EFCC Re-Arraigns Ex-FCT Minister’s Son for N1.2bn Fraud

Shamsudeen Bala, son of a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, was on May 30, 2017 re-arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

He was re-arraigned along with four companies – Bird Trust Agro Allied Limited, Intertrans Global Logistic Limited, Diakin Telecommunications Limited and Bal-Vac Mining Nigeria Limited, on an amended 15-count charge, bordering on money laundering.
The amendment, which was effected in counts 10 to 15, according to prosecution counsel, Ben Ikani, “was to accommodate new information” in the alleged charge brought against them.

In one of the amended counts, the prosecution alleged that Bala knowingly failed to declare “the sum of £472.26 standing to your credit domiciled at Standard Chartered Bank Plc, an offence contrary to section 27 (1) of the EFCC Act 2004”.

He was also alleged to have deliberately concealed the sum of $32,512.44 and €17.45 in the same bank but with different account numbers, while declaring his assets, an offence contrary to the EFCC Act, and punishable by same. He also allegedly “without going through a financial institution made cash payment of N200 million only to Faruk Saleh at Abuja as payment for purchase of House 2A, No 7 Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, which exceeded the statutory limit”, an offence contrary to the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 as amended in 2012.

He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges when they were read to him.
His counsel, Chris Uche, SAN thereafter urged the court to allow him continue to enjoy the bail earlier granted to him on February 3, 2017 two days after he was first arraigned.

Uche, further requested for time to study the amended charge dated May 25, 2017, which he said he was “only being served” by the prosecution.

Ikani did not oppose his application for bail.
Justice Dimgba has adjourned to June 26, 2017 for “continuation of hearing.

Chelsea accept £10m bid from Bournemouth for Begovic

Asmir Begovic’s hotly-anticipated exit from Chelsea could be edging closer as the Premier League champions accept a £10 million offer from Bournemouth for the Bosnian. 

The former Stoke goalkeeper was linked with a January move to Bournemouth, but with Chelsea unable to find a replacement in time, the move fell through.

Personal terms have reportedly been agreed with Begovic ahead of a summer move, now all that is left is for the player to have a medical.
Begovic joined Chelsea in the summer of 2015 following their previous Premier League success and has been forced to act as Thibaut Courtois’ back-up.

He did enjoy a respectful amount of game time in the Premier League during his first season with Chelsea, with a knee injury keeping Courtois sidelined for periods of the season.

Great white shark jumps into fisherman's boat, injuring 73-year-old man

A fisherman has lived to tell the tale of how he ended up with a great white shark in the bottom of his boat.

Terry Selwood, 73, was fishing offshore at Evans Head on the New South Wales north coast when the shark launched itself into his boat.
"I caught a blur of something coming over the boat … and the pectoral fin of the shark hit me on the forearm and knocked me down on the ground to my hands and knees," Mr Selwood said.
"He came right over the top of the motor and then dropped onto the floor."
"He was 2.7 metres long and about 200 kilos."
The boat measured 1.4 metres across and 4.5 metres long — a tight squeeze for a man and a shark.

"There I was on all fours and he's looking at me and I'm looking at him and then he started to do the dance around and shake and I couldn't get out quick enough onto the gunnel," Mr Selwood said.
"I was losing a fair amount of blood, I was stunned, I couldn't register what happened and then I thought oh my God, I've got to get out of here." Mr Selwood reached for his radio and called the local marine rescue volunteers at Evans Head.

Marine Rescue Unit commander Karen Brown said a crew was sent out to rescue Mr Selwood and then went back out a second time to retrieve the fisherman's boat and the shark.

'He must have come up four feet out of the water'
Mr Selwood said the conditions on Saturday afternoon when the incident happened were smooth, and there was no surface fish or clear reason why the shark would breach.
"I didn't have a burly out, which does attract sharks," he said.

"I was using two little bits of blue pilchard to fish for snapper on the bottom of the ocean, but that line was straight under the boat, not out the back where he came from."
"For some unknown reason he just launched himself out of the water and he must have come up four feet out of the water to clear my outboard motor and drop straight in the boat."
For such a close brush with a shark, Mr Selwood came off relatively lightly.

