News & Announcements

A married man, Nuhu Umar Usman, 40, mistook his second wife, Ladi Nuhu Dangarfa for a kidnapper and shot her dead in the middle of the night in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Confirming the incident on Friday, Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ahmed Wakil in a statement said trouble started when the man’s two wives had a misunderstanding which their husband tried to settle to no avail.

The senior wife’s son had threatened to attack his father and as a precaution, the man slept with his Dane gun beside his bed at night.

The statement affirmed: “There was an altercation between the wives, to the extent that the eldest son holds grudges against the father and threatened to harm him.

This made the suspect load his Dane gun and kept it beside him throughout the night waiting for an intruder, possibly his eldest son.”

On December 28, 2022, Usman slept in the same room with his second wife but was not aware when she stepped out of the room at 2 am to urinate.

While returning to her bed, the husband woke up and reached for his gun on hearing suspicious movement close to his bed.

The shot he fired hit his wife who fell down, unconsciously. She was rushed to the General Hospital Burra but certified Dead-on-Arrival by the doctor.

According to the statement, the suspect has been arrested and would be charged in court after the completion of investigations.

The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, claims to have killed 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan while flying an Apache helicopter.

From 2007 to 2008, Harry worked as a forward air controller in air attacks, and from 2012 to 2013, he flew an attack helicopter.

The 38-year-old Royal spare made this known in his forthcoming autobiography ‘Spare’ according to the United Kingdom’s media on Friday.

According to Harry, there were six missions he undertook as a pilot that led to “taking human lives”, the Daily Telegraph reported.

He further revealed that he was neither proud nor ashamed of the action. He also described eliminating the targets as like removing “chess pieces” from aboard.

“My number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote in Spare.

Britain’s Prince Harry also revealed yesterday through his highly-anticipated memoir that his elder brother, Prince William physically attacked him during a squabble that ensued over his wife, Meghan Markle.

The investigation report in the money laundering and other drug-related offenses involving fugitive Banta Keita, the 1st accused and Sheriff Njie, the second accused, was tendered yesterday and admitted as evidence in support of the prosecution case in the ongoing cocaine trial involving the duo.

The investigation report dubbed “Investigation Report into the Cocaine Seizure at the Banjul Sea Port” and the documents of the sales property at Fajara were tendered and marked as exhibits.

Meanwhile, another document dubbed the “Tenancy agreement between Binta Keita and Karpower”, which the prosecution also sought to tender was objected to by the defense counsel on the basis that the document was in the French language. The presiding judge is expected to make a ruling on the said document in the next adjournment.

Continuing his testimony yesterday, Lamin Gassama, the Director of Investigation and International Corporation of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency-The Gambia (DLEAG), who is also PW6 in the ongoing cocaine case, informed the court that he was the lead investigator in the matter.

He further said: “After the seizure of the cocaine, a panel comprising officers from the DLEAG, Gambia Police Force, Gambia Armed Forces, Gambia Revenue Authority, and operatives of the country’s State Intelligence Services was constituted to investigate the matter.

“After the completion of the investigation, I led the writing of the report. At the conclusion of the report, we all reviewed the report together and each of us signed the document.”

The case was adjourned till 13 and 20 January 2023 for ruling and cross-examination of the witness.

A six-year-old boy opened fire in an elementary school classroom in the eastern US state of Virginia on Friday, injuring a teacher, the police said.

No students were hurt in the incident at Richneck Elementary School in the coastal city of Newport News.

“The individual is a six-year-old student. He is right now in police custody,” local police chief Steve Drew told a news conference, adding that “this was not an accidental shooting.”

Police said that the victim was a teacher in her 30s and her injuries were believed to be life-threatening.

“I’m in shock, and I’m disheartened,” said the city’s superintendent of schools, George Parker.

“We need the community’s support to make sure that guns are not available to youths.”

School shootings plague the United States, with recent tragedies including the killing last May of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old gunman.

There were an estimated 44,000 gun-related deaths in the United States last year, about half of them murder cases, accidents, and self-defense, and half of them suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive database.

Media rights groups have called for South Sudanese authorities to release six journalists detained after footage was leaked reportedly showing President Salva Kiir urinating on himself.

The staff with the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation were arrested on Tuesday by agents from the National Security Service, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, citing media reports and other sources familiar with the case.

