Embattled Afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti, took to his Facebook page last night to appreciate his family members and his friends for standing by him since his faceoff with the Nigerian police.

Recall that the Inspector General of Police, Baba Alkali ordered his arrest on May 13, after a video of him slapping and pushing a police officer on Third Mainland bridge surfaced online.

He turned himself in on Monday, May 15 and had been in police custody since then, until his eventual release on bail on Tuesday night, May 23.

Following his release, Seun took to his Facebook page to thank all those who stood by him. According to Seun, he owes them his freedom and sanity.

Ondo Police Command has paraded a farm labourer, Mima Chinecherem, who alleged raped an 80-year-old grandmother, Madam Felicia Aderibigbe, to death.

Chinecherem, 27, from Ebonyi State, was paraded on Tuesday, May 23, alongside 18 other suspects arrested for various crimes in different parts of Ondo State.

Madam Aderibigbe was raped and murdered on her farm at the weekend in Constain area of Ore town, in Odigbo Local Government Area of the state.

She had been missing for some days before her corpse was found.

It was gathered that the suspect was seen at night pegging a palm frond in the front of the deceased’s house.

This aroused the suspicion of the deceased’s children who apprehended the suspect and was immediately searched, after which the mobile phone belonging to the old woman was recovered from him.

He was handed over to the police and during interrogation, he claimed he saw the cutlass, bucket and mask at the boundary of the deceased farm.

“When asked the reason for the palm frond, he said it was the deceased children who cut and dropped it on their mother’s farmland, so he decided to take it to their house around 10pm and told them they would understand the meaning the next day,” a source stated.

The Public Relations Officer of the command, Mrs Funmi Odunlami, who spoke on behalf of the Commissioner also revealed that seven people have been arrested with cult related killings in Ondo.

“Based on the dreadful activities of cultists in Owo and its environs, the command organized raids of affected areas, led by Area Commander Owo.

The teams, which included all tactical teams, busted their hideouts, where the following suspects were arrested,”

The suspects are Fadahunsi Monday, (27); Oluwafemi Ajayi (34); Adewale Monday (22); Olupona Olamide (27); Ifedayo Michael (20); Isiaka Jimoh (30) and Olatunji Ojo (35).

The police boss who stated that all the paraded suspects would soon be charged to court, enjoined members of the public to avail them with useful information.

Men of the Adamawa state police command on May 19 arrested one Atiku Ibrahim 37 years and Adamu Ibrahim 40years, identified as inmates who escaped from Kuje correctional facility, following the attack on the facility that freed over 500 on June 6, 2022.

The escapees were arrested by the Command operatives attached to Crack Squad.

The escaped suspects were arrested for Cattle Rustling and other nefarious activities.

During interrogation they confessed to having been in Kuje Correctional custody since 2021, following allegations of Arms dealing against them.

The suspects also confessed to having escaped into Adamawa state until their arrest.

They further stated that they were awaiting trial in a case of Arms dealing and Unlawful possession of firearms.

Confirming their arrest, the spokesperson of the command, SP Yahaya Nguroje, said the state Commissioner of Police, CP Afolabi Babatola, has directed the immediate handing over of the escapees to the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Adamawa state for further necessary action.

A man identified as Yakubu Mohammed has allegedly chopped off the wrist of a commercial motorcycle rider, identified as Shuaibu, in a misunderstanding over a girlfriend in Tunga, Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

According to the Nasarawa Mirror, the Okada rider had dropped off the girlfriend in a location to meet another man and while on his way back, Yakubu blocked and attacked him with cutlass.

The suspect popularly known as Kayi is said to be a relative of the community’s traditional ruler.

The victim, who is married with children has been moved to a hospital in Lafia, the state capital where he’s currently receiving medical attention.

The incident happened on Thursday, May 18, 2023, but the police are yet to arrest the culprit as he’s seen moving about freely.

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen have killed two vigilantes at Umutu community in Ukwuani Local Government Area of Delta State.

Spokesperson of the State Police Command, DSP Bright Edafe, who confirmed the incident on Sunday, May 21, stated that the two men were killed while trying to foil the kidnapping of some persons in the community.