"He just bounced around in there and he struck my arm a couple of times and I thought he'd broke my arm to be honest but it's just torn the skin off it. "People said I'd been bitten by a shark but he didn't, he just hit my arm because sharks have very rough skin and he just tore the skin off it.
Mr Selwood was taken to hospital and treated for his injuries.
He has since returned home where he said he was nursing a very swollen arm.

'I've never had one do this'
At first Mr Selwood said he thought the animal was a mako shark but he was told by a Department of Primary Industries (DPI) representative it was a great white.

Mr Selwood said the DPI had lifted the shark out of his boat with a forklift and taken it away for an autopsy to confirm its age and gender.
Mr Selwood said he had been fishing for close to 60 years, but had never had been through anything like this.

"I've had 'em come up and brush the side of my boat, I've had a white pointer swim around my boat, I've had 'em take fish off my line, but I've never had one do this," he said.
Despite his close encounter, Mr Selwood said he was desperate to get back out to wet a line.
"It won't deter me from fishing, no way in the world," he said.

He said he would have to find a bigger animal if he ever wanted to top the experience.
"I think next time I might find a crocodile to wrestle, just to stay in the limelight," he said. "But really, it's not a great story, it's just a mundane thing that just happened and it's over and done with, but something that I'll remember."

"But we're all well and now I'll just get on with life and repair the damage he made to my boat."

I don't know about Hamburger’s Death - MC Oluomo

The camp of Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya who is popularly known as Mc Oluomo have come in defense of the popular National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) that he knew a thing about the gruesome murder of another top member of the union, Rasaq Bello, popularly called Hamburger.

The camp maintained that as at the time of the primaries in the Shogunle area of Lagos during the local council primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that led to the death of Hamburger, MC Oluomo was away in the USA where he has been for some months now.

Aside being out of town, several times before now, he has sponsored advertorials both in the local newspapers and radio on the need to maintain law and order before and during the electioneering period based on what the national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu discussed with him and some other stakeholders.

“It is rather painful that the death of someone who had no prior problem with MC Oluomo could be linked to him” an associate of Mc Oluomo averred.

To them, it is an unnecessary rumour bent on causing undue rivalry and public disorder among people who had no history of rancor between each other. The general public is hereby advised to discard such damaging rumour because MC OLuomo abhors violence of any form not to talk of taking a life.

Unconfirmed reports have it that Hamburger was hit by a stray bullet from the police who were drafted to restore peace to the area before he died.
“MC Oluomo will definitely support the law in finding out and giving the necessary judgment to whosoever is found wanting in the death of Hamburger” the associate concluded.   

Teenager 'sentenced to death for adultery' in Pakistan

A 19-year-old woman has reportedly been sentenced to death by village elders in Pakistan for allegedly having a sexual relationship with her cousin.

The teenager, who lives in Pakistan’s Punjab province, has denied having consensual sex with the man and has claimed she was raped at gunpoint.

She reportedly told the police she was asleep when her cousin came into her home and assaulted her.
The incident allegedly happened on Friday in Rajanpur, a rural district about 400 kilometres from provincial capital Lahore.

According to the Express Tribune, the woman told police: “I could not raise an alarm as Ahmed was holding a gun.
“But the panchayat refused to accept my statement and declared that I wilfully slept with him.”
She added that she could not call for help during the assault as her alleged attacker was holding a gun.

Her family was also sleeping in the home.
The woman approached police the following day, but was reportedly ordered to be either killed or sold off on charges of adultery.

According to the Express Tribune, four men, including the father of the alleged rapist, forced the council to sentence the woman to death.
An official complaint has been filed and the men since taken into custody by Pakistani police, according to the reports.

The woman has reportedly since been taken to a government-run refuge.

Popular Radio Presenter Strips Down to His Underwear to Protest on the Streets (Photos)

A popular radio show host identified as Tekena Iyalla, has taken to the streets to protest the ever increasing rate of kidnapping and armed robbery in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state's capital. 

 

The popular Port Harcourt-based on-air-personality (OAP), who hosts a comedy show, Funky 4+1, on one of the radio stations, was pictured in his underwears complaining to the Police about the steady kidnapping and armed robbery attacks at the Ada George road.

