The Indigenous People of Biafra has condemned the killing of policemen and a couple at the Okpala Junction in the Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State by gunmen last week. The pro-Biafran group, which disassociated itself from the killings, also said people should stop linking them with the insecurity in the South-East region. It stated these in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, on Monday. The group said, “IPOB is a peaceful movement seeking separation from the Nigerian state through internationally recognised and accepted modus operandi called self-determination and not through murderous or criminal activities. “We seek to create a calm and peaceful environment for everyone in our territory to safely dwell and for our people to come home and be part of the development of Biafraland. It is not and has never been part of our objectives to scare or kill innocent citizens of the area. “Even though Nigerian security agents have been brutal on us, we have always maintained our calm. For now, those security men are no hindrance to our freedom, though they are agents of oppression.” The group accused the Nigerian government of being behind the insecurity in the South-East. It said, “It is public knowledge that the Federal Government is using both state actors and non-state actors to create insecurity and chaos in the South-East just to blackmail IPOB through some compromised media agencies and agents. “The paid criminals in the South-East should stop and allow Biafra agitation to flow naturally according to plans. We are warning them to stay off Biafraland or face the consequences. They have already been declared wanted by IPOB, and their sins will catch up with them soon.”

  The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has arrived Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, on Monday. Tinubu’s flight touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and was welcomed by a crowd of supporters. The President-elect arrived from France in the company of his wife, Oluremi Tinubu, at the presidential wing of the airport to a rousing welcome by party faithful and supporters who had been anticipating his arrival. The Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, was also among the supporters and top members of the All Progressives Congress who received Tinubu. Tinubu had on March 21 travelled out of the country to spend some time in Paris and London. According to a statement by Tunde Rahman for the Office of the President-elect, the trip was to enable Tinubu to rest and plan his transition programme ahead of his inauguration on May 29.

  The Nigerian police have said their officers on patrol must be fully kitted in the approved uniform. The Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a series of tweets on Sunday said officers on patrol are not allowed to wear any clothes other than the approved uniform. Mr Adejobu was reacting to a tweet by one Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye. Mr Akintujoye had tweeted about seeing some officers dressed like the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on the Lekki-Epe expressway in Lagos. “Is SARS back on Lagos roads? Or why are skinny jeans, armed robber looking, gun blazing unmarked men standing on the highway along Lekki-Epe express?,” he had tweeted. Responding, Mr Adejobi asked the state command spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, to look into the matter. “Ben, should take this up.. We don’t allow or encourage our men on patrol to dress like this. This is not allowed,” he wrote. “Any policeman on patrol and stop and search should be in complete uniform. That is the authority to flag down and/or park any vehicle.” He bemoaned the attitude of some officers who detest wearing the uniform, adding that they “will need to intensify our efforts in standardising the police.” “I don’t know why many of them don’t like putting on uniforms? I can wear my uniform to any gathering or a party if permitted to know how much I value the uniform,” he said. “No tactical team is actually permitted to mount a point and be doing stop and search but to work on intelligence and burst any criminal’s den.” (Source: Premium Times)

