Tragedy struck at the riverain community of Kabeama in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State over the weekend when a man, simply identified as Tony, reportedly beheaded his girlfriend. Though the details of the tragic incident were still sketchy, Daily Trust gathered that the deceased lady, Maxuel Ebibraladei, and Tony had a child together. She was allegedly killed by her lover around 3am on Saturday according to neighbours who discovered her severed head at dawn. Tony was reportedly apprehended by residents before he could escape and was handed over to the police. It was learnt that the remains of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, while the suspect had been detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID). “We don’t know what happened between the two lovers that would make him cut off the head of his girlfriend and mother of his child. “The two of them were quiet and easy-going. We are at a loss as to what went wrong. The headless corpse of the lady was evacuated and deposited at the mortuary of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa while the arrested boyfriend is in custody of the police in Yenagoa,” a resident told our correspondent. Police spokesman in Bayelsa State, ASP Musa Muhammed, who confirmed the incident, said the command would issue a statement on the incident.

  The Police Command in Lagos State has confirmed the deaths of a man and a woman, suspected to be lovers, in an apartment in the Ojodu area of the state. The command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday. Hundeyin said that the sudden and unnatural death was reported to the Ojodu Police Division on Sunday at about 9.10 a.m.   He said that the lifeless bodies of the lovers—one, Adebayo Adeseko, 30, and his partner, Sarah Adesanya, 36—were found at their apartment at No. 8B, Gbete Street, off Shoyemi Bamaco Estate, Ojodu Berger, Lagos. The spokesperson said that, on the strength of the information, a team of operatives from the station immediately went to the scene. Hundeyin said that the operatives photographed the scene and evacuated the corpses to the mortuary for autopsy while the investigation into their deaths continued. NAN learned that the man was a filmmaker who had a misunderstanding on Saturday with his lover, which led to a heated argument and a fight, resulting in the woman’s death. It was further learned that the man allegedly stabbed himself and died after he discovered that the woman had given up the ghost. A picture from the scene of the incident, presented to NAN by the police spokesperson, revealed the man lying in a pool of blood. (NAN)

  Residents of Minna, the Niger State capital, on Monday, protested high cost of living in the country, blocking major roads within the metropolis. The protesters including women and youths were heard chanting protest songs, while security agents including policemen looked on.   Roads blocked as residents in Minna, the Niger State capital protest high cost of living.#ChannelsTVNews pic.twitter.com/bsNFxvlpZy — Channels Television (@channelstv) February 5, 2024 The protesters said the rising cost of food items and poor government effort to arresting the situation forced them to block major roads so that government will hear their cry. The Deputy Governor of Niger State, Yakubu Garba, while addressing the protesters, said the government is aware of the pain and hardship families are faced with at this time. He said the government is working towards reducing the cost of living and consequences of the petrol subsidy removal. More to follow…

  A 300-level student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, Miss IfeOluwa Adekunle, has been found dead in her room in a house outside the university campus. Her lifeless body was discovered on Saturday and investigation by the police revealed that the IfeOluwa was attacked by yet-to-identified assailant(s). The unfortunate incident was said to have caused panic and apprehension among the students of the university, particularly female students. A neighbour of the deceased who pleaded anonymity, appealed to the Ondo State government to ensure that the victim gets justice. We found her in the pool of her blood in her room. She was stabbed to death by yet-to-be-identified persons who came visiting. We know this is not a cult-related issue as some people are propagating. “We have reported the murder case to the police but seems they are slow in responding to our demands in identifying and tracking those behind this dastardly act. “We are imploring the Ondo State Government to please look into the matter and ensure that the deceased gets justice.” The Public Relations Officer of Ondo State Police Command, SP Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, confirmed the incident to newsmen, saying that investigation into the incident has commenced. The Ondo Police Spokesperson noted that the killing could be cult-related, as suspected. She disclosed that the remains of IfeOluwa had since been taken to the mortuary.

  Gunmen, who killed Oba Olusegun Aremu-Cole, Olukoro of Koro-Ekiti in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State and kidnapped his wife and other person last Thursday night have reduced the N100million ransom placed on the abducted victims to N40 million. Daily Sun yesterday,gathered that the gunmen had reached out to the monarch’s family at the weekend for payment of the ransom which they said they have reduced from N100million to N40 million before the victims would be released. Oba Olusegun Aremu-Cole,was killed by gunmen in his palace last Thursday’s night, while his wife and another person were abducted. Speaking with journalists yesterday,Chairman of the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) in Ekiti Local Government Council of Kwara state, Kehinde Bayode, also said that a suspect was apprehended in Eruku town in the LGA . However, Kwara state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, said that no arrest has been made in connection with the incident. “The CP has deployed tactical team to Koro Ekiti to fish out the perpetrators. Policemen are working with other security agencies to free those who were abducted during the kidnapping incident. No arrest has been made. We are going to keep you abreast of the development as it unfolds”. The council chairman,Ejire-Adeyemi, while speaking on efforts made to free the abducted wife of the monarch and the other victim, said,”the kidnappers had got in touch with the family, demanding for N100 million ransom which has now been reduced to N40 million. We are still negotiating with them and right now, I am on my way to Koro to get the latest information on the negotiation. We will continue to brief you as the situation unfolds and we will keep you posted”.

