Metro
‘Assassins’ kill Delta governor’s aide in Sapele
The Special Assistant to Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa on Youth development, Comrade Okiemute Sowho has been killed by suspected assassins in Sapele. He was shot dead around 6p.m. on Saturday evening, near a popular hotel along Akintola road close to the Adeniyi end of the town. According to sources, the deceased had gone to check a building in the vicinity when the assailants surfaced from nowhere and opened fire on him, before speeding away. Sympathizers were said to have taken him to a private hospital in the area where the doctors confirm him dead on arrival before his remains was deposited in the mortuary. A former Councillorship aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ward 3 in Sapele Local Government Area, Daddy K as he is popularly called, was a strong su...
Niger bandits promise to release captives, seek deradicalisation
Armed bandits terrorising some local government areas and communities in Niger State have promised to release all the kidnapped victims in their captivity. This followed a ‘mediation parley’ between a popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, and the criminals. Notorious kidnapping warlords such as Dogon Gida, Kachalla and others, it was gathered, attended the reconciliation forum with Gumi. They expressed willingness to be part of any de-radicalisation exercise or programme that the government will unveil for their repentant ‘boys’. “The meeting took place at an isolated area inside a forest in the state, yesterday,” a security source reliably disclosed. The bandits, he said, told Gumi that they were tired of the atrocities and killing of innocent persons. “They are not happy th...
Police arrest two with truckload of mattresses meant for flood victims in Bayelsa
The police in Bayelsa State have arrested two suspects with a truckload of mattresses allegedly meant for flood victims. The mattresses, it was learned, were warehoused in an undisclosed location in Yenagoa the state capital when the suspect’s break-in and stole the mattresses. Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in the state had raised alarm over the stolen mattresses which prompted the police to react. Confirming the incident, Spokesman of the command, Mr Asinim Bustwat said in a statement “Following a tip-off, Operatives of Bayelsa State Police Command have arrested one Shehu Yola ‘m’ 42 years and one Sunday Emmanuel ‘m’ 28 years, at Okaka, Yenagoa. “The suspects were arrested on 18 February 2021, at about 2100hours, with a truckload of mattresses suspected to be stolen property. “The Co...
Police arrest protesters for allegedly violating coronavirus regulations
The police, on Wednesday, arrested six protesters for allegedly violating COVID-19 protocols in Ilorin, Kwara State. The protesters are teachers sacked by the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq government and were protesting the ongoing exercise for recruitment of new teachers. This newspaper, last week, reported how the protesters blocked the gate to the governor’s office, demanding their reabsorption. The protesters had resumed their demonstration on Wednesday. However, the spokesperson of the police in the state, Ajayi Okasanmi, said a woman and five men were arrested for inciting disturbance and violating COVID-19 protocols. Those arrested are Aransiola Olubukun, Salaudeen Abubakar, Mohammed Soliu, Ibahim Alabi, Isiaka Toyin and Adewale Abdulazeez. “This offence was committed in the proce...
Fire guts goods worth over N35 million in Aba
A late evening fire outbreak on Thursday gutted a three-storey building at No 74 Jubille Road, Aba, Abia, destroying goods worth more than N35 million. The fire also gutted a makeshift warehouse at the back of the three-storey building with Motorcycle spare parts and also burnt the contents of rooms on three floors at the back of the main building. Newsmen visited the scene of the incident and reports that the three-storey building, other adjoining blocks with their wares were not spared by the inferno. Mr Donatus Ezenwaka, a victim and Motorcycle Spare Parts dealer at the building told newsmen on Friday that he was called back at about 11 pm to his shop by a neighbour because the building was on fire. “I came and it was as told me and there was a crowd around here. “They said the fire beg...
Police warn against unlawful gathering in Osun
The Police in Osun has warned against unlawful gathering or blocking of free-flow of traffic in the state. In a statement by the police spokesperson in the state, Yemisi Opalola, the police said it had information that some unscrupulous elements were planning to start an #EndSARS solidarity protest in the state. “The intelligence availed the command revealed that some unscrupulous elements are planning to embark on unlawful gathering, in solidarity with #EndSARS protesters elsewhere. “The commissioner of police has advised that this unlawful plan should be jettisoned. “He has warned that the command will not condone any act that will jeopardise the peace and tranquillity presently enjoyed in the state. “Note also that gathering of any sort now is unlawful and a violation of COVID-19 laws. ...
