Female Student Sexually Assaulted, Killed by Her Fellow Students

Two students of Federal
Polytechnic, Auchi, Henry Edewo
and Emmanuel Isikhuime, have
been arrested by the Police in
Edo State for kidnapping,
molesting and murdering a
female student, one Mercy Peter,
21, also a student of the
institution.
The students were also said to
have continued to demand for
ransom from her parents after
killing her.
They were said to have buried
their victim in a shallow grave in
a forest at Ugbor village, Oredo
Local Government Area of Edo
State, after killing her.
It was gathered that the victim,
who was kidnapped on July 29,
this year, was killed four days
later after she was serially
molested by the suspects.
State Police Public Relations
Officer, Mr Anthony Airhuoyo,
however, told newsmen that the
police made a breakthrough in
the case on October 17 when
two of the suspects were
arrested.
He added that a third suspect,
whose name was given as
Charles, was still on the run.
Mr Airhuoyo disclosed that the
suspects took the police to the
spot where they buried Mercy
and her corpse was exhumed.
He said they were awaiting
autopsy report.
Source: Vanguard

Pope includes Nigerian Archbishop among newly appointed cardinals

Pope Benedict XVI named six
new cardinals yesterday
Wednesday October 24th, and
among them is a Nigerian Arch-
bishop, John Olorunfemi
Onaiyekan, who until his
promotion, was the Archbishop
of Abuja. Bishop Onaiyekan
becomes the third Nigerian
cardinal after Cardinal Francis
Arinze and Cardinal Olubumi
Okogie.
The other five newly appointed
cardinals are: Archbishop of
Bogota, Colombia, Ruben
Salazar Gomez; Archbishop of
Manila, Philippines, Luis Antonio
Tagle; Patriarch of Antioch of the
Maronites in Lebanon, Bechara
Boutros Rai; and the major
Archbishop of the Trivandrum of
the Siro-Malankaresi in India,
Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.

Bus Drivers And Conductors In Lagos To Start Wearing Uniforms As From Next Year

Commercial bus drivers and conductors will
begin to wear uniforms and badges as from
January 2013, says the Lagos State
Government.
Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode
Opeifa disclosed this at the weekend at a
sensitisation programme for transporters on the
new Road Traffic Law at the Adeyemi Bero
Auditorium, Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to Opeifa, from 1 January, all
commercial bus drivers and conductors would
begin to wear uniforms and badges in line with
the provision of the traffic law.
He explained that the state government wants to
sanitise commercial road transportation in the
state so that operators in the sector could be
proud of their job while quacks would be
eliminated.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for
Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, declared that the state
Road Traffic Law was not intended to be another
source of revenue generation for the state
government, stressing that the law was rather
enacted for public good and to protect the
interest of the citizens.
Ipaye stated that the penalties for road traffic
offences were to serve as a deterrent to road
traffic offenders thereby guaranteeing safety on
the roads. He called on law enforcement agents
to always seek how they could assist road users
to comply with traffic rules rather than focusing
on arresting of people on flimsy excuses.
The commissioner enjoined members of the
public who were aggrieved by their arrest and
penalties imposed on them on account of traffic
offences could approach the Office of Public
Defender which would defend them free of
charge.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy,
Lateef Ibirogba urged them to first comply with
the law, insisting that in any civilised society there
must be rules and regulations which must be
obeyed for there to be peace and order.
Special Adviser to the State Governor on Political
and Legislative Powers, Muslim Folami, stated
that the sensitization programme was aimed at
educating members of the road transport unions
on their rights and obligations under the road
traffic law so as to facilitate compliance to the
law.

