A 37- year-old painter, Olaniyi Abegunde, has been sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of a 69-year-old woman, Grace Ajibola, in Oyo State.

Late Ajibola, an evangelist with the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke Imole, Agbeni, Ibadan, was killed few weeks to her 70th birthday in her home on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

Justice K. B. Olawoyin, of the Oyo State Fiat Court 3, sitting in Iyaganku, Ibadan, on Thursday, March 16, 2023, found Olaniyi guilty of the two counts of armed robbery and murder and convicted him on the two charges.

In his judgement, Justice Olawoyin told counsels that since the charges border on capital offences, there would not be a need for allocates from counsels.

And for each count charge, he had sentenced Olaniyi to “death by hanging by the neck till death or by lethal injection.”

The court had held that the prosecution led by Mrs K.K Oloso – Olayiwola, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, at the Oyo State Ministry of Justice and S. A Osuolale, had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt that Olaniyi committed the alleged offences, adding that the testimony of the five prosecution witnesses, including Dr Clement Abu Okolo, the pathologist from the University College Hospital, who conducted an autopsy on the late evangelist matches and aligns with the testimony of the defendant himself and that of his two other witnesses.

Justice Olawoyin had further held that Olaniyi failed to prove his assertion that he was tortured to make his confessional statement, holding that his claims before the court were outright falsehoods as his testimony matches what he wrote in his statement.

There was no proof of him being tortured. He had been found to have used one of her cards to withdraw N120,000 in three instalments of N40,000 each from her account barely an hour after murdering evangelist Ajibola, and the images from the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) of the ATM in a bank near the deceased house, showing Olaniyi’s image was presented by the prosecution as evidence.

Olaniyi was arraigned in March 2021 after his arrest in Akure, Ondo state on March 25 2020 when he was 34 years old after he killed evangelist Ajibola, a retiree, who he used to run errands for after discovering over N2 million in her bank account and had fled with three Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, MTN SIM card and other valuables belonging to her.

According to witness testimony, the deceased had engaged Olaniyi’s services in November 2019 as a painter and being impressed by the excellent job he did, had taken a liking to him, he became a regular face in the house; running errands for her including going to the ATM to collect money for her, driving her car and eating in her house.

On one such errand, he decided to check her account balance and found she had over N2 million, which led to him killing her a week later by hitting her with a stick which was recovered by the police and strangling her before absconding to Akure.

The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned one Prof. Uche Chigozie Edwin, before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, for an alleged N1.4bn fraud.

Edwin was arraigned on Friday, March 16, 2023, alongside his companies, Visionary Integrated Consulting Limited, NEMAD Associates Limited and Revamp Global Enterprise, on an 11-count charge bordering on conspiracy, retention and conversion of funds to the tune of N1, 473,367,046.04 (One Billion, Four Hundred and Seventy-three Million, Three Hundred and Sixty-seven Thousand, Forty-six Naira, Four Kobo).

He pleaded “not guilty” to the 11-count charge.

In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, C.C.Okezie, asked the court for a trial date and also prayed that the defendant be remanded.

The defence counsel, Mobolaji Akintunde, in response, made an application for bail on behalf of his client.

Akintunde prayed the court to admit his client to bail and also for his remand in the EFCC custody pending the perfection of the bail, if granted by the court.

In a short ruling, Justice Oweibo admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N1m (One Million Naira) and two sureties in like sum.

The sureties must possess landed property within the jurisdiction of the court, show a tax clearance certificate of three months as well as their passport photographs.

The defendant was also ordered to deposit his passport with the court. The matter was adjourned till June 27, 2023 for the commencement of trial.

A man has called out greedy Nigerian politicians after his younger sister died in front of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

The bereaved brother explained that his sister, Deborah, was left outside the hospital for over 2 hours because there were not enough beds inside the hospital to admit and treat her.

He shared photos of his sister’s body in a car outside the hospital and wrote:

“Right in front of LUTH emergency center, my kid sister died this morning after waiting for over 2 hours because there were no enough beds. I don’t blame anyone but greedy politicians. Nigeria happened to you Debbie. Rest in peace.”

The police in Enugu state have arrested two brothers namely Chinedu Nnaona aged 25 and Maduabuchi Nnaona aged 21, both of Onuakpaka, Ndiagu-Akpugo in Nkanu West Local Government Area.

A statement released by the spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, says their arrest is sequel to an earlier report received at Nkanu West Police Division on March 12 at about 11.30am alleging the murder of one Christian Ngene (male and adult), who is the security guard and caretaker of the hometown residence of the suspects’ uncle (name withheld) at the mentioned address, and his 12 years old son, Promise Ngene.