  Police in Imo State, South-east Nigeria, have charged a man, Solomon Ohadoma, with robbery for seizing his debtor’s phone. Mr Ohadoma, a 29-year-old civil engineer, reportedly grabbed the phone from his debtor, Chidiebere Ahamefula at about 9 a.m. on 9 March along the road after Mr Ahamefula repeatedly failed to pay for a project he did for him. The young engineer had vowed not to return the phone until he gets his payment. The incident happened in Ihiagwa, Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State. The police, on Mr Ahamefula’s invitation, arrested Mr Ohadoma and hurriedly charged him before a magistrate for robbery for seizing the phone. He was also charged with assault against police officers, conspiracy and disturbance of public peace. Since then, Mr Ohadoma has been remanded in prison and is scheduled to appear again before the magistrate on 26 April. Mr Ahamefula runs a local brothel. He is said to be connected to the police authorities in the area. Mr Ohadoma’s arrest became a topical issue on Twitter when his younger sister, Chiduebube, raised alarm on the microblogging site that the brother was being molested by some police officers. TEXEM Advert “Please, I need help, this police officer is shooting at my brother in broad daylight,” she said in the Twitter post, which was accompanied by a clip of the incident. In the 15-second clip, some gun-wielding police officers were seen beating up Mr Ohadoma. While sympathisers attempted to shield the victim from the beating, one of the officers appeared to be threatening them – the sympathisers – and cocking his rifle. “Please, I need help, this police officer is shooting at my brother in broad daylight,” she said in the Twitter post, which was accompanied by a clip of the incident. In the 15-second clip, some gun-wielding police officers were seen beating up Mr Ohadoma. While sympathisers attempted to shield the victim from the beating, one of the officers appeared to be threatening them – the sympathisers – and cocking his rifle. “You are releasing bullet on my own brother,” Ms Chiduebube was heard yelling at one of the officers in a mixture of Igbo and English languages. The officers took Mr Ohadoma to Umuchima Police Station, within the community, after inviting a nurse to treat him – he was bleeding, apparently from the beating he got from the officers, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. The matter became complicated when Ms Chiduebube and three of her sisters were allegedly assaulted and arrested by five officers while they were on their way to the police station for a possible resolution of the issue that led to the arrest of their brother – Mr Ohadoma. A man identified as Onyema Kalu, a student at the Federal University of Technology Owerri, was also arrested for filming the assault incident. Journey to police cell, prison But when they got to the police station, the four sisters and Mr Kalu were all kept behind a counter and later thrown into a police cell, before they were hastily charged the following day before a magistrate in Owerri, and then remanded in the prison. They were not allowed access to a lawyer. Their parents were not aware of their arraignment. PREMIUM TIMES observed that the arrest of the suspects, their arraignment at the court, and their movement to the prison happened in less than 24 hours. The Magistrate Court, on 23 March, granted bail to the four sisters, after spending nearly two weeks in prison, but refused their brother’s bail application. Mr Kalu, the resident, was also granted bail. Their brother, Mr Ohadoma’s bail application was, however, rejected by the magistrate. Lawyers speak According to Section 401 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act, “Any person who steals anything and, at or immediately before or immediately after the time of stealing it, uses or threatens to use actual violence to any person or property in order to obtain or retain the thing stolen or to prevent or overcome resistance to its being stolen or retained, is said to be guilty of robbery.” “If he (Ohadoma) took his (Ahamefula) phone, it does not amount to robbery,” said Monday Ubani, an Abuja-based lawyer and chairman of the Section on Public Interest and Development Law conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The lawyer said robbery can only be said to have taken place when someone “steals something” with a weapon or anything that can harm the robbery victim. He said although the robbery charge was unlikely to “fly” in court, Mr Ohadoma’s decision to snatch the phone from Mr Ahamefula was not the right way to recover his debt. “He (Ahamefula) won’t succeed in the charge of robbery because he (Ohadoma) didn’t apply any harmful instrument on him (Ahamefula). At worst, it can be stealing, but not robbery, unless there is evidence that he (Ohadoma) used any instrument that can harm,” he added. Inibehe Effiong, another legal practitioner, told PREMIUM TIMES that the country’s law insists that for a case of robbery to be established, two elements of the offence of robbery – use of force to obtain property and intention of permanent deprivation of the said property – must be proved. “I am not sure that (snatching of phone) strictly may amount to robbery, even though the person has taken the law into his hands,” Mr Effiong said. The human rights lawyer argued that it is legally permissible, in some circumstances, to take a debtor’s property as a lien. “If he merely took the property as a lien, for instance… because the law actually allows a person, in some limited circumstances, to hold on the property of the person that is owing him or her as a lien,” he stated. “But that right of lien is not absolute. However, if there was no intention of permanent deprivation – that’s to either put the phone to personal use or sell it – it may be difficult to make a case of robbery.” Another lawyer, Vincent