Senator Ali Ndume Gave AGF’s Phone Number To Boko Haram – Principal Witness

It was a shocking revelation yesterday at the
Federal High Court sitting in Abuja when more
sordid details regarding Ndume’s transaction with
Boko Haram emerged.
Chief investigator of the State Security Service,
SSS, Mr James Ene Izih, told the Court that a
Senator, Mohammed Ndume, gave the telephone
number of the Attorney General of the
Federation, Mohammed Adoke, to the Boko
Haram sect. It would be recalled that Mr. Ndume,
a serving Senator representing Borno South
Senatorial District, is standing trial for his alleged
ties to Boko Haram. The accused has, however,
said he established the link to facilitate peace as a
member of the Presidential Committee on
Security in the North East Zone.
Mr. Izih, who headed the Special Investigation
Panel, SIP, set up to investigate Mr. Ndume, said
that a former spokesman of Boko Haram, Ali
Konduga a.k.a Usman Alzawahiri, revealed the
information to the panel. The panel was informed
by the said Konduga that the senator provided
him with the telephone number of Mr. Adoke.
The witness allegedly told the panel that the
number was used to bargain a governorship
petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party,
PDP, in Borno state. Mr. Ineh said that the former
Boko Haram spokesman affirmed that the calls to
Mr. Adoke were threats to scare him into
influencing the Governorship Election Tribunal
members to give judgement in favour of the PDP
or risk mayhem in the State.
He further explained that the name of the
Attorney General was dragged into the panel
report submitted on November 25, 2011 on the
grounds that his GSM number was found in Mr.
Konduga’s telephone set. Mr. Izih, in his
testimony asserted that the items found in the
senator’s phone
were indicative of his close links with the dreaded
Islamist sect.
“The fact that Konduga was tried and convicted
of terrorism acts is enough to show that the
accused is also liable,’’ he concluded. The judge,
Gabriel Kolawole, adjourned the suit to
November 1, November 5 and December 11 for
further hearing.

May D dares PSquare? performs Chop my money at Felabration

May D may or may not know
what he has done; but the
tides are already heating up
and soon, there may be just
another messy war between
him and Square records barely
two months after he was
dropped by the label.
At Felabration 2012 held
recently at the New Afrika
Shrine, Akinmayokun May D
Awodumila was one of the
selected artistes to perform
and indeed he performed.
May D threw caution to the
wind and stormed the stage
with P Square’s Do as I do
which featured Tiwa Savage
and himself.
He didn’t stop there as he
went quickly into his award
winning single Soundtrack
before diving headlong into
Chop my Money. May D
wrapped up his act with his hit
single Ile Ijo.
In all of P Square’s songs
performed on this night, May
D didn’t stick to his lines,
rather, he took the entire
songs from start to finish.
The crowd, however, didn’t
seem to notice or perhaps
were not bothered as they
hollered and danced away the
entire time.
Square Records boss Jude
Engees Okoye had in a
statement issued August this
year, announced that the label
was severing ties with May D
due to irreconcilable
differences. A month later, May
D launched his own label
Confam Entertainment.
His single Soundtrack fetched
him the ‘Best R&B Single’
award at The Headies this year.

Graphic Photo: Confusion Over the Beheading Of A 70 Year Old Man In Akwa Ibom State