They are under investigation over a video that went viral on social media in December, which appeared to show Kiir urinating on himself at an official function, according to the reports, the New York-based CPJ said in a statement issued late Friday.

The arrests match “a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavourable”, said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative Muthoki Mumo.

“Authorities should unconditionally release these six SSBC employees and ensure that they can work without further intimidation or threat of arrest.”

The Union of Journalists of South Sudan also called for a “speedy conclusion” of the investigation into the six, who it said were suspected of “having knowledge of the release of “a certain footage’ to the public”.

“If there is a prima facie case of professional misconduct or offence then let authorities expedite an administrative or legal process to address the issue in a fair, transparent (manner) and in accordance with the law,” it said in a statement on Friday.

Kiir, 71, oversaw the birth of South Sudan as an independent nation after it broke free from Sudan in July 2011.

But the world’s youngest country has lurched from crisis to crisis since then, enduring brutal conflict, political turmoil, natural disasters, and hunger.

Bishop David Oyedepo has cautioned youths against the ‘Japa’ Syndrom (leaving Nigeria for greener pastures).

The founder of the Living Faith Church better known as Winners Chapel spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday.

Oyedepo advised the government to massively invest in citizens to restore the lost esteem of the country.

The chancellor said human capital development remains the most viable and stable stock of any nation.

Education requires more investment being the bedrock of sustainable national development, the cleric stressed.

Oyedepo pointed out that an enabling environment for youths would reduce the number of those leaving Nigeria.

He insists relocation is not the best option, noting that many youths are stranded in foreign countries but cannot return because of shame.

“Parents need to reorientate their children. We all need to stay in Nigeria to rebuild.

“Everyone has a part to play in the recovery of his nation,” the preacher added.

The Edo State Government today announced that one suspect had been arrested in connection with the yesterday evening adduction of train passengers at Igueben by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

It would be recalled that over 30 passengers waiting at the Ekehen-Igueben train station in Igueben Local Government Area of the state, to board a train to Warri, Delta State, were, at about 4.00 pm yesterday, kidnapped.

Chidi Nwabuzor, Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, PPRO, who broke the news of the kidnap, said that the abductors were Fulani herdsmen, who invaded the train station with AK 47 assault rifles.

Among the 32 persons kidnapped by the herdsmen were the train station manager, Godwin Okpe, the Head of Security, identified simply as Ikhayere, an Igueben community resident, Victor Osarobho, and the station ticket clerk, also identified as Akhere.

Addressing a press conference this afternoon, Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare, described the incident as the most trying for the state government.

Nehikhare, who disclosed that immediately after the abduction occurred, the state’s security apparatus swung into action, added that the efforts had yielded a result as one of the suspected kidnappers was arrested and was helping the police in unraveling the incident.

“Yesterday is undoubtedly one of the most trying days so far in the new year for us as a government. A few armed men kidnapped 32 people at the Igueben train station. The deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, has visited the train station for the spot assessment of the situation.

The abductors, some of whom came by vehicles and the others by the bush paths, escaped into the bush with the victims.

Immediately the news filtered in, the police in the area, local vigilantes,s and hunters swung into action and bush combing began to rescue the victims.

‘Information at our disposal is to the effect that of the 32 people kidnapped, one escaped and we have 31 others with the kidnappers.

“The good news for us as a government is that one of the kidnappers has been arrested and he is helping the police to unravel the whole thing.

“The state government under Governor Godwin Obaseki wants to commend the swiftness with which the police swung into action. We also want to commend the Edo State Vigilante Group and the local hunters in the area for their efforts so far at rescuing the remaining victims.

“As a government, we hope too that this will be the last time we will have daring people invading our train stations, and particularly, any part of Edo State, as we will make such daring elements uncomfortable and secure our state.

“We want to assure the security agencies and the local hunters and vigilantes that the Edo State Government will continue to support them as efforts are being made to rescue the remaining 31 victims”, Nehikhare assured.

Meanwhile, the traditional rulers of Igueben, HRH Ehizojie Eluojierior I, Onogie of Igueben, and Okaigun of Esanland, have described the incident as appalling, adding that the entire community was thrown into “unwanted silence” as the people were yet to come to test with the kidnap.

Onogie Eluojierior, who confirmed the incident, added that many such incidents had taken place without being reported in the media.

“The mood in the town is quiet and activated because the police, vigilantes, and hunters are working together on the issue. They combed the bush till midnight on Saturday and resumed on Sunday morning.