  The Lagos State Police Command has stepped up the manhunt for a businessman who brought drugs that have expired since 2016 to the state. Already, two suspects conveying the drugs to Alaba International Market, where they were meant to be repackaged and the expiry date changed, have been arrested. The suspects, drugs and the vehicle they used in conveying the dangerous drugs are presently in police custody. According to a senior police officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity as he was not supposed to speak with the press, a patrol team from Okokomaiko Division, at the weekend, stopped a Volkswagen LT bus at Afromedia. The officers searched the vehicle and found 70 cartons of Feed Fine Cyproheptadine Caplets 4g, with expiry date of 2016. “The two occupants of the vehicle: Augustine Egemoye, 60, and Innocent Eremosele, 35, were promptly arrested and they have confessed they were taking the expired drugs to somebody in Alaba who would change the expiry dates. “They said that, after repackaging the drugs, the man would thereafter proceed with the drugs to Port Harcourt, where they would be sold”. Lagos State Police Publlic Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the suspects, drug and the vehicle are currently in custody, while efforts were on to arrest the owner of the drugs, the individual altering expiry dates and other indicted persons.

  The future of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) monthly allowance, popularly known as “Alawee,” remains uncertain, according to Minister of Youth Development Bio-Ibrahim Jamila. Jamila said that the government is shifting gears, aiming to transform the NYSC from a social programme of the government into a “revenue-generating agency.” The minister’s statement comes amidst calls for an increase in NYSC allowance, particularly after the inauguration of a minimum wage committee by President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Former President Muhammadu Buhari signed a new minimum wage bill and increased workers minimum wage from N19,000 to N33,000 in January 2020. However, inflation and living costs have risen significantly since then, prompting calls for a review. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, Jamila expressed concern about rising inflation and living costs but made no specific promises. “We can’t say for sure; we all understand that resources are dwindling; even oil revenues are not as they used to be but we will find innovative ways of ensuring that corps members’ welfare are well-taken of,” Bio-Ibrahim said. Instead of a salary increase, she proposed “innovative ways” to address corps members’ welfare, stating that reforms aimed at transforming the NYSC scheme into a “revenue-generating agency,” potentially offering corps members alternative financial benefits. “When it comes to remuneration and looking totally at the holistic funding of the NYSC, we have announced a reform of the NYSC scheme itself. So, we want the scheme to go beyond that social programme of government to be that revenue-generating scheme and agency,” she noted. This reform, according to the minister, would equip corps members with job-market skills and entrepreneurial opportunities and better match their chosen career paths. The minister also disclosed that the federal government halted NYSC deployments in “unsafe states” following a series of abductions targeting corps members during their mandatory service. “As an immediate intervention of the government and the NYSC as an agency, we have actually stopped posting corps members to the very unsafe states,” Jamila said Ensuring corps members’ safety, she added, necessitates collaboration with other government agencies, citing a “multi-sectoral approach” that includes security agencies. “When it comes to security matters, it is a multi-sectoral approach. So, it is not the NYSC alone and the ministry that is involved. We are working with security outlets to ensure corps members are safe,” Jamila said.

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) uncovered invalid foreign overdue claims totalling $2.4 billion, which have pressured the naira for long and spooked the currency market, central bank governor Yemi Cardoso said on Monday. Mr Cardoso said the discovery was made after an audit by the consultant that the central bank engaged brought several shady deals to light. After seven years of being concealed from public knowledge, the audited accounts of the CBN became public last year during which auditors revealed a $7 billion backlog of unmet dollar demand from investors and currency users. That has created an overhang in the market which, unless cleared, could keep the naira pressured, leaving the currency on a continued free fall against the dollar. The CBN hired Deloitte to investigate the forex claims to get a true picture of things, Mr Cardoso said during an interview with local TV Arise, broadcast Monday morning. The Deloitte report found that as much as $2.4 billion of the said backlog are false claims, with claimers unable to present import documents in some instances, he said. “We had had reasons to believe we needed to take a harder look at these obligations. So we contracted Deloitte management consultants to do a forensics of all these obligations and to actually tell us what was valid and what was not,” Mr Cardoso said. “The result that came out of this was startling in a great respect. It was startling. We discovered that of the roughly $7 billion, about $2.4 billion had issues, which we believe had no business being there and the infractions on that ranged from so many things, for example not having valid import documents and in some cases entities that do not exist.” More details shortly…