Three men identified as Mukaila Nofiu, Wasiu Rasheed and Hassan Kazeem, were on Monday, May 15, arraigned before the Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos state for allegedly beating a man named Alade Bello to death and allegedly attempting to murder another, Lasisi Sikiru.

The prosecutor, Haruna Magaji, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on April 14, 2023, at the Igbolodo village, along Ketu, Omu Road, Lagos around 2.46 pm.

According to Magaji, the accused men used planks and wood to beat the deceased to death and attempted to kill one other but did not succeed.

He added that the offences contravened Sections 233 and 230 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2015.

The charge read in part;

“That you Mukaila Nofiu, Wasiu Rasheed and Hassan Kazeem and others at large on April 14, 2023, around 4.35 pm at Igbolodo village along Ketu, Omu Road, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District did unlawfully killed one Alade Bello by hitting him severally with planks and woods and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 233 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2015.”

During the arraignment, the defendant’s pleas were not taken.

The prosecutor hence prayed the court to remand the defendants pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution.

Magistrate Adefope, granting the request, remanded the defendants to the Kirikiri Custodial Centre pending legal advice from the DPP and adjourned the case till June 16, 2023.

Two suspects identified as Emmanuel James (32) and Ejiro Peter (25) have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a couple, Mr and Mrs Okutonye Efetobore, in Ejewu community in Udu LGA on April 27, and collecting a N1 million ransom.

Delta police spokesperson, Bright Edafe said the suspects, James, from Otor-Udu in Ughelli South LGA; and Peter, a native of Kokori community in Ethiope East LGA have been cooperating with security operatives after being arrested.

They reportedly led police operatives to another notorious member of their gang known by his alias, Oh Lord, in the Egbike area of Udu town.

Upon sighting police officers, he engaged them in a gun duel and escaped through the ceiling of his apartment.

Items recovered from the suspect’s apartment were a bag containing a locally fabricated pistol and three rounds of 7.62 AK-47 ammunition.

Singer Seun Kuti who turned himself in to the police earlier today is still being interrogated and might spend the night at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti in Lagos state where he was moved to.

The son of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is currently being drilled by police detectives over the viral video of him allegedly assaulting a police officer on Third mainland bridge.

The spokesperson of the state police command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, explains that investigation is ongoing and if concluded, Seun would have his day in court, otherwise he will remain with the police until the investigation is concluded.

The Nigerian constitution permits the police to detain a suspect for more than 48 hours.

The Taraba State Police Command has confirmed a bomb blast at a drinking joint in Jalingo, the state capital.

Spokesperson of the command, Abdullahi Usman, in a statement on Monday, said the incident occurred in Jika Doruwa, Jalingo metropolis on Sunday night, May 14, 2023.

The PPRO, who could not ascertain the number of casualties as of the time of press, said an anti-bomb squad of the command have been deployed to the area to ascertain the level of damages wrought by the explosion.

The explosion which reportedly occurred around 9pm, was said to have left several persons with various degrees of injuries, most of whom are undergoing treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Jalingo An eyewitness who gave her name as Peace Danjuma, who claimed that one of her friends sustained injuries, said the explosion took all of them unawares as it happened suddenly

“We were at a local joint called Jika when something under the chair we were sitting on exploded,” she said.

The number of casualties from the incident is yet to be released by the authorities as at the time of filing this report.

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) says the agency is engaging traditional rulers in various states to curb transborder crimes across the country.

The Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO) comptroller of immigration, Mr Tony Akuneme, disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Akuneme said that Nigeria had extensive borders, adding that It was necessary to deploy manpower and technology.

He said that the service had deployed MIDAS technology, saying it was used in monitoring what was going on in the borders.

He added that at least MIDAS was powered by foreign countries helping NIS to ensure that the borders were tight and in control.

According to him, NIS has taken a step further to visit traditional rulers in the border communities so as not to engage in transborder crimes.

“We have visited a couple of the Obas (Alake of Egba in Ogun, Shehu of Borno among others) and the idea is to engage the border communities to make them know they have a stake in securing these borders.

“So for me it’s an extra mile, apart from the regular policing of the borders by officers, we have also gone into public relations and then enlightenment.

“This is so, just to make sure that people don’t think it’s not their business but that everybody is involved in the issue of securing our borders,” he said.

