Update !!! 26 migrants who drowned at sea buried in Italy — but ‘no Nigerian official present’

Twenty-six Nigerian women who died while trying to cross the Mediterranean sea were buried on Friday in Italy.

BBC had reported that majority of the victims were teenagers, with some as young as 14 years old.

Their corpses were found on a Spanish warship — Cantabria — which was also carrying hundreds of other migrants, including other Nigerian survivors.

The funeral was held in Salerno where a Roman Catholic bishop and a Muslim imam said prayers.

A single white rose was placed on the lid of each coffin.

Trisha Thomas, a reporter with Associated Press, said she did not see any representative or official from Nigeria at the ceremony.

“There were Nigerian women there who suffered through terrible journeys to reach Italy. Many gently touched the coffins,” she said.

On the reported lack of Nigerian representation at the funeral, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, senior special adviser to the president on foreign affairs and diaspora, said the matter will be thoroughly investigated.

Dabiri said the ministry of foreign affairs will look into the matter and that the report will be submitted at the next federal executive council meeting.

“There was immediate response from my office and later from the MFA spokesman. At the next FEC meeting, it was taken up at the highest level to come up with drastic solution, holistic recommendations,” she tweeted.

“I will expect an embassy official to be there. Hopefully, they were informed of time and venue.

“It will be judiciously handled by @GeoffreyOnyeama MFA. The MFA investigating the claims. Hon Min @GeoffreyOnyeama has asked that it should be looked into.

“All points noted. A high powered body set up to look into this issue and report to FEC in a week.

“I hope the mission in Italy was duly informed of time, date and venue. If true, this has to be looked into. FEC , as the highest decision-making body, is taking this up cos of its utmost seriousness. Two different matters here.

“The report will be submitted by the AGF next Wednesday. We need drastic measures indeed.”

Among the survivors were 52 children and 90 women, eight of whom are said to be pregnant.

“It is very likely that these girls were victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation,” said Federico Soda, director, UN migration agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for the Mediterranean.

According to L’Abbraccio, an Italian aid group, each migrant is charged about $6,000 (£4,578) to get to Italy by people-smuggling gangs. - Cable Nigeria

Shocking !!! 30-year-old Man allegedly rapes 13-year-old girl to death in Osun

Ahmed Matunma wojuekun, a resident of Ife south local government has been arraigned in an Osogbo Chief Magistrates ‘ court for raping a minor to death at Mofoworade village, Ifetodo, Osun State.

The sad incident which occurred in the early hours of Friday reportedly caused friction in the sleepy community.

The police prosecutor, Insp. Olusegun Elisha said the suspect forcefully had canal knowledge of the minor, which resulted to her death.

The police officer added that the incident thereafter resulted to pandemonium , which prompted the police to apprehend the suspect and charged him to court immediately.

The suspect was charged for rape and murder.

The Magistrate, Mrs Habibatu Bashiru, after listening to the plea of the defendant later ordered him to be kept in Ile-Ife prison custody due to the magnitude of the offense committed.

She, thereafter, adjourned the case till Jan. 22 , 2018 for mention.

The prosecutor said the offense contravened sections 221(1), 319(1) of the criminal code cap 34 vol. 11 laws of Osun, 2003.

Cab man found guilty of murdering his own children

The man who killed his two young children with a petrol-soaked cloth and then tried to kill his wife in a gas explosion has been found guilty of murder.

Jurors heard taxi driver Endris Mohammed attempted to murder his partner, Penil Teklehaimanot, by tampering with a gas pipe and setting fire to the family home in Hamstead, Birmingham.

The father had denied the murders of eight-year-old Saros Endris and his sister Leanor, six, claiming diminished responsibility allegedly caused by a depressive disorder.

 Mohammed, who suffered burns to his head after setting the passenger side of his cab alight on the night of the killings, admitted smothering his children.

He did not give evidence during his defence case but argued through his legal team that he was depressed about his future amid money worries.

The 47-year-old fled in his Uber cab after killing Saros and Leanor at their home in Holland Road in the early hours of October 28 last year, having bought a fuel can and three litres of petrol the previous day.

Mohammed met his wife in 2006 in Kent, after they came to Britain from East Africa as asylum seekers.

A two-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told Mohammed – who was found guilty of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder – appeared normal in the run-up to the deaths.

Giving evidence during the trial, Mrs Teklehaimanot said Mohammed was “a gentle, quiet man” who had not seemed angry or irritable in the months before her children were killed.

Mrs Teklehaimanot was sleeping upstairs when Mohammed smothered Saros and Leanor during a half-term “sleepover” in the lounge.

