A24-year-old man, Peter Adebayo, has reportedly killed his friend, Lekan Raji, with a cooking gas cylinder after consuming hard substances known as colorado. Adebayo was said to have hit Lekan on the head with the cylinder for querying his behaviour. He was arraigned before an Akure Magistrate Court on a one-count charge of murder. Police prosecutor, Inspector Taiwo Oniyere, said the defendant committed the offence on February 23, 2024, at Ireakari Street, Akure. Oniyere stated: “The deceased came home on that day and was not happy with the way the defendant was misbehaving. So, he challenged him. But the defendant who was under the influence of ‘Colorado’, hit the deceased with the cylinder. So, he fell and died.” The offence, according to the charge, contravenes Sections 316 and 319 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap 37 Vol. 1 of Ondo State 2006. Plea of the defendant was not taken and the prosecutor prayed the court to remand the defendant at the Olokuta Correctional Centre, Akure, pending the legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Presiding Magistrate, T. O. Olusola-Olujobi ordered the remand of the defendant at the Olokota Correctional Centre and adjourned the case to March 19, 2024.

  A yet-to-be identified man has been taken into the police custody in Kano after he reportedly attempted to strangle himself. It was learnt that the man was found along State Road, a few metres away from the State Government House. According to passersby, some unknown thugs had attempted to strangle the man with a cable, but the police faulted the claim. He was said to have been rushed to the Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital (MAWTH) for urgent medical attention. The Spokesperson of the Kano State Police Command, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, said on Tuesday that the man had been taken into the police custody and after scrutiny, he confessed to having tied the cable to his neck. “After we took him to the hospital, he had spoken the truth. Nothing has been collected from him. In fact, he tied the cable to himself. He is now in custody of the police,” Kiwaya wrote on his Facebook page.

  Members of the ‘Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore’, on Wednesday, staged a protest at the Federal High Court, Abuja, to demand the unconditional release of their detained president, Bello Bodejo. The protesters, who carried a big banner with the inscription “Free Bello Bodejo,” gathered at the entrance gate of the high-rise court to press home their demands. Other members of the group also carried placards that read: “DIA, Free Bodejo Now,” “Release Bodejo.” Comrade Kabir Matazu, who spoke on behalf of the group, said his arrest and detention was unlawful. According to him, in a democratic society, rule of law is the building block. “You cannot arbitrarily arrest an individual without a proper charge and arraigning him in court. “That is why we have gathered our members across the country to come here to agitate and also make our voice heard. “We call on the Nigerian security agencies to, without further delay, free and release unconditionally, Bello Bodejo, the president of Miyetti Allah,” he said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court had, on March 5, fixed today for the hearing of Bodejo’s motion on notice, seeking his unconditional release from the Defence Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) custody. Justice Ekwo had, on Feb. 22, gave the Federal Government seven days to file a charge against the detained Bodejo. The judge gave the order following the expiration of the earlier order, which granted the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to remand Bodejo for 15 days in the custody of DIA pending the conclusion of his investigation. NAN reports that the Federal Government, in a motion ex-parte marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/141/2024, sought an order to remand Bodejo, the sole respondent, in NIA custody pending conclusion of investigation and arraignment in court. The motion was dated and filed on Feb. 5 by M.B. Abubakar, Director, Public Prosecution of the Federation, in the office of the AGF and Minister of Justice. In the affidavit deposed to by Noma Wando, a litigation officer in the ministry, he said Bodejo was arrested on Jan. 23 in Malia, Nasarawa State, and was in custody. Wando said that his arrest was predicated on the alleged raising up of an armed militia in detriment of the nation’s unity, contrary to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to him, the suspect/respondent is being investigated for offences that constitute a threat to national security under the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, 2022. (NAN)

  The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a suspected child kidnapper in the Ijegun area of Lagos. An unidentified 40-year-old woman was arrested on Monday following a distress call by the headmaster of the school that some unknown persons invaded the school and abducted three students on the school premises. It was gathered that the suspects positioned their operational motorcycles close to the school premises, waiting for other members who went inside to get their targets. Confirming the development to Channels Television via a phone conversation on Tuesday, the police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the culprits were given a hot chase and one of the suspects was arrested and the children were rescued. Hudeyin said that other unknown suspects escaped with an unregistered motorcycle upon sighting the police. Meanwhile, the victims aged 4, 5 and 6 years have been reunited with their families while the investigation is ongoing. Recently, there has been an increase in the spate of kidnapping of schoolchildren across the country. Gunmen had abducted scores of schoolchildren in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State on March 6 whisking away over 200 children. Barely 48 hours later, bandits kidnapped no fewer than 15 Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso area of Gada Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