  A 24-year-old man, Agbo Onuabuchi, has been arrested for strangling his friend and burying him in shallow grave in Enugu State. According to the spokesman of the state police command, Daniel Ndukwe (DSP), Onuabuchi, who hails from Ebonyi State, had on April 1, killed one Peter Ukekwe aged 44 in Amori community in Nkanu West Local Government Area, after both friends visited a native doctor, one Onyeka Edeh. The statement issued on Monday, stated that the duo, resident in Ogidi, Idemili North LGA of Anambra State, had left the native doctor’s house for an unknown destination and were never seen until a search was conducted the following day when the suspect seen attempting to escape from the village. The statement read: “A young man, Agbo Onuabuchi aged 24, a native of Ebonyi State, but resident at Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, has been arraigned and remanded in Enugu Custodial Centre, for strangling to death and burying his male friend, one Peter Ukekwe aged 44, in a shallow grave, at Amori community in Nkanu West Local Government Area, on 01/04/2023.     “The suspect and the deceased, had on the said date, traveled from Ogidi, Anambra State, to the mentioned location to visit one Onyeka Edeh (male and a Native Doctor). However, during the night hours, the duo left the host’s house for an unknown destination. “A search was conducted, but they were not found until the following morning, when the suspect was arrested at Obe community in the same LGA, by Police Operatives serving in Nkanu West Division of Enugu State Command, with the assistance of citizens, while he was attempting to escape back to Ogidi, Anambra State. “The suspect confessed to the crime, stating that he strangled the victim to death and buried him in a shallow grave in the bush, where his remains were exhumed and deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy. The case was, thereafter, transferred to the Homicide Section of the State CID Enugu, where investigation into the case was consolidated, concluded and the suspect arraigned and remanded accordingly for further hearing”.

  Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku has apologised to Taraba people whom he might have stepped on their toes during his eight-year administration. Ishaku tendered his apology during a thanksgiving service organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Taraba State chapter, held at the CAN Secretariat in Jalingo. The governor said he was happy that his mantra of “Give Me Peace and I will Give You Development” has found firm roots in the minds of Tarabans and urged the people to let the spirit of peace, love, and forgiveness guide their attitudes, actions, and relations with their fellow people. Ishaku had earlier during a Special Easter Thanks giving Service at the Anglican Church Mayo Dasa in Jalingo, the state capital knelt before the congregation and sought the forgiveness of all that he had offended during his eight years as governor of the state. “As a leader who had led the state for almost eight years, it was likely that I might have offended so many people either knowingly or unknowingly in the cause of discharging my duties as the Executive Governor ” he said. Ishaku stated that it is Biblical for him to openly apologise and seek for the forgiveness of those he might have have offended. “Biblically, we are taught to forgive those who offend us. In this case, I am asking those I have offended to forgive me. I did this in the House of God and if they did not forgive me, it is between them and God,” he further stated. The outgoing governor expressed appreciation to God for giving him the wisdom to serve the people of the State effectively despite all the challenges that confronted his administration. He, however, urged people of the state to give his successor, Lt. Col. Kefas Agbu (Rtd), support and cooperation to enable him succeed. This is the second time the governor would go before a congregation to publicly seek forgiveness from politicians and the people of Taraba on issues and areas he might have offended them. Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari also pleaded with Nigerians whom he might have offended to forgive him.

  An elderly man has been buried alive over witchcraft allegation levelled against him by some youths in Ikyve community, Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State. Witnesses said the incident happened at the weekend in Ikyve community of Diiv-Ikyurave, a rural area which borders Cross River State. A resident of the area explained that trouble started for the elderly victim simply identified as Ihwakaa when lightning struck and killed his son, Henry, alongside his wife and their infant. The resident further narrated that some youths in the area alleged that it was the handiwork of Ihwakaa, whom they accused was always using water channels to invoke witchcraft on people of the community. Another resident of the community, Engr. Baba Agan, told our correspondent on the telephone that he learnt on Sunday that three persons were killed by thunder storm in his community. Agan narrated that he further learnt that an elderly man was accused of masterminding the deaths of the three people, a development which led to a mob burying him alive. He said thunder storm was a common phenomenal in that vicinity and could have been responsible for the death of the husband, wife and their two-month-old baby. Agan, an elder in the community, said it was unfortunate that before the police arrived at the scene to rescue the victim from the grave, he had died and it was his corpse that was finally exhumed. “I’m not happy. People shouldn’t take the law into their own hands. If this matter is not properly handled, it can generate further crisis in the family and community. As an elder, I will join other leadership of the community to ensure this issue is settled amicably,” Agan said. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Benue State Command, SP Catherine Anene, confirmed the incident, adding that two suspects had been arrested. “An elderly man was buried alive because it was being alleged that a young man, his wife and two months old child died from lightning. It was alleged that it was the man doing witchcraft that brought the lightning. They went and buried him alive and he died. Police are investigating; we have arrested two people already,” Anene said.