Nigerian Navy destroys 15 militant camps in Akwa Ibom, Rivers
Getty Images The Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Jubilee, in Ikot Abasi local government area of Akwa Ibom state, said it has destroyed 15 militants camps within its area of jurisdiction in Akwa Ibom and some parts of Rivers state. The Commander, NNS Jubilee, Commodore Abdulmajid Ibrahim, who disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday at the base in Ikot Abasi local government area, Akwa Ibom state said the militant camps were discovered and destroyed during its anti-piracy and anti-sea robbery operations. He stated that the destruction of the militants’ camps by the Nigerian Navy was made possible through the raid of some of the 1,800 creeks within its jurisdiction, adding that the joint patrol operations of the Navy and Nigeria Police have resulted in relative peace and security in the area as well a...
How bandits made woman widow barely a month after marriage
A housewife Ramatu Idris of Unguwar Malam Lamu, Tankarau, Dutsen Abba Ward in Zaria Local Government Area (LGA), has narrated how bandits made her a widow barely a month after her marriage with late Yusuf Suleiman. Idris told newsmen, on Thursday that the incident happened on Feb. 4, at about 12.45 p.m., 28 days after her wedding to Suleiman. “There were about seven of them (bandits). They forced themselves into our home holding guns and a stick. “My husband and I went to find out what was happening on hearing noises and shouts for help,but he was shot on the neck in my presence and he died on the spot. Idris, who has been traumatised by the incident, claimed those who killed her husband were the same criminals that raided the residence of Alhaji Abdulaziz Sani, Councilor representing Duts...
Two men bag three years in jail for drug trafficking
A Federal High Court, sitting in Jos on Thursday, sentenced two men, Masa’udu Ishaku, 28, and Isiaka Garba, 30, to three years imprisonment each for trafficking 868 kilogrammes of Tramadol. Justice Musa Kurya sentenced the defendants after they changed their pleas to guilty for drug trafficking. Kurya held that since the defendants changed their pleas to guilty, and also pleaded for leniency, he would temper Justice with mercy. “You are hereby sentenced to three years imprisonment each, beginning from the day you were remanded in the Correctional Centre. “This sentence is to serve as a deterrent to other young people out there, who might think of engaging in such criminal act,’’ he said. Kurya, who frowned at the increased cases of young people trafficking hard drugs in the country, pledge...
Court remands man for ‘plotting’ to abduct wife
An Ilorin Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday ordered that Usman Abdulkareem, who allegedly conspired with a herbalist, friend to abduct his wife, be remanded in a correctional centre. The police charged Abdulkareem, a herbalist, Babatunde Mohammed and a friend, Fatai Adisa with two counts of criminal conspiracy and abduction, to commit culpable homicide, contrary to Section 97 and 274 of Penal Code Law. Magistrate Afusat Alege ordered that the defendants be remanded in Oke-Kura Correctional Centre, Ilorin. Alege adjourned the case until Feb.24, for further mention. The Prosecution Counsel, Sgt. Abubakar Issa, told the court that investigation conducted revealed that Abdulkareem was the one who called Mumeenat, his wife, on mobile phone and asked her to to meet him in the second defendant’ hou...
Court dissolves marriage over husband’s alcohol addiction
India TV An Ile-Tuntun Customary Court in Ibadan on Tuesday dissolved a 14-year-old marriage between a hairdresser, Morufat Erioye, and her husband, Ahmed, on the grounds that the man was addicted to alcohol. In her petition, Ms Erioye also accused her husband of infidelity. Delivering judgment, the president of the court, Henry Agbaje, said he dissolved the marriage for peace to reign. Mr Agbaje awarded custody of the two children to Ms Erioye and ordered Mr Ahmed to pay N10,000 monthly as child support. The arbitrator also ordered Mr Ahmed to be responsible for their education. In her petition, Ms Erioye said: “Ahmed told me that he had stopped drinking but I caught him drinking on many occasions. “He beats me whenever he is drunk. He also sleeps with all sorts of women. Ahmed is an irre...
Police arrest ‘civil defence’ robber in Ogun
Officers Ogun Police Command have arrested an armed robbery suspect, Adeolu Bankole, operating in Ayetoro area of the state with a stolen uniform of an officer of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps. The Command, in a press release was apprehended on the 5th of February 2021 following a complaint by some students of Olabisi Onabanjo University that they were robbed of their belonging at a gunpoint. The students told the police that the armed robber who broke into their apartment was dressed in Civil Defense uniform and dispossessed them of their phones and laptop. According to the statement, upon the report, the Area Commander of Ayetoro, ACP Anthony Haruna, detailed his detectives to go after the hoodlum. After hours of painstaking investigation, the detectives received information ...