 

 

The man stripped down to his underwear and plastered handwritten placards on his chest and back, in protest. 

 

He then went straight to the office of the Rivers state commissioner of police to ask them to step up their game in terms of providing security for the people of the state. 

 

See more photos below;

 

Gang of drug dealers including two Nigerian brothers jailed for more than 40 years in the UK

A gang of six drug dealers including two Nigerian brothers, Kenechi and Oluchi Ochereobia, who were supplying heroin and crack cocaine between Cardiff, London and Norwich, were on Friday, May 26, handed jail sentences totaling over 42 years, following a proactive investigation by the Met's Trident and Area Crime Command, with support from colleagues from South Wales Police and Norfolk Constabulary.

The Trident investigation was launched in March 2016 as officers became aware of a drugs supply network they believed was operating out of London to supply drugs in and around the Norwich area.
Officers uncovered that the Ochereobia brothers were running a network of drugs couriers out of their respective bases in Cardiff and Hackney in east London. Kenechi was controlling the operation through a central mobile phone number, which he and his brother used to contact hundreds of numbers via text when they had supplies of drugs available.

The brothers would receive orders back, and then instruct others to supply the users in Norwich. Their couriers would then collect the money in exchange for the drugs in Norwich.
Detective Sergeant Paul Harris, from the Met's Trident and Area Crime Command, said:

"This was a complex investigation spanning from Cardiff to Norwich via London. Kenechi Ochereobia tried to hide his involvement in the large-scale supply of drugs in Norwich by pretending to be a legitimate clothes distributor, whilst in reality he was getting younger gang members to run drugs across the country. I would like to thank South Wales Police and Norfolk Constabulary for their support on this operation."

Enquiries revealed that Kenechi was hiring vehicles and was travelling between Cardiff, London and Norwich in the hire cars to facilitate the dealing and oversee operations.

Kenechi was stopped in a hire car and arrested in Norwich in connection with an unrelated matter on 10 June 2016, along with Frankie Dos Santos. Officers also searched a nearby address in Verbana Road the pair had just visited and found Elliot Murawski along with £6,000 in cash hidden inside an oven at the house. Murawski was also arrested but were released from custody whilst enquiries continued.

However, Murawski was stopped and arrested again on 30 August 2016 at Birchanger Services and he was found in possession of approximately £3,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine. Officers were able to demonstrate that Murawski was a key part of the distribution network and was regularly in contact with Kenechi.

Further enquiries led officers to identify Calvyn Green as being linked to the network and he was arrested on 6 September 2016 at Ipswich Railway Station on a London-bound train from Norwich. He was found in possession of almost £2,500 in cash, as well as mobile phones that had been used to communicate with both Kenechi and those he was supplying the drugs to.

Two weeks later, officers stopped and arrested Jaivon Prince at Liverpool Street Station. Prince initially denied having any drugs in his possession, but after officers searched his home address and found wraps of heroin and crack cocaine with a street value of around £20,000; he admitted to having two packets of drugs concealed within his body. Prince was taken to hospital, where hundreds of wraps of heroin and cocaine were recovered, totalling around £2,000.

On 13 October 2016 three simultaneous search warrants were executed at the addresses of Kenechi and Oluchi Ochereobia and Dos Santos in Cardiff and London, and the three were all arrested. Officers found around £23,000 in cash hidden in Kenechi's Cardiff home. Officers found several pictures that showed Kenechi posing with large amounts of cash - proceeds of his drug dealing.
Kenechi tried to make out that he was running a legitimate clothes distribution business, but was unable to provide any tangible evidence of this business that would account for the amount of cash that was both seized and seen in pictures Kenechi posed in.

The six men were all subsequently charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs - namely heroin and crack cocaine.

Murawski and Prince both pleaded guilty to the conspiracy on 17 November 2016 and Friday, 17 March respectively. The other four were all found guilty on Friday, 12 May at Blackfriars Crown Court following a trial. All six were sentenced on Friday, 26 May.

