave him a “deafening slap” and the MOPOL hit him with his gun butt. They collected all he had on him – $40,000, £5,000, and N348,860.

    “They drove to school where a police van crossed our car and forced us to park. I was happy. I thought the officers saw them beating me and came to my rescue,” he said.

    He was wrong. The ‘Senator’ alighted and entered the police van. Two officers, one in mufti and the other in uniform, entered the Sienna car, sandwiching Omoniyi and another round of beating started as they drove off in a convoy.

    After a while, the ‘senator’ alighted from the police van and entered another vehicle, a Mercedes Benz Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). Omoniyi’s captors drove him to Osborne Road, Ikoyi, where they collected his two mobile phones, a gold wristwatch and a stamp used to authenticate dollars. He was given N700 and forced off the moving car.

    “By then, I looked like a mad man,” he said. He reported the matter at Zone 2 Police Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos but every lead they followed led to nowhere. “Life became difficult because I actually borrowed most of the money from colleagues,” he said.

    But on November 1, he was “relaxing” close to the office of an operator, who was Arinze’s next target. “I recognised him immediately I saw him, but I didn’t shout because I feared he might have a gun on him. After he left, I went to meet the operator who told me Arinze was a Senator and wanted to buy dollars worth N23 million. I quickly told him my story and we set a trap for him,” he said.

    “Arinze was caught the next day and taken to Zone 2. He confessed that he robbed me and right there, he wrote two cheques in my name, one for N3 million and another for N4.62 million. At that point, the officer, who was in mufti, asked me to leave the room but I was eavesdropping. He asked for N2m to spoil the case. They refused to release the cheques to me till today,” Omoniyi said.

    The matter was transferred from Zone 2 to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) and from there to Force Headquarters, Abuja.

    “When I went to Abuja, I saw about 17 others who said Arinze also robbed them. When he was paraded before us, he denied defrauding others but he again confessed that he robbed me. Still, they refused to give me the cheques,” he said.

    Omoniyi came back to Lagos and sought legal intervention from Olabode Abikoye, who petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), in a letter dated February 25, 2011, to transfer Arinze’s case back to Lagos, where the offence was committed.

    Greg F. Esele, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who was the principal staff officer III to the IGP, wrote to Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command on March 11, 2011. The letter, with the reference number CB:7000/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL. 15/44 directed Lagos Police Commissioner to “treat” the matter.

    On that same day the IGP’s letter was written, Arinze was flown to Lagos and quickly arraigned before Magistrate O.I Oguntade of Igbosere Magistrate’s Court on a nine-count charge by Ubanwa Kennez, an Assistant Superintendent of Police based in Abuja.

    “We could only watch the proceedings. We could not join ourselves in the matter,” said Mr. Abikoye.

    Arinze was granted bail at the second hearing on March 25. At the third hearing on May 11, 2011, Kennez told the court he could not be coming from Abuja to appear in the matter. He said he had been advised to “transfer the file to D.P.P Lagos for legal advice” and presented a letter dated April 5, 2011 addressed to DPP Lagos from Commissioner of Police, Legal Department, Abuja.

    At the fourth hearing on July 12, 2011, Arinze, his lawyer and prosecutor were absent and the proceeding ended in another impasse.

    “We have done what we knew we could. We checked the DPP’s office but there was no such letter from Abuja asking for legal advice. Now the matter could not proceed,” Abikoye said

  • Defiled victim fighting for life

    A twenty four-year-old woman is fighting for her life after she was defiled by a gang of four youths

    The Delta State Police Command said it has arrested three youths in connection with the crime.

    Police spokesman Famous Ajieh, who confirmed the arrests, identified the suspects as Tejiri Akpofure, Ogbor Seth and Great Obrakpo

    He said the suspects were picked up separately in their homes on Cemetery Road in Warri, Delta State.

    He said one of the suspects, Stephen Ebeme, is on the run.

    Ajieh said the suspects confessed to the crime, adding that a BlackBerry phone used by them in recording the incident was recovered.

    The victim, who is receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital, got in a taxi cab with four male passengers from Odion Road to her residence in Aguowe Street, Off Mac Demot Road.

    It was gathered that the driver suddenly took a different direction from the victim’s destination.

    Sources said when the victim challenged the driver, the other passengers drew a dagger and threatened to kill her if she raised the alarm.

    It was learnt they drove to a storey building on Cemetery Road where the victim was raped until she became unconscious.

    However, luck ran out on them when the Quick Response Squad of the Delta State Police Command in Warri, arrested them.

    Ajieh said the command also had in its custody three suspected murderers/kidnappers.

    The suspects are Ola Ikwueke, Ikechukwu Uwaguna and David Evjouke.

    He said the gang members were arrested for allegedly killing Emmanuel Chukwunolu, who resisted attempts to kidnap him on December 23, at Ebeneku in Ndokwa West Local Government.