Ndukwe said upon receipt of the report, police Operatives of the Division swiftly moved to the scene, found and evacuated the lifeless bodies of the victims to the hospital, where they were confirmed dead by doctors and their remains deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.

Two (2) knives, two (2) hand gloves, and broken pieces of a concrete baluster, used by the suspects to perfect the act, were recovered at the scene.

Preliminary investigation reveals that the suspects confessed to the crime, stating that they conspired and left Port-Harcourt, Rivers State where they reside with their parents, and went to the mentioned home address, with the sole aim of stealing and selling their uncle’s Mitsubishi Grandis car, parked in his said hometown compound.

To perfect their plan, they procured the knives, proceeded to the building in the early morning hours of 12/03/2023, and scaled the fence to gain access into the compound.

And to further gain access into the main building to get the car’s key, they used the baluster to attack the security guard in order to get the building’s keys from him.

He resisted, but they overpowered and used the knives to severally stab him to death.

‘They went ahead to stab and murder his said son, who was sleeping, to avoid their being exposed by him.

They then gained access and ransacked the entire building in search of the car key, but were unsuccessful.

The recent marriage of a Nigerian man to a young girl who looks like a minor has sparked mixed reactions on social media. Details of the marriage are still sketchy at the time of filing this report.

A photo and video of the couple were posted on Hausa social media pages, with many people criticizing her parents for marrying her off to a man old enough to be her ‘grandfather’

Others supported the marriage, saying that “it is better than adultery and taking her to hotels”

Three persons lost their lives when a truck conveying bags of cement lost control and rammed into a shop in Ogun State.

The crash which occurred at about 7: 35pm on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, around Toll Gate, Ota, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state involved a truck marked RAN788AX and a BAJAJ motorcycle registered as AAB107V.

Confirming the incident to journalists on Wednesday, the spokesperson of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Ogun, Florence Okpe, said a total of six persons were involved in the crash- two male adults and four female adults.

“To female adults sustained injuries. One male adult and two female adults were killed in the crash. One person was unhurt,” she stated.

Okpe said the injured victims were taken to the General Hospital, Ota, while the corpses were deposited at the same hospital’s morgue.

According to her, the suspected causes of the crash were excessive speed, brake failure and loss of control.

“The truck conveying cement was coming from Sango towards Lagos, and while descending from a slope, it was suspected to have developed a brake failure; so it lost control and veered off the road, thereby crashing into a shop,” she said.

“The dead victims are either traders or passengers waiting for vehicle at the bus stop,” Okpe added.

Meanwhile, the Ogun FRSC Sector Commander, Ahmed Umar, has sympathized with the families of the crash victims, advising motorists to always carry out vehicle maintenance regularly.

A 38-year-old teacher has been arrested in Gombe state for allegedly defiling four pupils.

The pupils who are aged 8, 9, 12 and 14 years respectively are sisters from the same father.

The state police spokesperson, ASP Mahid Abubakar, told journalists that the suspect was arrested for sexual assault.

He was arrested on March 7 at about 11am following complaints from the pupils’ father, Adamu Ali who reported that the sexual assault was committed between January and March.

The statement read;

“The suspect who resides in Malam-inna quarters, Gombe committed the offence at the Islamiyya school located in the same community. The victims were taken to the hospital for medical examination.”

Ali said the suspect has confessed to the crime and would soon be charged to court for prosecution.

Seventeen people were killed and 17 others seriously wounded in separate road crashes in Bauchi.

The Federal Road Safety Corps in Azare and Gamawa command stated that one of the incidents occurred on Monday.

The other crash at Manaba on Zaki-Gamawa road involved 25, killing 11 people and 13 seriously wounded.

A commercial passenger vehicle with plate number KTG 13 XF, a Toyota bus belonging to Himma Express, had a tyre blowout before crashing.

The second crash, which claimed six lives, occurred Tuesday afternoon on the Yana-Giade road.

The management of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, has dismissed the claim of the mass sacking of members of staff made by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The university’s spokesman, Lawrence Isiraojie, told journalists the claim had no truth.

A list of 22 workers purportedly disengaged by the state-owned university surfaced online on Tuesday.

The letter was circulated alongside a letter of disengagement addressed to Jude Obasanmi of the Department of Economics in the institution.

The chairman of ASUU in the university, Cyril Onogbosele, said the staff members were sacked as part of attempts to suppress the staff from demanding what was due them.

