SHOCKING ! Domestic staff kills employer, mother two days after resuming duty

A domestic staff has killed his employer and her mother in Surulere area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, two days after resuming duty.

The gruesome incident occurred on Thursday, as the domestic staff, Joseph Ogbu, 22 from Benue State was arrested by the police in connection with the killing.

Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Bala Elkana, in a statement on Thursday said on 20 June, 2019 at about 3am, the Surulere Police Station received a distress call from No 4 Ogulana Drive. Surulere that one Joseph Ogbu, 22 years old from Oju Local Government Area, Benue State, who was employed as a domestic staff on 18 June, 2019 and murdered his employer Oreoluwa John, 38, and her 89 years old mother, Adejoke John at their apartment.

The suspect was said to have confessed to the crime.

“In his statement, he averred that, his employer asked him to clean the house at about 9pm of 19th June, 2019 but an argument ensued between them, which prompted him to stab her with a knife. That the shock of her dead made her aged mother to slum and died.

“Considering the fact that they are dead, he moved some valuable properties such as electronics, handsets and household items into the employer’s Toyota Camry Salon Car and attempted to escape to where he cannot be found, before he was apprehended by Policemen on patrol at Ogunlana pin-down point. The vehicle and items stolen were recovered,” Elkana explained.

Elkana said the crime scene was sealed off and that the corpses of the two victims were taken to Mainland Hospital, Yaba for autopsy.

He said the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Zubairu Muazu had ordered the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba to take over the investigation and charge the suspect to Court.

- PM NEWS

You can’t issue licence to preachers, court tells Kaduna govt

A Kaduna state high court has ruled that it is unconstitutional for the government to screen and issue licence to preachers.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Hajaratu Gwadah, the presiding judge, maintained that the government, however, has the right to regulate religious activities in the state.

In 2016, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) had approached the court to challenge the constitutionality of an executive bill to regulate preaching in the state.

The PFN had described the bill as an infringement on the fundamental human right of its members, asking the court for a declaration that setting up a committee for the screening and licencing of preachers is a violation of its rights.

In her ruling, the judge said the bill does not seek to abolish the rights of applicants, as fundamental human rights is not absolute.

She, however, said sections 6 and 9 of the bill, which seek to screen and licence preachers, violate the constitutional rights of the applicant.

In his reaction, Sunny Akanni, counsel to the PFN, said the judgment was in order.

“Our argument is that you cannot licence pastors because they are already licenced. In Christianity, not only ordained pastors preach. Every Christian is commanded to go ye into the world and preach the gospel,” he said.

“Section 38, subsection 1 of the Nigeria constitution allows everybody propagate his religion in teaching, in observance and in action.

“So, when you now say pastors should be licenced, you have infringed on their right. That is why the court agreed with us that section 6 of the bill is against the constitutional right of PFN.

“Even though the court said that government can regulate religion, but screening and issuing license to pastors offends the constitutional rights of pastors.”

Sanusi Usman, counsel to Nasir el-Rufai, the state governor and a respondent in the case, said the government will appeal the judgment.

On June 7, the state assembly passed the bill which was introduced in 2016.

- THECABLE

Rivers lecturer murdered at his residence

Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers have killed Emmanuel Amadi, a lecturer at the Rivers State University (RSU).

According to The Nation, the victim was murdered at his residence close to Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuorlumeni, Port Harcourt, in the early hours of Tuesday.

Until his death, the professor lectured at the department of microbiology in RSU.

Sydney Enyindah, spokesman of the university, confirmed the tragic incident, saying: “Prof. Amadi was attacked in his house at Rumuorlumeni, Port Harcourt in the early hours of today by armed robbers.

“The sad information came while we were having management meeting. The situation will become clearer tomorrow.”

Nnamdi Omoni, spokesman of the Rivers police command, also confirmed the incident.

“I spoke with the Vice-Chancellor of RSU, Port Harcourt, Prof. Blessing Didia, five minutes before you called me,” the newspaper quoted him to have said.

“The VC of RSU told me through the telephone that he heard of the attack on Prof. Amadi from the grapevine, without official communication from the family to the university’s authorities.”

Rivers is among the states across the country battling insecurity. On Wednesday, the foreign and commonwealth office of the United Kingdom listed it among 21 Nigerian states it advised British citizens not to visit because of insecurity.

But the police later dismissed the travel advisory, saying security challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria.