Kenechi Ochereobia, 25 (28.05.91) of Foster Drive, Panylan, Cardiff was charged on 13 October 2016 with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, 12 May. He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
Oluchi Ochereobia, 22 (07.12.94) of Mandeville Street, Hackney was charged on 19 December 2016 with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, 12 May. He was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Elliot Murawski, 26 (07.06.90) of Riverside Road, Norwich, was charged on 2 September 2016 with possession with intent to supply Class A drugs (in relation to his arrest on 30 August 2016) to which he pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court and was previously sentenced to two years' imprisonment. 

Murawski was subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs on 7 November 2016 and pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court on 17 November 2016. He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
Frankie Dos Santos was charged on Monday, 16 January with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, 12 May. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.

Calvyn Senna Green, 25 (29.01.92) of Keyworth Close, Hackney was charged on 10 November 2016 with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was found guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, 12 May. He was sentenced to five years and six months’ imprisonment. 
Jaivon Prince, 20 (13.12.96) of Daubney Road, Hackney, was charged on 21 September 2016 with possession with intent to supply Class A drugs to which he pleaded guilty.

He was subsequently charged on 24 October 2016 with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs to which he also pleaded guilty on Friday, 17 March. He was sentenced to six years and four months’ imprisonment.


Source: Metropolitan Police UK

German police detain Syrian suspected of planning Berlin suicide attack

German police on Tuesday detained a 17-year-old Syrian suspected of planning a suicide attack in Berlin, a spokesman for the interior ministry of the neighboring state of Brandenburg said.

The suspect was arrested in the Uckermark region north-east of Berlin, Brandenburg police said in a tweet.

Photos: South African Police seize huge drug consignment, arrest Nigerian man and Zimbabwean woman

South African police detectives from the Greater Karoo attached to OCU-Narcotics, on Sunday morning, May 28, arrested a Nigerian man and a Zimbawean woman and seized drugs worth more than R20 million.

The 49-year-old Nigerian man and the Zimbabwean woman, 28, were driving along the N1 from Johannesburg to Cape Town with the stash.

Police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said the man and woman would appear in the Beaufort West Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges related to the sale of drugs.

According to Pojie, the drugs were found after a joint operation by several police units. Western Cape detectives, members of the narcotics unit and the police’s dog unit in the Central Karoo were involved.

He said the drugs – cocaine and tik – which the police confiscated, was worth about R20.5 million.

The two were arrested at about 06:00 on Sunday morning after the car in which they were travelling was stopped. When police searched the car, they found 52kg of tik and more than 5kg of cocaine. It was hidden in plastic bags in the boot. They were arrested and the drugs and car confiscated.

The police suspect that the drugs had been destined for distribution in the Cape metropole. Pojie said it was one of the biggest drug busts this year in the Southern Cape.

In Swedish asylum limbo, young Afghans turn to heroin

Beer cans, newspapers drenched in vomit and aluminium foil litters the ground inside a parking garage where young Afghan asylum seekers smoke heroin as they shelter from the cold in central Sweden.

"When we smoke... we're calm and don't worry about anything," says Mahdi, a 16-year-old Afghan refugee, who started using heroin after he arrived and quickly got hooked.
Uppsala, a university town an hour's drive north of Stockholm, has taken in nearly 1,000 unaccompanied asylum seekers under the age of 18.

Around 100 of them, most of them Afghan, have been caught using heroin as they wait for their applications to be processed, which can take more than a year on average.
Swedish authorities acknowledge that drug abuse is prevalent among young asylum seekers.

In the capital Stockholm, at least 1,000 young asylum seekers received treatment for drug abuse in 2016. Most of them were minors and boys, health authorities said, without specifying their country of origin.
Anders Nilsson is a 38-year-old anti-narcotics police chief who's trying to do something about it.

Wearing faded jeans and a baseball cap, Nilsson leads a team of undercover cops scouting for young heroin addicts in the streets of Uppsala.
Strolling on a busy shopping street, he approaches groups of boys to see if anyone could be under the influence of heroin, eyeing their pupils and checking their pockets. 

Authorities want to take action to ensure the young men don't become a threat to themselves or to society.