  A senior lawyer in Enugu State, Eli Ugwu has been shot dead in Kogi State shortly after delivering ransom to kidnappers who abducted his cousin. The tragic incident has thrown the people of Nsukka where he hails from into deep mourning. It was initially reported that the lawyer was killed by kidnappers after paying the ransom but a contrary report suggests that he was accidentally shot dead by police officers as he was exiting the bush with his freed cousin. A lawyer who did not want his name in print said that, “He had already successfully delivered the ransom and was coming out with the victim when policemen shot them. Eli was shot dead instantly but his cousin, the kidnap victim, is responding to treatment.” The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear as the Kogi State Police Command was yet to issue an official statement on the incident. Ugwu was a respected member of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Nsukka branch.

  Joe Biden and rival Donald Trump each won enough delegates Tuesday to clinch their party nominations in the 2024 presidential race, networks projected, all but assuring a rematch and setting up one of the longest election campaigns in US history. The results in four statewide elections Tuesday, the latest in the months-long march to determine the Democratic and Republican party flagbearers, were essentially a foregone conclusion as incumbent Biden and former president Trump had already seen off all primary challengers. Biden crossed the threshold of 1,968 delegates needed when he won Georgia — a US swing state where Trump faces trial over an alleged conspiracy to steal the last election. Trump’s victory in Washington helped him secure the 1,215 delegates needed to earn the Republican nomination — and to propel him and his Make America Great Again movement back into the cauldron of a presidential race. The delegates — members of party leadership and other loyalists — will attend the national conventions where they formally select their party’s presidential nominee. As the pair now head for a rematch of their 2020 showdown, Biden laid into his challenger in a statement. “I am honoured that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country has put their faith in me once again to lead our party -– and our country -– in a moment when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever,” Biden said, assailing his rival’s “campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution.” Georgia, Mississippi, Washington and Hawaii — the Pacific island state where polls were to close hours later on Tuesday — were offering a combined 161 delegates on the Republican side, and unopposed Trump needed 137 of those to put the race mathematically beyond reach. Trump’s remarkable sweep of nearly all GOP state primaries to date led him to essentially secure the nomination far earlier than most candidates in previous campaigns, and it assures an extremely lengthy, nearly eight-month slog for the White House being contested by the two oldest men ever to begin their presidencies. Trump, who faces multiple criminal indictments in cases that to date have failed to derail his 2024 campaign, insisted in a victory statement that the Republican Party is strong and united behind him. “We are now, under Crooked Joe Biden, a Third World Nation, which uses the Injustice System to go after his political opponent, ME!” he wrote on his Truth Social media platform. “But fear not, we will not fail, we will take back our once great Country.” Trump is campaigning on sweeping reform of what he calls Biden’s “horror show” immigration policies, despite successfully pressuring Republicans to block the toughest package of border security negotiated in Congress for decades. The issue has become a flashpoint in Georgia — which was long reliably Republican but has become more competitive and is now seen as crucial to any candidate’s White House ambitions — due to the recent murder of nursing student Laken Riley, allegedly by an undocumented migrant. “We’re looking at open borders and we’re looking at inflation. Those two issues (have) already had people pretty agitated in Georgia,” Republican Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, told Fox News. “But that brutal murder… just really took it to a whole different level. People are furious here in Georgia.” The contests have renewed scrutiny of Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia — a southern state he lost to Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes — as he gears up for a third White House run. The push led to one of the four indictments he faces, setting the stage for a year of unprecedented drama as the 77-year-old tries to juggle multiple court appearances and another election campaign. The first Republican presidential candidate to lose Georgia in almost three decades, Trump claimed foul play but several recounts and numerous lawsuits failed to turn up any evidence of significant voter fraud anywhere in the country. On the Democratic side, Biden, like most incumbents, has faced a relaxed primary season — easily seeing off two candidates who have consistently polled in single digits. But he faces concerns about his age and issues like inflation, as well as low approval ratings, elements Trump’s team has sought to seize on during the campaign. Biden essentially raised the curtain on his re-election campaign last week during his set-piece State of the Union speech in which he sought to reassure voters about his age and launched a scorching attack on his “dangerous” election rival. Polls show Americans are largely dreading a rematch between the two men.