- THECABLE

‘The person sucking my boobs not complaining’ – Tiwa Savage replies troll

Popular Nigerian musician, Tiwatope Savage, better known as Tiwa Savage, has given what appears as an interesting retort to an Instagram follower after she uploaded a sexy picture of herself on her social media page on Wednesday.

The Nigerian singer, songwriter, actress and mum, who currently has a songwriting deal with universal Music Group Publishing, took her time to reply a troll who was trying to insinuate that her breasts had fallen.

Tiwa, had in the past, been in the news for allegedly having an affair with her colleague and popular musician, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, also known as Wizkid.

The African Bad Girl, who recently released a song, took to her Instagram page to make the announcement with sexy pictures and the caption “I think they know by now that I’m a rebel. Boss, please don’t come here to preach, we know that the picture is very bad, but you have seen nothing yet’’.

A fan immediately went to the comment section to attack her, saying: “Ah! These ones have become flat’’.

Responding to the troll, she wrote: “Mr. Ibra, sorry boo, I had to breastfeed my beautiful son, but if you wire me small dollars I can go to the doctor to add implants. Until then, the person sucking it is not complaining.”

- DAILY POST

Juventus: Sarri dares Cristiano Ronaldo

Juventus new manager, Maurizio Sarri, has challenged forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, to break Gonzalo Higuain’s Serie A 36-goal record for a single season.

Higuain achieved the record under Sarri at Napoli back in 2015/2016 campaign.

Sarri stated that it would be an enormous satisfaction for him to see Ronaldo break Higuain’s record next season.

The 60-year-old believes the Portugal captain, who scored 21 goals in his debut Serie A season, is at the top of the world.

“I’ve trained great players over the years, but with Ronaldo, I move on to the next level, a player who is at the top of the world,” Sarri said at a press conference in Turin on Thursday broadcast by Juventus.

“This is a lad with every record in world football and I’d like to help him set another, knowing I contributed to it.

“I trained a player with the all-time Serie A record for goals in a single season,” Sarri added.

“I’d like to make that two (Ronaldo to break the Serie A goalscoring record which Higuain set (36) at Napoli back in 2015/16). It’d be an enormous satisfaction,” he said.

- DAILY POST

EMPTY PROMISES !! IPC releases documented campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari

The International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos, has released a compilation of the campaign promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari in the course of electioneering activities for the 2019 general elections.

Thirty (30) of such promises covering pledges on specific and general issues of Road/Rail infrastructure, Education, Agriculture, Poverty Eradication and Inclusion of Youths/Women in government as well as the fight against Corruption and Insecurity were documented and contained in a statement signed by the IPC Programme Manager, Sanmi Folabi.

The documentation was done by IPC’s Media Monitoring Team, while the promises were derived from quoted statements of the President in The Nation, The Punch, Daily Sun, Daily Trust, Vanguard, ThisDay, Leadership and Nigerian Tribune newspapers over a four-month period from November 2018 to February 2019.

According to the statement, the specific sources were page 6, The Nation newspaper of Monday November 19, 2018; page 2, The Punch Newspaper of Monday November 19, 2018; page 6, Daily Sun newspaper of Monday, November 19, 2018; front page, Daily Trust newspaper of Monday, November 19,2018; page 5 and 41, Vanguard newspaper of November 19, 2018; page 1 and 10, This Day of November 19, 2018; page 2, Nigerian Tribune of November 19, 2018; page 25, Leadership newspaper of December 5, 2018; front page, Thisday, January 17, 2019; page 12, Daily Sun Newspaper, Thursday, January 31, 2019; page 9, Nigerian Tribune of January 17, 2019; and front page, Vanguard Newspaper, February 09, 2019.

The promises are:

1. To engage one million N-power graduates and skill up 10 million Nigerians in partnership with the private sector.

2. To expand the school feeding programme from 9.3m to 15 million children, creating 300,000 extra jobs for food vendors and farmers.

3. To complete the Ibadan/Kano phase of the Lagos/Kano rail link.

4. To complete the Port Harcourt/Maiduguri line.

5. To complete the Itakpa/Warri link to Abuja, through Lokoja.

6. To complete the Second Niger Bridge and the East-West Road connecting Warri, Delta State, to Oron, Akwa Ibom State, through Kaiama and Port Harcourt in Bayelsa and Rivers State.

7. To establish a peoples Moni bank.

8. To institutionalize the giving of soft loans of up to 1million naira to small traders, artisans and commercial drivers.