"It's tough to find yourself in an asylum application process and having to wait for a decision," Hilde Wiberg, head of social services in Uppsala, says, adding many asylum seekers feel mentally unstable because of past traumas.

 To ease the fear 

Mahdi is one of the lucky ones: he overcame his heroin addiction and received permanent residency in Sweden.

Covering his head with a blue hoodie, he said he and his friends smoked the highly-addictive drug, related to opium which Afghanistan produces and distributes around the world, to ease their fear of being deported.
"(If) they don't have permanent residency... they're forced to go back to Afghanistan," Mahdi tells AFP.

And going home means they're at risk of being killed by either the Taliban or the Islamic State group.
Afghans constitute the highest number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Sweden. Nearly 80 percent of them have their applications approved.

Of the 1,321 requests processed so far this year, 200 have been rejected, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.
But in a revised security assessment published in December, the agency deemed some regions in Afghanistan such as Panjshir, Bamiyan and Daikundi "less dangerous" despite "increasing violence" in the war-torn country, making it easier to deport rejected asylum seekers to those areas.

Daniel Larsson, an Uppsala police superintendent, said a case of occasional possession or use of heroin would not negatively affect an individual's asylum request.

However, criminal acts would.

 'Sentenced to care' 

In order to fund their expensive habit, these young men often turn to a life of crime.
Police say they enter luxury clothing boutiques in central Uppsala and snatch whatever they see. Passersby have also been robbed, according to local media reports.

They then take the train or bus to northern Stockholm to buy the drugs, returning to Uppsala after making their purchase.
If the asylum seekers are caught using heroin by the undercover cops, they're taken to the police station for a urine test and kept under the supervision of social services.
But they won't face jail time.

Anders Nilsson says there's no other alternative for heroin abusers than to receive care.
"Instead of sentencing them to prison... we have the possibility to sentence them to (health) care," Nilsson says.

Asylum seekers whose addiction has gone too far are committed to care homes across Sweden. But Nilsson fears those homes are already overcrowded.
"It's very difficult to find space... you need a specific type of care."

'Very happy here' 

For Salim, a 17-year-old Kurdish unaccompanied asylum seeker, Sweden is a safe destination, where he can receive free education and health care.

Although he's still waiting for his asylum application to be granted and misses his family, Salim says he's "very happy to be" in Sweden, which in 2015 took in the largest number of refugees per capita in Europe.

"I don't have any problems here... I go to school here," he tells AFP, while killing time with his friends in central Uppsala.
He says unaccompanied minors wouldn't take drugs if they didn't have problems.

"There's not a single person here without problems," Salim says, looking down shyly at his shoes.
Asked what he'd like to do in the future if he stays, he chuckles.
"I want to be a police officer."

Senegal’s ex-president in new power bid at 91

Senegal’s former president Abdoulaye Wade, aged 91, will head a list of opposition candidates for parliament in an election to take place on July 30, according to aides.

The announcement was made on Monday night after a broad opposition coalition of more than 40 parties broke up, said supporters of Wade, who ruled the west African country from 2000 to 2012.

Some movements and associations in the coalition backed the mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, who was jailed in March on suspicion of embezzlement but will still top a separate list of candidates, according to his supporters.

The deadline for submitting candidates in the poll expires overnight Tuesday. There is no age limit on people standing for parliament.

A parliamentary victory for the opposition to President Macky Sall would give Wade the means to obtain an amnesty for his son, Karim, who enjoyed considerable ministerial powers under his father, but was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015.

Karim Wade was also ordered to pay a fine of more than 210 million euros for “illicit enrichment”. He received a presidential pardon in June 2016 after a total of more than three years and now lives abroad. An amnesty would lift any doubts over his eligibility in politics, observers said.

The opposition coalition first came together in a bid to end the control of parliament by a coalition loyal to the head of state and force Sall to share power with newly elected political rivals.

The last-minute rift came because of differences between supporters of Wade and those of Khalifa Sall over who should head the list of candidates to be presented to voters.

In the previous parliamentary poll in 2012, the United in Hope coalition backing President Sall won an outright majority in a parliament of 150 seats. July’s election will see a further 15 deputies named to the National Assembly representing the Senegalese diaspora, under a constitutional amendment passed in March 2016.