“It is confirmed that gunmen attempted to kidnap some persons in a community, and some members of the vigilante who saw them tried to encounter them, and in the process, the gunmen shot at them. We lost two of them (vigilantes), but nobody was eventually kidnapped,” he said.

Locals said that gunmen kidnapped three persons last Friday which made the vigilantes mobilise, comb the bushes and rescue the three kidnapped victims.

Two of the vigilantes, Mr. Monday Oliseneku and Festus Azowenubi, Oliseneku, who was shot in his stomach, was rushed to Asaba, the state capital due to lack of good hospitals in the community.

“On getting to Federal Medical Centre, they were on strike, so they had to locate any other hospital. But before any tangible services could be rendered, the man died due to extreme loss of blood,” a local said.

Oliseneku died on Saturday while Festus passed away on Sunday, May 21.

Three suspects who used a masquerade to force a widow out of a community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra state, have been arraigned before the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Magistrate Court in Awka, the state’s capital.

The suspects arrested by Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, in collaboration with the state police command, have been identified as Lazarus Uzor, Anozie Uzor and Valentine Okwuosa.

They reportedly banished 53-year-old Nneka Uzor on grounds of allegedly being a witch. Narrating how the incident which was captured in a viral video happened, Nneka said;

“This particular issue started when someone died in our neighbourhood and like other members of the community, I was invited to the burial which made me sleep over at our family compound. But I was surprised to be called upon around 5.30am the next morning by my uncle and brothers, Nnamdi Uzor, Lazarus Uzor and Anozie Uzor with masquerades.

“I got dressed and was accompanied by everyone in attendance alongside the masquerade and was marched out of the community with my brothers and other relatives warning me never to step foot in Umunankwo again.”

When the charges against the suspects were read out on Monday, May 22, the suspects all pleaded not guilty.

The Chief Magistrate, Genevieve Osakwe, said the court would consider the bail application for the defendants since the offence was bailable.

They were subsequently granted bail in the sum of N700,000.

They must also provide reliable sureties in the like sum.

Operatives of the Ogun state Police command have arrested four farmers for allegedly killing and dismembering the body of a herder, Umaru Aliyu, at Ijagunre village in Imeko-Afon local government area of Ogun state.

A statement by SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the spokesperson of the command, says the suspects identified as Akinyele Adebayo, Gbalo Idosu, Abiala Segun and Kareem Fagbemi Lana, were arrested following a report lodged by one Umaru Jakake, who stated that while he and his brother Umaru Aliyu were grazing their cattle at Ijagunre village, they were accosted by one Ojugbele who warned them not to take their cattle near his farm.

He stated further that upon the warning, they took their cattle to the other side of the bush for grazing. But the said Ojugbele later called two men who started chasing them about in the bush.

The complainant further stated that he managed to escape, but the whereabout of his brother Umaru Aliyu is yet to be known since then.

Oyeyemi added that the case was reported at Imeko divisional headquarters, but was transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments Eleweran for discreet investigation on the order of the Commissioner of Police.

The case was assigned to SP Kehinde Beyioku led Homicide section who there and then embarked on a technical and intelligence-based investigation to unravel the whereabouts of the missing herdsman.

‘’There investigation led to the arrest of Kareem Fagbemi Lana, who confessed to the police that it was one Ojugbele who called him from his own farm to inform him of the presence of herdsmen in their farm vicinity, and that he should come and join him to chase them away.

He confessed further that he also called Abiala Segun, who came with his dane gun and the three of them started chasing the herdsmen.

While chasing them, Kareem Fagbemi Lana collected the dane gun and shot one of the herdsmen Umaru Aliyu to death.

After killing him, they invited Akinyele Adebayo whose farm is nearby and informed him of the incident.

It was Akinyele Adebayo who helped them to dismember the body after telling them that he needs the head of the deceased for certain ritual and they all agreed with him to take it.

They then took the remaining parts of the body to Tamake town and buried it in front of Gbalo Idosu house.The confession of Kareem Fagbemi Lana led to the arrest of three others while Ojugbele is still on the run. The deceased’s head and other body parts have been recovered by the policemen.” Oyeyemi said.

The police spokesperson added that the state Commissioner of Police, CP Olanrewaju Oladimeji, who commended the Homicide team for the painstaking investigation, has ordered a massive manhunt for the fleeing member of the gang to be brought to book.