But Mr Isiraojie said;

“The claims are not a true reflection of what is happening in the school.”

The spokesman, however, confirmed one lecturer from the Department of Economics was disengaged, while a professor from the Modern Languages was retired.

“The information circulating around about the mass sack is not true.

“Management has not sacked those workers they listed on the paper circulating round social media. Only two individuals were affected,” he said.

But the ASUU chairman said;

“Already 22 staff members have been given sack letters. The move is part of attempts to suppress the staff members from demanding what was due to them. Fourteen professors have been shortlisted for retirement, which will be a great loss to the school.”

He added;

“How on earth do you retire workers who are not due for retirement? What the management is doing by this action is to suppress workers from asking for their dues. Some are being owed 21 months’ salaries, while selective salary payment has become the order of the day.”

Commuters in Bauchi have lamented difficulties experienced in paying transport fares, as motorists now reject e-payment insisting on cash.

Some of the commuters on Tuesday expressed concern over the rejection of transportation fares through e-payment.

In separate interviews, they blamed the problem on scarcity.Moses Adam, a commuter at Mobil filling station who planned to travel to Jos, lamented that commuters were suffering due to the scarcity of naira notes and rejection of e-payment.

“I have since come to the park, I want to go to Jos, and I don’t have cash, but I have money in my account. They are rejecting the cash transfer, and point-of-sale machines are unavailable. The motorists insist on payment of transport fare with cash, and cash is not available, and the PoS machines don’t have cash,” he said.

Another commuter, Hafiya Camble, said she was on the verge of missing her cousin’s send-forth party in Gombe due to the same problem.

“The commercial drivers don’t want to accept transfers, and I don’t have cash with me. I don’t know what to do, and I want to travel to Gombe, I am now looking for somebody that can help me because my sister in Gombe said she has N5,000 cash with her, so when we get there, the driver will collect his money,” Ms Camble said.

A commercial driver at the Gombe road motor park, Sanusi Mato, explained that they don’t accept transfers because they sometimes don’t see the alert even after the customer has gone.

“We need cash to buy fuel and convey passengers to their destinations. Some filling stations don’t also accept transfers and either they don’t have PoS or the PoS doesn’t have a network,” he explained.

“So these are some of our challenges. That is why we insist on collecting cash, and sometimes the transfer is delayed till the next day. How will you fuel the vehicle?”

Mohammed Abdullahi, the state chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), explained that they find it difficult to accept cash transfers because some don’t have bank accounts.

“That is why some of them insist on cash, not transfer. They also need cash for other services such as fuel and minor repairs,” stated Mr Abdullahi.

He, however, urged the federal government to ease the hardship by making cash available for transactions.

The Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun 1 Area Command, says it has seized goods worth N231,218 million in the state between January and February.

The Area Comptroller, Bamidele Makinde, made the disclosure at a news conference in Abeokuta on Tuesday.

Mr Makinde said that during the period under review, the command recorded a total of 115 seizures.

He said the seizures included 6,743 50kg bags of smuggled foreign parboiled rice, equivalent to 11 truckloads.

The area controller listed other items to include 19,806 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, 18 units of used vehicles used to convey smuggled goods, 64 sacks and 824 wraps of book.

Others were 10 big pieces and 19 small pieces of artifacts, one motorcycle used to convey prohibited items and 73 bales of second-hand clothing.

Also seized by the command were 14 sacks of foreign-used shoes, 900 pieces of foreign-used tyres and 520 cartons of frozen poultry products.

Mr Makinde said that the command also generated the sum of N28.445,757 million through import duties, auction sales of scrap vehicles and petroleum products.

He said the breakthroughs became possible following the command’s relentless anti-smuggling campaigns.

“Our officers have continued to exude resilience and commitment to service delivery. This is the reason for the improved seizure profile we have recorded,” he said.

The customs official stated that the revenue activities of the command comprised of importation and exportation of legitimate goods under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme and Assessment of Merchandise on Baggage.

He said that the command was committed to facilitating legitimate trade and improved relationship with the business community in the state

Mr Makinde urged the business community to avoid illicit trades and activities capable of adversely affecting the economy and reputation of the state.

He commended the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, for vigorously implementing the anti-smuggling campaign of the service.

He said that the anti-smuggling campaign had positively affected the performance and achievements of customs commands, units and other formations across the country.

Mr Makinde commended critical stakeholders of the service such as traditional rulers, community leaders and other security agencies for their support and collaboration.