Woman Chops Off Husband's Penis, Then Kills Herself

A woman in northern Thailand chopped off her unfaithful husband's penis and then drank pesticide to her death, local police said.

Kawinnart Saezong, 33, was declared dead on yesterday at a hospital in Phayao province, said Narin Cherdyoo, Phayao police officer.

Kawinnart's suicide happened soon after she chopped off her 38-year-old husband's penis while he was asleep early Saturday, after she learned of his multiple infidelities, Narin said.

Her husband, Niran Saewang, survived the attack, Narin said. He was transferred from Phayao to Lampang hospital, which is a three-hour drive, and had his penis reattached, a hospital staff confirmed.

Hospital staff in Phayao managed to retrieve Niran's penis and froze it with ice during the hospital transfer, according to Lampang hospital.

This is not the first time Lampang hospital has had to deal with such a case, the hospital said, adding that all of the penis reattachment surgeries there had been successful.

Niran is recuperating at the hospital following Monday's successful surgery, the hospital said. Doctors said he could urinate but will no longer be able to perform sexually again.

I Still Want To Be President- Donald Duke

A former governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke,  said he would still take a shot at the presidency, if the opportunity presents itself. Duke spoke at a programme, “The Nigerian Symposium for Emerging Leaders ‘’, held in Lagos.

He said though he once aspired to the position but did not emerge the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he would still contest for the highest office in the country at the appropriate time.

 Duke explained that it was because of his preference for the presidential seat that he did not vie for any federal legislative seat after serving out his terms as governor.

Duke said the country`s democracy would fare better if young people, who form the larger proportion of the population ,took more active part in its political process. He said most developed countries had young people as their leaders at one point or the other in their democratic history.

 The former governor, however, said power was never given easily, urging young people to participate in the political process and use their prime to add value to the country. “I want to urge young people in the country not to see leadership as if it belongs to some people, but do everything positive to be part of it.

“You can only make a difference at the prime of your life. You can actually add value now, not when you are above 50. “So, you need to be part of the political process and play your part. It is your right to be there; nobody is doing you a favour. - Vanguard

Suicide Bomber Killed, Five IDPs Murdered In Borno

A lone suicide bomber was on Tuesday afternoon shot dead as he attempted to attack a military barracks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, a witness said.

The incident happened at about the time some internally displaced persons (IDPs) were busy burying five of their colleagues that were slaughtered by suspected Boko Haram insurgents around Nguro in Konduga Local Government Area.

Witnesses said the remains of the five locals, identified as IDPs, were on Monday found a day after suspected Boko Haram members attacked and beheaded them in Nguro village.

The victims were identified as residents of Balle Shuwari.

Balle Shuwari, located about 5km from Giwa barracks, was part of the communities sacked by Boko Haram.

The sack of the community led the victims to become displaced, thus living in the IDP camp in Konduga before the Sunday attack.

Wife of Femi Branch revealed why their marriage crashed. “Femi was once locked up in Kirikiri” (pics)

A couple of weeks back, the social media was agog that actor Femi Branch was set to wed for the third time after separating from Ibitola, the mother of his two children.