9. To increase the beneficiaries of trader Moni, market Moni and farmer Moni from 2.3 million to 10million.

10. To create more room for inclusion in government by achieving 35% in female appointments.

11. To give more access to youths as aides of cabinet members and through opportunities for appointments in boards and agencies.

12. To introduce special mentoring programme in governance with young graduates working with ministers and other appointees.

13. To reinterpret the education curriculum through coding, robotics, animations and design thinking.

14. Retraining of all teachers in public primary and secondary schools to deliver digital literacy.

15. Remodeling and equipping of 10,000 schools per year.

16. To complete the 365 road projects under construction in all parts of the federation.

17. Provision of infrastructure and rebuilding the economy.

18. To sustaining the anti-insurgency war and curb insecurity.

19. To fight corruption and revamp the economy.

20. To develop 6 industrial Parks in each of the geopolitical zones.

21. To establish 109 Special Production and Processing Centres (SPPCs) across each senatorial district of Nigeria.

22. To develop the Special Economic zone to quickly concretize our made in Nigeria for export (MINE) plan.

23. To expand the social investment program so as to eradicate poverty.

24. To ensure completion of Manbilla Dam and Bridge.

25. To ensure the construction of the Makurdi Taraba Borno rail project.

26. To complete the bridges across the stretch of River Benue in Ibi local government area.

27. To continue to pursue agricultural policy by ensuring that fertilisers are made available at all the local government areas across the country, for easy access by farmers.

28. To resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

29. To ensure the completion of the on-going Zungeru Hydro Power project.

30. To include persons of integrity in the cabinet.

Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said the exercise was in line with the tradition of IPC, which in 2011 documented 91 campaign promises of President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to him, it was also embarked upon pursuant to the implementation of Component 4b: Support to Media of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Project by IPC over a 52-month period.

Explaining the methodology further, the IPC Director said the campaign promises of all the presidential candidates that contested the 2019 elections were documented but only that of President Muhammadu Buhari was being released.

He, however, said both President Buhari’s campaign promises and those of the other candidates would later be uploaded on the IPC websites.

Explaining the rationale for the documentation of the campaign promises, Mr. Arogundade said the activity was in consonance and conformity with IPC’s mandate to advance democratic accountability.

“The essence is to ensure that it serves as a tool for journalists to monitor, track and ask questions about the diverse aspects of the implementation including using the Freedom of Information Act to such relevant questions,” Arogundade stressed.

“Having trained journalists across Nigeria on issue-focused reporting of elections, we believe they need information like this to follow-up after the elections,” he added.

According to him, the documented campaign promises will also be useful for civil society groups working on development and democratic governance issues as well as various electoral stakeholders.

“The documentation of the president’s electoral promises from the media reports, which is by no means exhaustive, is to serve as a major instrument to proactively engage the Buhari administration on its performance over the next four years and provide benchmarks in seeking democratic accountability, service delivery and the fulfilment of key campaign promises made by the president,” he said.

- DAILY POST

EFCC nabs 27 ‘Yahoo boys, girls’ in Osun, recovers 8 expensive cars, others

Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office, have smoked out 27 ‘Yahoo boys and girls’ in Osogbo, Osun State.

Tony Orilade, EFCC spokesman, in a statement on Friday, said EFCC had embarked on weeks of surveillance, working on series of intelligence gathered on the activities of suspected ‘Yahoo Boys’ in locations across the city.

“The intelligence was found to be substantially credible, leading to the sting operation”, it said.

The suspects are Adeleke Peter, Babalola Abiodun, Aduroja Temitope, Abdulazeez Razak, Adesina Adewale, Osayintoba Dare, Adebowale Fadairo, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, Akinseye Samuel and Osanyintoba Femi.

Others include: Austin Onyekachukwu, Oluwaseun Adesina, Ibosiola Olamilekan, Ayoola Lekan, Abdullahi Owopade, Olatunbosun Kolawole, Saheed Adebola, Osanyintoba Pelumi, Ayo Bello, Samuel Emmanuel, Olalekan Oladele, Solomon Mattew, Oyelude Opeyemi, Quadri Olatunji, Ibrahim Alao, Tunde Bello and Fatolu Temitope.

“Eight exotic cars including two Lexus and six Toyota brands, as well as many costly phones and laptops, were among the items recovered in the course of the operation.