In her evidence to the jury, Mrs Teklehaimanot, who was woken by a smoke alarm, told how she initially thought her children were asleep when she was unable to wake them.

The court heard Mohammed claimed he had decided to end his own life because his “hopes for a good life in England” had failed, but police inquiries showed the family could live off his wife’s earnings as a care worker.

Mohammed, who will be sentenced on Monday, pursed his lips but showed no other sign of emotion as he was found guilty just 30 minutes after the jury retired. - PA

US Govt announces cash reward for information on Nigerian wanted for fraud

A South Bureau Recovery Team in Los Angeles, California has declared a 52-year-old Nigerian identified as Joseph Omaghomi a.k.a (Jesse Green) wanted for alleged identity theft.

The man is wanted on charges of identity theft, felony, evading and resisting arrest. His last known locations are said to be in California and Nigeria.

South Bureau Recovery Team shared this message on their facebook page, by announcing a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of Joseph Omaghomi.

The message reads…

”CA$H REWARD for information leading to the arrest of: Joseph Omaghomi (AKA Jesse Green)
”ID#:1695090 D.O.B.: 02/18/1965 Age: 52
”Last Known Location(s): Highland, CA; Redlands , CA; Nigeria
”Charge(s): Identity Theft; Felony Evading; Resisting Arrest
”Call with info for Reward: 951-218-7799.”

Buhari’s Govt Lacks Political Will To Fight Corruption –Falana

Human Rights Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration lacks the political will needed to fight corruption.

He stated this on Friday while speaking on the topic: “Restructuring, Pros, and Cons: The place of the Nigerian youth”, at the 78th International Students Day organized by the Ogun State Government in Abeokuta, the state capital.

Falana noted that the fight against corruption embarked upon by the Buhari government remained a mere scratch on the surface.

He said, “I am sure you are following the anti-corruption war being prosecuted by Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, men and women are involved.

“Christians and Muslims are involved and those who believe in traditional religions are involved. One person has been charged with collecting N4.7bn from former President Goodluck Jonathan for spiritual consultation.

“The point I am making is that if our looters are not divided on the table of ethnicity nothing will happen. The government still lacks the political will, the war now is just a tip of the real iceberg; there is still money to be recovered.”

The human rights lawyer also faulted the Senate for approving $5.5bn loan request put forward by the executive.

Falana, who lamented the state and standard of education in the South-West, argued that the zone seemed to have lost its place to others as evident in the recently released West African Examinations Council results where the region performed poorly.

He said, “After the last WAEC, NECO and JAMB results were released, no state in the South-West made it to the top 10 list and that for me is a shame.

“We need to go back to where we are coming from and where we got it wrong.”

Falana urged the youths not to join those calling for the breakup of the country, adding that those fanning the embers of disunity were only fighting for their selfish interest.

He noted that for the country to move forward, it must have a knowledge-based system.

On his part, the governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, appealed to youths to do whatever they could do to prepare themselves for leadership positions, urging them to show high commitment in nation-building.

Igbos cannot forget Biafra – Ikedife replies Buhari

The President of South East Elders Forum, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, has replied President Muhammadu Buhari for asking Igbos to forget Biafra.

According to him, even if Igbos were killed in their numbers, Biafra remains and can never be forgotten.

Ezeife said that President Buhari himself cannot forget Biafra.

President Buhari during a working visit to Ebonyi State, during the week, had called on Igbos to forget Biafra and the “senseless call for secession.”

Ikedife, who reacted while fielding questions from Sun, said it was a wrong choice of word to say, “we should forget Biafra, nobody can forget Biafra.”

He added, “Biafra has come to be, never mind that they removed Bight of Biafra and called it Bight of Benin, there are people who are Biafrans and there is nothing you can do about it, even if you kill them and it remains only one, that person still remains Biafra.

“Somebody had told me before that we should forget Biafra, and I told the person that it was not possible to forget Biafra. It is not possible to forget that you are an Odudua son; it is not possible to forget that you are an Ijaw man; it is not possible to forget that you a Fulani; it is not possible to forget that you are Junkun, etc.

“It is a wrong choice of word to say, forget Biafra. Nobody can forget it. If you lost your father or son, mother or half of your family members during the Nigeria-Biafra war, can you forget that?

“Even the person saying it cannot forget Biafra, talk less of those that are concerned, who are called Biafrans.

“The person may say anything else, but Biafra is unforgettable. We can never forget Biafra; nobody should ever forget Biafra.” - Daily Post