• Encomium.ng had an interview with the estranged wife on what led to their marriage break up.
• Apart from being beaten, her story of financial deprivation laced with humongous lies by her actor husband of ten years whom she accused of living a reckless life, sounds unimaginable.
• Ibitola Branch also told us about her husband’s incarceration in Kirikiri and abandonment for ten months.
• Here’s the mother of two children’s side of the marital mess…
• We heard that you and Femi Branch have called it quit. Is it true?
• Yes, it is
• What actually happened?
• I came back from work that day, and he went out as well. I waited till 11 pm and I didn’t see him. I tried calling him on phone when I didn’t see him. He complained that I was screaming, I apologized for screaming and I asked him for his whereabouts. I told him he wouldn’t have gone that long since he wasn’t on location. All he said was that he was coming, he also said I was screaming which I apologized for again. But Femi did not come back to the house till 1am. I was up waiting since he said he was coming. When he came, I went to open the gate and I told his friend that I wouldn’t come down that late again if he comes back late. I was really upset. I asked his friend to warn him because of another time. I added that he should be telling me if he would come home or not because that wasn’t his first time. The next thing Femi said was, “You dey craze.” And I replied the same way. He started bragging, “Do you know who you are talking to? I am Femi Branch,” and he descended on me and started beating me. He was hitting me hard and his friend was trying to stop him. He left me and went upstairs and told me to meet him upstairs. His friend said I shouldn’t go, but where will I go by that time? So I went upstairs. Femi continued beating me and insulting me. His friend tried to intervene again, all these while I never raised my hands against him. You can imagine him with his stature hitting me. His friend said I shouldn’t sleep in the house, so I followed him because he was also a married man with a kid. I slept in his house that night.
• What is the name of his friend?
• I wouldn’t want to drag him into this, it was a close friend of his.
• Would that be the first time he would be beating you?
  Truth is, that was the first time. But before then, he had pushed me hard against the bed that I almost hit my head on the wall. That was two years ago. Such things don’t happen without signs, him pushing me the first time and now beating me. It could develop into something else. I have always said I can’t stay in a marriage if the man is beating me, I know I can get killed if it continues. I have risked my life enough in that marriage so I decided to leave.
• What happened next after moving to his friend’s house?
• The second day, his younger brother asked me to come over to his own house as he wasn’t happy I was staying in a friend’s house. I moved there and was shuttling between that place and my sister’s house till I could get a place of my own.
• What were the signs that showed things were getting really bad?
• The issue is that we women see signs even before marriage. I would like to say that Femi came extremely late on our wedding day. People were already waiting for almost three hours before Femi came and he was not apologetic about it.
• What exactly happened?
• I don’t know, but it took him almost three hours before he showed up and he was not remorseful about it. Then, when I got married to him, he has only paid my daughter’s school fees for just one term. My daughter is nine years, that means I am the one who has been responsible for her upkeep.
• What was his excuse for not being responsible?
• He made me believe he does not have money. Later on, I heard he goes out and spends money anyhow. He goes to clubs, pops champagne and spends crazily. It was a regular occurrence, people used to call me that he was in one hotel or the other. There was this particular day someone called me that he was in a hotel spending money. That person knew Femi was not responsible at home. All I was trying to do was to patch the marriage and make sure things were fine. You know in the African setting when you are married, you have to endure. Up till this moment that I am talking to you, he doesn’t know how his children are eating or faring. The last time he saw them was January this year. He said they should spend the New Year with him and he returned them empty handed.
  Was there no time you called him to order?
  Several times, we spoke severally. He was always saying jobs were not coming, he doesn’t have money.
• Femi is a successful actor getting lead roles, so why was he irresponsible?
  It is unfortunate outsiders have a different picture of him. Femi is someone who can be in church speaking in tongues and the next minute he is out with the guys drinking, smoking and womanizing. He acts a lot. He is not the same person at home and outside.
• Are his parents and siblings aware of this?
• Funny enough, he has a very wonderful family. They knew about it and spoke with him severally. In fact, his family made me stay this long in the marriage. His family complained and talked to him, they did everything they could. It is only prayer that can change him, Femi lies a lot.
• Can you give me instances?
• He would tell me he has gone on location and he would lodge in a hotel, do whatever he likes. There was a time he was part of the crew following Jimi Agbaje during his campaign period. I was in Abeokuta then. After the whole exercise, everybody left the hotel except Femi. He was enjoying himself. One of his colleagues whom I had complained to called me to inform me that he was the only one left in the hotel. It is the same hotel he is indebted to now. He has a case at the Ikeja magistrate court. The story is true that he was locked up in Kirikiri. He is owing the hotel to the tune of millions.