“The suspects, who variously claimed to be graduates, students, computer engineers and businessmen, are currently undergoing interrogation to ascertain their level of involvement in the alleged act.

“They will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded”, the statement added.

-DAILY POST

2016 coup trials: Turkey jails army general 540 years, 150 others bag life jail

In one of the biggest trials over the 2016 failed bid to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish court on Thursday gave life sentences to 151 people including senior military officers.

The judge handed 128 of those convicted between one and 141 aggravated life terms each over the deaths of 139 people, for “violating the constitution” and “attempting to assassinate the president”, the private DHA news agency reported.

Former brigadier general Gokhan Sahin Sonmezates, who was suspected of leading an assassination attempt against Erdogan on the night of the coup bid, was given 137 aggravated life sentences and a 540-year prison sentence, Anadolu said.

A further 23 individuals were given customary life sentences, the agency said, while 27 suspects received prison sentences of up to 20 years.

Among the suspects was US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of ordering the attempted putsch in which left hundreds were killed and thousands more injured.

Gulen strongly denies the claims. Turkey has failed to secure his extradition.

Former air force chief Akin Ozturk and Mehmet Disli, the brother of former ruling party lawmaker Saban Disli, who since September has served as Turkey’s ambassador to the Netherlands, were among those convicted.

Lieutenant Colonel Levent Turkkan, who was the aide to then Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar, was given one aggravated life sentence, state news agency Anadolu reported. Akar was appointed defence minister in July 2018.

Thirty-three suspects were acquitted.

There was a tense atmosphere minutes before the judge issued his verdicts with dozens of people including relatives of those killed during the coup bid in July 2016 slamming the court for not allowing them to enter.

Saliha Arigan, whose son was killed on the night of the failed overthrow, pressed herself against the gates, crying and shouting to be allowed inside.

“The state should be ashamed,” she said. Even as the verdicts were handed down, the strained mood continued with further attempts by individuals to enter the courtroom complex by force.

“I say justice should be done. But I have no trust. May my son rest forever and the traitors be executed,” Arigan later told AFP.

Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul hailed the verdicts, praising “exemplary” Turkish judiciary and told journalists: “Justice has been delivered.”

The trial began in May 2017 in the country’s largest courtroom inside a prison complex in Sincan, outside the capital Ankara.

The court also handed down an aggravated life sentence for “violating the constitution” to Colonel Ali Yazici, Erdogan’s former military aide, Anadolu reported.

Yazici was already sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2017 after a trial of dozens who plotted to assassinate Erdogan at a luxury Aegean hotel during the coup attempt.

The judge ordered the case of 13 fugitives including Gulen to be separated from the main coup ringleaders’ trial.

The failed overthrow left 248 people dead, according to the Turkish presidency, not including 24 coup-plotters killed on the night.

Dozens of those on trial were accused of being members of the “Peace At Home Council”, the name the plotters apparently gave themselves on the night of the coup attempt.

Since July 2016, tens of thousands of people have been arrested over alleged links to the coup bid under a two-year state of emergency which ended last year.

But nationwide raids by police have continued and there are almost daily reports of public prosecutors issuing detention warrants for suspects over Gulen ties.

Nearly 290 coup-linked court cases have been launched, 261 of which ended with 3,239 defendants convicted, according to justice ministry figures given to AFP before the verdicts.

- PM NEWS

Couple allegedly defraud neighbour of N12.4m

Hillary Ogbobe, 45, and his wife, Ijeoma, were on Thursday arraigned at an Ikeja Special Offences Court for allegedly defrauding one Christopher Ezugwu, their neighbour of N12.4 million.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Mojisola Dada remanded the couple, who are residents of House 3, O Close, First Ave., Festac Town, Lagos after they plead not guilty to two-counts of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence.

“The defendants are to be remanded in prison custody till July 11, pending the hearing of their bail application,” Dada said.

Following the arraignment of the couple, Ezugwu, their neighbour and complainant testified as the first prosecution witness.

While being led in evidence by Mr N.N. Anana, the lead prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Ezugwu narrated how the couple defrauded him of money he borrowed and had given the couple to purchase a dredger.

Describing himself as a businessman, Ezugwu said that Ijeoma, 37, had in 2016 solicited for funds from him to assist her husband in his business.

Obliging her request, Ezeugwu said that he gave Ijeoma a total of N220, 000.

The witness said that on another occasion, Ijeoma approached him that her husband would meet him to discuss an issue privately with him.