He stated that the CP has also ordered that the arrested suspects be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its one-week warning strike which it embarked upon on Wednesday, May 17.

President of the association, Dr. Emeka Orji, said the strike was suspended after they reached an agreement with the government on Friday, May 19.

Orji also told Channels Television that the doctors will meet again on the second day of June this year, to review progress made with the agreement signed after which the association will decide on their next line of action.

Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja, has ordered the Federal government to “account for the spending of $460 million Chinese loan to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project.”

In a ruling delivered last week, the court also ordered the government to “publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors and specific details of the names of the companies and contractors and status of the implementation of the project.”

The court gave the order while delivering judgment in a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/1447/2019 brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The Sun reports that the suit followed the disclosure in 2019 by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, that “Nigeria was servicing the loan”, adding that she had ‘no explanations on the status of the project.’

She reportedly said:

“We are servicing the loan. I have no information on the status of the CCTV project.” In his judgment, Justice Nwite agreed with SERAP that “there is a reasonable cause of action against the government.

Accounting for the spending of the $460 million Chinese loan is in the interest of the public. It will be inimical for the court to refuse SERAP’s application for judicial review of the government’s action.”

“The Minister of Finance is in charge of the finance of the country and cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be oblivious of the amount of money paid to the contractors for the Abuja CCTV contract and the money meant for the construction of the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).”

Justice Nwite also ordered the government “to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion paid for the failed contract meant to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was part of another loan obtained from China.”

“SERAP’s core objectives are to promote human rights, transparency and accountability and anti-corruption in Nigeria. I am of the humble view that there is a reasonable cause of action against the government [through the Minister of Finance] and I hold that SERAP has made out a case to be entitled to the reliefs sought. The law is well settled that where a document or letter is sent by post, it is the law that the same is taken or presumed to have been delivered.

Following this principle of law and relying on exhibit OS2, SERAP’s Freedom of Information request sent to Ms Ahmed is deemed to have been delivered.

Therefore, the averment by the government [through her] that they were not served with the letter is, hereby, discountenance. I hold.”part of the judgment read

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) Ekiti State Command have arrested a 29-year-old man, Onilearo Sogo, for allegedly defiling his 7-year-old step daughter.

The NSCDC at the weekend, paraded the suspect alongside two persons Femi Musa,20, Iliya Surajudeen,24, arrested for alleged house breaking, stealing, conspiracy and assault.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Command, Mr. Afolabi Tolulope, said Musa and Surajudeen were arrested by the operatives of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) attached to the command in various locations within Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, following a tip off and series of complaints from various members of the public.

According to the PPRO, Sogo had carnal knowledge of his 7-years-old stepdaughter and caused injury in her private part in Aisegba-Ekiti, Gbonyin local government area of Ekiti State.

He explained that one other suspect, Femi Musa was arrested with some kilograms of hard drugs and substance suspected to be cannabis sativa around Oshodi axis of Ado-Ekiti.

The PRO explained that Iliya Surajudeen was arrested in a poultry farm located along Olorunsogo axis of Adebayo in Ado-Ekiti stealing the poultry wire gauge and other properties in the farm.

He disclosed that the suspects, who are currently detained at the command headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, are still helping the corps to probe in deeply into the matters with a view to unraveling other matters associated with the alleged crime before charging them to court.

Police in Edo have arrested three suspected cultists at upper Sakponba in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state.Chidi Nwabuzor, spokesman for the Edo police command on Friday listed the nabbed suspects as Bright Amadin, 34, Brown Amadin, 29, and Stanley Omoregie, 27.

They were arrested after the police Intelligence Rapid Response Squad received information on their planned strike on a rival cult group and plot to forcefully initiate new members in Benin.

“Immediately, the operatives commenced technical intelligence in order to foil their plans, and on 12/05/2023 at about 0230hrs, the operatives arrested three of the cult members at Okabere community, Upper Sakponba Road Benin.”

He listed the items recovered from them as: one pump-action gun, three live cartridges, and some clothes with Manphite insignia.

Mr Nwabuzor said the suspects had made statements and confessed to being members of the dreaded Manphite secret cult.

He further said that concerted effort is ongoing to arrest other cult members at large, adding that sooner, the suspects would be charged to court.