As poverty continues to take its harsh toll on the
major oil rich State of the Niger Delta in
Nigeria – Akwa Ibom State, some bizarre
killings are going on unabated, albeit,
unheard. The recent is the decapitation of the
head of a man by name Udo Jimmy (AKA Ete-
Isang) in a small village called Ikot Odion in
Eket Local Government area of Akwa Akwa
Ibom State.
Ete-Isang, as he was fondly called left his house
in the evening of Monday to scout for straws to
feed his goat did not return back even after
night-fall. Worried by this strange development,
the children quickly reported the matter to the
newly elected VillageHead, Chief Ekomobong
Peter Assam who wasted no time as he
summoned an emergency town hall meeting of
all the villagers to discuss the matter.
A search party was immediately dispatched to
comb the bushes in the direction where he was
said to have been seen earlier in the day. His
lifeless body was found just less than half a mile
from his backyard along the road leading to a
nearby stream called Odu Iyak.
The Divisional Police office of Eket, Mr Idowu
Owohunwa was intimated where he immediately
visited the scene alongside some of his men for
proper investigation. No arrest was, however,
made as no strong suspect was identified by the
villagers the in course of police preliminary
investigation.
But a young lady in her early thirties simply
known as Edikan, who spoke to this reporter,
said she saw a strange young man along the
road of the bush stream while going to fetch
water to cook food for her children and met a
young man who easily got angry with her and
questioned her why she was staring at him so
intently, then treathed to beat her if she
continued staring at him. She said though she
did not know him but could recognize him if she
saw him again.
A community leader, here, Mr Akpe Isang, while
reacting to the incident said he believed that it
was the hash way which poverty has significantly
ravaged the state thereby compelling young men
to ttake to toritual killings by beheading people to
make quick money.
“There is no doubt in my mind that poverty is the
cause of this incessant beheading and ritual
killing going on in Akwa Ibom State. This is the
area where Akwa Ibom government has failed
woefully in addressing.”
But in contrast to this, a second school of
thought blamed the killing of this septuagenarian
on witchcraft. One of the community
spokespersons who spoke on account of
anonymity said Mr Jimmy returned from Calabar
three years ago after the death of his eldest son
and settled at home. Witchcraft was widely
believed to be the cause of his son’s death.
“He returned from Calabar about three years ago
after the death of his son. His son’s death really
shocked many of us. I think people actually
thought then this was caused by supernatural
forces. So I really suspect some men who nurture
this belief could be responsible to his death.’’
Killing like this has been going on for some time
now in different parts of Akwa Ibom State which
may not have anyconnectivity with politics as they
mostly involved people from the local community
which have no business whatsover with politics.
In Oron area, fior instance, about seven people
were beheaded just last month alone in different
villages. However, what may be the cause of this
very death, still remains a mystery.
But it will be recalled that in 2001, more than
eleven people including children believed to be
witches and wizards were tortured and killed in
this village alone and buried in an unknown mass
grave.
Informationnigeria

PHCN says Governor Wamakko beat their staff with whip

The management of the Kaduna
Electricity Distribution Company,
KEDC, a subsidiary of the Power
Holding Company of Nigeria,
PHCN, has accused the Governor
of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko,
of assaulting three of its staff in
the state for denying his
community electricity.
The Acting Managing Director of
the Company, Mohammed
Adamu, made this known at a
press briefing late Monday at the
company’s Doka office in
Kaduna.
Mr. Adamu explained that the
staff was summoned by the
governor and was beaten to a
pulp by the Governor and some
of his aides.
“On Saturday, 20th October,
2012, an unusual and
unfortunate event took place
which was beyond our
comprehension. On the said
date our business manager,
Gwiwa Business Unit, Sokoto
state, Moses Osigwe, was invited
by the Executive Governor of the
State, Aliyu Magatarkada
Wamakko to his personal
residence, over the issue of lack
of power supply to his
hometown, Wamakko, as a
result of a failed 2.5MVA
transformer.
“He accused our staff of
deliberately denying his
community, Wamakko, of power
supply. As the business manager
was trying to explain to him, the
governor just brought out a
horse whip (popularly known as
bulala in Hausa language) and
lashed him to a pulp,” Mr.
Adamu said.
The PHCN boss said the
governor’s brutality did not stop
at being the direct aggressor, “as
he also invited and instructed
two hefty mobile police men to
continue with the beating spree
until the business manager fell
on the ground and became
unconscious.”
“In the same vain, the Governor
did not stop at the beating of
our business manager but
invited two other staff of the
company namely, Isyaku Daura,
Officer 2 (Electrical) and
Nuruddeen Mohammed, Staff 1
(Lines) and ordered the mobile
policemen to beat them up, also
to a pulp,” he lamented.
He described the governor’s
action as uncalled for, barbaric,
and uncivilised.
“We therefore find it pertinent
to let the whole world know, so
that as defenseless citizens
going about our legitimate
duties, we should not be
brutalised and lynched by
powerful Chief Executives,” he
reiterated.
The Senior Special Assistant to
the Sokoto state Governor, Sani
Umar, when contacted on phone
told reporters that he was
driving and would call back. He
was yet to do so as at the time
of this report.
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