“Her husband called me for discussion and told me that there is a dredger that is on sale by the Lagos State Government and the United Bank for Africa and that I should help him raise some money.

“He said the cost of the dredger is N20 million and that I should help him raise N12 million while he raises N8 million.

“On July 22, 2016 I paid the first installment of N2.4 million into his Zenith Bank, the account’s name is Marine Mayor Ltd.

“On Aug. 12, 2016 I paid N5 million into the account and on Sep. 8, I paid another N5million into the account.

“After I paid all the funds into the account, I called to inform him and he told me he is in Enugu and that when he returns we will see.

“When we saw he told me that the dredger has been sold to another person.

“I told him to return the money to me so that I can return the money to the person I borrowed it from. He told me that he had used N4 million out of it.

“I told him to give the remaining N8 million balance to me so I could give to the owner.

“He refused and said that there is a business he wants to invest the funds in,” said Ezeugwu.

He said that Hillary promised to repay the funds within 90 days but failed, despite several entreaties.

The complainant said that he had to sell his wife’s only car to offset part of the money he borrowed for the transaction.

Ezeugwu told court that Hillary became arrogant, boastful and refused to refund the money.

“His body language and attitude was that I cannot do anything and that he has contacts in high places. I decided to go to the EFCC since I don’t have anyone to fight for me.

“He was invited by the EFCC and in 2018 he paid N4 million via a bank draft in my name. He brought another draft of N6 million which was issued for Christian not Christopher.

“The EFCC asked him to deposit the draft in the right name, he took away the draft and never came back again with it.

“I suspect that it was a fake draft. Right now N8.4 million remains unpaid,” Ezugwu said.

According to the EFCC, the couple alongside their company, Marine Mayor Ltd., committed the offences in 2016 in Lagos.

“The defendants between July and Sep. 2016 with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of N12.4 million from the complainant on the pretext that it was for the purchase of a fairly used Lagos State Government owned dredger.

“The offences contravene Sections 1(1)(a), 1(3) and 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2016,” Anana said.

- PM NEWS

Samuel Elias, final year student of UNN commits suicide

Mr Samuel Elias a final year student of department of Religion and Culture, University of Nigeria Nsukka has committed suicide by drinking Sniper.

The mother, Mrs Kate Elias a staff of off the university said that the unfortunate incident happened on Monday June 17, around 5.30pm in her house at Justina Eze Street Nsukka. Mrs Elias said ” she came back from work on that fateful day and discovered that the mood of her first child was bad, he was staggering when he came to collect a bottle of coke from the fridge.

“I followed him immediately to his room and started talking to him but he could not respond and when I look closely his teeth has tightened up.

“As I look around I saw empty sniper bottle, at this point I raised alarm and my other children rushed to the room and we tried to give him red oil but his tightened teeth will not allow the oil enter his mouth,”she said.

According to her we immediately rushed him to Faith foundation Hospital Nsukka where we were referred to Bishop Shanahan Hospital Nsukka, Samuel died in Bishop Shanahan Hospital.

The mother of seven said her 25- year son could have died of depression, noting that he had been lamenting of his inability to graduate from UNN because of his final year project where one course was still holding him.

She said also that her son had not been happy how his late father’s family had abandoned them since their father died.

”I know two things he usually complained, his inability to graduate from UNN since 2016 because of the project that he has not finished as his classmates have all went to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

“As well as how his father’s family in Ihechiowa in Arochukwu local government of of Abia state abandoned them and their mother since their father died.

“Whenever he complained of these things I usually advice him to trust God who is capable of solving every problem.

“I do not know why he went to this extent of committing suicide, I have seven children he is my first child.

“it still looks like a dream to me that my first son and first child has died, ” she said in tears.

Reacting to this incident, Prof Tagbo Ugwu , the Head of Department of Religion and Culture in University of Nigeria, Nsukka said somebody called him and told him about the unfortunate incident.

“I received the news with rude shock and surprise.

“I will find out from his supervisor what is wrong from the project that has stopped him from graduating,”he said.

When contacted Mr Ebere Amaraizu, the Police Public Relations Office (PPRO) Enugu State confirmed the incident and said police would investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.

“The police is aware of Samuel Elias death, a final year student of department of Religion and Culture in UNN who committed suicide on Monday by drinking sniper.

“Police will investigate circumstances surrounding the death, ” he said.

-PM NEWS