• What steps did you take about this?
• I asked, spoke with him and he would always give excuses. It is what Femi wants that he will do. It took him eight months before he came home. When he was arrested, I was in Abeokuta and he was in Lagos. I traveled to Lagos that night to bail him out but I couldn’t bail him that night. That was in November 2015. I did all these for Femi but to him I have done nothing.
• Where exactly did you guys meet?
• We met in a church in Abeokuta.
• I thought you guys met in school. I should have said you should have noticed some of these traits in him?
  No, we never went to the same school.
• Which school did you attend?
• Moshood Abiola Polytechnic.
• What about him, we learnt he graduated from Ife?
• I don’t know if he graduated or not. You can go to Ife and ask.
• But you were married for ten years, how come you don’t know?
• I told you Femi lies a lot. Ask him to produce his certificate. He has lied so much and he will continue to lie, that was what he told me.
• Is it true that he was married before he met you?
• Yes, he was married before we met. According to what I heard, the lady didn’t stay up to a month. I was told a funny story about it, I was told the mother-in-law was to collect cow leg and the lady left.
• Cow leg, how?
• I think they were to share a cow and she wanted a particular part of the cow. I don’t really know, that was what I was told. Maybe the lady noticed something else. If I have the opportunity to meet her I would ask her. My parents didn’t believe the story as well, we just let things be.
• Have you heard he wants to get married again?
• Yes, I have. I was just laughing, and I said, Wow, Femi has caught a big fish. According to what I heard, the lady is British. I said Femi has caught a big one.
• How would you say such a thing?
• Because I know Femi, he would only go to women who have money.
• That means he married you for your money?
• I am not saying that but before I married him, I do travel out a lot for leisure. When we got talking, he had the idea of the type of life l lived before meeting him. Maybe he felt I had money or that I had a British citizenship. I was even pregnant before we got married but the baby was still birth. Immediately it happened, I traveled abroad to rest. Good for the lady, I pray they find happiness together. But there must be more to why Femi wants to marry that lady. I am not granting this interview because I am bitter, I have moved on. I just want to clear my conscience because my family didn’t know what I went through for ten years. It was when I left last year that I told my family. People have called to blame me, some said I should go back to him.
• Has he filed for divorce?
• We are just separated, not divorced.
• How come he is getting married again?
• We had a white wedding and a traditional one.
• But you had a marriage certificate?
• Yes, we were given one but we are not divorced. We got married in a white garment church.
• Why did you leave your children in the first instance?
• When I left the house, my children were with my parents for holiday. When the holiday was over, I went to pick my children and took them back to our house. I told them to go upstairs that I was coming. I then turned my back and left. I did that not because I wanted to leave my children, but I wanted his family to be sure of all I had been saying,). I knew he can’t take care of those children. I was crying when I left and I prayed that I would get them back, it was not up to two weeks that Femi took the children to the village, to his parents. He did not drop money for their upkeep or anything, so his parents took them to public school and he never visited them for once in that four months they were there from April to July. I went there two times to check on them, I later called him that I wanted the children back. He said was l not the one who dumped them before? I told him I needed to make a statement that he couldn’t take care of his children that was why I left them in the first place. He eventually released the children. Arrangement was made, he picked them up and dropped them at his brother’s house and I picked them there.
• Was there no intervention from his siblings or parents to reconcile the two of you?
• When the incident happened, some of his elder brothers tried to call and I told them that I was no longer interested. Family members were trying to reconcile but the person that caused the trouble was not remorseful. He did not apologize for beating me, he didn’t say he was sorry. This was the same person that had an accident in 2012 on location. I was the only one taking care of him. You know marriages have their own challenges, I have stayed through thick and thin. I covered up for so long, my mum will always call me, Are you okay? Are you sure you are okay? I almost shut my mum up on his case. I have never done that in my life. My mum will always complain that I was always telling her he was on location, that it means he doesn’t have time for his family. But I always calm her down. His family tried but I have made up my mind about the marriage. I don’t think I can endure any longer. If Femi reads this, he knows that I am not lying. I was practically fending for the family throughout the ten years. Someone asked me, ‘Does it mean he has not done anything good for you in the last ten years?’ And I told the person the bad he did was far more than the good. I don’t want my daughter to go through what I went through in marriage, and I don’t want my son to be like his father.
• You left him in April and he’s getting married a year after, do you suspect they started dating before you left him?
• I don’t think so. I heard the church he attends now did the matchmaking.
• Did the church call to intervene in the case?
• No, they never did. No one knows what he told them about me. - National Encomium