The federal government says it spends N1 million annually to cater for each of the inmates at the correctional facilities in the country.

Sola Fasure, the media adviser to the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made this known in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

According to the statement, the minister said this while inaugurating a 20-bed COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund Hospital and Equipment at the maximum security custodial centre, Port Harcourt.

The minister said that the project would be an enduring legacy and a testimony of the utmost importance the federal government had so far taken corrections, the welfare of inmates as well as the staff.

Mr Aregbesola added that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had, to a large extent, addressed the problem of inmates contracting diseases in custodial centres.

“The custodial centres were frighteningly centres for contracting diseases like scabies and tuberculosis, among others.

“Happily, this has been addressed by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and is now a thing of the past.

“We not only have well-manned clinics and well-stocked pharmacies, the inmates at the custodial centres now have access to excellent medical care beyond the centres,” he said.

The minister also decried the enormous challenges of running correctional services with huge demands for infrastructure, equipment and maintaining the welfare of inmates.

He, however, assured that the Federal Government had provided long-term solution to the challenges.

“This centre in Port Harcourt, with a capacity for 1,800 inmates, presently houses about 3,067 inmates.

This is just a reflection of the situation in most urban custodial centres where we have congestion at the moment.

“The facilities and even the personnel are overstretched, but we are coping and providing long-term solutions to this challenge.

“One of such solution is the construction of mega 3,000-capacity custodial villages in six geo-political zones of the country. The one for the South-South is in Bori, not far from here in Rivers.

“The ones for the North-West in Janguza, Kano and the North-Central, in Karshi, Abuja, are ready. Hopefully, we shall inaugurate the one in Kano in a few days, before our departure.

“Even work is steadily going on in the others and has reached an appreciable level.

“Let me also reiterate that the Federal Government will stop feeding inmates incarcerated for breaching state laws.

As you commence your budget process for next year, include feeding of your inmates,” he said.

Mr Aregbesola said that he had no doubt that the facility would go a long way in addressing the medical concerns of inmates and correctional service personnel.

The minister commended the management and staff of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for working hard to keep the virus away.

He added that the new hospital was an intervention aimed at making robust healthcare for those in custody and the NCoS staff.

Aregbesola said that the beauty of all the interventions in consonance with other reforms in the NCoS would obviously translate to security, peace and tranquillity in and around the centres and ultimately the entire country.

The Kwara state Police Command on Friday, May 12, paraded a medical doctor identified as Ayodele Joseph who allegedly specialize in sedating and raping patients in his hospital in Ilorin, the state capital.

Parading the suspect at the Police headquarters in Ilorin, the state Commissioner of Police, Paul Odama, said on the 5th of May, a female victim (Name Withheld) who is a nurse by profession reported to the Police that she went to Ayodele’s Hospital located in the Sawmill Area, Lagos Road, Ilorin for a surgery.

Odama said the victim said that during her treatment, Ayodele sedated her, making her unconscious.

The victim said before the sedation, she turned on her telephone and placed it in a vantage position to record the surgery unknown to the doctor.

He explained that the victim said that she woke up from sleep after the surgery to find out she was fully naked, adding that when viewing the recorded video, she discovered that the said Dr. Ayodele Joseph had unlawful sexual intercourse with her while under sedation.

The Commissioner noted that the investigation led to the recovery of the video recording of the sexual action of the said doctor on the victim and was supported by the result from medical examinations conducted on the victim.

The police boss added Ayodele is also being arraigned in court by the Police over unprofessional conduct which resulted in the death of one Nneka Akanike at his hospital.

The Kano State Police Command has arrested a 25-year-old woman, Raham Sulaiman, for allegedly “kidnapping” her 6-year-old daughter, Hafsat Kabiru and demanding N3m ransom from her ex-husband.

The State Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Usaini Gumel, disclosed this when he paraded the woman alongside other suspects arrested for various crimes, at the police headquarters in Bompai on Thursday, May 11, 2023.

The woman allegedly took her daughter to a nearby relative in Madobi to keep for her, claiming she would travel for several days. According to the CP, the command received a report from the husband, Kabiru Shehu, that his daughter had been kidnapped.