  Kenyan President William Ruto on Monday vowed to crack down on “unacceptable” religious movements as police discovered more fatalities in a Christian cult that practised starvation, bringing the toll to 58. A major search is under way in a forest near the coastal town of Malindi where dozens of corpses were exhumed over the weekend, with authorities fearing more grisly discoveries could be made. A full-scale investigation has been launched into the Good News International Church and its leader, named in court documents as Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who preached that death by starvation delivered followers to God. Police had previously named the suspect as Makenzie Nthenge. It is believed some of his devotees could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola, which was raided by police earlier this month after a tip-off from a local non-profit. Since then, a number of people have been rescued and dozens of bodies unearthed in mass graves dug in shallow pits. “58 people (have been) confirmed dead and this is out of bodies exhumed and those who died on the way to the hospital,” said police chief Japhet Koome who visited the site on Monday. The toll had stood earlier Monday at 51.   A 325-hectare (800-acre) area of woodland has been declared a crime scene as teams clad in overalls search for more burial sites and possible cult survivors. Ruto, speaking in Kiambu county neighbouring Nairobi, said there was “no difference” between rogue pastors like Nthenge — who has been arrested and is awaiting trial — and terrorists. “Terrorists use religion to advance their heinous acts. People like Mr Mackenzie are using religion to do exactly the same thing.” “I have instructed the agencies responsible to take up the matter and to get to the root cause and to the bottom of the activities of… people who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology.” ‘Unfolding horror’ As authorities try to uncover the true scale of what is being dubbed the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, questions have emerged about how the cult was able to operate undetected despite Nthenge attracting police attention six years earlier. “The unfolding horror that is the Shakahola cult deaths should and must be a wake up call to the nation, more particularly the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and our community policing programme,” Amason Jeffah Kingi, the speaker of the senate, said in a statement. “How did such a heinous crime, organized and executed over a considerable period of time, escape the radar of our intelligence system?” Nthenge was arrested in 2017 on charges of “radicalisation” after urging families not to send their children to school, saying education was not recognised by the Bible. He was arrested again last month, according to local media, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents. He was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings ($700) before surrendering to police following the Shakahola raid. Another 14 people are also in custody over the Shakahola deaths, according to Koome. The case is due to be heard on May 2. Fears for followers There are fears some members could be hiding from authorities in the surrounding bushland and at risk of death if not quickly found. A number of people have already been rescued and taken to hospital in Malindi, on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. Hussein Khalid, a member of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off the police to the actions of the church, said one of those rescued had refused to eat despite being in clear physical distress. “The moment she was brought here, she absolutely refused to be administered with first aid and she closed her mouth firmly, basically refusing to be assisted, wanting to continue with her fasting until she dies,” he told AFP. The Kenya Red Cross said 112 people had been reported missing to its support staff at Malindi. The case has grabbed the nation’s attention, prompting the government to flag the need for tighter control of fringe denominations in a country with a history of self-declared pastors and movements that become immersed in crime. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, who has announced he would visit the site on Tuesday, described the case as “the clearest abuse of the constitutionally enshrined human right to freedom of worship.” But attempts to regulate religion in the majority-Christian country have been fiercely opposed in the past as attempts to undermine constitutional guarantees for a division between church and state

  Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, Chief David Obadofin, has reportedly died in the custody of his abductors, 12 days after he was kidnapped. A family source stated that the monarch died last Thursday as a result of torture from his abductors. Our correspondent gathered that the abductors of the monarch had agreed to collect the sum of N2m for his release and one other lady, identified as Temidayo Elewa when the hoodlums noticed that Pa Obadofin was becoming too weak. A source added that while waiting for the ransom to be delivered, the hoodlums blindfolded the lady (Elewa) and relocated her to a different place in the bush in a bid to cover up their tracks. Pa. Obadofin was said to have died before the ransom could be delivered to his abductors in the bush. Meanwhile, the locals stated that Elewa, who was abducted along with the monarch had been set free and reunited with her family since Saturday. She was said to have been spotted roaming in the bush by sawing machine operators, who helped her out. The hoodlums were said to have freed the lady when they got the wind of the advancing search group of hunters, vigilantes and some Fulani volunteers. “Elewa was picked up around Obajana settlement by her family members on Saturday morning. She was taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical check up”, said a source involved in the negotiation for their release. The late monarch, a major cashew farmer and Elewa were abducted by unknown gunmen on Easter Monday from his farm residence in Aghara in Kabba-Bunu LGA at about 11pm, demanding N60m ransom. Madam Toyin Onare, a widow who was on the farm as a labourer, was killed during the invasion.