“I hear there has been a similar attempt in Delta State by bandits from another part of the country, which was repelled. The attack took everyone by surprise and it happened at about 4 pm when the train was being expected”, the Onogie said.

Prince Harry has taken another swipe at the British Royal Family in an explosive interview with US media outlet, CBS.

This time, the Duke of Sussex sat with interviewer Anderson Cooper to promote his new book, Spare, as he revealed that he and his brother, William begged their father, King Charles not to marry the Queen Consort, Camilla after their mother, Princess Diana passed.

Harry said Camilla’s connection with the press made her “dangerous” adding that the Queen Consort was ready to throw anyone under the bus to “rehabilitate her image,” following her long affair with King Charles when he was married to their mother.

He also accused Camilla of plotting for years to wed their father to become Queen.

Harry said, “She was the villain, she was a third person in the marriage, and she needed to rehabilitate her image.

“That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press. And there was an open willingness on both sides to trade information and with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being Queen Consort, there would be people or bodies left in the street because of that.”

Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle also released a six-part docuseries last year on Netflix, where they accused the British press of being unfair to Meghan treating her the way the press treated Diana.

Following the Nigeria Customs Service’s decision to increase duty on imported automobiles by 10%, freight forwarders have warned that there may be a backlog of imported vehicles at the country’s seaports.

The agents charged the service of enacting a 10% duty hike but failing to apply the 10% yearly depreciation value on imported old vehicles in an exclusive conversation with our correspondent in Lagos on Sunday.

Nnadi Ugochukwu, the vice president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, questioned why the NCS began a new fiscal year in January when it was supposed to do so in April.

He stated: “Importers have to pay based on 2014 model even if the vehicle is a 2008 model. So, It is true the NCS has raised duty to 2014, normally their new calendar is supposed to start by March.

“This has made imported vehicles to become trapped at the port, Customs increased duty by 10 per cent, but refused to implement the 10 per cent annual depreciation.

“So, if you look at it now, you have to pay 10 percent more. It refuses to implement the 10 per cent annual depreciation value on imported used vehicles; they are now making a 10 per cent increase every year”

Nnadi voiced concern that the action might result in a decline in car imports.

Geoffrey Nwosu, the head of the Nigerian chapter of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics, also spoke, he stated:

“The Customs has hiked their duty to 2014 baseline starting this January. Even when we wanted to clear 2008 we were paying for 2013. The depreciation on it should be automatic.”

Meanwhile, a licensed Customs agent, Mr Timothy Adebowale, queried while the service failed to effect depreciation value rate on 2014 vehicles.

According to him, the service was created to reduce the value of automobiles’ yearly depreciation.

Timi Bomodi, the National Public Relations Officer for NCS, responded by stating that the government’s fiscal policy on age limits was the basis for the development.

He said, “Nothing has changed fundamentally from the age limit policy of the Federal Government. I don’t think it is necessary, these people know the rules.

We don’t need to start this year like that, people are trying to see that things work out the way it should and if we are trying to see that things work out the way it should, we don’t need to be hitting ourselves over the head, we don’t need all those things.

We just need to do our work and at the end of the day if it favors some people fine and if it doesn’t then they should know what the proper thing is” he concluded.

Lawrence Itakpe, 49, has been charged with murdering his wife Rebecca at their home in the Lagos County neighborhood of Ajah. He was hauled before a Yaba Magistrates’ Court.

According to reports, the suspect and the dead, who had been married for 11 years and had two children, quarreled about sachet water.

During this point, the suspect allegedly went into the kitchen, came back with a kitchen knife, and used it to allegedly stab his wife repeatedly in the chest and neck.

The defendant allegedly refused to answer the door when a security guard knocked on the couple’s door during the argument.

Inspector Haruna Magaji, the police prosecutor, informed the court that the defendant committed the crime on December 5, 2022.

Lawrence was charged with murder on one count.

The charge stated: “That you, Lawrence Itakpe, did unlawfully slaughter one Rebecca Itakpe, aged 47, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015, at 50, Abimbola Street, Seaside Estate, Badore Ajah, Lagos State, in the Lagos Magisterial District.”

Magaji requested that the prisoner be held in detention for 30 days while the Directorate of Public Prosecutions provides legal counsel.

The case was postponed to January 31, 2023 by Chief Magistrate O.Y. Adefope, who was presiding.