“On 08/05/2023, a report was received from one Kabiru Shehu of Sharada Quarters, Kano Municipal LGA that his divorced wife, one Rahma Sulaiman , ‘f’ , 25 years old informed him that his daughter named Hafsat Kabiru, ‘f’, 6 years old was missing, and that unknown persons called her through her mobile phone demanding the sum of Three Million Naira (N3,000,000:00k) as ransom,” the police boss stated.

“In a follow-up investigation, the victim was rescued in Madobi LGA.

The divorced wife was arrested and confessed to have planned, took her daughter to a hideout and demanded the ransom. Investigation is in progress.”

The Anambra State Police Command has arraigned a 75-year-old man, Albert Eligbue, for allegedly forcing a widow, Patricia Eligbue, to drink water used to bathe the corpse of her husband’s nephew.

Eligbue, from Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state, was arraigned in the Children, Sexual and Gender- Based Violence Court in Awka, the state capital on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

During court proceedings, the prosecutor, Inspector Onyema Ayogu told the court that the defendant was accused of forcing a widow and sister-in-law to drink water used to wash the corpse of her late brother-in-law as proof of her innocence over his death.

Ayogu said the defendant was facing five charges, including conspiracy to commit felony and assault, an offence punishable under sections 495(a) and 190 of the Criminal Code Cap 36 Vol.11 revised laws of Anambra State of Nigeria, 1991. Eligbue pleaded not guilty to the five charges preferred against him.

However, Magistrate Genevieve Osakwe, granted the defendant N500,000 bail with a surety to be the Traditional Ruler or President General of Atani community.

The case was further adjourned till June 7, 2023.

Meanwhile, the widow who narrated her ordeal to the Anambra State Women and Social Welfare Commissioner, Hon Ify Obinabo, said she lost her husband a long time ago.

She noted that although she’s from Obe Agwa, her husband was from Atani both in Ogbaru local government area of the state. She went on to say that after her husband’s death, she has been subjected to all kinds of abuse ranging from her husband’s family, calling her a witch and other kinds of physical abuse.

According to her, one day the husband’s siblings badged in on her and her only child and allegedly started beating her, claiming that she’s responsible for all the unfortunate things happening to them.

She said that it was after the incident that her relatives ran to her aid . While she was about to go with her family, her husband’s family members refused stating that she needed to stay till after the burial ceremony of the husband’s nephew who died.

The widow explained that on the day of the burial, she was summoned inside the room where they kept the dead body by one Mr. Albert, Godwin, Ozoemina and Onyeàmà.

She said that they placed a cutlass on the deceased body and asked her to walk over it four times of which she did before they washed off the corpse and forced her to drink the water before pouring the remaining on her.

The widow stated that they also accused her of killing the deceased.

Reacting to the ugly incident, Hon Obinabo noted that although the alleged culprits have been arrested, she will make sure that the law takes its full course.

The Commissioner went further to warn everyone to desist from any form of harmful traditional practices against widows in the state as such would not be tolerated.

Upon investigation by newsmen, it was discovered that the deceased died after a brief illness at his sister’s house somewhere around Ozubulu.

It was also discovered that the incident started as a result of a dream of the sister-in-law where she claimed that she saw Mrs. Patricia strangling the deceased.

The culprits have been arrested.

Plateau workers have commenced an indefinite strike after the failure of the government to meet their demands.

The action was declared in a notice of strike issued by the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Plateau chapter, on Wednesday night in Jos.

The notice, jointly signed by Plateau JNC chairman Titus Malau and secretary Timothy Gopep, said the strike followed the expiration of four days extension of the earlier seven-day ultimatum given to the government.

They said the ultimatum and the extension were communicated in their letters dated April 19, 2023, and May 3, 2023.

The JNC officials explained that the council held a meeting on May 10 with the head of the civil service and the secretary to the government of the state in attendance.

“It is evidently clear that the government has not shown enough commitment to address the issues as presented in our charter of demands before its tenure expires, as earlier promised,” the workers noted.

“However, following a joint meeting between the JNC and Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) leadership, it was resolved that an indefinite strike action be declared.”

The workers added,

“The action is imperative since the government reneged in fulfilling its own part of the agreement despite a series of promises. We are, therefore, directing all our affiliate unions that the strike commenced from midnight of May 10, 2023.”

According to them, all affiliate unions are directed to adhere strictly and ensure total compliance until workers’ demands are met.

The workers are battling the Plateau government over unpaid salaries, among many other demands.